Translator: CinderTL
The figure was incredibly tall. When it emerged from the Gate, its head nearly scraped the doorframe. Conservatively estimated, it stood at least two meters tall, possibly even 2.3 meters.
Due to the dim lighting, its face was difficult to make out.
It wore a black robe, and a large cross hung around its neck. In the dim environment, the cross emanated a silver glow.
The moment Jiang Cheng saw the cross, he knew the Ghost's identity.
It was the former owner of the Folk Museum, the foreign Exorcism Master.
He hadn't expected that after being killed by the Heart-Corroding Demon, he would become a Ghost himself, becoming one of Jiangtan University's Urban Legends.
But the burned-down lending desk should have been on the fourth floor. Why was the Ghost appearing on the first floor?
Without giving Jiang Cheng time to ponder further, the Ghost of the Exorcism Master began moving toward them with stiff, unnatural steps.
Thump.
Thump.
It seemed to be wearing leather boots, and each step landed with a dull, heavy thud that felt as though it could crush a person's heart.
Setting aside everything else, this Ghost's oppressive presence far surpassed that of the Red-Clad Woman from the abandoned sports field.
Uncertain of the Ghost's method of killing, Jiang Cheng and his companions remained hidden, holding their breath.
Fatty ducked his head and crouched low.
As the Ghost approached, he sniffed the air, his brow furrowing. A strange, acrid, burnt smell began to permeate the air.
Fatty's first thought was that meat had burned.
But it was different. Mixed in with the burnt smell was an indescribable stench, somewhat reminiscent of burning rubber.
Clearly, the odor was emanating from the Ghost itself.
Recalling what the Doctor had told him, Fatty swallowed hard. "This foreign friend's life must have been pretty rough," he thought. "To have been burned alive..."
"Well, let's call him the Burnt Ghost."
The burnt smell seemed to possess a strange magic. After inhaling it for too long, Fatty's head began to spin. He tried holding his breath, but the odor, as if alive, kept forcing its way into his nostrils.
Click—
Crack.
The Burnt Ghost seemed to sense something. It stopped a short distance from the table where Huai Yi was hiding, then slowly turned its neck, as if searching for someone.
The Burnt Ghost's movements were stiff and jerky, accompanied by occasional cracking sounds as its neck rotated.
Huai Yi remained hidden beneath the table, holding his breath.
Jiang Cheng's position was relatively advantageous, allowing him to observe the Burnt Ghost more closely and devise a plan to deal with it.
The Burnt Ghost was less than five meters from Huai Yi. If it took two more steps in that direction and then crouched down, it could easily grab him.
But it didn't.
This suggested that the Burnt Ghost lacked the twisted, precise tracking ability of the Red-Clad Woman from the abandoned sports field. It could only vaguely sense someone's presence within a general area, not pinpoint their exact location.
After lingering for less than half a minute, the Burnt Ghost began to tremble, which Jiang Cheng interpreted as impatience.
Then—
Thump.
Thump.
In Jiang Cheng's view, the Burnt Ghost actually turned and walked away with heavy, deliberate steps, heading in a different direction.
As the Burnt Ghost departed, the thick, headache-inducing smell of burnt flesh gradually dissipated.
Only after the Burnt Ghost turned a corner and its silhouette completely vanished did Fatty cautiously slip out from behind the bookshelf.
Seeing that Jiang Cheng hadn't objected, Fatty tiptoed over to the pillar where he had been hiding.
"Doctor," Fatty whispered, "is it really gone?"
Jiang Cheng's gaze remained fixed on the spot where the Burnt Ghost had disappeared. After a moment, he nodded slightly. "It should be."
Fatty swallowed hard and hesitated before speaking. "Doctor, did you see where the Ghost was standing just now? I think it sensed someone nearby."
"But," Fatty raised his head, his eyes filled with confusion, "it didn't search carefully. Instead, it hurried away as if it was in a rush. Why?"
Fatty's words sparked an idea in Jiang Cheng's mind. He turned and looked at the nearby table, where an old hourglass sat.
A third of the fine sand had already drained away.
"Time," Jiang Cheng said. "This Ghost is also in a hurry. This hourglass is its timer."
Fatty stared at the hourglass, a look of understanding dawning on his face. "I get it, Doctor. This Ghost has to catch someone before all the sand runs out."
Jiang Cheng neither confirmed nor denied Fatty's theory. With so few clues, it was too early to draw conclusions.
Moreover, Jiang Cheng had a nagging feeling that this matter was more complicated than it seemed.
So far, the Ghost was just tall and intimidating in appearance, but its abilities were even weaker than those of an ordinary person. It moved slowly, its movements stiff and jerky, and it couldn't even accurately sense human locations.
If that were all there was to it, Jiang Cheng was confident that the Ghost wouldn't catch anyone. This Urban Legend would be a freebie for the Bureau.
Unfortunately, such scenarios never occurred in missions.
They simply hadn't discovered the true danger yet.
And they hadn't had time to fully consider the fable.
"Doctor," Fatty said, glancing at the pillar beside Jiang Cheng. He blinked, then his pupils suddenly dilated as if he'd just made an astonishing discovery. "This pillar... why is it here?"
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng turned to look at the pillar. "What about it?"
Fatty reached out and pulled Jiang Cheng away from the pillar, then, apparently feeling it wasn't safe enough, tugged him back several steps further. He eyed the pillar warily for a long moment before finally whispering in a strange, low voice, "Doctor, this pillar wasn't here when we came this morning."
After Fatty finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and pointed to a spot on the left. "It should be over there."
Hearing Fatty's words, Jiang Cheng instantly understood the source of the vague, inexplicable feeling that had been bothering him.
Every item in the library was exactly as they had seen it during their daytime visit, yet their positions had been switched.
Everything that had been on the left side had been moved to the right, and vice versa.
It wasn't just a single object or a specific category of items—the entire library had been flipped left to right!
Could this be the true reason for their confinement, the reason they couldn't visit the locations of the Urban Legends during the day?
Was the purpose to prevent them from discovering that everything in the Urban Legends was the exact opposite of reality?
Once this hypothesis took root in Jiang Cheng's mind, the previously complex and seemingly unrelated clues began to strangely coalesce.
Gradually, his thoughts drifted back to the beginning, to the warehouse they had found in the Activity Center.
If he remembered correctly, a shattered mirror had hung on the warehouse wall.
And it was on that day that Yuan Xiaoyi's five "friends" had vanished, all of them disappearing into the Urban Legends.
(End of the Chapter)
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