Chapter 74: Wang Family Funeral Home
The flashlight’s light remained bright, which kept Xiao Ping’s uneasy heart from completely losing control.
He ultimately still couldn’t say that sentence out loud; he accepted that he was a coward.
He saw Lu Jinzhao’s hand land on the door handle.
His heart lifted.
The door handle was turned, producing a click as the lock was opened.
His breathing became almost inaudible, his gaze fully fixed on the door handle, his heart rising and falling with it.
The door was slowly pushed open, and a pitch-black crevice appeared before Xiao Ping’s eyes.
Nothing could be seen; it was pitch black inside, or perhaps because the crevice was still too small.
Lu Jinzhao’s movements weren’t slow; soon, the door was opened halfway, and the light from their flashlights shone inside.
Even at this point, the flashlight light in Xiao Ping’s hand showed no change; he was especially surprised in his heart, but he was also thoroughly frightened by what happened in the service hall. This time, he didn’t look directly inside; instead, he chose to first look at the ground at the mourning hall’s doorway.
This way, even if there really was something inside, it wouldn’t directly hit him in the face.
Xiao Ping felt his idea was not wrong.
The flashlight’s light was exceptionally bright, clearly illuminating the patterns on the floor. It was the first time he had seen it, but the floor here had a gray-white checkered appearance that looked very dirt-resistant.
His line of sight gradually moved forward, and he saw more things: crevices between floor tiles, the door frame, and the foot half-hidden behind the door frame.
It was a barefoot with a bell tied around the ankle.
Xiao Ping’s breathing stopped.
No reminder from anyone was needed, no thinking was needed; just seeing the bell made him immediately realize that it was a ghost.
The ghost was standing behind the door, waiting for them.
Clearly, the flashlight’s light hadn’t dimmed.
Could the ghost have deliberately used this to make him relax his vigilance?
There was no time to think so much; what needed to be done now was to escape quickly!
The instant this thought arose, Xiao Ping wanted to turn and run, but when he tried to move his body to turn, he discovered that his muscles were extremely stiff, causing him to completely lose control of his body for the moment.
The horror movie trope he used to despise the most—being unable to run when encountering a ghost—was now happening to him in reality.
He now knew that when a person is in extreme fear, they really can lose control of their body.
Xiao Ping could only stand there with wide eyes filled with terror, staring at that motionless foot.
In his heart, he prayed that it hadn’t noticed him, that it would be best if it never moved. He just needed a few seconds for his brain to react, for his muscles to stop being so tense, and then he could immediately escape!
For some reason, Lu Jinzhao was right beside him, yet she showed no reaction at all?
Hadn’t she seen it?!
Xiao Ping realized belatedly that from this position, only someone on this side with their line of sight fixed on the ground could see that protruding foot!
So, Lu Jinzhao really didn’t know now that a ghost was hiding right in front of them!
Xiao Ping’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Lu Jinzhao’s flashlight light swept simply over the area in front of the mourning hall, where rows of chairs were quietly arranged ahead, with nothing abnormal.
She withdrew her gaze, didn’t look at other places, and when she was about to turn to leave, she noticed Xiao Ping, who was unusually stiff beside her.
She didn’t speak, but first closed the door.
The moment Xiao Ping saw her reach to close the door, his heart nearly jumped to his throat; he thought something must go wrong, but the door was closed.
“. . . Fine?” His heart relaxed, and he suddenly stepped back, then joyfully realized he could move.
He kept retreating until he was far from the mourning hall before stopping.
At this moment, cold sweat covered his forehead, and his trembling pupils and pale complexion all told Lu Jinzhao that he was now in a state of extreme fear.
“What did you see?” Lu Jinzhao asked.
“Th-there was a foot, right behind the door.” As soon as Xiao Ping spoke, his voice trembled almost uncontrollably; he paused, but still couldn’t make his tone calm.
Lu Jinzhao indeed hadn’t seen that foot, perhaps due to the angle, or perhaps her line of sight had missed that spot.
But now, Xiao Ping had encountered a ghost twice and was still fine; she was somewhat surprised by this.
Lu Jinzhao realized that perhaps she could deduce the ghost’s killing rules for this platform from this.
At least it was now certain that ordinary encountering a ghost wouldn’t lead to immediate death.
But this was Xiao Ping’s second time encountering a ghost, and this time she hadn’t even noticed the ghost’s existence at all, which clearly meant Xiao Ping had been targeted by the ghost.
It hadn’t killed him because he hadn’t triggered the ghost’s killing taboo yet, but he probably couldn’t escape.
Before his death, perhaps she could observe him to figure out what the taboo was.
Perhaps guessing what Lu Jinzhao was thinking, the parchment reappeared after a moment of silence.
[Hee hee]
[I told you, right? A teammate’s life is the best tool.]
Lu Jinzhao wanted to say it wasn’t the same; she hadn’t planned from the start to use Xiao Ping’s life as a tool to test the ghost’s killing rules, but she felt arguing with the parchment about this was meaningless.
She just needed to be clear about what she was doing.
After two frights, even if Xiao Ping wanted to steady his emotions, he clearly couldn’t anymore.
His footsteps when walking became unstable, and sometimes he would suddenly stumble; when Lu Jinzhao looked over, he would give an awkward smile.
Even without him saying it, Lu Jinzhao could guess it was probably weak legs.
It seemed his emotions and body had reached a limit.
“Hold on a bit longer; there’s only one location left.”
As Lu Jinzhao’s words fell, Xiao Ping showed a bitter smile.
It was because the last remaining location was the underground morgue.
Given tonight’s situation, Xiao Ping no longer held any hope that there wouldn’t be a ghost there.
He only hoped that this time the ghost would still take the elevator and give him enough reaction time to escape in time like Meng Ning.
“Can we rest a bit?” he suddenly asked.
He had realized his stamina was insufficient; even though he hadn’t really run far tonight, with his emotions extremely tense and his muscles staying in an excited and stiff state for so long, he felt his stamina draining rapidly.
To ensure he could escape in time if something unexpected happened later, he felt he needed to rest.
Lu Jinzhao didn’t refuse, so Xiao Ping simply sat directly on the ground, but Lu Jinzhao didn’t sit; she just stood vigilantly at least ten steps away from Xiao Ping.
The seated Xiao Ping kept trying to calm his rapid breathing, but at a certain instant, his breathing sound suddenly became extremely light.
It seemed he was holding his breath.
After about two or three seconds, he cautiously looked up at Lu Jinzhao and asked, “Did you hear any sound?”
