As Li Xiu looked at his grandmother, a bit of hope immediately rose in his chest.

But in the next second, the reanimated corpse continued its previous action. It seemed that the pause after hearing Li Xiu’s voice was just a coincidence.

At this moment, time seemed to go by very slowly.

Li Xiu felt a throbbing pain spreading from his sternum, as if some invisible person had stabbed him in the chest.

He was so sad that he could hardly breathe.

Almost at the same time, Teacher Xu rushed from his side toward the grandmother’s body. A quick, faint spell escaped the man’s lips, and immediately after, he took out several yellow papers and hurled them toward the corpse. Those talisman papers were completely divorced from scientific common sense. After being thrown, balls of flames flared up halfway and clung to the corpse as if they had a mind of their own.

Now, the corpse actually stopped.

Fang Qian’an seized the opportunity. He let out a cry of terror and hunched down, stumbling away from the corpse’s cold, dry hand.

“Help, ah!” He shouted at Teacher Xu and Li Xiu.

And during such a short moment, the fire talismans Teacher Xu had thrown out had already dissipated.

The corpse could be seen swaying, then slamming down from the ceiling. The deformed thing squirmed on the floor for a few seconds and then, like an insect or some kind of animal, the corpse’s back arched into a bizarre, twisted posture.

It directed a terrifying scream toward Teacher Xu, the sound guttural and penetrating.

A strong, rancid odor mixed with disinfectant spurted out. Li Xiu tried to hold his breath, but in the end, he almost retched.

Seeing his grandmother become like this, Li Xiu was on the verge of collapse.

“Grandmother!” the youth shouted subconsciously.

The excessive shock even caused him to forget his fear. At that moment, Li Xiu couldn’t help but rush a few steps in the direction of his grandmother.

He still couldn’t believe that this “monster,” shrieking as it moved, was his grandmother.

And that she didn’t remember him at all.

Fortunately, as soon as Li Xiu moved, Qiao Yang encircled his waist and dragged him backward.

The young Taoist disciple’s face was pale as he said over and over again, “Don’t, Li Xiu. Don’t get closer. She’s already a reanimated corpse, and we don’t know what kind of monster is inside it. Don’t go over there!”

Although he seemed to be doing better than Li Xiu, in fact, he was also frightened to the point of losing his soul. In his memory, the last time a reanimated corpse had appeared in China was in 1995. Qiao Yang had originally thought that this matter was about to become a metaphysical horror story, and as a result, he was right.

…..He now very much hoped that a martial artist stuntman like Lin Zhenying would parachute down in front of him.

The most important thing was that, at this moment, the grandmother was not the only reanimated corpse in the luxurious mansion.

Shasha…..

Sha…..

Figures moved within the darkness.

Sluggish, slightly deformed pale figures stood up unsteadily and walked slowly in the direction of Li Xiu and the others.

They were ordinary people who had been bitten by the corpse before.

“We must go, quickly!” Teacher Xu shouted loudly. Raising his hand, he nailed several talismans onto the heads and shoulders of those people. Then, he supported Fang Qian’an and retreated toward Li Xiu and Qiao Yang. The four of them gathered together. Teacher Xu pushed Li Xiu and Qiao Yang, and everyone began to run toward the door.

Bang—

The man slammed the mansion’s double doors shut.

Almost at the same time the door closed, several spine-tingling, dull thumping sounds came from behind it.

Those “people” who had besieged Fang Qian’an before were slamming their bodies against it continuously.

Li Xiu covered his mouth, watching the slightly shaking doors in horror.

Teacher Xu was also breathing heavily. He patted Li Xiu on the shoulder and said calmly, “Those talismans won’t last long…..these things haven’t been seen in this country for many, many years. I’m not a member of the Xiangxi sect, so I’m not a professional when it comes to drawing talismans.”

It was dark inside the building.

Just like when they had rushed over urgently.

When they arrived, Teacher Xu and Li Xiu discovered that the high-end building that was supposed to be lit 24/7 was now enveloped by darkness.

The security personnel, the lobby manager, and even the proprietor had vanished as if they had been swallowed up by a monster.

Teacher Xu knew things weren’t good, but even he hadn’t expected that after all that hard work of climbing the stairs to get there, they would face such a terrifying scene.

After leaving the Fang residence, the four of them naturally ignored the elevator and ran straight to the fire escape.

When leaving, Teacher Xu put himself behind everyone, and the group quickly spiraled down the fire escape.

Occasionally, strange rustling noises could be heard on the other side of the fire escape doors. Apart from their rapid footsteps, there was only thick darkness in the corridor and an almost substantive oppressive fear.

Finally, Li Xiu couldn’t hold himself back and asked in a breathless whisper: “Who were the people in the house just now? Are they dead?”

“Haven’t you ever seen a zombie movie? People bitten by zombies will also become zombies,” Qiao Yang said in a low voice.

“They’re…..dead?” Li Xiu heard Fang Qian’an say in a hoarse voice.

Qiao Yang said nothing.

All at once, Li Xiu was filled with panic.

Fortunately, after a few seconds’ pause, Qiao Yang added: “…..No, but they’re soaked in yin qi right now, so I guess they’re pretty much like living corpses.”

Walking behind everyone, Teacher Xu suddenly said in a stern tone, “Don’t talk so much.”

They all fell silent at once.

The reason was very simple. Because just after Teacher Xu told them to be quiet, everyone in the stairwell heard the faint sound of footsteps in that moment of silence.

Ka—

Ka—

Those were not human footsteps at all.

