Evil Spirit

"Looks like I'll have to spend tonight in the warehouse."

People often found themselves stranded in areas covered by the Strange Mist when the Black Tide broke out, unable to evacuate in time. The official advice was to find a reliable building nearby and take shelter.

As long as their luck wasn't too bad, they were generally fine.

Cheng Sheng had originally planned to find a hotel after the sacrifice. Now, it looked like he had no choice but to make do for the night in the filthy, stinking old warehouse.

Just as Cheng Sheng was about to head back into the warehouse,

Suddenly-

His glabella twitched.

"Hm?"

Cheng Sheng froze, his hand stopping on the door.

The Primordial Mark in his mind had suddenly reacted.

It was still moving!

It was still moving now!

Something in the Black Tide is attracting the Primordial Mark. It wants me to go over there.

Cheng Sheng quickly understood the message the mark was conveying to him.

Should I go?

Cheng Sheng's eyes flickered with hesitation, but his feet had already carried him out of the warehouse without his realizing it.

Outside, the gray-black Strange Mist hung like a thin veil, flowing silently beneath the moonlight.

Since he was already outside, Cheng Sheng decided to walk on.

For one thing, he was indeed full of curiosity about the Black Tide. For another, among Nantu's young people, the Black Tide had gradually become an unconventional way to seek thrills.

For example, the "Black Tide experience tour" Cheng Sheng's parents took every year was relatively safe. It took place at a fixed location and had a fairly comprehensive set of precautions.

Some went so far as to grab a camera and sneak into an area overrun by the Black Tide to explore.

Naturally, accidents were far from uncommon, but plenty of people also returned safe and sound without anything happening to them.

How did that saying go? The only way to conquer fear is to face it.

Cheng Sheng felt he should at least find out what this "fear" was.

Besides, this time it was the warlock's Primordial Mark guiding him there.

The warehouse Cheng Sheng rented was in a remote location, but it wasn't quite in the suburbs. A few hundred meters south of the warehouse was a street.

The street was silent and deserted, with only a few streetlights glowing faintly.

Cheng Sheng walked along the quiet road and through the Strange Mist, listening to the soft sound of his footsteps. It was as though he were walking through an old black-and-white movie.

This Strange Mist doesn't seem to have any effect on people...

Cheng Sheng tried to grasp the gray-black mist drifting in front of him. It passed through his fingers and scattered at once. It felt a little cool to the touch, but for some reason, it felt very dry to Cheng Sheng, with little moisture in it.

What's truly terrifying is the Black Tide. The Strange Mist is only a byproduct of it. Not a single person who has entered the Black Tide has returned alive. The Strange Mist zone is dangerous too, but it isn't quite so absolute.

It happens to satisfy some people's desire for thrills and fascination with the bizarre...

Thinking this, Cheng Sheng followed the Primordial Mark's guidance in his mind, walking forward step by step.

Aside from the somewhat eerie atmosphere around him, nothing happened along the way.

At last, Cheng Sheng stopped in front of a building-

"This is the place."

Cheng Sheng rubbed his glabella as he looked at the abandoned building before him.

In fact, the entire street he had just walked down was abandoned. For the past two years, Balai City's development had been concentrated entirely in the northern district, since it was relatively less affected by the Black Tide. As a result, a large number of people had moved north from the southern district, and many shops had closed. There were usually few people around.

"Pongwara... Grand Theater."

Cheng Sheng read the words on a shabby illuminated sign at the entrance.

It turned out to be an abandoned movie theater.

The theater door was ajar, and someone had cut the lock. Cheng Sheng thought for a moment, then went inside.

Just inside was a ticket counter with a popcorn machine on it. Passages on either side led to the theater and screening rooms. Cheng Sheng headed left, because the "source of the signal" conveyed by the Primordial Mark was on that side.

As soon as he entered the screening room on the left, a chill enveloped him, as though he had suddenly walked into a room with the air conditioning turned up high.

The screening room wasn't large. A gray screen hung in the middle, and the rest was filled with seats. They were very old wooden seats that could be moved. Cheng Sheng counted roughly a hundred of them.

There was a hole in the ceiling, and a little moonlight leaked through it, so it wasn't too dark inside. He could just make things out.

The Primordial Mark at his glabella was throbbing fiercely, but Cheng Sheng couldn't find the source of what was attracting it and causing the reaction. He could only try walking toward the screen in the middle.

Compared to those in his previous life, this old screen, steeped in the feel of another era, could hardly be called large. Someone had cut a long gash in its edge with a knife, leaving one side hanging down. Cheng Sheng reached out and touched it, and a layer of dust coated his fingertips.

He shook his head and was just about to look around the sides when-

"Creak..."

A strange sound came from behind him.

Cheng Sheng spun around, his pupils abruptly contracting.

Behind him, from somewhere facing the door through which he had entered the screening room, a beam of light had appeared without his noticing.

Accompanied by the rustling whirr of film turning, the beam fell on the screen behind him, as though a movie were about to begin.

Who turned on the projector?

This rundown theater can still play movies?!

The two thoughts flashed instinctively through Cheng Sheng's mind. Before he could react, the strange sound he had heard earlier rang out again.

"Creak... creak... creak..."

At some point, something had begun dangling from the ceiling, swaying rhythmically from side to side in the center of the screening room, like a swing.

About every half second, it blocked the projector's beam, making the light flicker before Cheng Sheng's eyes.

"What is that?"

Cheng Sheng instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, squinting to get a clear look at it.

Soon, he saw clearly. It seemed to be...

A person!

A person hung from the ceiling with their head lowered, their body swinging back and forth on the rope.

"Hiss-"

The instant Cheng Sheng realized it, an overwhelming sense of horror struck him, and he instinctively wanted to flee this godforsaken place.

Just then,

"Creak-!"

The figure swinging from side to side in front of him suddenly stopped. The projector's light struck it, casting a huge, rigid shadow on the gray screen.

The air seemed to freeze in that instant. Without warning, the figure hanging from the ceiling suddenly lunged at Cheng Sheng, its limbs bent upward at grotesque angles. Beneath its disheveled hair was a woman's terrifying, twisted face, her eyes filled with venomous resentment!

"Ah!"

A terrifying shriek rang out inside the theater.

Cheng Sheng stood motionless, the blood in his body seemingly frozen, able only to watch helplessly as the terrifying woman lunged toward him.

But soon, the shriek echoing in his ears turned into a scream.

Halfway through her lunge, the woman's expression suddenly changed to one of terror. She clawed wildly with her limbs, turned around, and tried to crawl back.

But an invisible suction seized her and forcibly dragged her into Cheng Sheng's glabella!

"Hngh!"

The icy sensation that had left his whole body rigid vanished, and Cheng Sheng could move again.

He let out a muffled grunt. It felt as though many wads of cotton had suddenly been stuffed into his head, making it feel swollen and somewhat uncomfortable.

Deep in his mind, the Primordial Mark hovering above the Black Book's flyleaf swiftly grew larger. The entire mark became slightly more solid, and fine traces of black appeared within its original gray-white hue...

An Evil Spirit?

Standing in front of the screen, Cheng Sheng slowly rubbed his temples, a somewhat surprised expression on his face as he thought.