Mo Yi quickened his pace and stepped to the secret door, climbing down the wooden ladder that had not been put away.
As soon as he landed, he saw the Mist standing at the window quietly watching him. The halo of the light blue countdown timer outside the window shone in and lightly lined his side profile. Even in his light gray pupils, a little blue light was reflected.
He raised a well-joined finger and pressed it lightly to his lips:
Shh.
Mo Yi’s eyes narrowed, he stopped the movement in his hands, and listened intently.
He only heard a slow dragging sound from outside the door, as if something was crawling against the ground. The carpeted wooden floor made a muffled creaking sound, which seemed particularly eerie in the dark silence.
There was a faint humming in the distance, but it was very unclear through the not so thin wall and door.
The gentle male voice was getting closer and closer, the indistinct repeated humming transmitted to the eardrums through the boundless darkness, faintly affecting the human heart and nerves.
–It was too late to leave the second floor.
Mo Yi stared closely at the dark door and held his breath subconsciously.
The darkness and silence made his senses more keen, even the slightest sound could enter his head, as if everything around him was magnified.
The beating of his heart was like a drum, it was contracting and beating loudly, hitting his ears faster and faster, mixing with the sound of his deliberately lowered breathing, shaking every nerve in him.
The dragging was getting closer and closer, the sound of “chacha” appeared regular and monotonous, and the friction sound seemed to be mixed with the sound of rolling and scratching.
The soft male voice sang a vague nursery rhyme in a low voice, making people feel terrified.
A pale hand grabbed the door frame, and the black and turbid blood slowly flowed down the twisted door frame. Then, the hand fell down sharply and advanced a lot through the door.
Mo Yi’s breathing couldn’t help but stagnate, his eyes seemed to be drawn, and stayed firmly on that hand.
The entire arm was exposed– including a clean, flat cut at the back of the arm.
This turned out to be a broken arm that could move on its own!
Pale fingers clasped the cracks in the floor and pulled itself forward, leaving a thick tar-colored blood stain underneath.
A grunt sounded.
A head rolled to the door, a pale face was pressed against the floor, as it looked at Mo Yi who was standing in the room expressionlessly.
The pair of dark, emotionless, cloudy eyes seemed to be out of focus, which made people feel cold all over.
He wriggled his pale lips and hummed softly:
“…He had left legs and arms lying all over the room…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zb Tl’r ygfjatlcu delmxfcfv. Llr tjcv qgfrrlcu bc atf kbbvfc rajlgr mifcmtfv ribkis, jcv atf wermifr lc tlr jgwr rfmgfais fzfgafv ragfcuat. Llr fsfr olzfv bc atf afggloslcu rmfcf lc ogbca bo tlw, tlr ojmf rbifwc jcv afcrf.
Lf kjr kjlalcu.
Ktf batfg abgc ybvs qjgar kgluuifv ab obiibk, jcv atf cfjais ogjmaegfv ifur jcv offa jirb fcafgfv Zb Tl’r olfiv bo nlrlbc. Ktf ilwyr atja kfgf milwylcu lc atf vlgfmalbc bo atf rajlgkjs mtjcufv vlgfmalbc jcv wbnfv mibrfg ab Zb Tl.
The pale head also rolled inward.
The humming grew louder and clearer: ”–there was a man, a very untidy man.”
Mo Yi’s thoughts flashed like lightning in his head, and he instantly found the corresponding content in his mind.
He didn’t stay for another second, climbing up the wooden ladder at his fastest speed.
His heart was beating desperately in his chest, almost reaching his throat. From the corner of Mo Yi’s eye, he saw the pale hand that was attacking him, also accelerating and charging straight at him.
It was only a few centimeters away from grabbing the corner of his clothes!
At this moment, the Mist who was standing in the darkness moved, and took a step forward.
With his movement, endless gray mist suddenly spread behind him, squeezing every trace of air, surging forward clearly, exuding endless aura of coercion and terror, and attacking the severed hand directly!
The pale severed hand froze instantly.
The head also changed its blank expression. The pale face was occupied by resentment and fear, therefore looking even more bizarre than before. A pair of turbid eyes stared at the spreading mist, leaving no trace of light in them. The pupils… were full of fear.
Taking advantage of his chance, Mo Yi sped up, rushed to the attic with one last stride, reaching out and grabbing the handle of the secret door. The wooden staircase folded with his actions, following the secret door as it was pulled into the attic.
The secret door was finally closed tightly, blocking the treacherous sight from the pale head.
The dust was slowly stirring around him, and the smell of blood became even more pungent.
Mo Yi gasped for breath, his eyes drooping down, covering the lingering look in the center of his constricted pupils.
He pressed on the still shaking attic floor with his slightly trembling palms. His rapid heartbeat and sharp gasping sounded in his ears, occupying almost all his thoughts.
Mo Yi closed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
It was too dangerous just now.
