“Is this… an overlapping space?” Fang Mingyue tried various methods, but her Eerie Bone Staff couldn’t pierce through the doorway blocked by the black fog.
Shen Ge walked to Fang Mingyue’s side, raised his palm towards the black fog, and attempted to deploy his formless eerie domain to use “Collapse.” The collision between his domain and the eerie space immediately caused the black fog to warp and distort.
Shen Ge thought to himself that the eerie entity hidden within the old building was of a lower level than “Liu Zongrui.” After all, back at Lahu Water City, “Collapse” couldn’t initially break through; it was only after consuming a massive amount of Liu Zongrui’s eerie energy that the domain collision tore open a gap.
Now, being able to open a gap so easily meant the eerie entity in the hotel was a “5th-tier entity from four years later,” and its current strength should only be around the 2nd or 3rd tier.
But regardless of its tier, Shen Ge had no intention of letting it go.
“Investigator Shen, how did you do that?” Although Fang Mingyue understood that distorting space was necessary to break an eerie space, she had just tried various eerie energy equipment and failed to achieve any spatial distortion. Yet, Shen Ge merely struck a pose, seemingly doing nothing, and spatial distortion appeared before him.
“Just spatial distortion. Isn’t this basic knowledge at the Special Investigations Department? Didn’t your headquarters provide training?” Shen Ge retorted.
His tone was so matter-of-fact that it made Fang Mingyue question her own understanding.
“Could it really be my problem?” A bewildered Fang Mingyue followed behind Shen Ge as they headed towards the front desk.
Shen Ge rummaged through the counter, finding some key cards, a VIP client register, a fire escape map, and other items.“This is a new type of ‘artificial eerie’ created by The Twelve Branches. Its eerie energy has a ‘fusion’ effect. Like the high-tier eerie entity from the Chongqing incident, or the fusion with the villa at Lahu Water City… There are many parasitic-type eerie entities inside. They act like antibodies, hunting down intruders. For example, the ghost face earlier…”
Shen Ge briefly shared the intelligence he had gathered earlier with Fang Mingyue, in case they got separated later due to the chaotic space. This way, she could use this information to escape.
Fang Mingyue nodded in understanding. “I see. To deal with an eerie entity fused with a building, we need to find its ‘heart’ hidden somewhere. But if every room, or every floor, might have chaotic space, doesn’t that mean it’s entirely up to luck?”
“Based on what we’ve seen, maintaining chaotic space also consumes eerie energy. If you have a way to deplete the entity’s eerie energy, you can gradually correct the chaotic space,” Shen Ge explained.
Fang Mingyue nodded thoughtfully. She didn’t have Shen Ge’s “Crimson Mist Armor” and couldn’t drain eerie energy through absorption. Her only method was to hunt down the parasitic eerie entities within the host as much as possible, reducing their numbers to decrease the overall eerie energy.
Shen Ge had already searched the hotel’s first floor, so he and Fang Mingyue entered the stairwell and headed directly to the second floor.
Stepping onto the second floor, Fang Mingyue, looking down at her eerie energy detector, suddenly felt an immense pressure. The dark corridors stretching left and right were like the gaping maw of a terrifying beast, ready to swallow anyone who took a step forward into the belly of the gigantic monster!
Click.
Click.
Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue turned on their flashlights almost simultaneously, shining them down the dark corridors. However, the standard-issue flashlights, which normally had a range of over ten or twenty meters, seemed to have their light abruptly “cut off” after about five meters.
As Shen Ge moved forward, the illuminated area advanced slightly.
The two proceeded cautiously for a short distance, sweeping their flashlights left and right. Spotting a slightly ajar door, Fang Mingyue whispered to Shen Ge, asking if they should check inside.
Shen Ge patted Fang Mingyue’s arm, signaling her to go ahead and investigate while he provided cover from behind.
Naturally, Fang Mingyue didn’t question Shen Ge’s decision. She lightened her footsteps, approached the door, and slowly pushed it open. The standard suite room was bathed in an eerie, sinister red glow.
Although the red light was unsettling, it provided just enough illumination to see. The feeling was reminiscent of the deliberately atmospheric lighting used in horror films.
Somber. Oppressive.
