Free Web NovelChapter 61: Chapter 61: Zhao Zhenjia’s Shikigami
In Taoism, five in the morning is when the sun first rises and evil spirits scatter. It is the hour when yang energy is most abundant.
So the five-person team heading upstairs chose to set out at this moment.
In truth, this was of little use. The ghosts in the apartment had nothing to do with the Taoist pantheon, so this was merely for their own peace of mind.
The five-person team walked down the third-floor hallway and came to the stairwell. The steps leading to the fourth floor were thick with dust, a clear sign that no one had been up in a long time. A crooked line of yellow caution tape was strung haphazardly across the entrance.
The powerfully built Zhao Zhenjia tore aside the caution tape without a second thought and was the first to head upstairs.
Gao Tian, walking behind the others, asked Xia Ta:
"Sister Ta."
"Do any of your Supernatural Artifacts protect against cognitive pollution?" ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Xia Ta’s fine brows furrowed slightly.
Artifacts that could resist cognitive pollution were rather rare.
She didn’t understand why Gao Tian was suddenly asking this, but she answered anyway:
"I got a bead from a mission once."
"If the carrier’s mental state becomes unstable, the bead will automatically heat up, burning hot enough to jolt me awake."
"It’s not that great, though. It was just a low-level reward from a rookie mission. I’ve carried it with me ever since I got it, but I’ve barely had a chance to use it."
’I see.’
’A defensive artifact for mental attacks, no matter how weak, is better than nothing.’
Xia Ta shot Gao Tian a look full of hidden meaning.
"Why the sudden question?"
"Are you worried I’ve been controlled by some ghost that uses cognitive pollution?"
"Just like that Memory Ghost you encountered the first time you went upstairs."
Gao Tian didn’t want to mention the future forum, so he fabricated a lie:
"I had a very strange dream."
"In the dream, you were sitting in a big room. There was no one else there, just toys all over the floor."
"You weren’t doing anything, just playing by yourself like a little kid in kindergarten. You were playing house, completely absorbed in it."
"Honestly, I didn’t want to take it seriously, but every detail was so vivid, it felt like something that had really happened..."
’That was as much of a hint as I could give. It was hard to say if it would mean anything to Xia Ta.’
Xia Ta’s expression didn’t change much as she listened to Gao Tian’s "prophetic dream." She just nodded to show she’d heard him.
On the stairs, despite their best efforts to tread lightly, their footsteps still echoed in the deathly silent hallway.
Zhao Zhenjia took the lead, with Jiang Yang and Lan Chu behind him. Xia Ta and Gao Tian brought up the rear, providing support and also keeping an eye on Lan Chu, in case she suddenly lost her mind and did something to get them all killed.
When the party reached the fourth floor, which they hadn’t seen in so long, a profound deadness, entirely different from the third floor, enveloped them. Though it was morning, with sunlight already streaming into the floors below, the fourth floor remained cloaked in a gray-black gloom, as if it were a forsaken place, shutting out all light.
"Be quiet. No more talking."
"Stepping onto the fourth floor means we could trigger a killing rule at any second. I want everyone on high alert."
Zhao Zhenjia, at the head of the group, issued the warning in a low voice.
He had chosen to be the point man, to shield the others. But now that they were actually in this godforsaken place, it was impossible not to be nervous. After all, if any ghost appeared on this floor, he would be the first one attacked—and the most likely to die.
"What’s that sound?"
They had only taken a few steps down the fourth-floor hallway when trouble started.
Jiang Yang, who had the sharpest senses, stopped abruptly. He stared into the empty darkness ahead as if he’d perceived something.
"What are you talking about?"
His actions seemed bizarre to Lan Chu. The carefree woman hadn’t heard a thing. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
’If she couldn’t hear it, that meant nothing was happening.’
"Bless her heart."
Jiang Yang muttered, ignoring Lan Chu.
Everyone but Lan Chu stopped, straining their ears. Jiang Yang wasn’t one to make a fuss over nothing. If he said something was wrong, then there was definitely something moving nearby.
Gradually, the moaning wind around them seemed to die down, replaced by the sound of whimpering cries.
The sound was bizarre—part crying, part laughing. Mixed with the wind, it was indeed hard to tell them apart.
In the distance, down the hallway, several small silhouettes emerged.
They were a group of children in tattered clothes. Their faces were sallow with hunger, yet they all wore eerie smiles. They looked to be twelve or thirteen, but their bodies were smaller and thinner than others their age.
"Mister, we accidentally kicked our soccer ball over here. Can you help us get it back?"
The boy in the lead, chewing constantly on something, wore a cryptic smile. He walked into a slightly brighter patch of light and addressed Zhao Zhenjia, who stood at the front of the group.
At the same time, Jiang Yang, Gao Tian, and the others saw a round object slowly rolling toward them out of the darkness at the other end of the hallway.
’A pincer attack?’
