The illustrated papers on the floor flew into the air, folding inward and sealing Wang Yue inside!
An unknown amount of time passed before Wang Yue slowly regained consciousness.
She opened her eyes a crack. It was pitch black; she couldn’t see a thing. Taking a shallow breath, the heavy scent of pine resin flooded her nose. She realized she was lying on a wooden board.
When she tried to sit up—thud—her forehead slammed into another board.
“Ow…”
Groping around, she felt nothing but wood. She was lying inside a wooden box.
Isn’t this a damn coffin?
Wang Yue shoved with all her might, sending the coffin lid flying, and sat up.
“How did I get here?”
She looked around with confusion. Clearly, this was a freshly dug grave; the mound of dirt was piled to the side, not yet filled in. Nearby, gravestones stood crooked and haphazard. The moonlight was eerie, the surroundings desolate and dilapidated. The soil smelled of rot, and weeds grew over the mounds. It was a graveyard.
An old man sat on a nearby headstone.
Why is he sitting on someone’s grave? Is it because he’s so close to death himself that he doesn’t care about taboos anymore?
He looked ancient and decayed, clutching a shovel in his arms. It was impossible to tell if he was a gravedigger or a grave robber. He was dressed in rags, the hem of his black trench coat shredded and fluttering like a dirty shroud, moving even though there was no wind.
Wang Yue stepped out, her feet sinking into the earth as she walked over. The soil felt like forest humus—greasy, soft, and slick—soiling her snowy-white feet.
She stopped beside the old man and stole a glance. The skin on his face was loose and wrinkled, draped over his features like a piece of cloth. She worried it might suddenly slide off.
“Excuse me, sir, where am I?” Wang Yue asked politely.
Pop!
A house centipede as thick as an arm suddenly burst out of the old man’s left eye! Its shell was bright and oily, its long, folded legs enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
“Ah!”
Wang Yue jumped back in fright, falling onto her backside. She feared multi-legged insects most of all; the sight of them triggered an instinctive revulsion.
The centipede crawled down the old man’s face. When it reached his neck, it banked, its soft body hugging his skin tightly before it slid down his leg to the ground.
Wang Yue broke out in goosebumps. It felt as if an electric current was hissing from the soles of her feet to her scalp. Her whole body felt electrified. She scrambled up, backing away several steps, nearly falling again.
Something was wrong! This old man didn’t seem like a living person. But if he was dead, how was he just sitting there on a headstone?
“Don’t panic, let me think.”
Wang Yue took several deep breaths, recalling the bizarre events in Room 203. She remembered entering the room, Lulu’anna standing on the balcony, the clap of her hands, the illustrations rising up… and then she had lost consciousness, only to wake up in a coffin.
“No way. Am I sealed inside a world of paper? Is this old man a prop? Is this… a Mystic Art?” Wang Yue whispered to herself.
Thick clouds rolled above. Moonlight broke through the gaps, illuminating the graveyard as bright as day. Within those clouds, a hidden pair of eyes was watching the scene below.
Observing from a god’s-eye view, Lulu’anna saw Wang Yue tumble and immediately became giddy with joy.
“Haha! Did you hurt your butt? Idiot! Look at you, all confused. There’s no way you’re getting out. When you finally break down and cry, I’ll tell you it’s because you’re too stupid! If you were even a little bit smarter, you could decode the key information and escape… I wonder what face you’ll make then? Hehe.”
Lulu’anna was itching with anticipation for that moment. She had already decided: when the time came, she would comfort her. “There, there, don’t cry. Just give me your little maid! And while you’re at it… you can be my maid too!” Two maids at once—she had happily decided on the spot.
As if feeling a psychic resonance, Wang Yue glanced at the sky, trying to guess her opponent’s goal. If Lulu’anna wanted her dead, she could have just buried her alive; there was no need to let her out. Since she didn’t want to kill her, designing a dark and terrifying paper dimension had to be for the sake of scaring her. The girl was probably hiding somewhere right now, enjoying her pathetic display.
“I won’t let you have your way.”
Wang Yue steeled her resolve. She decided that no matter what horrors she encountered, she would not scream. Her Mystic Art, Puppet*, was excellent for controlling her expressions.
She tried to activate the power… and her expression suddenly shifted. The power that usually felt like an extension of her own limbs had vanished!
She hurriedly lifted her robe. Her demon tail was still there, but it was limp and wouldn’t lift. She pulled out her wand; she couldn’t cast any witchcraft either.
This was bad. This space had a massive suppression effect on supernatural powers!
