Chapter 42: One Hand Clapping (R-18)

The lobby of the West Dormitory was a cavern of shadows and decay. The air was stagnant, heavy with the smell of wet rot and decades of undisturbed dust. Moonlight filtered through the grime-encrusted windows, casting long, skeletal shapes across the floorboards that groaned under their feet.

The group stood in a tight circle near the entrance, the heavy iron doors sealed behind them.

Instructor Han Rou took a deep, trembling breath. She adjusted her glasses, which were fogging up from her nervous body heat, and stepped forward into the empty gloom.

"H-Hello?" she called out, her voice pitching slightly too high, echoing off the peeling wallpaper. "Is... is there anyone here? We are the investigation team from Group 9! If you are a spirit... or a demon... or perhaps just a student playing a prank... please come out! We can talk about this!"

Silence answered her. A floorboard settled somewhere on the second floor with a loud creak.

Gu Ling stared at her teacher, her mouth hanging open in sheer disbelief. She lowered her hand, which had been charging a fireball, and looked at Kai.

"Did she just... ask the ghost to come out for a chat?" Gu Ling deadpanned.

"I think so," Kai nodded, suppressing a grin.

"Why the fuck would whatever creature is in here just come out because she asked nicely?" Gu Ling hissed, throwing her hands up. "What’s next? Are we going to offer it tea and biscuits? 'Oh, hello Mr. Demon, sorry for the haunting, here's a crumpet!'"

"It is... highly illogical," Leng Yue agreed, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword, her eyes scanning the dark corners. "Predators do not reveal themselves to prey until they strike."

"I was just trying to be polite!" Han Rou whispered furiously, blushing red in the darkness. "You never know! Maybe it's a misunderstood spirit!"

"It's a ghost, Teacher," Kai said dryly. "Not a lost puppy."

Suddenly, the conversation died.

A sound cut through the silence of the lobby. It didn't come from the ceiling or the basement. It drifted from a hallway to their left, clear and unmistakable.

Ahhh... Oh god... yes...

It was a moan. But not a ghostly wail of sorrow. It was a guttural, wet groan of pure, unadulterated pleasure.

And then came the rhythm.

CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.

It was the wet, heavy sound of flesh striking flesh. Fast. Hard. Aggressive.

Slap. Thud. Slap. Thud.

"Harder! Don't stop!" A male voice gasped, followed by a chorus of ragged breathing that sounded like a pack of dying dogs.

The group froze. The tension in the room shifted from 'spooky horror' to 'intense awkwardness' in a split second.

Yun Xi, who was clutching her bag of salt so hard her knuckles were white, blinked behind her thick glasses. She tilted her head, listening to the rhythmic slapping.

"What... what is this sound?" Yun Xi whispered, genuinely confused. "Is someone... applauding? Is someone being hit?"

"No," Kai said, his voice dropping. "Someone is fucking."

"In a graveyard?" Yun Xi squeaked, horrified.

"It's coming from the left corridor," Leng Yue announced, her face expressionless, though her ears had turned slightly pink. "Three distinct male signatures. And... one unidentified source."

"Let's go," Kai commanded.

He didn't wait. He sprinted toward the left hallway, his Agility carrying him silently over the rotting floor. The girls followed, Gu Ling igniting a small flame in her palm to light the way.

They rounded the corner and burst into what used to be a common room.

The sight that greeted them stopped them in their tracks.

"What the..." Gu Ling gagged, covering her nose.

The room smelled terrible. It was a thick, musky cocktail of sweat, bleach, and stale semen.

Lying on the floor, amidst a pile of broken furniture and old rags, were three male students. They were wearing the grey uniforms of the outer sect, but the uniforms were in disarray. Their trousers were pulled down to their ankles. Their tunics were torn open.

They were lying on their backs, completely unconscious.

But their bodies were twitching.

Their hands were still loosely gripping their own erections, which were red and raw from friction. Their cocks were still throbbing, leaking copious amounts of white fluid that pooled on their stomachs and the floor.

They looked like dried husks. Their eyes were rolled back into their heads, showing only the whites. Their cheeks were gaunt, as if they hadn't eaten in weeks. They were panting shallowly, drool running down their chins.

