Chapter 74: Passing Through the Doors
Asking Louis now if he was scared?
"Not scared. Not scared at all." A bunch of corpses lying still—this was obvious. What was there to be afraid of?
Even if they were missing heads, arms, or legs, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they lay still, just as a corpse should. That was nothing to fear.
Louis exhaled, and even his breath seemed to carry an extreme excitement.
As if struck by a thought, he suddenly changed direction, stepping toward the group behind him, dragging the baseball bat.
The group shivered slightly. Layla tugged at the corner of her mouth, trying to calm everyone, but Louis’s presence was undeniably frightening.
Yet clearly, they hesitated, and Louis didn’t focus on them.
He raised the baseball bat and swung directly at the door behind them, but it seemed enveloped in an invisible barrier, and Louis couldn’t smash it!
The impact sent him shaking, his entire body trembling backward, not just his hands.
"Louis, are you okay?"
Seeing this, Layla couldn’t help but rush forward and support him.
Louis seemed dazed from the shock. His eyes drooped as he looked at Layla, then the baseball bat. After a long pause, he shook his head.
He shook his head with some force, sending blood from his hair flying everywhere, some of it splattering onto Layla’s face.
Layla: "..."
Louis finally regained his composure and spoke softly: "I’m sorry."
Layla shook her head.
At that moment, it wasn’t just Layla—everyone instinctively turned toward Louis.
"Where do we go next..."
"Are we going to be trapped here forever?"
Someone started crying again. Thinking back on the recent scene, their hearts were filled only with fear.
"Let’s keep moving," Louis said matter-of-factly.
The boy with the round face wiped his tears and boldly looked at Louis. "You were even more scared than we were just now, Louis."
That was true—just moments ago, Louis had repeatedly told them to stop, warned them not to do certain things, but they all assumed he was terrified.
Besides, how could ordinary people imagine a house suddenly transforming like that? Even standing amid a pool of blood, they still did not react—only fear had taken hold of them.
"Louis... do you know something?" someone murmured, then dared not speak any louder. Just now, a baseball bat had suddenly appeared in Louis’s hands; seeing that, nothing could have seemed normal.
Louis had a lot he couldn’t say when they saw the other things later, but who knew who would be more afraid of whom?
But at least, Louis seemed to have found a way to steady himself.
He just needed to kill them. Just have them lie still as they were supposed to, and then there would be nothing to fear.
So he just needed to kill them all.
Layla looked at Louis’s stiff body, her eyes betraying her worry.
Still, they had no choice but to move forward.
As Will said earlier, they needed to pass through seven doors. Now, only six remained.
The group huddled close together, as if proximity could keep them safer.
Layla walked a bit ahead, standing behind Louis.
Creak!
The second door opened. A dim, gloomy light at least allowed them to see the path, though it wasn’t enough to illuminate the whole space. The oppressive red hue made everything feel unnaturally somber.
Louis moved quickly. As long as nothing jumped out at him, his mind could still function normally.
He swiftly pulled out a paper placed under the stone slab. Layla stepped forward as well, peering at the question.
"Who killed the red-necked bird?"
Layla slowly read each word, her expression puzzled.
But as soon as she finished speaking, a sudden thud sounded behind them.
A female colleague fell to the ground, her body convulsing uncontrollably. One side of her face rapidly rotted away.
The others screamed in shock and scrambled to flee. A male colleague instinctively raised his hands, shaking his head. "It wasn’t me... it wasn’t me..."
But he had no clear perception of his own current state.
All he could see was fresh blood soaking his waist and running up to his chest. Maggots tore through his clothes, wriggling under his skin, as if only a thin membrane separated them from the surface!
Louis gasped and lunged forward.
"It’s you!"
Another massacre unfolded. Two heads were gone in an instant. Blood sprayed across the walls, filling the air with a putrid stench. Yet Louis felt that no matter how foul the blood smelled, it was nothing compared to how he felt.
It was revolting, filthy to the extreme. Louis almost wanted to cry—he just wanted to wash himself.
So he didn’t waste words. He kicked the already-open door aside and ran forward. The three remaining colleagues hurried after him, afraid Louis would leave them behind.
Louis felt everything before him blur, as if veiled in strange colors. Each step made him feel light, like he was walking on clouds.
Behind him came strange sounds. Layla’s group suddenly transformed in an eerie, inexplicable way. Just moments ago, they had been perfectly normal, but now they had become monsters, baring their teeth and eyes, ready to tear chunks of flesh from him!
Louis saw Layla approaching him, gripping the baseball bat tightly. Layla was kind, but it seemed he might have to smash her head like a water balloon.
Yet something still felt off... something wasn’t right.
"Louis! Louis, are you okay? Louis!"
The sudden shout made Louis jump. He opened his eyes wide and instinctively blinked, only to see Layla standing before him, worry etched across her face.
Inside, Louis’s mind was a chaotic mess, but he showed nothing on the outside. After all, he couldn’t exactly tell her that he’d nearly smashed everyone’s heads just because they had turned into monsters in his eyes...
Layla held up the paper and handed it to Louis. "Read this."
Louis quickly took the paper.
"A hero is no hero, a hero drinks the blood of his comrades..."
Louis: "...damn it."
He tore the paper and said, "The door must be open. Let’s go."
Layla looked at the shredded paper on the ground, then at Louis moving to open the next door. Suddenly, she understood what Louis’s expression had meant earlier.
She pressed her lips together. Whatever she was thinking, she didn’t slow her steps even a little.
Now, they had entered the fourth door! A faint glimmer of hope began to stir in their hearts.