Chapter 167: Sudden Change
The aisle was still terrifyingly quiet, but the direction from which Zhang Qian and the others had come already showed some kind of change.
Under the dim overhead light, one could see that among the two rows of iron doors covered in rust, an unassuming doorway had silently swung open.
Through that somewhat distorted and deformed door frame, even Zhang Qian, bolstered by True Qi, couldn’t make out the condition inside the room. Straining to peer inside, there was only a deep, impenetrable darkness.
It was as if there was nothing inside, just like the end of the corridor, only a void.
It was clear that the fierce ghost imprisoned inside was absolutely no pushover, and moreover, the thing inside had now broken free from its restraint.
“The most dangerous fierce ghost among the seven rooms… it still couldn’t avoid it in the end?”
Zhang Qian’s gaze shifted slightly as he stared at that pitch black opening, silently speculating on what kind of ability the fierce ghost inside possessed and what its killing pattern might be.
For him, this might not even be a bad thing. If everything went too smoothly, Zhang Qian would start suspecting if he had lost himself in some kind of illusion.
Moreover, the current situation wasn’t too bad; it was just that the doorway had been opened. Since the fierce ghost hadn’t launched an attack, it meant that he and the mannequin temporarily didn’t meet the fierce ghost’s killing condition.
No matter how terrifying the thing inside was, as long as it didn’t sneak attack, they shouldn’t be completely incapable of resistance, right?
What’s more, according to the map display, this room was far from deserving to be called dangerous.
Just as Zhang Qian was solemnly gazing at the doorway, the mannequin in his hand showed a trace of confusion and doubt.
“It’s gone?”
The mannequin reminded him: “The fierce ghost inside should have already left the room. I just saw a white figure at the doorway, but that figure only appeared for an instant before vanishing immediately.”
Just as silently as it had appeared, the figure’s disappearance showed no warning at all, like a phantom that stirred no ripples whatsoever.
But the mannequin knew it hadn’t seen wrong and wouldn’t have illusions. Having long discarded its human body, it wouldn’t have the flaws of a human.
Even if vision was affected, it would take some very eerie supernatural power to achieve that effect, and that situation would probably be even worse than the fierce ghost escaping.
“It’s already out?” Zhang Qian was slightly stunned, then decisively turned his head, wanting to press the door handle beside him and leave this place.
If the fierce ghost was still in the room, it wouldn’t hurt to observe the situation cautiously.
But now that the fierce ghost had escaped, every extra second spent here meant taking on more risk. Leaving as soon as possible was the best choice.
However, just as Zhang Qian had shifted his line of sight away, the mannequin that had been staring at that spot suddenly shouted, “Don’t move! That thing is back!”
Hearing this, Zhang Qian’s action froze instantly, and he whipped his head back to look.
His reaction and speed were already very fast, but he still couldn’t catch that thing’s tail.
The doorway was still empty, and even the iron scraps on the ground showed no change.
The mannequin’s desire to leave the corridor was no less than his own; it wouldn’t joke about something like this.
It seemed the fierce ghost that had emerged from this room was somewhat special?
Noticing Zhang Qian’s gaze, the mannequin immediately explained: “That thing really appeared just now; it just vanished again.”
“I seem to have discovered a bit of a pattern. It appears as soon as you shift your line of sight away, and disappears the moment you look over.”
It appears when one person is looking, and disappears when two people are looking?
This situation sounded somewhat unreasonable, but in supernatural events, it didn’t seem too outrageous.
It was just how this appearing and disappearing was achieved—without the slightest movement. If it was teleportation through a ghost domain, what would be the meaning of doing it this way?
For the moment, Zhang Qian couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Without having seen this fierce ghost with his own eyes, much information was unavailable, making it difficult to deduce the patterns on the fierce ghost just like that.
But with no attack coming now, staying put for the time being might be a good choice.
Calming himself, the aisle still showed no movement, and Zhang Qian glanced at the mannequin with his peripheral vision. “Anything else? Any other clues?”
The mannequin shook its head. “No, it just appeared in the gap when you weren’t looking, with no other actions. As for its appearance, you turned back too fast; I didn’t see it clearly either.”
“If you shift your line of sight away now, maybe I can see it more clearly.”
“Let’s pass on that.” Zhang Qian rejected decisively.
He narrowed his eyes, still giving up the idea of delving deeper.
The top priority right now was to leave this aisle; as long as the fierce ghost didn’t cause trouble, there was no need to confront it actively.
“If you didn’t see it clearly, then forget it. Since the fierce ghost only appears when line of sight is shifted away, we’ll keep watching this doorway first. We won’t be stuck with it for long anyway.”
With that, Zhang Qian kept his eyes dead fixed on that room while reaching his hand toward the door handle in his peripheral vision.
Opening this door would be the time to leave the aisle.
But just as he was about to touch the door handle.
Zhang Qian suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis, as if the next moment he would perish on the spot.
No time to think carefully, his body moved almost on instinct.
The whole person abruptly retreated two steps. Before Zhang Qian could act further, a deathly pale arm grabbed toward the spot where he had just been standing.
“Crack—”
Several claw marks were etched into the rusted door panel, with fragments scattering down.
At that moment, the mannequin in his hand also shouted: “That thing at the doorway has appeared again. It’s a…”
“A woman, or rather, a woman’s statue.” Zhang Qian interrupted.
“How do you know?” The mannequin asked in surprise.
Zhang Qian’s eyelid twitched. “Because one has appeared on my side too.”
Right there on the open space of the aisle that had just been empty, a grayish-white stone statue suddenly appeared.
The stone statue’s carving was very crude, with no detailing on its clothing. Only the long hair on its back vaguely suggested it was a “woman”.
The stone statue was still locked in that clawing pose, its rough palm still pressed against the door, with fingertips at the palm’s end embedded in the metal, leaving several claw marks.
Even the ghost ship’s door couldn’t withstand this kind of attack, let alone Zhang Qian’s flesh-and-blood body?
A fierce ghost of this level of terror didn’t even warrant a full black rating, and was considered ordinary even in the ghost ship’s rooms. One could only wonder what kind of monsters were elsewhere.
Of course, if Zhang Qian took a moment to open the ghost map and look, he would see that the room, which had only been deep gray, was now a blank space.
This was certainly not because there were no supernatural elements inside, but because even this mysterious map didn’t dare to peer into the existence within.
