Chapter 653: Chapter 524: The Source_2
The mist had vanished and tranquility returned to the night, but the crisis was not yet over. The Source Ghost had left, but a mutilated lower body stood erect not far in front of him, its toes pointed directly at him.
It was the Chang Ghost.
Had it been in his prime, even if he couldn’t defeat it, he could always run away, but now, Yang Xiao’s spiritual power had been greatly depleted, and with severe injuries, facing such a foe was undeniably dangerous. Yang Xiao grit his teeth, got up, and turned to run.
"Thud."
"Thud."
"Thud."
The footsteps behind him did not sound fast, much slower than Yang Xiao’s running pace, but their speed was strangely fast. The distance between them kept narrowing until it was right behind him. Just as Yang Xiao decided to summon the Ghost Duster to confront this creature, the scenery before him abruptly changed. He missed a step, and by the time he regained his senses, he was standing on a tree with a hand tightly covering his mouth. "Don’t panic, it’s me," Lu Wencheng’s voice came from behind, his tone very low.
Turning his head, he indeed saw Lu Wencheng’s face, sweaty and weary as if he had just been through a battle.
Peering through the gaps between the branches and leaves, Yang Xiao noticed to the southeast, about 20 meters away, a bloody lower body standing still. Since it had lost its target, the Chang Ghost no longer moved.
Neither of them dared to move while the Chang Ghost remained stationary. After about a minute, the Chang Ghost, like a puppet out of control, suddenly collapsed.
After a long wait with no movement, Yang Xiao observed for a moment and pieced together the killing pattern of these Chang Ghosts from his previous encounters. They did not actively seek out targets to kill; they were passive, remaining at the site of death where the Source Ghost had killed someone, transforming the remaining halves of bodies into Chang Ghosts. These creatures would stay at the scene, motionless like corpses, until they were disturbed by someone approaching, which would awaken them to chase and kill their targets.
Similarly, once a Chang Ghost had killed its target or lost it, it would fall back into a dormant state, waiting for the next unfortunate person to awaken it.
The encounters Yang Xiao had in room 529 in Building 2 and room 437 in Building 3 with the man in funeral garments also confirmed this.
Lu Wencheng slowly released his hold and was about to jump down from the tree, but Yang Xiao grabbed him with one hand and whispered a warning, "Don’t move."
"Are you worried it will wake up?" Lu Wencheng hesitated, nodded, and said, "Then this is the only way. Hold on to me, I will take you out of here."
Lu Wencheng’s abilities were stronger than Yang Xiao had thought. His ruler could not only instantly teleport himself but others as well. He had just used this ability to save Yang Xiao, but it greatly exhausted him, which Yang Xiao had noticed.
Slowly shaking his head, Yang Xiao exhaled a breath of turbid air, "No need, this time I will take you. Stick close to me."
Pulling out the copper mirror from his backpack and detaching one side, Yang Xiao used the power of the Soul-Capturing Mirror to disappear with Lu Wencheng.
When the two reappeared, they were dozens of meters away, standing in a puddle. After calming down for a moment, Yang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully the Chang Ghost had not followed them.
"Thanks for the rescue." Having lost too much blood, Yang Xiao’s face under the mask was very pale, and he spoke weakly.
Unexpectedly, his words seemed to make Lu Wencheng a bit awkward, who explained in a low voice, "Sorry, it was my fault for being late. I encountered some trouble on the way, someone was ambushing me downstairs, and we had a fight."
"Who?"
"Prisoner No. 146," Lu Wencheng said coldly. "But don’t worry, you won’t see that guy again."
It seemed Lu Wencheng had taken him out, but Yang Xiao didn’t mind. Now that he was out of danger, he urgently needed to tend to his wounds. Seeing this, Lu Wencheng helped Yang Xiao sit down and took an old-fashioned stapler from his backpack, "Brace yourself."
"Click!"
"Click!"
After two sounds, the wound on Yang Xiao’s severed wrist was stapled shut, and the bleeding stopped immediately. Yang Xiao moved his left arm, surprised to find that aside from a bit of pain, there was nothing abnormal. This pain was nothing compared to the agony of his severed wrist.
"Good stuff indeed!" Yang Xiao sincerely exclaimed.
"Too kind, too kind," Lu Wencheng chuckled, putting the stapler back. "But this is just a temporary fix; it will only last a few hours. Once the time is up, your injury will worsen rapidly."
"A few hours, huh... That’s enough!"
After all, the Contemplation Pavilion was not the real Nightmare World; at most, it was just a miniature version of the Nightmare World. Based on Yang Xiao’s estimation, this world would end in another four or five hours, assuming they would survive that long.
During this time, quite a few contenders had already died, those known included the man in sports shoes in room 529 of Building 2, whose code was unknown; the man in funeral garments in room 437 of Building 3, codenamed Prisoner No. 104; the just mentioned Prisoner No. 146 killed by Lu Wencheng; and Long Zi No. 41 they had encountered before, who had his upper body taken by the ghost. That made four deaths, besides others who may have gone undiscovered.
That meant, excluding Yang Xiao and Lu Wencheng, no more than five people were still alive.
The two quickly exchanged information and unanimously decided to head to room 701 in Building 1 to look for clues. The journey there was smooth, and Building 1 was very quiet. Yang Xiao had previously scouted with the Human Bone Staff and found no significant malevolence, yet in this world, the detection range of his Human Bone Staff had been drastically reduced, plus he was injured.
Climbing the stairs to the seventh floor, Lu Wencheng peeked out, and the corridor on the seventh floor was quiet. The only sound was the occasionally flickering yellow bulb above their heads; they treaded softly to the door of room 701.
