Chapter 29: Loss Of Control
The few passengers present might not be top geniuses, but having survived to participate in a Class C Instance, they could at least read the situation.
Thus, without Lu Jinzhao needing to say much, the others all hurriedly followed behind her to escape this place.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t dare look back, so she didn’t see that terrifying scene.
All the old men silently held soul-summoning banners, motionless, and even the commotion from the passengers escaping didn’t draw the attention of any one of them.
In the darkness, these villagers were like corpses standing in the square, silent, quiet, carrying an indescribable weirdness.
——Huff, huff
In the dark village, Lu Jinzhao could almost only hear her own heavy breathing and footsteps while running.
The torch in her hand provided her with limited lighting, so she wouldn’t lose sight of the path under her feet, but the torch’s narrow range couldn’t provide more visibility to determine direction; she could only rely on memory to run along the country lanes.
“If I remember correctly, the Ancestral Hall should be in this direction.”
The village, which wasn’t large in her memory, only revealed its ferocious side now during the escape; the roads were almost all small paths, rugged and winding, with turns every few steps, and the houses all looked almost the same; a stranger holding a torch in the darkness simply couldn’t recognize where they were.
Not to mention that their spirits were highly tense at the moment, clearly knowing there might be a ghost behind them!
“I shouldn’t have gone wrong; today all day, I’ve been carefully noting the directions of all the roads from the Ancestral Hall and Altar leading into the village.”
Lu Jinzhao kept affirming herself in her heart while running.
She knew that doubting herself at a time like this would lead to hesitation, then indecisiveness, wasting a situation where they could survive.
She didn’t know what exactly happened inside the Altar, but she was certain that if they didn’t hurry back to the Ancestral Hall, they would all die!
“Right, I didn’t remember wrong; it’s here.”
After continuously turning several corners, Lu Jinzhao’s originally anxious heart gradually relaxed; she had already seen the Ancestral Hall not far away.
The door of the Ancestral Hall was open, unlike the Altar entrance which was pitch black; in the dark village, inside the Ancestral Hall still retained a faint trace of light.
It was that Eternal Lamp.
Seeing the Ancestral Hall gate, Lu Jinzhao, who was already extremely fatigued from the continuous fast running, mustered her spirit again, squeezed out the remaining strength in her body to speed up, and rushed directly inside the Ancestral Hall.
But the speed of a few people following behind her slowed down, and they seemed slightly hesitant facing the Ancestral Hall gate.
Only Wei Ling unhesitatingly followed Lu Jinzhao’s figure and rushed in.
“Huff huff…” After entering, Wei Ling saw Lu Jinzhao sprawled on the ground panting regardless of her image; after adjusting her breathing for a moment, Wei Ling spoke: “You stopped here; do you think it’s safer here?”
Lu Jinzhao was still panting heavily and didn’t want to speak, so she just nodded lightly.
Seeing her nod, Wei Ling finally relaxed her vigilance a bit, let out a long breath, then looked at Lu Jinzhao, whose eyes were somewhat unfocused from fatigue, and said: “Your physical fitness… isn’t great.”
Lu Jinzhao was speechless in her heart; her physical fitness was actually quite healthy among girls her age; clearly, Wei Ling’s stamina was just too exceptional!
However, inside the platform, merely a reasonably healthy body wasn’t enough; she had to train herself more.
But now wasn’t the time to think about that.
The people outside hesitated for a few seconds, and seeing that Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling who entered showed no abnormalities, they also followed in one after another.
Among them, some clearly hadn’t figured out the current situation yet; seeing that the Ancestral Hall seemed temporarily safe, they asked in some doubt.
“So is this a safe spot?”
“…I don’t know; I haven’t even figured out what happened!”
“Are we just staying here? Not doing anything else?”
Several people raised doubts one after another; clearly, they were all uneasy and felt unsafe about this Ancestral Hall place.
“Hey, the one who brought us here, do you know something?” Someone asked looking at Lu Jinzhao.
At this time, Lu Jinzhao’s stamina had recovered a little; she exhaled and slowly replied: “Didn’t A Luo say? If something unexpected happens, you can go to the Ancestral Hall to take shelter.”
“…Just that?”
“You brought us to the Ancestral Hall just because of that?”
“These villagers clearly have issues; we can’t believe what they say!”
The Ancestral Hall immediately buzzed with unrest due to Lu Jinzhao’s answer; someone immediately wanted to turn and leave the Ancestral Hall, but Lu Jinzhao didn’t speak to persuade them.
The reason was of course not just that sentence from A Luo, but it was indeed A Luo’s words that made her certain the Ancestral Hall was relatively safe.
But why should she explain so much.
She didn’t leave secretly by herself, reminded everyone, successfully brought them to the Ancestral Hall, and stated the reason; that was already doing all she could.
As for whether the others believed it or not, that wasn’t within Lu Jinzhao’s concern.
Although some made moves to leave the Ancestral Hall, after seeing the darkness outside, they hesitated again.
Maybe, for now, stick together with everyone?
Under the urging of such thoughts, even though dissatisfied with Lu Jinzhao and full of unease about the Ancestral Hall, no one really chose to leave.
Inside the Ancestral Hall, even with the lighting from torches and the presence of companions, the uneasy atmosphere still spread throughout the entire Ancestral Hall.
“So… what exactly happened in the Altar?”
“Why did the sacrifice fail? Didn’t two of ours go in? Zhang Junjie even had a supernatural item, and what’s up with those villagers?”
“What’s going on with this instance? I don’t even know what happened, and we’ve already lost four people!”
Her words resonated with the others; indeed, in their eyes, up to now in this instance, they themselves hadn’t encountered any major dangers, but precisely in this “peaceful” atmosphere, inexplicably, four teammates died.
But did nothing really happen?
Lu Jinzhao’s complexion was grave; many clues had already connected in her mind, and the conclusion made her fall into regret.
“If I had known earlier…”
But in this platform, the most impossible thing was “if I had known earlier.”
“…Wasn’t there a shadow at the door just now?”
In the silence, someone suddenly said suspiciously.
“What shadow? Don’t talk nonsense.”
“No, I really saw it!” Her tone became somewhat neurotic.
“It was just a shadow, a person’s shadow.”
“Then where’s that person? Did you see? Who was it?” Someone asked vigilantly.
“No one!” She shook her head, her expression terrified.
“Just a shadow… didn’t you all see it?”
“It was at the door, lingering for a long time, since we came in.”
“It has been following behind us all along…”
“It’s about to come in.”
