Translator: Cinder Translations
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A buzzing sound rang out, and as it echoed, it felt as though one's very soul was trembling along with it.
This was the sound of a door appearing.
It came from the direction of the attic.
At the same time, the boat slowly began to move backward, then quickly headed toward the shore. Fatty's hand remained suspended in mid-air, and it wasn't until a moment later that he seemed to return to his normal self.
He slowly crouched down, his massive frame huddling together. From behind, he looked incredibly desolate, like a homeless stray dog.
The silhouettes of the group were reflected in the water, swaying with the ripples, at times clear and at times blurry.
With a "thud," the boat docked on the shore. The iron gate's time was running out, so everyone quickly jumped off the boat and ran toward the attic.
However, no one noticed that in the water, a shadow remained, not leaving with its owner, but staying submerged in the water.
The shadow turned its head and stared intensely at the backs of the group.
On the lake's surface, An Xuan's face grew increasingly filled with resentment, slowly fading away in the end.
"Whoosh—whoosh—"
The group's pace gradually slowed down. Even Fatty could sense something was wrong. They had visited Young Master Huang's attic more than once before, but never had they—
"What's going on?" Chen Qiang gasped for breath, staring at the top of the attic to the northwest, his eyes filled with confusion.
They had been running for no less than 10 minutes. Every time they thought they were close, but when they looked up, the distance to the attic hadn't changed much.
It seemed they had been running in vain.
The buzzing sound was showing signs of dissipating.
Jiang Cheng turned his head and looked at An Xuan, who had been quietly following at the back of the group without saying anything. His eyes were eerily calm.
The next moment, Xia Meng seemed to have realized something. She made the same movement as Jiang Cheng, but her eyes were filled with complicated emotions.
The situation was becoming clear.
An Xuan was being targeted by a ghost, and the ghost wouldn't let him go.
The original ghost in the instance had already dissipated. What was now targeting An Xuan was You Qi, the one An Xuan had tortured to death with his own hands.
He had broken the rules.
This was the consequence.
To be fair, Xia Meng didn't wish for An Xuan's death, but there were some things she couldn't decide. Moreover, time was running out, and the door was about to collapse.
If they delayed any further, no one would be able to leave.
She had discussed the issue of the door with Uncle Gong before. She was curious about what would happen if they didn't leave in time but also weren't killed by the ghost.
The reliable, yet doting middle-aged man had remained unusually silent. She clearly remembered that Uncle Gong had raised his eyes and calmly said, "They'll be erased by the rules, or..."
Eyes wide, Xia Meng curiously asked, "Or what?"
"Or fall into deeper despair."
"How do you know this?" Xia Meng was very curious about this answer.
A moment later, her gaze toward Uncle Gong shifted, surprised as she asked, "Has someone experienced this and come back alive?"
Being entangled with ghosts in a nightmare was already suffocating enough. She couldn't even imagine what kind of despair it would be like for someone to be left in another space-time.
Moreover, that distorted space-time... had ghosts as well.
After a while, Uncle Gong averted his gaze. "I don't know. It's just my guess." He added, "You can just listen to it casually."
Casually listen...
This statement hit Xia Meng harder than Uncle Gong's strange analysis of the nightmare.
In her mind, words like "casually" or "maybe" rarely came from this man.
In comparison, his calm tone felt more like a statement of fact.
"Little girl."
Xia Meng froze for a moment.
"Promise me." The middle-aged man raised his gaze and looked at her. "Never be the one left behind in a nightmare."
"No matter what it takes." He paused, "Don't get left behind."
Compared to Xia Meng, An Xuan's expression was much calmer. "You all go ahead." He said, "I'll be there shortly."
Although he didn't understand the rules here, Chen Qiang also felt something eerie around them.
He wasn't sure what it was, but he clearly felt that they were trapped in some sort of ghostly loop, and it was being caused by that thing.
"Goodbye." Jiang Cheng nodded and immediately ran toward the attic, pulling along Fatty, who was still in a daze, staring at An Xuan.
After swallowing, Chen Qiang turned and chased after them.
Only Xia Meng and An Xuan remained, standing still.
"Really... can't escape?" Xia Meng furrowed her brow, biting her lip as she looked at him. "If you need, I can..."
"Be careful of Jiang Cheng." After a moment, An Xuan looked at the group's diminishing figures in the distance before shifting his gaze back to Xia Meng's eyes.
Xia Meng froze for a moment.
In a time like this, he still had the presence of mind to care about someone else. To her, the people in the Night Watch were not entirely normal.
It seemed like she still wanted to say something, but An Xuan smiled at her, then made a gesture as if pulling his shirt upward.
The next second, Xia Meng immediately took a step back, her expression changing.
She saw that An Xuan's right foot was standing in a puddle, and a hand had reached out from the water, gripping his foot tightly.
The water was very shallow, only about 1 cm deep. At that moment, a blurry figure appeared in the puddle.
The figure had a blood-soaked face and no eyes.
The empty eye sockets leaked blood.
His nose, ears, and lips had been cruelly cut off. His head was large and round, like a blood-soaked gourd.
The marks of a savage knife wound still remained.
Without hesitation, Xia Meng turned around and ran away.
The sky was filled with rain, and her shoes splashed in the shallow puddles, sending water flying.
Jiang Cheng and the others had already dashed through the rain curtain.
Xia Meng was the last.
Standing before the attic, Chen Qiang turned around and glanced back. A few steps away, it was raining, but the place where they were standing was completely dry.
More precisely, the rain only covered An Xuan's head.
After leaving An Xuan behind, they quickly ran out of the rain.
They soon found the attic.
Racing up the decaying stairs, they reached the second floor, where the screen painted with images of actresses was moved aside. On the wall, close to a human-skin drum, stood a black iron door.
A gray mist swirled in front of the door.
If you stared long enough, it almost seemed to have a life of its own.
"Mengmeng." Jiang Cheng shouted affectionately, "I need you to go in first."
Xia Meng gave him a quick glance before stepping into the door.
Next was Fatty.
When Chen Qiang approached, Jiang Cheng stopped him.
Chen Qiang seemed to know what was coming. He glanced at the iron door and hurriedly said, "Everything I said is true—name, address, school, and phone number, it's all true. Please, you have to believe me."
After a pause, he continued, "I will never lie to you!"
(End of the Chapter)
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