It was unclear what killing rule was hidden within the "soccer ball." Yu Sheng had encountered it once on the third floor, but the apartment’s lingering power was still in effect back then, and the monk had managed to escape unscathed.
But this was the fourth floor. Here, their killing rules were fully unleashed. They could do whatever they wanted without fear of reprisal.
Seeing this bizarre scene unfold, Gao Tian, at the rear of the group, made no move to intervene. Everyone here was a veteran; when a crisis hit, it wasn’t a rookie’s place to solve it.
"Is this soccer ball yours?"
The rest of the team instinctively spread out. Watching the round object roll toward his feet, Zhao Zhenjia stood as still as a mountain, a cold smirk playing on his lips.
"Then I’ll do as you ask and kick it back for you. You’d better catch it this time, little friend. Try not to lose it again."
Wind Attendant Buddha!
Several meters in front of Zhao Zhenjia, a humanoid statue made of wind materialized from thin air. Its height and features were identical to Zhao Zhenjia’s, except its body was formed from swirling cyclones.
This Supernatural Artifact was also the strongest one he currently possessed.
The Wind Attendant Buddha’s effect was to summon a puppet made of air currents. Its strength was roughly eighty percent of its master’s.
This Wind Person had no special abilities of its own and was easily destroyed if it took enough damage.
But it wasn’t meant for combat. In the Supernatural World, where ghosts are immortal, its greatest purpose was to perform inconvenient tasks for its master—specifically, to test if an action would trigger a death sentence.
The moment it appeared, Zhao Zhenjia commanded it with a thought. The Wind Person moved just like the real Zhao Zhenjia—it lifted a leg, gathered its strength, and kicked.
Its master’s strength was already astounding. And while the Wind Person only possessed eighty percent of Zhao Zhenjia’s power, a full-force kick from it was still not to be trifled with.
The kick created a sonic boom.
The "soccer ball" shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, a flash of lightning heading straight for the boy in the lead. The child didn’t even make a sound, sent flying like a kite with a snapped string. The impact hammered him down the hallway until he vanished into the darkness at the far end.
The kick was so terrifyingly powerful that the other children stopped their whimpering laughter. They scattered in a panic, abandoning their companion and instantly vanishing into the far end of the fourth floor.
A single kick had sent the troublesome little ghosts, and their "soccer ball," scattering like smoke.
But the Wind Person that delivered the kick didn’t fare so well.
The leg of the wind-formed "Zhao Zhenjia" that had touched the round object was now swarming with countless fine, blood-red threads. The threads writhed like living worms, crawling rapidly up its right calf until they covered its entire body, turning the figure into a stinking, bloody mess. It staggered forward a few steps before collapsing with a WHOOSH, dissolving into a pool of air currents.
It seemed the ghosts’ rule was simple: kick the ball back to them, and they would disappear.
However, the one who kicked the ball would instantly rot and die upon contact.
The real Zhao Zhenjia stood where the Wind Person had been, his arms crossed, his face a mask of indifference.
’If I had actually kicked that round object, I’d be the one dead right now.’
The summon wasn’t particularly valuable. Once one Wind Person collapsed, he could create another in five minutes to continue scouting the path ahead.
After the brief battle, Xia Ta gazed into the darkness where the children had vanished, cupping her chin in thought.
"That’s strange. According to the notes Yu Sheng left, aren’t the residents supposed to stay in their rooms under normal circumstances?"
"Why did these children appear in the hallway on their own?"
"Is it because something is changing on the upper floors?"
But no one could answer her question. For now, the group could only deal with problems as they came, taking it one step at a time.
Having easily dealt with the ghost children, the team continued forward without pause.
It was just an appetizer. The true horror of the fourth floor had yet to begin.
"That strange sound of rolling marbles came from above your room."
"The supernatural phenomena from the fourth floor also first encroached upon your room."
"This means the household living above you is quite something."
With Zhao Zhenjia leading the way, head held high, the group pressed onward.
403, 405, 407... The numbers on the doors flashed past their eyes.
Zhao Zhenjia and Jiang Yang, who was right behind him, stopped in front of the gloomy door to room 413.
That strange little girl’s voice, and the sound of rolling marbles, came from this very room.
The source of the supernatural activity that had first invaded the third floor.
And the first stop for their fourth-floor expedition.
’Perhaps if they just dealt with the ’filth’ in this room, all the strange happenings on the third floor would stop?’
With two veterans of five missions and two of four, they found it hard to believe that they couldn’t handle whatever ghost was in this room if they worked together.
"Ready?"
"Open the door."
Xia Ta stepped up to the door, her slender hand closing around the doorknob.
Behind her, the expressions on the faces of Zhao Zhenjia, Jiang Yang, and Gao Tian grew serious. Even the usually flighty Lan Chu’s eyes sharpened with focus.
GRIND, SNAP—
Before the freakishly strong young woman, the security door was like paper. She twisted the knob clean off and casually pushed the door open.
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