Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 125: Chapter 123: Text Message

Without any lighting, the surroundings were quite dim, still filled with that odd, sourceless, eerie glow, which reminded him of yellowed old photographs.

In recent times, Yang Xiao’s resilience had grown rapidly; after all, he had seen so many bizarre happenings. Just outside the hospital room was a corridor of the guesthouse, and he could accept this level of weirdness.

The entire guesthouse was deathly quiet. Yang Xiao tiptoed out the door, stepping on the old wooden floorboards that creaked beneath his shoes.

This did not feel like an illusion--he had truly returned, and he hadn’t forgotten his mission to find Yu Shu and bring her home.

Trying to tread lightly, he approached Yu Shu’s room. Just as he was about to push the door open, his foot touched something slippery and sticky.

Looking down, he saw the floor was smeared with bloodstains, extending from beneath his feet all the way to the end of the corridor where the stairs led downstairs.

The amount of blood was excessive; the person who had bled out here likely didn’t survive. Worried for Yu Shu, Yang Xiao gently pushed at the door, but it didn’t budge.

Applying a bit more force, he found the door still wouldn’t open.

"Locked?"

Because of the bloodstains on the floor, Yang Xiao didn’t dare to make too much noise. He calmed down and decided to follow the trail of blood, fearing that Yu Shu had already died, especially considering the blood began at her door.

He was here to save Yu Shu, but if she was already dead, he would withdraw without hesitation.

In the silent and dim environment, each step was torture. The staircase was covered in blood, as if something had dragged a body all the way down.

A moment later, Yang Xiao found the source of the bloodstains in a corner of the first-floor hall.

It was a man with a sturdy build, dressed in outdoor clothing, but his head was missing. The muscles at the severed neck were twisted grotesquely, not like they were cut by a sharp weapon, but rather as though they were forcibly torn apart by a tremendous force.

Yang Xiao immediately thought of the Headless Green Ghost, and instinctively checked the Nether Garment--as expected, the Nine-Eyed Skull that had been sewn onto it was now missing. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

What did this mean?

Had the Headless Green Ghost escaped?

Yang Xiao had no time to think. He quickly found a second body, then a third... These headless corpses lay at the steps of the guesthouse. One of them he recognized as the guesthouse owner, his beige plaid shirt now dyed red with blood.

Stepping outside, the entire street was steeped in deathly stillness, and there were corpses with their heads torn off lying everywhere. The grisly scene was like hell on earth.

Yang Xiao suddenly felt very afraid. He wasn’t worried for himself, but he suspected that he had unleashed a Fierce Ghost, and that this tragedy was all related to him.

Perhaps... Perhaps if he hadn’t decided to save Yu Shu initially, then none of these people would have died, not to mention he hadn’t even managed to fully save Yu Shu.

Glancing roughly, there were at least dozens of bodies on the street. Yang Xiao hugged the walls as he moved cautiously forward. Suddenly, a corpse lying sideways on a doorstep caught his attention.

This corpse too had its head ripped off and was clad in a police uniform, its right hand wearing a silver glove.

Yang Xiao found the glove familiar; it resembled equipment used by the technical department. He approached cautiously, checking for safety, and began searching the clothing of the body, which had a holster on the waist but no gun--likely lost during escape.

Soon, Yang Xiao found a black card in the inner pocket of the man’s jacket, similar to his own, suggesting the man was from the Patrol Defense Bureau.

Regrettably, he found no identification to prove the man’s identity. Taking off the silver glove, Yang Xiao noticed the man was missing a pinkie on his right hand.

From the healed stump, this appeared to be an old wound.

Not far from the man’s body, there lay a cell phone with a shattered screen. Yang Xiao pressed it, and to his surprise, the screen lit up, showing a text message editor with the simple heading "Look up."

This message was intended for someone saved in the contacts as Qiang.

Clearly, the man was caught and killed by the Headless Green Ghost before he could send the halfway written message.

In the span of a few breaths, Yang Xiao had a rough idea of what had happened here; it was definitely a supernatural event. The Headless Green Ghost had gone on a killing spree, attracting the attention of the Patrol Defense Bureau, whose agents were no match and were slain.

But why hadn’t they received any news of this?

If this had really happened in reality, there was no way they wouldn’t have been informed, and from the looks of things at the scene, the supernatural event must have been taking place for a while.

Neither in time nor space could this scene be explained. It was more like a nightmare, a nightmare perpetuated by his choices!

Or perhaps... perhaps not his own, but Yu Shu’s!

"Rustle rustle..."

Yang Xiao suddenly heard a strange noise and swiftly turned around. By the corner of a grocery store, he caught sight of a child crouching.

The child was hidden behind a pile of wooden boxes, with most of his head showing. His blood-streaked face was filled with terror. "Save me, please save me!"

Yang Xiao turned and ran.

What a joke. With so many people killed by the headless ghost, how could a kid who only knew how to cry for help be still alive?

True to his hunch, footsteps followed him--heavy thuds that could never belong to a child.

Yang Xiao couldn’t outrun them, so he took a sharp turn into a three-story bookstore. As he rounded the corner, he glanced back and saw it was the Headless Green Ghost right behind him, but now with a child’s head on top.

