Translator: CinderTL
Everyone knew what it meant to lose contact during a mission.
"Let's go check it out," Jiang Cheng said, heading in the direction Gao Yan had run.
The sand in the hourglass had completely drained. The third-floor mission was over, and the Ghost's threat had vanished.
Along the way, Fatty caught Wang Qi staring at him out of the corner of his eye. Not sneaking glances, but staring directly, without any pretense.
Startled, Fatty quickened his pace and moved closer to the Doctor.
But when Fatty tried to speak to the Doctor, he found that Wang Qi had already withdrawn his gaze, acting as if nothing had happened.
After circling around, they reached the staircase leading to the 4th floor. A figure emerged from behind a wall.
It was... Gao Yan.
Gao Yan stared at them, his eyes pausing noticeably when he saw Shen Mengyun, a clear sign of discomfort.
Even with her usually gentle temperament, Shen Mengyun couldn't bring herself to give a friendly greeting to the man who had nearly killed her. Her tone was sharp as she said, "Mr. Gao, I trust you're well?"
"Miss Shen, I'm relieved to see you unharmed," Gao Yan replied with a forced smile, his expression somewhat stiff.
Jiang Cheng noticed that the old man looked somewhat disheveled. It seemed he had come looking for him after the Ghost had left.
As Gao Yan spoke, his gaze was drawn to Fatty, his expression turning strange. "This is..."
Fatty was carrying a large bag on his back, which looked quite heavy. It was the bag of flour Jiang Cheng had made him carry.
Gao Yan wasn't stupid. In just a few seconds, he grasped the underlying Xuan Ji and nodded. "So that's how it is."
"Alright," Wang Qi said slowly, turning his head. "We're heading to the fourth floor. Everyone, prepare yourselves."
Beside the staircase leading to the library's fourth floor stood the usual dilapidated wooden board, bearing two lines of crookedly written characters.
"All who pass through this point will, like the Lord, receive the third treasure." Fatty read the words aloud, syllable by syllable.
"This time, they're taking away our sense of smell," Huai Yi said, his voice tinged with unease. "Combined with the loss of sight and hearing on the second and third floors, this time..."
Even though everyone had already realized this and prepared themselves mentally, the atmosphere remained oppressively terrifying as they stepped onto the stairs leading to the 4th Floor.
Before the 4th Floor staircase stood a gate unlike any they had encountered before. This one was clearly thicker and more dilapidated.
It was an iron gate, coated in a layer of faded, dark green anti-rust paint.
Over time, the paint had peeled away, leaving the surface covered in rust. From a distance, it looked mottled and patchy.
Like the rotting face of a corpse covered in festering sores.
Standing on the 4th Floor of the library, Jiang Cheng slowly scanned his surroundings.
The decay here was immediately apparent, starkly different from the floors below. The air was thick with a musty odor, suggesting no one had visited in a long time.
This floor was filled with bookshelves—massive, towering black wooden structures that looked incredibly sturdy.
The shelves were crammed with books.
"Look over here," Shen Mengyun suddenly said, pointing to a spot about five or six meters away, near a bookshelf. The white plaster on the wall had turned a charred black, as if scorched by fire.
On the charred ground lay an hourglass.
For a fleeting moment, everyone felt a strange illusion—as if the hourglass had been waiting there, watching them.
"I..." Fatty began, his voice lacking confidence as he looked around. "I have an idea."
"Speak."
"Speak."
The first voice was Jiang Cheng's; the second, Wang Qi's, a man known for his eccentric personality.
To Fatty's surprise, the two most influential and powerful members of the team seemed genuinely interested in his proposal, despite his own perceived weakness.
Witnessing this, Huai Yi became even more convinced that Fatty was a hidden powerhouse. The persona he presented was merely a facade. Brother Jiang and Brother Fugui, two Crimson-rank experts, worked in perfect harmony, one in the open, the other in the shadows.
Fatty was taken aback by their attention. "I... I was thinking, maybe we shouldn't touch the hourglass just yet," he stammered, swallowing hard. "We already know we have control over this mission. As long as we don't touch the hourglass, the mission won't start."
As if fearing misunderstanding, Fatty explained, "I'm not trying to shirk my duty. It's just... we can use this time before the mission starts to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings."
"That way, when the Ghost appears, we'll be prepared, know where to hide, and our chances of survival will be higher."
"Absolutely not!" Before Fatty could finish, Gao Yan cut him off.
He stared at the hourglass from a distance, his eyes filled with terror. His breathing quickened, as if recalling a horrifying scene.
"Why?" Fatty asked.
"These hourglasses aren't what you think. They're far more complicated than that." After a moment's thought, Gao Yan decided to share his experiences with the group.
However, he concealed the truth skillfully. If they hadn't heard about it from Shen Mengyun, it would have been difficult to detect that Gao Yan was deliberately withholding clues.
"So, these hourglasses definitely aren't as simple as just not touching them to keep them still," Gao Yan gasped. "They're alive. No, they're... they're all alive!"
Jiang Cheng had already considered Fatty's idea, but he chose not to test it or make it public.
First, based on his understanding of Nightmares, he didn't believe the mission would leave such an obvious loophole for him to exploit. In his view, it was more likely a trap.
Second, the cost of failure was too high. No one had yet been killed by the Ghost, and the conditions for the Ghost to kill remained unclear. He couldn't afford even a minor mistake.
Moreover, Wang Qi wasn't stupid. If Jiang Cheng could think of it, Wang Qi certainly could too, yet he hadn't proposed a similar suggestion. Jiang Cheng assumed Wang Qi shared the same concerns.
"There are many Hourglasses, and some are hidden. Avoiding them completely during exploration will be extremely difficult," Wang Qi said with a hint of amusement. "Have you considered what would happen if someone accidentally activated one?"
After a moment's thought, Fatty understood. Wang Qi's scenario was terrifying. If someone accidentally activated an Hourglass, they would immediately summon the Ghost to their side.
Even worse, they wouldn't even realize the Ghost had arrived. By the 4th Floor, the Ghost had become an invisible, inaudible, and odorless transparent being. They would be hunted down one by one without any warning.
The Hourglasses scattered throughout the library were essentially dormant alarm systems. Once activated, they would instantly reveal the survivors' locations to the Ghost, allowing it to silently materialize beside them.
Merry Christmas!
(End of the Chapter)
---
📖Read (NS) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c1190. [+2]
🔑Early Access at $1.
💥Translated (6) Series, (4.6K+) Chapters, (6.7M+) Words.