Chapter 5: Woman

This sudden turn of events made the corner of Yang Xiao's eye twitch, nearly causing him to die of shock; the next second, he sprang up and bolted toward the door.

Fortunately, he had been prepared; the door was only closed in the simplest way, not deadbolted, and certainly not secured with a damn security chain, which greatly increased his speed in opening it. Escaping the room, Yang Xiao sprinted along the hotel corridor, not daring to relax in the slightest, because a continuous sound of splashing water had begun to ring out behind him.

That thing had actually chased him out!

Yang Xiao had never run so fast; the sound of the wind roared in his ears. The thing behind him was incredibly fast, and the distance between them was gradually closing. At the most critical moment, however, Yang Xiao suddenly realized something: this hotel corridor seemed far too long. He had run so far, yet he still hadn't seen the end.

As if some train of thought had been awakened, Yang Xiao soon noticed more unreasonable things. A layer of mist had filled the corridor at some point—a lead-gray mist. Ahead, everything was hazy, and the mist was mixed with an indescribable, fishy stench.

Furthermore, even though he had made such a huge commotion, the corridor remained deathly silent, without a single sound. Could it be that behind every one of these doors on both sides of the corridor were dead people?

Just then, the thing behind him suddenly accelerated, as if it were about to pounce on Yang Xiao the next second. The situation was extremely dire, but Yang Xiao abruptly stopped in his tracks. He keenly sensed danger; the mist ahead was churning violently, as if something were hiding behind it.

A moment later, Yang Xiao's pupils constricted sharply, and he finally saw clearly: standing at the end of the corridor was an ancient mansion gate.

It was the gate of the Feng family from the Script. Yang Xiao immediately recognized the origin of this door; he had seen it on the cover of the Invitation.

The gate was a full ten feet high and dark red all over. On the left and right, White Lanterns were hung from thin bamboo poles. Just then, a gust of eerie wind blew, and the large White Lanterns swayed with the wind; the black character for "funeral" on the lantern skin flickered in and out of view within the mist.

The sound of splashing water behind him had also vanished. Yang Xiao mustered his courage and turned around; there was nothing behind him, only the comforting warm light cast down by the overhead lamps.

When he turned back to look at the end of the corridor, both the mist and the mansion gate were gone. The corridor was clean, and the faint smell of disinfectant floated in the air.

"Was it all... a hallucination?"

Yang Xiao felt a bit dazed for a moment. The door to his room was open, and he could still see light shining out from inside. At this moment, he was only a dozen meters away from the room, yet in his memory, he had run at least a hundred meters.

Likewise, there were no wet footprints on the ground; there wasn't even any water.

Aside from his own memory, there was no physical evidence to corroborate that something had been hunting him just now, just like what he had encountered at the rental apartment.

Recalling everything that had just happened, Yang Xiao knew it absolutely was not a hallucination. Not long ago, that door at the end of the corridor had given him an indescribable sense of crisis, and the goal of the thing chasing him was clear: it wanted to drive him into that door, the Feng family's mansion gate. He was certain that if he ever entered that door, he would never come back.

That thing had likely latched onto him; he couldn't escape it, and hiding anywhere was useless. His only path to survival was Fengmen Town.

Slowly, human sounds began to emerge in the surroundings, as if the stolen human vitality were returning bit by bit. Yang Xiao clearly heard the sounds coming from a television, and, masked by the TV's noise, the creaking of a bed shaking from time to time.

It was right behind the door to his left; everything seemed so real.

Choosing not to walk back to his room, Yang Xiao stood where he was, because he couldn't be sure if all of this was real or just another trap.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

As Yang Xiao pounded on the door, the sound of the shaking bed inside vanished instantly. This was followed by a rustling sound, and a moment later, a guilty-sounding male voice rose from behind the door, "Who? Who is it?"

It sounded very real, but Yang Xiao didn't reply and continued to pound on the door, "Bang! Bang, bang, bang!"

"Coming, coming! Officer, although I've only known my girlfriend for 20 minutes, I swear we are truly in love. Please, the organization must believe me, I'm a decent person!" The man opened the door a third of the way, revealing a pitiful face. It was clear he was very nervous; he had even buttoned his shirt wrong in several places.

Yang Xiao looked the man up and down, then peered through the crack in the door into the room, before nodding with an apologetic look, "Sorry, I have the wrong room."

The man froze for a moment, then his expression turned fierce. His mouth opened, and just by the shape of his lips, one could tell it was a perfectly articulated string of profanities.

"There are plainclothes officers outside the hotel; the police will be here in a moment," Yang Xiao said in a low voice.

The string of profanities stopped abruptly. The look in the man's eyes as he stared at Yang Xiao turned strange. A moment later, having likely figured something out, the man immediately turned around, scolding the woman to hurry up while grabbing his wallet. He pulled out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it to Yang Xiao, "Brother, your hotel is really damn considerate. I'll be sure to choose you guys from now on!"

Seeing that Yang Xiao didn't move, the man immediately understood, pulled out two more bills, and then quickly stuffed the money into Yang Xiao's pocket, "Take this to buy a few packs of cigarettes!"

That was enough; now Yang Xiao confirmed that this should be real. However, he couldn't stay in his room tonight. After the man and woman left, Yang Xiao found the hotel front desk number on the website where he had booked the room. He made up an excuse, called the staff up, and only returned to pack his things once they arrived, then went back down to the first-floor lobby.

Actually, the female receptionist who came along had wanted to take the elevator, but Yang Xiao said he had claustrophobia, so they had to take the stairs.

Upon learning that Yang Xiao's only request was to sit in the first-floor lobby for the night, the hotel staff were clearly somewhat surprised; they had originally thought Yang Xiao was going to make a fuss about checking out.

"I'm not checking out, it's just too stuffy in the room; I don't like it," Yang Xiao said with a natural expression. "You all go back to work."

Yang Xiao sat on the sofa. From his angle, the female receptionist was opposite him, and not far to his side and rear was the security guard's night duty station. Through the hotel's glass door, he could admire the city's night view; the passing vehicles and the various billboards of the shops across the street intertwined, which also brought him a modicum of a sense of security.

Calming his mind, he began to slowly recall everything that had happened before. Through the reflection on the computer screen, he saw a person standing on the sofa. This time, he was certain: it was a woman.

The woman was soaked from head to toe, wearing a messy dress, her head lowered, long hair hanging down to cover her face, her body thin and hunched.

He thought the woman might not be able to harm him directly; her goal was only to drive him into that gate. What was truly lethal was that gate.

What was certain was that the woman must be related to Fengmen Town, as well as the Feng Jia Lao Zhai.

At the same time, Yang Xiao also associated this with the supernatural incident at the old Flour Factory site, where the ethereal, operatic singing in the background of that video also seemed to be a woman.