It sounded more like someone jumping on their tiptoes.

Behind him, Li Xiu heard the faint sound of paper rustling in Teacher Xu’s hands.

He subconsciously started to look back, but as soon as he turned his head slightly, Teacher Xu suddenly reached out and pressed the back of his head.

“Don’t look.”

Teacher Xu’s voice was hoarse, with a hint of nearly unnoticeable weakness. Li Xiu immediately moved forward, not daring to look back. All four of them had cell phones with them, and they should have been able to descend the fire escape faster with the light. But for some reason, everyone avoided doing so.

However, in such imposing darkness, a person’s perception became particularly sharp.

Several times, as Li Xiu went down the steps, he felt that the feeling of them wasn’t right.

His soles were very sticky, and there was an indescribably strange smell in the air.

Occasionally…..

Only occasionally, Li Xiu felt as if he was stepping on something soft.

Li Xiu walked down through the darkness step by step. In a daze, he felt as if he was trapped in an absurd, void-like nightmare.

He really hoped this was all a dream. After all, zombies weren’t real in dreams, nor was his reanimated grandmother who was unable to rest in peace. And there would be no such suffocating darkness as he moved forward.

Ka—

The building was very tall.

When they reached the second half of their journey, Li Xiu, whose feet were already clumsy, could hardly move no matter how many people were coming.

He unconsciously slowed down.

Just behind them, the sounds grew even closer.

Sometimes, Li Xiu sensed that the strange footsteps entirely overlapped with theirs. So loud, so vivid, so close that it was almost right next to their group, following them down in the darkness.

Li Xiu gritted his teeth, the taste of blood filling his mouth.

His foot hurt as if it was about to break.

The extreme tension almost seemed to make his body fracture apart, his mind almost unable to control his legs—

He heard Teacher Xu urge from behind him: “Li Xiu, hurry up…..”

Bolstering himself, Li Xiu answered: “Okay.”

But before he finished speaking, he accidentally stepped wrong and fell forward uncontrollably.

He let out a muffled scream.

Despair swept over him instantly. Li Xiu knew very well that if he fell down the stairs right now, what awaited him would not only be injury, but also…..

A pair of hands suddenly reached out and grabbed Li Xiu very firmly.

“Fang Qian’an?”

“Shh…..” the other boy hissed in a suppressed whisper.

Before Li Xiu could react, he was once again being carried on the back of the former school bully. Li Xiu reflexively struggled, and felt Fang Qian’an’s body tense up.

Li Xiu heard Fang Qian’an warn him stiffly: “I’m warning you not to struggle. I don’t have much strength right now.”

“You’re a skinny little thing, and not hard to carry at all, so you’d better stay on top of me and not cause me any trouble.”

“…..”

The frail youth bit his lip. In the face of this crude warning, he didn’t utter a retort. On the contrary, he adjusted his posture as much as he could — his thighs hooked around Fang Qian’an’s waist, with his upper body pressed against Fang Qian’an’s back. His arms looped around the other boy’s shoulders and chest.

This posture could save Fang Qian’an some effort.

However, it also enabled Li Xiu notice how tense Fang Qian’an was.

Ka—

The strange footsteps sounded again.

Li Xiu instinctively tightened his thighs.

And through the thin clothing, Li Xiu could clearly feel Fang Qian’an’s body spasm several times. Then it abruptly became as unyielding as stone, and even the hands Fang Qian’an was using to grab onto his thighs unconsciously exerted force.

Li Xiu’s legs and feet weren’t strong, and his thigh muscles were extremely soft.

Fang Qian’an’s fingers practically sunk into his thighs, making Li Xiu feel a little sore.

But he didn’t care about such minor pain in this situation.

“Thank you.”

Li Xiu’s grateful voice could be heard in the darkness, as quiet as a mosquito.

Fang Qian’an’s back was soaked with sweat from the previous fright. But it was still broad and strong, the arms holding Li Xiu as firm as ever.

It felt familiar to Li Xiu.

He could help but think, how many times had this occurred?

It seemed to have happened several times.

When he was nearly unable to walk, it seemed that the same person would silently lead him forward amidst unknown fear and inescapable darkness.

Thud, thud—

There seemed to be a slight problem with his heartbeat.

Li Xiu closed his eyes and pressed his face against Fang Qian’an’s shoulder, his thoughts hazy.

Time seemed to pass very slowly, yet also very fast.

All the way down from the top of the building, he finally saw the exit. All of them almost fell to their knees due to the double burden of physical and mental pressure.

Teacher Xu was the last one to step out of the fire escape.

Li Xiu noticed keenly that Teacher Xu wasn’t holding multiple talismans in his hand, but just one last piece of talisman paper.

Having escaped in such a way, unlike how the other three were panting, Teacher Xu’s face was pale, as if he had just been fished out of water.

Before Li Xiu could ask Teacher Xu how he was doing, the man suddenly turned and threw the last talisman into the darkness.

Then he slammed the escape door.

Thud—

In the next second, Li Xiu heard an extremely familiar strange, dull smashing sound.

“Teacher Xu?”

“It’s alright.” Teacher Xu held himself up using the wall and met Li Xiu’s eyes, shaking his head slightly.

He said softly: “Let’s go. Get in the car first.”

After a brief rest, the four people supported each other as they staggered toward the building’s exit.

But then, they came upon a dense nighttime fog.

Teacher Xu’s lips moved slightly, no longer so gentle as he let out a curse.

“Damn—”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here.

Chapter 51 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 53