Chapter 16 The Statue Hall

　　The fat man's Adam's apple bobbed as he whispered, "Is it just me seeing things, or...or are you guys seeing it too?"

　　Huai Yi instinctively hid behind the fat man. "Brother Fugui, we...we all saw it."

　　After a pause, he suppressed the trembling in his neck, leaned closer, and pleaded in a voice only he and the fat man could hear, "Brother Fugui, stop holding back, show us some of your supernatural powers, or...or I think we're all doomed."

　　The fat man thought, *you think I need you to tell me that? If I had half the doctor's skills, I wouldn't be stuck here.*

　　"Let's run," the fat man suggested.

　　Shen Mengyun's face was pale. "W-where do we run?"

　　"The door, the door we came in through. We'll charge out," the fat man said, staring at the door. The sculptures were distributed on both sides, leaving a path in the middle.

　　"Don't rush, do you remember what Brother Jiang said? That bandit ghost...is a crooked neck," Huai Yi said.

　　Jiang Cheng had indeed said that before the security guard died, he had seen a statue with a crooked neck watching him from beside the psychologist more than once.

　　Knowing that this was no time for nonsense, Huai Yi quickly said, "It's unlikely that all these statues are a problem. It's likely that only one of them is a problem, and the others are fake, deliberately created illusions!"

　　"We just need to find the one with the crooked neck..."

　　Huai Yi was getting to the crucial point in his analysis when suddenly the fat man reached out and covered his mouth. From Huai Yi's perspective, Shen Mengyun looked like she was about to cry.

　　Huai Yi turned his head and found that all the statues had crooked necks, and the faces under the red veils were facing their direction.

　　The scene was extremely eerie.

　　Faintly, they could also hear a teeth-grinding "creak" sound, like something hard about to be twisted off.

　　"Run!"

　　The fat man was the first to bolt, followed by Shen Mengyun. Huai Yi, who was still thinking, was left behind. "Wait for me!"

　　The fat man crashed through the door and immediately ran towards the other side of the corridor. He hadn't run far when Shen Mengyun's injury flared up, and Huai Yi caught up with her.

　　Fortunately, the statues had just revived and didn't seem very familiar with their bodies, their poses all strange, as if they were being human for the first time.

　　But by comparison, the half-bodied statues were even more terrifying. They were intertwined with each other, like crippled spiders.

　　Some were crawling quickly on the ground, while others were hanging upside down from the ceiling with just their arms, chasing after them.

　　For a time, the sounds of collisions, running, and the "shasha" sound of claws scraping against the ground and walls were like strangling ropes, making it hard for them to breathe.

　　Gradually, Shen Mengyun found it harder and harder to run. Her ankle hurt terribly, and no matter how hard she tried to hold on, she couldn't run fast.

　　The sounds behind them were getting closer and closer.

　　The fat man and Huai Yi's figures had already disappeared around a corner ahead. Shen Mengyun, alone, leaned against the wall, running slowly, unable to put any weight on her right leg...

　　Memories flashed before her eyes, like a movie. Shen Mengyun often watched movies by herself and knew that when the flashbacks started, it meant the character was about to exit the stage.

　　Her exit time...was approaching.

　　But she was so unwilling...

　　Strangely enough, after coming to this world, she seemed to have forgotten many things. Wang Qi had even talked to her about it.

　　But no matter how hard she tried to remember, she couldn't recall how she had come to this world.

　　And that bus, it filled her with terror, yet it felt unfamiliar. It seemed...she had been on that bus a long time ago.

　　But she had lost that part of her memory.

　　Oddly, after seeing her performance, Wang Qi seemed to have realized something, and his face turned ugly. Not long after, he left.

　　He left in a daze, she remembered it clearly.

　　And Wang Qi's last words, he actually asked her if she felt anything wrong with her body, or...if she was different from Jiang Cheng and the others?

　　A very strange question. She was completely confused. They were on a mission, surviving was all that mattered, it wasn't a dating event.

　　Why ask so much?

　　But now, all the questions would remain unanswered. At least, she wouldn't see the day the mystery was solved.

　　A statue ghost with only its upper body was already hanging upside down above her head. She could clearly feel its excitement and that hint of human greed.

　　In the last moment of her life, a man's face appeared in her mind.

　　A profile.

　　Jiang Cheng's.

　　If he were here, would he still rush over, pick her up, and say, "Don't move, I'll get you out of here..."

　　"Mr. Jiang..." Shen Mengyun muttered, leaning against the wall.

　　Suddenly, her arm was yanked hard, and then she lost her balance and was thrown onto something soft and chubby, like a sack of potatoes.

　　"What the hell are you doing!" The fat man, carrying Shen Mengyun on his back, ran. "You're not running? Just waiting to die there!"

　　The fat man nimbly dodged a half-bodied ghost falling from the sky, not forgetting to lecture the dazed Shen Mengyun, "Miss Shen, I know your leg is injured, but you have to crawl even if you have to! The doctor said it's a matter of attitude!"

　　"We can die, but we must never give up resisting." The fat man recalled the doctor's original words, and his blood boiled. "Today, even if the King of Hell comes, I'll flick him on the forehead! No one can stop me!"

