novelraw Chapter 119: Late Night Horror
Chapter 119: Late Night Horror
The entire records room suddenly plunged into darkness.
The documents Xiao Gui'an held in his hands lost the candlelight's illumination, causing the text on them to gradually blur again, making it impossible to investigate.
He gently set down the archival materials in his hand and slightly tilted his ear.
Some movement seemed to be coming from outside.
Something was approaching this place.
It was unclear if it had discovered something abnormal.
Xiao Gui'an stopped maintaining his form and directly transformed into dark mist, a state that made him nearly impossible to detect.
The seemingly untouchable, faint mist drifted back onto the thin boy's shoulder.
Xu Zisheng's condition could be described as extremely poor. If he continued staying here, he might be unable to control the backlash from the flesh-and-blood candleholder, which would only result in more loss than gain.
Using two ghost tools with significant side effects consecutively during the night was too much for his current body to handle.Moreover, he still had to maintain the appearance of that thin young boy.
Inside his body, the Bone-Fixing Nails, a ghost tool, still existed, consuming Xu Zisheng's mental energy and strength.
The candle flame had been extinguished by Xu Zisheng the moment he sensed something wrong.
When he first blew it out, half his face had already turned into a semi-transparent skull, even faintly revealing the nerves and brain matter inside his head.
Only after stopping use of this eerie candleholder did Xu Zisheng's appearance gradually recover, once again filled with flesh and blood.
However, his complexion was extremely pale, and his lips had completely lost their color.
Due to the flesh and blood nourishment, his other hand resting at his side uncontrollably twitched slightly, terrifyingly cold.
During this period, he had managed to read most of the archival documents.
He would need to properly organize the information hidden within those files after returning, to see if he could find some clues.
The information obtained tonight was already substantial enough—there should be some useful pieces to uncover.
Xu Zisheng slightly bent down, carefully approached the windowsill, held his breath, deeply concealed his presence, maintained inner calm, and prevented excessive emotional fluctuations.
The presence causing commotion outside the door didn't seem intent on entering the records room, merely passing slowly by.
Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters...
The tightly drawn curtains prevented those inside from seeing the situation outside.
When the presence outside was about five meters from the records room, the crescent moon mark on Xu Zisheng's wrist suddenly burned.
Almost without hesitation, Xu Zisheng instantly retrieved the Human Skin Cloak from the Sealed Space again.
Ghost Power flashed briefly, and the Human Skin Cloak's effect immediately activated—those low, hoarse lamentations began echoing in his ears again.
The flawless, smooth skin perfectly hid within the darkness, silently merging into it.
Closer, even closer—
When it was farther away, he could still hear some sounds, but when he sensed it getting closer, he actually couldn't hear anything.
Xu Zisheng struggled to remain calm, generating almost no fear or Horror Value.
There was no movement at all; even its presence was undetectable, completely unclear whether the presence outside the door had left or not.
Every second spent in the dark records room felt like an eternity.
But Xu Zisheng remained extremely patient, maintaining his crouching position motionless. He gently closed his eyes, then opened them again, his gaze deep and unfathomable.
After nearly ten minutes, all the muscles in Xu Zisheng's body ached from prolonged crouching.
Only after about fifteen minutes did the burning sensation from the crescent moon mark on his wrist gradually fade.
But Xu Zisheng didn't act rashly, instead waiting another five minutes.
This was the maximum time he could delay. Having just left the dormitory building at 11:30 pm, it had already taken over forty minutes just to avoid those patrolling monsters and reach this place.
Xu Zisheng estimated the current time should be close to 1:00 am, and he needed to reserve enough time to return to the dormitory.
He didn't want to encounter that enormous, terrifying black shadow he saw approaching 2:00 am on the first night again.
If he wandered outside the dormitory and couldn't retreat inside in time, he would likely be discovered by that eerie, horrifying giant black shadow.
Facing such an ominous, bizarre existence would surely mean certain death.
The Bone-Fixing Nails emitted dull grinding sounds within the gaps of Xu Zisheng's bones. The thin boy carefully stood up and, draped in the Human Skin Cloak, gradually moved toward the door.