According to his experience of the previous critical moments, if one was not close enough, one would not be able to hear the specific content sung in the nursery rhyme.
This could be one of the more difficult rules of the instance, in case they found the clues too easily.
So just now, he had no choice but to take risks.
In his previous several experiences, there were other people present besides him. The targets of those monsters were scattered, and because he was very concerned about this kind of thing, it was easier to get clues.
And this time, he was the monster’s only target.
Mo Yi sat on the ground with his legs bent, slowly calming his breathing while sorting out his thoughts.
This nursery rhyme was still one of the mother goose nursery rhymes. The full text was:
”There was a man, a very untidy man,
Whose fingers could nowhere be found, to put in his tomb.
He had rolled his head far underneath the bed.
He had left legs and arms lying all over the room.”
Mo Yi lowered his eyes, and they fell on the dusty wooden floor gaps of the attic, as if he wanted to penetrate this layer of weak wooden planks and look beneath them.
He took a breath and listened to the dragging on the ground downstairs, the rolling of the head, and the muffled chanting as it slowly left.
The sound became smaller and smaller, and then gradually went away.
Mo Yi took a long breath, and his highly tense nerves finally relaxed.
At this time, the air in front of him suddenly fluctuated. Mo Yi was stunned, staring at it.
He saw the light gray mist slowly gather, and then a familiar figure appeared in the open space of the attic.
He looked the same as usual, but his face was obviously much paler, and his light gray eyes became deeper and deeper, looking attentive and palpable when he stared at people.
Mo Yi was taken aback, remembering the scene he had caught out of the corner of the eye just before the secret door was closed.
–The tall man stood in the thick gray mist, the outline of his face blurred, his cold eyes extremely imposing, with a suffocating feeling and a sense of horror.
It almost reminded Mo Yi of the wordless horror he felt when he first saw the slowly spreading fog in the corridor of the first instance.
He supported himself on the wall beside him with his palm and stood up, took a few steps in the direction of the Mist, and asked hesitantly:
“……Are you ok?”
The Mist’s face was calm and soft, and the momentum from before seemed to have been completely restrained. He appeared to be just an ordinary person with handsome features, as he gave a low “um”.
Mo Yi frowned.
He didn’t know if he was imagining it, but the shape of the Mist… It seemed a bit transparent compared to before?
The Mist looked at him intently and said, “The rule of the game is that I can’t get involved in any situation of the instance.”
He paused, thought about it with his eyes closed, and added: “Except for the rule of the instance to include me in it.”
Mo Yi thought of the deadly fog that spread after the end of the class bell in his first instance, he nodded, indicating that he understood it.
The Mist looked at him deeply and continued: “Now that I have disturbed some of the rules of the game, it has begun to repel me outwards. If I stay in this instance in this state, the difficulty of the game will inevitably increase greatly.”
At this moment, Mo Yi suddenly thought of something and asked, “When the last instance was about to end, you disappeared for a long time. Is that why?”
The Mist’s lips were tight, as he nodded slowly.
“Next, I will probably follow you in the real world in an invisible state. After all, in the instance now, my power is still much stronger than in reality, so my sleep time will be shorter.”
Mo Yi frowned tightly, and a pair of very dark eyes stared at him: “Why?”
The Mist froze for a moment.
He listened and slowly continued to ask: “Why do you keep following me?”
Mo Yi took a step forward and approached him, revealing his pale face, his dark eyes looking at him, he continued:
“Whether in the instance or in the real world, even if you are now excluded by the rules of the game, you have to follow me in an invisible form. Why?”
He paused and added:
“You owed me a question during the last instance, remember?”
The Mist’s face was still calm, but for some reason the light-colored eyes held a strange sadness.
Mo Yi looked again, and the other regained his calm and indifferent demeanor:
“I can’t tell.”
Mo Yi was not very surprised by this answer.
He knew that in this game pit, the information management between players and players, and players and non-players was extremely strict. It seemed that it was not incomprehensible to his own NPC.
He couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged…
Only to hear the Mist continue in a low voice:
“But you have to know that I won’t hurt you.”
Mo Yi was stunned for a moment. He looked up at him, but saw that his figure was slowly disappearing, his light gray eyes like mist also slowly dispersed into the air, as a few wisps of mist spread towards him.
Next, he felt his little finger being tickled lightly.
Mo Yi sighed helplessly.
……Fine.
Aw, what the cute ending?
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙
Mist is cutie!! We love sir Fog
I like how reader just turn around and forgot just now there is a head rolling around singing scary rhymes…
I love the way the Mist just acts cute in the middle of a place with dismembered body parts and instant death after injury, it’s impressive how natural the author (and translation!) makes it feel
Thank you so much for translating! <3
Our Misty boy made us forgot about the head and limbs rolling around by his innocence- I WILL MELT(≧▽≦)