Hitting the Wall?

The writing on the bus stop sign had long since peeled away due to prolonged exposure to wind and rain.

All that could be made out was the final destination, a place called X-Gate Village.

Withdrawing his gaze, K looked at Tang Luo. "Monk, what do you think?"

As the only other "veteran," in K's eyes, this monk was the only one worth consulting regarding the completion of the mission.

Perhaps they could assist each other when the time came.

As for the other newcomers, it would be enough if they didn't drag them down.

K did not count on them at all.

"Let's wait."

Tang Luo looked up at the sky.

The rain had darkened the horizon, making it impossible for them to determine the current time.

If it was still early, waiting here would likely allow them to catch the bus.

This was the safest way to reach the final destination.

However, for a bus clearly heading toward the outskirts of the city, the last bus time was likely five-thirty.

Once they missed the last bus, they—knowing almost nothing about the mission—would not find it easy to locate the final destination.

The mission was to travel to the final destination and spend the night there.

It was clearly divided into two parts.

If they couldn't even find the final destination, the mission would certainly be a failure.

If they found it but couldn't stay there for the night, the mission would also be a failure.

There was no such thing as letting the big shots complete the mission while they just coasted by.

Either succeed or fail.

There were only two outcomes.

"Wait?"

K frowned slightly; this passive attitude was clearly not his style.

If the bus had already passed, waiting here would be a waste of time.

He looked toward the road, at the houses faintly visible at the edge of his vision.

"I plan to go over there and ask around, see if there's anyone I can get information from," K said. Without seeking anyone else's opinion, he pulled up his hood and stepped directly into the curtain of rain.

He was wearing a windbreaker on the outside, the fully waterproof kind.

He didn't care about the heavy rain at all.

The others had no such luxury.

Stepping out would mean becoming a drowned rat.

In particular, Mi Ke kept rubbing her arms, clearly shivering from the cold.

The temperature here was significantly lower than in the real world.

Auntie Shufen kindly took off her apron and gave it to Mi Ke.

It wouldn't provide much warmth, but it offered some coverage.

"A young girl shouldn't dress so scantily; you're letting everyone see," Auntie Shufen said.

Mi Ke gave an awkward smile.

"Tch, it's all fake and pushed up anyway, I wouldn't want to look at that crap."

This remark seemed to strike a nerve with Lin Zi'ang, causing him to blurt it out.

Mi Ke's awkward expression became even more pronounced.

She shrank back into herself.

"Is that any way for a young man to talk! Who was it that couldn't take their eyes off her just a moment ago?" Auntie Shufen glared at him.

"You..."

"You what? Looking for a fight?"

"I..."

"Oh, so you really do want to fight? These young people today—"

Though she said this, Auntie Shufen was already raring to go, nearly raising the broom in her hand.

Clearly, the "fight" she spoke of was not a civilized debate.

"Crazy old hag!"

Lin Zi'ang cursed and retreated to the side.

It should be clarified here that Auntie Shufen's physique was only slightly shorter than a Russian woman's.

The Russian woman referred to here is the kind that has been past her prime for over twenty years.

Her arms were thick and sturdy, nearly one and a half times the size of Lin Zi'ang's.

If a real fight broke out, Lin Zi'ang estimated he would be no match for her.

"Amitabha."

Tang Luo chanted a Buddhist phrase, stopping the situation from escalating, "This Poor Monk intends to go over to the houses and take a look."

K's figure had already vanished into the curtain of rain, and it was unclear whether he had reached the houses yet.

Because of the rain, although the sky wasn't pitch black, visibility was actually quite low.

Tang Luo stood up and pulled the white hood behind him over his head.

The outfit he was wearing came with a hood.

He usually kept it down, but would pull it up when necessary to shield himself from the wind and rain—if he pulled it down low enough, it could also obscure most of his face in the darkness of night.

"Little Master, give me a blessing before you go."

Auntie Shufen said.

"Very well."

Tang Luo pressed his palms together and recited a few lines of scripture that no one could understand.

"Is that it?"

Auntie Shufen stretched her limbs.

Tang Luo nodded, said nothing more, and stepped into the curtain of rain, heading toward the houses.

If the three of them had sharp enough eyes.

They would have discovered that the rainwater falling onto Tang Luo's clothes could not wet them at all.

It simply slid off the fabric, leaving not a single trace behind.

Walking up to the two houses, K raised his head and examined the adjacent buildings.

The exterior was made of the roughest cement, without any tiles or other wall decorations.

There was a dilapidated little door that looked quite old, with a sliding window next to it protected by security bars.

Looking in through the window, one could only see pitch-black darkness and a faint reflection of oneself.

The screws on the security bars were covered in rust, showing their age.

K reached out and slapped the small door, shouting loudly: "Is anyone home!"

He wasn't sure if these two adjacent houses were inhabited.

In such rainy weather, visibility both indoors and outdoors was very low.

If there were people inside, they should have turned on the lights.

Moreover, these were the only two lonely houses standing on the road.

As expected, after knocking twice, there was no response from inside the house.

K punched it hard once, then gave it a kick.

If no one was there, he would just leave.

To his surprise, as the kick landed, the door in front of him collapsed instantly.

