Chapter 166: Imminent Escape
“Hehe.”
With a cold snort, since these lines didn’t affect his actions, Zhang Qian didn’t pay much attention to them.
He had previously left a mark after contacting the Ghost Hand, but that cyan-black mark had now disappeared. Perhaps there was some connection with these lines.
Moments later.
The man and the ghost stopped in front of the third door.
This doorway was still closed, but Zhang Qian, with his night vision, noticed something off.
Compared to the other doorways, the rust on this door seemed more even and smooth, without those protruding spots.
Looking closely, he discovered a small pile of metal fragments on the carpet in front of the door.
It was as if someone had slammed into the door, causing the rust on it to flake off.
Without rushing to open the door, Zhang Qian first gently stroked the surface of the door.
The uneven, rough texture was fine, but there were grooves on it, or rather cracks.
“The door is almost smashed to pieces. If we didn’t come soon, the Fierce Ghost inside would probably break out.” Zhang Qian said in a low voice.
The Mannequin’s lifeless eyes moved, as if it had noticed the anomaly above.
Already somewhat dissatisfied, it immediately suggested, “Do I need to say more about the sturdiness of this door? The Fierce Ghost Power that can destroy a door isn’t necessarily strong, but the Supernatural on its body is absolutely terrifying. In my opinion, we should take another path and avoid this place.”
“No need. It’s just showing signs of breaking. You almost smashed the door yourself before, and in the end, you still ended up in my hands.” Zhang Qian refused.
This path was already the optimal solution among so many rooms; finding a better one would take who knows how much time.
Anyway, once they passed this room, it should be stable.
He gently placed his hand on the door handle.
“Pa.”
The entire door handle, along with the door lock, fell off, and even several holes appeared where the lock was installed.
Through the holes, one should have been able to see the room behind the door directly, but for some reason, there was only pitch black inside the holes.
“…”
Zhang Qian’s action froze for a moment. He perked up his ears, vigilantly paying attention to any movement around him.
There wasn’t the slightest sound.
The Mannequin in his hand also propped up its head, bringing its entire head almost right up to the hole in the door, seemingly trying to see the situation inside.
Unfortunately, they gained nothing.
The entire space only had Zhang Qian’s faint breathing sounds. Under the deathly silence, it actually made one somewhat fearful.
However, Zhang Qian wasn’t exactly a normal person, so this atmosphere didn’t scare him.
After waiting for a moment and seeing no movement inside, he started to get a bit restless.
If this continued, how long would the standoff last? The door lock was already broken now, so turning back probably wasn’t possible. Naturally, they had to resolve it quickly.
The best scenario was to open the door without triggering the Fierce Ghost.
His eyes flickered, and the wooden stick in Zhang Qian’s hand slowly moved forward, soon pressing against the door panel.
With a slight push, the wooden stick moved the door panel along with it.
Even though Zhang Qian’s action was as gentle as possible, it inevitably made a sound.
“Screech—”
The harsh metal sound echoed through the aisle.
Fortunately, there was still no movement from inside the room.
At this moment, the room’s door had opened a door crack, which, according to the Mannequin’s previous words, should satisfy the “open” condition.
The dim light in the aisle seemed to be completely devoured, unable to pass through the door crack to illuminate the dark room inside.
It might be better to say it wasn’t certain if there was even a room inside this door.
From the perspective in the aisle, the inside of the doorway looked more like a pitch black curtain embedded in the door frame, just a void. Entering it, who knows what terror they would encounter.
Fortunately, they didn’t need to enter the room.
Facing Zhang Qian’s inquiring gaze, the Mannequin seemed somewhat afraid and didn’t dare to speak.
It just silently hooked the small hole in the door and pulled the door panel back.
Accompanied by the piercing noise, the door closed again.
Although it was unknown if a door without a lock still had the effect of sealing the Fierce Ghost, it was still better than facing that pitch black door crack directly.
Silently leaving the doorway, the two paid attention to the sounds behind them while heading to the next door.
In normal circumstances, Zhang Qian would definitely choose to take the initiative, luring the Fierce Ghost inside out to beat it and check the situation, while also probing the killing pattern.
But given the situation, whether they could win was uncertain, so he decided not to stir up more trouble.
Soon.
They arrived in front of the fourth door.
He gently touched the handle; the door was locked, so there should be an active Fierce Ghost inside.
A hazy True Qi climbed up his palm and was applied to the door lock.
“Click.”
The door unlocked, slightly opening a gap.
This time, without the Mannequin’s reminder, as soon as the light from the room seeped out, Zhang Qian closed it again.
No accidents occurred… so they naturally continued.
Next, the fifth door was also opened.
There should be a crashed Fierce Ghost inside; the door wasn’t locked, and there was no danger in the room.
Then the sixth door.
Similar to the previous doors, although there was a Fierce Ghost inside, Zhang Qian’s light movements didn’t attract its attention.
Before triggering the pattern, Zhang Qian had already locked the door again, safely passing.
The imagined situation didn’t occur; the entire process was so easy it was unimaginable. Forget danger—they hadn’t even seen a single Fierce Ghost.
Even now, the Mannequin still felt this was a bit unreal. After all its decades of effort and daily attempts, it couldn’t compare to this guy’s casually chosen path with his luck?
Even with the map’s help, how much luck would it take to find so many rooms that perfectly fit the pattern?
Moreover, according to the map, these rooms were far from safe.
Regardless of what they thought in their hearts, they had indeed arrived in front of the seventh door.
In other words… this was already the last door?
Looking at the door covered in mottled rust spots, Zhang Qian had a thought but didn’t rush to comment.
The current environment wasn’t safe yet; they were only one step away from leaving the aisle, and he didn’t want to fail at the last moment.
If he remembered correctly, the terror level of the seventh room wasn’t high either.
He placed his hand on the door handle and was about to press down when the Mannequin, which hadn’t moved, suddenly grabbed Zhang Qian.
“?”
Looking down, the Mannequin in his hand seemed to have seen some unspeakable terror, staring tightly in the direction they came from.
Following the Mannequin’s action, he turned his head.
The aisle was still empty, but one of the doors had unknowingly opened.