　　Shen Mengyun was completely baffled by the King of Hell forehead-flicking thing.

　　But strangely, she actually felt like she was on the same wavelength as the fat man, because her emotions were starting to ignite too!

　　"Right, we must never give up resisting!" Shen Mengyun said.

　　"That's right!" The fat man, carrying Shen Mengyun on his back, was actually running faster than the ghosts, which stunned Huai Yi, who was waiting ahead.

　　He suddenly had an idea. Maybe...he could jump on Brother Fugui's back too. With two people on his back, the ghosts wouldn't have a chance to catch up.

　　"Wait...wait for me!"

　　......

　　Just as the fat man and the others were running for their lives, Jiang Cheng and Wang Qi were blocked in the corridor. They were facing a great enemy, but strangely, the corridor was full of running, collision, and scraping sounds, but they couldn't see anything.

　　It was as if the two groups were in different time and space.

　　Jiang Cheng could even feel the fat man and the others running past him, no, passing through him!

　　The fat man's voice echoed in his ears, very close.

　　He and Wang Qi also tried to speak loudly, but the fat man and the others didn't seem to hear them at all.

　　Until the chaotic sounds faded away...

　　"Something's wrong, they're facing a different situation than us!" Wang Qi said quickly. "They seem to be the ones being targeted by the ghost, I mean the real ghost."

　　His thinking was consistent with Jiang Cheng's. Jiang Cheng was also thinking about what the fat man and the others had done to be locked on by the ghost.

　　Clearly, he and Wang Qi had been scouting the way all along.

　　They should have been the ones to trigger the danger.

　　After a moment, Jiang Cheng suddenly turned his head and looked at Wang Qi, who was also frowning, "When we entered the sculpture hall, did you knock on the door?"

　　Wang Qi was stunned for a moment, then became nervous. "I knocked. I saw you knock, and I felt that the sound was wrong. It seemed like there was an interlayer inside the door. I tried knocking on it when I passed by, but I did it very quietly."

　　The reason was found...

　　According to the clues given by Yuan Xiaoyi, you must knock on the door before entering the sculpture hall, and then enter. Yuan Xiaoyi also emphasized not to forget, it was very important.

　　Jiang Cheng hadn't forgotten, but he didn't expect that this rule only applied to individuals, that is, everyone had to knock before entering!

　　Wang Qi also understood the situation and looked in the direction of the fading sounds, asking, "What do we do now?"

　　The fat man and the others had triggered the taboo in the sculpture hall, which was now difficult to handle.

　　Especially since they were separated, there was no way to help.

　　"There's no way," Jiang Cheng turned his head and looked at the sculpture hall. "We can only trigger this taboo too, and then rendezvous with them."

　　This was definitely the worst option. If a different group of people were trapped, Jiang Cheng would definitely take advantage of the ghost chasing people to look for clues and end the haunted house.

　　But now his own people were surrounded.

　　With the abilities of the fat man, Huai Yi, and Shen Mengyun, they probably wouldn't be able to hold on for long.

　　"Like this," Wang Qi looked at Jiang Cheng and said quickly, "We split up. One of us stays outside to find clues, and the other goes in to save people!"

　　"Okay!" Jiang Cheng ran towards the door of the sculpture hall without thinking.

　　But Wang Qi stopped him. "I'll go in, you stay outside to find clues!" Wang Qi looked at Jiang Cheng and said with a serious expression.

　　"You?" Jiang Cheng shook off Wang Qi's hand, and the strangeness in his eyes finally erupted at this moment. "Why do you want to rush in to save people?"

　　"What's your relationship with that fat man...that you're willing to risk your life to save him?!" Jiang Cheng continued to question, "Who are you, him, and you all, really?"

　　Wang Qi didn't explain, he just stared coldly into Jiang Cheng's eyes. "I can't answer you this question right now, but I know that if we're any slower, they'll all die."

　　"Do you want to know the answer now, or..." He paused. "...watch them die?"

　　Wang Qi's tone had no hint of threat, he was just stating the facts.

　　After hearing this, Jiang Cheng stopped hesitating and turned to run towards the sculpture hall. Wang Qi was stunned for a moment and followed.

　　The two rushed into the sculpture hall almost at the same time.

　　This time, no one knocked on the door.

　　"Idiot!" Wang Qi cursed softly.

　　"Shut your mouth, I don't have time to deal with you right now," Jiang Cheng said. "You wait until we get out."

　　The two stopped arguing. This time, they could clearly feel that it was different from last time. The surroundings seemed even darker, as if shrouded in a layer of gray mist.

　　And...the sculptures on the left and right sides of the hall had disappeared, leaving only empty frames and description plates.

　　It seemed that they had all revived and gone to chase the fat man and the others.

　　At this moment, the sounds of chasing came from the corridor again. It seemed that they had gone around a big circle and been chased back.

　　Jiang Cheng and Wang Qi immediately rushed out the door. This time, they immediately saw the fat man running in front, with Shen Mengyun on his back and dragging Huai Yi with one hand.

　　His two sausage-like legs were running very fast.