Chapter 18

The sound crashed like waves, battering against Number Two’s nerves, gradually eroding them. Number Thirteen, sensing something was wrong, immediately snatched the phone away, but then the sound turned its attention to him.

As the crying began, the whole world fell silent.

Zhou Ze looked behind him in terror. Everyone around him had stopped what they were doing and was now turning their heads in unison, staring at them with strange expressions.

These people didn’t move for now, but their shadows seemed unable to bear the silence, gradually becoming twisted, elongated, and approaching the three of them.

"Get behind me," Number Two said, stepping forward to meet the shadows.

Zhou Ze's back was pressed tightly against the wall, his teeth chattering with fear. The shadows on the ground were bizarre, some so distorted that he couldn't even make out their human shape, but he could clearly feel the malice emanating from them.

Finally, a shadow with half its head missing staggered towards Number Two, but the next second, the remaining half of its head was stomped on by a foot, unable to escape no matter how it struggled.

Until Number Two pressed down, crushing the shadow into pieces.

Gradually, Zhou Ze began to see how things were working. Although these shadows looked ferocious, they couldn't last even a single round against the man in the cowboy hat. The man dealt with them as easily as slicing melons.

Thinking this, Zhou Ze's pale face flushed slightly.

But Number Thirteen, standing next to Zhou Ze, looked increasingly nervous. As soon as one shadow was eliminated, another immediately filled its place, seemingly endlessly, not giving Number Two a chance to breathe.

Moreover, he and the person beside him were of little help, forcing Number Two to divide his attention to protect them.

Number Thirteen understood that these surging shadows were just cannon fodder, controlled by another force to deplete Number Two's abilities. The guy hiding in the dark was also quite wary of Number Two.

Although he couldn't see any immediate problems, if this continued, and Number Two showed signs of fatigue, the guy hiding in the dark would attack them.

That guy was the source of this supernatural event.

If they didn't find him, killing any number of shadows would be useless.

Number Thirteen looked at his trembling hand, clenched his fist tightly, hardened his heart, and turned to Zhou Ze, speaking with a commanding tone: "Zhou Ze, watch our surroundings. I'm going to try again!"

"Huh?" Zhou Ze was stunned.

Number Thirteen dared not delay for a moment. He didn't need to explain to Zhou Ze. Back against the wall, he sat down cross-legged, took a deep breath, and said to Zhou Ze with unusual seriousness: "During the next period, my perception of the surrounding environment will weaken. Whatever you have to do, you must ensure that I am not disturbed. If I fail, we will all die here today, understand?"

If an ordinary child spoke to Zhou Ze like this, Zhou Ze wouldn't even bother to respond, but this child, like the man in the hat, was a monster, and a more terrifying monster than those shadows.

If the two of them fell, he was destined to die here today.

"Understood!" Zhou Ze's face hardened, and he went all in.

Number Thirteen focused his attention and pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket. The eerie white glove reappeared on his left hand, but this time, his face grew even paler.

Zhou Ze focused his attention on the surroundings. The man in the cowboy hat was still merciless, like a solid wall, blocking the impact of numerous shadows.

But as more and more people stood up and surrounded them, the cowboy hat man's moving space was further compressed, but he still didn't retreat.

"Hang in there!" Zhou Ze shouted in his heart.

Soon, he noticed in his peripheral vision that familiar faces seemed to appear in the approaching crowd. He took a closer look, and his heart stirred. It was Li Jia and Wei Fatty!

At this moment, the two of them had gloomy, stiff faces and resentful eyes, clearly no longer human.

Out of habit, Zhou Ze subconsciously looked for their shadows, but strangely, unlike the people around them, the two of them had no shadows.

He continued to observe and discovered the difference between Li Jia, Wei Pangzi, and the others.

Most of the others were staring at the cowboy hat man, who was closer to them, but Li Jia and Wei Pangzi's gaze was always fixed on the boy beside him.

This discovery made his heart tremble, and a sense of foreboding surged into his heart. He quickly shifted his search range, focusing on the boy's side, and finally found two sneaky shadows on the wall behind him.

At this moment, the two shadows were crawling along the wall, silently, the closest one less than 3 meters away from the boy.

Zhou Ze was anxious. He looked around, saw some wine bottles on the ground, and without thinking, picked one up and smashed it at the shadows with a "bang". But it was useless.

The shadows ignored him and continued to crawl towards the boy.

At this moment, the boy's body trembled for no reason, his lip was bitten, and large drops of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Anyone could tell that the ritual had reached the most critical moment.

Zhou Ze's heart hardened, his eyes fixed on Wei Pangzi and Li Jia standing not far away. Old and new hatreds surfaced at the same time. Ignoring everything else, Zhou Ze swung the wine bottle and smashed it at Wei Pangzi's annoying face with all his strength. "Die!"

Unexpectedly, this hit was surprisingly accurate, and Wei Pangzi was knocked down.

Zhou Ze understood a little. The shadows of these people were terrifying, but their physical strength was no different from ordinary people.

Before he could catch his breath, Wei Pangzi stood up stiffly, moving like a zombie in an old movie. What was frightening was that half of his face had collapsed, and he had lost one eye.

But this time, his stiff neck turned, and a single eye looked at him!

At the same time, the fatter shadow on the wall changed direction and crawled towards his shadow.

Zhou Ze turned and ran, but after only a few steps, he stopped. He turned his head to look, the fat shadow chasing after him relentlessly, but the thin shadow belonging to Li Jia had floated above the boy's shadow.

An arm stretched out, five fingers like claws, reaching for the boy's head.

"Bang!"

Another wine bottle was thrown, hitting Li Jia on the head, knocking the skinny Li Jia over. After Li Jia stood up again, Zhou Ze, while leading the fat shadow around, took the time to give Li Jia the middle finger.

The result was that Li Jia's shadow abandoned Number Thirteen and joined the pursuit of Zhou Ze.

Fortunately, these two shadows didn't seem very proficient yet, their movements were strange but stiff, but even so, Zhou Ze was struggling to cope. Once, if he hadn't crawled on all fours, he would have been pierced through by Li Jia's shadow.