Chapter 112: I Am Truly Not Xu Xian

It was a man’s face, coated in a glue-like mucus that preserved his expression of sheer terror and despair at the moment of death, laid bare before Su Cheng.

Terror sprouted in his heart like wild weeds. Even as a veteran player of horror games, Su Cheng could not help but feel a chill run through his body; it felt as if his blood were freezing in his veins.

Upon initial observation, the man had been murdered, his head severed, and then stuffed into the wall, hidden behind a painting. Because his face was covered in a thick, airtight mucus, the head had not decayed and still bore the look of life. As for the murderer, it was clearly someone in Takao Matsuzaka’s household.

Calming his emotions, Su Cheng scrutinized the face on the wall. He suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen the man somewhere before.

"I remember now. This man is the marketing manager from the company."

While in the car earlier, Su Cheng had flipped through the employee files of Hirano Jōden’s company, which included photos and information on this male manager. But why would he die in Takao Matsuzaka’s home?

"What do you see?"

Just then, a sinister, terrifying voice drifted from behind him.

He had been discovered!

Su Cheng’s heart skipped a beat. With lightning speed, he hung the painting back up, forced his expression into a mask of indifference, and turned around.

Standing behind him was a boy of about five or six, clutching a gruesome-looking rag doll. A horrific, savage grin was plastered on his face, revealing sharp fangs. He looked as if he wanted to devour a person. Even more terrifying, the boy had the head of a gecko, with a grayish-brown gecko tail whipping around behind him.

Recalling the context: Takao Matsuzaka was a toad demon, his wife, Mayumi Kuwaya, was a snake demon, yet their child was a gecko. Su Cheng didn't quite understand the genetics of this demon family.

"You must be Kota. I’m your father’s colleague." At this moment, he acted as if nothing were amiss, walking over and pinching Kota’s cheek.

Kota’s attention was successfully diverted, sparing him from the kind of instant-death plot common in horror movies.

At this time, Mayumi Kuwaya, who was simmering soup in the kitchen, poked her head out and shouted, "Kota, don't bother your uncle. Go back to your room."

The savage expression on Kota’s face vanished. He gave a sullen grunt and turned to walk toward his room.

"Wait, could you let me see that rag doll?" Su Cheng’s gaze fell upon the doll’s eerie face, and he noticed the doll’s eyes seem to flicker.

Kota nodded, handed the doll to Su Cheng, and disappeared into the living room.

The moment his palm touched the doll, a jolt like an electric current shot through his fingertips, making his hair stand on end. This doll... it seemed to be stitched together from human skin.

As he stared at the human-skin puppet, its eyes flickered again, and a shrill, terrifying scream emanated from it.

"Save me! Someone save me! It’s so dark here, so dark..."

Well, well, this doll even came with a built-in voice system. But the sound was so wretched it made Su Cheng’s skin crawl.

"Who are you?"

After a moment of silence, Su Cheng tried to communicate with the doll—or rather, the ghost imprisoned within it.

"Save me! That bitch killed me and sewed me inside. It’s so dark here, I want to get out. Please, save me..."

"How do I save you?"

"Kill that bitch! My soul will be able to leave this place. Save me!"

The man’s voice was filled with such venomous hatred that it seemed to overflow.

"The bitch you’re talking about, is it Ms. Mayumi?" There was only one woman in this house, Mayumi Kuwaya. If the ghost was telling the truth, then it must have been Mayumi who killed him and stitched his soul into the puppet.

However, the ghost inside the puppet did not answer his question, only continuing to wail, "Save me," "Let me out," and "Kill her."

"If you don't shut up, I'll destroy you first."

Irritated, Su Cheng’s eyes flashed with tangible killing intent. The ghost, which had been muttering like a broken record, suddenly went silent. It surrendered in a second.

Putting down the human-skin puppet, Su Cheng fell into deep thought. It seemed these victims were all killed by the Matsuzaka family and hidden within the apartment. But why were the victims always men?

Suddenly, a seductive, meaty aroma wafted from the kitchen. Mayumi Kuwaya swayed out, her snake-like waist undulating, carrying a tray of meat soup, and invited Hirano Jōden to eat.

"Hirano-kun, don't be shy. Come, taste your sister-in-law's cooking."

Mayumi Kuwaya enthusiastically ladled a bowl of soup for Su Cheng and placed a few dumplings into his bowl. As she served him, she deliberately leaned her ample bosom toward him, revealing a bottomless cleavage.

*Madam, is being this blatant really appropriate?*

Su Cheng glanced sideways at Takao Matsuzaka, who was drinking and eating heartily. The "green grass" on his head seemed to be growing even lusher.

"Eat, don't be shy. Try these dumplings."

