After holding that position for over ten seconds, until Zhu Jie crawled over and patted Tang Qisheng's arm, "Okay... okay, she's dead."

In the next second, Tang Qisheng's tense body gradually relaxed, he forcefully pushed Zhang Ting's body away, panting heavily.

"Are... are you okay?" Tang Qisheng looked at Zhu Jie, his eyes fixed on the injuries on her forehead and legs, especially Zhu Jie's left wrist, which was bent at an unnatural angle, obviously broken.

Zhu Jie swallowed the blood in her throat, giving Tang Qisheng a reassuring look, "I'm fine, it's you..."

Tang Qisheng's abdomen was completely stained red with blood. Zhang Ting had stabbed him several times. Tang Qisheng looked down at his abdomen, shaking his head slightly, "It's nothing serious, not a fatal wound, I can feel it, no damage to the internal organs, some of the stabs... cough cough... some of the stabs were blocked by ribs."

Struggling to stand up, Tang Qisheng tore off Zhang Ting's coat, ripped it open and tied it tightly around the wound, and picked up her scalpel, "You go first, I'll go down and take a look."

Hearing this, Zhu Jie shook her head violently, "What nonsense are you talking about? How can I let you go down alone? We'll go together."

"But your leg is injured, you'll only be a burden to me in this state." Tang Qisheng said with a serious expression, "How about this, you stay outside the elevator and wait for me. I'll call you when I find a clue. You can help me hold the elevator here."

"This..."

"Okay, stop with the 'this' and 'that'. This is the best arrangement. Who knows if the elevator downstairs is working properly? What if the button is broken? Then we'll both be trapped down there, and it'll all be over."

Zhu Jie was also someone who could distinguish the important from the trivial. With her injured leg and limited mobility, this was the best choice.

"Okay, I'll wait for you here and guard the elevator for you."

Hearing Zhu Jie's words, Tang Qisheng smiled and hugged her, kissing her bloody forehead, "That's right, that's a good girl."

After giving her a few more instructions, Tang Qisheng walked towards the elevator. The elevator seemed to be controlled by some kind of strange force. After Tang Qisheng stood firm, the elevator shook slightly and the door gradually closed.

Through the closing elevator door, Tang Qisheng suddenly shouted: "Remember, if I don't come out before 12 o'clock tonight, you leave by yourself, don't worry about anyone! You must listen to me!"

After shouting these words, the elevator door trembled and closed, and with a flash of dim light, the elevator slowly descended.

Finally, Tang Qisheng, unable to hold on any longer, staggered a few steps, leaning against the elevator wall to barely stand. He gasped for breath, but still couldn't resist the severe pain in his chest, the feeling of life slowly draining away.

He slowly lifted his clothes, the knife wounds on his abdomen were shocking, but these were not the most terrifying. As his clothes were pulled up little by little, a wound on his chest was exposed. This wound was the deepest, and Tang Qisheng gasped in pain when he touched it lightly. Blood kept pouring out along the wound.

Leaning against the elevator wall, Tang Qisheng couldn't help but smile bitterly. His consciousness was even starting to drift. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold on for long. "Damn it, I regret it. I should have... should have run away with my wife just now."

"Cough... cough cough..."

Barely swallowing the blood in his throat, Tang Qisheng's eyes were full of helplessness, but he always felt it was inappropriate to leave like this. After all, Jiang Cheng had saved his life, otherwise... otherwise he would have died in the last mission. Those Night Watchers would not have let him go.

His thoughts were in a mess for a while, and many images flashed through Tang Qisheng's mind. He didn't know if this was the so-called last glimmer of hope.

The elevator stopped, and the old elevator door slowly opened, revealing a deep passage.

The passage was covered with dense bloody handprints, up and down, left and right. Tang Qisheng had never seen the road to the underworld, but it was nothing more than this.

Holding his last breath, Tang Qisheng walked out of the elevator door, leaning against the wall, slowly walking forward. Above his head was a row of hanging light bulbs, some of which were already broken. The surviving ones only emitted a dim yellow, half-dead light.

The light shrouded the entire passage, giving people an indescribable strange feeling, as if... as if time had stopped at this moment.

After walking for about dozens of meters, an iron gate appeared in front of him. The iron gate was completely stained blood red, twisted and bulging outwards, as if some huge creature was trying to squeeze out from behind the gate.

He was sure, it was that monster pieced together from children's corpses.

On the walls on both sides of the iron gate were also written words. On the left side was the character "生" (sheng - life), and on the right wall was a large "死" (si - death).

"Life, death..."

Tang Qisheng looked at these two characters, the font was twisted, giving the feeling that they were written by a child practicing calligraphy, but they were full of resentment. Looking at them for a long time, the negative emotions in his heart seemed about to explode in an instant.

He stared at the iron gate in front of him. The left side of the gate was life, and the right side was death, so what did the gate in the middle mean? Between life and death?

After a moment, Tang Qisheng was stunned. He suddenly realized something. Since arriving at this gate, his injuries didn't seem so serious anymore, and the pain had been greatly relieved.

He lifted his clothes. The wounds were still there, but the bleeding speed had slowed down a lot. Pressing them lightly with his hand didn't hurt as much.

"This... this ghostly place can actually delay injuries?" Tang Qisheng couldn't help but be a little surprised. He suddenly recalled the information Jiang Cheng had given him. The more seriously injured people were, the more likely they were to be placed in the lower wards.

"Could it be that this floor is full of dying patients? Or is it that once you come here, you can't die no matter what?"

That monster pieced together from many children's corpses, and the child who left the letter, the rag doll impersonating Zhu Jie... With all the doubts, and the belief in life, Tang Qisheng took a deep breath and resolutely grabbed the handle of the iron gate.

"Brother Jiang, hang in there..."

...

Blackwater Village, in a closed courtyard.

Looking at the setting sun gradually falling, everyone felt a sense of powerlessness as life gradually slipped through their fingers.

An hour ago, three women came and brought the tasks for tonight's Zhusheng Assembly.

According to them, tonight was the last night of this Zhusheng Assembly, and it would be even more grand and lively. By then, everyone in the village would come to participate.

There were a total of three tasks for the night. The first task was called Jisi Kiln (Sacrifice Kiln), which required everyone to go together.

The remaining two tasks were the Blood Lady Shehuo (a type of performance) and Bridge Repair. The two tasks had no requirements for the number of people performing them, but they needed to be well-coordinated.

They needed to be divided into two teams, one team following the Shehuo team, and the other team rushing to the river, requiring them to repair the bridge before the Blood Lady Shehuo team arrived, to ensure that the team could cross the river smoothly.