Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1803: Chapter 1032: Chosen One

Due to the rain, the path beneath their feet was muddy and uneven. Qingshui Cangjie, running at the front, fell twice but quickly got back up, gritting his teeth and continuing to run. The child ghost was more persistent than he had imagined, clinging to them relentlessly. What frightened him was that even when they reached the foot of the mountain, the child ghost continued the chase.

"Mr. Qingshui, it...it’s still behind us!" At this moment, Heize Lin found himself unable to voice his struggles, even though he could clearly outrun Qingshui Cangjie.

Now, Heize Lin had over a dozen scars on his body, not to mention the compass wound on his backside. The rainwater touching his wounds made him shiver from the pain.

The chase didn’t let up even as the two entered the mountain. Heize Lin was reaching his limit.

It wasn’t just his body that was giving in, but his mind as well. He began to doubt whether this path was the right one.

He had a fair amount of experience, having personally discovered two escape routes in past missions, but this felt entirely different.

Sensing Heize Lin’s wavering resolve, Qingshui Cangjie, breathless and running ahead, injected some spirit into him, shouting, "Mr. Heize, don’t waver, or it’ll all be for nothing!"

Hearing this, Heize Lin cast aside the chaotic thoughts in his mind, gritted his teeth, kept running, and endured the child ghost’s pursuit from behind.

The mountain path was unusually difficult to traverse in the rain, even more so than it is now, for it was nearly an undeveloped wild mountain. Qingshui Cangjie kept adjusting the route based on the surrounding terrain, determined to traverse this arduous path.

Yet the more challenging it became, the more Qingshui Cangjie believed that his judgment was correct: only such a difficult task could be worthy of the spell-type magical artifact.

However, because he was too focused on the surroundings, Qingshui Cangjie got distracted and missed a step, stumbling backward and falling from the slippery muddy path, rolling down until he hit a tree hard and finally stopped.

The fall was heavy. Qingshui Cangjie howled in pain, unable to get up for a while, until Heize Lin hurriedly came over, "Mr. Qingshui, Mr. Qingshui, are you okay?"

With Heize Lin’s support, Qingshui Cangjie just managed to stand, and at that moment, the child ghost caught up again.

However, this time the target changed—from Heize Lin to Qingshui Cangjie, who took a solid hit.

The child ghost gathered strength and stabbed him in the buttocks. The sharp pain almost made the old man jump on the spot, screaming in agony.

Unlike Heize Lin, Qingshui Cangjie was a respectable boss and a gang leader, not accustomed to enduring such pain.

"Mr. Heize, hold it back, hold it back!" Qingshui Cangjie shouted loudly, then without looking back, he summoned all his strength and dashed uphill.

Unfortunately, Heize Lin couldn’t help him this time either. The child ghost seemed fixated on him, staying just two to three meters behind. If Qingshui Cangjie’s speed decreased even a little, the child ghost would rush up and give him another blow.

Soon, his buttocks, back, arms... in short, anywhere the child ghost could reach, none escaped. The intense pain drove Qingshui Cangjie nearly insane.

"Mr. Qingshui, Mr. Qingshui, you have to hold on! We’re almost... almost there!" Heize Lin tried to cheer him up, imitating Qingshui Cangjie’s earlier words.

To be honest, the child ghost changing targets was a relief for him, and it wasn’t something he had asked for. Even if Mr. Qingshui blamed him afterward, it wouldn’t be his fault.

Everything he did was according to Mr. Qingshui’s instructions. If the child ghost preferred chasing Qingshui Cangjie, what could he do about it?

Meanwhile, Heize Lin also noticed something: the child ghost’s attack speed was increasing, its movements growing more exaggerated, inflicting much more severe damage than it had on him previously. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

This was not a good sign; it was an omen that the attack was nearing its end. According to the clues brought back by the previous two teams, once the child ghost left, the truly terrifying female ghost would soon appear.

"Mr. Qingshui, the attacks are speeding up, we need to move faster!" Heize Lin shouted at Qingshui Cangjie, disregarding any notions of rank.

Being the one under attack, Qingshui Cangjie was even more anxious than Heize Lin. He knew all too well what the child ghost’s accelerated attacks signified —his life was on a countdown.

Yet he couldn’t understand why. According to his plan, as long as they entered the mountain tonight and moved toward the cave shrine, the child ghost shouldn’t bother them anymore.

But reality slapped him hard. Though he considered that the cave shrine might be the wrong choice, he couldn’t think of a third escape route besides the coast and the cave shrine.

Moreover, and most crucially, he no longer had a chance to choose another path. It was too late to find a new route; he had to continue down this road to the end.

But at this moment, another possibility dawned on him. Perhaps... perhaps his path was correct, but the people were wrong; this path could only be walked by one person.

In other words, on the same path, two people meant a dead end, one they could never reach the end of— but if one died and one remained, then this path would be the way to survive.

In the next second, with his mind in a tangle, Qingshui Cangjie suddenly saw the light. The cave shrine was indeed the escape route, but the problem must be here; he shouldn’t have brought Heize Lin, the one holding him back.