Chapter 448 - Chapter 448: Chapter 447 Advancing in the Dark

Chapter 448: Chapter 447 Advancing in the Dark

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Yang Jian wasn’t certain how many ghost hunters were still alive inside this dormitory building; after all, since the incident unfolded, others might have already dispersed and fled the area, possibly even without enough time to receive notifications from headquarters, let alone knowing the ghost’s pattern of killing.

But this was the place most steeped in darkness, which meant that both the ghosts and other ghost hunters were here.

Yang Jian could only take the risk of entering, for if he couldn’t accomplish his objective on this trip, an unsolvable supernatural event awaited him.

This was an unprecedented horror; should the ghost continue to grow stronger, the outcome would be despairing.

There was no escape, no confronting it, no possibility of containment.

…

Even with knowledge of the pattern, there would still be no way out.

With this thought, his pace grew even more urgent.

“Bang!”

Yang Jian kicked open the door of a dormitory room with brute force, taking a quick glance inside.

Desolate, not a single person in sight.

But he didn’t stop his search efforts there, instead proceeding to the next dorm room to look for any possibly isolated ghost hunters.

The second dorm room was empty, and the door to the third was ajar. There were belongings of a ghost hunter inside, yet it was still devoid of people—presumably evacuated by someone with a quick reaction.

Yang Jian felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Once away from the dormitory building, even if not immediately fatal, it was as good as dead because the ghost would not spare an isolated target. Only by staying together was there a chance to survive.

But the real challenge lay in how to gather everyone together in a short span of time.

This was the Ghost Domain. Under the control of a ghost, most ghost hunters simply could not see through the darkness and were likely to get lost.

He kicked open the last door on the floor.

Suddenly, Yang Jian saw someone sitting in the furthest corner of the dorm room, hugging their knees. Although their expression was somewhat calm, it still betrayed a sense of unease and panic.

Especially when the door was kicked open, the person was startled enough to cover their mouth.

“I’m Yang Jian. You’re one of the ghost hunters from this group, right? There’s no time to explain, follow me immediately,” Yang Jian said upon seeing the person, feeling a sense of relief.

As long as they were alive, it was good.

“You’re Yang Jian? What in the world is happening outside? I woke up and felt something was off around me. There must be a supernatural event occurring here,” the person said, first startled, then relieved, asking earnestly.

Yang Jian approached and said, “Yes, a supernatural event has taken place. If you want to stay alive, don’t remain here, or the ghost will come to kill you soon.”

“Do you know the ghost’s pattern of killing? If not, staying quiet and still like me is the safest option. If I can just get through this period, I will survive once the ghost moves on,” the person explained, evidently having their own strategy for survival.

And it was indeed a very sound approach.

In most supernatural events, if people stay calm and motionless, pretending to be statues, they have a high chance of avoiding being selected as targets by ghosts.

Their chance to live is much greater than those who run around and scream.

“That ghost targets people who are alone. Your method is practically akin to courting death. I don’t want to waste any more time explaining; follow me right now. I have to find the others,” Yang Jian said as he reached the person’s side, immediately grabbing and pulling them up.

Then he placed their hand on his other shoulder.

“Don’t let go of my hand. I can see clearly here, and I’ll lead the way.”

“Okay, okay,” the person responded, clearly beginning to panic, no longer insisting on staying put. They immediately followed Yang Jian out of the dormitory building.

Those appointed to train here were ghost hunters with certain potential. Most knew to measure their actions.

“Yang Jian, there’s news. A ghost hunter named Qian Yi on the third floor is exiting through another safe passage and has now made it back to the first floor,” suddenly Huang Ziya whispered.

“Who?” the other person exclaimed, startled.

They couldn’t see the surroundings clearly and only realized there was another person beside them when they heard the voice.

“I’m Huang Ziya, one of the trainees this term, just like you. Yang Jian found me, and now he wants us to gather together,” Huang Ziya explained.

Yang Jian said, “Good, tell him to turn around and go back upstairs. I’ll meet him at the opposite safe passage.”

The dormitory building was not small; in fact, it was quite large.

Though recently constructed, perhaps taking practicality into account, its scale was much larger than typical dorm buildings. There were eight exits for safety alone and the stairways were also much wider than those in ordinary buildings.

This was entirely for safety reasons so that everyone could evacuate in the shortest possible time in an emergency.

The downside, however, was that the spacious interiors made it difficult for people to find their way out quickly in the dark.

Despite being able to see the path ahead clearly, Yang Jian, because he needed to keep an eye on the surroundings and lead the two behind him, couldn’t run recklessly through the dormitory building and could only move quickly forward.

Counting this person,

Currently, the number of ghosts on our side is four, but under special circumstances, this number can become five because Yang Jian still has a captured ghost in his possession, which can be released and suppressed in a critical moment.

However, the ghost inside the dormitory building can suppress at least five to start with.

