As the sun set, the bustling town became quieter.
Maybe it was due to the legend of a ‘ghost seeking life’ being too scary and the fact that people in the town had gone missing over the years but before it became completely dark, both the elderly and children would rush home and close their doors tightly.
The bustle and peacefulness of the day seemed to be just an illusion. At night, all the residents became nervous and wary. The streets of the entire town became empty like a ghost town.
The employee of the inn where Xiao Lou was staying kindly ran to them and told them, “Guests, we can’t go out after dark in this town. The door of the inn is locked. If you need anything, you can call me directly.”
Xiao Lou politely thanked him and sent him away.
Time passed minute by minute. The last ray of light disappeared as the sun went down.
Night had fallen.
Xiao Lou held his breath as he opened the window and listened carefully to the movement outside. It was so quiet that a pin dropping could be heard. Forget human voices. He couldn’t even hear the sounds of animals like birds, pigs or dogs. The empty town was shrouded in gentle moonlight and the shadows cast by the branches of the trees by the roadside were like demons with teeth and claws.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew and closed Xiao Lou’s window with a bang.
Sound seemed to be amplified several times in the silent night so this was like a blast of thunder in his ears. Xiao Lou was startled. He wanted to open the window again but found that the window seemed to be locked from the outside by a strange force. It couldn’t be opened at all.
Yu Hanjiang saw Xiao Lou pushing hard against the window. His expression changed and he quickly walked over. “What’s going on?”
“The window can no longer be opened.”
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou pushed at the window together. However, the stronger they pushed, the greater the force sealing the window. It was as if there was a magical force integrated with their push that canceled each other out.
Yu Hanjiang frowned deeper. Based on the strength of his arms, it wasn’t difficult for him to smash the wooden window directly. This window was fine just now. How could it suddenly fail to open when it was blown by the wind? Yu Hanjiang sensed something was wrong and immediately grabbed Xiao Lou’s wrist. He turned quickly and rushed to the door. “Go quickly!”
He stretched out his long leg and kicked the door hard, but the door didn’t open.
The two of them hadn’t locked the door when they sent away the inn’s employee just now.
Yu Hanjiang signaled with his eyes for XIao Lou to take a step back. Then he took out the Night Devil Saber and slashed at the door.
It was a blade that could cut iron like mud but the wooden door actually wasn’t affected at all. It was as if they were sealed by a magical force!
Xiao Lou’s face couldn’t help turning white. “Are we trapped in this room?”
Yu Hanjiang suggested, “Try to contact the others.”
Xiao Lou pressed on the Voice Headset and hurriedly asked, “Can anyone hear me?”
There was nothing from the headphones. It was incredibly quiet.
Yu Hanjiang lowered his voice. “Old Mo, Liu Qiao, Long Sen, Qu Wanyue, are you there?”
There was still no sound.
A strong uneasiness filled Xiao Lou’s heart. “Is it the hunters?”
The situation reminded him of the merpeople labyrinth in the Q level. The number 5 Xiao Lou clone had a card called ‘Magnetic Field Shielding’ which could block the skills of all cards in a wide range. The strange thing was that when they pulled the man into the Peach Blossom Spring and burned him to death, they didn’t find the card on his body.
Xiao Lou had believed that the man had actively destroyed the card.
As for the source and whereabouts of the hunters’ card, they had too little information. It was really difficult to track down so this matter couldn’t be solved.
Now the situation of cards being unable to be used appeared again.
If it was a prohibited card area, the notification that ‘cards are prohibited in the current scene’ would appear on the floating boxes. There was no notification but the team headset was invalid. Then someone must’ve used a card to suppress the effect of the cards in Xiao Lou’s hand.
It was definitely a hunter.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou might not be connected to each other through Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings but one look was enough for them to understand the other person’s thoughts.
At this moment, countless dense hairs came in through the gaps in the window and door. These strands of hair were like conscious tentacles that quickly swept toward Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou.
Xiao Lou’s expression changed rapidly.
They stood in the middle of the room and the hair kept pouring in like a tide through the cracks in the window and door. The two of them were surrounded by hair in less than three seconds and there was no retreat.
Seeing that the hair was about to wrap around Xiao Lou’s neck, Yu Hanjiang pulled hard with his left hand. He held Xiao Lou in his arms and jumped up. At the same time, his right hand slashed at those hairs with the saber!
The hair was cut by the blade.
However, they were so powerful that cutting them didn’t make a difference.
The cut hair fell all over the floor but the rest of the hair continued to spread and grow. More hair poured in from the cracks in the door and window and there was almost no place to settle on the ground. Yu Hanjiang looked at the long hair surrounding him from all directions with a frown and slashed quickly while trying to break through the room.
Xiao Lou’s mind was spinning fast. The current scene was very similar to Magnetic Field Shielding. Yu Hanjiang’s Night Devil Saber could be taken out and used because it was a tool card and didn’t have any skills. The invalid Heart has a Tacit Exchange of Romantic Feelings and Voice Headset all belonged to ‘skill’ cards.
Fortunately, Xiao Lou remembered very clearly that the Magnetic Field Shielding he encountered previously only lasted five minutes. At that time, they specifically let Ye Qi play the flute to do an experiment.
It was fortunate that at that time, they confirmed the specific duration of the hunter’s card.
Xiao Lou whispered, “Hold on for five minutes. If my guess is correct, it is that Magnetic Field Shielding card again.”
