Nightmare Assault

The sound was quick but consistent. Everyone held their breath. The next second, Zuo Qing’s eyes shook. She saw a few paper dolls appear from the mist. The leading one carried a paper lantern. The paper dolls swayed as they moved. Their actions were extremely uncoordinated.

Zuo Qing sucked in a cold breath. She could sense that they were hunting.

“Shush,” An Xuan whispered. Everyone lowered their heads further. Zuo Qing held her breath. Thankfully, the paper dolls didn’t discover them. They trundled away. The travellers only dared to move after the sound of friction was gone.

“It’s okay now.” An Xuan sighed. Then, he reached out and yanked the bride off Zuo Qing’s back. Zuo Qing was too shocked to react. “Wait! It’s him!” Zuo Qing gasped.

The person on the ground was extremely thin. It was… Elder Huang!

Elder Huang looked different from before. His listlessness disappeared. After his identity was exposed, he glared at the travellers. Blood covered his eyes. His lips opened as air leaked from his throat.

“We were passing him, and not the ghost, around in the play,” An Xuan explained, “Those paper dolls… were the real ghosts.”

Zuo Qing asked, “Do you mean the same paper ghosts we saw in the beginning who guided us?”

“Yes.” An Xuan continued, “We should leave first. We can talk back at home.”

“Then, what about him?” Zuo Qing glanced at Elder Huang in the red costume.

“Knock him out and take him with us.” They chose a small alley, worried that they’d run into the paper dolls. It started to drizzle. The travellers hurried back. You Qi wanted to stop to avoid the rain, but Zuo Qing vetoed it. She just wanted to go back home. Her eyes kept wandering. Her instinct told her that the danger was still present. Her stamina was depleted. Her footsteps weakened. She was eventually abandoned by the team.

Soon, Fatty, who slowed down, also suggested they stopped to avoid the rain. The annoyed Zuo Qing denied it again. She wondered if they had lost their mind. They knew the paper dolls were still hunting them. Why would they stop?

A little rain wouldn’t kill them. However, to Zuo Qing’s consternation, more people requested they stop. Even An Xuan also suggested they find a place to hide from the rain. Zuo Qing frowned. Her teammates had been busy moving. Even when they suggested to stop, they didn’t turn their heads back. Their movements… were strangely uniform.

Lightning flashed.

Through the momentary brightness, Zuo Qing was surprised to find that the puddles on the ground had been coloured. There were green, yellow, blue… and red. They looked like a colour palette.

Zuo Qing discovered that the paint… dripped from her teammates. The colour slid down their clothes and melted into the ground.

This was bad…

Just as Zuo Qing prepared to escape, there was a thunder. The thunder was like an order for her six teammates. They slowly turned around. When she saw their faces, Zuo Qing’s heart stopped. Their faces… were melting. Like burned wax, their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears had been moved around. Some of them had their eyes and mouths mixed together. Wet paint dribbled from their faces. It hit Zuo Qing. Her teammates… were the paper dolls. They were the ghosts!

“Why… why didn’t we stop for the rain?” Fatty, whose eyes had fully melted, took one step forward, “Why?”

“Do you wish for us to die so badly?” Xia Meng screamed.

“Kill her!”

“Kill her!”

“Yank off her skin… Then we won’t be afraid of water anymore!” The paper dolls giggled and screamed as they surrounded Zuo Qing. The seemingly weak paper doll scratched Zuo Qing and peeled off her flesh.

“Skin! I want her skin!” The paper dolls were dyed red by Zuo Qing’s blood. The blood mixed with the rain.

“That’s mine!”

“Her skin is mine!” The paper dolls knocked over each other as they fought for pieces of Zuo Qing’s skin. They stuck her skin to their bodies.

The horrible cries cut through the sky. Soon, everything returned to silence. The only sound that remained was the sound of flesh rolling through the mud.

Elder Huang, in the red costume, knelt on the ground. He witnessed everything. He cackled dully. His face was dyed red from the splattered blood.

…

When An Xuan and the rest arrived, it was already too late. In the red mud, there was a broken corpse that looked like an abandoned doll. The corpse could no longer be identified. Other than some small patches of skin, the rest of the skin, including the face, had been taken away.

One eyeball dangled from a capillary. The other… was gone. Only a hollow remained as it stared at the night sky.

Zuo Qing suffered greatly when she died. There were signs of struggle everywhere. There were pieces of clothing and bits of flesh.

Xia Meng carried the only lantern the group had.

Fatty took in the horrible scene. The smell of blood tickled his nose. Something churned in his stomach. Chen Qiang and You Qi had already vomited before. He was close.

An Xuan knelt beside the desecrated corpse. No one disturbed him. The situation was solemn. The corpse’s mouth was wide open.

An Xuan stood up. “Let’s go.” He looked at the lake and said, “The sun is coming up.”

After this incident, Fatty caught the subtle change in the group. Only he and the Doctor returned to their room.

“Doctor,” After closing the door, Fatty asked, “Xia Meng stayed with An Xuan. Don’t they need to hide their identities?”

Jiang Cheng removed his shoes and climbed into bed. “Why should they?” he glanced out the window. “Didn’t you hear him? The sun… is coming up.”