Free Web NovelThe moment Lin Kele saw that eerie woman, her heart gave a fierce thump, and she instinctively held her breath, not daring to make a sound, as if doing so would prevent the woman from discovering her presence.
In this dimly lit underground space, the two of them silently stared at each other from a distance for a few seconds, and then the woman slowly stood up.
A person lying on the ground standing up is a perfectly normal action, but as Lin Kele watched, an inexplicable sense of dread crept over her.
Accompanied by crisp sounds of bones twisting, every frame of her rising movement revealed a sense of incongruity, stiff as if every joint was nailed with steel spikes.
It was as if she should be some kind of creature that couldn't stand upright at all, but was being controlled by some force, forcibly standing up.
And this forced upright movement brought her immense pain; her already hideous face became even more distorted, her cracked and festering lips parted, emitting a chilling growl, and pus and blood flowed profusely from the corners of her mouth.
Watching such a scene, Lin Kele felt a tingling sensation rise from her toes, like an electric shock, spreading upward along her spine, causing her brain to briefly go blank, until—
It wasn't until the woman gripped the handle of that dilapidated iron door that she realized what the woman was trying to do by appearing here at this moment. However, before she could react, the woman slammed the door shut.
“Bang—!”
The sound of the door closing was like a heavy hammer striking the back of Lin Kele's head, causing her delicate body to tremble. She woke up with a start and sprinted forward. “Wait, what are you trying to do?!”
“Were those recordings just now yours?” “Don't go, I can help you, I...”
“Clang—crack—!” After the metallic clatter of chains being pulled, there was a soft click of a lock.
The moment the lock clicked, Lin Kele's words abruptly ceased. The vast, enclosed space instantly plunged into oppressive silence. All sorts of bad thoughts, like a surging tide breaking through a dam, immediately flooded her mind.
Perhaps my coming here in the first place was the result of that strange woman driving me. In nature, many wild beasts also have the habit of driving their prey to a specific place for hunting.
So, is she locking me in here for...?
No, I must leave here quickly. Although there are only corpses and that strange statue here, if I stay in this place for too long, who knows what might happen.
After standing in the deadly silence for a moment, Lin Kele jogged towards the iron door, preparing to use a Spell to break it. Although her mastery of various Spells was poor, that severely rusted iron door was even worse than her Spell level.
She even felt that if she had practiced Body Technique more during her training, she might have been able to break the door with her bare hands now. “High mountain peaks, withered trees, dark clouds...”
Lin Kele chanted a Spell. Just as her chanting briefly stumbled, she suddenly heard some very faint human voices behind her, forcing her chanting to stop.
The first moment she heard the faint human voices, she thought it was a symptom of tinnitus from being startled, but within a few breaths, the voices gradually grew louder.
At the same time, she felt a strong Spiritual Energy fluctuation suddenly descend upon this enclosed space, instantly filling the entire space with an oppressive and morbid aura.
Her intuition told Lin Kele that some terrifying urban legend had been lurking here all along, but it had temporarily left just now. As the door closed, it smelled the scent of “food” and returned to its dining table.
As the terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuations descended and the human voices, like prayers from a mysterious ritual, gradually grew louder, the viscous substances attached to the bodies of the deceased beneath the statue in front began to writhe, as if coming to life.
They resembled some bizarre and grotesque pilgrimage procession, stretching and wriggling, crawling onto the platform, attaching themselves to the twisted and deformed lower half of the eerie statue, slowly merging into it as if being absorbed by the statue.
As more and more viscous substances merged into the statue, small cracks appeared on the statue's surface, gradually expanding. “Drip!”
As if deliberately cooperating with the eerie and terrifying scene at hand, the recording, which had been silent for a while, began to play again. “April 12th, under the mediation of the Officer, I finally got rid of that damn boss and that damn job.
I didn't expect him to secretly make a copy of my house key. I don't know how many perverted things he did before I found out. Even now, thinking about it, I still feel a chill.
Strangely, the police searched the entire studio but couldn't find the entrance to the basement. How could they not find it?
Forget it, anyway, I'm leaving this city today. I haven't decided where to go. This is the last time of my life, so I'll go wherever I end up, right?
Just find a quiet place and leave peacefully.”
“Drip—!”
“April 13th, I had originally decided to stop recording, but yesterday I stayed at a budget hotel near the train station and encountered some strange things that made me feel like things weren't over yet.”
“In the early hours of yesterday morning, I kept hearing sounds of people moving in the hallway. I didn't dare to open the door to check, fearing it was my boss, although he should still be in custody now, but...”
“I called the hotel staff, but after they came to the hallway and confirmed repeatedly, their reply was that there was no one in the hallway at all.”
With the confirmation from the hotel staff...
...I felt a little more at ease and went back to sleep. Then I had a very strange dream. In the dream, I saw a very huge dark shadow appear outside my window, and then I heard someone calling my name. Many people.
I had never heard those people's voices. They told me to go back, back to that terrible studio.
When I woke up from the dream, I found that at some point, I had already left the hotel and was standing by the roadside, facing south—which was the direction of the studio.”
