Translator: CinderTL
"What's wrong?" Pi Ruan set down his teacup and followed Luo He's gaze, but could only see a wall standing in the darkness.
Without the protection of the Gate, he was now even weaker than an ordinary person.
"Someone woke up," Luo He said quickly. A moment later, his pupils narrowed slightly. "No, something has invaded the dream I created and awakened others."
"Invaded your dream?" Pi Ruan's expression turned strange. Wu's ability was to construct a dream based on reality, and the only thing that could invade his dreams was undoubtedly a Ghost.
And not just any Ghost, but a particularly special one.
The Ghost had finally appeared.
"Who woke up?" Pi Ruan asked.
"Wait, I need to sense it," Luo He said. He spread the black-covered book flat on the table, placed one hand on it, and his eyes emitted a pale blue light with a glassy texture, both beautiful and mysterious.
"It's in that direction," Luo He suddenly said, glancing toward the room where Zhao Xingguo and the other two were staying. "But I can't sense who it is specifically. Something is interfering with me."
A few minutes ago, Pan Du had been sound asleep when he suddenly jolted awake. The kerosene lamp in the room had somehow gone out.
The room was shrouded in a dark gray mist, as if coated in a vintage filter.
But what truly terrified Pan Du was that Zhao Xingguo and Linghu Yong, who had been sleeping in the room, were gone.
He rose quickly, his vast experience teaching him that panic was useless and would only hasten his death.
He moved as silently as possible, approaching the spot where Zhao Xingguo had been sleeping. He reached out and touched the bed.
Cold.
They had been gone for some time.
Zhao Xingguo's absence, coupled with Linghu Yong's disappearance, was highly suspicious.
Pan Du quickly analyzed the situation. They had just arrived in this world; he didn't believe they would have left the room in the middle of the night to search for clues.
The only thing that could have driven them to leave silently must have been an emergency.
And the most likely explanation was that they had encountered a Ghost.
And this Ghost... was still in the room!
Pan Du dared not even breathe, cold sweat instantly dripping from his forehead. He glanced around, and the furniture in the room seemed veiled in a gray mist, transforming into blurred outlines.
No.
I have to escape.
The moment this thought surfaced, Pan Du immediately began walking toward the door, trying his best to tread lightly and make no sound.
But as he opened the door and stepped into the hall, the scene before him made his heart skip a beat. Including the door to his own room, four doors stood open.
And from the outside, none of the rooms appeared to contain anyone.
In the vast building, it seemed he was the only living soul left.
They've all run away?
Damn it!
Without hesitation, Pan Du hurried toward the main gate. As he reached out and grasped the doorknob, his heart plummeted.
The gate wasn't locked.
It was only ajar, barely held shut. A gentle pull was enough to open it.
The old hinges emitted a grating screech, as if they hadn't been moved in ages. Outside, a hazy grayness shrouded the world.
It wasn't simply dark, but more like a dense fog obscuring his vision. Yet, with careful observation, he could still make out the scene within a ten-meter radius.
He didn't see anyone. It seemed everyone had run far away, beyond the perimeter of the building they were in.
Pan Du had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong, but just as he was pondering this, a figure flashed through the mist.
"Stop! It's me, Pan Du!" Pan Du immediately gave chase, recognizing the figure as one of their group.
In this environment, being alone was terrifying, especially since he had already concluded that the problem lay within this very building.
The mist clung to him like liquid, making every step a struggle.
Even more unsettling, no matter how fast he ran or how loudly he shouted, the figure ahead continued to flee without turning back or responding.
They had been running for at least several minutes, yet they hadn't encountered any walls or obstacles.
That's when the problem became clear.
Where exactly was he now?
Was he still inside Feng Manor?
A sense of foreboding washed over Pan Du. He began to slow his pace, but the figure running away from him also slowed down, maintaining a distance of about ten meters.
At this distance, Pan Du could barely make out the figure's silhouette, but he couldn't identify who it was.
Without hesitation, Pan Du stopped running and turned back.
"I have to go back! I absolutely have to!" Sweat poured down his body, and the mist clung to him like invisible hands, trying to hold him back.
But this only confirmed his earlier suspicions.
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This was a trap.
Waiting for him in the depths of the mist would only be a Ghost.
The figure he had seen earlier was nothing more than bait.
As he ran desperately, he suddenly heard a strange sound behind him.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Footsteps!
But what was eerie was that each step sounded as if it were splashing into water, yet he had been running for so long without seeing any water.
Even stranger, the footsteps lacked rhythm, as if the runner's body were malfunctioning.
Suppressing his fear, he quickly glanced back.
That single glance froze his breath for a half-beat.
The figure was still there, running backward in an incredibly bizarre posture, like a video played in reverse, but faster than he was running at full speed.
The distance between them was slowly closing.
10 meters.
5 meters.
3 meters.
Just as Pan Du thought he was doomed, he suddenly slammed into something head-on. A powerful arm instantly yanked him away.
Then a hand clamped tightly over his mouth.
The scene fell silent.
The figure running away with its back to them had vanished without a trace, along with the eerie footsteps.
Minutes ticked by. Pan Du stared wide-eyed, barely daring to breathe, until—
"I really don't understand how someone like you survived the Nightmare," a calm voice said from behind him, tinged with a hint of anger. "If I'd been a few seconds later, you'd be dead right now."
The hand covering Pan Du's mouth moved away. He turned around to see a pair of azure eyes and a slightly impatient expression.
"Thank you, thank you," Pan Du stammered. Even a fool could tell he'd been saved. He remembered the man's name: Luo He.
A Night Watcher.
"By the way, where did you all go?" Pan Du asked in a low voice. "I woke up and you were gone. Otherwise, I wouldn't have left."
(End of the Chapter)
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