Chapter 10: Statue Party (2)
Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
There were voices outside the door again, but this time, they weren't directed at Shu Yushuang.
"Damn, is there anyone inside or not? I wasted my breath for nothing."
"I clearly saw someone in there just now..."
"You must've been seeing things. Forget it, forget it. Let's not waste time. Move on to the next room. It's best to gather all the props while they're not paying attention."
Footsteps echoed outside, growing farther and farther from Shu Yushuang's room.
Although Shu Yushuang did not know what the props were, she could tell that their intentions weren't good.
The footsteps outside stopped. Shu Yushuang looked outside again through the peephole and saw the two people standing in front of the room diagonally across from her.
The owner of that room quickly opened the door.
The other two pretended to talk to him, but Shu Yushuang saw that the man outside was holding a stone knife.
The man felt that the time was right, so he raised the stone knife.
Shu Yushuang was about to warn the owner of the room diagonally across from her when she saw him act swiftly, kicking the man hard in the abdomen and sending him flying into the wall behind.
The man's companion, realizing the situation had gone wrong, turned to run but was grabbed by the hair and dragged into the room by the person inside.
Her scream was cut off by the suddenly closed door, and once again, there was no sound outside.
The heavy stone door blocked all noises. It was only then that Shu Yushuang noticed that the door of the room diagonally across from her didn't have a peephole.
Shu Yushuang checked the other rooms she could see and found that they all had peepholes.
Why was that room so unique?
Could it be that the person living inside wasn't an executor?
Shu Yushuang didn't know whether the man was dead or alive, but the woman's fate was likely grim.
These two people, really... No skills but still trying to commit bad deeds.
A few minutes later, Shu Yushuang saw the man again.
He stumbled to the tightly shut door and began pounding on it forcefully.
As he pounded, he cursed filthily under his breath.
But even after his hand was bloodied, there was no sign of the door opening.
In the end, the man furiously kicked the door, only to immediately clutch his leg and collapse to the ground, wailing in pain.
Shu Yushuang was certain that everyone on this floor could hear the commotion, yet not a single person came out to take a look.
Of course, she didn’t dare to either.
But rather than fear, it was more about a lack of interest.
Shu Yushuang's curiosity stopped at observing the outside through the peephole.
If she were to get involved in this matter herself, it would only be if her life were at risk, or if there was significant benefit to gain. Otherwise, she would never act.
Outside, the man moved again.
He staggered up from the ground, limping as he made his way to Shu Yushuang's door.
As he knocked, he shouted, "I know someone's inside. Please, help me. Help me save my girlfriend. The thing in that room isn't human, I saw it just now. If you don't get rid of it, you'll die too!"
Shu Yushuang listened with a blank expression, feeling no disturbance in her heart.
She checked the door lock, and after confirming that it couldn't be pried open, she lay back down on the bed.
No matter how the man shouted outside, she didn’t give him any response.
The man cursed angrily again and turned to knock on other doors.
Shu Yushuang didn’t even notice him leaving, as she had more important things to consider at the moment.
The fact that there was no peephole on that door might suggest that the person living inside was different from the rest of them, the executors.
Could it be that the person inside was the reason why the town’s residents had become like this?
Could the first task really be completed so easily?
The man said that the thing in that room wasn’t human.
Assuming he wasn't lying, that person... no, that thing was definitely not easy to deal with.
Shu Yushuang had no connection to that man. Under the threat to her own life, she had no reason to help him.
Outside, there was once again the sound of knocking and pleading, but still, it was only that one man speaking, and no one else responded.
Before long, Shu Yushuang heard hurried footsteps in front of her door again, but they didn’t linger in front of her room for long and soon faded away.
Shu Yushuang quietly listened to the noises outside from her bed, but suddenly felt a bit of admiration for that man.
Setting aside his character, he clearly knew that the thing in that room wasn’t human, yet he still dared to return to danger for the sake of his companion.
Very few people could do that.
But that man never managed to knock open the door to that room.
Soon, there was no sound outside. Shu Yushuang lay quietly on the bed and quickly fell asleep.
Source: https://www.gongzicp.com/novel-1388844.html
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
When she woke up, it was probably already nighttime. Aside from the faint light filtering through a small hole in the window, the rest of the room was terrifyingly dark.
Shu Yushuang sat up in bed, gasping for air.
Though the room was quite cool, her clothes were completely soaked in sweat.
She dreamed again of that place, that hellish place where she lived until she was nine.
She dreamed of that so-called home, of her so-called parents and brothers.
However, in the dream, her father and brothers had turned into rotting flesh.
They all writhed and crawled towards her as if they wanted to drag her back into that hell.
In fact, on the night she was brought home by Shu Ya, Shu Yushuang also dreamed of that place. However, under Shu Ya's careful care, she rarely had that dream again.
It was just that after she became an executor, that dream returned, waking Shu Yushuang from her sleep more than once.
Shu Yushuang's body trembled slightly, uncontrollably. She finally managed to calm herself down and felt secretly annoyed at her own negligence.
How could she fall asleep so easily in such a situation?
Shu Yushuang gathered her spirits and moved to the door.
