Cooking in the Monster Sanctuary - Chapter 9 - Part 1

Qin Huai Shu had once heard a story.

There was a working woman late at night, and she noticed someone had been following her closely. Filled with fear, she quickened her pace and eventually hid in the last stall of a nearby public restroom.

After a while, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the entrance, accompanied by the creaking sound of stall doors being opened.

Her heart pounded like thunder, and she covered her mouth to stifle any sound.

The footsteps grew louder and closer, casting an eerie spell of silence over the otherwise quiet night. Door after door was opened until, at the second-to-last stall, and then finally stopped.

The person didn’t attempt to open the last stall where she was hiding, nor did they make any move to leave. The surroundings were enveloped in an eerie stillness, as if even the air had frozen.

Sensing something amiss, she tremblingly raised her gaze—

A man’s sinister grinning head rested on the partition, silently watching her for who knows how long.

This was undoubtedly a traumatic childhood experience for her and had led to her habit of avoiding public restrooms. And now…

Why did her partner have to recreate this nightmare? It was genuinely terrifying!

A piercing scream shattered the tranquil night, and Lin Yu illuminated the ghostly pale face of the girl in the stall with a flashlight. Her voice remained calm and soothing, “Why are you hiding here alone? Don’t be afraid; I’m coming over.”

That sounded like a villain’s line! And her actions were reminiscent of the antagonist principal in “Meltdown”! Didn’t she hear the girl scream in fear? Stop it, you villain!

Trembling, Qin Huai Shu shrank back, and his fluffy tail behind him trembled like a dandelion in the wind. Before he could even speak, he saw Lin Yu’s expression freeze momentarily, revealing a somewhat disappointed look.

“How strange, she disappeared,” Lin Yu said with a hint of regret as she jumped down from the partition and walked out of the stall. “I was planning to console that girl and keep her from wandering around the campus.”

Is this the tone and approach for consoling someone? It seemed like she was about to burst into the stall with a knife! Even menopausal guidance counselors were more compassionate than this! Are we acting out a scene from “School Infirmary”?

Qin Huai Shu broke out in a cold sweat, took an instinctive step back from her, and then heard Lin Yu continue in a casual tone, “I guess we’re done exploring this scenario. Let’s move on to the next one. Let me see… the next urban legend is ‘The Crawling Bloody Hand in the Classroom.'”

According to the legend, a male student, unable to bear the bullying from his classmates, cut off his own hand late one night in a classroom and bled to death.

The police searched the entire school but never found the severed hand, and every night, it would quietly appear in the classroom where the male student had died, slowly crawling around, covered in bloodstains. Anyone who encountered it would be ruthlessly tormented to death.

“A hand that crawls like a turtle… no matter how you look at it, it’s a bit like a dark comedy,” Lin Yu commented as she popped a mint candy she had with her and then offered one to Qin Huai Shu. “If you’re scared, try playing some down-to-earth music; it’s quite effective for boosting courage.”

Poor thing, being compared to a turtle as a terrifying urban legend must be humiliating! Give it a little dignity!

However, playing music did seem like a good idea. In the grip of fear, Qin Huai Shu had completely abandoned any notion of “male dignity” and quickly pulled out his phone, opening a playlist of cheerful songs for middle-aged and elderly people.

With the buff from “Good Luck Comes,” he mustered up the courage to enter the classroom where the male student had reportedly died. 

Lin Yu walked beside him, and through the window, she immediately spotted the hand standing on a desk.

Finally, the moonlight pierced through the clouds, casting a few delicate rays like gossamer threads. 

The hand, bathed in moonlight, assumed a stance with its index and middle fingers, and then the two fingers crossed. It began a slow circular motion, raising its middle finger and spinning it.

The dim white light made it appear even paler, and the bloodstains on it seemed glaringly red like roses blooming in the night.

Qin Huai Shu was left dumbfounded. 

Beside him, Lin Yu couldn’t help but chuckle, her voice low and amused, “Could it be that this hand is dancing ballet under the moonlight?”

Ballet, indeed.

As a severed bloody hand, it was secretly performing ballet in the moonlight.

Does it have any shame left?

Qin Huai Shu wished he could turn iron into steel. Filled with righteous indignation for this group of inept campus urban legends, he was suddenly jolted by a loud and soaring soprano voice. It turned out that the previous accompaniment had ended, and the song had reached its chorus.

This abrupt voice combined with his current state and the hand’s movement which caused him to sprout yet another tail, and even his right hand transformed into a fox’s paw.

Lin Yu sneakily glanced at his snow-white fur and soft pink paw pad, unable to hold back a chuckle before awkwardly shifting her gaze. “Quick, look at that hand.”

Qin Huai Shu couldn’t lift his head in embarrassment. When he reluctantly raised his gaze, he was astonished by the scene in the classroom.

As if compelled by the music, the hand stopped its graceful ballet and started performing large, exaggerated dance moves.

This thing was actually doing the twist dance! It’s incredibly versatile! It’s just a hand, did it aspire to become a dance champion? This is beyond interspecies!

Lin Yu couldn’t contain her amusement and effortlessly pushed open an unlocked windowpane. Meanwhile, the hand finally realized the presence of others and stopped its dance then staring blankly.