novelraw Chapter 127: In the Darkness
Chapter 127: In the Darkness
“Ah!”
“Hush.”
Anna’s shriek was cut short, quelled by a steady voice.
In the crushing darkness, where nothing was visible, Lu Li navigated by memory, moving swiftly toward the table.
Thud!
Creak...
The table slid from the impact, and something tumbled off its surface.
Ignoring the toppled oil lamp, Lu Li reached for the curtain, grabbed the heavy fabric, and violently tore it aside, hoping to flood the room with light from the street and drive out the oppressive darkness.
Swish...
The curtain was open, but the window revealed only the same impenetrable darkness.This was profoundly wrong. It was impossible for every light in the city to have gone out. And even if that had happened, the city would never have plunged into such absolute silence.
“Can you see anything?” Lu Li pressed.
He could already feel something dreadful and sinister stirring in the surrounding gloom.
“I can’t see anything,” came Anna’s panicked reply. She had heard Lu Li rip the curtain aside, but not a single sliver of light had pierced the room.
A strange, quiet whisper began to emanate from all around, its source impossible to pinpoint. A chill crept into the air, like the cold that clung to the Spirit Gun. Something was approaching from the unseen corners.
“Hide in the In-Between.”
Lu Li’s command was firm, his voice unwavering, though perhaps a fraction faster than usual.
At the same time, Lu Li’s hand went to his belt. He drew the Spirit Gun and aimed it at the ceiling.
“Ready?”
Lu Li asked before pulling the trigger.
The whispering around them grew slightly louder.
“Yes!”
Anna’s voice sounded from right beside him.
The next instant, Lu Li pulled the trigger.
BANG!!!
The roar tore through the emptiness, the gunpowder staining the black smoke a thick, bloody red.
The entire room shook as if in an earthquake. The floor, the windows, the table—everything trembled with the force of the blast.
The sudden flash illuminated the space for an instant. Lu Li saw the door, and also a thin, pitch-black, clawed appendage that had appeared on the table, stretching toward him. At the sight of the light, it recoiled and vanished back into the shadows.
“Can you see me?”
Darkness fell once more. Lu Li headed for the door, simultaneously working the action of the pistol and ejecting the spent casing. To the clatter of the falling shell, he reached into his pocket, retrieved a silver bullet, and reloaded the weapon.
“I can’t see you... but I can feel you.”
Click...
The action closed, the hammer was cocked, and the gun was ready to fire.
This time, Lu Li did not put the Spirit Gun away, despite the drain it placed on his Mind Level. The danger emanating from the darkness was clearly far more serious than the threat posed by his weapon.
Lu Li’s left hand closed around the cold doorknob. Without turning, he said, “Stay with me.”
Tearing the door open, Lu Li stepped into the corridor, which was still submerged in the same impenetrable darkness.
BANG!!!
The second shot echoed throughout the corridor. In its brief flash of light, Lu Li moved quickly toward the staircase at the end of the hall.
Clink...
The shell casing hit the floor, bounced once, and rolled off into the darkness. Lu Li reached for his pocket, preparing to load a third round.
But at that moment, Lu Li suddenly stepped into empty space...
Having reached the edge of the staircase, Lu Li stumbled and pitched forward. He instantly bent his back leg to avoid an injury and, at the same time, felt a gentle force supporting him until his right foot landed on a wooden step.
Lu Li silently reloaded the pistol and, guided by his memory of the distance between steps, swiftly descended while counting to himself.
“Four... five... six.”
On the sixth count, Lu Li stepped off the final stair and onto the wooden floorboards.
From memory, he knew he was to the right of the counter, a position from which he could see the entire main hall.
Lu Li raised his right hand again and pulled the trigger of the Spirit Gun.
Flame erupted from the barrel, and in the short flash of light, Lu Li took in his surroundings. A cold dread washed over him.
Behind the pillars, inside the counter, under the staircase, next to the tables, beyond the windows... Everywhere, there were shadows, dark figures standing in silence, surrounding Lu Li where he stood before the stairs.
The light from the blast died, and the ghostly beings were once again swallowed by the dense darkness.
Ghosts?
The words of the old woman from the tavern and the newspaper article surfaced in his mind simultaneously.
Lu Li prepared to act. Was this all a setup by the townspeople, or was it real... Pulling the trigger would make things clear.
“Use your telekinesis to shield me.”
Whispering this to Anna, Lu Li stood his ground and began a new count as he reloaded his pistol.
“One... two... three...”
On the third count, a whisper akin to a murmur sounded in the darkness. Something began to stir around them, growing more restless the longer Lu Li remained in the dark.
“Four... five...”
On the fifth count, the whispers grew more distinct, and Lu Li finished reloading.
Click...
Closing the action, Lu Li did not aim at the ceiling this time, but instead extended his arm forward, targeting a spot where he remembered one of the phantoms standing.
His finger began to squeeze the trigger.
Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed from the staircase behind him.
Lu Li’s gaze snapped toward the sound. A faint flicker of light, like a firefly, was rapidly approaching, occasionally illuminating the palms that cupped it...
The person carrying the light source ran down the stairs, and in the next moment, Lu Li felt a hand grab his arm, pulling it to the side.
“Shhh... Careful, don’t provoke them,” a hushed, anxious voice whispered nearby. It was the voice of the mysterious man from the adjoining room.
Feeling the gun barrel being pushed away from the phantom, Lu Li’s expression darkened for a moment, but he lowered the weapon and answered quietly, “Aren’t they already making trouble for us?”
The mysterious man removed his hand and brought the light source closer to Lu Li.
It was a single match, which, remarkably, had not been extinguished during his run down the stairs.
“We’ve been targeted by evil spirits, not these children of the swamp.”
Children of the swamp?
This wasn’t the time for questions. Lu Li suppressed his curiosity and glanced around. “Do you know what’s going on?”
The match illuminated only a small circle of space around them, perhaps a meter across. Beyond it, darkness reigned, and vague shapes were faintly visible within it.
The mysterious man didn’t answer Lu Li’s question. “First, you need to tell me what happened to you.”
“To us?”
“Isn’t the ghost with you?”
He can sense Anna?
Lu Li remained silent, turning his head to peer into the darkness.
The mysterious man explained, “Pay them no mind. They only follow sound and movement. As long as you don’t make any noise or move quickly...”
Lu Li continued to scan his surroundings. “Half a minute ago, a black, shadow-like clawed hand extinguished the oil lamp. Then I pulled back the curtain and found that it was pitch-black outside, too...”
The mysterious man cut him off. “A black, clawed hand? Wait, you’re saying a black hand put out the lamp?”
“Yes.”
The mysterious man cursed under his breath, his face grim.
“Damn it! We’ve run into two evil spirits!”