Translator: CinderTL
Fatty swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Am I the only one seeing this, or did you all see it too?"
Huai Yi instinctively ducked behind Fatty. "Brother Fugui, we... we all saw it."
After a moment, he forced himself to steady his trembling neck and leaned in, whispering so only he and Fatty could hear, "Brother Fugui, stop holding back. Show us some of your divine power! Otherwise... otherwise, I think we're all doomed."
Fatty thought to himself, You don't need to tell me! If I had half the Doctor's skill, I wouldn't be stuck here in the first place.
"Run," Fatty advised.
Shen Mengyun's face paled. "Run where?"
"The gate. The one we came in through. We charge out of there!" Fatty stared at the gate, the sculptures lining both sides, leaving a clear path down the middle.
"Hold on," Huai Yi said. "Don't forget what Brother Jiang told us. That... that Bandit Ghost has a crooked neck."
Jiang Cheng had indeed mentioned that before the security guard died, he had repeatedly seen a statue with a crooked neck watching him from beside the psychiatrist.
Knowing this wasn't the time for idle chatter, Huai Yi quickly said, "It's unlikely all these statues are problematic. Only one is probably the real threat. The rest are fake, deliberately created to mislead us!"
"We just need to find the one with the crooked neck..."
Huai Yi was in the middle of his analysis when Fatty suddenly reached out and covered his mouth. From Huai Yi's perspective, Shen Mengyun looked on the verge of tears.
Huai Yi turned to see every statue in the hall tilting its head, the faces beneath their red veils all turned toward them.
The scene was utterly eerie.
Faintly, they could hear a teeth-grinding "creak," as if something hard was about to snap.
"Run!"
Fatty was the first to bolt, followed by Shen Mengyun. Huai Yi, still lost in thought, was left behind. "Wait for me!"
Fatty crashed through the gate and sprinted down the corridor. Before he'd gone far, Shen Mengyun's injuries began to show, and Huai Yi caught up.
Fortunately, the sculptures had just come to life and seemed unfamiliar with their new bodies. Their poses were bizarre and awkward, as if they were experiencing humanity for the first time.
Compared to them, the half-body statues were far more terrifying. They writhed together like crippled spiders, some crawling rapidly across the floor, while others hung upside down from the ceiling, using only their two arms to chase after them.
The sounds of collisions, running footsteps, and the rasping of claws against the floor and walls—like a noose tightening around their necks—made it hard to breathe.
Gradually, Shen Mengyun grew more exhausted. Her ankle throbbed painfully, and no matter how hard she pushed herself, she couldn't run fast.
The sounds behind her grew closer.
Fatty Huai Yi had already disappeared around a corner ahead. Shen Mengyun, alone and leaning against the wall, limped forward, her right leg useless.
Memories flickered before her eyes like a movie reel. Shen Mengyun often watched movies alone, and she knew that when the flashback sequence began, it meant the character's time was running out.
Her own time was drawing near.
But she wasn't ready to go.
Strangely, since arriving in this world, she seemed to have forgotten much. Wang Qi had even spoken to her about it specifically.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall how she had come to this world.
And that bus... it filled her with both fear and a strange familiarity, as if she had ridden it long ago.
Yet that memory was lost to her.
Oddly, after observing her reaction, Wang Qi seemed to realize something. His expression grew subtly grim, and he left shortly after.
It was a dazed, defeated departure she remembered vividly.
And Wang Qi's final words were even stranger. He had asked her if she felt anything wrong with her body or if she noticed any differences between herself and Jiang Cheng and the others.
It was such a bizarre question. She was completely baffled. They were in the middle of a mission; just surviving was hard enough. This wasn't a matchmaking event.
Why ask so many questions?
But now, all those questions would remain unanswered. At least, she wouldn't live to see the truth revealed.
A Sculpture Ghost, reduced to a half-body statue, hung upside down above her. She could clearly sense its excitement and the human-like greed in its gaze.
In her final moments, a man's face flashed through her mind.
A profile.
Jiang Cheng's.
If he were here, would he still rush forward, scoop her up, and say, "Don't move, I'll carry you"?
"Mr. Jiang," Shen Mengyun murmured, leaning against the wall.
Suddenly, her arm was yanked violently. She lost her balance and was tossed onto something soft and plump like a sack of potatoes.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Fatty shouted as he hoisted Shen Mengyun onto his back and began running. "Are you just going to stand there and wait to die?!"
Fatty skillfully dodged a half-body statue that had fallen from the sky, all while turning back to scold the bewildered Shen Mengyun. "Miss Shen, I know your leg is injured, but you have to crawl if you have to! The doctor said it's a matter of attitude!"
"We can die, but we must never give up resisting!" Fatty recalled the doctor's exact words, his blood boiling. "Even if King Yama himself comes today, I'll still flick him on the forehead! No one can stop me!"
Shen Mengyun was completely baffled by the talk of flicking King Yama on the forehead.