Fang Mingyue passed through an entrance hallway a little over two meters long, deliberately slowing her pace, but faintly heard a sticky, squelching sound with each step.
She instinctively shone her flashlight down at her feet and discovered a dark red, blood-like viscous substance flowing across the floor. Stepping on it produced the disgusting noise.
Inside the room, two single beds had their white sheets stained a dark red. A group of people were gathered around each bed, gnawing at the things on them.
These “people” had heads of various kinds: some had four-petaled “flesh-petal mouths,” others had scythe-like sharp beaks, some had spider-like mouths where half their face seemed to split open… In short, all those crowded around the beds devouring the food were the infected. Their targets, the ones being eaten, were actual humans, but like the corpses downstairs, they were headless, and the infected were feasting on the internal organs from their abdomens.
Noticing the movement at the door, the infected individuals turned their heads in unison to stare at Fang Mingyue and Shen Ge. Under the ominous red light in the room, the scene was exceptionally horrifying.
These infected individuals opened their disgusting, terrifying bloody mouths, opening and closing as if trying to speak, but the only sounds that came out were gurgling swallows.
This wasn’t the first time either Shen Ge or Fang Mingyue had witnessed such a scene, though the last time was during the Capital Eerie Disaster, where the “people” eating the eerie corpses hadn’t fully mutated yet. The “people” here had already become more terrifying than the eerie entities themselves.
Without the slightest hesitation, Fang Mingyue raised her assault rifle, equipped with a silencer, aimed at the heads of the infected, and unleashed a burst of gunfire, sending flesh and blood flying.
Shen Ge casually tossed a Molotov cocktail into the room. With a boom, it erupted into flames, instantly igniting one of the beds. The fire spread rapidly.
Fang Mingyue fired while retreating, emptying one magazine but only managing to blow apart the heads of two infected. Just as she was reloading, one of the infected lunged at her.
She raised her left arm, and the eerie leather armguard suddenly deployed an inflating airbag, knocking the charging infected individual flying.
Although Shen Ge had fitted Fang Mingyue’s assault rifle with a silencer, the gunshots still attracted infected from the surrounding rooms.
After Shen Ge enveloped himself in his full-body armor, he flicked his wrist. The Black Bone Spine Whip cracked through the air with a sharp snap, instantly whipping the head off the lead infected in the corridor.
Then, Shen Ge swept the Black Bone Spine Whip sideways. It wrapped around the “flesh-petal” necks of two infected, and the sharp bone spines on the whip ripped their heads off with a sickening tear.
The two fought cooperatively, pushing towards the end of the corridor. More and more infected poured out from the surrounding rooms. The corridor was soon littered with corpses, piling up like a mountain.
Fifteen minutes later, Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue finally fought their way through the horde of infected, reaching the end of the corridor.
Strangely, there was no room here, nor a stairwell leading to upper floors. There was only a plain black wall.
Shen Ge reached out, attempting to deploy his formless eerie domain and use “Collapse.” Oddly, passing through this wall didn’t lead outside the hotel but into an even darker, more profound corridor.
Shen Ge immediately felt something was wrong. Even accounting for chaotic space, this dark, deep corridor wasn’t part of the hotel’s design at all; it felt like it didn’t belong to the hotel.
Just standing at the entrance to this corridor, an inexplicable chill enveloped them. Fang Mingyue’s body trembled uncontrollably, and she instinctively moved closer to Shen Ge.
Gurgle.
Gurgle.
From the depths of the corridor, the distinctive gurgling swallows of eerie entities could faintly be heard.
With only this path forward, and needing to find the hotel’s “heart,” they had no choice but to proceed with the exploration, fully aware that this corridor was problematic.
“Follow me,” Shen Ge said in a low voice, stepping first through the black wall.
Fang Mingyue followed behind Shen Ge with a grave expression, not daring to make a single sound. Unsure if this bizarre long corridor was related to the ghost-face wall in the lobby, she knew that even the slightest noise could potentially draw an attack if there was a connection!
Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue passed through the black wall and entered a completely dark corridor. The flashlight beams had even less visibility here. Strangely, upon entering the corridor, the floor felt soft and spongy underfoot, as if covered with a thick layer of padding.
