Mr. Chen closed the door behind him with a backhand, making sure the latch was securely fastened. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that those falling corpses might rise again.
Bob tumbled down the staircase with a series of thuds, his wails echoing as he fell. Shen Yun clung to Mr. Chen’s waist, still not recovered from the string of calamities; her legs were weak, and her face was ashen.
"Are you alright?" Mr. Chen called out to Bob, who was sprawled on the next level down.
"Alive... but in so much pain." Struggling to his feet, Bob leaned against the wall and rubbed his lower back. Only then did Mr. Chen rember that he was over 50 years old.
He asked Shen Yun to hold onto the stair railing and then pulled out a high-caliber assault rifle. His eyes twinkled with a blue halo as he moved slowly down the staircase. There wasn’t a soul in the building, but Mr. Chen’s intuition told him they weren’t alone.
"Mr. Chen? What exactly is going on... My phone, there’s no signal," Shen Yun asked with a sobbing voice, having never encountered such a situation before.
"Shh." Mr. Chen signaled for them to be silent.
The worst-case scenario right now would be sothing akin to the death tiline of 2006. Regardless, Mr. Chen still had a soul in his possession; opening a door would allow him to return ho, so it wasn’t a major issue.
However, to use this soul to open a door, it would lead directly towards "ho". Before this, Mr. Chen’s "ho" had always been the hotel he stayed in, but now it was the Illusion Dream Center, and he didn’t want Shen Yun and Bob to know this secret.
Just keep moving for now.
That was Mr. Chen’s plan, but what if the situation here was different from what he had anticipated? Perhaps they had rely entered a place similar to the Inner Sea Restricted Zone. The Sunrise Administration should have noticed soone entering the controlled area and perhaps they had already sent soone?
After descending three more floors via the ergency stairwell, Mr. Chen slowly pushed open the double doors to the 52nd floor. The door creaked and groaned, a truly irritating noise.
There was nothing outside the door; it appeared safe. Mr. Chen didn’t open the door fully, just wide enough for a person to slip through sideways. He let Shen Yun and Bob go first, then squeezed through himself.
Planning to slowly close the door behind him, they now found themselves in a very common office space, the entire floor filled with cubicles and computers, much like in the West Gold Building.
Mr. Chen led the two towards the windows, wanting to check out the situation outside.
Floor-to-ceiling windows were installed on the wall ahead, and under the pallid sky hung the shadow of Earth, so close yet not obscuring the sun.
"Mr. Chen... what is... what is that?" Shen Yun pointed outside.
"My god... Such a large planet, it looks so much like...?" Bob also exclaid in awe.
The two of them breathed raggedly, their anxiety mounting. Mr. Chen patted their shoulders, trying to soothe them, "Don’t overthink it. It’s just a common illusion. So monsters can create this kind of fog to make people lose their way."
Both were ordinary people, unaccustod to such spectacles. Without the comfort of lies, they could easily lose control.
"We should call the Administration Bureau," Bob suggested as he took out his cellphone.
"I already tried, there’s no signal," Shen Yun shook her head.
"Maybe it got damaged during the chase," Bob suggested skeptically. He rummaged through his pockets for a while but couldn’t find his phone, suddenly rembering that he must have lost it when he jumped from the plane.
"Okay, okay, keep it down. Stick with , and nothing will happen," Mr. Chen said.
"Ah... It hurts." Shen Yun frowned, looked down, and saw that her stockings were torn in several places, and her legs were covered in blood.
"Did you get injured when we jumped before?" Mr. Chen asked.
"This is not the ti to worry about that! What on earth is happening here?" Shen Yun was losing control, her face etched with panic.
Outside the window, nurous people continued to plunge from the sky.
"I need to find my phone; it must have fallen at the roof or near the stairwell," said Bob, now full of determination as he turned to run towards the ergency exit.
"Hey, hey... The side characters in horror movies die like that. Stay by , and I’ll keep you safe. Don’t go anywhere," Mr. Chen grabbed Bob’s arm.
"Mr. Chen... It’s not that I don’t trust you, but under these circumstances, even a Spiritual Ability User like you is of no help," Bob retorted, pulling away from Mr. Chen and quickly disappearing into the ergency passageway. The double doors creaked and groaned a few tis before slamming shut with a bang.
