The World Below Surface - Chapter 9

The phone rang extra loudly. It was coming from the spot above their heads.

Feng Chu Chu’s face changed dramatically.

Why was Huang Mao’s mobile phone ringing …… coming from upstairs?

The neighbour upstairs never showed his face. What did he want to do?

Most importantly, how did Huang Mao he get up there? Is he still alive?

He was a man of little courage. From the time he entered the first world to do his first mission, he had been hugging other people to survive. Because he was sensible, obedient and did not go soft when it was time to do something.

He wanted to live, but even Huang Mao, who had brought him all the way to this point, had died, so could he really live?

He Lou and the Li sisters might give him a hand for the sake of the few remaining team members, but would they really save themselves? Perhaps …… they could survive?

Feng Chu Chu stood frozen, not hanging up the phone in time.

After the phone rang four times, there was a beep, and it was answered.”Hello? Who is it?”

Feng Chu Chu trembled, her face as pale as paper for an instant.

This voice, this voice, was Huang Mao’s.

If he still had a slight illusion about Huang Mao’s survival before, those few remaining illusions disappeared without a trace. Almost as soon as he heard the call, he hung up.

“You said no talking, huh? Who are you? Who are you looking for?”

“Speak up!”

Huang Mao’s questioning voice still came from the other end.

Why didn’t he hang up?

Feng Chu Chu didn’t dare to speak. He fumbled and tried desperately to hang up the phone and kept turning it off, but to no avail. The phone screen was still lit up, and the voice was still coming from the other side.

Please, hang up quickly.

Hang up!

Feng Chu Chu had already picked off the battery. He slammed the phone onto the ground, jumped on it and stomped on it desperately, but to no avail. Huang Mao’s voice was still coming from inside, getting louder and sharper and sharper.

What to do? What to do?

“Speak up? Who are you? Hurry up and speak! Or I’m coming for you!”

“Who are you? I’m coming for you!”

Feng Chu Chu rushed into the toilet, threw the phone straight into the bathroom, put the lid on and flushed.

Now it won’t be able to find me, will it? It must not be able to find it.

“Who are you …… I’m coming to find you ……”

“I, I, I’m going to come to find you, you……”

To Feng Chu Chu’s despair, a voice resembling a machine rusting and jamming rang in her ears in a guttural way.

Why? Why is it still a shadowy spirit?! Why is it me?

I just made a phone call. Why not Lu Yan?

Yes, why not Lu Yan?

He was there, too.

A daring thought suddenly came to his mind, and Feng Chu Chu suddenly calmed down, wiped the tears that had appeared on his face at some point, pulled open the toilet door and walked out.

Lu Yan was still standing in the living room, and when he saw him come out, his eyes were tinged with concern. But his expression was not the least bit warm in the eyes of Feng Chu Chu, who was about to die after learning that she was being targeted by a ghost. Before Lu Yan could say anything, he had already rushed up and grabbed the other man by the collar.

“Tell him who you are.” Feng Chu Chu did not dare to speak but could only silently hint with her mouth while raising the knife in her hand.”Hurry up, or I’ll get you killed.”

Lu Yan’s eyes widened in shock as he kept struggling.

Feng Chu Chu had already fallen into a complete frenzy. He had one hand on his opponent’s neck, leaving a gap so that he could make a sound. In contrast, the other hand held the knife, the tip dangling above Lu Yan’s eyes. It still trembling a little from the excitement, making it doubtful that he would accidentally stab him.

But he didn’t care about that any more. It would have been better if Lu Yan had been blind. The NPCs were just that. They just needed to be used.

He could live as long as Lu Yan couldn’t help but make a little noise.

What clues, what remaining use value? He is going to die soon. Is it wrong to want to live?

The general sound of a hypnotic soul continued, getting louder and sharper and sharper. Feng Chu Chu took a deep breath, “Hurry up!” He urged soundlessly.

It was clear that they were making such a loud noise, but He Lou and the Li sisters were hard-pressed not to wake up. Only the two of them were in the empty living room, and the place under their feet was exactly where Lu Yan had sprinkled glutinous rice to revive Huang Mao on his way to becoming a zombie yesterday. There were still some black marks on the floor as if they had been burnt.

The fear on Lu Yan’s face slowly disappeared. The stupid expression he had kept faded, replaced by an expression alien to Feng Chu Chu. As befits his face – cold and superior, like a god watching a few tiny ants fight.

“You ……” Feng Chu Chu dared not utter a word, her eyes full of horror.

The malicious smile at the corner of Lu Yan’s mouth grew bigger and bigger, yanking the wrist of the incredulous Feng Chu Chu wrist down and pushing him backwards with force. His strength was so great that Feng Chu Chu was powerless to resist and was pushed hard to the ground.

After that, Lu Yan approached him step by step.

At this moment, where were Lu Yan’s good manners? It would not be too much to say that he was a madman!

Feng Chu Chu had already regained his senses, terrified and shivering as he stepped back. He still had the knife in his hand, but he didn’t have the guts to fight with the other party. The former crouched down pleasurably. Every time Feng Chu Chu struggled to move back a little, he patiently moved forward, pressing step by step, forcing the man into a corner. The shadows were cast on the other’s face.

