Chapter 46: Turn Off the Lights
Liu Haoyu continued to explore forward with his flashlight.
Seeing that it couldn’t persuade him, the Black Book directly offered its advice.
“This is an extremely dangerous place.”
“The grudges of death have already made this a forbidden land for living people.”
“No matter the outcome, the time spent here absolutely cannot exceed midnight.”
“Otherwise, even a guide won’t be able to bring you back.”
Listening to the Black Book’s heavy instructions, Liu Haoyu’s steps completely stopped.
His face still held that very calm and carefree smile.
“Thank you for the warning.”
“May you be able to walk out of here alive…”
“If I can make it out, can you turn into a little loli with white hair and red eyes?”
“…Scram.”
The Black Book’s voice gradually faded, and the smile on Liu Haoyu’s face also gradually disappeared.
To say that his heart was not even a little bit nervous or scared would be a lie.
But no matter how terrifying this place was, he couldn’t stop here.
Because he was a Ghost Exorcist.
If he didn’t go, then who else could?
He just didn’t know what the thing inside this air-raid shelter was…
Even a guide couldn’t save him…
Could there be a ghost more powerful than Qin Liu inside the air-raid shelter?
Or did this fierce ghost have some unavoidable killing mechanism?
Liu Haoyu wasn’t sure. Perhaps only by going in could he figure out what was really inside.
He glanced down at the time.
“8:35 p.m…”
The Black Book had warned him to leave before midnight, so he didn’t have much time left.
Moreover, this air-raid shelter was very large, and it would take over an hour to walk from the entrance to the deepest part.
If Liu Zining had been taken to the depths, the time for his return journey would also become very urgent.
“I have to race against time.”
“The sky’s color awaits the rain, and I am waiting for you…”
At this moment, Liu Haoyu’s mobile phone suddenly rang.
In such a sinister and strange place, the sudden ringing of a mobile phone gave Liu Haoyu a fright.
He took out his phone and first looked around, confirming that he hadn’t attracted any terrifying monsters.
Only then did Liu Haoyu look at his phone screen.
It was a call from his friend.
“Hello, Jiang Ran, what’s wrong?”
“Hao-ge, I was just wondering how it felt living in that haunted house you were in before?”
“I’m still busy now. Let’s talk after I’m done…”
Upon hearing Liu Haoyu’s words, Jiang Ran on the other end of the phone quickly said.
“No, no, Hao-ge, it’s just for a little bit of your time. It’s about a supernatural event.”
Perhaps Jiang Ran also heard Liu Haoyu’s urgency, so he quickly explained.
“There’s a Class C project north of Jiangquan City. A few years ago, two children went missing there.”
“Later, there were rumors that at night, sounds of children playing could be heard there.”
“And the breathing sound of some terrifying monster.”
“To investigate this place, I and a very powerful Ghost Exorcist have already gone in ahead of time.”
“We are currently resting and recuperating in the large cavern inside, so I wanted to… trouble you, Hao-ge… to come and help…”
“Zzz…”
Halfway through the other party’s speech, the phone’s sound became distorted, even a bit eerily and terrifyingly strange.
Immediately after, the call was completely hung up, and Liu Haoyu looked at his phone.
No signal.
Looking at the phone screen, Liu Haoyu frowned.
He knew Jiang Ran’s personality well; this man would never put himself in danger by coming to such a place.
Moreover, in the recent call, Jiang Ran’s tone was eerily calm…
With his uninhibited personality, he would never speak to him in such a tone.
He must have encountered something.
Liu Haoyu put down his phone and then continued walking towards the depths of the air-raid shelter.
Before Liu Haoyu could even take a few steps, the innocent laughter of children echoed through the air-raid shelter.
These playful sounds seemed to come from near and far, as if running past Liu Haoyu.
Until they disappeared completely into the depths of the cave.
Continuing deeper, the earthy smell in the air became thicker, so Liu Haoyu put on his gas mask.
The moment he held the fire axe, his entire demeanor seemed to change.
Cold, bloodthirsty, as if he had completely blended into the environment.
