Chapter 11: Are We Safe Now?
“Your current situation is not right,” Liu Haoyu said directly. “I’ll take you out of this place first.”
“Okay.”
Hearing that he could leave first, Deng Shuyuan couldn’t help but pat his chest and sigh with relief.
But when he opened his eyes again, the expression on his face became extremely stiff.
Liu Haoyu, who should have been standing in front of him… inexplicably disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Liu Haoyu was gone.
He should have been standing in this place, but now not even a footprint was left.
The cold night wind blew into the deathly silent room.
The dazzling array of cosplays swayed in the wind.
It was as if countless people were dancing here, the scene looking like a crowd of demons dancing wildly, and Deng Shuyuan couldn’t help but shiver.
Not knowing where Liu Haoyu had gone, he could only choose to return the way he came.
Staying put might be a dead end.
Therefore, Deng Shuyuan quickly walked towards the door.
He dared not neglect, for fear that the terrifying paper figure would reappear on him.
The room door was unlocked. Deng Shuyuan opened it and ran towards the balcony.
As he ran, he tightly gripped the Zhenlei Talisman in his hand.
Compared to Liu Haoyu, his strength was not strong. The Zhenlei Talisman could only be used two or three times a day. If he continued to use it forcefully, it would cause severe mental strain, and in severe cases, it could even directly cause brain damage, leading to intellectual disability.
But he had to admit that the Zhenlei Talisman’s lethality to ghosts and monsters was indeed considerable. Ordinary ghosts and monsters were not worth mentioning in front of it. As long as he didn’t encounter extremely powerful fierce ghosts, two Zhenlei Talismans would be enough to deal with most supernatural events.
As he ran, Deng Shuyuan heard extremely heavy footsteps behind him.
Thump…
Thump…
Thump…
Something was coming upstairs, and such a slow sound didn’t sound like human footsteps, but more like a very stiff doll… jumping towards him.
What was that thing?
Deng Shuyuan suppressed the fear in his heart.
He held the flashlight and tried to look behind him.
But the flashlight’s beam could only barely illuminate the distance of three to four meters in front of him. Beyond that, only vast darkness could be seen.
That strange and heavy sound was getting closer.
Deng Shuyuan’s heart was in his throat. He kept his gaze fixed on the darkness behind him.
The sound became heavier and heavier, and at the end of the light, Deng Shuyuan vaguely seemed to have seen something.
It looked like a person… but not like a person.
In the blurred darkness, a long-haired figure was hopping towards them.
Deng Shuyuan’s first reaction was that it was a zombie from some movie or TV show, but when he finally saw clearly, he realized…
His thoughts were too naive.
It wasn’t a zombie at all, nor was it any fierce ghost.
It was a life-sized figure with a strange smile!
Her facial features were all sewn shut, her hair was matted into a mess, and for some reason, her body seemed to be tightly wrapped by something, and she was jumping towards them in a very stiff posture!
This posture made it seem like her limbs were trapped and she was buried in the ground!
Seeing such a strange and terrifying thing, Deng Shuyuan’s brain buzzed, and he subconsciously unleashed the Zhenlei Talisman in his hand.
“Boom!!”
After the Zhenlei Talisman was unleashed, crackling electric light struck the doll.
Immediately, she let out a piercing scream, the shrill sound seeming to pierce Deng Shuyuan’s eardrums, making him feel dizzy.
What was even more critical was that one Zhenlei Talisman could not take down the doll in front of him.
It was still moving!
Deng Shuyuan’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. He slowly took three steps back.
Then, he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and almost at full speed, returned the way he came.
At this time, Deng Shuyuan noticed that the doors on both sides of the corridor were closed when he came, but now, all these doors were open.
It was as if something terrifying had come out from inside…
But Deng Shuyuan was already driven to hysteria by the terrifying scene in front of him. He couldn’t care about anything else, and he sprinted with all his might, trying to escape the pursuit of the strange doll behind him.
Although the corridor was not long, every step of this less than fifty-meter journey was extremely torturous for Deng Shuyuan.
Every time he passed an open door, he had an illusion that a dry, bloodless hand would suddenly reach out and drag him into the darkness.
And the further he ran, the more obvious this feeling became.
