The World Below Surface - Chapter 17

Lu Yan felt the talisman he kept close to him, which the Taoist priest had just given him.

Three people, one for each.

Not caring so much, he held the talisman up nearly a foot from his forehead to dispel some of the blood mist in front of him. With his other hand, he fumbled for his mobile phone, which he painstakingly lowered to bring up his torch so that he could at least open his eyes to see what was around him.

After walking so long, so long that his legs were sore, it was surprising that they stayed where they were.

When they looked up, the bright red “4” was still in the distance, even through the thick fog of blood. It still appeared starkly on the snowy white wall.

They knew there was a problem, but out of ostrich mentality, no one had dared to raise it.

As long as they took their time, preferably until two days later, they would be relieved for the time being.

Lu Yan slowed his breathing as he took his bearings, swatted away the almost threadbare mist of blood trying to get into his eyes, and stumbled up the railing.

Wouldn’t the talisman dispel the evil spirits? Why …… did he feel fainter in his head?

He glanced at the time displayed on his phone.

It was after two o’clock, and the hallway was dark and scarlet except for a bit of light from the phone.

Where were the other two people?

His mind became even dizzier.

What was the way to survive?

Lu Yan grabbed himself by the neck and gave himself a hard blow, and in a few moments, the choking sensation brought him to his senses. He shook his head, took the last remaining ticket out of his pocket, put it in front of his eyes and waved it twice.

Better for the two together than one alone, right?

The ticket was frighteningly hot the next instant, and the talisman burst into flames in his hand. The fire seemed to have some other function, instantly dispelling much of the blood mist and clearing a pitch-black void without it in front of him.

With this momentary brightness, he finally saw the other two people.

Li Fang Zhi was standing quietly in the corner. The talisman presented by the Taoist priest had somehow been affixed to her forehead, her body was stiff, and her skin was sunken. The moment the light came on, the head slowly turned, and the pair of eyes blocking the talisman looked over through a thin blood mist.

She had mutated.

He Lou was better, crouched on the ground, constantly trembling as if he was trying his best to contain something. Lu Yan stumbled back and tapped him on the shoulder.

He Lou paused and looked back.

A vaguely green face was smiling dementedly.

Good, there was still help.

Lu Yan unceremoniously gave him a violent beating, snatched the talisman from his hand, and tore it up as soon as possible, which brought him to his senses.

This was why he had to exclude some of them first. Since they were going to be transformed into zombies and had taken the initiative to come to him, it meant that the mission was related to him. If those fools remained, they couldn’t possibly turn into helpers but would only become a liability!

“There’s something wrong with that Taoist priest.” Lu Yan slowed his breath and pointed at Li Fang Zhi, who had completely turned into a zombie in the corner. He Lou understood at first glance, and a chill rose from his heart.

Almost …… close, he was going to put this talisman on his forehead.

Without the talisman on his body, he didn’t know if it was an illusion, but the concentration of the blood fog around him dropped a bit. They could notice that the mist was all drifting towards the area where Li Fang Zhi was. It slowly disappeared into the talisman in front of her forehead.

Lu Yan reached out his hand and carefully touched Li Fang Zhi.

The latter’s body was stiff and metallic to the touch, and the smell of decay had begun to emanate from her body. Lu Yan yelled at He Lou, “Why don’t you come and help quickly?”

The two men carefully carried Li Fang Zhi to the lift room, figuring that the brat should have gone, and pressed the switch.

A moment later, however, the lift creaked up, and the child inside was surprisingly still there, looking up, grinning at the two men and jumping up and down to jump out.

He was the child of the young couple on the ground floor and, for some reason, had not followed them out.

As soon as Lu Yan pushed Li Fang Zhi in, he pushed down on top of the child and quickly pressed the button.

Before the lift doors closed, he could still see the child’s resentful and hideous eyes for a moment.

“Get out of here.” Lu Yan gave He Lou a tug.

This time, the two proceeded much more normally up the stairs and arrived at the 405 entrance without incident. Lu Yan took a step back and used his backhand to push He Lou through the door.

He Lou’s entire body was frozen by the sudden coldness that overcame him before he could curse.

“How do you feel?” Lu Yan asked loudly.

He Lou took a few moments to catch his breath. He couldn’t care less about being angry.

“The floor…… isn’t quite right……,” he shivered after a moment of recognition.

“Are you cold?”

He Lou nodded and hmphed.

After waiting for a while, seeing no other difference in He Lou, Lu Yan followed and stepped into 405.

The first reaction was cold, so cold that he shivered.

It was as if the whole person had been locked into a refrigerator. At this moment, Lu Yan still had the leisure to think wildly: could this be the zombie’s refrigerator?

“Find …… find it.”

It was only cold, Lu Yan felt he could still endure it, and after taking his bearings in the darkness, he wrapped his clothes tighter and walked towards the house.

It was pitch black and difficult to see. He Lou shivered and took out his mobile phone and turned on his torch.

Both of them instantly froze in place when the light came on.

The walls, the ceiling, the table, the chairs, the fridge and the coffee table were all densely covered with posters of a woman!

On each woman’s poster’s forehead was a yellow background with red-striped talismans, silky red threads glued between the talismans, and brass bells hanging from all four corners.

“We, we can’t mess with it ……”

If the red threads of the talisman or whatever were accidentally touched off, or if they accidentally touched this woman’s face, then the consequences would never be what they wanted to see.

So the Taoist priest lied to them when he said there was no danger in the building, right?

Where is the path to…… life?

How do they locate the mezzanine?

Lan Zhi Yu Oceanarium.

Master Li escaped and ran all the way in this direction. Before she left, her uncle gave her another brass bell; now, both Jumping Undeads were hers. She lay on one of the Jumping Undeads and drove them to take her there in time.

She already knew that her elder brother had put a puppet in that flat, and this puppet was the one he used to take charge of collecting blood and flesh for supplying to Lan Zhi Yu.

The puppet was Guan Yunlong 405.

If she could just get the puppet under her control, she might be able to wait for her uncle and the others to arrive!

She took off quickly, and the teenager who had completely transformed into his green-faced fanged form pursued her. When he finally caught up, she could almost smell the strong fishy odour coming from the other side. There was a sea of confused, insane smiles beyond that.

Inside room 405 of the flat, He Lou and Lu Yan cautiously retreated towards the door.

The room and the living room …… were all plastered with posters and talismans; if they weren’t careful, they would tug on some thread. They decided to retreat to the door first to figure out what to do. But just the moment they stepped out the door, all their blood seemed to freeze.

The building was pitch black, and the phone torch shone on a pair of shoes.

The shoes looked familiar.

The light shone upwards until it reached the figure’s face. Li Fang Zhi it was. Her cheeks were completely sunken, her face was blue, and her arms were straight and rigid. And the talisman that was supposed to restrain her had vanished from her forehead!