Lu Yan carefully straightened Feng Chu Chu’s collar and, in the end, smiled gently at Feng Chu Chu, saying wordlessly with a mouthpiece.”Go, die, go-”

In the next instant, Feng Chu Chu’s hand holding the knife was yanked up by Lu Yan, who stabbed him fiercely on his own thigh.

“Ah…”

Feng Chu Chu screamed in agony, immediately realising something was wrong.

“I’ve found you.”

A hoarse and grim voice came from upstairs.

……

He Lou struggled to wake up from his dream, dazedly touching his mobile phone to see the time. The few remaining tiredness immediately disappeared without a trace.

What was going on? How could he have slept for so long?

He Lou hurriedly got up, put on his clothes and went out to see that Lu Yan was asleep on the sofa. When he opened the doors of the two rooms, Li Fang Zhi and Li Fang Yu were still sleeping, while the other room, ……, was empty.

What happened? Where were the others?

He turned around and left the room, pushing Lu Yan, who was sleeping on the sofa, awake.

Lu Yan opened his eyes in a daze, his voice still raspy with a thirst for sleep: “What’s wrong?”

“Wake up! Have you seen Huang Mao and Feng Chu Chu?”

Lu Yan’s eyes also snapped open this time, and he immediately sat up, “What’s wrong? Have they disappeared?”

“Yes, they’ve disappeared.” He Lou said, “And, it’s already twelve noon.” Even if the sounds from upstairs had made them sleep later last night, there was no way they would have woken up until now.

“How, how could this be?” Lu Yan’s throat was dry, and he didn’t know what had occurred to him, his face as pale as paper, “He, where could they have gone?”

“Just in time, I wanted to ask you. You were sleeping in the living room, didn’t you hear?”

Lu Yan shook his head blankly.

“Would they, would they ……” He dared not utter that word.

He Lou was silent, closing his eyes hard and not answering.

It was only the second day of the mission, fourteen people, and only three were left by now. In the past, no matter how cruel, the first two days would be more or less protected, and more than half of the team could always remain.

What was wrong?

What had gone wrong?

“So, what about the two girls?” Lu Yan asked hastily.

“They’re still sleeping in their rooms.”

Lu Yan sighed with relief as if he had found his backbone, “I’ll go and get them up.”

Looking at his back, He Lou’s eyes took on a probing look.

Did it have anything to do with him or not?

……

The lunch today was even more silent than the previous two days.

He Lou was not a man of many words. Li Fang Zhi spoke little, and initially, Li Fang Yu would regulate the atmosphere at any time, yet she also had inexplicably become indifferent. Lu Yan was the only one at the table trying to ease the atmosphere. After dryly saying a bunch of things without anyone responding, his voice grew lower and lower, and he slowly shut up.

After lunch, Lu Yan cleaned up his dishes while He Lou leaned against the kitchen door and looked at him carefully.

Soft-hearted, cowardly, stupid …… and lucky to have survived until now?

Lu Yan was a little uncomfortable with his look. After hurriedly washing the dishes, turned his head to ask him, “Brother Lou, is there something wrong?”

He Lou casually said, “Not for now, but don’t you need to go to work?”

“Huh?” Lu Yan scratched his head, “I asked for leave from the company because you guys are here.”

“Well then, let’s look around the building after we finish eating. By the way, how many residents are there in this building?”

Lu Yan didn’t object to the first half of the question, but the second half put him off: “This, I’m not sure.”

He Lou said, “Then we’ll ask for clues one by one later, door by door. Remember, be keen and find out what’s unusual about them.”

Lu Yan nodded his head and agreed.

He Lou couldn’t help but be suspicious when he saw him look a bit silly, but there was no way around it.

There were only three of them left now. He Lou had to find a way to rope in some NPCs for his own use. Although these people looked just like them, they could cry and laugh and have feelings and a life of their own.

However, they were not from the same world, so why sympathise with them? At most, they could only manage not to kill indiscriminately, as the dead ones might also turn into evil spirits. Still, it was impossible to ask them to think about the lives of NPCs and even to protect them.

“Before you set off, tell us what you know.”

The building had nine floors, with four houses on the ground floor. Li Fang Zhi and Li Fang Yu checked from the upper floors and were responsible for floors nine to five. He Lou, with Lu Yan, was in charge of the first to fourth floors.

This was a precarious approach; their task was to stay in the flat for an entire week, which meant that there was bound to be something wrong with it. But there was nothing else they could do, their numbers had plummeted, and if they couldn’t find the cause, they were bound to face total annihilation.

At around 2pm, He Lou and Lu Yan took the lift down one floor and stood in room 101, ready to knock on the door.

When the lift went down, Li Fang Zhi waited for it to come up, holding Li Fang Yu before taking it to the roof.

When the lift went up to the top floor, Li Fang Zhi stepped out of the ride and felt something was wrong.

They had both overlooked a fundamental issue, and this issue, most likely, was the key!