The World Below Surface - Chapter 12

He Lou took a deep breath, took a memory card from his pocket, swapped it for a USB stick, and inserted it into his computer.

This was the simple surveillance system he had earlier installed in the living room. He hadn’t had the opportunity to watch it a few days ago. He needed to find out what Lu Yan had done today.

He saw the scene from that day on the computer screen, multiplied by the speed of the images.

Huang Mao became a zombie that day as a result of the song emanating from the television set. He and Feng Chu Chu rushed up to the man and held him under the sun to prevent him from biting. Lu Yan found glutinous rice and sprinkled it on Huang Mao, allowing him to gradually transform back into a human. They both saw the upstairs neighbours depart again, and Feng Chu Chu was shocked by the image in the cat’s eye.

What happened after that?

A little bit of time passed, and a few tiny figures walked around on the screen.

After lunch, Huang Mao sat in his rocking chair in the sun.

Lu Yan was busy doing his chores, talking to Huang Mao every now and then.

Even under such circumstances, Lu Yan did not show the slightest sign of difference. After sweeping the floor and tidying up the living room, he went back to tidy up the room. When the afternoon came, Lu Yan again went to the kitchen to make dinner.

The time soon came in the evening, and after the group had eaten, they each went to their rooms to rest.

At that time, he was in his room gathering information.

Lan Zhi Yu Oceanarium …… Since there was an oceanarium, would there be other buildings similarly named after her? As soon as he thought of this, He Lou immediately searched, and sure enough, he found quite a few, such as the Lan Zhi Yu Zoo, Lan Zhi Yu Pet Hospital, and so on.

He wondered why they were all zoos and hospitals. It was either an oceanarium or a vegetable market. When he made the connection that Lan Zhi Yu was raising zombies, he felt no wonder.

Maybe someone continued to raise zombies in her name and therefore needed fresh flesh and blood.

After compiling this info, he specifically added the anomaly of the flat. Then he made it public on that mystery website, hoping that someone would notice something amiss. He had been in his room and had not noticed any movement outside.

Nor did he notice that Huang Mao was discussing with Lu Yan about changing rooms.

Lu Yan’s original room was not particularly well-positioned. Living room, however, allowed for some daylight and ventilation, so when Huang Mao desired more sunlight, he assumed that moonlight was similar.

So, that night, it was Huang Mao who slept in the living room! Lu Yan went into the room to be with Feng Chu Chu!

Seeing this, He Lou could no longer deceive himself that their disappearance had nothing to do with Lu Yan.

Why did he see Lu Yan sleeping on the sofa when he awoke in the living room if he hadn’t done anything? He even claimed to know nothing about it.

He Lou’s chest rose and fell violently as he suppressed his rage and continued to observe.

Huang Mao absorbed more and more moonlight as time passed. His eyes became dull and white, his face turned blue, his nails lengthened, and drool oozed from the corners of his mouth.

As the place where He Lou placed the miniature camera was next to the television set, the camera had a night vision function. The camera recorded the process of Huang Mao’s transformation without missing a second.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that he was about to turn into a zombie.

Just then, a human figure appeared in front of him.

The figure pulled out an iron bar from behind him, dropped it high and smashed it hard on Huang Mao’s head with such force that a shallow “click” sound could be heard from his neck.

Huang Mao, still struggling, fainted and was tied up by the man’s hands and feet, grabbed by the ankles, and slowly dragged out.

Just as he had done to his companion for a ticket, the person being dragged out by the arms and legs was himself.

Where would Lu Yan take the body?

The answer to that question was clear!

In the beginning, when they had someone try to see if they could leave the flat, didn’t they also have the corpse carried to that place?

It was some time before Lu Yan returned. He cleaned up any possible traces of the living room as if nothing had happened and threw the iron bar away somewhere. Still, as long as he left it outside the flat, He Lou and the others couldn’t find it. After Lu Yan finished packing his things, he returned to lie on the sofa.

No, that’s not right…… so much noise. How could they not hear it?

He Lou suddenly raised his hand to cover his face, and a little bit of silent, bitter laughing air tone leaked out of his fingers.

These days, they have been living in Lu Yan’s house, and he wants to move a little. It couldn’t be simpler. He didn’t even need to be sneaky. He Lou can easily list many ways to put people to death let alone make them unconscious by adding something to the food.

