The World Below Surface - Chapter 19

The sky was white with the belly of a fish, and the mist of blood that had been floating around gradually dissipated.

The whole city was silent, almost empty.

The blood mist dissipated, and the songs ceased. He Lou reckoned that Lan Zhi Yu was probably too busy devouring other citizens to care about the two fish that had slipped through the net. He glanced at the bell tower in the distance, always an uneasy little inside.

Even if he did not regard the inhabitants of the other world as human beings like himself, the demise of the whole city gave him the chills.

Especially when he saw Lu Yan’s bland expression reflected in the glass window, his scalp tingled.

He just really …… didn’t care at all?

“How do we get into the mezzanine now?” He Lou asked again.

What he was very reluctant to admit was that he now had to rely on Lu Yan.

As long as Lu Yan’s goal was also to survive, they could work together.

Lu Yan, for his part, gazed downstairs, wondering what he was thinking. He Lou followed him over to look and found that what he was staring at was the corpse of Li Fang Zhi downstairs.

After turning into a zombie, all flesh and blood of her body had been eliminated, leaving only a layer of skin and bones. She had fallen to the ground after being thrown from a height. He didn’t know if it was because of the talisman or some other reason, but it stayed in place and didn’t move.

“Is this what you will become when you leave the flat?” Lu Yan asked coldly.

He Lou looked down at Li Fang Zhi’s miserable state, not understanding why the other party was asking this, but still nodded.

Lu Yan said, “I have a guess, let’s watch the video first while it can’t care about us now.” He unzipped his shirt pocket and took out a small memory card.

“Where is this footage from?”

“The other day, at my place.” Lu Yan didn’t say much.

They found a random home, rummaged through the rubble that littered the place, pulled out the new computer and inserted the memory card to check it.

“Crank it up a bit and look specifically at the contents of Li Fang Yu.”

He Lou quickly operated it and soon cut out several images of Li Fang Yu.

Halfway through, Lu Yan suddenly said, “Stop! This is it!” He Lou clicked his finger, and the image stopped at the bathroom door before Li Fang Yu exited.

“Zoom in here.”

In the video, her face was pale, and her hair was waist-length, but the figure reflected in the glass …… face was Lan Zhi Yu!

It turned out that Li Fang Yu had long been possessed by Lan Zhi Yu, and they hadn’t even noticed it at all. They had just lived with Lan Zhi Yu for several days without this knowledge.

At the thought of this conclusion, He Lou only felt the blood in his body freeze for a moment.

“I could detect from a few songs that she could confuse people’s minds. Isn’t this kind of trope common in horror movies? After a ghost kills or possesses someone, it disguises itself as that person and goes on with its life, undetectable to others.”

And now, she was possessed by Li Fang Yu, which was instead to their advantage.

While He Lou was still dwelling on the aftermath, a thought occurred to Lu Yan –

Noticing that the other party hadn’t spoken for half a day, He Lou took the initiative and said, “Forget about that now, let’s find the mezzanine first.”

405 That room was nowhere to be found.

Lu Yan gave him a look and agreed: “Each find the tools, 405 can’t be broken through, then we’ll go in through 404.”

After saying that, he lifted his feet and headed upstairs, “Hurry up while you can, find the tools that can cut through the floor.”

He was afraid of him. He always felt as if the other man was planning something again, but he couldn’t argue with him for a moment. He went after him and found that the other man was looking for tools, so he had to follow him next door.

It was a challenging task. They found their way upstairs to downstairs before they managed to retrieve a few sapper shovels from Lu Yan’s own home that no ordinary person would have.

“I suddenly remembered that I used to have a collection of them.” Facing He Lou’s surprised gaze, Lu Yan said frankly.

Even if He Lou knew what he must have done while the two were apart, he couldn’t count that much, and the two carried the shovels up the stairs and into a room ready for work.

*

Lan Zhi Yu Oceanarium.

Sister Li was at the end of her tether but didn’t look the least bit scared.

The teenager, who had taken on the appearance of a green-faced fang, slowly stepped into the Oceanarium. Beside him, the beautiful woman stood quietly. Her skin was so white and gorgeous that no one would realise from her appearance alone that she was actually the legendary and terrifying zombie.

“I don’t actually want to kill you.” Master Lin glanced at Lan Zhi Yu, his eyes showing infatuation, and when he turned his head to face Senior Sister Li, there was regret in his eyes.

“If you were a little dumber or smarter, I wouldn’t have killed you.” A little dumber, and she would not have found out; a little wiser, and she would have known what to say and what not to say.

Sister Li ambled quietly to the ground, her eyes fixed on them with a deadly stare, wondering what she was thinking.

“You’re still thinking about the others?” The young man gradually reverted to his usual handsome appearance and slowly walked over to her, bowing his head and stepping on her hand, “Die, the whole city is here now and they will witness her return.”

