Outsiders! Stay Away From the Lamp Mansion Festival

"Hey!"

Hu Xingde finally caught his breath. Now that the blood had stopped rushing to his head, the aftershock of fear surged back.

He looked at Ji Wu and Xu Zhou with terror-filled eyes. "Where are we? Those things... those things are ghosts, aren't they?"

"You have a way out of here, right?"

"Just say it already!"

"I don't want to die!"

The emotions that had clouded his mind earlier had cleared, and in their place came a desperate thirst for survival.

Seeing how agitated he was, Ji Wu didn't sneer or scold him. He had seen plenty of people like this—those who encountered the bizarre or suffered an abnormal incident for the first time.

Most of them couldn't calm down. They were panicked and lost, clinging desperately to whatever Contract Anomalist could protect them.

It was only human nature.

Even some rookie Contract Anomalists felt fear and wanted to retreat when facing the uncanny.

Some experienced Contract Anomalists, when confronted with an overwhelmingly powerful anomaly they couldn't defeat, would feel a deep sense of helplessness, fall into despair, and even want to give up.

Ji Wu had even seen Contract Anomalists who couldn't overcome their inner fear and became completely self-destructive.

"Please calm down!" Xu Zhou tried to soothe his frantic emotions.

"Calm down? What do you know? This is hell, isn't it? We're inside hell! If we don't think of something fast, we'll never get back!"

Hu Xingde's face was flushed red with panic. He grabbed Ji Wu, thinking that the older, more composed-looking man was the one in charge.

"Hell, huh?" Ji Wu looked at Xu Zhou. "What do you think?"

"Even though it's very faint, there really is a weak anomalous presence in those Funeral Processions. So faint that if they hadn't disappeared and left a trace of that presence in the clothes, I probably wouldn't have noticed it."

"I didn't notice it before either."

Ji Wu hadn't contracted an anomaly, but he was an Adaptive—a constitution sensitive to the uncanny. He could detect anomalous presences that ordinary people couldn't, though not as precisely as a Contract Anomalist.

This time, the anomaly had hidden itself so well that it fooled both Ji Wu and Xu Zhou, a Contract Anomalist.

Either its ability was special, or there was something wrong with this Ghost Domain.

"What a pain!" Ji Wu's head ached.

If they really were inside a Ghost Domain, and this domain perfectly simulated everything on Anyang Island, then with such a massive scope, it absolutely couldn't be an Incomplete Ghost Domain.

A truly powerful ghost could spread its domain to easily cover an entire city.

Given this domain's range and size, it could already be called a Semi-Complete Ghost Domain.

Let alone a Semi-Complete Ghost Domain—even an Incomplete Ghost Domain, like the Ghost Infant last time, would have killed both him and Xu Zhou if Bai Zuo hadn't stepped in.

"When will that little brat finally show up!" Every single time, Ji Wu was furious at Bai Zuo's willfulness.

Hu Xingde clung to his leg. "You can get out, can't you? You must have a way, right?"

"Do something! I can't stand being in this godforsaken place for one more second!"

Xu Zhou gave an awkward smile, but wisely didn't say that they had no way out either. If he did, things might get ugly.

"Well... how about we try leaving the same way we came in? Didn't we enter through the big bridge?"

Xu Zhou had been chasing his mother's figure back then and had passed through the White Mist on the bridge without any trouble.

Unlike Ji Wu, who had wandered in the White Mist for a long time without getting out, so he didn't know that the White Mist wasn't so easy to cross.

Ji Wu said, "That White Mist... I think you need something special to get through it."

"When I followed you running onto the bridge, I got lost in the White Mist. No matter which way I walked, I couldn't find my way out. That mist also drains your stamina, making you lose energy faster."

"If I hadn't met an old man carrying a lantern who led me out, I'd probably still be trapped in there."

Xu Zhou was shocked. "That White Mist is that strange?!"

Hearing there was a way out, Hu Xingde immediately shouted, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go find a lantern! If we can't find one, we'll take one! Just get us out of here fast!"

"Let's go, then. Find those Lantern Bearers and see if we can buy a lantern from them."

The three of them set off together.

Walking through this empty, silent city, they felt like something in the shadows was watching them. But every time they turned to look, there was nothing there.

The further they walked, the more unsettled they became.

Hu Xingde was trembling with fear, practically glued to the other two.

"There's light up ahead!"

A long line of red lantern lights swayed through the street like a dragon.

Just as they were about to get closer—

A young girl wearing a white mask stopped them. "Hey! Outsiders! Don't get near the Lamp Mansion Festival."

Xu Zhou and the others halted.

"We? Outsiders?"

The girl lifted her chin slightly. "Hmph! It's obvious you're outsiders. You were lured in by the souls reflected by the Lamp Mansion Festival, weren't you?"

Ji Wu wasn't annoyed. Instead, he put on a warm smile and asked, "Little miss, what exactly is this Lamp Mansion Festival you speak of?"

"The Lamp Mansion Festival is, of course, the ceremony held to honor the great Lord Yama! Everyone in Anyang knows that. You outsiders should leave quickly! Otherwise, once the ceremony is over, you'll never be able to get out."

Xu Zhou: "Do you know how to leave?"

"By lighting a Soul Lamp, of course. With a Soul Lamp guiding you, you won't get lost in here."

She looked them over and said knowingly, "Looks like you don't have Soul Lamps."

"Well, lucky for you, I'm kind-hearted! Follow me!"

Ji Wu raised an eyebrow, watching her expression. Xu Zhou followed his lead, but Hu Xingde, without a shred of caution, trailed after the girl, his face brimming with joy at the prospect of leaving soon.

Ji Wu touched the weapon at his waist. Though he had some doubts about this suddenly appearing girl's intentions, he decided to follow along for now and see.

If they really could get a Soul Lamp, then there was hope of escaping.

The two of them followed.

The girl led the way, stopping at a shop with a sign reading "Incense, Candles, and Paper Money."

"Uncle Zhang! Customers!"

A middle-aged man with a limp came out of the shop. His face was full of stubble, and his eyelids drooped, giving him a weary look.

"What customers?"

"These people want to buy Soul Lamps."

Uncle Zhang glanced up and lazily took down a dusty red lantern from the shelf. "Fixed price, ten thousand."

Hu Xingde thought it was a bit steep, but this was his only ticket out of here, so he immediately scrambled, "I'll pay! I'll buy it!"

He pulled out his phone to transfer the money, only to find there was no signal.

For a moment, he was dumbfounded.

People these days go out relying on scanning codes to pay. Who carries that much cash on them?