NOVEL NEXT Ch. 35
Chapter 35: The Second Person
“Aaaahhh!!!”
The piercing scream lasted only a few seconds before it was cut off abruptly.
After that came even more ear-splitting cries of terror.
The deathly silence of the old mansion was shattered in an instant.
The living who heard that scream felt fear in their hearts, and even more of them felt the relief of having survived a disaster—
Luckily, it wasn’t me…
That scream was also heard by Lu Feng and Yu Mo, who were in the tunnel.
The moment they heard it, both were startled, then simultaneously exhaled in relief—
Yu Mo was relieved the Evil Spirit had not come for the two of them, while Lu Feng was relieved the scream had not come from Lin You and his two companions.
After waiting for about an hour more, the trapdoor above was finally opened and Lin You and the others came out.
They had somehow obtained a rope, tied it to the trapdoor’s handle, and the three of them had pulled with all their strength, like a tug-of-war, before they managed to open the trapdoor.
The sudden brightness made Lu Feng’s eyes, which had adapted to the dark, feel uncomfortable; he couldn’t help squinting.
At that moment, the three’s faces looked bad; Liuli had kept covering her mouth, looking like she was about to vomit.
Lu Feng sensed something was wrong and hurriedly asked,
“That scream earlier — it came from the person the Evil Spirit killed, right?”
They nodded.
“Who was the deceased?”
“Yin Jia…”
Lin You said in a muffled voice,
“At the time, Yin Jia, Dong Ningning and Bai Quye were together, and then the Evil Spirit suddenly appeared in their room.
Before Dong Ningning and Bai Quye noticed it, Yin Jia had already been killed…”
“I see…”
Lu Feng sighed.
That was the second person killed by the Evil Spirit… plus Wu Fan who had died at the very beginning, there were now thirty-four people left.
“…I understand.
I’ll go look at the scene where Yin Jia was murdered now…”
“Don’t go!”
Lin You blocked Lu Feng with a leaden face,
“Really, brother, don’t look…”
“Yeah, absolutely don’t!” Zhang Tong chimed in, nodding repeatedly.
“It’s… just too terrible…”
…
They had been right.
When Lu Feng entered the room where Yin Jia had been killed, he almost threw up on the spot—
The entire room was covered in blood, as if it had been repainted with red paint; the acrid stench of blood and the scent of human entrails filled the space and made one want to retch.
The walls around were splattered with fragments of flesh and viscera, with almost no intact human tissue to be found… well, there were exceptions, like a whole eyeball still attached to its nerves, floating in a warm teacup.
The scene before him was as if a living person had been thrown into a woodchipper, shredded and smashed and then scattered evenly throughout the room.
Stepping into that chamber felt like stepping into hell.
Lu Feng only glanced and bolted out, barely able to keep from vomiting if he had stayed another second.
Afterward, he found Bai Quye in a dazed state in Dong Ningning’s room.
The girl was covered in blood, her eyes vacant.
No one could rouse any reaction from her; she had clearly collapsed completely.
Lu Feng had heard of this kind of condition—apparently, when the stimulus exceeded the nervous system’s limit, it activated a protective mechanism that temporarily blocked the body from receiving external information.
Seeing Bai Quye like that worried Lu Feng; would she go completely insane like that?
Dong Ningning, who had also witnessed everything, was in slightly better shape.
Although her face was deathly pale and her whole body trembled, she had at least retained the rudiments of her sanity.
From Dong Ningning, Lu Feng learned how Yin Jia had died—
When the Evil Spirit had appeared, Yin Jia was the closest and was attacked.
The Evil Spirit grabbed Yin Jia by the neck and, before Dong Ningning and Bai Quye’s eyes, tore her body into pieces as though ripping paper.
Bai Quye, who had watched it all, initially screamed, but later lost her mind completely…
After listening silently to Dong Ningning’s account, Lu Feng confirmed one thing—
Where the Evil Spirit appeared was completely random; anyone could be killed no matter where they stayed.
As more people saw Yin Jia’s death scene with their own eyes, crying and screaming echoed through the mansion, and despair spread again—
“I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die!!”
“Please… anyone, just end this game… I’ll do anything if this game can end…”
“I’d rather kill myself than be killed like that…”
Yin Jia’s death had undoubtedly shoved the already terrified crowd even closer to collapse.
At this point, Lu Feng could no longer rely on others to help.
From now on, he had to rely on himself…
He forcibly suppressed the bile boiling in his stomach and, pale, thought.
…
The night of blood and wails passed; the sky had brightened a little.
However, the weather that day seemed gloomier than usual, and soon a steady drizzle began.
Raindrops tapped on the glass with a pitter-patter, adding another layer of gloom to the already uneasy atmosphere.
Lu Feng and four others had again not slept.
The five of them sat together, watching Lu Feng take out the revolver he had taken from the tunnel and Mary Shaw’s diary.
“That’s roughly what happened. I’ve checked the diary repeatedly; it really doesn’t mention Mary Jane—that is, the cause of death of the current murderous Evil Spirit.”
Lu Feng rubbed his brow and said in a low voice, then reached for a teacup and drank the now-cool tea in one swallow.
“Then… what about this revolver?”
Zhang Tong asked, puzzled.
“I think props that appear in this game aren’t useless—there’s no way they really intend for us to commit suicide, right?”
Lu Feng nodded in agreement,
“I thought the same. But… for now I haven’t figured out the significance of this gun.”
He took out again the sheet with the game rules,
“Also, there’s one more thing that worries me—”
He tapped the fourth hint under the rules: the Evil Spirit possessed an unknown ability.
“Even up to today when Yin Jia was killed, we still don’t know what that ability is… but I have a feeling it’s probably terrifying…”
“Why do you say that?” Lin You asked.
“…It’s just a feeling. This game seems to give ordinary players no real chance at victory; all the conditions seem very favorable to the Evil Spirit Followers…”
Lu Feng’s voice was hoarse; the consecutive events had nearly drained his energy.
While the others fell silent, a cry suddenly rang out, spreading through the old mansion again.
“Somebody! Come save someone!!!”
The voice came from the room next to Lu Feng’s.