The Terrifying Ten Seconds

The Terrifying Ten Seconds

Qi Zhiyong's bravery didn't surprise the Door-Breaking Wraith for long.

The Door-Breaking Wraith quickly realized it had been insulted. It let out an angry roar, and the chains around its body snapped completely. The Magic Treasure, the Soul Snatching Rope, was utterly destroyed.

Its only remaining hand swelled in size. It slammed it down on Qi Zhiyong, who was using a small knife to bleed the great wraith, pinning him to the floor.

The power Qi Zhiyong had gained from Heavenly Demon Release was nothing to the Door-Breaking Wraith.

Then the Door-Breaking Wraith turned its palm into a fist and smashed it down with all its might.

Pfft!

The inhuman force landed on Qi Zhiyong!

Splat!

Qi Zhiyong's upper body was crushed. Even the floor was struck with such force that it caved in, the concrete cracking as blood seeped into the gaps. If the rebar hadn't held it together, the great wraith's blow would have punched straight through the floor.

Wu Xian stared in shock.

The Door-Breaking Wraith pulled its arm out of the bloody abdominal cavity. It had two arms again, and was even stronger than before!

But no matter how little confidence they had, Wu Xian and Shi Ji had to hold their ground. They had nowhere to run.

Of all the survivors, the two of them understood Qi Zhiyong's abilities best. Besides, according to the rules, Qi Zhiyong was supposed to be the safest person.

What was going on?

Qi Zhiyong had already had a grudge against the wraith, and just moments ago he'd even tried to use the two of them as scapegoats. Why had the guy suddenly changed, acting like he was heroically laying down his life?

"Why did it have to be him?"

Wen Chao's table was covered in odds and ends. He seemed to be trying to make something. A blanket lay spread across his bed, and someone seemed to be lying underneath it.

The other people left on the fourth floor weren't completely unaware that Qi Zhiyong had died.

Now that he was dead, would the great wraith come after them instead?

After washing up quickly, Shi Ji changed his pants. Then neither of them minded the other, and they lay down on the bed together. Shi Ji soon fell asleep, but Wu Xian lay awake for a long time.

Wu Xian had never regretted setting Qi Zhiyong up. If anything, he was rather pleased with how he'd arranged things.

It had taken Wu Xian a great deal of effort to figure out the Door-Breaking Wraith's rules after getting Qi Zhiyong killed. That knowledge might be useless now.

The evil spirits they'd faced before had only possessed unusual abilities. They were eerie and terrifying, but as long as you hit them with a Magic Treasure or talisman, you could kill them.

Wu Xian gripped the Copper Coin Spear, while Shi Ji drew the Boy Sword. They braced themselves for a fight. Their newly upgraded weapons had given them some confidence.

They opened the door and entered the room, both letting out a breath of relief.

Then...

But now, this chain had also been undone!

Room 404, He Qiong's room.

"A young man died."

The light from the billboard across the way shone in through the window.

Wen Chao's room.

But whatever Qi Zhiyong's motives had been...

Wen Chao had seen too many young people. To him, Qi Zhiyong was like Fang Zhi: stubborn in certain ways, and someone who acted according to his own rules.

Wen Chao himself sat on a chair beside the bed.

Though the blessed land felt like home to him.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Then he leaned over the blanket, slipped one hand beneath it, and clasped the other hand tightly. Exhaustion slowly pulled his eyes shut. Just before falling asleep, he murmured,

"Make the eyes a little bigger, redden the rims, and put in a few eye drops. Make yourself look pitiful. Those guys who've never had a girlfriend can't resist that..."

But to their surprise, the Door-Breaking Wraith didn't attack them.

Yet the person who should have been the most likely to survive had died so early.

Wu Xian's door, Room 406, had been kicked open, and Qi Zhiyong's Room 402 had become a bloody mess. That left only Room 403, where Shi Ji had originally lived, still safe.

The night's ordeal had been so hellish that even an ordinary room felt like paradise.

Wu Xian lived through the longest ten-odd seconds of his life. A reel of memories flashed through Shi Ji's mind. They stayed on tenterhooks for a while before the hallway lights finally came back on.

"I can't keep hiding in here, old as I am, and then die like a coward after all the young people are gone."

But honestly, the guy had used his own death to give Wu Xian and Shi Ji a way out.

Maybe the hand that had crushed Qi Zhiyong was already poised above his head. In the next second, his own body might be smashed to pieces.

Splat!

The lights went out!

The hallway plunged into darkness. At least the rooms had windows, so a little moonlight still came in when the lights were off. But there were no windows in the hallway. The moment the lights went out, it was so dark you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face.

"But we can't keep going like this. Tomorrow, we have to find a way to bring one more person over, no matter which of those three it is..."

But the atmosphere at home wasn't exactly pleasant. The domestic violence was severe enough to make Wu Xian want to run away from home.

A sense of helplessness welled up inside him.

The sisters, Su Huilan and Su Huijin, sat on the bed holding hands, their delicate faces icy.

The newly appeared arm looked more human, and it held a ring of keys!

Wu Xian's heart sank.

"Then let's hurry up and put on our makeup."

"Make the slit on this side a little higher..."

"Qi Zhiyong's dead."

Room 401.

His tone was strange. He didn't sound like he was talking to himself so much as speaking to someone else.

Those ten-odd seconds had been so intense that he badly needed to change his pants.

Wu Xian panicked at once.

After breaking free, the Door-Breaking Wraith gave the two of them a long, hard look, then flashed them a vicious grin.

Judging by the design of the key ring, those must be the spare keys to Ping'an Hostel. Before, the great wraith could only open one door a day. What would happen now that it had the keys?

"You have something else to eat now. Once you've eaten your fill, you'll get better. When you're better, we'll go home together."

The Door-Breaking Wraith disappeared.

"Just wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow, it'll all be better."

He was thinking about Qi Zhiyong.

Its strength was completely off the charts. Could something like this Green Giant really be defeated with a Copper Coin Sword and a Tachi?

No!

Qi Zhiyong's shattered body sprawled across the floor was proof enough.

At least when the lights were on, they could see the Door-Breaking Wraith. If the lights went out, how would they know where it was?

But the Door-Breaking Wraith was completely different.

The Soul Snatching Rope on the great wraith's body had broken, but another chain remained. It was pitch-black and lined with sharp teeth, buried in its flesh as if it were part of its body. That was the chain stitching the wraith's arm to its abdomen.

Maybe...

Maybe the Door-Breaking Wraith was right in front of him, its hideous face staring straight into his.

Things had spiraled out of control, and the sisters clung to each other in terror.

Shi Ji's face had gone a deep red.

"Ah, he wasn't a bad kid..."

Qi Zhiyong's shattered corpse lay in the middle of the hallway. His broken face stared blankly at Wu Xian, who couldn't bear to look.

"Ah Jin, I'll protect you."

Imagining things only made the fear worse.

Wu Xian felt strange about it.

He tossed and turned, unable to sleep. At last, he got up and, by the faint light from the window, leafed through the notes Qi Zhiyong had given him.