The three individuals in the passage were fiercely determined. Wyatt's courage from the battlefield, Beom Seok's ruthless pursuit of a goal, and Ling Yan's decisiveness honed by years of martial arts training—all were formidable enough to confront the evil ghost directly.
Unfortunately, such strength wasn't enough for victory.
The invisible ghost was, after all, a ghost. Even when shot, it showed no reaction; few ghosts could be physically harmed. It merely paused before picking up Wyatt.
At that moment, Ling Yan pushed Beom Seok away, rushed forward, and stabbed with her sword!
Ka!
Though the wooden sword struck true once more, it shattered upon impact. Caught off guard, Ling Yan collided with the invisible ghost. The ghost roared, released Wyatt, and grabbed Ling Yan by the neck.
"Ah!"
Wyatt let out an indistinct roar, swinging his gun butt down fiercely, but it was useless. The invisible ghost had already seized one of Ling Yan's arms and was about to bend it back when, for some unknown reason, it suddenly let go.
Ling Yan fell to the ground, coughing violently twice, as if she couldn't believe she was still alive. At that moment, another ghostly howl came from beside her. Beom Seok suddenly sprang up, his entire left hand transforming into a black ghost claw, and lunged towards the black fog ghost blocking the passage!
"Go!"
The ghost claw, surpassing the limits of yin and yang, pinned the black fog ghost to the ground. Seeing this, Ling Yan immediately pulled Wyatt up, and the two quickly rushed past Beom Seok and the black fog ghost. As they were about to turn back to help, Beom Seok's body, which had been steadily suppressing the black fog ghost, was suddenly pulled back by something, becoming unstable.
"You guys hurry and leave! I can't control them anymore!"
Beom Seok let out a howl that was a mix of crying and laughing. His ghost claws extended further, clamping the black fog ghost in their grip. His strength was barely enough to resist the siege of the two ghosts!
Ling Yan gritted her teeth, turned, and ran towards the passage exit.
Wyatt hesitated, his eyes showing a flicker of struggle, and his grip on the shotgun seemed to tighten even more.
"Wyatt!"
Beom Seok let out a sharp cry, his still-human arm barely touching his mobile phone during the violent struggle, illuminating his face.
Blood vessels, resembling evil ghosts, now almost completely covered his face.
"I'm hopeless! You guys hurry and get out!"
He couldn't say much, but Wyatt understood his meaning.
Without hesitation, he turned and left.
Crawling out of the passage exit again felt like a lifetime had passed.
However, before Ling Yan could turn to check the situation behind her, she was startled by the light and heat outside. Having been exposed to rain and cold previously, the sudden warmth felt remarkably comfortable.
But the thick smoke that followed was incredibly choking.
Ling Yan quickly opened the door to reveal a burning corridor.
The numerous wooden structures and the strangely dry environment meant the flames couldn't instantly engulf the entire main house. Instead, they spread in an orderly manner, as if meticulously designed. Ling Yan covered her mouth and nose with her sleeves and rushed to the corridor window. She looked down to confirm a landing spot, then climbed out.
The rain chilled her. Ling Yan wiped away a handful of rain and looked up. She saw flames burning behind the windows on all three floors. Puffs of black smoke billowed from the windows, accompanied by faint sounds of crying and roaring, and rushed straight into the sky.
"Wyatt!"
Ling Yan couldn't care less. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted towards the second-floor window she had just jumped from.
However, Wyatt did not appear at the window.
"He's going to die."
A voice came from behind. Ling Yan spun around to find Anna, who had disappeared earlier. Her head was re-bandaged, and she held an umbrella, staring blankly at the window as she stood quietly behind Ling Yan.
This was too abrupt, and Ling Yan instinctively moved away from her.
Soon, Ling Yan saw what Anna held in her other hand.
It was a classic dressing mirror, appearing to be something taken from within the main house.
"Wyatt... his internal organs were damaged after the previous attack, so he can't run far. He'll likely stay."
Anna paid no mind to Ling Yan's step back, stating this in a calm tone.
"Beom Seok was eaten by the black fog ghost, and his self-detonation attack before his death also annihilated the black fog ghost. Wyatt knew he was seriously injured, so he didn't plan to drag us down."
After a moment, Anna suddenly tilted her head, as if listening to something, then affirmed: "Wyatt is dead, but he forced the invisible ghost to violate the restrictions on killing methods, so the invisible ghost was forced to return to hell... Is that right?"
"Who are you talking to?"
Ling Yan interrupted Anna's seemingly self-directed words.
"With the mirror ghost."
Anna blinked and smiled at Ling Yan, but the smile appeared increasingly pale and feeble.
"We failed... Sister Ling Yan. The ghost killed everyone it wanted to kill. Those calculations they thought were useful were just a slight delay of death. In the end... it changed nothing."
Ling Yan's eyes shifted to the mirror.
"This isn't a collection, because it's not a prop that can resist evil spirit attacks. However, it does have a special function."
"...Talking to ghosts, right?"
"Talking to the mirror ghost. Remember when we found the laboratory? I checked the bones and confirmed the body was a woman. After Sister Yin Lian told me it was Tang Yuexin, I didn't connect the previous events..."
Anna's tone was disappointed, filled with regret.
"I should have gone back to check the things on the body. In fact... we weren't the first to find the laboratory."
The first to discover it must have been the nouveau riche. They found the laboratory and Tang Yuexin's mirror, spoke to the mirror ghost inside, and began the task of creating conditions for the evil spirit to kill. However, three people died one after another, proving that the evil spirit had no intention of honoring any agreement.
But what was the point of knowing this now?
"The mirror ghost... is talking to you?"
