novelraw Chapter 724: Don't Believe
Chapter 724: Don't Believe
Ghost-mantises, or as they were sometimes called, spirit-mantises.
They got the "mantis" part of their name from their appearance, and the "ghost" part from their ability to pass through solid objects.
Ghost-mantises were not considered particularly dangerous anomalies. There were far more terrifying creatures in the Wastelands, as the mantises had an obvious weakness: if you kept your distance and stayed quiet, they wouldn't notice you.
"You seem to have more questions," Katerina observed, watching Lu Li.
Lu Li was silent for a moment before deciding to ask, "Have you heard of an evil spirit called the Shadow Maiden?"
"No," Katerina shook her head, trying to recall. Then she suggested, "Someone in Mantistown is bound to know."
She was hoping Lu Li would go to the city. That would mean a substantial reward for her.
Of course, that was assuming Lu Li was truly a pureblood human.
"I'll go to the city with you," Lu Li said. He understood what Katerina was thinking but didn't object.
He needed to find out what had happened to this world, and...To find out something about Anna.
"Wait a little longer. Having lost their target, the ghost-mantises will wander around nearby for a while." Katerina's rapid heartbeat echoed in the hut.
"You're excited," Lu Li remarked, looking at her.
Katerina didn't hide it. "You have no idea how high the reward for you is! It'll be enough for me to live comfortably in the city for several months, and I might even be able to become a full resident!"
"What about your family?" Katerina asked suddenly.
Lu Li lowered his gaze and answered calmly, "She's missing."
"That's a common occurrence in the Wastelands..." Katerina thought that Lu Li should be used to it.
Silence, heavy with the topic, fell over the hut.
They were waiting in the shelter for the ghost-mantises to leave when, suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed from the alley outside.
Lu Li gave Katerina a questioning look.
"Those aren't mantises," Katerina said, standing up abruptly.
The footsteps drew closer quickly, stopping just outside the unlocked door.
Creeeak...
The door swung open, revealing an empty alley.
But Lu Li sensed a chaotic, almost palpable malice spreading across the threshold.
"Brother! It's you... It can't be!"
But it seemed Katerina was seeing something else. She was talking to the malevolent entity.
The conversation continued. Katerina's emotions shifted from disbelief to doubt, and then to uncertainty. At one point, she glanced at Lu Li, as if discussing something related to him with the creature.
Realizing that Katerina's continued interaction with the anomaly could lead to trouble, Lu Li lowered his gaze to the back of his left hand.
If Friday had fused a shard of The Atonement into his hand...
Lu Li stood up and stepped forward. Katerina rushed toward him in alarm, but he punched straight into the mass of malice.
It wasn't just empty air. Lu Li's fist felt as if it had plunged into thick syrup. The malice instantly vanished, and a faint, barely audible shriek echoed through the hut.
Lu Li wasn't yet accustomed to his new power, but he had clearly used it correctly.
The malice dissipated along with the sticky sensation on his fist. Katerina, snapping out of her illusion, froze.
After destroying the anomaly, Lu Li felt a faint stream of humanity flow into his body, bringing with it a sense of warmth, but there were no memories of death.
Perhaps the silhouette resembling Friday was blocking them, or maybe the anomaly hadn't been born from a human?
Lu Li closed the door and turned to ask Katerina, "What was that?"
"I owe you one," Katerina said, still trembling. She had nearly succumbed to the anomaly's temptation—or perhaps she already had. "I don't know. Too many monsters use illusions to deceive people. We need to get out of here. This place isn't safe."
The moment she finished speaking, a soft, affectionate whisper sounded from behind Lu Li. "Lu Li..."
Lu Li froze.
"I succeeded... You died..."
Lu Li didn't answer or turn around. He raised his eyes to Katerina, letting her know he was under the influence of an illusion.
He knew it was just a mirage, not the real Anna.
The familiar whisper continued, "I know you have many questions... None of this is like what you experienced underground... But the answer has always been within you..."
"Lu Li... my love... Open the diary you found in the temple... and face the truth..."
Lu Li hesitated, then reached into his pocket and took out Naslam Alaya's diary.
"The answer is inside..."
To the sound of the whispers, Lu Li opened the diary.
[I'm trapped. I can't get out of here].
[The intervals between the tides are very long, the next one won't be for a couple of weeks, but the path down has collapsed, and I can't leave].
[The good news is, I won't live to see the next tide. I have no food or water, and the wounds Anna inflicted are slowly killing me].
[Whoever finds this diary, my name is Lu Li, and I am a spirit exterminator. From now on, I will record everything I know about anomalies here].
"Think carefully... That skeleton... is you..."
The whisper sent Lu Li's thoughts racing.
Who was trapped in that hole, doomed to die of despair? The shelter resident, or Lu Li himself?
Suddenly, a sharp sound cut through the air. A faint scream echoed in the hut, and then everything went silent.
The familiar whisper was gone.
"Now we're even again." Katerina, saved twice by Lu Li and having saved him twice in return, walked past, pulling the anomaly from where it was embedded in the wooden door.
Lu Li looked down at the diary again. The entries had returned to normal. It was once again the diary of a shelter resident named Naslam Alaya.
"We need to go. If these are pack monsters, we'll be in trouble."
Katerina inserted the anomaly into her eye socket, pushed open the door, and stepped out into the alley.
Lu Li followed her, heading for the shelter's exit.
The ghost-mantises that had been wandering near the entrance were gone. All that remained were dried patches of sticky blood on the ground and on the Deep Sea Stone at the exit.
It was Lu Li's blood.
Katerina scanned the area for a moment, then pulled a faintly glowing piece of fluorite from her pocket and motioned for Lu Li to follow.
The shelter was located in a mine, and its exit was also a mine tunnel.
Lu Li followed Katerina and the fluorite for several hundred meters. Then, thinking of the Deep Sea Stone he carried and the contribution points he had, he asked if the Traders still existed.
"Not the kind you're describing. At least, I've never heard of them." Katerina suddenly crouched and scraped the sole of her boot on the tunnel floor. "Shh... We're approaching the entrance to the ghost-mantis nest. Be quiet."
The stones underfoot were covered in marks that looked like they'd been made by a pickaxe.
The farther they walked, the more frequent these marks became.
Lu Li and Katerina cautiously proceeded for another hundred meters and safely passed the fork in the tunnel that led to the mantis lair.
Once they were a safe distance away, they quickened their pace, heading toward the mine's exit until the dim light of the outside world glimmered ahead.
"What time is it?" Lu Li asked.
"The dead of night."
Katerina suddenly remembered something and, turning back, added, "By the way, when we get outside, don't look up. You'll go mad."
"A new Calamity?"
"No, it's just... sometimes the sight of the sky can drive you insane... It probably won't affect you, but still, whatever you do, don't believe the sky."