Chapter 39: Dark Despair

  At this time, I couldn't afford to indulge in wild thoughts anymore. Grabbing Zhou Huan's hand, I took a few quick steps forward and whispered: "One, two, three... go!"

  As soon as the third shout was finished, I pulled Zhou Huan and quickly ran towards the left side. Before Zhang Zhuang and others could react, we had run a dozen steps and changed direction again to continue running. The purpose of doing so was to avoid being shot.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, the gunfire started immediately, and it was unclear which direction it came from. The two of us quickly lay down on the ground, holding our breath and not daring to move, and also turned off our flashlights with a random hand movement.

  The gunfire sounded randomly for a while and then there was no more movement. I took a look and this time I managed to escape successfully, and I was very proud of myself.

  After lying on the ground for a while, finding no movement, they stood up with Zhou Huan and turned on their flashlights to take a look. As expected, not a single figure was in sight.

  The two of us whispered to each other, planning to first find the direction of the door and sneak out, then lie that we got separated from Zhang Zhuang and others. Then, relying on Zhou Huan's skills, launch a surprise attack to control the floral shirt, and I'll go rescue people. They will be leaderless, as long as we can rescue Hei Lian (Black Face) Captain, we will basically have controlled the situation.

  After they decided, the two of them went to find the exit, but because the fog was too thick, they completely lost their sense of direction and couldn't see where the door was.

  There's no way out, I can only roughly find a direction and move forward bit by bit. I think as long as I can reach the wall in any direction, I can follow the wall to find the exit.

  I walked for a long time, and my back gradually started to feel cool. Judging from the distance we've been walking so far, not only should we have reached that ancient mansion, but also the insect forest outside should be in sight by now.

  I think something is wrong, so I asked Zhou Huan in a low voice: "What's going on? Did we run into a ghost wall?"

  Zhou Huan seemed to be completely at a loss, walking alongside me and saying, "It won't happen now, it's daytime outside, we shouldn't encounter any ghostly barriers. Moreover, with ghostly barriers, you can see the direction but just can't pass through, whereas we can't see anything right now."

  What the...?! After hearing her, I became even more tense. Zhang Zhuang managed to shake it off, but if we keep walking like this without a break, won't we get trapped here forever?!

  The two of them couldn't think of a better solution for the time being, so they had to grit their teeth and continue walking. The temperature was getting lower and lower, and I vaguely felt that Zhou Huan seemed to be shivering slightly.

  I was just about to take the opportunity to show off, wanting to take off my camouflage jacket and give it to her when I suddenly heard a 'whooshing' sound coming from above my head, like a bird flying by.

  This sudden movement startled both of us, and we quickly squatted down to look up. In this environment, the flashlight could only be considered a psychological comfort. After looking for half a day, not to mention birds, I didn't even see a single hair.

  But the sound just now was indeed real, otherwise we two people wouldn't have had a simultaneous hallucination. I stared at the top of my head and asked Zhou Huan: "What thing, could it be that there's something else in this house?"

  "Who knows, in such a strange place anything can happen."

  "What if we bump into each other while walking, wouldn't that be troublesome?"

  Zhou Huan thought for a moment and said, "There's no other way, we can only continue walking. If Zhang Zhuang and the others get out before us, then our people outside will be in danger."

  As soon as I heard this, I felt extremely regretful. Originally, I thought my escape was quite successful, but now it seems that no good deed goes unpunished. If because of this, I ended up taking the lives of others, then I would become the culprit who harmed them to death.

  Nor did I dare to stay any longer, the two of us got up and continued walking, I estimated that after another ten or so minutes, I completely collapsed, this house seemed like it would never end, we didn't even turn a corner, still without encountering a wall.

  I think this won't work, so I pulled Zhou Huan to a stop again and said to her: "We can't keep going like this, we'll either get stuck or freeze to death, we have to come up with another plan."

  Zhou Huan's whole body trembled as she looked at me and asked: "W-what method? Do you have another way?"

  I didn't even care about how cold I was anymore, quickly taking off my coat and putting it on her. After thinking for a moment, I continued: "Do you think... is it possible that the fog here isn't just a chaotic existence? Maybe there's something or some kind of layout that's misleading our sense of direction. Although it looks like we're walking in a straight line, maybe we've unknowingly turned and are circling around the house."

  Zhou Huan didn't respond after hearing that, apparently also analyzing it there. I, however, had some confidence in my own idea because only this principle could hold true; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to explain why we couldn't touch the wall.

  "If your guess is correct, what do you think we should do?" Zhou Huan asked.

  I'm now very worried about the safety of Liangzi and others, and in my anxiety, I said: "Look, is this okay? Directional sense is all recognized through the eyes. If we two close our eyes and walk, will we bypass other interfering factors?"

  Zhou Huan looked at me with a surprised expression after hearing that, and to be honest, I also thought this idea was quite adventurous. Not to mention whether it would work or not, if we encountered any danger along the way, it would be equivalent to directly delivering ourselves to their doorstep.