There was no sense of incongruity.
The Masked Murderer held a blood-stained fire axe in one hand and a candle in the other.
If he encountered an extremely perilous ghost, the candle would ignite, serving as a warning for him.
The entrance to the air-raid shelter was already far behind, and the path ahead was completely dark, as if he had entered the darkest hell.
Standing here and looking back, one would see that the entrance to the air-raid shelter looked like a window in the darkness.
It looked very small.
To Liu Haoyu, it felt like the place beyond was where living people should go, and moving forward would only invite a fatal disaster.
And this feeling intensified the further inside he went.
Oppression and darkness mingled together, creating a despair that made one’s breath halt.
At this moment, Liu Haoyu felt as if he had been abandoned by the entire world, or like a pitiful person stepping into the abyss, liable to die in this place at any moment.
Due to this unspeakable sense of suffocation, Liu Haoyu’s breathing also began to quicken.
It was like ascending to a plateau, with the surrounding oxygen becoming increasingly thin, forcing him to gasp for air.
This gasping sound, filtered through the gas mask, became extremely heavy, like… the breathing of a monster.
Shortly after, Liu Haoyu had darkness behind him and only the area illuminated by his flashlight, less than three meters ahead.
However, the only light in this darkness now not only failed to provide him any sense of security but even made his heart rate more rapid.
Fear and trepidation surfaced in Liu Haoyu’s heart.
It seemed as if countless eyes and countless smiling faces were staring intently at the light in his hand from the darkness.
“Don’t turn on the light…”
The Black Book’s voice appeared in his mind.
“Turn off the light…”
“Quickly turn off the light…”
Before Liu Haoyu could press the flashlight’s switch, the flashlight suddenly began to flicker.
Immediately after a “hiss,” the flashlight went out completely.
Darkness completely engulfed Liu Haoyu.
But a calm expression remained on his face.
The candle in his hand did not ignite.
The hand holding the fire axe was tensed, like a drawn bowstring.
In the darkness, no light could be seen, and in such a place, one’s sense of direction would become very weak.
It was no exaggeration to say that a single fall could lead to a complete loss of direction.
Liu Haoyu stood still.
In the darkness, something seemed to be moving.
An unfelt chilling wind blew against Liu Haoyu, making him shiver uncontrollably.
The subtle sounds grew more and more numerous, as if something was wriggling and crawling on the ground.
And at this moment, the candle in Liu Haoyu’s hand… emitted a faint blue flame.
The blue flame illuminated a portion of the darkness, allowing Liu Haoyu to clearly see what was wriggling and crawling in the darkness.
The man’s complexion became slightly stiff.
What wriggled on the ground were pieces of square-shaped flesh.
This flesh seemed to have been cut by something very blunt.
And judging by the size of the meat chunks, it reminded Liu Haoyu of the iron grate at the entrance…
Soon, a scene appeared in Liu Haoyu’s mind.
A victim was grabbed by something and forcibly pulled into the air-raid shelter through the iron grate.
Its body was also cut into meat chunks of this size.
Because it was cut into pieces, and there were no useful items left for identification, Liu Haoyu could not determine whose corpse it was.
He could only conclude that it was a man’s corpse based on a certain rod-shaped organ.
The wooden boxes on both sides had all been opened, indicating that these pieces of flesh had crawled out of the boxes.
Liu Haoyu squatted down, picked up a piece of wriggling flesh, and asked the Black Book.
“Do you know whose corpse this is?”
“Let me see…”
The Black Book opened its pages, and a pale hand extended from within. It took the piece of flesh from Liu Haoyu’s hand, stained it with a little blood, and rubbed his index and thumb together.
It gave the answer.
“This is Jiang Ran’s corpse.”
“…”
Liu Haoyu’s expression turned somber at this answer.
Although he had expected this outcome, he hadn’t expected his friend to meet such a tragic end.
However, Liu Haoyu also saw a series of footprints on the ground.
These footprints looked very small and were not left by Jiang Ran.
The footprints continued towards a deeper, darker place…
