While the two were discussing, the changes in the village escalated further. A damp and cold wind blew, and a forest appeared in front of them. Then the forest quickly changed into a desolate plain. Small ponds suddenly appeared on the ground under their feet from time to time. No matter how anxious Lu Yanli and An Xingyu were to find the village chief, they could not run fast in this road condition. They could only pay attention to their feet at all times.
Where is the village chief? The village has fallen into complete chaos. Can we really find the village chief
Besides, even if we find the village chief, will he easily admit it
The sky was getting darker and darker. It was daytime just now, but now it was almost the same as night. Our field of vision narrowed again. Without any lighting equipment, we could only try our best to open our eyes wide to see clearly and avoid falling.
There was another puddle in front of him. An Xingyu didn't pay attention and stepped into it. What shocked him was that it seemed like he stepped into a bottomless pit and he sank directly into the puddle!
Oh no!
An Xingyu was startled, and tried to pull his legs out immediately, but half of his legs had already fallen into the water. He could only desperately hold on to the soft mud beside him and try to climb up.
I could clearly feel that there was a pair of hands under the water, grabbing my ankles and pulling me down!
"Brother Lu, please help me." He called out to Lu Yanli who had stopped nearby, "Please!"
Lu Yanli didn't hesitate too much and forcefully grabbed the hand that An Xingyu stretched out. He exerted great strength, which was completely different from his apparently weak appearance. He quickly helped An Xingyu free himself from the puddle.
What made him uneasy was that the water in the puddle looked normal, but after An Xingyu climbed out, his lower body seemed to be soaked in blood plasma, completely soaked in the sticky red liquid.
Such liquid...
"Thank you." An Xingyu didn't say much nonsense. He took a breath and was about to stand up. However, when he raised his head slightly, his eyes immediately widened, as if he saw something incomprehensible, "This, this is..."
Lu Yanli stared for a second, and after making sure that nothing unusual had happened, he also raised his head and looked up. This action made his pupils shrink instantly.
In the sky that had turned completely black, a pale paper-made person was floating high and low. There was a crooked smiling face painted on its face that looked like a child's simple sketch. They were wearing bright clothes and had two red circles painted on their faces, revealing a big smile.
, not just one.
More and more paper figures floated out from all directions, swaying in the sky. The smiling faces painted on their faces were obviously very simple, but they made people feel like they were seeing rotten human heads. The pale heads were extremely lifelike, and one could even smell the strong stench of long-decayed flesh.
It's just like someone is flying a kite!
As if they had sensed our gazes, the paper figures looked down...
"Don't look up! Keep moving forward!"
Lu Yanli only took a quick glance and quickly lowered his head. The memory that he had compulsively trained over the years allowed him to recall the scene completely, those lanterns... Thinking carefully, the face was extremely similar to the villager he had seen during the day!
Perhaps, we are the villagers.
When An Xingyu looked up, the paper people suddenly fell straight down and were about to fall on them!
An Xingyu was also a fool, and he quickly lowered his head. The two of them concentrated on running forward without saying a word. There were more and more puddles on the ground, and they identified the locations of the puddles while using the reflections in the water to see the locations of the paper figures.
"whee… "
"Hehehe..."
The paper people laughed crisply, high and low sounds interweaving together.
Go see it!
Must listen!
The night deepened, it was already so dark that one could hardly see one's hand in front of one's face, and their pace was getting slower and slower.
The laughter of the paper people above his head was getting closer and closer, and gradually turned into hoarse and cold laughter. That kind of sound did not sound like it could be made by living people.
However, no matter how difficult their journey was, they could not stop and stand still. Once they stood still, the paper people floating in the sky would keep approaching, and the soil under their feet would quickly become wet, about to swallow them up. Therefore, no matter how difficult it was to walk, they tried their best to move forward.
"Brother Lu, where are we going now?" An Xingyu lowered his voice very low, but he could sense that the other party was beside him, moving slowly forward.
However, the aura coming from the other person's body was extremely cold.
"Keep going." A voice answered.
"Yeah." An Xingyu responded.
But beneath the calm appearance, there were turbulent waves in his heart.
This is Lu Yanli!
Who is following him
Cold sweat broke out on An Xingyu's forehead, but he forced himself not to make a sound and remained expressionless.