"Don't look in the mirror. It can also talk directly to people, and it almost knows everything." Anna knocked on the back of the mirror. "Unfortunately, I can't confirm how much truth there is in it. Since there's no need to lie to us now, just listen seriously."
"If that's the case, it's the only one that hasn't killed anyone yet. Its purpose now must be to find an opportunity for the two of us to be reflected in the mirror, otherwise it won't be able to do it."
"It couldn't do it the next day either."
Anna smiled bitterly.
"I killed the upstart. Now that things have come to this, I can say I didn't kill the wrong person."
It was the first time Ling Yan had heard Anna say that.
"So that's why you said there must be a vacant spot?"
"Yeah... I was expecting more." Anna threw the mirror to the ground, stepping on it face down into the mud. She reached into her bosom, pulled out Joseph's pen, and threw it away.
"When I woke up, I saw Sister Olivia's body, bleeding from all seven orifices."
Anna didn't know what happened while she was unconscious. The only thing she knew was that the evil spirit took this opportunity to kill Sister Olivia.
That's why she left a message that it was unsafe there.
Later, after finding the mirror on Tang Yuexin's body, Anna quickly left the underground. Her headache and cold seemed to have disappeared by then, so at such a time of night, Anna decided to give everyone a clear mark.
She went to the basement, found the fuel and matches needed for ignition, and started setting fire to the entire main house.
The generator had broken down a long time ago, and fortunately, they had saved a lot of fuel. Anna burned her way from the third floor to the first, and just before this, Beom Seok led the way back.
It was just such a coincidence that caused the current situation.
"Sister Ling Yan, let's find a dark place to hide until dawn."
Ling Yan was stunned. Just as she was about to answer, there was a loud noise above her head.
The heavy knocking sound on the second-floor window was particularly creepy in the quiet night. The two immediately looked up and saw a figure in the window.
In the firelight, a figure with twisted arms appeared in the window. He smashed his head against the glass hard, causing blood to flow until it attracted their attention. Then, in their astonished eyes, he opened his mouth—
"Run!!!"
The voice, seemingly mixed with blood, was hoarse and unpleasant, but it resonated throughout the manor.
Wyatt wasn't dead yet.
The two, realizing this fact, immediately understood and turned and ran.
The mirror ghost was lying, which meant...
Before they could leave the main house, the sound of trampling mud rapidly approached, and the invisible ghost rushed directly towards them!
"Get out of the way!"
Ling Yan and Anna separated, one to the left and one to the right. Anna, being shorter, managed to get past the invisible ghost. However,
Ling Yan was grabbed by the arm, and with immense force, she was thrown back outside the main house wall. Anna stopped and immediately turned to rescue her. Ling Yan rolled on the ground to cushion her fall, and her hand suddenly touched something.
It was the mirror and pen Anna had just thrown away.
She looked up and saw that the shadows of "people" began to appear around her. Wyatt had disappeared from the window, as if dragged away by something.
Not far away, Anna was circling the invisible ghost, trying to get back, but her physical condition couldn't support it at all, and she was picked up in two moves.
At this moment, Ling Yan had no time to think. She reached out, grabbed the pen and a handful of mud, and threw it at Anna with a fierce grip.
The accuracy of years of martial arts practice ensured the mud ball hit Anna squarely. At the same time, the invisible ghost, which had grabbed Anna and was about to kill her, couldn't help but let go, allowing Anna to fall.
Amidst this chaos, the army of corpses had arrived. Inside and outside the house, there was a vague sense of a siege, and they were slowly approaching.
Anna grabbed the mud ball and turned back in shock, only to find Ling Yan already facing a corpse.
The suit stained by mud and the hair soaked by the rain were still standing straight between Anna and Ling Yan, separating the two.
Yin Lian's corpse, holding a mirror in her hand, faced Ling Yan.
At the same time, two corpses holding mirrors appeared at the window on the first floor of the main house.
"It turned out to be you."
Ling Yan saw her blurry image reflected in the mirror with the help of the firelight, but that was only because of the rain outside. More mirrors in the house already clearly reflected herself.
And the corpse naturally offered no answer.
"Sister Ling Yan!"
Anna clutched the mud ball, completely at a loss, but Ling Yan's mind became exceptionally clear at that moment.
"Keep running! Don't look back!"
After shouting the last words of her life, Ling Yan rushed out and quickly smashed the window with an elbow. She reached out and pressed a corpse behind the window to the ground, and at the same time, the mirror in the corpse's hand fell to the side.
Clang.
Then, a sharp pain in her neck.
How long had it been since she escaped?
Anna huddled in a small shed, hugging her knees, her body cold and her heart even colder.
In the end, she hadn't saved a single person—she was lucky enough to save her own life.
She couldn't do it.
The morning light was already outside, and the rain had stopped at some point. The early morning air began to feel particularly fresh, and even the sound of birds could be faintly heard.
But the people were gone.
Anna moved a little, and her stiff body fell to the ground. It took her some time to get up. She didn't know if it was a coincidence, but the place she chose to hide after running into the shed was the handicraft workshop where she and Ling Yan had first found the wooden sword.
In fact, there was no need to hide. Anna knew very well that all the ghosts had used up their quota of killings, and she was already safe. But even so, she didn't want to go back to the main house.
Dragging her weak body, Anna stepped out of the shed. The sky gradually brightened, and the ground was muddy and wet after two days of heavy rain. Only the paths paved with bluestone slabs were passable.
Faintly, there was a sound of a bell, but before Anna could ponder its origin, her mobile phone chimed with a text message.
The countdown finally reached zero.
[ Dear passengers: The return carriage is about to arrive. Please go to the gate of the villa and wait at the original location. ]