Cooking in the Monster Sanctuary - Chapter 12

In a normal perspective, when looking up at the girl hanging from the tree, one would indeed notice the part beneath her skirt, but…

Who would deliberately focus on that area? The other party is a terrifying ghost. This should be a horror movie set, not a light campus romance novel.

Qin Huai Shu couldn’t help but comment. However, just as he finished, he suddenly saw the girl hanging on the tree sway, her features twisted at an extremely disconcerting angle. Her lips curled upward with a sinister grin, revealing blood-stained teeth.

She’s definitely angry.

But unexpectedly, she didn’t attack them as one might have anticipated. Instead, she brought her legs together, raised her right hand, and lightly tapped her head. Her head tilted slightly, and she made a sound, “Ah~”

Due to her throat being bound by a rope, her voice sounded harsh and rough like rusty metal. However, she used a lively and playful tone combined with the awkwardly raised corners of her lips, the faint red hue on her pale face, and the protruding tongue hanging outside her mouth. It created a peculiar kind of cuteness.

Totally eerie!

This female ghost was actually playfully sticking out her tongue and acting cute! Did she think she was Yazawa Koko? Even though it was a very cute gesture, it looked exceptionally spooky considering the context.

At that very moment, Qin Huai Shu found himself at a loss for the appropriate expression to wear. He stood there, contemplating his options, while the situation unfolded before him. 

However, his partner Lin Yu offered a simple piece of advice, delivered with a gentle tone, “Just smile.”

Qin Huai Shu felt quite conflicted internally.

This was his first mission, and before this, the senior members of the Special Task Force had told him that every high-risk mission was a matter of life and death and had to be taken seriously. He firmly believed in this principle. However, he didn’t expect his partner to dominate the storyline and turn it into a one-sided performance, using all sorts of bizarre methods.

This script didn’t seem right.

The girl hanging from the tree didn’t give them a hard time but rather swayed her body back and forth, making bone-dislocating creaking sounds as her neck twisted. 

Moonlight seeped through the gaps in the branches, casting an opaque and obscure shadow over her twisted smile which made her appearance truly terrifying.

A genuine hanging-style swing.

As he was pondering the meaning of life, Lin Yu and Qin Huai Shu arrived at the final destination— the Starry Night Lake, where Zhou Hangyu had drowned.

The seventh and last campus legend was “the wandering spirit by the lake,” referring to the students who had accidentally fallen into the water here.

Unlike the other locations, there were no unusual phenomena at the Starry Night Lake. 

It was designated a restricted area in the school, and very few people ventured there. Thin, feather-like grass brushed lightly against their ankles, and a barely noticeable white mist enveloped the seemingly bottomless lake which created a profound silence.

Stars were hidden from view, and the deep night had an intense, tangible quality, cloaking the two figures in a somber atmosphere. 

Qin Huai Shu, especially, was afraid of such an ambiance. In an attempt to alleviate his fear, he initiated a conversation with Lin Yu, “Captain, why aren’t you afraid of these campus legends?”

“Why should I be afraid?” Lin Yu replied in a soft and casual tone. “As you can see, everyone has been quite friendly.”

It seemed that no matter when she maintained an indifferent demeanor, always with a hint of a smile.

“Whether they’re humans or supernatural beings, or even ghosts, fundamentally, there’s no difference between the three. As a nine-tailed fox, if you can treat the human race as equals, why be afraid of campus legends?”

Qin Huai Shu was momentarily taken aback.

He had always been concerned about the human aversion to supernatural beings and couldn’t help feeling a bit timid when interacting with others. Now, he realized that he was exhibiting a similar attitude of fear towards the supernatural, without getting to know them first.

As his tumultuous thoughts were yet to settle, he suddenly heard Lin Yu softly call out, “Look by the lake.”

A chilly wind cut through to the bone as Qin Huai Shu spotted the figure of a young man by the lake. The young man was hunched over as if searching for something on the ground. The faint light outlined his semi-transparent form, and his slender profile was bathed in moonlight. Lin Yu subconsciously uttered his name, “Zhou Hangyu.”

The boy who had died ten years ago.

Perhaps due to fear, Zhou Hangyu was trembling slightly. Just as he was fully engrossed in searching by the lakeside, another boy approached him from behind.

He leaned close to Zhou Hangyu’s ear and shouted loudly, “Boo!”

A cruel jump scare.