He is just an ordinary high school student. After being involved in a supernatural incident for no reason, his first reaction is to disbelieve it. However, out of inner fear, he still follows the mission instructions and comes to an abandoned school, waiting for the mission to begin.
During the first mission, I witnessed an extremely terrifying supernatural phenomenon with my own eyes. That scene shocked me deeply, and until now, I can still remember the man's face full of fear and his eyes open when he died.
If the mission fails, you will turn into a cold, rotten corpse, and there is a high possibility that even the corpse will be left behind!
After logging on to the website, he came into contact with many people who had to complete the mission like him. There were also a large number of memory records saved by survivors on the website. An Xingyu spent several nights reviewing all the records like reviewing before an exam, looking for possible patterns.
No matter what the mission is, only those who are meticulous and able to think calmly can survive. Those who panic and lose their composure at the beginning will easily be eliminated.
Be calm, don't be chaotic.
All the partners who had performed missions with him thought that he was naturally emotionless, but only he knew that it was not the case. He was afraid and terrified, but his strong desire to survive and a little bit of youthful self-esteem allowed him to show his vulnerability.
Even in front of a ghost, you must never do that!
"Well, let's go our separate ways, you go left and I go right." An Xingyu heard his own calm voice and clenched his fists tightly, his eyes still maintaining an almost inorganic calm.
Calm down, calm down...
After saying that, he immediately turned around and walked to the right, without caring that the other party had not yet agreed. However, to his horror, that person... no, that thing also followed him.
Even though it is pitch black now and nothing can be seen clearly, I can sense that thing is not far away, staring at me!
An Xingyu's pace became faster and faster, trying to get rid of the figure, but to his disappointment, the thing he sensed coming from the side... was getting closer and closer!
The road was now almost unwalkable as it was covered with thorns and jagged rocks. Every step An Xingyu took was scratched by sharp branches. The red stains on his legs had long since dried up, but there were endless small wounds. However, he couldn't stop and could only speed up as much as possible.
Once you stop, that thing will catch up with you! And the paper man floating in the sky will also appear in front of you immediately!
At this moment, the ground in front of the road suddenly sank. An Xingyu didn't pay any attention, stepped on empty air, and rolled down the slope.
Just as he was rolling down, he met the eyes of the paper man in the sky. At that moment, he saw the enlarged smiling face of the paper man.
Why do the paper figures accelerate towards them once they see them
The same goes for the thing that is following you. If you use your body senses to perceive it, it will quickly approach you.
Then... An Xingyu had a guess in his mind.
Just as countless pale faces swooped down, stretching out rotten hands with sharp claws about to reach him, An Xingyu closed his eyes.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds...
No movement.
An Xingyu kept his eyes closed and got up from the ground.
Guessed it right.
Once you perceive, you will be perceived.
Judging from the touch of his palms and the ground beneath his body, he was lying on some flat ground at the moment. All the thorns, rocks and puddles had disappeared, and his exposed skin could also feel the warmth of the sun.
I reached out my hand to explore a little bit, and suddenly felt a warm touch.
He subconsciously wanted to shake his hand off, but then he immediately realized that the presence of temperature meant that the person was alive.
We are probably the only ones still alive in the village.
"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.
"Quiet, wait a moment." It was Lu Yanli's voice.
He also had his eyes closed, busy with something in his hands, opening his eyes quickly from time to time, and then closing them again immediately.
In his hand was a paper figurine that was half a person's height. The most frightening thing was that although the facial features of the paper figurine were also drawn with simple strokes, they were somewhat similar to his own.
Lu Yanli just closed his eyes and relied on the momentary vision when he opened his eyes from time to time to complete a paper figure in his own image.
He only had a few chances to open his eyes, and now he had almost used them all. One of the paper figures was just one step away from him. If he opened his eyes again, it would kill him.
An Xingyu didn't know what the other party was doing, but since there was a living person, he felt more or less at ease. He closed his eyes and waited quietly.
What was unexpected was that after Lu Yanli finished making the paper figure in his hand, he let go of it. Then, the paper figure floated up lightly and soon joined the other paper figures.
Lu Yanli reached out his hand to touch it, repeatedly touching it several times. After confirming that the paper man was there, he slowly opened his eyes.