Until he reached the end of the corridor, which was the room where the two of them had first entered.
As long as he opened the room door and went out through the balcony, he could return to the safe world outside.
Driven by his survival instinct, Deng Shuyuan opened the door, rushed into the room, and quickly slid down the climbing rope.
The intense and rapid friction made his palms scorching hot, as if they were burned by fire.
However, with the help of adrenaline, Deng Shuyuan had long forgotten the pain and fatigue.
Finally, with the help of the rope, he climbed over the iron railing and successfully returned to the safe world outside.
Everything was safe…
The screams behind him, the heavy and chilling footsteps, and the uneasy and oppressive environment all disappeared at this moment.
Deng Shuyuan slowly recovered his senses, and in his fear, he couldn’t even think about where Liu Haoyu had gone.
He only knew that he had to get back to the car.
That was the safest place.
As long as he waited there, he believed that Liu Haoyu, a master far superior to him in strength, would definitely settle everything in this haunted house.
Deng Shuyuan sat in the driver’s seat.
He, who rarely smoked, was forced to light a cigarette at this moment.
Under the stimulation of the cigarette, his tense nerves were relieved.
“Hoo…”
But before Deng Shuyuan could breathe a sigh of relief, he felt a cold and terrifying gaze coming from behind him.
It was as if someone was sitting behind him.
But because of Liu Haoyu’s previous explanation, he instinctively thought that it was the harmless red-clothed fierce ghost that Liu Haoyu had mentioned.
Thinking of this, Deng Shuyuan looked back and said.
“Your name is Qin Liu, right? Sorry, I got separated from Liu Haoyu…”
Deng Shuyuan’s words were only halfway through when he stopped abruptly, like a duck caught by the neck.
What was sitting behind him was not a red-clothed fierce ghost at all… but the doll with its facial features sewn shut and its face distorted!
The scene in front of him scared Deng Shuyuan out of his wits. He could already feel the presence of death approaching, and his legs were trembling constantly.
He instinctively wanted to open the car door to escape.
However, when his hand touched the car door, a chilling coldness spread from the door to Deng Shuyuan’s entire body.
The car door beside him had disappeared at some point.
Only a rusty iron door with bloodstains remained standing quietly beside him.
And his hand was on the handle of the iron door.
Deng Shuyuan’s consciousness was clear, but his body was out of control. With slow speed, he pulled the handle and turned open the rusty iron door with bloodstains.
—————
“Wake up! Wake up!”
In a daze, Deng Shuyuan suddenly woke up.
Like a hunched shrimp, his mobile phone slipped from his palm, and he jumped three meters high.
After landing on the ground, the blonde man looked around in horror, as if he had seen a ghost.
But when he saw Liu Haoyu, his mind finally stabilized.
“Are you okay?”
“Brother Liu… what just happened?”
Seeing Deng Shuyuan’s strange appearance, Liu Haoyu frowned.
He looked at Deng Shuyuan’s complexion, which was as dark as ink, and it looked like something could happen at any moment.
“You’ve been staring at your phone just now. No matter how I called you, you didn’t respond, until I hit your face hard with the sole of my shoe, and then you woke up.”
Liu Haoyu said as he put on his shoes.
Deng Shuyuan instinctively touched his face. There were indeed shoe sole marks left by mud and dust on it!
“Good heavens, you’re really my good brother.”
Although Deng Shuyuan said that, his expression was extremely relaxed.
There was nothing happier than escaping from the jaws of death.
“How is it? If I may be blunt, you seem to be entangled by something. Your complexion is dark, and your situation is very dangerous.”
In response to this, Deng Shuyuan seemed to have found the answer.
He didn’t know if it was a dream or reality, but he hadn’t forgotten that a strange paper figure had appeared behind him.
The origin of all strangeness started with this paper figure, which meant that there might be something behind him.
As a private detective, Deng Shuyuan’s mind was quite sharp. After roughly inferring, he said to Liu Haoyu.
“Brother Liu, can you check the back of my neck? I feel like someone is breathing on the back of my neck… there might be something there.”
Hearing this, Liu Haoyu immediately went behind Deng Shuyuan and shone the flashlight on the back of his neck.
