Chapter 91: The Sound of the Rattle
Behind the three men, the tombstones finally shattered.
CRACK!
Stone figures clawed their way free from the monuments, their bodies covered in weathered cracks. The instant they stepped onto the ground, they lunged forward and wrapped their icy hands around the trio’s throats.
"You... must die here."
Their voices sounded like rocks grinding together.
"Ghk—!"
Shen Yu, Mo Han, and Tai Shan desperately pried at the stone fingers choking them, but the grip only tightened.
Lucian rushed forward to help.
The moment she moved, however, the strange paper scraps clinging to her body suddenly became heavier.
Her waist wrinkled unnaturally.
Skin peeled away layer by layer, revealing horrifying white bones beneath.
"I-It’s too late..."
She staggered backward, her face pale.
"Hurry!" Shen Yu shouted.
"Use your abilities!"
He wasn’t certain whether they had come here in the previous cycle or whether this place had always been a dead end.
The only way to find out...
...was to experiment.
Lucian clutched her head.
"I saw it..."
"I saw a girl imprisoned inside that room."
"It’s... the same little girl from earlier."
Her eyes widened.
"That room... it was used to imprison her."
Without realizing it, she stepped toward the wooden room on the right.
She had no idea they were trapped inside a repeating cycle.
She simply believed she’d discovered where the little girl had once been locked away.
"Damn it!"
Mo Han suddenly cursed.
"Why am I hearing the future say there’s no way to survive again?"
"...Didn’t I just say those exact words?"
The feeling was becoming stronger.
As though he’d repeated this conversation countless times before.
"Heh..."
Behind them, the three stone figures finally planted both feet firmly on the ground.
They now stood directly behind Shen Yu, Mo Han, and Tai Shan like their shadows.
Their mouths stretched open into grotesque smiles.
Long, dark-purple tongues slowly slid out.
Slurp...
Slurp...
The tongues licked across their backs.
Immediately—
Their feet began turning to stone.
Gray rock spread upward from their ankles, fusing them into the ground like the bases of tombstones.
"Damn it!"
"They’ve become real people..."
"And we’re turning into tombstones!"
"It’s too late!"
Without wasting another second, Shen Yu slammed the wooden door open.
BANG!
Warm light spilled from inside.
Paper cranes hung from the ceiling.
Bright-red wedding decorations covered the room.
Fruit offerings rested neatly atop an Eight Immortals table.
Everything appeared peaceful...
Joyful...
Completely opposite from the nightmare unfolding outside.
After a brief hesitation—
Shen Yu stepped inside.
Dong... Dong... Dong...
The instant he crossed the doorway, the petrification climbing his legs abruptly stopped.
Even stranger...
The stone figures that had been pursuing them remained frozen outside.
None dared step across the threshold.
Mo Han’s eyes widened.
"This..."
"This place is a safe house?"
Without hesitation, he rushed inside.
"I knew it!"
"I told you!"
"The future wouldn’t lie to me!"
Tai Shan and Lucian quickly followed.
The moment all four entered—
Creak...
The wooden door slowly shut on its own.
Outside...
The joint burial ceremony reached its end.
The red coffin was completely sealed.
The insane celebration vanished from every villager’s face.
Replacing it...
Was terror.
Absolute terror.
Then—
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Throughout Huzzan Village, countless tombstones collapsed.
Time accelerated once again.
Tick...
Tock...
Inside the small house...
Fine cracks suddenly appeared across every wall.
They spread like spiderwebs.
Then...
The cracks turned crimson.
Like torn flesh.
Blood slowly seeped from them.
Drip...
Drip...
Within moments, every wall had transformed into a massive, bleeding wound.
A drop of blood landed on Shen Yu’s cheek.
He slowly wiped it away.
His expression darkened.
"This isn’t safe either..."
"Search."
"Find every clue."
Mo Han rolled his eyes.
"You still need to tell me that?"
He immediately tore apart the bedding.
Beneath the mattress...
Thousands of twisted fingernail scratches covered the wooden boards.
Tai Shan lifted the Eight Immortals table.
The fruit pits scattered across its surface suddenly writhed.
Each transformed into crawling human fingers.
Lucian reached toward one of the hanging paper cranes.
The instant she touched it—
POP!
The crane exploded.
Blood splashed across her face.
Dark veins spread rapidly beneath her skin, crawling toward her neck.
"No..."
"No..."
"There really isn’t any way out..."
"Did I choose wrong?"
Shen Yu scanned every corner of the room.
Then...
His gaze stopped.
Beside the window...
Sat a small rattle drum.
His pupils contracted.
"That..."
At the same time—
Faint cries echoed from above.
"It hurts..."
"It hurts..."
The ceiling twisted like folded paper.
Instead of collapsing downward...
It folded inward.
The entire room was compressing.
"Dad..."
"Mom..."
"I want to go home..."
"I want to go home..."
The sounds of breaking bones...
Tearing flesh...
Children crying...
All mixed together into a horrifying chorus.
Blood spiraled across the floor.
Within seconds, it submerged everyone’s knees.
The paper-like walls continued folding inward.
The room was shrinking.
Mo Han jumped off the bed.
"Damn it!"
"The future lied to me!"
"This is another death trap!"
"Tai Shan!"
"Break the door!"
"Get out!"
The three immediately rushed toward the exit.
Water-like blood surged beneath their feet.
But what Mo Han never expected—
Was Shen Yu turning around.
Instead of escaping...
He walked deeper into the room.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Are you trying to die?!"
Ignoring him completely...
Shen Yu walked toward the window.
A rusty nail hidden beneath the bed pierced straight through his foot.
Pain shot through his body.
"It hurts..."
"It hurts..."
"Dad..."
"Mom..."
"I want to go home..."
The crying became increasingly desperate.
With a deafening roar—
The folding walls completely swallowed the room.
Blood surged upward.
The entire world turned scarlet.
Gurgle...
Gurgle...
Gurgle...
Shen Yu sank beneath the blood.
Yet his eyes never left the window.
The distorted room continued collapsing.
Finally—
The rattle drum slipped from the windowsill and fell into the crimson flood.
There it is...
Shen Yu reached forward.
His fingertips brushed its handle.
He grabbed it.
Then...
He shook it.
Buzz... Buzz... Buzz...
The first sound echoed through the blood-filled world.
Instantly—
The collapsing room froze.
The crimson space flickered violently.
For a brief moment...
The outline of an ordinary city apartment appeared beyond the distortion.
A warm living room.
Sunlight through a window.
A home.
The crying gradually weakened.
Shen Yu slowly emerged from the sea of blood, still clutching the rattle.
His gaze softened.
"So that’s it..."
He looked toward the fading illusion.
"Xiao Han..."
"Don’t worry."
"You’ll be able to go home soon."