His whole body was tense. If he saw anything unusual, he would immediately close his eyes and leave, leaving An Xingyu to protect him.
But fortunately - the bet was right.
The paper mannequin with the human image floated in the air without any abnormality.
Only then did Lu Yanli have time to look around.
What came into view was a small courtyard in the forest with a wooden house on the side. However, all the paper figures placed under the eaves were gone, and the lanterns that were originally hanging were scattered on the ground in a crooked manner.
It was Uncle Wu’s yard.
There were still some unused materials on hand, some paper and thin bamboo strips, as well as a few thin sheets of light flesh-colored leather.
That's... human skin.
He had disassembled all of them from the lantern, and there were still some materials left.
An Xingyu sat quietly aside and closed his eyes. If he opened his eyes, all the paper figures would come down and kill him immediately! Thinking of this, his whole body became stiff. His lower body was covered with blood-red stains, which had dried up. Most of his trouser legs were scratched by branches, revealing scars.
Lu Yanli took a quick glance and then looked away, but the next moment, he immediately shifted his gaze back to An Xingyu's legs.
To be precise, it is a mark on the calf.
It was a bright red mark, mixed in with the red wet stains and scars, and ordinary people could not easily find it.
And the shape of that mark... Lu Yanli began to tremble all over.
He suppressed the excitement that might reveal the secret in his words and said calmly: "Wait a minute, you can open your eyes in a little while."
An Xingyu didn't know that his secret had been discovered, and he also knew that Lu Yanli had been using him as a shield. He realized that the other party must be making some efforts at the moment. He smiled gratefully and said, "Thank you, thank you for your trouble."
Lu Yanli looked at the mark again, and only after the blood that had flowed onto it had completely dried up and faded away without any liquid soaking it did he start to make the paper figure of An Xingyu.
Because he had just made one, and now that he had opened his eyes, his efficiency was much higher. Soon, he made a paper mannequin in the image of An Xingyu. After comparing and confirming that it was qualified, Lu Yanli released it into the sky and said, "Okay, try opening your eyes now."
An Xingyu slowly opened his eyes.
This time, there were no rapidly swooping paper men or black shadows in sight, and everything around him returned to normal.
The crisis was temporarily resolved.
How did he know that this was Lu Yanli's contribution? He immediately thanked him again.
"No need to thank me." Lu Yanli smiled gently.
The next second, he put his hand on the other's shoulder and looked into An Xingyu's eyes. His dark eyes suddenly became deep and his words carried a hint of inexplicable temptation.
"Relax, you are safe now..."
"After hearing a snap, you fell asleep... You heard a few questions..."
An Xingyu's already almost inorganic eyes became even more confused, and he nodded dazedly: "Okay."
With a snap of fingers, his head drooped.
On the other side of the village, Zhao Chuan had already run to the edge.
In the distance in front of him was He Lou, who was also panting. In the past few hours, they had dodged the pursuit of countless villagers who had transformed into paper men, and finally reached the edge of the village.
"Hurry! We can go out now!" He Lou said loudly, "The time in the village is chaotic! The one-month time limit is invalid."
Hearing this, Zhao Chuan quickened his pace.
They were running desperately along a railway track. At the beginning of the mission, they came to Honghe Village by train, and now, the station was right in front of them.
He Lou looked at the map and knew that as long as they passed that station, they would be out of the scope of Honghe Village.
Faster! Faster!
The two of them did not dare to slow down their pace. A few hundred meters behind them, groups of paper figures floated out swayingly.
He Lou also came up with a solution in an emergency. Every mission must restrict and balance the ghosts, otherwise they would not be able to survive in the face of almost omnipotent ghosts. And this time, why are there so many paper figures in the village
Because these ghosts have no perception ability! Therefore, we can only find them by increasing their numbers.
He Lou took advantage of this loophole and successfully rescued Zhao Chuan, and the two escaped together.
At this moment, the station is in sight.
Seeing that the destination was approaching, Zhao Chuan shouted loudly, and despite his exhaustion, he sped up and rushed straight to the other end of the station.
He Lou was following behind him and was about to rush forward, but in the next moment, he widened his eyes and stopped abruptly.