The World Below Surface - Chapter 13

Li Fang Zhi was a little worried: “Do we have to go over there?”

He Lou nodded affirmatively.

“What if ……” Li Fang Zhi wanted to say something.

“There is no eventuality, and even if there is, we must still go and look.” He Lou said with certainty, raising a smile, “Besides, I’ve invited some helpers, and they’ll probably arrive soon.”

Helpers?

Now Lu Yan’s gaze also turned, and his eyebrows raised slightly.

What kind of helpers had He Lou found?

I don’t know if it was because he had discovered everything and intended to break the ice. Still, He Lou had regained his calmness when he first met him. He told them where those helpers came from.

It turned out that He Lou had contacted a group of Taoist priests who claimed to be monks on that mysterious website. Their ancestor had set up the great sealing formation in the first place, said to be surnamed Lin, and they no longer knew his Daoist name. The only thing known was that they needed to fulfill their ancestor’s legacy and destroy Lan Zhi Yu, who might turn into a Jumping Undead (飞僵).

Only now did He Lou realise that this mission of his, which said that he had to stay in the flat for an entire week, was a week before the deadline, right? If they didn’t find the secret hidden inside the flat and help seal the “zombie”, then within a week, they would all become the flesh and blood sacrifices needed to awaken the undead!

When Lu Yan heard about the helpers, he felt no fear as He Lou thought he should. Still, He Lou looked at him with confusion and thought, ‘This man is really strong mentally. He can’t escape even after the zombies are awakened, so why did he do this?’

Is there such a person in the world who would harm others and himself?

Lu Yan was in his element, completely ignoring the tentative look in He Lou’s gaze, as he had been the other day. A little cowardly and foolish in his amiability: “Help? That’s great. I’ll have to buy some more food to serve them.”

No one was interested in what he bought, so he did as he pleased and returned from a supermarket trip in the afternoon.

Early the following day, four figures lined up in a neat line, walking on the road to the community.

“Brother Lin, do we have to go?” The person who asked was the woman walking at the end, with fine lines at the corners of her eyes, and her face was not young. The man at the head of the group, whom she called Brother Lin, looked only sixteen or seventeen, just like a handsome teenager, with only a pair of eyes that revealed an old sullenness.

“There’s no other way.” The teenager at the head of the group said softly, “Senior sister Li, the ancestor, set up a seal back then to ensure that it could consume the power of that zombie. It would turn into dust after a hundred years, but recently I don’t know what kind of person is awakening it ……”

Of the four people, only the two talked. The middle two were wrapped from head to toe in wide black robes. If someone looked closely, they would undoubtedly be surprised to find that the two black figures did not walk as normally but gently and in small jumps and hopped forward. Their bodies were stiff and unlike living people.

The distance between the four men was as precise as if someone had measured them with a ruler, forever maintaining a fixed, not too far, not too close length.

“Senior Brother Lin, are you sure what that man said is true?” Senior Sister Li asked again.

“As long as I can seal it up, what matters if it’s true?” The teenager she called Senior Brother Lin sighed.

“Senior Brother, are you sure?”

This time, the teenager at the head of the group was silent for a long time.

“No.” He said indifferently. “Perhaps, we will all die here.”

At this moment, they reached the district entrance just in time, and the teenager tilted his head to look at a few tall buildings, his gaze sullen.

In these words, Li’s sister was also silent, and after a while, she forced herself to say, “This is our destiny.”

*

“They are already in the neighbourhood.” He Lou smiled and looked at Lu Yan, “Can I trouble you to pick them up for a moment?”

Lu Yan smiled softly and looked straight at He Lou with both eyes, “Sure.”

Now He Lou needed to figure out what he wanted to do.

Saying that he wanted to live, he could do what he did to wake Lan Zhi Yu at the underground station. He said he wanted to take everyone to die, doing whatever he was told to do these days without the slightest complaint. Now that the Daoist priest he had invited had arrived, the other party also looked happy.

Lu Yan’s smile, which was very different from his usual one, made the sweat on Li Fang Zhi’s body explode. She looked at Lu Yan warily. However, the latter looked at them with an innocent look and a smile, “What’s wrong?”

After saying that, he tapped his fingertips on the table, saying, “I won’t disturb you to discuss things. Now, I’ll go down to greet them.”

After he had left, Li Fang Zhi immediately turned her head, her eyes silently questioning.

He Lou’s face was grave: “It was an oversight on my part. We all underestimated him.” After saying this, he told Li Fang Zhi all the information he had found.

Li Fang Zhi sat on the side, her expression changing.

Although she had vaguely sensed something was wrong with Lu Yan, she had been equally concealed by the little bit of wrongness he had deliberately displayed.

