Chapter 32: Cursed Malice

With the male corpse no longer interfering, the clapping game proceeded smoothly.

Player Two, Shi Ji, took over from Wu Xian as the new seeker. Soon after, Player Three, Yue Mei, clapped three times in quick succession, bracing herself to be found. Shi Ji kept his eyes shut, but instead of searching for Yue Mei, he groped through the darkness, scouring the room for the source of the other set of claps. He intended to find the Mother of the Lost Child and make her take his place as the seeker.

This was a strategy they had pre-arranged. The hostel rooms were too cramped to accommodate all six survivors at once, yet playing in separate rooms forced them to cross thresholds to find one another—a scenario far too dangerous and prone to fatal accidents. Wu Xian had proposed that whenever a room change was required, the current seeker would locate the Mother and pass the mantle to her, letting the entity cross the rooms to find the next person clapping. This allowed all three groups of survivors to remain within their respective rooms, significantly increasing their safety and keeping the game under control.

The room was small. Shi Ji quickly brushed against tattered clothing and found the Mother of the Lost Child. However, switching the seeker was no simple task. Shi Ji fumbled nervously over the entity, his hands nearly cramping. He had never touched a woman in his life, but the thought that he was groping a terrifying, super-powered evil spirit killed any romantic notions; he was deathly afraid of touching somewhere he shouldn't and being slaughtered by the Mother. Furthermore, every time Shi Ji made contact, flashes of wretched, despairing imagery flooded his mind, twisting his expression and pushing his mental state to the brink of collapse.

Fortunately, Shi Ji eventually touched the Mother’s eyes. Trembling, he leaned in close and blew a puff of stale, foul breath directly into them. Wu Xian caught a sudden, pungent whiff of pig intestines...

The switch was complete.

The Mother of the Lost Child pushed Shi Ji aside and, following the sound of Yue Mei’s claps, began to shuffle slowly toward Room 401. Her movements were sluggish, like those of a genuine blind person, yet no matter the distance, she always managed to find the next survivor within ten minutes.

Hearing the Mother’s footsteps fade away, Wu Xian and Shi Ji both let out long breaths. They had finally made it through this stage. They were safe for a long while now; the next round would not begin until the final player, Su Huijin, blew into the Mother’s eyes.

The two men groped their way to a bed and a chair, respectively, panting heavily. Merely touching the entity had inflicted significant psychological trauma.

"If I had actually opened my eyes to look at her, I probably would have died a miserable death," Shi Ji whispered to Wu Xian. "Man, Xian-ge, I nearly pissed myself back there. If I didn't deal with filth and waste every day, which has made my nerves thick as iron, I would’ve gone insane from those visions."

"You saw those visions, too?"

"Of course. It was so wretched..."

Wu Xian nodded, feeling the same. He considered himself a man of strong will, yet even he had wavered under the impact of those images. If an ordinary person had been in their place...

Just as he thought this, Wu Xian’s expression shifted abruptly. "Oh no. This is bad."

Shi Ji’s heart skipped a beat. "What is it? Did something go wrong?"

Wu Xian said with a dark face, "The mental shock from contacting the Mother is something even you and I can barely withstand. Yue Mei is the weakest among us—how could she have survived the mental contamination?"

"Maybe... she’s soft on the outside but tough on the inside?"

"Fine, even if she is mentally resilient, why is she so radiant and why does she hold the Mother in such high regard after surviving two nights of hell?"

Shi Ji had no answer.

Wu Xian gritted his teeth, a grim premonition forming in his mind. He feared that the Yue Mei who had returned was no longer the same person. She hadn't brought the Mother to help them resolve their predicament; she had other intentions. But due to the rules of the clapping game, even if Wu Xian had guessed the truth, he had no way to warn the others. He could only pray that everyone remained sufficiently vigilant against her.

...

In Room 401, Yue Mei had been found by the Mother. She groped through the darkness and located Wen Zhao, who was standing on the other side, successfully shifting the seeker role once more.

For an ordinary elderly man, this game was far too stimulating; he likely would have died on the spot from a heart attack or high blood pressure long ago. But Wen Zhao’s movements were steady. He kept his eyes tightly shut, searching along the perimeter of the room, leaving no corner unchecked. No matter where the Mother hid, he would eventually find her. In his long career in research, he had learned that panic was useless.

But he did not notice the change that had occurred.

Yue Mei, having just shed the role of seeker, had opened her eyes. She watched Wen Zhao’s movements with cold indifference, and as she saw him finally touch the Mother, a malicious grin spread across her face—an expression she never would have worn before.

That day, under the guidance of the old woman, she had worshipped the Mother of the Lost Child, and that very night, she had participated in the clapping game to save her own life. She had kept encouraging herself, but when the Mother had truly touched her, the surge of endless negative emotions had instantly shattered her fragile mental defenses.

She had opened her eyes and faced the primal evil of this blessed land. She had not been blinded and killed; instead, she had been granted the Mother’s mercy. The price was that she had to become a devotee and offer the Mother high-quality flesh and blood.

A devotee of the Mother could reduce the impact of negative emotions during the clapping game and receive the Mother’s favor, gaining the privilege of briefly opening their eyes during the game to increase their chances of survival. But the cost was that she had to provide sacrifices at regular intervals.

When she, ignorant and naive, had worshipped the idol, she thought she had found a way to survive, but in reality, the old woman had earmarked her as a sacrifice for the Mother. Now a devotee, Yue Mei was required to provide regular offerings, or the Mother would make her pay the price for breaking the rules at any moment. And the sacrifices the Mother craved were the same as her: high-quality flesh and blood that had not been corrupted by this world.

Thus, Yue Mei thought of the other survivors.

As a devotee, Yue Mei found her former self pathetic, and all that remained in her heart was hatred for Wu Xian and the others. Seeing Wen Zhao about to touch the Mother's eyes and fulfill the game’s conditions, Yue Mei let out a sharp, venomous voice.

"I’m sorry, Professor Wen."

"I have no choice. You can only blame yourself."

"If any of you had been willing to help me back then, I wouldn't have ended up like this. Now, it’s time for you to pay for the mistakes you made!"

Without waiting for Wen Zhao to respond, Yue Mei reached out toward his eyes. She was going to force him to open them.