The Footsteps in the Darkness

The Footsteps in the Darkness

In this game of clapping, the order mattered greatly.

To avoid confusion from multiple people clapping at once and breaking the rules, the six surviving players were each assigned a number.

Wu Xian was number one, and Shi Ji was number two.

Yue Mei was number three, Wen Chao was number four.

Su Huilan was number five, and Su Huijin was number six.

The order was determined by drawing lots for each room. Wu Xian drew on behalf of Room 403. Unfortunately, he drew number one. Number one clapped once, as hard as possible; number two clapped twice, and so on...

The next person had to clap within ten seconds of receiving the signal.

The male corpse crawled past Rooms 401 and 402, finally stopping outside Room 403.

As the footsteps drew closer, Wu Xian clapped again to let the Ghost Mother know where he was. The Ghost Mother began walking toward him.

The prayer outside the window stopped, and even the occasional eerie shrieks fell silent. All Wu Xian could sense was absolute silence and darkness.

Whenever the hands touched Wu Xian, countless images flooded into his mind. Most were faces—men and women, young and old, all wearing the faces they had made at the moment of death.

Wu Xian swallowed.

In just two seconds, it was standing right in front of him. The two faces were separated by no more than the length of a tongue.

Clap, clap. Hiss...

Some wept bitterly, some raged, and some wailed...

If the next person failed to clap within ten seconds, it meant something had gone wrong. The person after them then had to clap within the following ten seconds, keeping the game from coming to a halt.

Time was a strange thing.

Rattle, rattle...

Often, when people wanted time to slow down and make a good experience last longer, it galloped away like a wild horse.

These weren't footsteps. It sounded more like hands slapping the ground as something dragged itself along.

A breath against the eyelids was the signal that the seeker had changed.

At that moment, every second felt like an eternity!

In the absolute silence, Wu Xian's hearing had grown even sharper. He could hear his own heartbeat, the clock's ticking, and the restless stirrings in the other rooms.

He had only just turned around when a pair of pale hands brushed over its face.

With a single clap, it was as if the whole world fell silent.

The first evil spirit in this world, the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother!

The sheer number of clanking chains made it easy to imagine how many restrictions the blessed land had placed on the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother. Compared to her, even the Breaking Door Wraith seemed free.

But even an evil spirit this mindless...

The skin on his arm split open, and bone grew into a bloodstreaked blade. He aimed it at Wu Xian's abdomen, already imagining how wonderfully satisfying it would feel to have new organs inside his body.

The male corpse grinned savagely.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He was torn with indecision.

The male corpse fell silent.

The male corpse had no internal organs, so moving was difficult for him. Only now, when Wu Xian had stopped moving, had he slowly managed to reach him.

All he could do was pray that after the male corpse touched him, he would have a chance to activate the Golden Crow Feather and drive it back with fire.

Suddenly.

The other five survivors, too, all felt a cool, foul breath brush against their eyelids.

"Found... them. My organs."

As the Ghost Mother drew near, the male corpse inexplicably grew afraid. Even Wu Xian, right in front of him, lost his appeal. He turned around and tried to flee.

It was that Empty-Bellied Male Corpse!

It had found its way here!

It had come for Wu Xian at this damned moment!

The cold hands groped over Wu Xian's body, and the blood from the male corpse's eye sockets smeared onto him.

On the other hand, when people wanted time to pass faster, to get through an unbearable moment, it crawled by as slowly as a snail.

About five minutes later, Wu Xian heard something else.

A new sound emerged: a dense clatter of chains, mixed with the footsteps of a woman.

It wasn't an ordinary evil spirit. Its internal organs had been ripped out, and its head was hollow too. Only the instincts of an evil spirit drove it. That was precisely why it dared to enter the Ghost Mother's territory.

The Child-Seeking Ghost Mother stepped over the corpse and waved her bloodstained, pale hands as she felt her way forward. At last, she found Wu Xian, the source of the clapping.

With his eyes closed, Wu Xian could tell from the sound that the male corpse was there.

The sound of the male corpse crawling made all six survivors tremble with fear, adding another dangerous variable to an already perilous game of clapping.

As long as the two kept touching, those negative emotions would continue to flood in.

A minor Wandering Wraith like this one would be easy to chop into mincemeat with the Copper Coin Sword, which still had eighty blades left—if only he could open his eyes!

But the worst part was that he was waiting for the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother.

She had arrived.

Despair and fear, madness and regret—countless negative emotions battered Wu Xian's mind. He even felt like simply opening his eyes and ending it all.

Wu Xian kept his eyes shut tight and gritted his teeth through it.

For Wu Xian,

he had to find Wu Xian and make himself whole again!

Since Wu Xian had smashed his organs, he would fill his empty abdominal cavity with Wu Xian's.

Now, Wu Xian was the new seeker.

It didn't dare move. It stared straight at the thing in front of it, then watched as those two pale hands plunged into its eye sockets!

Rattle!

But just then, the male corpse's movements seized up.

Under the dim yellow light.

Wu Xian could only quietly clench his fists.

A hollowed-out male corpse crawled up to the fourth floor of Ping'an Hostel. Its limbs were strong, and its torn-open abdomen dragged along the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind.

He hated being like this.

He rubbed his numb palms, sore from clapping so hard, and waited in the absolute darkness for the evil spirit to find him.

Shi Ji received the signal and immediately clapped twice.

He didn't even dare open his eyes!

He didn't even dare defend himself with the Copper Coin Spear. The spear heated up when an evil spirit was near, and it was far too long. If he accidentally hurt the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother while she was searching for Wu Xian, she might take it as an attack.

Clap!

The sound rang out crisp and clear.

The male corpse grew restless at once.

The Ghost Mother quickly found Wu Xian's eyes. She positioned her hands around his eyelids, leaned close, and blew a breath against his eyes.

Wu Xian shut his eyes, braced himself, then clapped loudly.

It was about time.

It rose from its prone position into a hunched stance. Its speed suddenly increased, yet it made no sound. Its horrifying face was filled with greedy longing.

The male corpse collapsed to the ground, and its body began to decay thousands of times faster than normal.

The male corpse had no lungs and couldn't breathe. Wu Xian hadn't noticed it approaching and was still waiting for it to crawl closer, looking for a chance to throw a punch.

Wu Xian knew where Shi Ji was. After feeling his way around in the darkness for two seconds, he found him. He groped for Shi Ji's eyes, then blew a breath against them.

Since Wu Xian had brushed his teeth properly, everyone smelled fresh toothpaste.