Chapter 16 Tragedy

Before Feng Jie could react, a distorted figure burst out from behind the door, reaching him almost instantly. It stretched out a hand, aiming for Feng Jie's neck.

It was Li Mengyao!

In that instant, everyone saw it clearly: her body was split in two from her right shoulder, but at this moment, the two halves were eerily pieced back together, red flesh writhing as if they might separate at any moment.

A stiff face was covered in blood.

Jiang Cheng reacted quickly, immediately charging forward. He held the desk lamp in his hand, unsure if the light could dispel such a corpse, but clearly, there was no other option now.

Li Mengyao's fingers curled. She didn't grow sharp nails like in zombie movies; her movements were simply strange, but the power contained within was not to be underestimated.

No one doubted that if Feng Jie were grabbed by the neck, his throat would be torn open in the next second.

Fortunately, Jiang Cheng's actions were swift enough. The instant Li Mengyao's fingers touched the light, she recoiled quickly, as if burned.

Jiang Cheng pressed his advantage, bringing the lamp even closer. Li Mengyao's corpse immediately retreated, then disappeared into the surging mist.

It was unclear whether she retreated back to her original room or slipped into the depths of the corridor.

"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Jiang," Feng Jie said, his lips pale and his words sincere. He naturally knew that if Jiang Cheng had been a step slower, he would have followed in the footsteps of Xia Qiang and Li Mengyao.

Jiang Cheng looked at Feng Jie, who was trembling slightly, then shifted his gaze past him, towards the safety door. Li Mengyao's figure had disappeared, but he didn't believe the danger had passed.

"Did she run?" Yuan Xiaotian's voice was filled with surprise. This was definitely a major discovery, and very beneficial to them.

He snapped back to reality, his eyes focusing on the desk lamp in Jiang Cheng's hand, and his expression couldn't help but turn to joy. It seemed that the light could not only restrain the killer, but also these resurrected corpses.

In other words, as long as they didn't leave the range of the light and remained cautious, there wouldn't be any problems.

As for Feng Jie being attacked, it was entirely his own fault...

"Ah!" someone suddenly shouted, "What is that?"

Everyone was startled by the sound and immediately looked over, finding that it was Huai Yi, who was at the back of the group.

Huai Yi was standing in place, his body twisting in fear, as if trying to break free from some force, but everyone noticed that no matter how wide his movements, his legs seemed rooted to the ground, unmoving.

"Hiss—"

Someone gasped. A pair of pale hands, clinging to the ground, stretched out from behind Huai Yi and gripped his ankles tightly.

It wasn't clear if it was a trick of the light, but they couldn't see the part connected to the hands, as if they had appeared out of thin air.

"Save... ah, ahhh!" Huai Yi lowered his head, obviously noticing the ghostly hands, but before he could call for help, he screamed, his face twisted in pain.

Even more terrifying, everyone heard the sound of bones cracking, and with the cracking sound, Huai Yi's ankles visibly deformed, his bones crushed alive by the ghostly hands.

The next second, he fell face down on the ground, then his body was dragged upwards along the stairs by a strange force, all happening so suddenly, leaving a trail of mottled blood on the ground.

Jiang Cheng immediately chased after him.

"What are you waiting for, follow me!" Fatty left a word and also chased after him.

Fortunately, the ghost hands weren't as fast as they had imagined. After only two floors, the ghost hands were forced back by Jiang Cheng's light. Huai Yi could no longer hold on, curling up into a ball, wailing in pain.

By the time Fatty rushed over, wanting to join Feng Jie in helping him up, a chilling scene unfolded. Below Huai Yi's pant legs, there was nothing.

"Where are his feet?!" Zhou Tong's voice was ear-splitting.

Lin Muwan, seeing such a terrifying scene, swayed. Fortunately, Lin Muyun was quick and grabbed her, otherwise she might have fallen down the stairs.

The air was filled with the smell of blood, and Lin Muyun couldn't help but frown.

Jiang Cheng didn't move, but used the light to look ahead, where mist was floating. The mist was moving quickly, as if something had just run through it.

"Brother!" Fatty squatted down, anxiously patting Huai Yi's face, using a lot of force. "Brother, hang in there, we're almost out, and once we're out, all the injuries will be healed!"

Huai Yi was lying on the ground, his eyes starting to lose focus, his body trembling uncontrollably, blood flowing out as if it were free. The ground was a patch of scarlet.

Fatty, with red eyes, was about to carry Huai Yi on his back, but was stopped by another irresistible force. "I'll do it." Feng Jie quickly placed Huai Yi on his back, letting his hands rest on his shoulders. "I'll carry him, you're responsible for locating those ghosts." Feng Jie said quickly to Fatty.

As if worried that Fatty was uneasy, he nodded firmly and spoke again, "Don't worry, as long as I have a breath left, I won't abandon him."

"Go back," Jiang Cheng said, staring at the mist. "We're going back the way we came."

Yuan Xiaotian looked at the path behind them, resisting in his heart. "That thing might not have left yet, going back the way we came is..."

"I said go back the way we came, hurry!" Jiang Cheng said loudly.

Zhou Tong wanted to help Huai Yi bandage his wounds on the way, but was stopped by Feng Jie. "It's useless, his injuries are too severe. We don't have the means to stop the bleeding, and we don't have the time. If we want him to live, we have to speed up and get out."

Jiang Cheng held the desk lamp in his hand. The area illuminated by the light was the safe zone, but as time went on, everyone noticed something very bad.

The area that the light could cover was getting smaller and smaller.

At the beginning, the light could cover the entire group when they were sparsely gathered together, but now, everyone needed to be tightly packed together, which severely limited their speed.

"What's going on?" Zhou Tong's eyes were filled with fear. The lamp was their only hope for survival.

"The light is getting dimmer and dimmer, will the light eventually go out as time passes?" Lin Muyun's voice was relatively calm, perhaps because he had been close to the killer and had a deeper understanding of its terror.

It seemed very likely.

Sure enough, the path to survival in the mission wasn't absolute, at least it was time-limited.

Just as they were going down the stairs and came to a corner, about to continue running down, Fatty, who was at the front, suddenly stopped, then, as if suddenly noticing something, his eyes widened.

Just three meters ahead, on the first step, there was a pair of bloody severed feet, lying quietly. The severed feet were close together, their toes pointing in their direction.