Mayumi Kuwaya’s face was flushed with spring-like charm, and she kept urging him to eat with abnormal enthusiasm.

Yet, in his eyes, the bowl of meat soup was stewed with large chunks of boiled, rotting human flesh. Even more horrifying, there were eyeballs and intestines bobbing in the scalding, blood-colored broth. The dumplings were likely filled with the same ingredients.

"My stomach is feeling a bit unwell. You all should enjoy the meal yourselves." Su Cheng twitched his lips, wiped the cold sweat from his face, and spoke while suppressing his physiological and psychological discomfort.

Seeing that Su Cheng wouldn't touch his chopsticks, the Matsuzaka family didn't force him, instead devouring the horrifying human-meat feast. Their eating habits were incredibly savage; in less than ten minutes, they had wiped the table clean.

Fed and satisfied, Takao Matsuzaka seemed a bit tipsy and returned to the bedroom, falling asleep instantly. Soon, a thunderous snoring began to echo.

Mayumi Kuwaya gave Su Cheng a suggestive look, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered, "Come to the room next door. Sister-in-law has something to tell you."

A burly man and a young wife—dry tinder and a raging fire. Many gentlemen who had seen their fair share of films could surely guess what was about to happen.

"Well, about that, let’s just talk here in the living room. Manager Matsuzaka is still sleeping in the bedroom." Su Cheng was covered in cold sweat; if she dragged him into that room, he feared he would be devoured alive by this wolfish woman.

This was not the real world, but a game instance. The system would certainly not allow players to have "encounters" with NPCs. While horror games had their tropes, they still had that much decency. Any overstepping of boundaries by a player would result in a system-issued electric shock—one that was certainly a hundred times more intense than any "magnetic storm infantry."

With the "harmonious" system acting as a guardian, he didn't have to worry about being "404'd."

"Nani? You want to do it in the living room..."

Hearing this, Mayumi Kuwaya seemed to have misunderstood something. A blush crept across her fair cheeks, and her eyes shimmered with longing.

Su Cheng looked at the snake tail protruding from beneath her apron and felt a headache coming on. He was no Xu Xian; he had no desire to bed a snake.

A wave of fragrance hit him as Mayumi Kuwaya’s hot, supple body leaned in, striking a provocative pose. Only then did Su Cheng finally understand what was going on with the Okamoto 001 in Hirano Jōden’s pocket...

"What are you two doing?"

A roar of shock and rage erupted in the living room. Takao Matsuzaka had woken up, glaring with lantern-sized, blood-red eyes, looking at Su Cheng as if he were ready to kill.

*I thought you were a friend, and you dare to give me a "forgiveness hat"!*

"Hirano, you piece of trash! I’m going to chop you into pieces!"

Takao Matsuzaka erupted in fury. He turned, dashed into the kitchen, grabbed a meat cleaver, and lunged at Su Cheng. Any man, in any time or place, would react exactly like Matsuzaka upon catching his wife cheating: kill the bastard!

Mayumi Kuwaya’s lips curled into a sinister smile; she licked her blood-red lips, seemingly waiting for the next meal.

Seeing the expression on the snake demon, Su Cheng’s heart tightened. He finally understood why those other men had been killed. Those poor fools were likely lecherous ghosts who had an affair with this woman, only to be lured in by Mayumi Kuwaya, murdered, turned into a meal, and eaten, with the inedible parts hidden in the apartment.

So, these two demons were running a honey trap!

*Damn it!*

No sooner said than done. The moment Takao Matsuzaka lunged, Su Cheng activated his skill: [Rock-Paper-Scissors].

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

His hand gestures shifted with lightning speed, and then he slammed a punch into Takao Matsuzaka’s obese torso.

[Rock-Paper-Scissors: Rock]
Type: Fist Technique / Spirit Art
Effect: Condenses spiritual power into the fist, increasing power by 200%, striking the target with the ultimate blow and causing explosive damage.

An explosion echoed, and spiritual power surged backward.

In the next moment, Takao Matsuzaka’s body was pierced through by Su Cheng’s punch. Flesh and blood scattered, and a fist-sized hole appeared in his chest.

The sudden turn of events left both Takao Matsuzaka and Mayumi Kuwaya stunned. They had never dreamed that the lamb on the chopping block would transform into a tiger.

"So you knew all along that we weren't human!"

Mayumi Kuwaya shrieked, her demonic aura erupting like a volcano.

Sensing the surging demonic aura from the snake demon, Su Cheng’s expression changed drastically. As expected of a demon in a Hell-difficulty instance, the aura she emitted was far more powerful than any he had encountered in [Asakusa Temple Horror].

The battle was about to begin.