The long corridor was pitch black and quiet—terrifyingly so. Apart from the occasional gulp, only the sound of their own breathing could be heard.
Fang Mingyue subconsciously slowed her breathing. Shen Ge also slowed his, though not because of the intangible pressure in the corridor, but because ever since entering, the System had been constantly warning him that he was approaching a “5th-tier eerie entity.”
Receiving the System’s “confirmation,” Shen Ge’s confidence surged. He immediately quickened his pace, moving towards the source of the gurgling sounds ahead.
They reached the end, blocked by two sliding doors commonly found in hotels. However, these two doors weren’t the usual rectangular or arched shape. They were irregular, set side-by-side.
Shen Ge tried pushing the door, but no matter how much force he applied, it remained immovable, as if he were pushing against a solid wall.
“Investigator Shen, do you think this door… looks like a heart?” Fang Mingyue stood behind Shen Ge, sweeping her flashlight over the door’s outline. The overall shape reminded her strikingly of a heart diagram from a medical textbook.
Shen Ge immediately deployed his formless eerie domain and used “Collapse” on the door. Oddly, the door didn’t “open.” Instead, it warped violently.
This was the effect of his formless eerie domain colliding with a massive amount of eerie energy. In other words, the eerie entity creating this eerie space was likely behind the door, its powerful eerie energy blocking Shen Ge’s attempt to break through.
It wasn’t that Shen Ge couldn’t force the door open with “Collapse,” but doing so would likely consume a tremendous amount of his own eerie energy.
“Step back,” Shen Ge decided to conserve energy. He and Fang Mingyue retreated to the middle section of the corridor. Then, he pulled a rocket launcher from his Bloodskin Backpack and hoisted it onto his shoulder.
“…” Fang Mingyue’s expression became slightly peculiar. While times had indeed changed, using a rocket launcher to open a door seemed a bit too much change.
With a whoosh, the rocket shot towards the distant door, trailing a long tail of flame, and exploded with a boom, sending a wave of fire rolling out.
Seeing the flames rushing towards them, Fang Mingyue instinctively prepared to use her eerie leather armguard to deploy an airbag and block it with eerie energy.
But she saw Shen Ge simply raise a hand towards the front. The oncoming wave of fire hit an invisible barrier and could advance no further.
Fang Mingyue was long since accustomed to Shen Ge’s bizarre and varied abilities. After the flames subsided, they returned to the door. A small section of the “door” had been blown away by the explosion.
Although it was only a small breach, peering through it revealed that this wasn’t a “door” at all, but a thin membrane, like a protective shell around the “heart.” Yet, this thin protective film had managed to withstand a rocket blast!
Shen Ge shone his flashlight through the breach. The light illuminated what seemed to be a “flesh wall” about half a meter inside. Looking closer, the flesh wall was visibly pulsating with a thump-thump rhythm.
“Investigator Shen! The ‘door’ is healing rapidly!” Just as Shen Ge was observing the heart, Fang Mingyue noticed that the breach created by the rocket was visibly regenerating, quickly sealing the gap.
Gurgle.
Gurgle.
Just as Shen Ge was about to fire another rocket, a series of gurgling sounds erupted. Simultaneously, the “door” became distorted and grotesque, and a human face slowly materialized on its surface.
It was the same face Shen Ge had seen earlier in the lobby. It opened its bloody maw wide and lunged directly towards Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue.
Shen Ge shoved Fang Mingyue aside. She stumbled against the wall, narrowly avoiding the ghost face’s attack. The ghost face, however, clamped its jaws down over most of Shen Ge’s body.
“Investigator Shen!” Fang Mingyue cried out in alarm, scrambling to her feet to charge forward. But then she saw Shen Ge, from within the ghost face’s mouth, use his right hand to pat the ghost face’s nose with his Butcher’s Cleaver.
Then, Shen Ge’s voice, somewhat muffled, came from within the ghost face’s mouth: “Hey, buddy, if you’re gonna swallow me, swallow me whole. What’s the deal with stopping halfway? What are you trying to say?”
It wasn’t that the ghost face lacked follow-through; rather, its “chewing” attacks were completely neutralized by the Rotten Flesh Armor.
