Chapter Fourteen: Sudden Turn of Events

The sound appeared with abrupt suddenness.

At this moment, Colin was crouching, facing the statue, his back to the grand doors. The instant the sound broke the silence, his entire body tensed. He could sense that a being brimming with malice was standing right behind him.

His two subordinates were visibly pale. They seemed to want to speak, but Colin silenced them with a glance, preventing any further mishaps.

After a brief hesitation, Colin half-turned to look behind him—and saw that, at some unknown moment, a little girl had appeared on the carpet that should have been empty.

A little girl as exquisite as a porcelain doll.

Her figure was somewhat blurred and translucent, clad in a white, flowing dress. Her hair was pallid, her face devoid of expression. She stood at the edge of the candlelight, head cocked, her stark black-and-white eyes fixed upon him.

A hush fell over the scene for a moment.

“Big brother, are you looking for me?”

After the brief silence, the little girl spoke again, her childish voice ethereal and distorted, as if echoing from the far reaches of a dream.

“Big brother, I think I saw you wake up all the other children…”

“I saw you hack them, one by one, into pieces…”

“I was so scared, I kept hiding…”

“Big brother, none of us ever hurt anyone. We just wanted to live. We were only waiting for someone to save us…”

“Paper, clothes, scraps of fabric, rats, cats, little birds, hair, blood, chunks of flesh… We ate everything we could, struggling desperately to survive…”

“Grandpa the priest said he’d be back soon with help, so everyone kept waiting, hoping…”

“I can feel it—grandpa the priest is almost back, everyone was about to be saved… Why…”

“Big brother, we tried so hard to live, so why… why did you have to kill us?”

Again and again, the little girl questioned him, as if passing judgment on Colin’s “crimes,” her voice saturated with pain and icy accusation.

And with each word that fell from her lips, the aura emanating from her grew ever more terrifying.

Her black-and-white eyes began to change, the ink-black irises slowly bleeding into a vivid, blood-red hue.

Step by step, she advanced, radiating an overpowering, irresistible pressure.

“I’m so scared…”

She stopped in front of Colin, tilting her face upward. Scarlet tears welled in her eyes, tracing down her pale cheeks, falling onto her chest and staining her white dress crimson.

At that moment, it seemed she was recalling the agony of her past; her delicate features twisted, and an almost tangible aura of suffering poured from her.

“Little one, I should be the one who’s afraid!”

Colin’s scalp tingled. He watched as the little girl drifted closer into the light, but his body was locked in place, paralyzed, his voice caught in his throat. Otherwise, he would have tried to speak, to explain, to tell her that things weren’t what she imagined…

Like Colin, his two servants remained motionless behind him. He had no idea what state they were in, but suspected it was much the same as his own. Under normal circumstances, their instincts would have compelled them to rush forward and shield him.

Feeling the ever-mounting frenzy in those red eyes, Colin’s heart pounded wildly, his terror impossible to suppress.

But he could not move!

The moment he turned to face the little girl, it was as if everything in the surrounding space had been frozen. The only being capable of movement in this sealed world was that despair-inducing little girl.

Step by step, she advanced through the shadows, her expression unraveling into hysteria and madness.

Calm, calm, calm… Colin screamed inwardly, locking his gaze on the bizarre, inhuman creature before him.

[For reasons unknown, you cannot see through the “little girl” standing before you, nor obtain any specific information about her. Still, even without thinking, you know she hails from the dead—a terrifying, vengeful spirit.]

[You believe that with your current strength, you are utterly outmatched in this situation. It’s already too late to run…]

[Yet you feel this task shouldn’t be so hopeless. You…]

Riiiiip—

“Ah!”

The guidance broke off at the critical instant!

A searing pain tore through his shoulder.

Only now did Colin realize that, in the brief moment he’d been focused on the hints, the little girl had reached out and violently ripped a chunk of flesh from his left shoulder!

Blood spurted. Colin’s face twisted in agony, the corners of his eyes twitching, sweat soaking his clothes in a matter of seconds.

The little girl held the bloody morsel, popped it into her mouth, chewed several times, and swallowed.

The sight made Colin’s scalp crawl.

No one could witness their own flesh being eaten before their very eyes and remain unshaken.

Tsk… The girl licked the crimson from her fingers, wiped the blood from her face without a care, and looked at him once more. Gone was the earlier “reason” from her blood-red eyes; now they brimmed only with grotesquery and madness.

“Big brother, I’m so hungry. You look delicious…”

She spoke with the delight of a child savoring a piece of cake.

Colin drew a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and focus his mind on the guidance, but it was nearly impossible.

The pain was excruciating!

It felt as if his brain and the left side of his neck were being wrenched in spasms.

With both mind and body reeling from trauma, his emotions whirling in panic and extremity, it was impossible to glean any hints—this was a fatal flaw.

Now, that flaw was deadly indeed.

It had caused Colin to miss the most crucial information.

Information that could decide his very survival.

Adrenaline surged through him as he watched the girl’s hand reach out again, as if she meant to consume him whole.

Unseen behind him, his two servants stared at the vengeful spirit, their eyes bloodshot, their faces contorted with fury and anguish, desperate to endure Colin’s suffering in his place.

Their resentment and anger had already outstripped their fear.

But in the face of overwhelming power, even the greatest fury and unwillingness amounted to nothing.

Just like Colin, they were bound by some invisible force, unable to move, unable even to speak.

This power was different from the emotional manipulation used by “Father Confessor” or the “Wailer”—it was a new, unknown means of control.

Calm! Calm! I must keep calm! I can’t rely too much on the guidance—the information just now was enough. The guidance said this task shouldn’t be so hopeless. That means I haven’t reached a true dead end yet…

Yes! Think carefully—she seemed to notice us long ago. When the doors shut behind us, I thought it was just part of the “game,” but now I suspect otherwise…

She appeared cautious at first, but now she’s descending into madness. This is my chance!

She’s definitely not invincible! If she could crush us so easily, why wait until now to act?

We must have triggered some condition of hers!

Colin’s mind raced for answers at a speed surpassing even his college entrance exams. What have I missed? What did I overlook…?

Riiiiip—

A slender, pale hand plunged into his wound, tearing away another strip of flesh. The veins bulged on Colin’s forehead, and cold sweat soaked his body.

And at that very moment, Colin discovered how she was controlling him!