Neither of us knew what to do as we stared at the old woman's ghastly face. She didn't look much like a cowgirl, I supposed, but she gave off an extremely creepy vibe.
"I'll take one. Give me a can!" Stein took the Red Bull and quickly handed her the money, but he didn't dare drink it. He held it in his hand, and when he opened it, the liquid inside was the same color as blood, with a fishy smell.
After selling the Red Bull, the old woman didn't linger and soon moved to another machine to sell snacks.
Near that machine sat a burly man, and the old woman stayed with him the longest. But the man seemed too busy playing a game to bother with her, and before long, she left on her own.
The old woman was short and skinny, just like Stein, and wasn't even as tall as the chair—which was probably why she was so hard to notice.
She didn't leave the internet café but wandered among the customers. With some, she exchanged only a few words; with others, she chatted for a long time.
Seizing the chance, I sneaked up next to the burly man and asked what the old woman had said to him.
The man ignored me until I slipped him a hundred dollars.
"This crazy old hag said she wanted my meat—ten thousand dollars a pound. Only an idiot would pay attention to her. Did she escape from a mental hospital?" The burly man rolled his eyes as he spoke.
I was surprised. What did that mean? What did the old woman want?
The man explained that she had told him he didn't need to do anything—just nod in agreement. Under her basket, she had stacks of cash, and she claimed that if he was willing, she'd give him the money.
The man laughed and said he wasn't stupid enough to believe that. Besides, it was too creepy—only a ghost would agree to something like that.
I began to understand what he meant, and suddenly, a chill ran down my spine. It was as if I'd realized something—wasn't the first dead man, the fat one, exactly like this?
People were getting thinner and thinner, yet richer and richer. Orwell had mentioned feeling something was off before, and now it made sense.
Just because this burly man refused didn't mean others would. For someone who was fat and poor, the offer might sound tempting.
This was pure evil. What was really going on here? Could the old woman be practicing some kind of dark witchcraft?
Such malevolent magic wasn't unheard of—Southeast Asia's Kuman Thong, the sorcery of the North and South, even Gu poison from the Miao region could achieve similar effects.
But this old woman… she seemed even more sinister!
After gathering this information, I hurried back to discuss it with Stein. He immediately slapped his forehead and said, "Little Boss, no need to ask. That thing is definitely a Siberian weasel."
This Siberian weasel was extremely cunning. She didn't dare cause a big scene to harm people directly, so she came up with this roundabout method.
Technically speaking, this counted as a willing trade—the Siberian weasel wasn't considered to be harming anyone. Her scheme was too clever.
Stein made me understand, and as I stared at that skinny old woman, a shudder ran through me. I could hardly believe she was actually a Siberian weasel.
I doubted anyone in the internet café realized that the one who had just been chatting with them wasn't human at all!
"Hey, hey, what are you two talking about?" The old woman suddenly appeared behind us, her expression dark. She laughed, then immediately scowled again. I noticed her cheeks twitching unnaturally, as if something beneath them was shifting.
A cold sweat broke out on my back as a terrible thought struck me.
This old woman… could she be a Siberian weasel wearing human skin? Maybe she didn't even have the ability to shapeshift properly.
Stein seemed to notice it too. He was even more terrified than I was, his whole body trembling as he stared at the old woman's barely human face.
"N-no, we weren't discussing anything! Just… just researching a little… a computer game!" Stein stammered.
"Oh? Seems to me you two aren't here to surf the internet." The old woman suddenly grinned, her eyes turning a murky red. Then, her gaze shifted—distant one moment, close the next, flickering between brightness and shadow.
Looking into her eyes, I suddenly felt dizzy. My head grew unbearably heavy, the world spinning around me.
Then, everything turned hazy. Before me stretched a colorful path, though the way ahead was pitch-black. In the distance, I could barely make out a beautiful woman in a white dress walking ahead, holding a lantern.
"At midnight, the human skin is draped. The world buys meat. All who stand in my way are enemies. The soul returns to Huang Daxian."
The woman in white had her back to me. As she walked forward with the lantern, she chanted these words.
Hearing them, my body moved against my will. I followed her, unable to resist. I tried to call out for Stein, but my mouth wouldn't open. My mind was foggy, as if I were drunk.
The road seemed endless. I trailed behind the woman in white, unsure how long or how far I had walked—until a rusted iron door loomed ahead.
My body moved on its own, pushing the door open. A screeching sound grated against my ears, like claws scraping metal.
Once inside, the woman in white vanished. Everything before me turned an eerie green. I took a few steps forward—then bang! I collided with something. The sharp pain jolted me awake.
"Agh—damn, that hurts!" Stein groaned, clutching his bony frame as he writhed on the ground. Crashing into me must've been rough on his fragile body.
I quickly helped him up and asked if he was alright. He shook his head and said there was no major problem.
At this moment, I surveyed our surroundings and found we were in a courtyard. The yard was overgrown with weeds as tall as a person, so dense we couldn't see outside at all.
Wasn't this the place where Orwell experienced ghost-induced disorientation? But Old Zhang had said there were no abandoned houses or yards here - only a broken Huang Daxian temple.
How did we end up here? We'd just been in the internet cafe, hadn't we?
Stein suggested we might have fallen victim to the Siberian weasel's demonic magic, experiencing hallucinations that led us to this haunted place.
There were rumors that a Siberian weasel's eyes held evil power - if you stared into them, you'd become bewitched. And we had looked directly into that old woman's eyes...
This was really bad. Stella hadn't followed us - she was still sleeping back at the internet cafe!
Damn it, this place and that old woman were so sinister. Could Stein and I make it out alive?
Did this Huang Daxian bring us here to kill us?
At this thought, Stein and I became terrified. We tried to run out, but just as Orwell had experienced, the dense grass in the yard prevented our escape. We were experiencing the same ghost-induced disorientation.
Later, we tried Orwell's method of walking with our eyes closed, but it didn't work. Instead, we stumbled upon a large pile of bones hidden in the grass.
This meant many people had died here. Probably few who entered this place ever left alive.
I wondered how Orwell had been lucky enough to enter and escape, while we couldn't! We'd tried all his methods but still couldn't break the ghost-induced disorientation.
Just then, I suddenly heard Stella's voice calling our names. We were overjoyed.
Ecstatic, we ran toward the voice - when suddenly a pair of hands grabbed us from behind. I turned around and saw it was Stella.