Departure

Chapter 6: Departure

"What... is going on?" Du Shangjing frowned, staring at Bai Yanliang's name, which was so red it looked as if it were about to drip blood.

"Li Mu, have you ever seen this situation before?"

Du Shangjing turned his head to ask the young man standing beside him, who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with an ordinary appearance but a perfect physique.

His gaze was somewhat complex; compared to the others, Du Shangjing was far more aware of Li Mu's terrifying nature.

He still remembered when he first entered this hellish place, he was the forty-seventh person to arrive, and even then, Li Mu was already at the top of the list...

No one knew when Li Mu had entered this place; he seemed to never harbor any negative emotions.

Being assigned to a group with him significantly increased one's survival rate, as he would always do his utmost to help everyone.

If one day the forty-nine people here were required to complete a single task, there was no doubt he would receive everyone's support.

In this hellish place, that level of trust was something even the equally outstanding Zhou Li could not obtain.

Yet in Du Shangjing's eyes, Li Mu seemed to be growing increasingly low-key and mysterious.

Logically, there were no flaws in Li Mu's features, but when combined, this young face appeared completely unremarkable.

Even his eyes, the part of a person most likely to reveal their inner self, were filled with calm and gentleness, showing not a ripple of emotion.

"Li Mu?"

Du Shangjing called out softly once more.

"Hm? Sorry, I was thinking about something just now." After Li Mu spoke, his gaze moved slowly down from the blood-red name and landed on Bai Yanliang.

"I have never seen this situation either. Logically, a newcomer should never be able to obtain the qualification of a Grudge-Bound... However, this is not a good thing for him."

Watching Li Mu fall into silence immediately after his brief remark, Du Shangjing also looked at Bai Yanliang, lost in thought.

Indeed... a Grudge-Bound. It was a blessing, yet also an incredibly terrifying thing...

At this moment, the expressions of most people were not as calm as Li Mu and Du Shangjing's, especially... the four people in Bai Yanliang's group.

As Bai Yanliang's name turned completely blood-red, the names of four others gradually began to change.

Xu Zhi'an, Feng Xinghan, Jiang Li, and... Li Yuejun!

Bai Yanliang looked toward the crowd, and four people with extremely ugly expressions stepped out.

Among them, that Li Yuejun was indeed the woman who had snapped at him earlier.

But now, there was no trace of sarcasm on her face; instead, it was pale with terror, filled with both hatred and fear.

What exactly did it mean for a name to turn red first?

Could it be that I can influence them?

Bai Yanliang pondered for a moment, just about to ask a question, when he heard Zhou Li speak. His pace was rapid, as if something were chasing him:

"Newcomers, listen up! Do not act alone! Also, three lines of text will appear shortly, corresponding to the sequence of your three groups. You must memorize the text for your own group! Analyze it carefully; that is the key to escaping the 'Past'!"

Zhou Li's words left Shen Changrong and Qi Nian feeling somewhat bewildered and fearful of the unknown, though one showed it quite clearly while the other merely forced themselves to endure it.

Only Bai Yanliang seemed to have noticed nothing at all.

Just as Zhou Li finished speaking, a soft voice drifted from the back of the crowd: "Do not trust anyone."

Everyone turned their heads in unison, only to see Li Mu standing there with a calm expression, his gaze sweeping over the three newcomers before he said nothing more.

Du Shangjing's expression was one of surprise; not only him, but Zhou Li wore the same look.

At this moment, the anomaly finally occurred.

The forty-nine names densely arranged in the air, excluding the nineteen that had already turned blood-red, suddenly scattered, transforming once again into gray mist.

"Look closely!" Zhou Li's voice rang out again.

Shen Changrong and Qi Nian were somewhat lost and panicked, but seeing everyone else staring intently at the shifting gray mist, they hurriedly looked over as well.

Bai Yanliang was no exception, though his expression was somewhat pensive.

Under the gaze of the crowd, the gray mist formed by the thirty names rapidly condensed once more, turning into lines of text.

"One: Hide from the moon in the mountains, fish the coffin from the water. Limit: three days."

"Two: Do not open your eyes when you encounter a mirror, do not look back when you hear a soft call. Survive for one day."

"Three: Sleep beneath the back-clinger, wake from a dream of lost souls. Limit: seven days."

Bai Yanliang possessed one great strength: a good memory.

As long as he was willing to commit something to memory, etching it into his mind, he would never forget it. Except, of course, for that tragedy ten years ago.

Thus, as he read the three lines of text word by word, he actually memorized the text of the other two groups as well.

As the text appeared, the people in the second group suddenly turned deathly pale.

"Yu Hanzhou... it's actually a survival task..."

Du Shangjing's gaze was somewhat complex as he looked at that gentle and refined young man.

Yu Hanzhou, the youngest dual PhD in literature and history from the Yucheng Affiliated Hospital, was humble and polite; his future should have been limitless.

But... ever since he had inadvertently stumbled into this damned, ghostly place, a normal life had become a stranger to him.

In reality, he remained that refined, outstanding figure, much like a young nobleman from ancient times.

Yet no one knew that Yu Hanzhou had already been struggling in this grotesque and terrifying world for a full year...

And this time, he had finally encountered a Survival Mission.

On the surface, the mission for Yu Hanzhou's group—"Do not open your eyes when facing a mirror, do not turn your head when called softly, survive for one day"—appeared to be the simplest one; the text seemed to have already laid out the taboos clearly, and the time limit was a mere single day.

However, the vast majority of people knew that Survival Missions were the most terrifying, the most arduous, and the most soul-shattering tasks of all...

"Hanzhou."

A woman's call, deep with worry, rang out behind Yu Hanzhou. Upon hearing that familiar voice, Yu Hanzhou did not turn around to look.

Those in his group, however, knowing something of the history between the two, turned to glance at the woman.

Su Qian.

A student from the Yucheng Affiliated Hospital.

The ways of the world were truly stranger than fiction; across thousands of miles, out of forty-nine people, two happened to come from the same city, and even the same affiliated hospital.

Perhaps due to their shared plight, or perhaps due to some pull of the soul, she had felt more joy than fear upon seeing Yu Hanzhou when she first arrived here.

Yet Yu Hanzhou had never given Su Qian any response, maintaining a polite distance at all times.

Perhaps Yu Hanzhou knew that those who entered this place had already lost the right to attain happiness.

Well-read and knowledgeable in both ancient and modern history, how could he not understand the truth that if one had known it would lead to such heartache, it would have been better never to have met at all?

Regarding love, Yu Hanzhou dared not touch it in the slightest; after all... they were all people trapped within a curse.

Under the dim radiance, the forty-nine people stood in silence.

The thirty who had not been chosen showed no signs of relief; instead, as they looked toward the second group where Yu Hanzhou stood, a flicker of sympathy for their own kind flashed in their eyes.

Bai Yanliang looked up, watching the three lines of misty text dissipate once more, transforming into a thick fog that enveloped the nineteen chosen individuals.

Panic, fear, distraction, despair... the expressions on their faces were varied and endless.

Finally, Bai Yanliang was also wrapped and covered by the dense fog, and a bone-chilling, icy aura coiled up from the soles of his feet until it obscured his vision.

Before the eyes of the thirty, Bai Yanliang and his group were shrouded in gray mist and vanished abruptly, leaving only nineteen blood-red names hanging in mid-air, like an eternal curse.

Everyone knew that if one of these names were to fade away, it would mean that person was never coming back...