The entire Ghost Market shook violently—
Or rather, it convulsed in violent contractions.
Rather than an earthquake, it was more like the instinctive twitching of something dormant being awakened.
The ground throughout the Ghost Market began to change, its moss-covered blackened bluestone bricks turning into something pitch-black and fleshy.
They were elastic, pulsing rhythmically before creasing into folds.
A dreadful pressure, source unknown yet omnipresent, descended upon everyone in the Ghost Market.
The trembling earth surged in wave after wave, sweeping through every corner of the Ghost Market.
Even the dim sky seemed on the verge of collapsing, seemingly drawing closer and closer to the ground.
"What's happening? What's happening?"
"Has this ever happened before?"
"No time to explain... Run! Run!"
Whether they were Mysterious Merchants manning stalls in the Ghost Market or cloaked buyers wandering through it.
Or the lofty nobles who had just emerged from the auction.
At this moment, they were all equally helpless and bewildered, like moths trapped in a spiderweb—struggling, running, screaming.
"Look! The trees are moving! The houses are moving too!"
Someone suddenly cried out.
In fact, it was not just the trees, nor was it only those ancient houses.
The Ghost Market's long streets, walls, floors, trees, even every inconspicuous brick—all of them seemed to have suddenly come alive, writhing and dancing.
The air seemed filled with indescribable malice.
"Bzzzz..."
A hoarse, piercing, indescribable sound abruptly rang out from nowhere.
It seemed to come from hell itself. Anyone who heard it would never forget it for the rest of their life, because human organs could never produce such twisted, unnatural tones.
It struck directly at the deepest fears in people's hearts, reverberating through the sky louder than raging thunder, its echoes endlessly surrounding them.
Yet this deafeningly hoarse sound was muddled and senseless,