As soon as the words left his mouth, the ever-burning lamps ahead of the team suddenly began shaking violently. Their eerie green flames were compressed to the size of soybeans, as though something sinister were gulping down their light and heat.
A faint, intermittent sobbing drifted from deep within the tomb passage, laden with endless pain and resentment, making their scalps prickle.
Jiang Ling glanced down at her detector. Its needle was trembling wildly without any pattern. She reported nervously, "The energy readings are very unstable. Something is definitely moving, but I can't pinpoint its location!"
"Everyone, gather around!" At Wang Zhenshan's command, the squad quickly drew together, protecting Su Qianxue and Jiang Ling in the middle.
Lu Zheng slapped both palms against the ground, ready to raise an earthen wall at any moment. Han Yi drew his twin blades, his sharp gaze sweeping the darkness ahead.
Lin Jin's eyes quietly turned scarlet once more, three tomoe slowly revolving within them.
Through the Sharingan's perceptive power, he saw what lay ahead: seven spectral figures dressed in tattered ancient clothing, floating slowly toward them in a fan formation.
There were men and women among them, old and young. Their faces held no expression, and their eye sockets were nothing but two bottomless black holes, staring fixedly at the group.
"Those ahead are the vengeful spirits of people buried as sacrifices," Lin Jin said calmly. "Seven in total."
"Consultant Lin can see them?"
"They're actually ghosts!"
The female members of the squad shuddered at this, as though they had an innate, inexplicable fear of invisible things like ghosts.
The others' expressions darkened at the words "vengeful spirits," because physical attacks and ordinary superpowers had very little effect on such things.
"Let me try!" Xia Ning attacked first, waving both hands in succession.