Chapter 120 The Eye in the Hourglass

"You saw Gao Yan move the hourglass with your own eyes?" Jiang Cheng confirmed for the second time.

Shen Mengyun nodded, her tone very certain as she said, "It was him who moved it. I saw it very clearly. The position of that hourglass was quite high, and he had to reach with some effort to get it."

"And after moving the hourglass, that ghost appeared." Jiang Cheng said, "Appeared suddenly."

"Yes." As if afraid that Jiang Cheng wouldn't believe her, Shen Mengyun's tone was somewhat agitated, "Mr. Jiang, I wouldn't lie to you, that ghost... that ghost really appeared suddenly."

While gesticulating with her hands, she explained, "Because the ghost has that smell, if it were coming from a far place, the smell should have gradually intensified, but this time it wasn't like that. It was suddenly very strong, a pungent, head-on assault."

Recalling Shen Mengyun's words, Jiang Cheng reconstructed the scene in his mind.

Gao Yan was a cautious person, even to the point of being extremely afraid of death.

He wouldn't touch the hourglass for no reason.

Unless... he had discovered something.

And one more thing, according to Shen Mengyun's description, the instant Gao Yan reached for the hourglass, the ghost immediately appeared nearby.

This indicated that there was some unknown connection between the ghost and the hourglass. Moving the hourglass rashly would immediately summon the ghost to one's side.

Thinking of this, Jiang Cheng raised his head and began to carefully examine the hourglass on the bookshelf.

Although the hourglasses here had differences in detail, their style suggested that they all came from the same place.

The one in front of him was very exquisite in its craftsmanship, with some subtle protrusions around it, like very small thorns, and...

Jiang Cheng frowned.

What was this?

Through the transparent container inside the hourglass, he could see that only a small portion of the sand remained, but Jiang Cheng vaguely glimpsed something.

It was located in the innermost part of the hourglass, mostly buried by the sand that had flowed down.

It was... red.

And a little bit of black.

To see more clearly, Jiang Cheng stood on tiptoe and brought his face closer and closer... until that thing suddenly twitched.

Jiang Cheng was caught off guard by this sudden change, but the next moment, he finally saw the true face of that thing.

It was an... eyeball.

It was the kind that had been burned, already somewhat shriveled, with unsightly black wrinkles covering the surface. What suffocated Jiang Cheng even more was that this eyeball was staring at him, its pupil narrowed into a slit.

Its eyes were filled with monstrous resentment.

This eyeball... was alive!

Jiang Cheng suddenly understood that this eyeball was the Burnt Ghost's!

But before he could react, he suddenly felt a sharp pain coming from his arm. The scene in front of him began to crack.

Soon after, it shattered like a mirror.

Jiang Cheng blinked uncontrollably and looked down at his right hand. A round human head was where the pain originated.

The head was biting him.

It was... Shen Mengyun.

Seeming to sense Jiang Cheng's change, Shen Mengyun slowly raised her head, still maintaining the posture of being ready to bite down at any moment.

As she met Jiang Cheng's gaze, a hint of surprise appeared on Shen Mengyun's face, "Mr. Jiang, you're finally responding!"

"What are you doing..." Jiang Cheng looked at his right hand, which had neat teeth marks, and he could imagine how much force Shen Mengyun had used.

Shen Mengyun glanced at the hourglass, a hint of dread flashing in her eyes. She turned her head and quickly told Jiang Cheng what she had just seen, "Mr. Jiang, you reached out to grab the hourglass, and no matter how I called you, you didn't react."

"I tried to pry your hand open, but I couldn't budge it at all. You were like you were bewitched. I had no choice but to..." She glanced at Jiang Cheng's right hand, the meaning self-evident.

"Right." As if recalling something, Shen Mengyun changed the subject and said, "The way you reached for the hourglass just now was a bit like Gao Yan."

Jiang Cheng looked at the ordinary, normal hourglass.

It was just sitting there, not moving at all. The sand inside was gradually sliding down, with only a little left. There was no eyeball inside.

Everything just now seemed like an illusion.

But Jiang Cheng knew that it wasn't. He had indeed seen a shriveled eyeball hidden inside the hourglass.

If Shen Mengyun hadn't been by his side and interrupted him in time, the scene that had happened to Gao Yan would have been repeated on him.

"I know why Gao Yan moved the hourglass," Jiang Cheng said, looking at Shen Mengyun, his gaze filled with thoughtfulness. "He was bewitched by the eyeball inside and uncontrollably touched the hourglass."

Then, he briefly told Shen Mengyun about his experience.

"So that's how it is." Having Jiang Cheng's experience as a warning, Shen Mengyun became even more wary of the hourglass, even afraid to look at it closely.

"Then... if that's the case, aren't all the hourglasses distributed throughout the library the Burnt Ghost's eyes?" Shen Mengyun asked, "Then where can we hide? What's the difference? Anyway, the Burnt Ghost will be able to see us."

From her voice, it could be heard that she was very resistant to this outcome, so her tone was a bit desperate.

Jiang Cheng pondered for a moment and comforted her, "It shouldn't be that bad. From what I saw just now, the eyeballs in each hourglass are in a state of dormancy."

"As long as we keep our distance from the hourglasses and don't awaken them, we should be fine," Jiang Cheng said, looking at Shen Mengyun.

As they were talking, the last bit of sand in the hourglass finally ran out.

This also meant that the task on the third floor of the library had ended.

Jiang Cheng sent messages to Fatty and Huai Yi. Soon after, the originally quiet environment began to have some activity as Fatty and Huai Yi walked out one after the other.

When Fatty saw Jiang Cheng supporting Shen Mengyun as they came out from behind the bookshelf, Fatty's originally cautious gaze turned playful.

Before Fatty could say anything, Jiang Cheng first told them about what he had encountered and some of his analysis.

Upon hearing that there were Burnt Ghost's eyes in the hourglasses and that they could summon the ghost, Fatty and Huai Yi very consciously searched their surroundings and avoided all the hourglasses they could find.

"Damn it." Fatty muttered softly, "I was wondering why this task was so kind, giving us so many timers. It turns out they're all time bombs."

Huai Yi thought a little more and, after looking around, said in a low voice, "There are a lot of hourglasses, and some are in relatively hidden locations. It's going to be difficult to avoid them all."

"Ba da."

"Ba da."

...

There were footsteps behind them. Everyone turned around. It was Wang Qi walking over alone. "It's good to see you guys," Wang Qi said, grinning.

Wang Qi had come out from where Shen Mengyun had run earlier, so it seemed he had hidden well. The ghost hadn't found him.

Of course, it was likely that he owed this to Gao Yan.

"Right." Wang Qi took out his phone and shook it, saying, "I sent a message to Gao Yan, but he hasn't replied."