Chapter 756: Chapter 572: Peace Inn_3
Putting down the paper, Yang Xiao frowned slightly and urged, "Director, I suggest we shouldn’t wait any longer. Let’s go check out the area, heading to Chi River Town. It’s not far from the other two marked locations. Even if subsequent intelligence proves incorrect, we will have time to relocate."
Not far to the west of Chi River Town lies the centuries-old Fushou Manor, where they might find some clues. Moreover, every mission involving Yang Xiao tended to bring unpredictable changes. For instance, while most people who receive a Ghost Script enter the Nightmare World within about three days, Yang Xiao doesn’t; he usually enters within 24 hours.
Even during Yu Shu’s incident, Yang Xiao’s intervention had significantly hastened the process, and this time was no exception to unforeseen events happening.
Both Nalan Shuo and Yang Xiao were action-oriented. Once Yang Xiao was ready, the two caught the earliest flight available to a nearby city’s airport and, after a bumpy ride, finally arrived in Chi River Town late that night.
The town’s amenities were average—it was not on a tourist path and was poorly developed with almost no nightlife. At night, it was eerily quiet, with no one walking around outside, and the entire town seemed to have stayed stuck twenty years in the past.
Having walked for a while, they finally found a small inn with a sign. Looking up at the blood-red characters of "Peace Inn" gave off an unnervingly auspicious vibe.
After waking the woman at the front desk by knocking, she swiftly checked them in, handed Nalan Shuo a copper key, told them their room was on the third floor near the end of the hall, and then shut the door and went back to sleep.
The inn had no elevator, and as they ascended the old concrete stairs and walked along an outdated red carpet towards the dimly lit end of the corridor, they both felt extremely uneasy.
Opening the wooden door of the room, inside were two single beds, a table, and a chair. The facilities were a bit old but still clean; the downside was the poor lighting in the room, which instead of the usual incandescent light, had an old-fashioned chandelier.
Handing a bowl of prepared instant noodles to Nalan Shuo, Yang Xiao said, "Director, let’s just make do tonight, and we can switch to a better room when it’s light tomorrow."
"It’s fine by me... I’m just sorry you’re stuck with this," sighed Nalan Shuo.
Just as he finished speaking, both Yang Xiao and Nalan Shuo paused, hearing footsteps outside—the steps were heavy and ominous, adding a sinister echo in the quiet of the night.
"Thud."
"Thud."
"Thud."
Someone was coming from the direction of the stairs—so late at night, besides them, who else could be seeking lodging?
The footsteps drew closer, irregular as if the person were drunk, giving Yang Xiao a terrible foreboding. In front of Nalan Shuo, he quickly put on the Drama Robe and positioned himself behind the door. Soon, the footsteps reached their door, didn’t stop, and continued walking until they halted at the end of the corridor.
There was another room there.
Then came the sound of the door opening—"creak"—the door pushed open, footsteps moved inside, followed by two "thuds" and then a "thump," a sound that unnervingly resembled a body dropping onto a bed.
Silence returned all around, but Yang Xiao and Nalan Shuo’s hearts couldn’t settle, for both had sharply noticed something bizarre about the footsteps.
Moreover, and perhaps most terrifyingly, the door hadn’t been unlocked with a key; they hadn’t heard the sound of a key entering a lock.
The door wasn’t unlocked; it had been pushed open directly—either it had been left unlocked, or... this person didn’t need a key to open doors!
Sitting passively wasn’t in Yang Xiao’s nature. After exchanging a look with Nalan Shuo, the two quietly moved to the bathroom and, together, entered the Mirror World. Through the Mirror World, Yang Xiao stealthily entered the adjacent room and indeed found a man lying on the bed, sleeping like a log, with the room in disarray and littered with empty liquor bottles, clearly having stayed in the inn for quite some time.
To ensure there was no threat, Yang Xiao left Nalan Shuo behind, took the Ghost Lantern in his left hand and the Human Bone Staff in the right, and stepped out from the Mirror World into the neighbor’s room, cautiously approaching and shining the Ghost Lantern on the drunken man.
"Phew—"
Moments later, Yang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief; it was indeed just a human.
After confirming it was a false alarm, Yang Xiao returned to the Mirror World, bringing Director Nalan with him back to their room.
After recounting the incident to Nalan Shuo, his tense expression gradually relaxed. They had already been through a long journey, and this sudden scare had left them feeling unnerved.
"This place gives me a bad feeling. As soon as it’s light, we’ll leave immediately," said Nalan Shuo as Yang Xiao moved the table out, with them sitting at opposite ends, Nalan Shuo on the chair and Yang Xiao directly on the bed.
"Let’s eat, and then get some early rest," Nalan Shuo handed a plastic fork to Yang Xiao, his face showing exhaustion.
Yang Xiao reached out to take the fork, accidentally knocking his phone to the ground with a "thud." He instinctively bent down to pick it up, but in the next second, he saw a pair of pitch-black, decaying legs, the toes pointing straight at him, sitting on the chair opposite.