"Disgusting," Leng Yue muttered, looking away.

Han Rou rushed forward—teacher mode activating over the shock—and checked the pulse of the nearest boy.

"They are alive," she announced, though her face was pale. "But their Yang energy is critically low. They are suffering from severe exhaustion. Almost... drained."

She looked at their uniforms.

"These are students from Group 42," Han Rou frowned. "I remember seeing their registration. They must have taken this quest too."

"So..." Yun Xi peeked out from behind Kai, staring at the mess on the floor with wide, terrified eyes. "They were... just masturbating? All together?"

"Gooning," Gu Ling spat, kicking a nearby boot with disgust. "These idiots came into a haunted house and decided to have a circle jerk? Perverts. They probably brought some dirty magazines and got carried away."

"No," Kai said, shaking his head. He was looking at the scene with a frown. "We heard moaning. A woman's moaning. And we heard the slapping sound."

He pointed to the air above the boys.

"And look at them. They aren't just 'carried away.' They look like they've been milked dry. They literally passed out mid-orgasm."

"But there is no one else here," Yun Xi argued, looking around the empty, dusty room. "If they were having sex... where is the girl? All three at once? That's... that's physically impossible, isn't it?"

"Not for a spirit," Han Rou whispered, a chill running down her spine. "A Succubus? Or a Yin-gathering formation?"

"It's confusing," Gu Ling admitted, keeping her fire lit. "We heard the ass-clapping. It was loud. Like someone was getting pounded against a wall. But there's nothing here but these three limp noodles."

Kai narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong.

"System," he commanded silently. "Scan the room. Locate the source of the audio and the Yang drain."

[System Scanning...] [Scan Complete.] [Target: 3 Male Cultivators (Status: Comatose / Yang Depleted).] [Hostile Entity: NOT DETECTED.] [Anomaly: Significant Spiritual Interference detected in the area. Visual and Auditory hallucinations are highly probable.]

Kai’s blood ran cold.

Not detected?

The System was absolute. If it said there was no hostile entity, then technically, there was no monster in this room. But the drain on these students was real. The sounds were real enough to fool his enhanced senses.

If the System can't see it... it's either an illusion so powerful it warps reality, or the entity is hiding in a different dimension.

"My detection shows nothing," Kai lied, masking his concern. "Whatever did this... it's gone. Or it's hiding perfectly."

The group fell silent, looking at the three broken boys. The only sound was the wind whistling through the cracks in the walls, sounding eerily like a giggle.

"We can't just stand here," Gu Ling said, her voice tight. She looked spooked. The sight of the men reduced to drooling messes had shaken her more than a monster would have. "If we stay in a group, we're just a big, slow target. Whatever this thing is, it lured them here and trapped them."

She turned to Kai and Han Rou.

"If we all search in one direction, we will never be able to catch it. It's playing games with us. We should split up."

"Split up?" Yun Xi looked like she was about to cry. "That's how people die in stories! We should hold hands!"

"We need to cover the floors," Gu Ling insisted. "This building has four stories. If the spirit is moving, we need to corner it."

"She has a point," Kai said slowly.

He didn't like it, but his instincts told him that this "ghost" was targeting desires. And desires were personal. If they stayed together, the entity might not show itself. But if they separated... it would come out to play.

And Kai wanted to meet it.

"We split into teams," Kai decided. "Safety in numbers, but covering ground."

"I'll take the East Wing of the first floor," Gu Ling volunteered quickly. "I want to burn whatever did this."

"I will take the second floor," Leng Yue said calmly.

"I... I'll stay with Teacher!" Yun Xi grabbed Han Rou’s arm.

"Fine," Kai nodded. He looked at the dark staircase leading up into the blackness of the upper levels.

"I'll take the top floor," Kai said, his eyes gleaming. "The penthouse suite."

"Be careful," Han Rou warned, looking at the comatose students. "Whatever this is... it feeds on lust. Don't let your guard down."

Kai smirked. "Don't worry, Teacher. If it wants lust... I have plenty to spare."