What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 606: Chapter 606: Run Fast!

Seeing such a horrifying scene in this semi-enclosed, pitch-dark environment was naturally a huge fright for the two girls.

However, both Ye Zijun and Xiao Ding had mentally prepared themselves to some extent before they followed the male student of Chinese descent into this abandoned subway tunnel. Given their past experiences and various adventures, they did not scream or turn around and run away when they faced this shocking scene.

Ye Zijun’s first reaction was to shout, “Xiao Ding, don’t be afraid! Look at the camera’s screen, it might be our hallucination!”

At the same time, she pulled out the taser she had been holding in her pocket earlier, and instead of retreating, advanced forward, snapping it against the neck of the young man who had a multitude of small mushrooms growing on his face and moss sprouting from his eye sockets.

The mutated young man stiffened when shocked, but then raised his hands to accurately and forcefully grab Ye Zijun’s neck. Various types of moss sprouting from the back of his hand, green, black, and purple, began to creep along his fingers towards Ye Zijun’s neck.

“It’s not a hallucination! The camera captured it too!”

Xiao Ding looked up from the camera screen and saw Ye Zijun’s predicament, without any hesitation, she rushed up and kicked the mutated young man’s knee with all her might, “Fuck you!”

Taking advantage of the moment when the mutated man was thrown off balance by Xiao Ding’s kick, and his grip loosened, Ye Zijun grabbed his wrist, bent her knee, and rammed it hard against the man’s groin.

Finally releasing his grip, Ye Zijun did not attempt to continue her attack after breaking free. Instead, she picked up the flashlight from the ground, pulled Xiao Ding up, and started running back the way they came.

While running towards the entrance, their flashlight swept across the nearby tunnel walls, only to realize with a start that the wall was also covered in various types of moss and mushrooms – they were not there when they first came in. They sprouted in such a short time?!

Ye Zijun still doubted whether all this was just an illusion, but now was not the time to verify. The priority was to run first.

Finally, the flashlight illuminated the door. They were about to get out. Even though the outside was still underground in the subway tunnel, the space was wider, there were more escape routes, and they were closer to the exit.

However, they quickly noticed two massive lizards crawling up from the entrance to the inside of the tunnel. One was on the ground flicking its forked tongue, while the other was climbing up the wall.

Both Ye Zijun and Xiao Ding immediately thought of the “mermaid” story the Chinese student had told them on their way here. They had guessed it was a lizard when they heard that the mermaid of legend had four legs and moved around on land, especially since they had seen a massive lizard just a few days after arriving in Australia.

They hadn’t expected to encounter lizards here as well.

There was a stark difference between these two massive lizards and the one they had seen outside the interviewee’s house. Not only were they bigger, but their bodies were also covered with colorful moss and mushrooms, which gave anyone who saw them goosebumps.

“What do we do now, sister?” Xiao Ding asked nervously. With mutated gigantic lizards blocking their path ahead and a mutated large man behind them, they seemed to have fallen into a dire predicament with pursuers behind and no way out ahead.

Ye Zijun was also somewhat hesitant. By instinct alone, she felt that the mutated man behind them might be easier to deal with, but the problem was that if they turned back and ran in that direction, they would be moving deeper into the tunnel and further away from the exit. They would also be herded like sheep by the two mutated lizards, which could put them in an even more complex situation.

But if they charged forward, she felt they would both end up horribly dead.

Just as she was hesitating, Xiao Ding suddenly exclaimed: “Sis! Your… your face!”

The illumination equipment on Xiao Ding’s camera was fixed on Ye Zijun’s face, revealing that her face was covered in that eerie moss, and there were even mushrooms sprouting from her neck.

Ye Zijun froze, slowly raising her hand to touch her face. Immediately, she pulled back as if it had been scalded, giving a start of surprise.

Then, she hurriedly scrubbed her neck and face with rising despair. The repulsive sensation told her that whatever was on her face was foreign. But no matter how hard she tried to scrape it off, it felt as if it was a part of her —a horrifying extension of her own skin.

Footsteps echoed in the background. The mutated boy was catching up with a limp. Shining her flashlight on him, she recoiled at the sight of his face covered in mushrooms and exposed skin laden with moss – a terrifying spectacle. Shining the light back to the entrance, she noticed the two large lizards closing in.

She grit her teeth, making a decision. “Run towards the exit! If you manage to escape, make sure to send the video out!” Ye Zijun had decided to draw the attention of the lizards, sacrificing herself to buy Xiao Ding some time to escape.

