Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Nether Garment (Fifth Update)

Continuing to look down, there were a few more similar posts, but few could accurately state the place names and the course of events like this one. Most were just a few blurry photos, accompanied by some vague descriptions. Among them, some posts were logically disorganized, with sentences all mixed up, making it very hard to read, which made Yang Xiao question the mental state of the posters.

However, many of these posts mentioned a team of police entering the scene, apparently carrying special equipment, and after that, the strange events captured in the photos were mostly resolved.

Through the information obtained from Kuang Hongyi today, Yang Xiao judged that some of these posts should be real. The special police team they were referring to must be investigators of the Patrol Defense Bureau, similar to Kuang Hongyi.

Based on the leaks in the posts, the frequency of these paranormal events didn’t seem too low; otherwise, there wouldn’t be multiple Patrol Defense Bureaus established in Rongcheng, a third-tier city with a population of a million. According to Kuang Hongyi, Rongcheng had at least two.

Kuang Hongyi claimed to be an investigator from the Anping District Patrol Defense Bureau, and tomorrow, Yang Xiao would start his job at the Lin’an District Patrol Defense Bureau.

It seemed that joining the Patrol Defense Bureau wouldn’t lead to peaceful days ahead; they would have to step up whenever a supernatural event occurred in their jurisdiction.

But Yang Xiao thought there would certainly be a probationary period, just like when you start playing a new game, there has to be some protection for newbies. He could take this opportunity to learn more.

With that thought, Yang Xiao opened his backpack and took out the costume, his first Resentful Eye Item. Kuang Hongyi had told him the costume had already recognized its owner and normally, Resentful Eye Items would not attack the holder without reason.

He spread the costume out on the table and carefully observed it. The workmanship of the costume was incredibly fine, with colorful thread used for the embroidery.

But when Yang Xiao gently lifted the costume, he was surprised to find that the inside was blue, lined with square papers resembling money embroidered into it.

Yang Xiao had never expected that hidden inside the bright red costume was a Nether Garment.

Not quite right, to be more precise, if the costume were worn inside out, it would become a Nether Garment!

Finding a Nether Garment like this late at night was truly unsettling. Yang Xiao quickly folded the costume back up, stuffed it into his backpack, then put the backpack into the wardrobe, weighing it down with an unused pillow, and finally, he closed the wardrobe door.

Lying in bed, Yang Xiao forced himself to clear his mind; he needed to sleep.

Although his body was extremely tired, his mind was excited, and he couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning. He had no choice but to close his eyes and count sheep. After an unknown length of time, his thoughts gradually slowed, his breathing became more steady, and the events of the day passed through his mind like slides, pausing on Kuang Hongyi’s face.

Kuang Hongyi sat in the café with his head lowered, the surroundings foggy, and Yang Xiao couldn’t clearly see his face, only his lips moving.

Yang Xiao tried as best as he could to focus on his lips, trying to discern what he was saying. The next second, Yang Xiao suddenly understood; he was repeating a sentence over and over, one that he had said during the day, "When the brainwaves just happen to match the frequency of a ghost’s magnetic field, they will be awakened and appear by your side."

"!!!"

At that moment, Yang Xiao jolted awake, sitting straight up in bed, gasping for air, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

But within the next instant, Yang Xiao didn’t dare to move; the room light had been extinguished, though he had left it on before he went to sleep.

The surrounding was eerily quiet, without even the slightest hint of noise. Yang Xiao could even hear his own breathing. This express hotel was located in the business area, right next to the bustling pedestrian street, but now it was extremely tranquil outside the window, and the hotel was as silent as if everyone had vanished.

Yang Xiao’s gaze slowly swept across the surroundings. His eyes gradually became accustomed to the darkness, and soon he made an even more terrifying discovery—this wasn’t his room.

No, that wasn’t right. It was his room, but it had changed, everything in the room had become dilapidated.

The wardrobe was askew, its boards cracked. Tables and chairs were overturned on the floor. The clothes that were supposed to be worn for tomorrow’s inauguration, hanging in front of the dressing mirror, were so rotted that their original form was unrecognizable, full of holes everywhere.

The walls were covered in mold, and the floor was uneven as if soaked in water, with corners piled with various cluttered items. It looked as if it had been abandoned for decades.

"Creak—"

"Creak—"

The sudden noise tightened Yang Xiao’s nerves. It was a shrill sound, as if someone was scraping at something with their fingernails.

Yang Xiao was a writer of supernatural scripts, so his imagination focused on that aspect, the more frightening, the better. Now this skill had utterly doomed him.

Based on his prior experiences, Yang Xiao understood that doing nothing was tantamount to a slow death. To survive, one had to be bold yet meticulous. It was obvious that another supernatural event was unfolding. Once encountered, you either resolve it or wait for it to resolve you.

Yang Xiao carefully got out of bed, but even the bed was nearly rotten through, his foot almost breaking through with a step. He moved bit by bit towards the room door, and the strange scraping noise was coming from outside of it.

At this moment, the door wasn’t locked, ajar about one-fifth of the way. Looking through the gap, the corridor was foggy. freeweɓnovel.cøm

Not daring to open the door, Yang Xiao slowly retreated, planning to first find the stage costume in the wardrobe. After all, that was a Resentful Eye Item, which might save his life in case of danger.

But suddenly, the fog outside the room dispersed greatly, and Yang Xiao’s eyes widened in shock. The original corridor had vanished, replaced by dark brown earth. As the fog continued to recede, Yang Xiao noticed something moving deeper within it.

The next second, several ancient servants appeared side-by-side from the mist, scattering paper money into the air as they walked.

This was just the beginning. More and more people emerged from the fog, all with bizarre makeup, like paper figurines. Among the crowd, Yang Xiao also recognized several familiar faces—Master Feng, Steward Liu, Taoist Priestess Xuan Li, the Young Lady, and even the Coachman and Master Zhao. The procession was so long that it stretched beyond sight.

All these people were in mourning attire, their gazes vacant, their faces bearing strange smiles. It was a funeral procession, and Yang Xiao’s first thought was that these people were mourning for Ms. Chun, as a sort of atonement.

Sure enough, a large red coffin soon appeared from within the fog, carried by eight burly martial masters. There was even a painting hanging on the head of the coffin.

The moment Yang Xiao caught sight of the painting, his mind buzzed—astonishingly, it was a painting of himself!

In the painting, he sat upright in a grandmaster’s chair, his hands on his knees, his expression solemn, wearing a blue Nether Garment embroidered with paper money.