How could she not have imagined that from the very beginning, it was Lu Yan who had awakened the zombie?

“So …… it was him all along.” Li Fang Zhi murmured, and she was abruptly shocked, “Then the camera he put there in the past?”

“Since he’s willing to install it, let him go and get it back. When the Daoist priests arrive, let them check it out.” He Lou’s tone was cold.

Speaking of cameras, the thought of something flashed through his mind before he pounded his fist on the tabletop fiercely.

Initially, he asked Lu Yan if there were any cameras at home, but the other party denied it too quickly. While he should not have had a sudden change in attitude, now that he thought about it …… this was obviously not normal.

Li Fang Zhi saw He Lou suddenly stand up and walk towards the room with a sweeping gaze, then moved a stool to step on it and took out something from the trademark of the air conditioner.

It was a miniature camera, still flashing red before removing it, obviously working.

The fist holding the camera slowly clenched, almost crushing its small parts. He Lou took a deep breath and jumped off the stool, showing the camera in his hand to Li Fang Zhi.

“You’d better check if the room you’re staying in has one too.”

Li Fang Zhi disappeared quickly. A short while later, she emerged from her room with an equally ugly face, spreading her palm with the same miniature camera in her palm.

*

“Knock, knock, knock.”

There were three knocks on the door, followed by a click as it opened.

Lu Yan walked in with four figures and asked the two sitting on the sofa curiously, “Have you discussed it yet?”

He Lou smiled, “Yes, we have.”

“That’s good. I was worried about disturbing you guys. Now I’ll introduce you.” Lu Yan was always polite when dealing with strangers.

“This is He Lou, and this is Li Fang Zhi.” Lu Yan introduced them one by one, “These two are Taoist masters!”

The young man at the head of the group, dressed in a modern outfit but with his long hair tied back, carried a peach wood sword. His gaze old and sullen like a late man, he nodded slightly, “I dare not call myself a master, but I will do my best.”

“As for these two …… figures,” faced with the two figures in black robes, Lu Yan was in a quandary.

Grandmaster Lin said, “These are the two I have invited out of the ancestor’s lineage. I only hope they can be of help.”

With that, Master Li lifted his hand. He lifted the two black robes, revealing two green and white faces affixed with yellow-backed, red-printed Taoist talismans.

Even more striking was the costume of the two zombies, with their red pointed round hats, indigo waistcoat robes and a long braid at the back of their heads. They were dressed as Qing Dynasty officials!

He Lou’s eyelids jumped.

This kind of thing that he had only seen in movies in the past appeared in front of his eyes and was a bit frightening.

“This, this is ……” Lu Yan was so surprised that he was a little speechless.

“Not bad. It is none other than the two Jumping Undeads left behind by the ancestor.” Speaking of ancestors, Master Lin’s eyes were filled with pride. “It may be barely enough to deal with Lan Zhi Yu. but against that …… one upstairs,” he reached out and pointed, “one is sufficient.”

But He Lou said, “Be careful.” His heart was dripping blood as he said this.

“Master Lin, we put cameras up there yesterday. It’s better to know more about it.” Saying that, he turned his head to look at Lu Yan, “Now, can I trouble you to go to the fourth floor and take the camera down?”

Lu Yan was a bit embarrassed and politely declined the question for the first time, “It’s noon. Several masters have come a long way. Why don’t you sit down and eat first? I’ll go back after we’ve eaten.”

It was hard for He Lou to trust him. He always felt he would take advantage of the opportunity to do something again. However, he was eating and living with Lu Yan in front of the “masters” and forced the hosts to go up without eating. It was unjustifiable, so he agreed to go down.

Lu Yan consciously went to the kitchen to cook. Li Fang Zhi received He Lou’s look and followed him to guard the kitchen door in case the other party wanted to add some kind of drugs to the food. She stood by the door and listened to the conversation coming from the living room.

What they did not know was the scene outside the door.

The doors of almost all the occupants were knocked on at that exact moment.

“Knock, knock, knock ……”

“Who is it?” Someone from each house complained before getting up to check the cat’s eye.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know. The cat’s eye looks red through.”

“Then don’t open it.”

Yet the knocking continued, and the noise grew louder and louder, to the point where it was almost as if a hammer was being used to smash the door so hard it could have broken it open.

“Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!”

“Get out of here! Stop knocking! Or I’ll call the police!”

“Go away! I’m calling the police!”

“The door, the door was knocked open ……”

“What is it? Help! ……”

“Ahhhhhhhhh-”

The noise did not reach 304 in any way. At that moment, inside 304, a few people were happily talking and sitting, waiting for dinner to start.

What they didn’t know was that the whole flat had become a purgatory on earth.

There was some kind of monster that was eating them.