Strangely, Shen Mengyun found herself surprisingly attuned to Fatty's train of thought, her emotions mirroring his fiery resolve.
"That's right! We must never give up the fight!" she declared.
"Exactly!" Fatty, with Shen Mengyun on his back, sprinted faster than a ghost, leaving Huai Yi, who was waiting ahead, utterly dumbfounded.
A sudden thought struck him: perhaps he could leap onto Brother Fugui's back. With two people on his back, even a ghost might have a slim chance of catching up.
"Wait! Wait for me!"
As Fatty and the others fled for their lives, Jiang Cheng and Wang Qi were trapped in a hallway, facing an invisible enemy. The Abnormality was that though the hallway echoed with the sounds of running, collisions, and friction, nothing was visible.
It was as if the two groups existed in separate temporal dimensions.
Jiang Cheng could even feel Fatty and the others running past him—no, running through him!
Fatty's voice echoed in his ears, incredibly close.
He and Wang Qi tried shouting, but Fatty and the others seemed completely oblivious.
Finally, the chaotic sounds faded into the distance.
"Wait," Wang Qi said quickly, "their situation is different from ours! They seem to be the ones targeted by the real Ghost."
Jiang Cheng's thoughts aligned with Wang Qi's. They were both pondering what Fatty and the others had done to become targeted by the Ghost.
After all, Jiang Cheng and Wang Qi had been the ones scouting ahead the entire time.
They should have been the ones triggering the danger.
After a moment, Jiang Cheng suddenly turned his head and looked at Wang Qi, who was also frowning deeply. "Did you knock on the gate when we entered the Sculpture Hall?"
Wang Qi froze for a moment, then grew tense. "Yes, I did. After I saw you knock, I thought the sound was off. It sounded like there was a hollow space inside the gate. As we passed, I tapped it lightly to test it out."
The reason was found.
According to the clues Yuan Xiaoyi had provided, one had to knock on the gate before entering the Sculpture Hall. Yuan Xiaoyi had even emphasized not to forget, stressing its importance.
Jiang Cheng hadn't forgotten, but he hadn't realized this rule applied only to individuals. In other words, everyone had to knock before entering!
Wang Qi also grasped the situation. He looked in the direction of the receding sounds and asked, "What do we do now?"
Fatty and the others had already triggered the taboo within the Sculpture Hall. This was a difficult situation, especially since they had been separated. There was no way to help them now.
"There's no other choice," Jiang Cheng said, turning back toward the Sculpture Hall. "We have to trigger the taboo ourselves and regroup with them first."
This was absolutely the worst possible strategy. If a different group had been trapped, Jiang Cheng would have seized the opportunity during the Ghost's pursuit to search for clues and end the Urban Legend.
But now, their own people were surrounded.
With Fatty Huai Yi, Shen Mengyun, and their combined skills, they wouldn't last long.
"Here's what we'll do," Wang Qi said, turning to Jiang Cheng. "We split up. One of us stays outside to search for clues, while the other goes inside to rescue them!"
"Alright!" Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate, immediately running toward the Sculpture Hall gate.
But Wang Qi stopped him. "I'll go in. You stay outside and look for clues!" Wang Qi said, his expression serious.
"You?" Jiang Cheng shook off Wang Qi's hand, the strange look in his eyes finally erupting. "Why are you risking your life to save them?"
"What exactly is your relationship with that Fatty that you'd risk your life to save him?" Jiang Cheng pressed. "Who are you people, really?"
Wang Qi didn't explain, simply staring coldly into Jiang Cheng's eyes. "I can't answer that question right now," he said. "But I know that if we hesitate any longer, they'll all die."
"Do you want to know the answer now, or..." He paused, "...watch them die?"
Wang Qi's tone held no threat, only a cold statement of fact.
Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate. He turned and sprinted toward the Sculpture Hall. Wang Qi, taken aback, quickly followed.
The two men burst into the Sculpture Hall almost simultaneously.
This time, no one knocked.
"Fool!" Wang Qi muttered under his breath.
"Shut your mouth. I don't have time to deal with you right now," Jiang Cheng said. "You can wait until we get out."
Their bickering ended. This time, the atmosphere in the hall felt noticeably different. It seemed darker, as if shrouded in a gray mist.
Moreover, the sculptures that had lined the hall's sides were gone, leaving only empty pedestals and their accompanying information plaques.
It seemed they had all come to life and were chasing Fatty and the others.
Just then, the sound of pursuit echoed from the corridor again, as if the chase had circled around and returned.
Jiang Cheng and Wang Qi immediately rushed out. This time, they spotted Fatty in the lead, carrying Shen Mengyun on his back and dragging Huai Yi along with one hand.
His sausage-like legs pumped furiously.
(End of the Chapter)
---
📖Read (NS) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c1286. [+8]
🔑Read it 100% for FREE visit the pinned post on my p@treon to learn how!🎉
💥Translated (6) Series, (4.6K+) Chapters, (6.7M+) Words.