Chapter 5: Vanishing into Thin Air

  As soon as Huo Momo said that, we all shone our flashlights upwards, and a dark shadow was floating there. But when we took a closer look, what was it? It was clearly just a set of clothes hanging there.

  Jiang Pangzi came over and patted Huo Mengmeng's shoulder, saying: "Hey, hey, hey, you're a big girl, how can you still take advantage of others? Alright, stop clinging to Crazy Brother's chest, this throwing yourself into someone's arms is too much! Just calm down and take a good look around, where are the people? You're just wearing a set of clothes and you're scared like that!"

  When Jiang heard this, the non-mainstream girl suddenly lifted her head, and her pale face actually had a few blushes.

  "Clothes?" She looked up to take a closer look, and after seeing clearly, she pushed the madman away with one hand, hummed, and continued walking. However, she stopped after taking only two steps, her voice trembling as she said: "No, something's not right... That, that clothes is Wang Dong's!"

  We were already suspicious, how could such a deserted place have clothes hanging around? If it were the dormitory building, that would be understandable, but this is clearly a teaching building.

  Now that Huo Weiwei has said this, everyone immediately stops to look at the clothes. Huo Weiwei confirms that it's just a set of clothes and there's no one inside, then stretches out her hand to touch, but as soon as she touches, she lets out a silent "ah" and says with a sobbing tone:

  "Square, that one, Square Brother, there's blood on his clothes..."

  I stretched out my hand to look at her hand, where was the blood? Huo Mengmeng also saw clearly that what was stuck on her hand was not blood, but a kind of black and sticky water that the madman had splashed onto his hand when he fell to the ground earlier.

  "This black water really feels like blood, even thicker and more pungent than blood. I don't know what it is." The madman furrowed his brow and sniffed his hand again, although he had already wiped it clean, the intense stench didn't decrease at all.

  I always feel that this black water is not quite right, so I said to others: "Let's focus on finding people, and try to find them before the sun sets completely."

  "What's the difference whether we go down the mountain or not? It's all dark and gloomy here, no difference between day and night."

  I shook my head and said helplessly, "It's different. Although it's still pitch black here during the day, it's just pitch black. Taoism emphasizes yin and yang, when night falls, yin energy is strong, even in a dark place during the day, the whole world is full of yang energy, so it's more suitable for us to act. At night, yin energy is dense, many things will come out and be active. It's going to be extremely dangerous then!"

  "Really? I'm half believing and half doubting," said Huo Weiwei, "I actually want to see what a ghost looks like, I've never seen one before, I'm so curious."

  The madman chuckled and said, "To put it bluntly, a ghost is actually the soul of a dead person, or a kind of magnetic field. This magnetic field is also the soul of a dead person, a brain activity that can affect people's emotions, influence their souls, and even transform into various forms, infiltrating people's lives, making them defenseless."

  I advise you, little girl, to study hard and be a good girl. Her mother's makeup is like a disguise, completely unrecognizable. Not old yet, what's the need for all this covering up? Your big dark eye circles are scary enough, as for seeing ghosts, it really depends on fate, but I'm afraid that after you see one, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

  Huò Huò's little temper is typical of someone who gets angry at the slightest spark, and now she's starting to argue with the crazy person. I know what the crazy person means, he's just trying to ease the tense atmosphere by taking advantage of this opportunity.

  As expected, with the two of us bickering, we looked around and searched for people while chatting, without delaying much.

  At this moment, a strange "dada" sound suddenly came from the dark corridor. It was as if someone was lightly treading on the ground.

  In an instant, we all fell silent.

  The thudding sound continued to echo, and we looked in the direction of the sound, but there was no one there. It was as if someone we couldn't see was walking there. And the direction was... due east!

  Huò Huàihuā was a little scared, and she unconsciously reached out to grab the crazy person closest to her. The crazy person cautiously looked around in all directions. Liáng Yǔhào supported Jiāng Pàngzi, who had gone weak in the legs.

  "It seems... someone is standing there in place. And hasn't... come this way." Liang Yuhao also said with a trembling voice.

  The madman cocked his ear and listened for a moment, then the sound suddenly stopped. The madman shook his head: "No, it doesn't seem like footsteps. Come on, younger brother, let's go take a look."

  I nodded and followed the madman a few steps forward, still with nothing to gain. The madman shone his flashlight on the ground and suddenly let out a "hiss?" I looked over in the direction of his flashlight beam.

  On the ground was a mobile phone, a Samsung model with a 4-inch screen. Because the phone had been dropped on the ground and was surrounded by dust, it had sunk in slightly, so no light could be seen at all. The madman picked up the phone and said, "I just felt something was off, like an electronic sound."

