Chapter 116: The Rabbit Youkai of the Bamboo Forest and the Ghost in the Well
Just as everyone was certain Lu Bowen had perished at the bottom of the well, Haruto gently shook his head.
"He's not dead."
Those three simple words made everyone freeze.
The Blond Youth was the first to break the silence, his voice laced with disbelief. "How is that possible? That well is dozens of meters deep, and you can't even see the bottom. The rope snapped! How could he possibly have survived?"
Number Six's brow furrowed. "...Did the Sadako in the well save him?"
"Where is he now?" Yotsuya Miko followed up immediately, her eyes fixed on Haruto.
Faced with the barrage of questions, Haruto offered no answer. He merely squinted, his gaze directed toward the distant bamboo forest. Miko followed his line of sight, but the thick, swirling mist obscured everything.
"Is that guy over there?" Number Six asked from beside her.
"I can't see clearly," Miko murmured, shaking her head. She focused her will, pouring more power into her Yin-Yang Eyes. Her golden irises shimmered with a growing light, becoming so brilliant they seemed to burn. Finally, through the haze, she captured a blurry figure at the very edge of her vision, standing at the treeline of the bamboo forest.
Though the mist distorted the details, the silhouette was unmistakably Lu Bowen's. He wasn't alone. He was surrounded by several eerie, half-human, half-rabbit creatures.
What made a cold dread snake up her spine was that Lu Bowen only resembled himself in silhouette. As her vision sharpened, she saw that his ears had become unnaturally long, his eyes were grotesquely huge, and his face had narrowed to a sharp point. His head was practically carved from the same mold as the rabbit-like youkai beside him.
"Is that... Lu Bowen?" Miko's voice trembled.
Her words stunned the others. The man was actually still alive, and he'd somehow ended up in the bamboo forest.
The Blond Youth rubbed his hands together, instinctively taking a step forward to drag him back, but a sharp shout from Haruto stopped him cold.
"Go ahead, if you want to die."
The words fell like a guillotine. The Blond Youth's raised left foot froze in mid-air, not daring to move another inch. When the boss spoke like that, he had his reasons. The last person who hadn't followed orders was still a babbling mess on the ground. Besides, the mist itself felt fraught with hidden dangers.
"He's coming!" Miko warned, her voice tight.
At her warning, everyone stared grimly toward the bamboo forest. This wasn't just some random monster; this was the same man who, just moments ago, had been screaming about killing his own teammates.
Soon, they too could see the figure Miko had described. As the so-called "Lu Bowen" stepped out of the fog, his lower body appeared normal, but when their eyes traveled up to his head, every person's breath hitched.
A pointed snout had replaced his mouth, and his face was now that of a rabbit. Giant, crimson eyes, occupying nearly a third of his transformed head, stared at them without blinking. A pair of extremely long rabbit ears stood perfectly upright, twitching slightly in the still air.
Clustered around him was a group of similar "rabbits," of all shapes and sizes. The entire scene was a bizarre tableau of the eerie and the absurd.
He raised a hand and waved gently in their direction. The gesture carried an indescribable creepiness, seeming to be both a greeting and a farewell.
Number Six instinctively shifted into a defensive stance, shielding Tao Shou behind him. "How did he end up mixed in with those things?" he muttered in a low voice.
Tao Shou swallowed hard. "Could this be one of those wells that turns humans into ghosts? The kind where you become a monster after jumping in."
The Blond Youth backed away, his face pale with fear. "Then is this guy human or ghost now?"
Haruto remained silent. He wasn't particularly worried about the thing that used to be Lu Bowen; he was more preoccupied with the how. How had he suddenly appeared over there, and how had he been twisted into that monstrous state? With Lu Bowen's current strength, even without a Talisman Card, Haruto was confident he could beat him down himself.
'But if you add Sadako and those rabbit youkai to the mix...'he mused,'winning might be a bit tricky with my current strength.' Of course, his main concern wasn't the immediate threat. These things were just a single Talisman Card away from being a non-issue.
What truly puzzled him was the method of transportation. The rope had snapped without warning, right before his eyes. In that split second, he had felt a strange sense of trance, as if a long time had passed in an instant.
Haruto's gaze shifted slightly, flicking to the silent, elegant girl standing beside him before returning to the depths of the bamboo forest.
A morning breeze rustled through the canopy, making the bamboo leaves whisper.
At the edge of the forest, the transformed Lu Bowen suddenly took a step back, his form gradually fading into the thick shadows and mist. The rabbit-like creatures followed closely behind, vanishing in the blink of an eye until only the dense, white fog remained.
"He... he's gone?" the Blond Youth asked, his voice uncertain.
"He's gone," Haruto confirmed, finally withdrawing his gaze. "Let's keep moving. The sooner we finish this task, the sooner it's over." He paused, a thoughtful frown on his face. "Things are a bit more complicated than I imagined. Lu Bowen wasn't being controlled just now. He still has his own thoughts, though not many. He appeared just now for one reason: to tell us he's still alive."
His words sent a fresh chill down everyone's spine. If Lu Bowen had voluntarily become a monster, the difficulty of this instance had just skyrocketed.
This was only the second world, wasn't it? Weren't the first two instances for newbies supposed to be relatively simple, far easier than the later ones?
"B-Boss, what should we do now?" the Blond Youth stammered.
"Go down the well."
Haruto's four short words made everyone's heart clench. After all, the last person to go down that well had turned into a monster.
"I'll do it."
The Blond Youth spoke up first. His expression was far from calm, and his body was shaking uncontrollably, but he stood his ground. As the only randomly matched player left, he knew his place.
Everyone, including Haruto, looked at him with a flicker of surprise. Haruto raised an eyebrow but didn't refuse. Seeing the man tremble so violently, he offered a piece of kindly advice.
"No need to be so afraid. He didn't turn into a monster because he fell into this well. As for the well itself... Sadako is indeed inside, but as long as you're careful, she won't be triggered."
Hearing this, the Blond Youth breathed a small sigh of relief. What he feared most wasn't death, but turning into that rabbit-faced creature. That would be a fate far worse.
Fortunately, they had more than one rope. This time, to be safe, Haruto had Number Six tie several ropes together into a thick, sturdy line and fasten it securely.
After confirming it wouldn't come loose, Tao Shou and Number Six together began to slowly lower the Blond Youth into the well. The rope slid down inch by inch as everyone held their breath, their eyes glued to the dark opening.
One meter, five meters, ten meters... Just then, the rope was jerked taut—the stop signal from the Blond Youth.
Tao Shou and Number Six stopped immediately.
A moment later, a series of rhythmic but urgent tugs came from the rope. Seeing the signal, the two began pulling with all their might, quickly hauling the Blond Youth back out of the well.
He collapsed onto the damp ground, his eyes wide with lingering terror.
"What happened down there?" Yotsuya Miko asked immediately.
"Down there—down there is Sadako!" he gasped, still fighting for breath. "She was just standing at the very bottom, completely motionless. When I looked down, she suddenly raised her head and stared right at me..."
He had a chilling premonition that if he had been a step slower, or had dared to take one more look, Sadako would have started climbing up to grab him.
As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and hurriedly pulled a small, sticky piece of paper from his pocket.
"This thing was stuck to the wall, but I didn't have time to look at it then."
A sticky note?
After seeing what it was, strange expressions appeared on everyone's faces. A blood-soaked diary or a cryptic letter would have been understandable, but a common sticky note felt jarringly out of place in the grim atmosphere of the Cabin in the Woods.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]