Chapter 31: Footsteps in the Dark

In this clapping game, the order is of vital importance.

To prevent chaos and rule violations caused by multiple people clapping at once, the six survivors have each been assigned a number. Wu Xian is one, Shi Ji is two, Yue Mei is three, Wen Chao is four, Su Huilan is five, and Su Huijin is six.

The sequence was decided by a draw at the room. Wu Xian drew for Room 403 and, unfortunately, pulled number one. Number one must clap once loudly, number two twice, and so on.

The next person in line must clap within ten seconds of receiving the signal. If ten seconds pass without the next person clapping, it signifies that an accident has occurred, and the following person must clap within the next ten seconds to ensure the game continues without interruption.

...

Seeing that the time was nearly up, Wu Xian closed his eyes, steeled himself, and clapped loudly.

*Clap!*

The sound was crisp.

With that single clap, the entire world seemed to fall silent. The prayers outside the window ceased, and the occasional eerie wails of malevolent spirits vanished. All Wu Xian could perceive was absolute silence and darkness.

He rubbed his palms, which were tingling from the force of the clap, and waited in the utter blackness for the spirits to find him.

Time is a strange concept. Often, when people wish for time to slow down so they might prolong a pleasant experience, it slips away like a wild horse. Conversely, when people want time to pass quickly to escape a grueling moment, it crawls like a snail.

For Wu Xian, at this moment, every day felt like a year.

In the absolute silence, his hearing became hypersensitive. He could hear his own heartbeat, the rhythmic ticking of a clock, and the restless stirring from other rooms.

After about five minutes, Wu Xian heard a new sound.

*Slap-slap, hiss...*

It wasn't footsteps; it sounded more like hands slapping against the ground, dragging a body behind them.

It was that hollowed-out male corpse!

It had found him! It had come to find Wu Xian at this godforsaken hour!

...

Under the dim, yellowish light, the hollowed-out male corpse crawled onto the fourth floor of the Ping'an Hotel. Its limbs were incredibly powerful, while its opened abdominal cavity dragged along the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind.

Lacking internal organs, the corpse moved with great difficulty, and it had only just reached this area now that Wu Xian had stopped moving.

It hated being this way. Therefore, it had to find Wu Xian to make itself whole again. Since Wu Xian had discarded its organs, it would fill its empty cavity with Wu Xian’s own.

The sounds of the corpse crawling terrified all six survivors, adding a dangerous variable to an already high-stakes game of clapping.

The corpse crawled past 401 and 402, finally stopping at the door of 403.

"Found... you. My organs."

Wu Xian, eyes closed, sensed the presence of the corpse through the sound. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he wrestled with his choices. If he could only open his eyes, he could easily chop this minor spirit into mincemeat with his copper coin sword, which still held the power of eighty blades.

But the most critical thing was that he was waiting for the Mother Ghost Seeking Her Child. He dared not open his eyes!

He didn't even dare to use the copper coin spear for defense. The spear would heat up in the presence of spirits and was far too long; if the Mother Ghost found him while he was wielding it, she might perceive it as an act of aggression.

Wu Xian could only clench his fists in the dark. He prayed that if the corpse touched him, he would have a chance to ignite the Golden Crow Feather and repel it with its fire.

Suddenly, the sound of the corpse stopped.

It rose from its prone position to a hunched, standing one. Its speed increased sharply, yet it made not a sound. Its horrific face was twisted with greedy longing.

Within two seconds, it stood directly before Wu Xian, their faces only a tongue's length apart. Because the corpse had no lungs and could not breathe, Wu Xian had not noticed its approach and was still waiting for it to crawl closer, hoping for a chance to throw a punch.

The corpse grinned hideously.

The skin on its arm tore open, and its bones proliferated into a blood-streaked bone blade. It aimed for Wu Xian’s abdomen, already imagining how satisfying it would be to have new organs inside its body.

But just then, the corpse’s movements froze.

*Clatter, clatter...*

A new sound emerged—the dense clanking of chains. Amidst the ringing, there was the sound of a woman's footsteps.

Wu Xian swallowed hard.

She was here.

The very first spirit of this world, the Mother Ghost Seeking Her Child!

Given the sheer amount of chain-clanking, one could imagine how much the Mother Ghost was restricted by this blessed land; compared to her, even the great spirit at the broken door was free.

The footsteps drew closer. Wu Xian clapped once more to let the Mother Ghost know his location, and she moved toward him.

The male corpse grew frantic. It was not a normal spirit; its internal organs had been hollowed out, its brain was a shell, and it was driven only by the base instincts of a spirit. That was why it had dared to enter the Mother Ghost's domain.

Yet, even such a mindless entity felt an inexplicable terror as the Mother Ghost approached. So great was its fear that Wu Xian, standing right in front of it, lost all appeal. It turned to flee.

The moment it turned, a pair of pale hands pressed onto its face.

It dared not move, staring blankly at the entity before it, then watched as those two pale hands plunged into its eye sockets!

*Squelch!*

The male corpse collapsed to the ground, its body beginning to rot at a speed a thousand times faster than normal.

The Mother Ghost stepped over the corpse, waving her blood-stained, pale hands as she groped forward, finally touching Wu Xian, the source of the clapping.

Her ice-cold hands explored Wu Xian’s body, and blood from the corpse’s eye sockets smeared onto him. Wu Xian kept his eyes tightly shut, gritting his teeth to endure it.

Every time her palms touched him, countless images flooded his mind. Most of these images were faces—men, women, the old, and the young—all in their final moments.

Some were weeping, some furious, others wailing...

Despair, fear, madness, and regret—countless negative emotions battered Wu Xian’s brain. He even had the urge to simply open his eyes and end it all. As long as they remained in contact, these negative emotions continued to surge into him.

The Mother Ghost soon found Wu Xian’s eyes. She measured the position of his eyelids with her hands, leaned in, and blew a breath of air onto his eyes.

Now, Wu Xian had become the new seeker.

Besides Wu Xian, the other five survivors simultaneously felt a cool, foul-smelling breath blown onto their eyelids.

Blowing on the eyelids was the signal to switch the seeker.

Upon receiving the signal, Shi Ji immediately clapped twice. Wu Xian, knowing Shi Ji's location, groped in the darkness for two seconds until he found him. He felt for Shi Ji’s eyes and blew a breath of air onto them.

Because Wu Xian had brushed his teeth thoroughly, everyone smelled the fresh scent of toothpaste.