txolops Chapter 642 Silently
Chapter 642 Silently
With only the two of them remaining, Wang Qiming shed his composure and calmness from everyone else, his words filled with weariness and gravity:
"Yang Jian, I think your judgment about the 4,396 strange infants that everyone found hard to believe is probably true."
"This number sounds absurd and outrageous, almost like a fantasy, but considering the recent supernatural power it has demonstrated and the fact that Ye Lin's entire team was wiped out without a sound, without even leaving a trace of struggle, this is the only reasonable truth."
"We underestimated the Starving Monster from the very beginning. We always stereotyped it as having a high potential, but its evolution speed couldn't possibly be this fast."
"But now, looking at it, its reproductive speed and evolutionary ceiling are devastating, completely beyond our imagination."
Yang Jian gazed calmly at the thick black fog outside the window.
"That's normal. The supernatural never follows the rules that humans have summarized."
"Our summary of the Starving Monster's first-order killing by sight, second-order killing by touch, and third-order killing by sound is very likely just a characteristic it deliberately reveals."
"Its true trump card, its true reproductive limit, may never have been revealed."
"Yes, the enemy is in the dark, while we are in the light; we are restricted in every way."
Wang Qiming nodded emphatically, his brows furrowed with helplessness and resolve.
"Therefore, this operation is of paramount importance. Although there are many crises, we have no choice. If we do not find out the Starving Ghost's trump card, Da Cang City will inevitably fall completely in a few days, and no one will survive."
As Wang Qiming spoke, he turned his head to look at the young Yang Jian beside him, his eyes filled with genuine respect and high expectations, his tone sincere:
"Yang Jian, this time, the lives of all of us, and even the future of the entire city, depend on you."
"Of everyone here, only you possess a fully controllable Ghost Domain. The Ghost Domain is the only trump card that can counterbalance high-level supernatural beings and reverse the situation. You are the core of our team and our only remaining hope."
Looking at the young man before him, Wang Qiming thought to himself, "People like Yang Jian are truly rare."
"He's just a high school student, and he's only been a Ghost Rider for a few months, yet he has a calm and composed mind that far surpasses that of ordinary people."
"Faced with any unsolvable supernatural or desperate situation, he remains calm and insightful, and his methods are sophisticated and decisive. His temperament, courage, and judgment far surpass those of many veteran ghost hunters who have been around for years."
"If this person can survive this catastrophe, his future is immeasurable."
Hearing this weighty recognition, Yang Jian showed no arrogance, remaining calm and composed as he responded:
"Professor Wang, you flatter me. My Ghost Domain is only at the first level, and its capabilities are limited. I don't know how to deal with a situation like the Starving Ghost."
"Your research and data are also very important. Without your repeated dissections of samples, summarizing rules, and anticipating crises, we would have died much faster. Your research is also the key to everyone's survival."
The two of them gave each other a high-five and praised each other.
"Um?"
At this moment, Yang Jian suddenly frowned, and his face turned very ugly.
Wang Qiming's heart tightened: "What? Did you notice something unusual?"
Yang Jian said in a deep voice, "I just used my Ghost Domain to investigate Jingfu Apartment and I discovered an extremely fatal problem: my Ghost Domain has been invaded and tampered with."
Upon hearing this, Wang Qiming was terrified, his face turning deathly pale. He knew all too well what this meant.
The Ghost Realm of the Ghost Master is their absolute home ground for supernatural phenomena, their most solid barrier, and their ultimate trump card.
The ability to remotely intrude into and alter the rules of another's domain from the periphery indicates that the strange entity's level far surpasses that of the original.
"This..." Wang Qiming didn't know what to say. This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.
Yang Jian looked at the sky filled with black mist and withdrew his Ghost Domain, because if he didn't, the other party would come looking for him.
"I'm reminding you of this in advance just to let you know. We have no way out; we're in a dead end, and holding on is just waiting to die."
"No matter what terrifying or bizarre things are hidden inside Jingfu Apartment, we have no choice but to go in, grit our teeth, and gamble on our last chance at survival."
"Yeah, let's give it a shot." Wang Qiming nodded. Although he was just a researcher, he was never afraid of death.
Thick fog blanketed the sky, and the dead city lay silent.
A perilous journey into the eerie apartment, destined for certain death, is now inevitable.
However, what Yang Jian and the others did not know was that the real trap was far more complex than what they had seen.
Led by Yang Jian, the seven-person team quickly headed to Jingfu Apartments.
In a room on the second floor not far away, Zhao Daming watched the group heading towards their doom. A sinister smile crept onto his withered face as he muttered to himself:
"Go in, all of you. The sacrificial ceremony, which has been in preparation for so long, is finally about to begin. Yang Jian, you and your ilk will all perish here today."
He lay low and watched quietly, waiting for everyone to fall into the trap he had laid.
Before long, Yang Jian and his seven companions arrived at the Jingfu apartment building.
The entire 30-story luxury apartment building stood silently in the center of the black fog. The building was tightly enveloped by a thick, eerie bluish-black fog. The doors and windows were tightly closed, and the entire area was deathly silent. There was not a sound of people or wind, and even the movement of the black fog was almost still, making people feel suffocated.