Therefore, the three of us are still isolated.

At this moment.

The fourth floor of the dormitory building.

Due to the previous shroud of darkness, the events happened too suddenly, the abrupt invasion of ghosts and the prior murder of an exorcist as they watched helplessly, had caused the remaining people to start moving somewhat hesitantly.

Everybody was effectively blind, unless they moved along by touching the walls; otherwise, taking a single turn in here and they would probably lose all sense of direction.

There was nothing that could be used to identify one’s bearings.

And with the presence of ghosts, some people had already dared not to act carelessly, as nobody knew whether they would encounter paranormal events if they continued forward.

“Damn it, didn’t we tell the people on the fourth floor to wait here for us to meet up? How come we got here and they’re gone?” In the dark corridor, four exorcists gathered together, groping their way forward along the wall.

The darkness seemed to even block out their voices, and the lead, Zhang Lei, had shouted loudly too.

The sound echoed in the pitch-black dormitory, yet there was not a single response to be heard, the silence was almost suffocating.

“Maybe they’ve already left. Under these circumstances, it’s unlikely they would continue to wait for us here. We should think of a way to get out of this dormitory building sooner rather than later. After all, you saw it too… the ghost is on the top floor, and by now it has probably already entered the dorm from the top floor, maybe on the fifth floor, or maybe waiting for us on the first floor,” Wang Jiang said from behind, having met up with him, followed by the other two exorcists.

“So in other words, whether we stay put here or try to leave, there is immense danger either way.”

Not knowing the ghost’s location, they didn’t even have a direction to run.

“According to the information from headquarters, the ghost will target individuals who are alone to kill. It’s only by sticking together that there’s a chance to survive. They can’t be so stupid as to have scattered before meeting up, right?”

Zhang Lei’s voice came through the darkness.

If they left the dormitory building, their chances of coming together would be even slimmer. The training base was so large, and there were only a dozen or so people participating in the training this time. How to find them once they’ve scattered?

Only by gathering everyone to leave was the sole way to survive.

Although the ghost was in this dormitory building, any somewhat experienced exorcist knew very well that without understanding the pattern, trying to escape might just lead to dying even faster.

“That being said, we know this, but others might not. Some of them are newbies without satellite positioning phones, and it’s unlikely the headquarters could reach them with regular phones. Besides, some people don’t even have their phones with them. I think at least nearly half of the people didn’t get this message,” said Zhang Lei.

“Even if they got the message, it might be too late. The information from the headquarters came in two steps. The first step was to get us to leave the training base immediately, and only in the second step did they tell us about the ghost’s killing pattern. There was an interval between the two, which can be deadly,” Wang Jiang’s voice was especially grave. “This would cause most people to scatter after hearing the first message, and by the time they hear the second, it would be too late.”

“Fuck, headquarters doesn’t usually set us up like this,” someone cursed.

Zhang Lei said, “You can’t blame the headquarters, everything happened too suddenly. By the time we received the call, the ghost had already arrived. Headquarters surely needed some time to confirm the ghost’s data, files, patterns, and the like. By the time they briefed us, we’d already missed the optimal window. Luckily, I had the foresight to call you guys to leave together.”

At that time, his consideration was that having more people meant more strength, and even in the face of a ghost, they could put up a fight.

The chances of surviving together were significantly higher, no matter what.

That’s why they got off to a good start, initially gathering four exorcists right from the start.

Unfortunately, those who were originally supposed to meet up on the fourth floor were nowhere to be seen.

If these two groups had managed to meet up, there would have been at least seven or eight exorcists, greatly increasing their survival ability.

“If we still can’t find those who were on the fourth floor earlier, then we’ll head to the third floor and search through each level before we leave here,” Zhang Lei said.

“Alright, let’s do that.”

“Wait, there’s a new message from headquarters.”

Wang Jiang, listening to Zhang Lei’s satellite phone, suddenly became somewhat elated: “Headquarters says Yang Jian isn’t dead, and he’s currently leading people up from the first floor. They want us to meet up with him.”

“Really? That’s great. Let’s first get to the emergency passage and tell Yang Jian to meet up in the hallway,” Zhang Lei replied, also relieved.

Once the two groups met up and the number of people increased, the probability of survival would be even greater.

However, just as Zhang Lei picked up the pace.

Before long, he abruptly halted his footsteps, his already tense face turning to one of horror in the dark environment.

While moving forward and exploring, he had touched a hand on the wall.

This hand was ice cold and stiff, slightly bent, making one feel a chill to the bone with just a touch, instantly causing his hairs to stand on end.

Like being electrically shocked, Zhang Lei jerkily pulled back, and the darkness ahead was eerily quiet, as if some horrifying thing was standing there, blocking his path forward.

“Quick, retreat, the ghost is up ahead.”

A suppressed low growl instantly made everyone shudder.

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