"Mr. Chen..." Shen Yun began, but suddenly, a monitor on one of the office desks tipped over.
"Shh..." Mr. Chen hugged Shen Yun and crouched down on the spot, looking around. He saw nothing, but sothing was definitely nearby.
An office chair in front of them moved slightly as if nudged by so invisible force. On a desk to the right, a potted plant quivered, its leaves rustling as if unseen entities were gathering towards the safety door.
"Hush..." The surroundings were eerily quiet; only Shen Yun’s breathing and heartbeat could be heard, easily indicating how close to terror she was.
"Hold your breath."
Chen Ke’s mind suddenly filled with a voice, and he clutched at his chest; was the black stone conversing with him?
"No."
A wave of thoughts transmitted from the black stone.
Shen Yun looked out the window, her eyes wide and round, bloodshot in the whites. Chen Ke noticed Shen Yun’s odd behavior and turned to look out the window as well, only to see a white giant peering in through the glass with seven blood-red eyes fixed on him.
Wasn’t that the ti deity from the foundation?
"Don’t be scared, Shen Yun, don’t be afraid, it’s just an illusion..." Chen Ke covered Shen Yun’s eyes and held her in his arms, gently rocking her like one would soothe a baby.
Shen Yun shook uncontrollably, tears streaming down uncontrollably as a pale yellow warm liquid burst from her inner thigh, hissing down the torn stockings to the floor. Chen Ke sighed; she had indeed wet herself in fear.
The white entity seed to be signaling to him, its face taking up the entire height of the French windows. The building had over 50 floors, so it appeared that the creature’s size was not fixed; and despite its enormous size, it did not block out the sun, perhaps the white entity was also a spiritual body.
"They are here." The white entity conveyed the ssage to Chen Ke, those seven eyes looking at him as if he were a novel little toy.
"Who’s here?" Chen Ke thought silently.
"The dead," the white entity answered.
It looked toward the security door, lifted its large white hand, extended a finger, and pointed in the direction of the security door.
Of course, Chen Ke knew there was sothing on this floor, but he could see nothing.
"I’ll borrow your senses." The white entity closed one of its eyes.
Chen Ke’s head throbbed painfully, as if his brain had been violated, and he suddenly beca blind in his left eye, unable to see anything, feeling sothing trying to worm its way out of his left eye socket and ear with a plopping sound.
Chen Ke clutched his left eye in pain, and after a while, his vision slowly returned. He released his hand, and there was an eyeball in his palm...
"Shit..." Chen Ke cursed under his breath. He turned back to the white entity, which had a trail of white fluid coming from its closed eye.
"Listen, look," the white entity instructed.
Chen Ke’s left eye now resembled the white entity’s eye, with a red, elongated pupil flickering ominously.
He saw in the office space nurous black figures; so danced alone, while others huddled in groups, embracing and kissing fervently. Chen Ke’s left ear also started to pick up voices, sotis near and sotis far.
"Ha ha ha... Hehehe... Hahaha!!! Growl!!!"
"Hehehe... Hahaha!!! Yay!!!"
"Hahahahahaha! Ahhahaha!"
"Haha!! Hehehe... Hehehe... Hahaha!"
The voices grew louder, their madness sounding like a group of lunatics in ecstatic dance, singing and laughing, celebrating sothing unknown.
"What is... What is this..." Chen Ke covered his eyes, feeling like half his head was about to explode.
The black shadows clustered at the safety room door, clearly attracted by Bob; they might have been blind, but they could certainly hear.
"Hahahaha!"
"Great! Oh ho!!!!!"
"Yay yay yay!!! Hahahaha! Ahhahaha!"
"No more mortgage paynts!!! Hahahaahaha!"
"No more pressure, all gone! Hahahahaha!"
"Hehehe... Hehehe!!! No need to provide anymore, so good, so good!"
"Hahahaha!!!"
The voices slowly beca clearer, and Chen Ke realized they were speaking in Japanese; now, he could understand Japanese.
"What are these things?" Chen Ke wondered.
"Earth’s shadows, the world of the dead. We’ve fallen in," the white entity replied.
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