Rushing up the stairs, Yang Xiao ran into a library on the second floor, where there were many tall bookshelves, each nearly 3 meters tall. Yang Xiao estimated that the Headless Green Ghost definitely couldn’t find anyone on top of the bookshelves, but he didn’t dare to gamble, so he pushed open the window and climbed out.

Luck was on his side; he could step onto the awning between the first and second floors. He stepped out of the window, then closed it from the outside and peeked in through the crack.

This way, even if discovered, he could jump down and escape.

Soon, the door was slammed open, and the Headless Green Ghost rushed in; it began to spin chaotically in the room, the child’s eyes emitting a sinister glow.

The next second, Yang Xiao took a deep breath as he saw the Headless Green Ghost take off the child’s head and then lift it up, allowing it to see if someone was hiding on the bookshelves.

Yang Xiao felt a chill run down his spine at the thought that if he had been hiding up there, his head would have been snatched away.

Although it was a dream, he was certain that dying here meant true death.

As the child’s head spun around, suddenly, it stopped, and those spiteful eyes fixed on the window behind which Yang Xiao was hiding.

"Exposed!"

Yang Xiao immediately realized that he shouldn’t look into its eyes; even a brief intersection of gazes could allow it to sense him!

But it was too late; after putting the child’s head back on its body, the Headless Green Ghost charged at him. In a flash, its form loomed larger in Yang Xiao’s view. But Yang Xiao was not paralyzed by fear; instead, his mind raced.

He considered jumping down to save his life, but the fall was likely to result in a sprained foot. Even if he landed safely, could he outrun a ghost with his speed?

This was a dead end.

The text message suddenly appeared in his mind. "Look up" clearly held a special meaning, otherwise, his colleague from the Patrol Defense Bureau wouldn’t have bothered to send out such a message in the critical moment of being chased; this might be a hint.

Look up...

Was it telling him to look up?

Clearly not.

It was making the Headless Green Ghost look up?

In an instant, Yang Xiao felt as if he understood something. If the ghost wanted to find someone on the shelves, it didn’t need to remove its head and go through such trouble; it could simply look up. The space above the bookshelves was narrow, and it would be easy to spot a hiding person.

With this in mind, Yang Xiao decided to take a gamble; he had no other choice.

In the final moment, he tried to distance himself as much as possible. With a loud "bang," the wooden antique window was smashed open, and the Headless Green Ghost maintained its form as it landed steadily in mid-air.

Yang Xiao mustered all his strength and yelled.

The next second, as if not having time to react, the Headless Green Ghost suddenly looked up, the child’s head tilting backward until, with a "snap," it rolled onto the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the remaining headless corpse vanished.

Yang Xiao took a deep breath and did not delay; as an experienced investigator of the Patrol Defense Bureau, he knew this didn’t mean the ghost was destroyed. It had merely fallen asleep and would awaken before long.

He climbed back in through the window and ran back to the original guesthouse at top speed, silently thanking his colleague when he passed their corpse.

After the Headless Green Ghost disappeared, Yang Xiao suddenly felt drawn to something in the guesthouse.

Following this feeling, he went back outside Yu Shu’s room, where a gentle push opened the door. Inside, it was misty, no longer the same room, but now amidst Dragon Head Mountain, with Yin Soldiers’ Cave faintly visible through the fog.

Before Yang Xiao had time to think about what to do next, suddenly, the fog seemed to be drawn by some force, swirling and churning.

The next second, a procession of people dressed in mourning garments emerged from the depths of the fog—it was the funeral procession. These people painted their faces like paper effigies, moving to a strange rhythm, followed by the large red coffin they carried.

The funeral procession seemingly went on forever. A chill ran down Yang Xiao’s spine as he spotted Yu Shu amongst them, dressed in mourning clothes. She appeared to have had her soul sucked out, completely lifeless as she followed the procession, not far from the large red coffin.

Yang Xiao didn’t know where the procession was headed, but he knew that if Yu Shu followed them, she would never return.

He dashed towards the funeral procession and grabbed Yu Shu’s arm. With that touch, as if hitting the pause button, the entire procession halted abruptly.

The next second, everyone simultaneously turned their heads, staring straight at Yang Xiao.

Their bodies remained still while their heads twisted 180 degrees. This sight was beyond eerie. Yang Xiao’s legs turned to jelly, and at the same time, he heard a "creak," akin to something opening. The sound came from the direction of the large red coffin.

Yang Xiao grabbed Yu Shu and ran. Her body was incredibly light—as if he were not dragging a living person but a paper effigy.

He looked back multiple times to confirm it was indeed Yu Shu.

They burst out of the room and sprinted towards Yang Xiao’s own room, barging through the door into the hospital room there.

Upon closing the door, Yang Xiao dropped Yu Shu onto the gurney, while he jumped onto his own hospital bed and lay down.

Intense footsteps came from the corridor outside; something was coming after them. Yang Xiao lay down, closed his eyes, and after a dizzying sensation of weightlessness, he jolted awake.