Free Web NovelChapter 840: Chapter 619: Ghost Substitute_2
The pool had a drop from the ground level, about 1 meter deep. Lou Huixiang first found a stick and crouched by the pool to test, pushing it forcefully a few times. Thankfully, it wasn’t as muddy as he imagined, at least it wouldn’t make him sink.
He stood up and looked around. Aside from the attic, this was the last area in the courtyard. Xiang Fengchen had mentioned that unless these four areas were entirely ruled out, under such "favorable" weather conditions, the Ancestor would definitely not return to the attic.
He didn’t trust Xiang Fengchen’s character, but he believed in Xiang Fengchen’s ability and judgment. Moreover, he understood that as long as Xiang Fengchen had a bit of sense left, he wouldn’t play tricks at this critical moment, leading to a significant reduction in teammates.
This instance was the most challenging he had ever faced, even for the likes of Xiang Fengchen and Nalan Shuo to take seriously.
Not to mention... Lou Huixiang turned his head to look towards the nearby grove, his face growing gloomy. Nalan Shuo’s fate, whether alive or dead, was still unknown.
A legitimate Director of the Patrol Defense Office, just fell like this, silently, in this place. The fragility of life was blatantly evident in the Nightmare World.
Shaking his head, he was too preoccupied to care. Now the most important thing was to preserve his own life, then to complete the task Xiang Fengchen had assigned. With the precedent set by Nalan Shuo, Lou Huixiang decided to adopt a more cautious approach.
Before jumping into the water-filled pool, he first took out a piece of Life Burning Incense from his bosom. After lighting it, he held a lantern in one hand and held the incense in the other before carefully stepping down into the pool. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
A piece of incense for three years of life, he was still young and could afford to burn it. But once out of incense and attacked by ghosts, that would truly be death without any escape.
Which was lighter or heavier, he weighed it clearly.
As strong as Nalan Shuo had fallen, he didn’t think he could do any better than the senior.
Stepping into the muddy water of the pool, each step sank a little into the mud, and each time he pulled out, there seemed to be a force pulling him back. Over time, he couldn’t shake off a strange feeling, suspecting that the Ancestor might be hiding in the muddy depths below.
If that were the case, how could they find him?
As time ticked by, the anxiety in Lou Huixiang’s heart surged. The pool area wasn’t large, and he quickly completed a full loop around the edge, not daring to rush straight to the darkest center.
However, he soon realized something—the suction from the mud under his feet was growing stronger, unrelated to the softness of the mud but as if a peculiar force was pulling at him.
This force wouldn’t pull him into the mud yet, but soon, it might render him unable to move, even a single step. If that happened, he’d be trapped here to die as the candle and Life Incense extinguished, ending his life.
No, he couldn’t continue like this; there was no time to lose!
He decisively changed direction, heading towards the center of the pool. The waters on either side reflected back images of Lou Huixiang.
"Pat-splash."
"Pat-splash."
"Pat-splash."
In the quiet of the night, the sound of his footsteps on the muddy ground was exceptionally clear. Lou Huixiang pricked up his ears, his mind flickering with horrifying images—sometimes someone following him, sometimes a figure silently standing outside the pool, looking down on him.
He had to stop intermittently, looking back or towards the outside of the pool. The sensation of being followed and watched intensified, clinging to him like a festering maggot. He could now confirm that the Ancestor was hiding somewhere nearby.
It wasn’t clear if it was psychological, but Lou Huixiang felt colder the more he walked, and his limbs gradually felt frozen. The images from before flashed through his mind again; he suspected that the Ancestor was approaching him, slowly, bit by bit, right behind him!
A strong sense of fear almost suffocated him, leaving no room for hesitation. Deciding to strike first, he pretended to feel nothing and continued walking forward, but he secretly moved the Life Burning Incense to his left hand, freeing his right hand to grab a handful of ashes from the paper bag. He slyly glanced sideways, checking his rear reflection in the puddle, but the results were not optimistic.
These waters seemed to be influenced by some bizarre force, only reflecting Lou Huixiang’s own figure; behind him was a gray fog.
However, this discovery only further solidified Lou Huixiang’s belief that the problem was indeed behind him, otherwise, it would not be such a coincidence.
As for what Xiang Fengchen had warned about earlier, that the hidden Ancestor would not easily move, Lou Huixiang found it too far-fetched. The reality was in front of him, sticking rigidly to rules and not adapting could be deadly.
With this thought, overwhelmed by fear, Lou Huixiang no longer hesitated. As he turned around, he threw the ashes while quickly retreating, but when the ashes gently scattered in mid-air, Lou Huixiang couldn’t help but frown, as nothing happened; there was nothing behind him.
"No?"
"How is that possible?"
After a brief panic, Lou Huixiang quickly forced himself to calm down. In moments like these, panicking would only hasten death.
Thinking it through, Lou Huixiang realized what the issue was; since there was no ghost behind him, and the other nearby places didn’t seem fit for hiding a ghost, the most suspicious spots were the various puddles around him.
As he walked earlier, he’d noticed that these puddles only reflected his own shadow, while the rest of the water surface seemed muddy and turbid.
But there were too many puddles, roughly dozens of them. Disregarding the smaller ones, those that were at least large enough to hide a person numbered about seven, and the Ancestor might be hiding in one of these puddles.
The most straightforward method would be to reach into the puddles to feel around, but this idea was dismissed the moment it appeared; it was too risky, both touching something or not would be equally startling. Lou Huixiang thought of moving outside the pond to find some larger stones to throw into the puddles.
But while the plan sounded good, implementation faced issues; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t climb the barely one-meter-high edge of the pond. The edge, wet and slippery, was just one reason; a bigger reason was that his feet were firmly stuck in the mud, as if someone was pulling at his feet, preventing him from climbing out. freёwebnovel.com
Time was ticking, and Lou Huixiang was burning with impatience. The candle inside the lantern was down to a small stub, which wouldn’t even last five minutes. Determined, he picked up the stick he had dropped when he jumped down and went to the first of the seven puddles.
Standing at the edge, leaning his body back in a ready-to-retreat posture, Lou Huixiang took a deep breath and slowly poked the stick down into the puddle. The pace wasn’t fast, and the moment the stick broke the water surface, Lou Huixiang’s reflection also shattered. Seeing this, Lou Huixiang’s tightly strung nerves trembled.
He had a grim premonition, seemingly a harbinger of his own imminent ending.
It was only when half of the stick had plunged into the puddle that he felt a touch of feedback from hitting the bottom. He prodded a few more times, confirming that it was neither a person nor a corpse, just the aged mud at the bottom of the pool. After withdrawing the stick, the black muddy water on its end confirmed his suspicions.
Without hesitation, he immediately headed for the next puddle. The sticky feeling under his feet grew stronger, each step taking up several times more energy than before.
Fortunately, the pond wasn’t very large, and he had found a method to solve the situation, arriving at the second puddle.
With the previous experience, he moved quickly. This time, just as the stick had entered the water surface less than 10 centimeters, he distinctly felt resistance. Shocked yet thrilled, Lou Huixiang repeatedly probed and finally confirmed that there was indeed a person in this puddle, and from the position, the person was not standing but curled up, knees hugged to the chest, forcefully squeezed into this relatively small puddle.
"How sinister..." His gaze fixed on the water surface, Lou Huixiang took out the last remaining ashes, tightly gripping them in his hand.