It slammed heavily onto the floor inside the house, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

K was caught off guard and inhaled a large mouthful, retreating while coughing.

"No one here." K glanced into the doorway.

He could barely make out an empty space, with only a few pieces of dilapidated furniture remaining.

Aside from dust, the most abundant thing was spiderwebs.

Stepping back out, K followed the same procedure and kicked open the door of the other house.

It was likewise an empty, uninhabited house.

It looked slightly cleaner than the previous one.

At least the dust kicked up wasn't as thick, and having learned his lesson, K didn't inhale too much this time.

After a moment of thought, K walked into this house.

He didn't rashly head up to the second floor, but simply wandered around the ground floor.

The previous occupants had moved out very thoroughly.

K took a quick look around but couldn't find anything.

He took a step, intending to leave.

Just as he stepped out of the room and began to walk away, his footsteps suddenly halted.

A look of confusion gradually appeared on his face.

"Wasn't I just walking outside?"

K widened his eyes; before him lay the pitch-black "room."

Behind him was the very door he had just walked through.

K spun around abruptly, looking behind him.

The door he had kicked aside was still there, half exposed to the light from outside, half hidden in the darkness.

Light shone into the pitch-black house, creating the faint impression of beams.

One could see dust motes floating in the "radiance."

They looked exactly like living microorganisms.

It was a phenomenon that should only occur when the sun was blazing, yet it appeared strangely on this overcast, rainy day.

K felt his heart begin to race.

His movements accelerated in tandem.

After turning, he stomped hard and, in a full sprint, charged out of the doorway.

He lunged into a patch of darkness.

K was forced to stop.

His toes jammed against the front of his shoes, causing a sharp pain.

Once again, he had re-entered the house.

"A ghost wall?"

K scanned his surroundings vigilantly.

He was already prepared to unleash his skills.

Excluding this one, K had undergone three missions in total: two successes and one failure.

He possessed two skills.

Could it be that he had to use one of them here?

But for a situation like a ghost wall, neither skill seemed particularly well-suited to resolve it.

Forget it.

There was no time to dawdle; when facing danger, one had to be decisive.

K ran toward the door once more.

This time, as he approached, he slowed his speed drastically and came to a stop.

One foot was planted outside the door, the other inside.

"Nothing..."

Confirming that his direction was correct, K pushed off hard with the foot inside the room.

He threw his entire body forward.

Unlike the feeling of stepping on the ground, the texture beneath K's feet was wood.

He looked down at the floorboard his right foot was resting on.

Once again, he had returned to the room.

K didn't even know how he had gotten back in; his eyes hadn't even blinked.

He remained frozen in his posture, not moving.

K listened quietly; there wasn't a single sound inside the house.

Only the sound of his own breathing, the beating of his heart, and the rain falling outside.

He began to retreat bit by bit, backing up to the doorway, and continued to step backward.

Seeing that he had finally truly exited the house, K felt a surge of joy and spun around abruptly.

"..."

The look of pleasant surprise stiffened; he saw a door.

The light projecting from outside into the house had dimmed significantly compared to when he had first entered.

He took a deep, sharp breath, and K felt as if breathing had become difficult.

It was as if something was plastering his nose and mouth, while simultaneously covering his eyes.

A ghost wall, and now a ghost covering his face?

"Come out!"

"Come out!"

K roared, his voice echoing throughout the house.

It drowned out the sound of the rain outside.

K bent down, hoisted the door panel, and began to swing it, as if battling an invisible enemy.

Then, he hurled the door panel violently toward the window.

The window, covered in black paper from the inside, shattered, and the door panel slammed into the security bars with a deafening crash.

K charged toward the doorway once more.

Then, his entire face felt as if it had slammed into a wall.

Pain, numbness, and tears and snot flowed uncontrollably.

With his eyes squeezed shut, he could not see the scene before him.

He reached out instinctively, seemingly grabbing the door frame, and pulled outward with all his might.

Raindrops fell onto his body, and K felt a surge of joy.

He dared not open his eyes, continuing to charge forward with his head down.

So, closing my eyes was the way to break it?

Then, his head seemed to strike something—judging by the sensation, was it a hand?

Had he been held down by the head by a "person"?

Without a moment's hesitation.

K raised his hand and activated his skill, Gale Slash!

A pale blue radiance appeared in his palm, forming a sharp, arc-shaped gust of wind.

It slashed toward the obstruction in front of him.

The obstruction waved their other hand outward, the back of it striking the pale blue wind blade.

As if shattering a spray of foam, it was dispersed instantly.

At this moment, K finally opened his eyes.

"It's you?"

He was stunned; before him was not the ghost he had imagined.

But a person.

The monk who called himself Xuanzang.

"It is indeed this poor monk. The donor's style is quite unique," Tang Luo said, letting go.

The hand that had been pressing on K's head was stained with cobwebs, which were washed away by the rain.

K reached up to his head.

Only then did he realize that, at some unknown point, his head and face had been covered in a massive amount of spiderwebs.

"Cough, cough, cough."

K began to cough loudly, his face turning a deep shade of red.

Thanks to syrtyh, Night of Chapter Seven, Tree Heart Twelve, Surprised Beef Ball, and Immortal Seal for the tips!