The door quietly opened a crack. Xu Zisheng took two deep breaths, controlled the noise level, restored everything at the records room entrance to its original state, then slightly bent over and retraced his path back.
Just after stepping outside, the terrifying cold wind blowing directly into his face made him instinctively shrink back.
As Xu Zisheng was about to step down the stairs from the corridor, he paused.
He looked down slightly and discovered that the previously chaotic grass in front now had a strange mark.
Earlier, this disorderly grassland—with its untended, thriving wild grass nearly reaching calf-height—had edges that weren't soft at all but extremely sharp.
But now, a deeply indented mark appeared in the middle of the similarly tall grass,
as if something had heavily crushed over it, then corroded and absorbed its nutrients. The originally lush wild grass completely lost its vitality, leaving only a pile of withered, faded debris.
From the marks on the ground, it was clear the eerie presence outside had emerged from another path.
It seemed to have entered several rooms through the main entrance, then passed directly by the records room, finally leaving this area.
Xu Zisheng slightly bent over, carefully observing the dead grass while frowning slightly. He seemed to smell a somewhat pungent disinfectant odor.
Disinfectant?
There also seemed to be a faint, barely detectable smell of already rotten medicine.
Based on the information he'd just learned, Xu Zisheng knew the orphanage had an infirmary, though he wasn't sure if it was related to the presence that just passed by outside.
Remembering this unusual point, Xu Zisheng stopped wasting time and immediately left the area.
The Cursed Child's mind was still rapidly working, both contemplating opportunities to break the situation and resisting the Human Skin Cloak's backlash against him.
Xu Zisheng had always understood that one misstep would lead to complete failure, requiring payment with his life.
His nerves were taut, unable to relax for even a moment.
Within this eerie instance, before his strength was sufficient, he had to proceed carefully at every step, being extremely cautious without letting his guard down easily.
A flash of madness and determination passed through the thin boy's eyes. No matter how bizarre and terrifying this instance was, he would definitely survive!
Moreover, the Writer was also here!—
In the boundless dark night, space slightly distorted. Beneath the Human Skin Cloak that reflected the surrounding scenery, the final Cursed Child moved forward bearing heavy shackles.
As for Xiao Gui'an?
His situation was completely a different style.
Xiao Gui'an's soul form slightly floated above Xu Zisheng's shoulder, drifting slowly along with his movements without any fluctuations.
During the waiting process just now, Xiao Gui'an's spirit had also tensed up due to Xu Zisheng's actions.
But perhaps the quiet, dim environment was too conducive to sleep, as Xiao Gui'an's vigilance and tension gradually dissipated, and he once again fell into deep slumber.
Subconsciously treating Xu Zisheng as a moving bed, he clung to his shoulder, moving along with his motions.
Light as air, practically no different from it—this indicated Xiao Gui'an was sleeping extremely soundly, completely unaware anything was amiss.
The Proxy System silently watching all this:...
One side completely at ease, the other constantly vigilant—the two formed an extremely sharp contrast.
The return journey seemed somewhat faster this time.
While returning to the orphan dormitory building, to avoid one of the ghosts, Xu Zisheng chose another route—one he had walked during these two days at the orphanage.
The paths within the orphanage crisscrossed extensively, so taking a brief detour wouldn't much affect returning to the dormitory building—it was merely a difference of a few minutes faster or slower.
Xu Zisheng surveyed his surroundings and noticed there seemed to be fewer patrolling ghosts on this route.
Compared to the area he came from, returning this way wasn't exactly smooth sailing, but it was somewhat easier.
If he couldn't complete the instance task tomorrow and needed to conduct a third night of Nighttime Wandering, perhaps he could pass through this area again.
Calculating the time in his mind, Xu Zisheng estimated that if no accidents occurred, he could smoothly return to the dormitory building in about twenty minutes.
Provided no accidents occurred—
"Buzz—"
"!" Xu Zisheng immediately became alert and retreated behind a withered large tree nearby.
The ground beneath his feet seemed to tremble slightly, and the previously quiet surroundings began emitting strange noises.
A ghost-like figure drifted toward Xu Zisheng's direction, and behind that white specter was a terrifying horde of ghosts that seemed endless at first glance.