Chapter 11: The Gu Clan’s Stronghold, Part 10
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【It’s so dark...】
The Witchcraft Village was even quieter at night. The delicate, slender girl obediently followed the tall, handsome man. Beneath the moonlight, their shadows stretched long across the ground, casting the place in a terrifying, eerie atmosphere.
Zhou Zhou pinched her pale-pink fingertips together. Her luminous skin shivered uncomfortably beneath the fine, piercing chill of the night.
Her calves trembled faintly as well, and her overly pale face wore a look of panic and bewilderment.
Sweat gathered in her palms. Her powder-white fingertips curled restlessly, rubbing against the soft, peach-pink flesh of her finger pads, which were faintly cool and carried the sweet fragrance of a young girl on the verge of overflowing.
“Zhou Zhou...?” The tall, powerfully built man leading her by the hand paused. Feeling the dampness in her palm, he looked back at her in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing...”
【Brother 022... I-I’m a little scared...】
Her tiny, frail, pitiful voice stirred a malicious anticipation in the listener, making one unable to help but hope that she would reveal more of that frightened yet obedient sweetness.
【Don’t be afraid.】The system comforted her. 【...Zhou Zhou, I’m right here beside you. I’ll stay with you the whole time.】
【B-But it’s so dark... and so quiet...】
The girl’s delicate voice, as soft as a feather, sounded inside her mind. 【I’m still scared...】
The system was just about to continue reassuring her when, in the next second, it heard what she said and nearly froze its own electronic processes.
【It’s really, really too quiet...】Zhou Zhou said. 【Brother... could you play some music for me?】
【...】
The system experienced a rare moment of vertigo.
Had this pretty little nuisance mistaken the horror escape-game system for a smart butler...?
In truth, Zhou Zhou was not entirely sure herself.
But she really was frightened, and the request had slipped out instinctively. If it was impossible, that would be fine too.
Her tone was hesitant, tentative, like a small animal cautiously testing the waters.
System 022 fell silent for a moment.
【...All right.】
【What would you like to hear?】
Zhou Zhou’s eyes brightened. 【Anything?】
Earlier, she had come across an incredibly popular song on a video app. Its style was intensely energetic—surely enough to dispel the terrifying atmosphere around them.
The system’s voice remained unchanged. 【Just tell me the title.】
【All right, then...】
The girl fiddled with her fingers. Her ear tips flushed a faint red as she softly spoke the name of the song.
【Mm.】
The system still had not realized the seriousness of the problem.
Calm and reserved, it acknowledged her and searched its immense database for the title she had given it.
The song appeared on the light screen.
【Is this the one?】
Zhou Zhou half-lowered her lashes and nodded with a soft “Mm.”
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It was only when the song began to play—
【My heart is pounding, love is like a raging fire
When you smile, the madman is me...】
...that the system’s electronic shell went blank for a full second.
【Zhou Zhou, what are you doing...?】
Passionate music, so embarrassingly cheesy that it was almost unbearable, burst into the night. Its rhythm sounded like a horde of demons dancing wildly.
It could not have been more mismatched with the horror escape game.
The system thought: What a refreshingly unique piece of cheesy music.
The excessively explosive, rousing melody dispelled most of the horror. Zhou Zhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She touched her sweat-dampened sleeve and inexplicably felt that the night was not quite so dark anymore. Hearing the system’s question, she covered her head with one hand, her brows and eyes curving into a smile.
【Something a little more festive.】
System 022: ...My silence is deafening.
“Host...”
It endured, then endured some more, but in the end its voice dropped into a faint rasp.
“Don’t you find it rather noisy?”
When that explosive music began blaring inside its head, even the usually impassive escape-game system was bewildered.
【Sweetheart, if you play something like that again next time, please warn me first...】
It forced itself to maintain a pale, detached electronic shell and glanced at its foolish host.
Zhou Zhou’s face flushed. She apologized softly, embarrassed. 【I’m sorry. Did the music frighten you?】
【It’s... fine.】
The system covered the heart it did not possess, its voice pausing briefly.
