336: The Smiling Corpse
Yang Jian lit the Ghost Candle, and the white Ghost Candle burst into black flames, casting a dark light. The Ghost Domain, originally shrouded in red light, now seemed to be eroded by darkness, evoking an indescribable feeling within.
As if ghosts in unrest, a nameless dread stirred from nowhere.
It seemed that if the Ghost Candle were to keep burning, something terrifying would happen.
The white Ghost Candle was, in fact, a defective product derived from the red Ghost Candle.
Its characteristic of attracting fierce ghosts, though unique in a sense, was also quite terrifying, especially when lit in such a haunted place; no one could be certain what it would draw forth.
Luckily, it might attract the ghost controlling Zhao Lei.
If unlucky, it could bring forth an unknown terror, and this fear might not be singular.
“It’s been ten seconds; you’d better not trick me. The candle must be extinguished within thirty seconds,” Xiong Wenwen said nervously, watching her cartoon watch closely.
Yang Jian’s expression was grave, his body tense. He did not respond to Xiong Wenwen, as he needed to concentrate and be alert to any slight movement around him.
Thirty seconds was not a long time; on the contrary, it was very brief, but at that moment it seemed to slow down immensely, the brewing atmosphere so oppressive it was suffocating.
Only fifteen seconds had passed.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway outside the restaurant. The footsteps were heavy, seeming to bear the weight of an entire body, and eerily devoid of echo. Moreover, they appeared abruptly, not approaching gradually from afar but as if appearing out of thin air.
Xiong Wenwen’s eyes widened, and she instantly turned to look towards the back door.
Undoubtedly, the heavy footsteps from the hallway were heading this way.
The Ghost Candle was having an effect; a ghost hidden in the hotel was being drawn here.
In just about five seconds, the footsteps suddenly stopped. Through the dim restaurant door, a tall, dark silhouette could vaguely be seen standing behind the hazy glass door.
The dark candlelight flickered.
It was unclear whether it was the shadows of Yang Jian and Xiong Wenwen, or if someone unknown really stood behind that door.
“Yang Jian,” Xiong Wenwen screamed in fear, instinctively wanting to use her ghostly abilities to foresee the imminent terror.
“Hold steady, don’t panic. I’m here; nothing will happen. You’re in my Ghost Domain now, not just anything can walk in here casually,” Yang Jian reassured without turning around, even though his Eye of the Ghost had already seen the tall, dark figure standing outside the door.
The two were less than ten meters apart, with only a sliding door, unlocked, between them.
Without a doubt, this was a ghost attracted by the Ghost Candle.
But his intuition told him that this was not their target for the trip, for the ghost that manipulated faces was inside the restaurant, while the ghost outside was outside the restaurant—it was very likely not the same ghost.
Therefore, Yang Jian did not extinguish the Ghost Candle; he was still waiting.
Twenty-five seconds elapsed.
At that moment, in the otherwise empty restaurant, a chair eerily moved back several centimeters.
The chair scraping against the floor tiles emitted a sharp noise.
Yang Jian quickly looked towards the sound.
It was the dining table that had been used before. Previously, the table was empty, with only one vacant chair. But now, it was this chair that had moved, and someone was sitting on it, someone whose face could not be seen.
Yes, a person.
Dressed in leather shoes and a business suit, yet his face was obscured—not because Yang Jian’s ghostly vision failed, but because the man held a newspaper in front of his face, blocking it from view.
That posture… no mistake about it, he was the target they were seeking.
Yang Jian’s eyes narrowed sharply, wanting to release the suppression of the Ghost Rope and directly use its restorative property to deal with the ghost.
However, before he could act, the movement behind him caused him to break out in a cold sweat.
In the entire restaurant, each table’s chair moved backward in unison.
The next moment, people suddenly appeared in all those chairs that had made a noise, with varied attires and genders, but their movements were eerily synchronized: stiff arms lifted, each reading a newspaper, and by a sweep of the ghostly vision at the back of his head, there were at least twenty to thirty people.
“Creak…”
At that moment, the tall figure outside, seemingly drawn by the Ghost Candle, seemed ready to come in, and the sliding door was slowly being pushed open.
Meanwhile, the Ghost Candle had burned for forty seconds, exceeding the thirty-second limit Yang Jian had set.
If things were to continue, within a minute, Yang Jian and Xiong Wenwen would face an unimaginable ghostly attack.
“Fight or retreat?”
Yang Jian’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat as he faced two pressing choices.
He could either take a chance here with Xiong Wenwen, and if they could hold on, there might be an opportunity to directly imprison the ghosts in this place. But they might also fall into a deadly trap set by the malevolent spirits due to his rash actions, and die right there and then.
The hotel harbored some kind of strangeness that was beyond his understanding, and Yang Jian didn’t know if it might be a potential and significant hidden danger.
“Let’s fight.”
After a moment of contemplation, Yang Jian made a rather insane decision.
He decided to confront it head on.
Considering that he still had a red Ghost Candle in hand, which could ensure his safety, he had the resources to take a chance.
Yang Jian thereupon blew out the white Ghost Candle. As the black candlelight extinguished, everything around became even clearer.