Under the white light of the flashlight, Liu Haoyu could clearly see.
On Deng Shuyuan’s neck, a grinning human face had appeared.
This human face looked like a woman’s. She seemed to have suffered extremely tragic torment, her facial features all sewn shut, and blood gushing from the seams, looking extremely miserable in death.
But on Deng Shuyuan’s neck, she smiled chillingly.
The sewn-shut eyes seemed to be staring directly at Liu Haoyu.
“What’s wrong? Brother Liu?”
At this moment, Deng Shuyuan’s voice sounded again, but Liu Haoyu fell silent.
He vaguely felt a chill on the back of his neck.
It was as if someone was breathing on the back of his neck…
Realizing this, Liu Haoyu kicked Deng Shuyuan’s mobile phone away from his feet.
This time, the chill on the back of his neck completely disappeared.
Liu Haoyu did not see any ghost faces on his neck through the reflection on the window.
But on Deng Shuyuan’s neck, there was, and it was very clear.
“Brother Liu?”
Seeing that Liu Haoyu did not respond for a long time, Deng Shuyuan’s expression looked a little nervous.
Fortunately, Liu Haoyu finally spoke.
“The fierce ghost in this house seems to have cursed you, possibly because you glanced at your phone just now.”
“Just looked at my phone?”
Deng Shuyuan was dumbfounded.
At this moment, he finally remembered Liu Haoyu’s instructions before entering this villa.
Stay away from anything square or with mirrors…
This turned-off mobile phone was exactly that kind of item!
Deng Shuyuan’s heart felt a chill. He couldn’t help but swallow his saliva and said.
“Brother Liu, what should I do with my current situation?”
“You’ve been cursed, and the method to break the curse is actually very simple.”
“How so?”
“Kill the fierce ghost in this haunted house.”
Liu Haoyu’s tone was as calm as ever. The cold glint of the fire axe blade made Deng Shuyuan tremble.
If other people said this, Deng Shuyuan might have doubted it.
But if Liu Haoyu said this…
Based on Deng Shuyuan’s understanding, he was definitely the type of person who kept his word and did what he said.
More importantly, apart from the troublesome rituals and exorcisms, this was the most efficient way to break the curse.
“Okay!” Deng Shuyuan gritted his teeth and said, “My life is in your hands now, Brother Liu! As long as we can both get out alive, let alone be brothers, even if I cross-dress for you…”
“Whoa! No, no, no!”
Liu Haoyu wasn’t scared by ghosts, but he was almost scared to death by Deng Shuyuan’s words.
If Deng Shuyuan was a petite and delicate little girl, her words wouldn’t be so shocking, and wouldn’t make his stomach churn so much.
But look at Deng Shuyuan, who was 1.85 meters tall.
And look at his sturdy physique, powerful muscles, and his golden blonde hair.
If this guy cross-dressed, he would probably cause tons of psychological damage to ghosts, and this attack would be indiscriminate.
Liu Haoyu didn’t want to, as a master exorcist, be disgusted to death by a cross-dressing photo.
If that were the case, he might as well let the red gate give him a quick end.
“I appreciate your kindness, but if you have this idea, you might as well introduce your sister to me.”
“Get lost!” As soon as he heard about Deng Shuyuan’s sister, Deng Shuyuan immediately bared his teeth and said unwillingly, “You want to be my brother-in-law? No way!”
“Then treat me to a meal after we get out.”
Liu Haoyu mentioned Deng Shuyuan’s sister as a joke. The most important thing was to quickly get rid of the mentally polluting image in his mind.
“Seriously, don’t cross-dress. I’m begging you.”
“Ahem, I was just saying it casually…”
Deng Shuyuan was a little embarrassed. He really couldn’t think of any good reward at the moment, so he said that without thinking.
Looking back now, it was indeed a bit awkward.
The two of them left the room and returned to the corridor. Liu Haoyu said.
“You go ahead, I’ll cover your rear.”
“That’s so nice?”
Deng Shuyuan, who was scared and had some lingering shadows, couldn’t help but feel a little touched.
Liu Haoyu, on the other hand, silently took three steps back.
Of course, he didn’t admit that he chose to let Deng Shuyuan go first because he was afraid of “supernatural events”.
