Free Web NovelChapter 663: Chapter 528: Prisoner No. 3
"Are you sure?" Yang Xiao asked.
"Sure!" Lu Wencheng nodded vigorously.
Once Lu Wencheng loosened his grip, Yang Xiao, with firm steps, walked toward the well on the right. His voice followed, "It’s not that I don’t believe you. I know your junior fellow apprentice and the skills of your lineage, but think about it, choosing one out of six, you chose four times and were wrong four times. What does that tell you?"
His words unquestionably sprinkled salt on Lu Wencheng’s wounds, but Yang Xiao didn’t care. What he wanted was the truth, to survive.
"Your judgment is flawed," Yang Xiao continued. "I guess your senses were affected. The real ghost is hidden right beneath here."
After that, without waiting for Lu Wencheng’s reaction, Yang Xiao used the crowbar left by the younger team members to pry open the manhole cover. This time, however, no cold air poured out from the dark well, which was as tranquil as an ordinary sewer, but Yang Xiao understood he had gambled correctly. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"It’s... it’s here, right here!" Standing by the well, Lu Wencheng spoke excitedly yet inarticulately.
What followed was much simpler. The two of them dragged over the half of a corpse and, as per Lu Wencheng’s instructions, threw it head-up and waist-down into the well. First, there was the sound of the corpse hitting the water, and then the originally dull sewer suddenly started to churn as if something enormous buried in the sediment at the bottom was about to surface.
Before that happened, Yang Xiao and Lu Wencheng had already replaced the manhole cover perfectly. The anomaly beneath soon subsided into tranquility. frёeωebɳovel.com
At the same time, the fog that had gradually risen around them dissipated quickly. The cold and gloomy sensation faded and within a few breaths, it all disappeared.
"It’s over..." Staggering back, Lu Wencheng sat on the ground with a dazed look, muttering.
With the fog gone, visibility improved. Gathering their spirits, the pair set off again, following their senses toward the safe zone. En route, they encountered two corpses lying on the ground, each missing its upper half.
They were the former Chang Ghosts, now thoroughly dead, following the disappearance of the Source Ghost.
The so-called safe zone was where the Green Jade was located—this time hidden beneath a rockery constructed from stones resembling Taihu stones. Continuous blue light refracted out of the holes.
A gust of night wind blew, causing Yang Xiao to frown. He smelled a strong scent of blood. Following the wind direction, behind the rockery the two saw a horrifying scene—a bloody skeleton lay there, face down on a large rock, with blood and flesh smeared all over the rock and nearby soil—a Lingchi execution had just taken place.
More importantly, the corpse was very fresh, with splattered flesh still sticking to the rock walls, slowly dripping downward. The massacre had occurred less than 10 minutes ago.
The ghastly sight made them sense imminent danger. This wasn’t the work of the Source Ghost but another ghost, the Lingchi Ghost that had previously sought him out!
Someone was still alive!!
"Rattle—"
"Rattle—"
Without time to think, the familiar sound of chains rang out again. Yang Xiao swiftly turned around, looking toward Building 1, and saw a figure stepping out from the shadows, moving awkwardly with rigid steps. With each step the figure took, the sound of chains followed.
Upon seeing the figure clearly, Yang Xiao shivered; it was a headless corpse, naked, covered only with a dirty cloth below, its body mutilated as if slashed by knives, with many bones exposed.
As the headless corpse drew closer, flesh fell from the bones, leaving a muddy trail of blood in its wake.
Yang Xiao’s pupils flicked as he noticed a telephone handset in the left palm of the corpse—the very same one missing from his room!
His previous suspicion had turned out to be true; indeed, this ghost had targeted him!
"You... what do you see?" Lu Wencheng, unaware of what had happened, stared intently in the direction of Yang Xiao’s gaze, clearly frightened.
"It’s the Lingchi Ghost!" Yang Xiao exclaimed, "The same ghost that came for you last time!"
At those words, Lu Wencheng too was startled. The Lingchi Ghost’s presence meant that the person controlling it was still alive, but the young members had clearly stated that the ’Prisoner 3’ had died, and they had even acquired the Prisoner 3 mask. Could there be... another master?
There was no time for detailed thinking now. With only three survivors left, meeting the mission’s requirement, the other party’s attack on them now had nothing to do with the competition; it was purely malicious.
According to the clues found so far, this Lingchi Ghost had already killed at least two players, a force not to be underestimated.
The next second, the bloody Lingchi Ghost raised its pale bone palms, its hands coming together as a chant with a strange intonation suddenly started: "Innate sin, Buddha Mother’s mercy, severing the evil root alone redeems the sin..."
The chanting sound was unstable, seeming to come from above. As they got closer, Yang Xiao saw the flesh on the Ligchi Ghost trembling, slipping off like tree bark, as if the flesh wasn’t its own but just adhered to it.
The nature of the chanting left no doubt; Yang Xiao confirmed that this creature was a follower of the Black Buddha Mother. However, since ’Prisoner 3’ had clearly died, with the mask still on him, could it be that not ’Prisoner 3’ but another was the real follower of the Black Buddha Mother?
The Soul-Capturing Mirror was useless now; this time, there was no choice but to confront directly. Drawing out the Human Bone Staff, he aimed a strike at the Lingchi Ghost, but the blow seemed to disappear into the sea, completely ineffective. The ghost’s chanting grew clearer, its steps quickening.