With that level of “bite force,” not only was crushing and swallowing Shen Ge out of the question, but even breaking through the outermost layer of eerie energy attachment was doubtful.
Schlick!
Suddenly, the Butcher’s Cleaver thrust sideways into the ghost face’s nose. Then, Shen Ge gripped the handle and sliced downward vertically, splitting the face open from the nose down through the mouth. He stepped out from the cleft.
The ghost face let out a piercing shriek and “retracted” back into the wall. In the next second, not only was the ghost face gone, but the original door had vanished as well.
Shen Ge walked to the wall and knocked on it. Knock knock knock.
“It ran away?” Shen Ge raised an eyebrow. It seemed this artificial eerie entity had actually developed a bit of “intelligence,” at least knowing to flee when outmatched.
But Shen Ge judged it was only a superficial retreat. The “heart” was still behind this wall. Just as he prepared to break through the wall, the heart-patterned door reappeared on the surface.
Then, a second door, a third, a fourth… Soon, the entire wall was covered with doors, dozens of them appearing at regular intervals.
“This… Is the correct ‘door’ hidden among them? Is it trying to confuse us this way?” Fang Mingyue wondered aloud.
Shen Ge sighed inwardly. It seemed this artificial eerie had developed a bit of intelligence, but not much.
He roughly guessed the entity’s “idea.” This door and wall served as a protective shell for the eerie heart—extremely hard and capable of rapid regeneration.
By creating multiple identical doors simultaneously, the entity aimed to create the illusion that the real “door” was hidden among them, forcing Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue to search for the correct one.
The entity only needed to create some false clues or set traps behind the doors to make people think a breached door was a “fake,” leading them to test others while it secretly repaired the original.
This method could effectively delay most people and allow the entity time to set new traps.
However.
Shen Ge was an exception.
He took out a high-explosive charge, stuck it near the corner of the nearest door, and with a deafening BOOM, blasted a hole in the door.
Before the entity could block the breach, Shen Ge deployed his formless eerie domain through the opening and used “Collapse,” creating a distorted space.
“Wait here,” Shen Ge said. No sooner had the words left his mouth than he vanished from Fang Mingyue’s sight. Before she could process her shock, a series of violent explosions echoed from behind the wall.
The entity’s “obstruction” tactic was theoretically sound. Unfortunately, it encountered someone who could cheat by phasing through walls, allowing direct entry into the “ventricle,” where various explosives were unleashed upon the heart in a frenzy of bombardment.
BOOM!
With one final loud explosion, the heart-patterned door was blasted open from the inside. Shen Ge emerged, dragging a pulsating heart larger than a person.
“Investigator Shen, is this the eerie entity sustaining the space here?” Fang Mingyue asked, looking at the throbbing heart.
Shen Ge swiftly carved the heart into pieces with a few strokes of his Butcher’s Cleaver, then incinerated the chunks using the crimson eerie fire of his Red Mist form.
[Host has eliminated a 5th-tier eerie entity. Reward: 1000 System Points, 3 F-grade Supply Items. The eerie corpse can be sold for System Points to draw various equipment and items.]
[Sell 5th-tier eerie entity — Value: 3000 System Points.]
The reward for the kill was the same as for “Liu Zongrui.” However, “Liu Zongrui” had the Three Heads and Six Arms trait, fetching 7000 System Points, while this entity was only worth 3000.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. The ceiling and floor started collapsing incessantly, as if the entire building was about to implode!
“Let’s go!” Shen Ge grabbed Fang Mingyue and started running, not forgetting to sell the 5th-tier eerie corpse as they fled.
The two quickly sped through the narrow, pitch-black corridor, passed through the black wall back into the hotel section. The eerie red glow within the hotel had now vanished, leaving everything in utter darkness.
CRASH!
BOOM!
The collapse happened faster than Shen Ge anticipated. They had just reached a window in one of the rooms when the entire building gave way.
Shen Ge and Fang Mingyue plummeted downward, falling through one floor. Before Shen Ge could use his armor’s strength to push aside the collapsing rubble, a human face emerged on the ground below them. It opened its bloody maw wide and swallowed both him and Fang Mingyue whole!