All five of them emerged from the basement, and the devastated landscape drew a quiet sigh from Zhong Mingnan.
Fortunately, there were only crumbling walls and ruins nearby, with no hordes of monsters.
Jin Zi led the way, gesturing for everyone to follow without turning around.
Fine, soft white dust lay beneath their feet, as gentle as clouds when they stepped on it.
They rounded a grayish-white wall twice a person's height, its surface melted like a candle.
Zhong Mingnan, walking second in line, suddenly faltered and fell when he saw what lay behind the wall.
By an unfortunate coincidence, a weathered stone lay right beneath him.
Under the weight of an adult, the brittle, weathered stone cracked with a loud snap.
Everyone froze. Jin Zi barely dared to breathe.
They waited for about a minute, but nothing strange happened.
His face filled with terror, Zhong Mingnan remained seated where he had fallen.
Behind him, Yin Chao, Bai Xu, and Zhao Qing could not see what lay beyond the wall at all.
When nothing happened, Yin Chao, third in line, stepped forward to help Zhong Mingnan up.
Only then did the scene behind the wall come fully into view.
Thousands upon thousands of grotesque wax statues stood packed together behind the wall, resembling melting human figures.
Some lay prone, some threw their heads back in screams, and others dragged broken limbs behind them, frozen in the act of crawling forward.
They came in all manner of shapes, their forms indistinct, with only rough outlines visible in a dull grayish white.
Jin Zi's expression turned grave. She waved them onward and quickened her pace.
Suddenly, a faint cracking sound rang out, like an eggshell breaking.
Everyone turned to see cracks spreading across the grayish-white wax statues.
The cracks kept widening, shedding