Wu Xiaoming took a deep breath before ignoring the plea and advice of the male voice and heading towards the tree-like structure. Just as he was about five or six steps away, a small head poked out from behind - a little girl's head, with messy hairs drooping down covering most of her face.
Wu Xiaoming froze and stopped his steps just to take a careful look at the little girl. Yet the girl did not let him - she simply hid behind the tree-like structure again, then ran away from Wu Xiaoming, giggling and humming a slow melody.
Wu Xiaoming nodded, not at anyone but himself, then turned back to retreat. If the little girl was what he thought she was, then it was best not to follow her at all. But it seemed that it was not that easy to get away from her - the red wooden beam moved again, blocking the doorway.
He continued his way, but putting the lantern behind him for a change so that the light would not reach the wooden beam or the doorway - this time, the doorway disappeared, but a block of wall just appeared right where the doorway had been and covered it.
The man's voice or the girl in a red garb, it must be the doing of at least one of them. But instead of trying to find another way somewhere, Wu Xiaoming decided to stand where he was, with the lantern in front of him and think for a brief moment.
The little girl in a red garb, if he was not mistaken, was a creature from a pretty famous Taiwanese folk tale from his previous world - a Mo-sin-a, or in plain English words, "Demon-lings" or "Little Magical Demons". According to his memory, it was a kind of malicious magical creature living in the woods, and known for luring unsuspecting victims to their deaths by using illusions. The most well-known shape it took, was a little girl in a red garb. And this very building, with its vague Taiwanese decorative style, was a pretty strong proof of this theory.
But, the obvious problem was, Mo-sin-a being creatures of Taiwanese roots, what was it doing in Los Angeles? Also, Mo-sin-a's MO was luring its victims using illusion, but the previous victims were all only dragged into dreams, and as far as Wu Xiaoming knew, were still alive. Was it because of the different worlds? Or was it actually another kind of creature? He could not be sure, so the only factor was the man's voice. At least for now, the voice had not been hostile to him.
He looked around, trying to look for another doorway to get out of this area. Mo-sin-a liked to use illusions to trick its victims, but there was no guarantee that illusions would be its only trick.
With the wall on his left, he walked along it with the lantern in hand. Under the light, there were only a few obstacles standing in his way, yet they were all either abominations or results of terrible mutations, leaving Wu Xiaoming no desire to try touching them at all - at least not now.
The wall was curving inward, meaning that even as he walked quite a bit, he was not very far away from the initial spot where he saw the little girl in a red garb. He walked by a few doorways, alleyways and even staircases on his right, but he had not considered going in at all. He looked back a few times, and found nothing and nobody behind him. Yet the feeling of being watched and stalked never really went away.
Before long, another wall stood before him, preventing him from going further. On his right was a narrow tunnel with a low ceiling, almost no light in sight. He raised the lantern and let its light pour into it, only to see that the its walls were made of stones, with glowing gems and gold nuggets embedded.
Wu Xiaoming could not help but scoff, it seemed that the little girl in a red garb was trying way too hard to lure him into this very tunnel, yet it did not know what he really liked so the bait was just generic and basic.
Following his scoff, the decoration on the walls changed - this time the walls were covered in relief sculptures - ones of beautiful, half naked women, some of which were even moving, winking and waving at him.
Wu Xiaoming narrowed his eyes - apparently the little girl in a red garb was watching him, his scoff made her change her tactics. He should have thought of it sooner, for she apparently knew that he had the lantern in hand.
But then, did she know that he had the power to actually fight back? Wu Xiaoming hesitated. The appearance of the tunnel without the lantern was dark and creepy, anyone in their right mind would not go into it. If the man's voice was from the one who was controlling the "surface" appearance of this place, then it seemed pretty clear that he was trying to steer whoever trapped here away from the influence of the little girl in a red garb.
It would definitely seem brave and adventurous to go into this tunnel, but without knowledge of the enemy's powers and capabilities, it would also be gravely dangerous. So he just turned around and began back tracking.
The mutated and amalgamated structures along his way shook and moved, attempting to block his way further. But the wall now to his right also shifted in shape, opening up doorways and alleys leading him away from the area.
Wu Xiaoming immediately went into the first doorway that would lead to a wide walkway outside. Afterwards, he put the lantern down and put his right hand on a wall in front of him - a wall that did not have another structure under the lantern's light.
"Inspect item." He commanded in his mind.
Nothing happened, no information panel, no pop ups. It seemed the usual "setting" in the ethereal realm did not work here.
For a moment, he wanted to try using "Law of the Words" to command the wall to reveal its nature to him. But he resisted - this was a trump card in his deck he should not have let loose early, especially when the enemy was still watching and stalking him.
But there was one more thing he could try - he placed his hand on the lantern and commanded to inspect it in his mind again.
This time it worked - though slow and stuttery, two semi-transparent information panels popped up in his mind.
"Eye of Flesh Only (unstable): he ripped out his eyes so he could see; do not believe anything, do not look, hide."
"Cloth of Skin and Frame of Fingerbones (unstable): he cut off his left hand so he could resist; the touches, cuts and burns are not real, do not despair, fight."
"He". If Wu Xiaoming was right, then this "he" would be the very guest from overseas who checked into the Sproutlinger Hotel, who then ran out before his checkout time and disappeared. If that "overseas" meant Taiwan, then it would make a lot of sense - the Mo-sin-a targeted him while he was in Taiwan, he ran and traveled to the other side of the ocean, but then it just followed him over here. Eventually he tried to fight it, and from what everything seemed, he failed. And as for "unstable", it probably just meant this item could remain only in this dream.
But, if this guest ended up dying outside of the hotel, what was this dream? It also seemed that the Mo-sin-a still remained in this place, along with some part of his mind. What could have led to this situation? Something must have happened to his "fight".
Wu Xiaoming found a corner and sat down. He closed his eyes, as if he was about to take a break - but he did not close them fully, so that he could peek at what might be changing around him.
Yet he was disappointed - when he peeked by moving his eyeballs slowly left and right, nothing was drastically changing. But one thing he noticed: some of the scenery did change the moment he moved his sight away, and just like when he had his eyes wide open, things changed only when he was not paying attention.
Sight and attention, that was what it was - apparently having his mind and will fixed on certain objects and a state of being would put his own power of control over said objects or state. But on the other hand, he would presume, when he put his attention onto something nefarious, it would probably open himself up for being infected by illusion.
A somewhat uncommon, but not unheard of idea - a shared dream, a communal illusion where each participant's mind could interact with others'.
And he just had the right tool, or in other words, skills for it.