Chapter 25: Loss Of Control
While Wei Ling was still hesitating, Lu Jinzhao only pondered for a few seconds before stepping inside.
“Eh? You”
Wei Ling was surprised for a moment, then immediately followed.
She didn’t know why Lu Jinzhao was so bold, but from what she had learned along the way, she didn’t think Lu Jinzhao was someone without a brain.
Perhaps she had discovered something that she herself hadn’t noticed?
Meanwhile, Ye Jingyun, who was following at the rear, hesitated for a good while but still chose to stand outside the door and wait for the two.
“It’s broad daylight now, and there are people nearby, so nothing should happen, right?”
Though she said that, she had also seen cases of ghosts killing people in broad daylight, so such words could at most give her some psychological comfort and couldn’t really convince her.
Ye Jingyun watched the backs of Lu Jinzhao and Wei Ling as they walked inside, then looked at the empty rural path on both sides, hesitating several times whether to follow.
But as she raised her eyes, she saw the old man standing inside the Ancestral Hall, gloomily staring at her, and immediately dismissed the thought.
“Why is this old man’s gaze at me so strange?”
“I still won’t go in.”
Ye Jingyun felt a chill in her heart from the old man’s stare, increasingly feeling that the Ancestral Hall was not a good place, and that this old thing was definitely deliberately luring them inside.
“Oh no, will something happen to Wei Ling?”
Thinking this, she quickly looked inside the Ancestral Hall, but unexpectedly, with this glance, she saw nothing.
“Where are the people?!”
Ye Jingyun was startled, suspecting if she had missed them due to being too nervous, and hurriedly carefully searched inside the door for the figures of Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao.
But… none.
The two seemed to have disappeared!
“That old man!” Thinking of something, she immediately looked toward where the old man had been standing earlier.
But… no one was there either.
Ye Jingyun’s heart chilled, and she abruptly retreated a few steps away from the Ancestral Hall entrance, then quickly looked to the left and right.
Nothing abnormal, but… no figures of anyone either.
The surroundings were exceptionally quiet, and only now did Ye Jingyun realize that this kind of quiet was perhaps a bit too abnormal?
“Wei Ling? Have you finished looking?”
She softly shouted toward inside the Ancestral Hall.
No one responded.
“Wei Ling?”
“Are you still there?”
Ye Jingyun’s voice grew louder and louder, but still, there was no response at all.
She suddenly felt a bit cold, but there was no wind around.
Perhaps it was her feeling fear.
“Wei Ling!”
Ye Jingyun was already too preoccupied to care about anything else. She shouted Wei Ling’s name again, and after getting no response, she gritted her teeth and looked toward the door of the Ancestral Hall.
Inside the Ancestral Hall, apart from the human figures having disappeared, there was no other change. In the dim environment, only the firelight of the Eternal Lamp flickered. From Ye Jingyun’s perspective, this door seemed like a giant abyss mouth that could swallow people.
Her back began to feel cold, and she thought of Li Haoyang who had suddenly disappeared.
According to the accounts of the people who were with him, Li Haoyang had suddenly run off without a word. Was it because he had discovered something terrifying and was desperate to escape?
If it really had something to do with the zodiac, did that mean that soon, she was about to see something terrifying?
No!
She shouldn’t be waiting outside alone!
Only at this moment did Ye Jingyun realize this.
The fear of silence so profound that the entire world seemed to hold only her made her lose her reason. The illusion that a ghost would appear behind her in the next second also made Ye Jingyun unable to think calmly. She only knew that she must find Wei Ling immediately—at least, she needed a companion by her side.
So, she started running toward the door of the Ancestral Hall.
Clearly just a few meters away, clearly a distance that could be crossed with just a few steps, yet it seemed infinitely extended.
The Ancestral Hall that she hadn’t dared to enter moments ago, just a few minutes later, even though she wanted to go in now, seemed impossible to enter no matter what.
—The sound of running attracted the attention of Wei Ling and Lu Jinzhao inside the Ancestral Hall.
After entering the Ancestral Hall, they had carefully observed it. The only difference from before was that it was much cleaner; aside from that, there were no abnormalities.
But in just a short two minutes, a hurried sound of footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.
It was the sound of someone running away from here.
This sound immediately alerted the two of them. By the time they rushed out, they could only see Ye Jingyun’s panicked retreating figure.
“Oh no.”
Wei Ling’s complexion darkened as she realized something had happened, but she wasn’t too surprised.
“Chase her, see where she’s going.”
Lu Jinzhao had already followed, but even though she had been exercising every day since leaving the first platform and returning to reality, she still couldn’t catch up to Ye Jingyun.
Clearly a girl who appeared somewhat frail, yet for some reason, her running speed at this moment was exceptionally fast.
Every time it seemed she could catch up, after turning a corner, the other’s figure would be even farther away.
After turning several corners, she completely lost sight of the other.
Lu Jinzhao helplessly stopped, bent over with hands on her knees, panting heavily as she puzzled, “Why is she running so fast?”
Wei Ling was also frowning at this moment, but she appeared to have better stamina than Lu Jinzhao: “Her stamina shouldn’t be this good.”
“Then she’s probably in grave danger.”
This way, it can also be confirmed that there is indeed a problem with the Rat zodiac sign.
Two consecutive passengers who appeared abnormal both belong to Rat.
“Could it be that here, this year is the Year of the Rat?”
The word sacrifice is too sensitive, and the two naturally thought of this point.
After all, inside the platform, it was a perfectly normal association to think of using people of their zodiac birth year for sacrifice.
“We can just ask to find out.” Lu Jinzhao bent over and panted for a while before straightening up.
“Let’s head toward the altar first and ask the villagers along the way.”
However, on the way to the altar, Lu Jinzhao discovered that the number of villagers here was even fewer than she had expected.
Moreover, they were basically all old people left.
It could be expected that without any change, in just a few years, this village would be abandoned.
“Even so, are they still holding the sacrifice?”
Fortunately, the village was not large, and after not walking too long, they encountered an old man carrying a basket.
The other was walking on the small path with her head down, her steps somewhat unsteady, and she had no reaction even when Wei Ling called out to her.
“Maybe she’s old and hard of hearing.”
Thinking this, Wei Ling raised her voice and called out again, and only then did the old man lift her head in confusion to look at them.
“Old man, do you know what year it is this year? Is it the Year of the Rat?”
When the old man raised her head, Lu Jinzhao noticed that her eyes were extremely cloudy, probably making it quite difficult for her to see.
After hearing Wei Ling’s words, she slowly opened her mouth: “No, no.”
“This year is the Year of the Ox, the Year of the Ox has arrived.”
“Year of the Ox.”
