Netherworld’s Spirit Envoy - -

“Where’s Leilei?” I glanced around but couldn’t see her anywhere.

Lin Zhe was also surveying the area, but he couldn’t spot Leilei either. “I told her to wait at the end. As long as she stays off this road, she won’t be harmed by the Ghost Woman. It’s fine, let’s keep moving forward.”

I followed Lin Zhe to the back of the last two locust trees, looked around, but still couldn’t find Leilei.

“Leilei, it’s Li Xiaofei. Where are you?” I called out several times, but no one answered.

Even Lin Zhe found it strange now. He scratched his head in confusion and said, “Could she be hiding? Let me call her.”

The phone connected, but the ringtone came from nearby. I looked around and saw a faint light blinking from Leilei’s phone inside an abandoned section of the wall.

“Something must have happened to Leilei; otherwise, why would her phone be left here?” I questioned Lin Zhe loudly, holding the phone.

Lin Zhe didn’t expect this outcome either. He was too focused on helping me and thought Leilei would be safe hiding. He didn’t realize it wasn’t secure here either.

We had no idea where Leilei went, so we could only search around, hoping to find some clue.

Not far from the locust trees was a section of old, collapsed walls-capable of barely concealing a person. Lin Zhe and I searched both inside and outside the walls.

Lin Zhe went inside. He felt bad since Leilei was missing and walked silently, lost in thought. Initially, I was upset too, minding my own business as I walked forward, not even looking at Lin Zhe. But then I thought I might have been too hard on him, so I decided to say something to lighten the mood.

“Maybe Leilei left on her own…” I hadn’t finished speaking when I raised my head to look inside the wall, but Lin Zhe was nowhere to be seen!

Lin Zhe was gone too!

I quickly looked around, but it was pitch black, and I couldn’t see anything. Nor did I hear Lin Zhe leave. To find him, I had to walk the path inside the wall once more.

Since Lin Zhe disappeared while inside, I searched extra carefully. After a short while, I found a peculiar spot.

Near the wall was a football-sized hole, pitch black, its depth unknown. But next to the opening, I found the phone Lin Zhe had been holding just moments before-Leilei’s phone.

After checking all around, this hole seemed the most suspicious. But how could Lin Zhe have fallen into it? It was too small-even my head couldn’t fit through.

I tried placing my foot inside. As soon as my entire foot entered, a powerful force suddenly pulled me in.

The hole was deep; I even had time to notice my surroundings. The walls were made of moist, sticky black mud, with roots protruding here and there.

While I was puzzling over this, a sharp, bone-chilling pain hit my feet as I fell. My head struck the stone wall of the hole, and I blacked out.

When I regained consciousness, I was still in that place. Far above me, I could see a faint light, suggesting it was probably daytime.

I was still holding Leilei’s phone. I pressed a button, and the screen lit up.

Using the phone’s light, I surveyed my surroundings-it was just a hole. To one side was a half-person-high tunnel extending further in; it was too deep for the light to reach the end.

I fumbled around and touched a human thigh, which almost scared me to death, thinking it might be Lin Zhe’s corpse. Shining the phone’s light, it turned out to be him. Half his face was covered in blood, but he was still breathing, just unconscious.

I woke him up and asked what happened. Lin Zhe’s experience was similar to mine. He noticed something strange about the hole and wanted to use Leilei’s phone to take a closer look. As soon as he leaned in, he was pulled through, and remembered nothing after that.

Lin Zhe also suspected Leilei might be in the hole. We discussed it and tried to stand, but both of us had broken a leg, so we had no choice but to support each other and crouch toward the tunnel.

The tunnel was too narrow to walk side by side. Lin Zhe led, and I followed. Since there was no light, I gave the phone to Lin Zhe to guide us, which made things much easier.

The tunnel was constructed with uniformly sized stones, clearly man-made, not randomly dug by some tool.

