Chapter 5: Ha!

Lin Yu did not walk quickly.

She held the candelabrum and stood before the door, her face a mask of ease, but her heart was pounding with tension.

Just now, merely tugging on the curtain twice had triggered a strange phenomenon.

Who knew what more terrifying things might happen if she opened this door.

Lin Yu first squeezed the arm where the dagger was strapped, slowly exhaled, and placed her hand on the large wooden door.

Thump, thump, thump.

Her heart beat faster and faster, pulling her nerves taut along with it.

That gaze, like a cold and sinister viper, did not reappear.

The “monster” hiding in the darkness seemed indifferent to whether she left this room or not.

Lin Yu gritted her teeth, steeled her heart, and pushed the door open directly.

The air from outside surged into the room, bringing with it a hint of coolness.

She didn’t hesitate, taking a step out with one foot.

Even after she closed the door behind her, no strange phenomenon occurred.

It was clearly the simplest of actions, yet Lin Yu felt as if all the strength had drained from her body.

This was the pressure brought on by the fear of the unknown.

So, what exactly was hidden behind that curtain?

Just as she was pondering this, a rustling sound suddenly reached her ears.

It seemed someone was carefully rummaging through things.

And the source of the sound was just a door away…

“Thump, thump, tap—”

“Tsss.”

Despite being separated by the door, the sound was so clear that she could even distinguish it as the sound of a match being struck!

An image couldn’t help but surface in Lin Yu’s mind: in a pitch-black room, a cluster of orange flame suddenly lit up, held by a woman in a pale green dress.

Her scalp couldn’t help but tingle.

She subconsciously took a step back.

The candlelight flickered, bright one moment and dim the next.

The room within suddenly fell silent.

Then came the sound of hurried and fierce footsteps.

“She” was running towards the door!

‘F*ck!’

The gentle and refined Classmate Lin’s composure broke once again.

She turned and ran without looking back.

‘This d*mn skirt, the hem is so long, and it has so many layers.’

‘It’s thick and heavy, a real hindrance when running.’

This was a long corridor.

Lin Yu didn’t know how far she had run, but this body’s stamina was not good.

She was already a little out of breath.

She stopped, not forcing herself any further.
Instead, she turned around, half-squatted, and lifted the hem of her skirt with one hand, ready to draw the revolver fixed to the outside of her boot at any moment.

When facing a dangerous predator, blindly running until exhaustion was the worst course of action.

The wise move was to create an appropriate distance and conserve energy for a counterattack.

She was not one to passively accept her fate.

Just like that, Lin Yu faced off against the air for about five minutes.

Only when her squatting leg began to go numb and sore did she stand up.

‘It didn’t follow?’

‘Or perhaps, “she” can’t leave that room?’

Lin Yu licked the back of her molars, her headache worsening.

Transmigrating with amnesia was one thing, but this world also contained things she couldn’t comprehend, making her current situation even more dangerous.

‘Perhaps the original owner also had some special ability, and I’ve just forgotten how to use it?’

“Ha!”

Lin Yu suddenly straightened her arm, spreading her five fingers and striking a pose towards the front.

Nothing happened.

Oh, wait, that wasn’t right.

Her face felt incredibly hot.

Perhaps this was a wondrous magic that raised one’s body temperature.

‘So embarrassing.’

‘Good thing no one saw.’

Lin Yu unnaturally pulled her hand back.
She had been so preoccupied with escaping just now that she hadn’t had a chance to observe the situation outside.

This was a long corridor.

The walls, just like in the room before, were built from grayish-black stone bricks.
Pure black chandeliers hung from the ceiling, one at every short interval, with white candles burning faintly.

The candelabrum in her hand had already gone out while she was running, saving her the trouble of blowing it out now.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, Lin Yu really didn’t want to turn back.

She decided to just walk forward along this corridor for now and see if she could find another path.

She had only been walking for a few minutes when she stopped.

It was nothing else but a fork in the road ahead, with paths to the left, right, and straight ahead.

Just as Lin Yu was struggling with which route to take, footsteps came from the right.

Tap, tap, tap, from far to near.

She instantly became alert, treading like a cat and silently retreating a short distance along the wall.

Then, she squatted down again.

From around the corner on the right, a tall figure walked out.

It was an adult man.

He wore a black, single-breasted coat over a vest and shirt, seemingly unbothered by the heat.

His lower body was clad in matching trousers.

He looked to be around thirty years old, with deep-set facial features and a small mustache.

He wore a bowler hat, and beneath its brim was a pair of deep blue eyes that now held an undisguised look of surprise.

‘Who is he?’

The question had just popped into Lin Yu’s mind.

Before she could think further, she saw the man across from her react even more strongly than she did.

He stumbled back several steps, then pointed a finger at her nose and asked.

“*******!”

A language she had never heard before entered her ears.

Lin Yu was stunned for a moment.

Then, feedback came from her mind, and a contradictory feeling of both familiarity and strangeness washed over her.

“Who are you? Where is this?”

‘My head hurts so much.’

‘Is this some deep-seated memory left by the original owner?’

‘She still reacts to the most basic information like language.’

Lin Yu endured the pain, forcing herself to analyze the current situation based on the man’s reaction and words.

His first reaction was surprise, and the questions he asked were about my identity and where this place was.

‘Could it be that this person, like me, woke up in a room without any knowledge?’

‘But unlike me, he should be a “local”.’

“When asking for someone’s identity, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

The words she wanted to say were transformed by her brain, coming out of her mouth as an unfamiliar language.

Her voice was clear and sweet, her tone steady.

Judging by the sound alone, the original owner probably wasn’t very old, a point her skin condition could also corroborate.

The man was rebuked into silence.
He didn’t rush to reply, the wariness on his face growing stronger.

‘Mm, this is from Lin Yu’s many years of online flame wars—I mean, online socializing experience.’

‘Answering a question with a question.’

‘That’s about right.’

She lowered her gaze, softened her tone, and took the initiative to reveal her own situation.

“I… I don’t know where this is.”

“When I woke up, I was lying in a strange room.”

After speaking, she turned her head to the side, pursed her lips tightly, and said no more.

‘Hiss, how green-tea-b*tch-like.’

[TL Notes: Green-tea-b*tch : A Chinese internet slang term for a woman who presents herself as innocent, sweet, and pure on the surface but is actually manipulative, calculating, and scheming. The character is remarking on how adept “she” is at appearing vulnerable and harmless.]

‘Why am I so skilled with this set of actions, expressions, and tone?’

‘It feels like muscle memory.’

‘The original owner must have been a master of micro-expressions and micro-gestures too.’

As expected, it was easier to empathize with someone who had a similar experience.
Plus, since Lin Yu had been the first to show her hand, the man relaxed his guard and also felt that his earlier actions had been a bit offensive.

He raised a hand to his chest and nodded slightly.

“I apologize for my rudeness just now, madam.”

“I hope you can forgive a flustered, reckless fool.”