Young Master Yao in a Sorry State

Everyone looked at him in puzzlement.

But they found Young Master Yao standing motionless, staring blankly as if he were in a daze.

His eyes were lifeless.

"Young Master Yao?"

Young Master Yao could no longer hear a thing.

Everything before his eyes was a blur.

A little panic rose in his heart.

And grew more intense by the moment.

A glimmer of light appeared deep in the haze. He ran toward it in a hurry, his heart pounding hard.

"Huff... huff..."

His ragged breathing echoed through the overly silent haze.

It only made the air feel even more tense.

"Ah!"

Young Master Yao shouted as he came to. If the girl beside him hadn't caught him, he would have collapsed to the ground.

The scene from before replayed over and over in his mind.

His whole body trembled uncontrollably.

"Thump, thump... thump, thump..."

He couldn't tell whether it was the sound of his footsteps or his heartbeat—or both.

He had no time to care.

The light grew brighter and brighter.

Closer. Closer.

A shadow flickered in the light.

After a moment's hesitation, he threw himself toward the light, toward the shadow, almost desperately.

His mind was a blank.

All he wanted was to escape this eerie place.

But his face was filled with sheer terror.

The shadow lifted its head, revealing a face so familiar that he instinctively recoiled in fear.

That face...

When it saw him, the corners of its mouth curled into an exaggerated smile. It should have been a smiling face, but its eyes were wide open, and crimson blood slowly trickled from the corners of them.

The thick, rusty smell nearly made it hard for him to breathe.

He flailed his arms and legs, trying to stop