After walking for a while, I felt a chilly sensation behind me, as if cold winds were blowing through. It was difficult to move forward or backward in the narrow space, so I didn’t plan to look back. But for some reason, Lin Zhe stopped suddenly and gazed ahead, giving me the chance to glance back.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I looked back. Right behind me were a pair of hollow eyes staring directly at my face, less than a cun away.

The eyes were an eerie white, and the face was unusually large, with no distinct features. There was only a vague indentation where the nose and mouth would be, and those eyes were particularly terrifying.

I quickly tried to step back but ended up bumping into Lin Zhe, almost causing him to fall. “Move forward, quickly!”

Just then, Lin Zhe caught sight of something, and his voice matched my alarm. He struggled to push me, “Back up, get back!”

In the confined space, our injured bodies collided, making it impossible to stand.

“Just move!” we shouted simultaneously. But at that moment, Lin Zhe caught sight of the large, dumpling-faced figure behind me, and I could see the puppet-like creature not far in front of him, wriggling.

It seemed human, but its body was strangely configured. The ribs protruded from the back, and its head faced us directly. The limbs were contorted in opposite directions, as if someone had broken them and reattached them incorrectly.

“What are these things, and what should we do?” I pressed closer to Lin Zhe, just as frightened. He trembled as he tried to push me away, saying, “How should I know? I’ve never seen anything like this! What do we do?”

The large-faced woman and the skeletal figure seemed to notice each other and took a few steps back, standing still, seemingly assessing each other’s strengths with some level of fear.

Lin Zhe and I exchanged glances, seeing their positioning. It really seemed like they were preparing for a confrontation, perhaps bitter rivals crossing paths.

However, being stuck in the middle, we were in the worst possible predicament.

I nudged Lin Zhe with my shoulder, asking with my eyes what we should do. Lin Zhe shook his head, choosing to wait and see.

With no other options, I turned to the Yin-Yang Notebook for guidance-the only thing that might help us now.

“Master, the one on the left is the legendary Ghost Face. It’s made up of ninety-nine souls, which means it has the combined power of ninety-nine souls. It’s not to be underestimated. The one on the right is a creature that lives underground; essentially, they’re people thrown into the earth, dead in body but not in spirit, with distorted forms. They hunt anything that moves. Their fatal weakness is light, and they’re called Dry Jiangshi.”

Ghost Face and Dry Jiangshi? My head was spinning. The Dry Jiangshi seemed relatively easier to deal with, but how do we handle the Ghost Face?

The Yin-Yang Notebook fell silent for a moment before saying, “In your current situation, there’s only one way to deal with the Ghost Face-run! Escape as fast as you can because they move very slowly.”

After consulting the Yin-Yang Notebook, I glanced at Lin Zhe helplessly and explained the situation with the Ghost Face and Dry Jiangshi. Lin Zhe didn’t respond verbally but motioned for me to look.

On the left, the Ghost Face was already enveloped by its long hair emanating from the back of its head. The hair seemed almost sentient, whipping wildly, as if flaunting its power to the Dry Jiangshi.

Not to be outdone, the Dry Jiangshi opened its mouth, revealing black fangs and a long, thin, black tongue extending over half a meter. It hissed like a poisonous snake.

Lin Zhe turned to me and whispered, “If that hair touches you, it’ll burrow in and grow wildly. The saliva from that mouth is toxic; get splashed, and you’ll turn into corpse water. Which way would you prefer to die?”

I was stunned. I thought he had found a solution, but instead, he left me with that. Fine, I’ll confront him after we escape. I relayed the Yin-Yang Notebook’s advice, and Lin Zhe was momentarily taken aback.

“Choose either Ghost Face or Dry Jiangshi, quickly. They’re about to make a move.” I stole a glance at them. They looked ready to strike. If we didn’t act soon, we’d be doomed.

Lin Zhe glanced around, then suddenly sprang up and charged at the Dry Jiangshi, holding his phone in front of him with the brightness set to maximum. Shouting, he called, “What choice? Just run!”

Whoa, was he planning a surprise attack? Wasn’t his foot injured? How was he moving so swiftly? Not daring to linger, I followed closely behind him.