“Drip!”
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At this point, the woman in the recording clearly showed a hint of hesitation, but soon her hesitant voice was drowned out by the unanimous cheers of the crowd.
“—Thanks to our King, beneath the dense fog!”
Many people in the recording were shouting loudly, and amidst the rising and falling shouts, a woman's desperate wail could faintly be heard.
And then...
That desperate wail gradually faded, as if swallowed by the shouts, turning into a faint yet clear phrase: “Thanks to the dense fog, thanks to the disease, thanks to our King!”
Watching the eerie changes in the statue before her and listening to the extremely oppressive recording, Lin Kele's fear reached the highest point of her life.
Just when she thought this was the limit of what she could bear, ignoring any concerns about dignity, she pulled out her bao sang cang xiao badge, preparing to call for help from her companions, but reality dealt her a heavy blow.
“Bang—bang—bang—!”
The sound of banging on the door rang out, each sound like a Shock striking Lin Kele's chest.
The already old and decaying iron door continuously emitted a teeth-grinding sound of metal twisting. Something terrifying from outside was about to come in.
The strong smell of blood that accompanied the banging on the door, and the strong crimson light filtering through the cracks in the damaged iron door, made Lin Kele feel as if a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood were surging outside the door at this moment. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
It's over, I'm definitely going to die this time.
Two terrifying urban legend are about to engage in a brutal battle here, and I, by sheer bad luck, am standing in the center of their battlefield.
Lin Kele thought, trembling. The next moment, the decaying iron door finally completed its final mission. With a loud bang and dazzling fire, it was torn like stiff cardboard and sent flying into the air.
Thick smoke billowed, and fierce winds swept through, extinguishing the flickering candles on the dome. The vast, enclosed space was instantly engulfed by darkness.
In the darkness, an eerie ball of light emerged. It seemed to be some kind of gigantic beast whose body could fill the entire underground air-raid tunnel, opening its eyes and revealing its long fangs glowing with crimson light.
As the giant beast opened its eyes in the darkness, a piercing whooshing sound erupted. “Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!”
Several rapidly moving white figures, like gliding birds, tore through the thick smoke and entered Lin Kele's vision, flying past her body towards the eerie statue, scattering streams of light and triggering a violent explosion.
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The eerie statue disintegrated in the explosion's fire, as if breaking out of a shell, and the urban legend hidden within the statue finally revealed its form.
In the darkness, the massive figure rapidly expanded, growing larger and larger, its foul flesh writhing and rolling like a sweeping thundercloud, exuding Spiritual Energy fluctuations that brought pain.
Those Spiritual Energy fluctuations were permeated with fear of death, helplessness at physical weakness, and the numbness of prolonged illness.
Lin Kele had never witnessed such a urban legend firsthand; her legs uncontrollably trembled, and confronting this terrifying urban legend was an even purer, more evil Spiritual Energy fluctuation.
The Spiritual Energy fluctuations, so dense they were suffocating, brought a chilling cold that struck deep into the heart, causing a layer of white frost to form within the enclosed space.
"Good heavens! If this thing were used for cooking, it could probably make a top-quality Human Hell, couldn't it? I wonder if Boss Hu buys ingredients."
After a jesting remark filled with mockery, a bloated yet unusually swift figure shot out from behind the iron door, raising a greatsword that glowed with crimson light, and executed a clean, precise jumping slash towards the continuously writhing mass of flesh.
"Pfft—!"
With a muffled thud of flesh tearing, the greatsword completely embedded itself into the twisted urban legend' body. Only then did Lin Kele clearly see that it was a Demoness Seed urban legend, clad in heavy armor and wielding a greatsword?!
Although the figure's appearance resembled an Onion Knight, Lin Kele's intuition told her that this was the Demoness Seed urban legend described in the si ye book with words like 'cunning,''seductive,' and 'Charm.'
Just as she was stunned, the Demoness Seed urban legend clasped her sword-wielding hands together, fingers tightly interlocked, and somewhat awkwardly activated the recently familiar greatsword Body Technique, causing violent air currents to surge from the blade.
"Taihe Gentleman Sword Modified: Li Shanlan!"
In an instant, a vast, crimson storm filled with destructive aura surged through the twisted urban legend' body, letting death cover every inch of its flesh.
"Roar—!"
The threat of death made the twisted urban legend let out a low roar. In its death throes, countless swollen, deformed tentacles whipped like long lashes against the Demoness Seed urban legend' armor, only to be met with a series of desperate muffled thuds.
"Clang—clang—clang—!"
A moment later, as her taut nerves relaxed slightly, Lin Kele once again had a flash of inspiration.
Her intuition told her she was safe.
And the moment that intuition arose, she felt as if every last bit of her strength had been drained, and she lightly fell backward.
In her last few seconds before losing consciousness, she saw the heavily armored Demoness Seed urban legend using at least three different methods to destroy the twisted urban legend' rapidly healing, swollen body.
Watching that somewhat absurd scene, Lin Kele recalled a saying—the best defense is offense.