He Lou gathered his emotions and was about to continue watching the video from where he had left off. But at this moment, Lu Yan, lying on the sofa on the screen, turned sideways. Then, without any warning, his eyes snapped open. His eyes looked straight into the camera, directly into the eyes of He Lou outside the screen!

He Lou fiercely stiffened, and a chill ran down his spine.

It was him …… he knew about the camera’s existence all along!

The corners of Lu Yan’s lips hooked up in a grim, mocking smile as he stared straight into the camera. His lips moved soundlessly. And then, his head turned back, his eyes closed in a sleeping pose, and he was asleep before long.

What he said was, “You finally found out?”

He Lou could only feel his face burning with pain.

This was his eighth mission, his eighth visit to other realm. Senior questers were plenty here, but so were those who couldn’t even break through for the fifth time.

He Lou didn’t know how many missions he had to complete before being released, but he couldn’t give up as long as he kept living.

Keep on living.

No matter which world he was in, he only had to race against the ghosts and fight against the other missionaries. The native people of the other world would always be associated with a “shield” and “scapegoat” in their eyes. They could easily give up their lives for themselves with a few words. They can easily get them to give their lives in exchange for clues. As long as they are not the ones who die, what does it matter who they are?

It’s just that the value of their use is different.

Who knew that he would run into such a …… He Lou was no longer willing to use NPC to describe Lu Yan. He stared fiercely at the man sleeping peacefully on the screen, his expression grim and terrifying.

A large part of the team had been killed by Lu Yan, either directly or indirectly! What He Lou didn’t want to admit despite his resentment was that deep down, he was extraordinarily scornful.

There was a new reply to his posting on several anonymous forums.

He Lou settled down and clicked on the new message to check it.

As he watched, his eyes widened.

In the other room, Lu Yan was lying on the bed, holding his mobile phone in both hands, seemingly playing with it.

On the phone screen, He Lou’s changing face was playing.

He admired it for a while before turning it off and going pleasantly into dreamland.

Speaking of which, when he was on the fifth floor today, he vaguely heard a bit of a scream as if it was a woman.

Which one of the occupants of this building was a woman?

……

The next day, the only four people left woke up as usual. He Lou looked as usual and, after talking to Li Fang Zhi, sat at the dining table waiting for Lu Yan to make breakfast.

Since he wanted to pretend, let him pretend. If Lu Yan wanted to poison, he should have done it long ago, and since he had purposely left the three on his side until now, perhaps they were useful to him.

Then they could talk.

Today Lu Yan seemed to be in extraordinarily high spirits, humming and cooking meat porridge and bringing it up for them to eat. He Lou had been a little sceptical, but when he saw Lu Yan eating it himself, he followed suit.

“Did you find anything new today?” Li Fang Zhi asked.

For some reason, her face was also a little pale. At the same time, Li Fang Yu, sitting quietly drinking her porridge, was even stranger, her face as white as the wall behind her, expressionless. Still, the other three didn’t feel that something was wrong.

Everyone uncharacteristically ignored Li Fang Yu’s abnormality.

Li Fang Zhi was a little anxious.

Another day had passed, another day short of the one-week time limit, which meant there was a little less restraint on the ghosts.

He Lou nodded, “There is.”

He shared out the information he had received.

He had found all the buildings in the country named after Lan Zhi Yu and posted them in that forum. And then someone contacted him and told him about the locations of these buildings. If they were connected in a line, it was said to constitute a certain long-lost spell formation of the Daoists.

It was unclear for the moment what the spell formation was, but it had something to do with suppression approximately.

“The centre of this spell formation is the Lan Zhi Yu Oceanarium.” He Lou said slowly.

Only four people were present, so he had no qualms about glancing at Lu Yan now and then to get a good look at his opponent’s expression.

To his dismay, Lu Yan showed no difference.

Li Fang Zhi asked with some trepidation, “Then… the one upstairs, who often goes to the Oceanarium, could it be that he wants to destroy something?”

“Not sure.” He Lou shook his head and whirled. He made a bold decision.

“Tomorrow is Tuesday. Let’s go to 404 together while he’s not at home.”

Because it was just upstairs, He Lou spoke in a whisper, yet they could not doubt the firmness in his words.

Instead of sitting back and letting the ghosts kill themselves for no apparent reason, it was better to take the initiative and perhaps find some tools in 404 that would allow them to escape.

He gazed at Lu Yan, his eyes narrowing slightly, and asked, “Why don’t you come along too?”

Lu Yan froze and nodded his head in agreement, “Yes.”