Hu Tao Faces Fear

After the radio's chilling broadcast faded, Hu Tao strode confidently toward the door opposite the counter.

Above her head, the chandelier swayed with an eerie creak, casting jittery shadows across the worn wooden floor.

The door was locked tight, revealing only a faint glimpse of dim light and the hazy outline of a street through the grimy window.

"Tch, you think you can keep the great Hu Tao caged in here like some timid merchant?" she muttered under her breath.

She rapped her knuckles against the door again, her irritation flaring, before turning back to explore the looping corridor once more.

At the far end, an open door beckoned, leading down a short set of steps to yet another door waiting below.

When she shoved the folding door open, a jolt of surprise stopped her cold, her eyes widening at the sight before her.

It was the same corridor she'd just left, identical down to the flickering lights and crooked paintings on the walls.

She whipped around, only to hear the door behind her slam shut with a resounding bang that echoed in the stillness.

A prickling sensation crawled up her spine, her instincts whispering that something was deeply, unsettlingly wrong.

"Is this some kind of ghost loop, trapping me in a circle like a lost soul?" she wondered aloud, her voice tinged with curiosity.

As the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's director, she'd encountered such tricks before, spirits bending space to confuse the living.

Normally, she'd summon a burst of pyro to shatter the illusion, but here, her elemental powers were useless, leaving her uncertain.

She pressed forward anyway, glancing at the clock on the table, its hands still stubbornly fixed at eleven fifty-nine.

Around the corner, the second corridor stretched out, unchanged, as if mocking her with its stubborn repetition.

As she approached the main entrance again, two cockroaches plummeted from the ceiling, landing with a soft thud in her path.

The critters skittered toward the bathroom, completely ignoring her presence, which sparked a flicker of indignation in her chest.

"Oh, you little pests have the nerve to brush off me, the seventy-seventh director of Wangsheng?" she huffed, stomping after them.

She reached the bathroom door just as it erupted with a loud bang, shuddering as if someone—or something—inside was shoving it with force.

"Ah!" she yelped, her usual boldness faltering for a split second as the vulnerability of this powerless body sank in.

Annoyance flared hotter when she remembered the crowd watching her every move through Zhongli's monitor outside the game.

She lunged forward, seizing the doorknob with one hand, determined to fling it open and confront whatever hid within.

The knob refused to budge, and the silence from the other side only fueled her growing mix of frustration and unease.

"Playing ghost tricks, huh? If you've got the guts, come face me, you coward!" she shouted, her voice ringing with defiance.

She delivered a swift kick to the door, the thud reverberating, then kicked it again for good measure before strutting off.

The onlookers outside flinched, their gasps audible, half-expecting something monstrous to burst out and prove her taunts wrong.

"I'm not scared, and if anything dares show its face, I'll send it packing!" she declared, hands on hips, masking her rattled nerves.

Liam, perched at the counter, caught the subtle tremor in her stance, a sign her bravado was thinner than she let on.

Zhongli, standing silently among the crowd, cast a sidelong glance at Liam, his amber eyes narrowing with unspoken questions.

Since stepping into this Internet cafe, he'd felt his elemental power vanish, his strength dulled to a mortal's frail limits.

Liam, sensing Zhongli's scrutiny, flashed a knowing smile, his confidence unshaken as the master of this strange domain.

Zhongli's mind churned: if Liam truly hailed from another world, could he be a force beyond even the Archons' reckoning?

This place, this technology, it reeked of something vast and unpredictable, a storm brewing beneath the surface.

Back in the game, Hu Tao pushed through the door at the corridor's end, stepping boldly into the third cycle of this maddening loop.

The familiar hallway greeted her again, and just two steps in, a sharp knock rattled the bathroom door, cutting through the quiet.

She swallowed a flicker of nerves, then squared her shoulders and marched forward, refusing to let her pride slip.

The knocking grew frantic as she neared, joined by an odd, keening sob that sent a shiver racing down her spine.

A few cockroaches clung to the doorframe, their skittering legs amplifying the eerie chorus leaking from within.

"Cry all you like, monster or not, you won't rattle me, Hu Tao, master of the paranormal!" she barked, slamming her palm against the door.

The door held fast, unyielding, and she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, relief mingling with defiance.

She moved on, her steps deliberate, though her ears stayed tuned to the silence behind her, wary of sudden surprises.

In ghost tales, the real terror often struck when you turned your back, a lesson she knew too well from her trade.

She entered the fourth cycle without incident, the repetitive corridor stretching out like a taunt to her growing unease.

This time, no knocks or cries broke the stillness, leaving only the soft hum of the flickering lights overhead.

She rounded the corner, her confidence creeping back, the end of the hallway finally within reach once more.

But as she approached the next door, it began to ease shut, its slow creak a deliberate tease against her nerves.

At the same moment, a faint groan of hinges sounded behind her, the bathroom door swinging open in the distance.

A rush of icy air swept over her back, prickling her skin and rooting her boots to the floor for a heartbeat.

Liam's system pulsed, drinking in the spike of her fear, a silent thrill coursing through him as he watched her falter.

The crowd outside leaned closer to the screen, their breaths held, caught in the tension of her unseen foe.

Hu Tao whipped around, her crimson eyes scanning the empty doorway, the shadows within shifting like a living thing.

Nothing emerged, but the air grew heavier, pressing against her chest as if daring her to take another step.

"Not afraid yet," she said through gritted teeth, her voice a challenge to whatever lurked beyond her sight.

A faint flicker darted across the far wall, too quick to catch, and her fingers tightened on the controls instinctively.

Zhongli's expression remained unreadable, though a spark of intrigue glinted in his steady gaze at the unfolding scene.

The chandelier above rattled harder, its creaks blending with a whisper that slithered from the dark, too soft to decipher.

Hu Tao's grin wavered, her bravado teetering as the game's grip tightened, pulling her deeper into its web.

Liam leaned forward from his perch, his pulse quickening as the system hummed with every tremble she tried to hide.

"She's tougher than she looks," he thought, though the gleam in his eye betrayed his delight at her cracking facade.

The crowd murmured, their excitement mounting, hooked on the drama of Hu Tao's battle with her own fearless myth.

She squared her shoulders again, planting her feet firmly as if to anchor herself against the rising dread.

"Come out and face me, you sneaky little ghoul, or stay hidden like the coward you are!" she called out boldly.

Silence stretched, thick and oppressive, until a child's giggle—high and wrong—pierced the air from the open door.

Her breath hitched, her eyes widening as the lights dimmed, casting the corridor into a murkier, more menacing haze.

The shadow moved again, closer now, and she braced herself, her heart pounding against her ribcage like a drum.

No running, no surrender—not Hu Tao, not ever, she vowed silently, even as the chill sank deeper into her bones.

Liam's grin widened, the system's energy surging as her defiance clashed with the fear she refused to name aloud.

This was the chaos he'd hoped for, the perfect storm of emotion to fuel his strange, otherworldly venture.

***

Support me on Patreon to read 50+ advanced chapters: patreon.com/Nocturnal_Breeze