In the corridor outside, a few dim stone lamps flickered. Although the light was not very bright, it was enough for Shu Yushuang to see the general situation outside.
There was no one outside, but Shu Yushuang noticed a large dark stain in front of the door diagonally opposite her.
Although Shu Yushuang couldn’t clearly see what it was, she guessed it was blood.
She had no idea what had happened to the two people from earlier.
Shu Yushuang observed for a while longer, and after confirming that no one was outside, she gently opened the door and stepped out.
She first walked to the door diagonally opposite. Without needing to crouch down and inspect, the strong smell of blood told her that the dark stain was definitely blood.
Shu Yushuang hesitated in front of the door for a while but ultimately decided not to disturb the mysterious occupant inside.
Her room was on the third floor, and she planned to go downstairs to take a look.
On her way down, she didn't encounter anyone.
This struck her as odd. It was only around nine in the evening, which wasn’t particularly late for young people these days.
So why was there no one around?
Shu Yushuang, filled with confusion, made her way downstairs.
Thankfully, there were finally people on the lower floor, but they all appeared to be residents of the small town.
Even though it was evening, in the scorching summer heat, it still wouldn’t have cooled down much at this time.
However, as Shu Yushuang glanced around, she noticed that everyone outside was wrapped in heavy clothing, looking unbearably hot.
But that wasn’t the strangest part. What unsettled Shu Yushuang the most was that, after noticing her, all of these people turned their eager and longing gazes toward her as if she were some kind of gourmet delicacy.
More precisely, they were staring at the exposed skin on Shu Yushuang’s body.
Shu Yushuang involuntarily took a step back. When she looked at those people again, she found that they had already averted their gazes, as if they had never looked at her that way.
But Shu Yushuang knew it wasn’t her imagination. That feeling of being watched by a hunter was unmistakable.
Narrowing her eyes, she scrutinized each of the people in front of her. Yet, none of them showed any further abnormal behavior.
Shu Yushuang slowly stepped onto the main road, all the while remaining vigilant.
In fact, the wisest course of action at this moment would have been to return to her room immediately, but Shu Yushuang had her own reasoning.
Firstly, she felt that ever since they stopped looking at her, the sense of danger in her heart had significantly lessened. Secondly, she was very hungry and needed to find something to eat.
If she kept avoiding these people, she would eventually starve.
Shu Yushuang decided to make it quick. She pressed her back against the wall and slowly moved to the right.
During this time, although some people still glanced at her occasionally, they no longer stared at her as intensely as before.
Shu Yushuang walked up to a snack stall and casually ordered some food. She fumbled for her wallet but immediately realized that the one she pulled out wasn’t hers.
A foul stench wafted from the unfamiliar wallet, and Shu Yushuang wrinkled her nose in disgust.
She had no idea when this wallet had found its way into her pocket, nor why the odor was so pungent, yet she hadn’t noticed it earlier.
Just as Shu Yushuang was about to throw the wallet away, the stall owner suddenly snatched it from her hand.
He opened the wallet, took something out of it, and then said to Shu Yushuang, "This will do. I know you outsiders haven’t seen this kind of money before. It’s exclusive to our town. From now on, use this to buy things here."
Shu Yushuang was horrified.
She had clearly seen earlier that what the owner took were pieces of rotting skin.
"That is..."
"It’s money. Here, your food is ready."
Shu Yushuang looked at the fragrant, steaming food the owner handed her, but she had completely lost her appetite.
The wallet, which had mysteriously appeared, looked ordinary, no different from any other wallet, but the stench it emitted was nauseating.
Shu Yushuang felt both disgust and fear toward it.
As she passed by a roadside trash bin, she was about to throw the wallet away. However, remembering that she had to spend thirty days here and that the money she needed was inside this wallet, she reluctantly put it back.
Shu Yushuang sighed, her heart felt heavy.
She didn’t know how the wallet had ended up with her, but she could only rely on it to survive in this town.
Shu Yushuang returned to her room with the food she’d bought.
On the way back, she noticed the place she was staying was indeed a hotel, but its name was strange: the Skin Hotel.
Upon entering, she still felt the terrifying gazes from behind.
After locking the door tightly, she prepared to go upstairs.
The entire building remained eerily quiet as if no one was inside, but Shu Yushuang still didn’t dare to relax.
She pressed her body against the wall and slowly ascended the stairs.
However, until she reached the third floor, nothing unusual happened.
Shu Yushuang tiptoed past the door of the mysterious resident and noticed the bloodstains on the ground were gone.
The moment she returned to her room, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
She locked the door and pushed the heavy stone table against it to block the only entrance.
After doing all this, Shu Yushuang prepared to eat something.
Though she wasn’t very hungry, she had to force herself to eat a bit to fill her stomach; otherwise, if something happened, she wouldn’t have the strength to deal with it.
Moreover, she had never wasted food in her life.
Shu Yushuang sat on the bed, eating while recalling the gazes of those people.
That kind of gaze... it was as if they regarded her as prey.
She shivered involuntarily, feeling that greedy stare once again.
Shu Yushuang tightly gripped the stone knife in her hand and began searching the entire room for the source of that gaze.
She didn’t overlook a single suspicious corner, but in the end, she found nothing.
