Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1464: Chapter 899: Pursuit_4

"Give me the phone." Yang Xiao took the phone, thought for a moment, and dialed directly.

They held their breath. The call went through, but it rang for a long time until it automatically disconnected; no one answered.

As the call disconnected, Yang Xiao and Jiang Qingluan’s expressions changed. They understood that something must have happened. This phone was extremely important and Zhou Mingxiao would never part with it.

Either their group is trapped, or someone has died.

"What should we do now?" Jiang Qingluan was somewhat anxious.

"Don’t panic, let’s go back first." Yang Xiao made a decision.

"Where to?"

"Of course Rongjin Building. It’s simply too late to rush to Xinmin Middle School now, and even if we could get there, we definitely wouldn’t make it back before dark." Xinmin Middle School and the newly relocated village they’re currently in are at opposite ends of the city, very far apart, with inconvenient transportation.

"Hmm, I think even if something huge happened, their team wouldn’t be wiped out. Mr. Zhou, and that Chen Nang, are formidable guys, Liu Yang isn’t bad either." After calming down, Jiang Qingluan analyzed rationally. As long as someone survives to bring back the news, that’s the most important thing.

Without wasting any more words, the two got up and headed for the village entrance. They needed to get back to Rongjin Building.

But before they reached the village entrance, Yang Xiao’s phone suddenly vibrated. Incoming call: Zhou Mingxiao’s phone!

"Don’t answer it yet, it might be a trap!" Jiang Qingluan quickly warned.

The phone rang for a long time until it was automatically disconnected. Yang Xiao didn’t answer, just watched it ring and then hang up.

He didn’t know what happened on the other end, but he knew the caller was likely not human.

Just half a minute later, the phone vibrated again with an incoming message. freēwēbnovel.com

Also from Zhou Mingxiao’s phone, the message was brief but shocking: "Chu Xi, it’s Chen Nang. Zhou Mingxiao is dead; we just found his body."

...

Half an hour ago.

In an old-fashioned shopping mall, a figure stood nervously in the first-floor lobby.

Zhou Mingxiao stared in shock at everything before him, trying his best to remain calm, but his eyes were filled with irrepressible fear.

The surroundings were silent; not a soul was present. The huge mall was completely empty, yet moments ago, it was a bustling place with hundreds of people, each face so vivid.

There were customers coming and going, stall vendors greeting people to buy things, cleaners doing housekeeping, and his two teammates beside him—Chen Nang and Liu Yang.

But in the split second he lowered his head, everyone vanished.

Only people disappeared; the mall remained, the goods on the shelves were still there, and the air still carried the smell of cheap perfume.

To say he wasn’t afraid would be a lie. Zhou Mingxiao knew clearly that the Ghost had come for him.

But why him and not Yang Xiao, Zhou Mingxiao didn’t know. Yet that wasn’t important now; what’s important is how he would survive.

He didn’t lower his head randomly earlier; he heard a "rustling" sound coming from his bag—that DV machine.

The DV machine mysteriously turned on, and he’d already picked it up, with the red indicator light signaling power on, just like last night.

The screen lit up quietly, but unlike last night, it showed signs of malfunction: only the left half was clear, while the right half was unusually blurry, like covered with a milky haze—very peculiar.

Moreover, more crucially, the screen images didn’t match the direction it was pointed at. He aimed at the door, yet the screen displayed entirely different scenes and angles, resembling a cramped, enclosed space, accompanied by a "buzzing" sound.

Simultaneously, a countdown appeared at the bottom-left corner of the screen.

There are just over 12 minutes left, which suggests the full countdown was about 13 minutes, more or less.

"Creak—"

Amid the mechanical grinding, Zhou Mingxiao widened his eyes as he saw on the screen a door opening to a corridor marked with a sign "1."

All at once, Zhou Mingxiao realized the screen showed an elevator; something had already arrived at the mall’s first floor—coming for him! fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Immediately, the countdown in the bottom-left corner became clearer; that time was for him to evade pursuit from the Source Ghost!

The Source Ghost had come for him!

Although he didn’t understand why, it seemed like a cat-and-mouse game complete with a countdown; nonetheless, the immediate priority was to hide so the Ghost wouldn’t find him—otherwise, he’d meet the same fate as Moting, yesterday!

Zhou Mingxiao wasn’t one to sit and wait; even faced with dire circumstances, he’d fight with all he has.

He now understood the real use of this DV machine: it transmits the Ghost’s view for him in real-time, allowing him to dodge in advance.

"The Ghost’s on the first floor. Can’t stay here—must escape, go upstairs!" Zhou Mingxiao decided, instantly dashing ahead toward the escalator to move up.