I Use Illusions To Control The Whole World Chapter 43
Su mu taken by the shadow
Everyone felt a chill crawl down their spines as they stared tensely at the air beside them. Though there was nothing visible, they all knew that a “kind” old grandmother was standing silently there.
Soon, Tingting skipped cheerfully out the door.
At the same time, Su Mu stood up and spoke toward the air beside him, “Grandma, it’s dark now. My eyesight isn’t great. If I bump into you, please forgive me.”
After saying that, under everyone’s watchful gaze, he walked into the bedroom where the little girl had been earlier. When he came out again, he was holding a photo frame—the same one the little girl had always clutched in her hands.
He turned it around to show the front. It was a faded black-and-white photo—a family portrait.
There were four people in the photo. One was an elderly woman with silver hair, a wrinkled face, and a hunched figure. Another was a younger-looking Tingting. As for the remaining two, they had no heads. Their necks were completely severed. Judging from their clothing and other features, they appeared to be a young man and woman—likely Tingting’s parents—each holding one of her hands.
Tingting, meanwhile, was smiling happily.
Ye Fanyu leaned in, staring at the eerie photo. “That man and woman should be her parents, but why don’t they have heads?”
Su Mu’s expression was unreadable. “The missing heads aren’t the point. The point is… someone is missing from the photo.”
“Her little sister,” Su Mu replied as he adjusted his tinted glasses. “Tingting just said she was going out to look for her sister. But this family photo doesn’t include a sister. So here’s the question: who is the sister?”
Ye Fanyu’s face darkened. The strange atmosphere was pressing down harder than ever.
By now, the sky had turned completely dark, and the previously empty rocking chair had started swaying once more.
Creak… creak…
Everyone’s eyes locked on the rocking chair, their nerves taut. Suddenly, an old woman’s voice echoed out.
“Sleep in the hazy night fog, while the whispers of demons curl all around. Moonlight peeks through the window’s crack, shadows bare their fangs in the dark…”
Everyone panicked, instinctively tightening their grip on their weapons.
“Is that… a song?” Ye Fanyu’s brows knitted tightly.
“A lullaby,” Su Mu narrowed his eyes, still watching the rocking chair. The eerie voice continued:
“The wind blows, the candles sway, the embrace of darkness quiet and still. Close your eyes, don’t run astray, fear will quietly begin to fill.
Sleep, sleep, my dear, don’t stay awake. The shadows in corners are silent but wait.
Sleep, sleep, don’t open your eyes. A hand in the dark wants to take you across.
Sleep, sleep, don’t dodge or flee. A lost soul in the dark will never be free.
Drift in slumber through the night, don’t ask if what you see is true or lies. Until the dawn breaks clear and bright, the nightmare hides, no longer in disguise.”
The lullaby’s simple tune paired with the aged voice made it all the more disturbing in the dim room.
As the song played, everyone felt as if invisible hands were brushing over their scalps, icy and intangible.
No one noticed that, in the corner where the candlelight didn’t reach, a shadow had begun to rise. Slowly, it grew taller, gradually forming into the shape of a humanoid figure.
“What does this lullaby mean?” Ye Fanyu asked, growing more and more uneasy in this eerie environment. He looked instinctively toward Su Mu.
But the moment he turned his head, his scalp went numb, and his face turned pale. He staggered backward, putting distance between himself and Su Mu.
“A shadow!!”
He retreated into a corner, his right hand forming a gun, aiming it directly at Su Mu’s back.
Everyone panicked and turned to look—there, standing right behind Su Mu, was a tall, thin humanoid shadow with elongated arms.
“Chief!” Zhao Chaoyao shouted in alarm, raising his machete.
“Su Mu, behind you!” Yang Dongqing stared intently at the shadow, not daring to move.
Su Mu didn’t turn around. Instead, he smiled faintly, “Behind me, huh?”
“Mr. Su, the shadow has targeted you! Let someone else take your place!” Ye Fanyu shouted urgently.
But Su Mu didn’t order a subordinate to stand in for him. Instead, he calmly turned around. In the lenses of his tinted glasses, the tall, thin silhouette of the shadow was reflected.
The shadow was already reaching out a long, shriveled hand toward him.
“Are you… inviting me?” Su Mu asked softly.
The shadow didn’t respond. Its hand stretched even closer, its sharp, shadowy fingertips nearly touching the glasses on Su Mu’s face.
Su Mu smiled gently and extended his own hand, “I accept your invitation.”
In the next instant, his pale, slender hand firmly gripped the shadow’s hand!
Everyone gasped in horror.
“Chief!”
“Su Mu, you—!”
Su Mu turned his head back to the others and smiled. The dim candlelight flickered across his face, reflecting off his glasses, which shimmered faintly. “Don’t worry. The answer lies within the lullaby.”
With that, he closed his eyes—and hand in hand with the shadow, he walked into the darkness.
Everyone stared blankly as Su Mu vanished into the blackness. No one spoke for a long time.
The house fell into dead silence. A long while later, Yang Dongqing finally said, “He may be a lunatic, but I don’t believe he’s the kind to throw his life away. Just now he said the answer is in the lullaby… maybe he figured something out.”
A thoughtful look flashed in Ye Fanyu’s eyes. “The lyrics said, ‘don’t open your eyes, there are hands in the dark inviting you across,’ and ‘don’t dodge with closed eyes, the lost soul cannot escape.’ The hand in the dark clearly refers to the shadow. And the line about keeping your eyes closed—could that be the method to deal with it?”
“It’s possible. Su Mu did close his eyes just now.”
“Sacrificing himself based on a single lyric… that’s just…” Ye Fanyu hesitated, unable to finish.
Yang Dongqing finished it for him, “Madness, right? Yes. He’s a madman. With him, nothing is off the table.”
“Watch your mouth! How dare you insult the Chief! He always has a reason for what he does—who are you to talk behind his back!” Zhao Chaoyao glared angrily.
Yang Dongqing gave him a cold look and ignored the man clearly too brainwashed to think straight.
“Now’s not the time for arguing. With the shadow appearing, this place is no longer safe. We should split up and search for candles and food,” Ye Fanyu suggested.
Everyone exchanged glances—and in the end, silently agreed to his proposal.
