Chapter 179: Dark Void
The instant he stepped through the doorway, Zhang Qian felt like he had passed through some invisible barrier, some intangible existence sweeping over his body.
His spirit seemed to scatter for an instant, and his body also felt a strange sense of imbalance.
Fortunately, this feeling only appeared for a moment and recovered as before in the next second.
He carefully examined the surrounding environment. In the room, no, the space behind the door was completely different from the previous rooms.
The bed, curtains, and other things had all disappeared. This space didn’t even have walls or floor.
It was like entering a rift in the world, with darkness filling the surrounding environment, unable to see anything, only an unknowable void.
If not for the one-meter-wide stone brick path under his feet, Zhang Qian would probably have fallen downward the instant he crossed the doorway.
However, this layout seemed somewhat familiar.
“It’s a bit like the dirt path leading to the ghost post office.” Zhang Qian narrowed his eyes, instantly thinking of that path that could span the entire country.
But the difference was that the dirt path was a passage linking reality and the post office. The surroundings weren’t pure darkness, more like a protective measure. Occasionally, strange sounds could be heard from the darkness, or strange shadows seen.
But around this stone paved road, there was nothing at all. At least when the mannequin was extended into the darkness beyond, the mannequin didn’t undergo any eerie changes, not like it had been attacked.
Perhaps this place was just simply empty?
Bang—
Suddenly, the sound of the doorway closing came from behind.
But that dull sound wasn’t like the iron door of a cabin room, more like a heavy wooden door.
Turning his head to look, the door he had come through had already disappeared. Behind him was only pure darkness, and even the stone brick path barely reached his heels.
With no place to gain footing, such a building design was very unscientific. Being able to construct it could probably be considered a miracle.
“Can you move to the side a bit and pull me back in a little.”
The mannequin glanced at the bottomless darkness and very sensibly chose to turn its head away, out of sight out of mind.
Several limbs even twisted backward, tightly gripping Zhang Qian’s arm.
Having finally escaped the endless loop of the aisle, it didn’t want to enter some unknown place again because of Zhang Qian’s shaky hand.
“Don’t be anxious. Since there’s no danger in the darkness, just take a look at what’s down there while you’re at it.”
With that, Zhang Qian ignored whether the mannequin was willing or not and shoved it under the stone brick path.
Seeing it couldn’t outstubborn Zhang Qian, the mannequin had no choice but to comply. Its pitch black eyes turned around down below.
“There’s nothing. From my perspective, I can’t even see this path. The only thing I can see is that door ahead.”
“I suggest you leave here as soon as possible. This path likely isn’t a real existing thing. If you take too much time and the whole path suddenly disappears, we’re done for.”
“Only this one door?” Zhang Qian frowned.
This door wasn’t like those uniform rusty iron doors in the aisle. It was fully three or four meters high, and it was a double-door design.
The pitch black wood also had intricate patterns carved on it, like rolling clouds or surging waves.
Undoubtedly, the space behind the door was definitely more special than the aisle, possibly even more dangerous.
“Do you have any impression of this place? No other exits?” Zhang Qian asked.
If possible, he really didn’t want to get involved with a place that looked so troublesome.
“Pull me up first.” The mannequin tugged at Zhang Qian’s arm. “There’s nothing down here. I’m a bit scared.”
“You’re a ghost, what are you afraid of…” Zhang Qian muttered.
That said, he still pulled his arm back from under the stone brick.
However, the mannequin in his hand seemed to have undergone some changes.
On that smooth head, besides the dent from being hit by the stick not long ago, there were now several black teeth marks added.
However, the thing that left these marks probably had poor teeth and hadn’t caused any substantial damage to the mannequin.
Noticing that Zhang Qian’s gaze had become a bit strange, the mannequin that was about to speak couldn’t help but ask: “What’s wrong?”
Zhang Qian quickly checked his own arm. Fortunately, there were no bite marks on it.
Confirming he was fine, he reassured it, “Someone just kissed you a few times. It’s not a big problem.”
It seemed the things in the darkness were quite picky eaters, preferring to target fierce ghosts. If there was real danger, the mannequin would definitely be the first to suffer.
“I didn’t see anything underground?” The mannequin muttered in confusion, not noticing the abnormality on its body.
So it no longer suspected anything and answered the question Zhang Qian had just asked. “As I said before, my memory has many problems, and my cognition of the ghost ship is also very fragmented.”
The mannequin’s mouth opened and closed slowly, as if struggling to recall. “But after entering here, I seem to have remembered some clues. This place should be where the ghost ship handles garbage, just a super-sized garbage bin that can never be filled.”
Garbage bin?
This answer was truly unexpected.
At least Zhang Qian couldn’t see any similarity between this place and a garbage bin. Never filling up was true though—just how deep that darkness below was, who knew. It could probably fit several ghost ships no problem.
“Then does this place have any other exits?” Zhang Qian asked.
The mannequin’s head turned, looking toward the huge wooden door with some confusion. “Not to mention other exits. According to my memory, this place has always been one way in, no way out. Even crew members who accidentally fall in have never been recorded as leaving.”
Even the mannequin itself wasn’t clear on what the inside of the garbage room looked like. After all, no one could come out from there, and thinking of this space as a garbage room was just a sudden thought.
As for more clues, the mannequin started looking like it was about to blacken as it thought, and Zhang Qian didn’t dare ask further.
This mannequin’s memory probably couldn’t awaken on its own; it needed specific stimulation to retrieve certain fragments.
“Rustle…”
Suddenly, a rustling sound emerged from the darkness.
It was a bit like a pet hamster gnawing on a piece of wood.
“We can’t stay put anymore…”
Sure enough, Zhang Qian had already spotted the source of the sound. Part of the stone bricks making up this path were gradually disappearing bit by bit.
It seemed something in the darkness had been awakened and was now using the stone bricks as an appetizer.
These things were likely the unknown existences that bit the mannequin. The disappearing sections of the path underfoot were increasing, and from the looks of it, there were definitely more than just two or three.