Yu Hanjiang nodded. He held Xiao Lou and slashed at the hair while retreating to the wall so that he only needed to face the hair from the front, left and right. He didn’t have to worry about any hair sneaking up behind him.
The man’s handsome face was full of cold killing intent. The hair around him was annoying and the speed was getting faster, but Yu Hanjiang’s saber was also getting faster!
For a time, the snow-white saber waved around Yu Hanjiang in an airtight manner.
The sharp light of the blade surrounded himself and Xiao Lou so that the hairs couldn’t get close at all!
Xiao Lou knew very well that the moment these hairs curled around their necks, they would be strangled to death. Five minutes might sound like a short amount of time but it felt longer than a century when there was a possibility of death at any time.
Xiao Lou was worried about interfering with Yu Hanjiang’s movements so he stopped talking and stayed quietly beside Yu Hanjiang.
The man’s eyes were deep and the saber in his hand was as fast as lightning. He cut so much hair and the mechanized movement lasted a long time. The muscles in his arms were always tight but he didn’t seem to feel tired at all.
Suddenly, Liu Qiao’s voice came from Xiao Lou’s earpiece. ”Professor Xiao? Can you hear me?”
The moment Xiao Lou heard Xiao Liu’s voice, he knew that the crisis of the card shielding had been temporarily lifted. Before he could answer, the hair around him seemed to have received some order and suddenly dispersed.
Yu Hanjiang frowned and looked around.
The hair that had fallen to the ground after being cut was gone.
He headed to the window and pushed hard on it. The window opened very easily.
The imprisonment was lifted. It was pitch black outside the window and the moon hung high in the sky. It was quiet, like nothing had happened.
Yu Hanjiang ordered sternly, “The one sneaking around, come out!”
“Hahaha.” Not far away, the bell-like laughter of a woman was heard. In the silence of the night, the laughter was strangely eerie. Yu Hanjiang narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction where the sound came from. In his field of vision, a white figure suddenly flashed.
This person was wearing the long, white clothing of a woman in ancient times. There were wide sleeves, a light veil, cloaked hair and lips as red as blood. Her movements were erratic and she looked like the ‘powerful ghost seeking lives’ that Tang Ci had mentioned during the day.
Xiao Lou said with a calm face, “It seems that the so-called powerful ghost is actually a hunter who has infiltrated this world.”
Yu Hanjiang pressed on the earpiece. “Are you okay? Tell me about the situation just now.”
Qu Wanyue’s slightly trembling voice entered his ear. “Just now, the door and window were suddenly locked and we couldn’t get out. We realized something was wrong and quickly used the Chameleon card to fuse with the wall. Then we saw a lot of hair rushing in!”
Long Sen sighed with relief. “Fortunately, Wanyue’s reaction was fast enough. Those hairs were really disgusting. They kept growing and spreading, soon filling the room. They didn’t find where we were so they automatically dispersed.”
The couple really reacted fast enough and merged into the wall when they encountered danger.
Xiao Lou wondered, “What about Old Mo and Xiao Liu?”
Liu Qiao said, “Our situation is similar. The door and window were blocked and hair suddenly attacked us. My card skills couldn’t be used so Uncle Mo hurriedly took out marble bricks to build a room. We hid in it and were separated from the hair.”
Old Mo’s marble bricks and wooden floors were tool cards like Yu Hanjiang’s weapon. They could be taken out and used. He was locked in a room so he made a smaller marble room, turning it into a ‘tortoise shell’ to protect them. It was clever.
His teammates were okay. Xiao Lou was finally relieved.
Old Mo said, “Just now, I heard Group Leader Yu’s voice. Is there a hunter in the instance at night?”
Liu Qiao frowned. “Isn’t this the effect of the Magnetic Field Shielding card that we encountered in the Q level? All my cards couldn’t be used just now.”
Xiao Lou nodded. “Yes.”
Liu Qiao wondered, “If I remember correctly, the magnetic field shielding will block all skills within range, right? How could the hunter continue to attack us with the hair?”
Yu Hanjiang answered in a low voice, “Perhaps it isn’t her card but her own skill.”
“Her own skill?” Liu Qiao was stunned before quickly reacting. “Her identity in this secret room is a powerful ghost? First seal us and then grow her hair to attack us?”
“That’s right.” Xiao Lou’s expression was a bit ugly. “The hunters might be able to choose their identities. Choosing a powerful ghost to attack us in the ghost instance at night will have a higher success rate.”
The woman in white just now couldn’t only attack Xiao Lou’s group with her hair. Her movements were erratic and it was like her own teleportation skill. The white shadow disappeared in the blink of an eye and it would be difficult to catch her.
There were such hunters in the secret room. No wonder the keepers warned them to ‘survive’ when they entered the secret room.
Xiao Lou was startled and suddenly asked, “Brother Jiu? Xiao Ye? Can you hear me?”
Everyone had discussed it for a long time but none of the six teammates outside the town interjected.
Based on Brother Jiu’s temper, he would definitely curse when he heard this. If it was Xiao Ye, he would definitely say whatever he thought. It was impossible for them to be so quiet.
Yu Hanjiang sensed that something was wrong and lowered his voice, “Brother, say something.”
There was no response from his earpiece. It was so quiet that it was disturbing.
The card Magnetic Shielding had a duration of five minutes. It stood to reason that the team communication could be used as normal.
Why did the people outside the town lose contact?
Could it be that Brother Jiu was also in trouble?