Zhou Hangyu was startled and let out a loud scream, his face turning pale as he fell to the ground. Simultaneously, two other students emerged from the nearby woods, and with the younger version of their client among them.

“You idiot, did you really go through all seven legends?” The leading boy held a beautifully designed gift box in his hands, violently ripping open the lid, and allowing the ribbon to hang limply. 

Amid the laughter of his friends, he added, “Here’s your box. I was wondering what you cherished so much. It turns out it’s a gift for your useless little brother. Deep brotherly love, very touching.”

Laughter erupted among the group.

Qin Huai Shu furrowed his brows as he watched, but he was helpless since everything before him was composed of brainwave projections.

Zhou Hangyu struggled to get back up from the ground, his voice quivering like willow leaves in the wind, “Give it back to me.”

“Oh my, what’s this? There’s a greeting card in the box. Is it for your useless sickly brother?” The leader of the boys taunted, raising his voice, “Hangyu, happy…”

His voice was abruptly cut off.

Out of nowhere, Zhou Hangyu’s fist struck him in the face which causing him to grimace in pain. 

Zhou Hangyu, who rarely fought back against bullies, clenched his fist and said through gritted teeth, “Don’t insult my brother.”

Unexpectedly, at that moment, something happened.

The boy who had been punched reacted with anger, and in his fury, he shoved Zhou Hangyu in the chest. Since they were standing by the lake, and the ground was muddy and wet, Zhou Hangyu was pushed back a few steps, his balance lost, and he tumbled backward.

A splash and a scream resonated together, leaving all three of them in shock.

One of the onlookers quivered as he said, “Does anyone know how to swim? Quick, save him!”

No one answered.

The wind rustled the leaves which created an eerie sound, and resembled mocking laughter. Time seemed to stand still at that moment, then suddenly, a beam of flashlight approached from a distance.

“Someone’s coming!” The boy holding the gift box threw it into the water along with the taunting words. “Run!”

Their ghostly forms gradually faded away, leaving only Zhou Hangyu struggling in the water.

He watched in horror as his classmates fled, and as the cold water enveloped him, it threatened to engulf his consciousness. His palm slapped against the water’s surface which created a mournful splashing sound.

Bloodshot eyes silently filled his vision, and Qin Huai Shu clenched his fists, taking a step forward. Lin Yu gently tugged at the hem of his clothes.

She sighed, her delicate and fair hand covering his view, and whispered softly, “Don’t look.”

Suddenly, the wind howled and the phantom in the water dissolved like smoke. Another translucent figure of a young man appeared by the lake.

Zhou Hangxing, who bore a resemblance to his appearance from ten years ago, was still astonishingly slender. His long, slender eyes seemed to be smiling cryptically as he said, “Since you’ve chosen to stand on their side, you all deserve to die.”

This was also a brainwave projection of his younger self.

Zhou Hangxing’s control over brainwaves had reached an astonishing level. Qin Huai Shu, unwilling to back down, and stepped forward to confront him. “First, we don’t condone the actions of those students, and we never stood on their side. Second, the seven mysteries have already been unraveled. You…”

The boy by the lake smirked knowingly, his lips curling upward. “Who said there are only seven legends here?”

A spine-chilling coldness rapidly spread from their hearts to their limbs, and Lin Yu instinctively tightened her grip on the dagger at her waist.

A dense chill accompanied by mournful winds brought forth a procession of entities. First came a girl in a school uniform, her face partially decayed. Then a variety of specters and monsters emerged, flooding before them like a tidal wave.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman, No-Face Man, Vengeful Spirits… these were all the supernatural beings that students had ever imagined in the school, each thought intensifying and manifesting in solid form through brainwave projections.

“Hey, hey, this is a bit too much,” Lin Yu forced a bitter smile. “It’s like a full-on monster wave. At this rate, there’s no way we can find Zhou Hangxing himself.”

No matter how strong her combat abilities were, she couldn’t handle a situation like this.

Just as Lin Yu was trying to find a way out, Qin Huai Shu suddenly spoke in a deep tone, “I’ll hold them off. You go find him.”

“Huh?”

He seemed to smile faintly as he always did when protecting her, slightly tilting his head.

Qin Huai Shu’s eyes softened as if they had a glint of shimmer, and a blazing golden color welled up from the depths of his eyes that dominantly occupied his entire pupils like a beam of light piercing through the darkness. 

“Don’t forget, I am a Nine-Tailed Fox.”