But that Demoness Seed urban legend proved to her with her actions that the reverse was also true: ultimate defense was also an excellent offense.
When two sides are fighting, if one side cannot break the other's defense, the fight turns into a one-sided slaughter—
3:07 AM, at the entrance of Qixinggang Lower Lane.
"I thought we caught the main culprit, but it turned out to be just an insignificant clone," Lu Yibei complained to Jiang Hao. "It only has the strength of an elite monster, but it occupies a boss room..."
"What kind of crap-level stage design is this!"
"It looks scary, and its Spiritual Energy fluctuations aren't weak, but it doesn't even have the core of the urban legend' main body. What else could it be but a clone? Don't be greedy and act innocent," Jiang Hao rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei. "If we really encountered an x god scion..."
She was about to say that Lu Yibei would flee without hesitation, but considering Lu Yibei's current combat power and her incredibly defensive heavy armor, she wasn't so sure now if Lu Yibei would still do something like "run away when the wind is tight."
She paused, then changed the subject. "However, even if it's just a clone, we gained a lot of clues this time."
As she spoke, she held up the recording pen found on the mysterious woman. "From the content of this recording, it seems there are many followers sacrificing the x god scion, definitely not just that missing painter. Perhaps similar cruel sacrifices are happening somewhere in Mountain City right now."
Around that altar, they only found a dozen skeletons, but the cheers in the recording didn't sound like they could have come from just a dozen people.
To produce that level of shouting, there would need to be at least hundreds of people!
Lu Yibei looked at the recording pen, recalling the content of those recordings, and the scene where, after they chased the mysterious woman all the way to the evil altar's entrance, the woman handed them the recording pen, then tore open her own body with her bare hands, exposing her diseased organs. She fell silent.
She had never experienced such a severe "illness," and it was hard to imagine how much pain one would have to endure to make a human being prefer the agony of tearing open their own body rather than continue suffering from illness.
Even more terrifying was that the woman was already terminally ill, with bone tumors covering her entire spine, causing her such pain that she could only crawl on all fours, yet she had somehow endured until now through sheer willpower.
After a long while, Lu Yibei pulled herself out of her thoughts and silently sighed. "It's a bit of a shame that we didn't find those three sets of paintings. If we could find them, perhaps there would be more clues."
"They might have been taken by the painter's accomplices," Jiang Hao comforted. "Actually, there's no need to feel too bad. The painter's ledger found at the scene is also a very useful clue."
Hearing this, Lu Yibei nodded in agreement.
Who would normally buy those strange and bizarre paintings for no reason?
People who buy paintings from that painter are likely problematic; investigating them is definitely the right move!
After muttering a couple of complaints to herself, Lu Yibei looked at Jiang Hao, opened her mouth, and was about to say something when she suddenly saw Jiang Hao slightly furrow her brow, pull out the bao sang cang xiao badge from her bosom, and gently wave it in front of her.
"They're coming so soon? The Shancheng Si Ye Hui's efficiency is too high, isn't it?" Lu Yibei grumbled discontentedly, glancing at Lin Kele lying on the ground. "What about her? Will she—"
"Don't worry," Jiang Hao said. "With me here, she won't tell your business."
"Is she really that reliable?"
"Her relationship with me is similar to yours with the one in Taoyuan," Jiang Hao said expressionlessly.
"Ah? She wants to sleep with you too?" Lu Yibei blurted out.
Jiang Hao, "???"
Seeing her expression gradually turn cold and feeling the word "death" quietly rising above her head, Lu Yibei felt that she really should leave now—
3:15 AM, Dorees pushed open the door to Zhang Yu's office on the second floor of CHARMCLUB.
After parting ways with Lu Yibei, she did not immediately return to this Eclipse Society stronghold as Lu Yibei had instructed. Instead, like a reluctant elementary student who lingers and plays until dark on the way home from school, she wandered around Nine Street for a long time, sampled many delicacies, and only then slowly returned here.
Pushing open the door and entering the office, Dorees did not immediately see Zhang Yu; she was only greeted by an empty desk. Not here? Has he already left?
Just as she was wondering, she faintly heard a conversation coming from behind the book shelf in the office. "Those three paintings have already—"
"Absolutely cannot fail—"
"It's fine, it's just a small interlude. If worst comes to worst, kill him—" Soon, the intermittent conversation quieted down.
"Thump!"
A very thick book fell from the book shelf. "Thump, thump, thump!"
As Spiritual Energy fluctuations rippled, more books fell from the book shelf, arranging themselves into orderly steps. Then, Zhang Yu appeared before her, descending the steps that led to a hidden space behind the book shelf.
"When did you get back?" Zhang Yu asked, scrutinizing Dorees.
"Just, just now."
Zhang Yu nodded noncommittally. "Hmm, since you're back, let someone take you to rest, then? You must be tired."
Dorees hesitated, originally wanting to ask Zhang Yu who he had just said he wanted to kill, but before speaking, she suddenly remembered her Teacher's earnest teachings, so she nodded and turned to leave the office.
"Don't concern yourself too much with things that don't involve you," Lu Yibei had told her this.
