NOVEL NEXT Ch. 32
Chapter 32: Notebook
In that instant, even the icy air seemed to freeze.
The blood in both their bodies felt solidified, their heartbeats and breathing halted for a moment.
Then, uncontrollable terror spread throughout their bodies, and their faces instantly turned as pale as paper.
Next, an even more horrifying scene appeared before their eyes—
A pale, withered hand stretched out from under the door crack, accompanied by the continuous sound of bones breaking, “clack, clack.”
Its body twisted unnaturally, as if it had no bones, forcefully compressing itself to less than the width of a finger.
That pale body actually squeezed inch by inch into the room from under the door crack!
Those pupil-less eyes never once strayed from the two of them, and the pale, withered figure reeked of rot like a corpse freshly risen from the grave.
The terrifying sight was too much for Yu Mo to bear.
She let out a scream and tightly clutched Lu Feng’s arm.
Lu Feng’s whole body trembled, his breath came fast, and his mind went blank—this was the first time he had ever felt death so close.
Yet, his past experiences of seeing ghosts allowed him to hold onto a final shred of reason, keeping him from collapsing completely under the terror.
The non-human before him was undoubtedly an Evil Spirit.
That twisted, terrifying face was something Lu Feng would never forget in his life.
However, this Evil Spirit seemed different from the previous one.
Its appearance leaned closer to normal, with a human-like body and limbs, unlike the one before which had eight arms.
Although Lu Feng noticed these oddities, the current situation left him no room to think further.
The space in the cell was already small, leaving them no way to escape.
Lu Feng’s final and only hope was that rule of the game: “Every 2 days, the Evil Spirit kills 1 person.”
At this moment, all he could do was hope that rule still held true.
The Evil Spirit’s body had fully squeezed into the room.
Its eyes fixed on the two of them, its body crawling across the ground as it crept slowly toward them.
Yu Mo no longer dared to look.
She shut her eyes tight, clung desperately to Lu Feng’s arm, and began sobbing softly.
Instinctively, Lu Feng pulled Yu Mo behind him.
Gritting his teeth, he watched as the Evil Spirit crept closer step by step, forcing himself to keep his eyes open—
If he was fated to die here, then at the very least, he wanted to see exactly how the Evil Spirit would kill him.
The stench of decay grew heavier as the Evil Spirit drew nearer…
One step… two steps…
Finally, the stench pressed upon him.
The Evil Spirit had crawled right up to Lu Feng.
It lifted its head, staring straight at him, then slowly propped up its pale, withered body.
Only then did Lu Feng realize just how tall the Evil Spirit was.
Standing upright, it towered over him, even a head taller than his 1.8 meters!
It bent down, bringing its pale, terrifying face closer and closer to his—
At last, when their eyes met, the Evil Spirit froze in place.
Lu Feng’s breath hitched.
In the darkness, only rapid breathing and soft sobs of fear could be heard.
The faint yellow light of the kerosene lamp spilled out from Lu Feng’s fallen coat, shining upon the Evil Spirit’s pale face, making it appear even more grotesque and terrifying.
No one knew how long it lasted.
Just as Lu Feng felt his eyes about to tear from being forced wide open, the Evil Spirit finally moved.
It plunged its long, sharp-nailed fingers deep into its abdomen, ripping itself open, and from inside it pulled something out, slowly extending it toward Lu Feng—
It was an old, bloodstained notebook.
The cover was made of brown leather, with what seemed to be a name written on it.
But because it was soaked in blood, the handwriting was impossible to make out.
For a moment, Lu Feng didn’t understand what the Evil Spirit meant.
He simply stared, frozen, not daring to move.
The Evil Spirit, however, kept holding out the notebook.
As if unless Lu Feng took it, it would not move another inch.
Lu Feng took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and extended his trembling left hand to take the notebook.
The moment he did, the Evil Spirit withdrew expressionlessly, its dried-up body twisting and curling until it disappeared once more into the darkness.
The gloomy chill faded away, and the sticky stench of rot in the air gradually dissipated.
Their frozen blood began to flow again, warmth slowly returning to their bodies.
Clothes soaked with cold sweat, neither of them could hold their bodies up any longer and collapsed together onto the floor.
Huff… huff…
Their hearts pounded wildly, their bodies still trembling.
Though Lu Feng’s breathing remained fast, his blood-flowing brain could finally start processing what had just happened.
They were lucky—both he and Yu Mo were alive.
Looking at the leather notebook the Evil Spirit had personally handed him, Lu Feng could feel that they had drawn a step closer to uncovering the truth.
It took him a long time before he finally came back to himself, a sense of survival-born relief welling up in his chest.
He reached out his hand to Yu Mo and softly asked,
“Are you alright?”
Yu Mo’s face was still pale, but the fear in her eyes finally began to subside.
“Mm… I’m fine…”
The girl grasped Lu Feng’s hand and, with his support, pulled her weak body up from the ground.
Recalling that deathly terrifying scene just moments ago, and how he had shielded her behind him, Yu Mo’s gaze toward Lu Feng seemed to change somewhat.
But Lu Feng didn’t notice her expression.
At this moment, his brows furrowed as he thought over what had just happened—
What was with that Evil Spirit?
Why didn’t it attack them?
Why did it look different from the previous one?
Why did it hand him this notebook?
The more he thought, the more he realized that this old mansion’s mysteries only deepened…
The dungeon wasn’t large, and the two of them had already explored it completely.
Lu Feng neither wanted nor dared to stay there any longer.
So, he picked up the kerosene lamp, took Yu Mo by the hand, and led her back up the long, pitch-black staircase.
…
In Bai Quye’s room, Dong Ningning and her friend Yin Jia were also staying.
Both Dong Ningning and Yin Jia were the lively, cheerful type of girls, but right now the atmosphere in the room was unusually heavy.
From time to time, the three of them would glance at the quartz clock on the wall, and as the hands drew nearer to midnight, their expressions gradually shifted.
“Ah, don’t be so scared. Last time I hid in my room and nothing happened. This time will definitely be the same!”
Yin Jia forced a smile as she spoke.
The other two didn’t respond, clearly unmoved by Yin Jia’s words of comfort.
Yin Jia was lucky—she hadn’t witnessed the horrifying scene of the Evil Spirit killing.
But at the same time, she was unlucky, for precisely because she hadn’t seen it, she still didn’t understand the true terror of the Evil Spirit.
For a moment, Dong Ningning actually felt a bit of pity for her friend.
Her gaze drifted toward Bai Quye’s wooden bed.
Seeing the tidy, spotless bedsheets upon it, she let out a faint breath of relief.