Noticing its unusual reaction, a pink flush spread across the girl’s cheeks. Her full, vivid lips were unconsciously caught between her teeth as she apologized again in a hushed voice.
【I... I’m sorry...】
【It’s all right.】
It cut her off immediately.
【It’s all right... You haven’t done anything wrong. There’s no need to apologize.】
【I only want to know—now,】the system asked in a gentle, still-pleasant voice, 【are you still afraid?】
She answered softly, 【Not anymore... You can pause it now, Brother System.】
The passionate music fell silent. Zhou Zhou’s cheeks burned as she thought—
She wasn’t afraid at all anymore.
...
They stopped in a dim place that resembled a graveyard.
The man held the girl’s hand tightly. Her delicate palm was squeezed so firmly that it began to ache.
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Zhou Zhou shifted her fingertips uneasily. Her rounded finger pads were soft, fragrant, and flushed a faint pink.
They brushed against the man’s palm, making it itch.
That numb, tingling sensation crawling up his spine made Zhou Shan tremble despite himself. He drew a rough breath.
In the cold, silent night, the man’s heavy breathing drifted thread by thread across the girl’s face.
Like an addict—
In such an inappropriate place.
How shameless...
To covet the pretty little thing he had raised himself.
And yet... the man thought for no apparent reason, was she not supposed to belong to him, having been raised by him?
The night breeze carried the girl’s warm, soft fragrance, a sweetness that made the heart tremble, little by little into the man’s nostrils. Her pale, slender fingertips still quivered pitifully.
The long, gnarled tree trunks around them cast sinister, narrow gray-black shadows. No one knew what lurked within the mounds of earth, but something emitted a buzzing, trembling sound.
Zhou Zhou shuddered.
“It’s so cold...”
She sniffed. The bleak, frigid wind swept past like a torrential rain, its bone-chilling cold almost unbearable. Her legs could scarcely remain upright. Hugging her arms, she was just about to crouch down when—
A pair of strong, burning arms scooped her up. With restrained force, they closed around her slender waist, and, unable to endure any longer, pulled her into his embrace.
The suppressed, feverish breath in Zhou Shan’s voice drifted into the wind.
“Zhou Zhou, hold on tight. In a moment, close your eyes. Don’t look at anything.”
Zhou Zhou could hear rustling sounds all around them. She wanted to open her eyes and see, but the man’s broad, warm palm covered them.
“Brother...”
“Be good, Zhou Zhou. Don’t look.”
The girl’s body was held firmly in place. It was as though she had been trapped inside a shell of solid iron, pressed between his lean waist and abdomen, almost forcing apart the rigid, upright hardness beneath his clothes.
Before Zhou Zhou’s eyes lay a hazy darkness. The man’s finger bones were cold and hard, blocking her sight so completely that not a single ray of light penetrated. Relying only on the faintest shift in the wind, she sensed that he had carried her beside a low mound of earth.
“Cough, cough...”
The girl’s lips parted and closed unconsciously. Their tender flesh was full and soft, their innocent curves alluring, but the wind choked her as it rushed into her mouth.
The closer they drew to the mound, the stronger the thick stench of blood became, mingled with the cold, damp odor of death. Zhou Zhou’s body stiffened.
“Brother... I don’t want to walk around here anymore...”
“Too late.” Zhou Shan’s brows lifted slightly. His throat was sharply defined, his large Adam’s apple shifting faintly as he spoke. “How can Zhou Zhou suddenly not want to be here anymore?”
“Wasn’t Zhou Zhou the one who wanted to go out?”
The man’s hot, damp breath brushed against the snow-white nape of her neck, sending a shiver through her. She shifted uncomfortably and let out a honeyed gasp.
“L-Let me go...”
The sweet, muffled whimper made the scalp prickle. The dangerous, forceful man stared fixedly at the girl for a moment.
“Don’t you know, Zhou Zhou...?”
“With you looking this foolish and clueless... you only make other people more excited.”