Outside the Oceanarium, a steady stream of blood and flesh poured in. Behind the beautiful woman, several scarlet and soft bands of tubing were attached.

The old, mature teenager spoke with a frenzied tone, and soon, his words changed to look at his sister on the ground, who was no longer in her glory.

“But, at least we have had decades of fellowship, I will put you last.”

With that promise, Senior Sister Li pulled that hand out from under his feet with force and looked up into the midair with a listless look, “That’s what you said.”

Her reaction wasn’t quite right, and the teenager frowned but couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

All that remained in the air for a moment was a similarly quiet, baby-sucking-like sound.

The woman’s face grew more and more beautiful as the nutrients continued to be infused and replenished.

After an unknown time, Master Lin slowly walked towards his senior sister on the floor.

Senior Sister Li opened her eyes, “Is it my turn?”

She looked over sideways, her eyes were already a little blurred, yet she could still make out that none of the bodies survived in the distance. All turned to white bones and piled up outside the door again as night fell again.

A whole day …… of people from an entire city.

She reconfirmed, “The whole city is gone?”

Master Lin sensed something was wrong: “What do you mean?” After saying that, sensing that his talismans were all destroyed, he frowned, “You still expect those two people in the flat to take revenge for you?”

Only then did Senior Sister Li burst out laughing, and at Senior Brother Lin’s scornful look, she raised her hand to shake the brass bell that Fang had hidden somewhere.

The two Jumping Undeads quickly came to her side. Just as the teenager looked on defensively, she gave one last command that the teenager could not understand.

“Go! Kill Lu Yan and He Lou!”

Consciousness conveyed the command, and the two Jumping Undeads flashed out of sight.

“You, you are ……” Senior Brother Lin was a little disturbed in his heart, and when he pinched his fingers, it was a great omen of evil. He was so shocked and angry that he couldn’t care less and raised his sword to point at his senior sister lying on the ground and asked in a stern voice, “What the hell are you up to?”

Senior Sister Li lay comfortably on the ground. She counted the time in her mind, estimating that with the speed of the Jumping Undead, those two people should be dead by now. Only then did she speak leisurely, “Senior Brother is very scared? After going through all the trouble to find a body for Lan Zhi Yu, she took it upon herself to take someone else’s body. Senior Brother Lin, I wonder if you’ve noticed anything wrong with this body?”

The young man’s face was instantly horrifying, and one hand was as fast as lightning as he strangled Senior Sister Li’s neck, his face livid, “What did you say?!”

“I said, there’s something wrong with that body! She can’t get out of that flat.” Master Li smiled in response to him, “It’s not just her, none of that group can leave the flat. Any step out and they will all be killed by the curse. If you don’t believe me, go and see Li Fang Zhi.”

Ah …… I’ve finally won you over for once. She sighed in her heart.

No sooner had the words been said that she cut her own heart and veins than the whole person died of breath.

The teenager was left strangling her neck, eyes wide open.

No, it can’t be ……

How could there be such a curse? It must have been a trick on him!

The teenager, shocked and angry, looked at the beautiful woman and the empty street outside the door, gritted his teeth, took Lan Zhi Yu and flew away.

Inwardly, however, he was told that what Senior Sister Li had said was most likely genuine. She had deliberately delayed telling him the truth before the formation was finally completed.

The curse would be hard to break for a while, and if she hadn’t said it when Lan Zhi Yu fused with this body, she would only be wiped out by the curse immediately!

She had deliberately cut herself off and let the Jumping Undead go and kill Lu Yan and He Lou, just so that he wouldn’t be able to find the next carrier at the right time! If he missed this chance, he would only have to wait another sixty years for the next one.

How could he wait another sixty years?

No, there was still a chance!

If none of that lot could get out of the flat, she did not need to purposely have the Jumping Undead go and kill the man. One of those two must be the last chance!

* *

The flat is on one of the floors.

He Lou was almost dizzy from the overwhelming stench of blood and decay. It took him a long time to adjust before he could barely react. His body was soaked in blood, almost as if he had just been fished out of the plasma, with a bit of unidentified body tissue still on him.

Lu Yan was no better but looked calm and didn’t say a word.

Seeing that Lu Yan had no intention of not letting him speak, He Lou asked in a low voice: “Can we really get away with this?”

Lu Yan’s voice was even lower: “Take a gamble.” He did all he could.

They were close to the ground, and there was a thump, thump jumping sound from the floor. There was no need to even guess. One could tell it was the sound of a zombie jumping. The two men looked at each other and immediately shut up, even as their breathing slowed.

The jumping continued, one after another, and gradually, the sound came above their heads.

One, and then another, getting heavier and heavier.