Chapter 36
Chapter 36
It had to be said that Doctor Zhuang’s story really didn’t hold up under scrutiny.
“The diagnostic categories on these medical records should be the causes of death for the sacrificial victims of the Eternal Life Curse.” Pozhan had a relative who was a Taoist priest, so he knew a bit about metaphysics.
You couldn’t blame him for being wise after the fact; forbidden curses were inherently obscure and complex, and he simply couldn’t remember them all.
“Type O blood is the universal donor. It’s much easier to collect than rare blood types, and it has a higher success rate for drawing a formation.”
“Furthermore, based on what you said about the facial features of the former tenants, they overlap significantly with a chapter called ‘On Longevity’ in an ancient physiognomy text I once read. The purpose of the Eternal Life Curse is to borrow life, so targeting long-lived people is a necessity.”
“However, this ‘eternal life’ isn’t eternal life in the true sense. If Doctor Zhuang really is the one who performed it, then he must be having a very hard time right now.”
“What do you mean?” Qiao Yu knew absolutely nothing about metaphysics and couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What happens to the one who performs it?”
“Have you heard of the Living Dead?”
Qiao Yu thought back to Doctor Zhuang’s state at the time… Honestly, it fit perfectly.
One had to remember that the mechanism of this Instance was that during the day, the Ghosts were all like normal people. Even the original residents locked in the Basement would only appear if the condition for Instance Time Acceleration was triggered. But Doctor Zhuang was clearly different; he wasn’t normal at all during the day!
Just as Qiao Yu was thinking, Pozhan’s face suddenly went pale, as if he had sensed something terrifying.
Why was it so quiet?
When did the creaking of the rocking chair stop!
He turned his head immediately and came face-to-face with the Landlord Ghost standing right behind him.
The other streamers, who had been listening, finally realized something was wrong, and their bodies froze simultaneously.
Qiao Yu tilted his head. “I’m really curious, Landlord Uncle, why do you walk without making a sound?”
-Because of love.
-Because Luo Xiang thinks it’s ‘punishable’.
-Hahahahaha, what kind of grudge do you guys have? Are you dying for the streamer to get arrested!
-Sadako: Everyone shut up, my gei gei would never go inside to step on a sewing machine.
Qiao Yu’s voice seemed to break some sort of unknown restriction. The streamers, who had been frozen in place and didn’t even dare to breathe, snapped out of it and took a step back in unison, putting some distance between themselves and the Landlord Ghost.
The Landlord ignored Qiao Yu. He gave them a sinister look and then slowly walked out through the path the crowd had cleared.
“Phew~ scared me to death.” Brother Crocodile let out a long breath and patted his chest as if he had just survived a disaster.
‘How pathetic,’ Qiao Yu thought.
Using this Review Card was the same as not using it at all.
“Dad, do you want to eat cookies or instant noodles?” Man-Eating Crocodile rubbed his stomach, which had long since gone flat from hunger, and stood before the shelves with a conflicted expression.
Just as Qiao Yu was about to say they should have instant noodles today, a shadow rapidly encroached, plunging the bright little shop into a night as dark as ink.
Wulong Tea hurriedly pulled out his phone. When he saw the time was 7:00 PM, his whole world crumbled. “How can this be?”
Indeed, the surviving streamers were all here, so why did the Instance Time accelerate anyway!
Cold sweat slid down the bridge of Pozhan’s nose. He steeled himself and walked to the shop’s entrance to take a look outside.
From beneath the narrow short ladder leading to the Basement, the sound of faint friction and messy footsteps could be heard.
“Run! Those Ghosts have been let out!”
This time, the crimson Iron Door in the Basement was wide open, leaving them no extra time to escape.
The group didn’t have time to analyze why the Instance Time had accelerated again; they instinctively wanted to run.
In such a terrifying and fearful atmosphere, everyone instinctively chose to run together. After all, there was safety in numbers.
Based on past experience, those who were left alone were often the first to be targeted by a Ghost.
-Hahaha, I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long!
-Did they think hiding the House Number Plates so the Landlord Ghost couldn’t find them would keep them safe? How naive.
-Exactly. Even if the Landlord can’t find the House Number Plates, it will still trigger the Instance’s Death Mechanism. You poor streamers, you’re surrounded! Jie jie jie~
-Hurry up and kill them! Torture them to death bit by bit!!!
Five streamers rushed toward the stairwell one after another, heading upstairs before those Ghosts could crawl up.
Although Ping’an Apartment was a four-story building, the only areas where the streamers could actually move around were the first and fourth floors. The corridors on the second and third floors were isolated by locked Iron Doors, making them completely inaccessible.
They could only run past the second and third floors to reach the most dangerous fourth floor. With the Ghosts still hot on their heels, they had no choice but to charge forward blindly.
Brother Crocodile was the most miserable of them all. He had already used a Review Card, and the accelerated time made his already scarce time even more pressing.
That wasn’t all. The review would start in three hours. Holding these completely unrelated clues, he couldn’t piece together any storyline at all. If he got even one node wrong, the story’s direction would likely veer off course, and he would be dead!
What should he do? What could he do?
Ignoring Brother Crocodile, who had already used a Review Card, a Ghost reached out to grab Wulong Tea, who was trailing at the back.
The Ghost instinctively tore at the nearest object. In the next second, the skinless Ghost let out a scream as it was scorched by the Guanyin Pendant and tumbled down the stairs.
Wulong Tea didn’t have time to look back. His motor skills weren’t well-developed to begin with; if he even took a single glance, he might be skinned alive by the Ghosts behind him.
Fortunately, this moment stalled the Ghosts’ progress, allowing Man-Eating Crocodile to snap out of it and hurriedly catch up.
Even with a Review Card, he didn’t want to stay with these terrifying Ghosts.
The group quickly rushed up the stairs. Qiao Yu, running at the front, reached the door of Room 4005. He pulled out a Small Wire and picked the lock in the blink of an eye.
The other streamers behind him, who were frantically fumbling for their keys, stopped simultaneously and squeezed inside behind Qiao Yu in a unified motion.
Qiao Yu: “…”
The Ghosts, even more frenzied than on the second day of the Instance, seemed ready to burst through the door of Room 4005 at any moment. No one had time to be polite with Qiao Yu; they looked at him and asked bluntly, “How did this happen? Isn’t the death rule of the Basement targeted at streamers? Why did the Instance Time accelerate even though none of us went in today?”
Qiao Yu thought for a moment, opened the Live Stream Room, and scrolled through the comments. He keenly spotted a key point.
“If the Landlord can’t find the House Number Plates, it still accelerates the Instance Time.”
Everyone instinctively turned to look at Pozhan. The decision to take the House Number Plates had been his.
Pozhan hadn’t expected things to develop this way either. For a moment, he didn’t know how to answer, wishing he could just crawl into a hole and die.
If only he had listened to the expert and tied up the Landlord Ghost to hide him, they wouldn’t be facing all this trouble now!
“Give… me… back… the House Number Plates!” the Landlord Ghost’s shrill voice shrieked through the door. Accompanying it was the crisp, constant jingle of a ring of keys.