If it was a year ago, or before her tour to Myitkyina, before witnessing the eight-armed, eight-eyed giant illusion, she probably would have never made such a death-defying decision, especially knowing well that she herself had slim chances of surviving this ordeal.

But now, to her, such decision-making had become an intuitive and natural reaction. She knew this was the best choice she could make.

“Sis!” Xiao Ding instantly understood the implications and the determination in Ye Zijun’s words. No matter how altered her appearance was, Ye Zijun was still Ye Zijun — the sister who always took care of her.

Therefore, Xiao Ding followed Ye Zijun towards the exit, clutching her camera, ready to fight alongside her sister. She was determined not to abandon her sister and escape on her own!

The two had only just started rushing forward when the two giant lizards halted as if something was pulling their tails. They were being dragged backward.

However, under the beam of the flashlight, they could see nothing tangible holding the lizards’ tails. It seemed like an invisible force had taken hold of them.

The two giant lizards were dragged behind the gate, letting out a pitiful scream before the sound of them crashing into the wall echoed.

Ye Zijun and Xiao Ding hesitated momentarily, but they had no time to ponder as the mutated boy was closing in. So, without a second thought, they broke into a run and shot through the small doorway.

As they reached the outside, they were met with a sight of a pretty young girl, dressed in white and standing a few metres away, holding something that looked alarmingly like a pig’s elbow.

“Move!” Said the girl, who not only looked Asian but also spoke perfect Mandarin Chinese.

Ye Zijun and Xiao Ding reflexively darted to the sides, and the girl threw the object resembling a pig’s elbow. It whizzed right between them, flying straight into the doorway they had just emerged from.

Next, they heard sounds of a collision, and the limping footsteps of the mutation faded away, implying that the mutated boy was hit.

But how much damage could a piece of pig’s elbow, thrown by such a young girl, inflict?

Both Ye Zijun and Xiao Ding instinctively turned back, illuminating the spot with their lights, but they only saw the moss-covered walls, the mutated boy was nowhere in sight.

They turned back to where the little girl had been standing, but she had vanished without a trace.

Without the leisure to conduct a thorough search or to linger, they dashed up the alley from which they had come earlier. However, they had not run far before they saw more mutated creatures, large and small, covered in moss and small mushrooms, appearing right before them. There were mutated lizards, mice, snakes, toads and so on, swarming their path.

Their reflexes told them to turn around, but instead, they heard a faint buzzing from the sides. They saw red lines appear, twirling and cutting through the horde of creatures with an incredible speed, obliterating the mutated entities.

“Move on.” A voice, low and raspy as if metal grinding against metal, roused the stunned duo.

They instinctively swept around with their light source, but failed to discern any figure. The voice they heard, however, was unmistakably not that of the little girl from earlier.

Just as they were about to press on, footsteps echoed from up ahead. Ye Zijun turned her flashlight toward the sound, only for it to abruptly extinguish. Yet when she pointed the flashlight elsewhere, the light returned.

A shadowy figure approached, grasping her neck and pushing her against a nearby wall.

Startled, Ye Zijun quickly realized that the hand clutching her throat wasn’t exerting any real force. She could breathe freely, her neck wasn’t trapped. The grip reminded her more of how a doctor might steady her chin and neck for inspection. And strangely, she sensed no danger from the figure, no surge of panic or fear. So much so that she didn’t yell or resist but simply let the figure “choke” her against the wall.

She then felt what seemed like a heap of minute objects cover her face, giving off a refreshing sensation.

Xiao Ding also got the scare of his life. Though he too could make out a figure approaching, the light from his stabilizer refused to illuminate that person. Its beam would disappear as soon as it hit the figure and return once pointed elsewhere, as if the figure was somehow swallowing the light.

Although he couldn’t shed light on the mystery figure, he could see Ye Zijun. He watched in terror as a large hand grasped her throat and her face was covered with tiny beads. He howled and lunged at the figure, brandishing his camera, his mouth open, aiming to bite the figure’s neck.

But before his teeth sunk in, something obstructed his mouth and was then promptly spat out. Picking up the rejected morsel, Xiao Ding discovered it was a crispy pig’s elbow. And surprisingly, it tasted good?

While Xiao Ding stood, mouth agog, holding the pig’s elbow, the beads on Ye Zijun’s face vanished, and the hand around her neck disappeared as well. Dazed, she picked up Xiao Ding’s fallen camera, aiming her flashlight forward and walked towards him.

