Translator: CinderTL
The atmosphere instantly froze, and Weiwei, hiding behind the bed, dared not even breathe loudly.
The lights in the corridor were still on. Jiang Cheng adjusted his posture and stealthily glanced toward the observation window behind the door.
The window, tightly covered with the Lifeline Note, showed no shadow.
Had the Ghost left?
Jiang Cheng immediately dismissed the thought.
It was more likely that this Ghost had no shadow.
But just as he withdrew his gaze, his peripheral vision caught something beneath him, and his eyes involuntarily paused.
Since the bed blocking the door only covered the left side, light still seeped through the gap beneath the door.
And this light was clearly being blocked by something.
No.
This Ghost did have a shadow!
It just... had no head.
Realizing this, Jiang Cheng immediately suppressed his breathing. He understood that the entity outside the door had already discovered them.
It had been standing outside for far longer than ten seconds.
And it showed no intention of leaving.
His heartbeat began to accelerate. Jiang Cheng frantically recalled everything he had encountered since arriving in this world, including observations and the accounts of the man referred to as Director Qi.
Fear of the Ghost was one thing, but what truly terrified Jiang Cheng was his complete lack of knowledge about the Ghost outside the door.
Its identity, preferences, methods of killing... he knew none of it.
In other words, if it entered, at least one of them would die.
The only thing he could do was ensure that Lin Wan'er and he himself were not the ones to die.
As for whether it was Weiwei or Du Feng, he didn't care and wouldn't interfere.
After all, the reason they were dragged into this Nightmare was entirely due to the investigation into Nan Huaili's disappearance.
It was Madam Nan who had approached his boss, Lin Wan'er.
And the oblivious Lin Wan'er had dragged him along.
In the end, he was the most unjustly involved one.
But at the same time, he felt a sense of relief. At least he was here; otherwise, Lin Wan'er would have had to face this Nightmare alone.
The strategies that worked so well in the real world might not necessarily apply here.
Though it felt like he had thought a lot, in reality, it was just a fleeting moment in his mind. Jiang Cheng's train of thought was interrupted as he heard a sound—the sound of the door being pushed.
Yes!
It was the sound of the door being pushed.
The entity outside was trying to get in.
Fortunately, the force was not strong.
But Jiang Cheng knew that this was more of a test.
The entity outside seemed uncertain whether anyone was inside the room.
A hypothesis slowly formed in his mind. Holding his breath, after a brief moment of thought, he felt that this hypothesis was likely correct.
The Ghost outside was the Headless Ghost.
It had no eyes.
So it relied more on touch to locate people.
The Headless Ghost was also testing. If someone inside the room, overwhelmed by fear, couldn't help but scream or run, then the Headless Ghost outside would begin its massacre.
At that point, no door could stop it.
But as long as it wasn't certain that someone was inside, the Headless Ghost was bound by rules. Its attempt to push the door was just a test. Jiang Cheng guessed that even without the bed blocking it, as long as the door was closed, the Headless Ghost wouldn't be able to push it open.
This was the lifeline the rules had left for them.
Now, what worried him the most were Weiwei and Du Feng.
If they reacted too strongly, not even Jesus could save them.
Fortunately, they didn't.
From beginning to end, their direction remained quiet, as if they were asleep.
Time passed second by second.
Each second was torture.
Fortunately, the footsteps that had stopped for a long time began to move away in another direction.
"Shh—"
"Shh—"
"Shh—"
It sounded like a weary traveler dragging a dying body.
Jiang Cheng stared in the direction where the footsteps disappeared. They had walked there in the afternoon—it was the nearly abandoned corridor, with nearby rooms all locked.
The Ghost had come from that direction.
After waiting for about 10 more minutes, Jiang Cheng slowly got up and walked back to the bed.
Sure enough, he saw Weiwei and Du Feng, their heads leaning together, close to each other.
Their eyes were tightly shut, as if they were asleep.
But Jiang Cheng knew they weren't asleep—they had fainted.
Lin Wan'er sat quietly by the bed, her expression unreadable. Jiang Cheng couldn't even tell if she was terrified or simply unafraid.
"Are you okay?" Jiang Cheng looked at Lin Wan'er.
Lin Wan'er trembled a few times before finally calming down. She raised her head and looked at Jiang Cheng with a pitiful expression, saying, "I'm scared."
Jiang Cheng glanced back at Du Feng, who was drooling, and felt that his concern for Lin Wan'er might have been unnecessary.
She wasn't a normal woman.
It seemed that before the footsteps had even approached, Lin Wan'er had suddenly acted, knocking out Weiwei and Du Feng in advance.
Her control of sound and force was perfect—he hadn't even heard it.
"What was that thing outside?" Lin Wan'er asked softly, giving the impression that she might faint from fear at any moment.
"A Ghost," Jiang Cheng glanced at the door and added, "And it doesn't have a head."
Lin Wan'er was silent for a while before saying, "That's terrifying."
Since his boss's thought process and mental state weren't exactly normal, Jiang Cheng decided not to explain too much to her.
"Good thing you were alert, or we'd be in trouble," Jiang Cheng said.
Lin Wan'er seemed to enjoy Jiang Cheng's praise. She rested her chin on her hand and nodded, saying, "I heard the Ghost pushing the door, but why didn't it open?"
Lin Wan'er naturally understood that an ordinary door couldn't stop a Ghost.
"Probably because the Death Condition wasn't triggered," Jiang Cheng explained. "Huai Yi mentioned this afternoon that the Ghosts here usually don't kill without a reason."
"Ghosts can be reasoned with?" Lin Wan'er's eyes lit up.
Jiang Cheng swallowed hard. He couldn't understand why, when talking about Ghosts, Lin Wan'er's eyes would sparkle with the same excitement as a woman seeing a beautiful dress.
"I don't know," Jiang Cheng averted his gaze and said dismissively, "Probably not. Anyway, don't think about reasoning with Ghosts. Let's just find the clues and get out of here as soon as possible."
Jiang Cheng carried Weiwei and Du Feng to their own beds, then told Lin Wan'er to go to sleep while he stayed up to keep watch.
In the Nightmare, they had to remain vigilant at all times. The energy consumed was unimaginable to those living in the real world.
It seemed as if something in the Nightmare was interfering with them, gradually eroding their spirits and their will to resist.
Especially for newcomers, the time spent awake in the Nightmare world is often less than half of that in the real world. They frequently find themselves exhausted after exploring just a few areas.
Accompanying this is the increasingly long nights and the ever more distant dawn.
(End of the Chapter)
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