There were no signs of a struggle outside the building, no strange noises, but this extreme silence was more chilling than any terrifying phenomenon.
Gao Lei stared at the closed building, his face tense, and spoke in a low voice:
"Something's not right. It's too quiet. All the other paranormal sites in the city were active before, but this place is completely silent."
Wang Qiming's gaze swept across the entire apartment building, his tone grave:
"Everyone, remember to be extremely careful from the moment you step into this area. We don't know what the strange killing rules are here, so you must not act recklessly."
Yang Jian stared at the dark apartment door and added in a cold voice:
"No matter what you see or hear on the road, just follow the group and do nothing else."
Suppressing their fear, everyone took a deep breath, pushed open the glass doors of the apartment, and stepped into the lobby on the first floor.
The moment the last person stepped inside, the glass door behind them slammed shut, and thick black fog instantly blocked all exits, completely cutting off what was originally their only way out.
"Um?"
Seeing this, everyone instantly tensed up, and the beams of their flashlights swept across the empty hall.
The hall was spacious and clean, the furniture and furnishings were intact, there was no bloodstains, no eerie shadows, and everything looked perfectly normal.
But it was precisely this completely normal silence that sent chills down everyone's spine.
An indescribable chill gripped everyone, as if countless unseen eyes were peering into the darkness, staring intently at each and every one of them.
"Everyone be careful."
Yang Jian frowned, took the lead and slowly moved forward. His eyes swept over the flat paving stones. After taking a few dozen steps, his body suddenly froze.
He didn't speak, but slowly lowered his head and looked at the ground beneath his feet.
As everyone followed his gaze, their hearts sank into an icy abyss.
"this……"
They had walked more than twenty meters in a straight line, well beyond the physical depth of the apartment building's lobby, but at the end of their line of sight, all they could see was the lobby reception desk and empty sofas.
They kept walking, but they could never leave this small area.
There is no visual distortion, no light and shadow illusion; every step you take is real, yet space silently alters everything.
Yang Jian lit the Soul-Suppressing Candle, and the faint green flame barely illuminated a small patch of light.
The candle flame flickered rapidly, swaying from side to side, as if something invisible was constantly attacking and devouring the last remaining warmth. The candle wax dripped down rapidly, being consumed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Stand together, don't be alone, and don't make unnecessary moves."
His voice was low and calm. "Don't blink, and don't turn around."
Everyone obediently followed the instructions. As controllers of the supernatural, they all knew that moving around recklessly might trigger bizarre and peculiar killing rules.
All the shadows were crooked and stiffly pressed against the ground and walls, their postures bizarre and distorted, completely disconnected from the movements of the human body.
This silent abnormality has been ongoing. You don't know where you went wrong, but you clearly know that you are constantly making a mistake.
The seven people moved in unison, but in the empty hall, there were countless overlapping footsteps echoing, chaotic and mixed, densely surrounding the ears, making it impossible to distinguish which ones were one's own and which ones appeared out of nowhere.
With each additional second I lingered, the feeling of suffocation in my heart grew heavier.
No one dared to move, no one dared to speak; everyone was suffering in extreme restraint and fear.
This kind of torment is more terrifying than facing direct combat.
You don't know when death will come, or which of your actions will trigger disaster. You can only stand still, passively waiting for the unknown judgment, watching helplessly as the eerie gradually erodes your sanity.
In just a few minutes, everyone on the team was on the verge of a breakdown.
Cold sweat soaked everyone's clothes, teeth chattered, and bodies trembled uncontrollably. The extreme silence and oppression threatened to crush everyone's spirits.
Zhang San, whose mental fortitude was the worst, had his nerves constantly on edge from the moment he stepped into the hall.
He clenched his teeth, his pupils dilated, the dense sound of footsteps around him, the lingering chill that pervaded his body, and the perpetually distorted light and shadows, all of which completely shattered his last shred of composure.
He dared not stand there and wait to die, dared not remain trapped in this silent cage; extreme fear gave rise to extreme madness.
"We can't stay here any longer! We can't stay any longer!"
He let out a low growl, his voice trembling with despair, his gaze fixed on the tightly closed wooden door of the storage room beside him. The door was perfectly shut, showing no signs of distress, but in his near-madness, it became his only hope.
Yang Jian instantly sensed the disturbance and shouted in a low voice, "Zhang San, what are you doing? Stop right there!"
But it was too late.
Zhang San had already rushed forward, driven by a do-or-die mentality, and kicked the wooden door hard.
With a muffled thud, the wooden door cracked open, revealing a dark gap.
There was no billowing black mist, no emerging shadows, and nothing terrifying to the naked eye.
Everything seemed normal, but the next second, all of Zhang San's movements suddenly froze.
He remained in the position of kicking the door, his body instantly stiffened, the madness and fear on his face vanished, his eyes became empty and lifeless, and then he fell straight to the ground.
Silent and still, without wounds, bloodstains, struggle, or any trace of external force.
This living, breathing person suddenly stopped breathing the moment the door was opened.
The air at the scene froze instantly.