  "Let's give it a try, at least it's better than freezing to death here." Zhou Huan said after hesitating for a moment.

  I saw her agree, and once again held her hand: "Really isn't taking advantage of you, can only be like this or we'll get separated..."

  Then the two of us each held a flashlight in one hand and raised it forward in parallel, the purpose was that if we encountered a wall or something else, the flashlight would touch first, so as not to directly rush into someone's arms.

  After making preparations, I took a few deep breaths and then closed my eyes and pulled Zhou Huan along as we walked.

  Although the fog had limited visibility earlier, at least I could see the ground beneath my feet. But now, with my eyes closed, I was completely and utterly plunged into darkness. And to make matters worse, that unknown thing flying overhead earlier had my heart racing up to my throat.

  With the cold weather, we two were shaking all over and staggering forward, although the ground was very flat, but it was extremely difficult to walk, and I didn't know what situation would be encountered next, maybe a wall, maybe a person, or maybe something else, that feeling was really too scary.

  I clenched my teeth to hold back from opening my eyes, and as I walked, I felt the flashlight hit something, and my heart immediately lit up with joy, thinking that this trick had indeed worked, and I was already at the wall.

  But just as I stopped, Zhou Huan was still moving forward. The arms that were walking and stopping together suddenly straightened up, and she asked, "What's wrong, why did you stop?"

  When I heard her ask that, my scalp exploded. My god! Zhou Huan continued to walk forward, which meant that her flashlight hadn't hit anything, so what was this thing in front of me?

  Zhou Huan let go of my hand again and asked: "What's wrong with you, what's going on?"

  I didn't have the energy to respond to her, my hand holding the flashlight still pressed against the thing in front of me, and then I poked at the obstacle again a few times, thinking that if it was a wall, there would definitely be a collision sound.

  But I was wrong, after going up and making a "huff huff" sound, it felt like the pestle was on someone's body, I almost went crazy.

  Zhou Huan seemed to have also sensed something was off and retreated back to my side. I didn't bother with her, thinking "if you're going to die, then just die already". I immediately opened my eyes and looked forward.

  Our flashlight had been on the whole time, and when I took a closer look, I was stunned. In front of me wasn't anything eerie, but rather what looked like a very thick pillar standing upright and motionless.

  "Hurry up, open your eyes and take a look." I hastily shouted to Zhou Huan.

  Zhou Huan opened her eyes and looked at me with a puzzled expression, asking: "What thing?! How did you discover it?"

  "I didn't know, I just walked up to it and bumped into it." As I replied to her, I took another step closer and found that the pillar really wasn't moving at all. I thought to myself, could it really be just a pillar?

  Then I did something extremely careless, I actually raised my flashlight and went up to forcefully pound it a few times. Finding no reaction, I turned around and said to Zhou Huan: "What the hell, false alarm! The texture feels relatively soft, probably just a rotten wooden stick or something."

  I had just let out a breath and hadn't even finished exhaling when Zhou Huan's eyes widened, and she wrapped her arms around me, pushing us both to the side with force. The two of us immediately fell to the ground.

  This time I fell very solidly, and as I got up, I just wanted to ask her what she was doing. Along with the faint light of the flashlight, I saw that the pillar, which had been motionless, shook twice and fell straight towards where I had just stood.

  What's going on! Could it be that this pillar is not buried firmly, and I kicked it down with a few kicks. Just as I was about to go up and kick a few more times, I suddenly heard a gunshot, and then a dazzling red dot flew past my head.

  This gunshot was too sudden, I retreated two steps in a row and almost fell down. It wasn't until later that I realized it must have been Zhang Zhuang's team that discovered us. I didn't expect them to open fire directly, nearly taking my life.

  I was both angry and scared, this group of bastards really aren't human, I'm just trying to escape, do they have to beat me to death? Just as I walked up to Zhou Huan to see if she was okay, I saw her body jump again, and once more she knocked me to the ground.

  "What the hell is wrong with this woman, has she been scared stupid by the gun or what? Or has she gone crazy from being shot, I was just about to lift my head to ask when Zhou Huan stretched out her hand and pressed my head back down onto the ground, saying 'Don't move, don't be looking for death'."

  No sooner had he finished speaking than a burst of gunfire erupted, and streaks of red light flashed rapidly over our heads, disappearing into the darkness.

  I surrendered at that time and just wanted to shout out to let them stop shooting, but then I heard Zhou Huan say to me in a hurry: "No, they seem not to be shooting at us."

  What's going on? I thought you were crazy, these bullets are clearly flying over our heads, not shooting at us but at ghosts?

  As soon as I thought of this, I immediately felt a thrill. Wait, no, it's not just us here, there's also a big pillar next to us.

  Quickly glance sideways at the place where the pillar fell, and with this look, I was so frightened that I almost shouted out. The pillar twisted on the ground for a while, and the front half actually stood up straight, just like a person who was lying on the ground and suddenly sat up to look forward.

  Damn it, has this pillar become a spirit?