“Xiao Ding, I’m fine.’

At her words, Xiao Ding looked up at her. Drawing on the nearby light source, he goggled, “Sis, your face… your skin’s back to normal!”

Ye Zijun felt her own face. The skin was indeed smooth again, free of the horrifying sensation of fungus and moss.

She suddenly realized that the steady sound of footsteps was still audible. Raising her flashlight to illuminate the direction of the entrance, the flashlight went out halfway up. With sudden understanding, she realized the person who just “choked” her was watching their departure there.

“Who… who are you?” Ye Zijun couldn’t hold back her question.

“Time for you to go,” came a relaxed, male voice. But it sounded different from the unnerving low voice that preceded it, potentially a different person altogether.

Teetering with indecision, Ye Zijun finally managed to utter a ‘thank you’ and exited with Xiao Ding.

Finally emerging from the abandoned subway tunnel onto the platform aboveground, the sight of sunlight filled with a sense of reprieve from a narrow escape.

“Where’s my pig’s elbow?” Xiao Ding studied his empty hand, puzzled.

“What pig’s elbow?” Ye Zijun questioned, not understanding why Xiao Ding, having just survived quite the ordeal, was obsessing over a pig’s elbow—was he hungry?

“Sis, don’t you remember seeing me holding a piece of pig’s elbow? A crispy pig’s elbow,” Xiao Ding clarified.

“No, not at all.”

Xiao Ding froze momentarily, then turned to look back at the entrance of the derelict subway station, his voice trembling, “Sis… do you remember seeing the little girl we just saw in the tunnel?”

“Of course, I do,” Ye Zijun replied.

Her recent experiences had all been confoundingly eerie: shocking visuals, confrontational encounters too numerous to count, creating a surreal sense of reality. Having previously encountered the “eight-armed, eight-eyed giant illusion” in Myitkyina could be why she wasn’t overly startled or frightened, despite her brushes with death and dire straits.

For that reason, she felt an odd kinship with that cute little girl in the white princess dress, the figure with the harsh and gravelly tone, the black hole, the hand gripping her throat, and the one who had rid her face of the fungus and moss.

Could it be because they were all speaking in Mandarin?

Perplexed by the puzzling expression on Xiao Ding’s face, his shock outmatching his fear, she gripped his shoulder in concern, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Xiao Ding turned to face her, “Sis, that little girl… I’ve met her before.”

“What? You have?” Ye Zijun was genuinely surprised.

“Sis, do you remember me telling you about… the paranormal experience I had in a construction site? It was barely a glimpse, but that little girl’s face… I can’t forget her,” Xiao Ding said, a look of gloom overtaking his face, “I hadn’t quite put two and two together until now, but it suddenly hit me: despite going abroad, she somehow managed to follow me… Do you think she’s attached to me?”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Ye Zijun gaped, completely taken aback by the news. Regardless, she said, “Even if she’s latched onto you, she doesn’t mean to harm you. She did save us back there. Besides, didn’t you agree to work with me exactly because you’re seeking to uncover the truth behind paranormal encounters?”

Stunned by her words, Xiao Ding nodded, “That’s true…”

“Let’s check the camera, see if we captured her,” Ye Zijun suggested.

Xiao Ding immediately started checking their camera. Once he switched it on, he realized all she had shot was gone; all the footage, the photos, not a single file was left on the memory card.

“Did it break when it fell?” Ye Zijun asked with a frown. Quite disappointed—she had high hopes for the filmed content.

“No, it’s ‘her’. She doesn’t want us to film her,” Xiao Ding suggested, pondering over his recent experiences.

Ye Zijun was reminded of her own encounters as well as the earlier accounts of the Myitkyina incident, and nodded her agreement, “Looks like.”

“What about Andy? He’s still stuck down there… I wonder what happened to him. Should we call the police?” Xiao Ding asked.

“Yes.” Ye Zijun agreed, “But we should contact Old Xu first, explain the situation to him, see if we should reach out to the embassy or a lawyer first.”

In the middle of their conversation, Ye Zijun noticed Xiao Ding’s complexion turn unhealthy, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Ding started retching violently. By his fifth attempt, he spat out a foul concoction of liquid, food debris, and tiny rice-like clots of blood.

Taking in a large breath of fresh air, Xiao Ding suddenly felt inexplicably liberated.