  After finishing, flipping over the phone screen, I found that on the phone screen was a smiling big boy's photo, and there were many unconnected calls, just now it was an unconnected call prompt, and it also showed unread messages.

  The madman took the phone back to Huo Wenwen, and when Huo Wenwen saw it, she snatched the phone away, exclaiming: "This is Wang Dong's phone! I'm going to answer all these missed calls from this chick."

  "Is this boy Wang Dong?" I asked, seeing Huo Nian's nodding and gritting her teeth.

  "Where is Wang Dong? The phone is here!"

  "It should be in that direction, because the phone was found there!" I pointed ahead and several people continued walking forward. The madman suddenly chuckled to himself, and I asked him what he was laughing at? He said in a low voice:

  "Brother, you said Wang Dong's clothes were hung up over there, weren't they? Now he's only left with a pair of underwear on his body?"

  I gave him a white eye, what time is it now? The madman still has such a dirty idea, thinking that he can even shout "I" in front of the sky and get away with it.

  Next, we searched the entire second floor but didn't see any sign of Wang Dong. We continued to head towards the third floor, but unexpectedly found that at the corner of the stairs on the third floor, there was an old iron gate that had been rusted for years. The gate hadn't been opened in years and still had a rusty lock hanging from it.

  "It can't go up from here, and there's no sign of the lock being moved. It seems that Wang Dong and the others didn't go up this way." I touched the lock head and found it was covered with uneven yellow rust. My hand felt cold and damp, probably because it was too humid, so there were some water marks on the lock head due to condensation. When I smelled it, I caught a whiff of copper rust smell.

  "This Wang Dong, I spit, what's the point of him doing nothing? Who wants him to check the situation in advance? He's already done it and let me come, fooling a kid? I'm so angry, I'm going to die." Huo Nian Nian was furious, staring at her Samsung phone and scolding loudly.

  "Hey, Master, shouldn't there be stairs on the other side too? Let's go check if there's an iron gate blocking it?" The fatty also became more spirited, probably because he had adapted a bit and realized that most of the time, people were just scaring themselves, and since they hadn't actually encountered any real ghosts, they weren't as afraid anymore.

  I listened to his words and took them to the stairs on the other side, and indeed, the stairs were also locked up like that side. Moreover, there was a lot of dust accumulated here, and no signs of being trampled, it seemed that Wang Dong and others had not come this way, they had been active on the east side all along.

  "What time is it?" the madman suddenly asked.

  "It's probably just a little past five o'clock? Let me take a look." Huo Wenwen lit up the electronic watch on her hand and took a glance, saying: "Wow, it's already after six o'clock!"

  "What's going on? It's getting dark and there's no one in sight, are we still looking?" Jiang Paozi also became anxious.

  I let out a sigh, and suddenly slapped my forehead: I'm dizzy, don't I have the power of observation? How could I forget this? After years of living in the mountains, normally cultivating and observing had become a kind of practice mode, but when something really happened, I forgot.

  I thought of this and told the madman to wait a moment. Then I took out a Clear Mind Talisman, made a sword with my hand, and lightly flicked it. The talisman immediately started burning. I felt that my mood was being affected by the surrounding environment, so I used the talisman to adjust it.

  Huo Weiwei next to me saw it and her eyes lit up, looking at me with a worshiping gaze: "Wow? So cool! This move is awesome, just like that, swoosh, and it's done?"

  I ignored her, closed my eyes and calmed down, feeling my heart gradually quieting down as if it was also burning with the mantra. I could even feel the air around me flowing slowly, but not smoothly, with some stagnation. My breathing also started to have a rhythm, which is the state of entering stillness. I slowly opened my eyes, and everything around me seemed different.

  Under the influence of Guan Jing, I found that there was a faint flow of black air around me. However, strangely, this black air did not come with yin energy, nor did any ghostly shadows appear. What's going on?

  The madman asked me: "How can people disappear out of thin air? Younger brother, have you figured something out?"

  I shook my head: "This building is indeed not quite right, my observation seems to have no yin energy at all. But there is a faint aura of magic!"

  "Devil? Master, what is that thing? Is it a demon? The one from Western Christianity? Ah, damn it, won't come another foreign devil?"

  I didn't respond to him, the madman nodded, he clearly understood what I meant. To be honest, I couldn't say what this demonic energy is, it's just a subconscious description like that, yin energy refers to that gloomy breath, like last time during the ghost wedding, the eerie atmosphere was all accompanied by yin energy.

  But there's no eerie atmosphere here, yet it's extremely unsettling. I sense a kind of unspeakable danger, what is that black fog-like thing? I can't put it into words. In short, this feeling is very bad, like an invisible barrier has gathered all the eerie and ghostly energy, this unknown terror makes me feel somewhat inexpressibly anxious.