"Sun Hang! What happened?!" Yang Qi cried anxiously. "What kind of filthy thing?!"
"It's behind this window, hanging on those racks. There are several Nuoxi opera masks," Sun Hang said as he slowly backed away. "I can see them, but they don't exist at all in the photos I took with my phone."
"They can't be recorded by cameras?!" Yang Qi caught her breath. "Chimera Seventeen has that trait too. Could this be..."
"But I can't sense any aura from them," Sun Hang said. "In my perception, they seem like ordinary masks."
"Don't do anything rash! Get out first!" Yang Qi said. "We'll be there right away!"
"I'm thinking about something," Sun Hang suddenly said.
"What?"
"Tell me, if I burned this house down, could I burn out something interesting?" Sun Hang asked.
"We don't need to take that risk!" Yang Qi spoke rapidly, seemingly afraid that Sun Hang would act before she finished. "Although Chimera Seventeen was badly injured, its abilities are far too bizarre. Before we're fully prepared, I don't recommend fighting it."
"But these masks don't seem to be doing anything. Why do I feel like it's trying to pull an empty-fort bluff on me?" Sun Hang said, though he still slowly retreated toward the courtyard gate.
Somewhere in his subconscious, he faintly sensed that something was off. But he could not determine whether that unease came from these strange masks that cameras could not capture, or from something else.
But just as Sun Hang was only a few steps away from the courtyard gate, it moved without any wind. With a creak, it shut on its own.
Sun Hang even heard the gears inside the lock turning and the bolt sliding into place.
"Come on, man..." Sun Hang was speechless. "Couldn't this tired horror-movie trope have