Chapter 31: Out of Control (10)

The passengers present, while not exactly geniuses, had survived long enough to reach a Grade-C instance, meaning they were at least capable of reading a situation. Consequently, Lu Jinchao did not need to say much; the others quickly followed her as she fled the area.

Lu Jinchao did not dare to look back, and thus she missed the terrifying sight. All the old villagers stood in silence, holding their soul-summoning banners, motionless. Not even the commotion caused by the fleeing passengers drew a single glance from them. In the darkness, these villagers resembled rows of corpses standing in the square—quiet, silent, and indescribably eerie.

*Huff, huff...*

In the dark village, Lu Jinchao could hear little more than her own ragged breathing and the sound of her footsteps. The torch in her hand provided limited light, enough to keep her from stumbling, but its narrow beam offered no wider view to help her navigate. She had to rely on memory as she sprinted along the narrow country paths.

"If I remember correctly, the ancestral hall should be in this direction."

The village, which had seemed small in her memory, revealed its sinister side now that she was running for her life. The roads were mostly narrow, winding, and rugged. Every few steps brought a new corner, and the houses all looked nearly identical. To a stranger holding a torch in the dark, it was impossible to tell where one was. Not to mention that their nerves were frayed to the breaking point, and they knew full well that there might be ghosts behind them!

"I shouldn't have run the wrong way. I spent the entire day carefully recording the paths from the ancestral hall and the altar to the village."

Lu Jinchao kept affirming this to herself as she ran. She knew that if she began to doubt herself now, hesitation would take hold, leading to indecision and potentially wasting a chance at survival. She did not know exactly what had happened at the altar, but she was certain that if they didn't reach the ancestral hall immediately, they would all die.

"Yes, I haven't misremembered. It's here."

After rounding several corners, Lu Jinchao’s anxious heart finally began to calm; she could see the ancestral hall in the distance. The doors were open, and unlike the pitch-black entrance to the altar, the ancestral hall retained a faint glimmer of light in the dark village. It was the eternal lamp.

Seeing the gates of the ancestral hall, Lu Jinchao, who had been exhausted by the sustained sprint, forced herself to find a second wind. She squeezed out the last of her strength and charged directly into the hall.

The people following her were slower, clearly hesitating before the gates. Only Wei Ling followed Lu Jinchao inside without a moment's pause.

"Huff... huff..." Once inside, Wei Ling saw Lu Jinchao slumped on the ground, struggling to catch her breath. After steadying her own breathing, Wei Ling asked, "You stopped here because you think it’s safer?"

Lu Jinchao was still gasping for air and, unwilling to speak, simply gave a slight nod. Seeing this, Wei Ling finally lowered her guard slightly and let out a long sigh. She looked at Lu Jinchao, whose eyes were glazed with fatigue, and said, "Your physical stamina... it’s not very good, is it?"

Lu Jinchao felt speechless. Her fitness was actually quite healthy for a girl her age; it was clearly Wei Ling whose stamina was superhuman! However, in this station, mere health was clearly not enough. She would need to train harder in the future. But now was not the time for such thoughts.

The people outside hesitated for a few seconds, but seeing that Lu Jinchao and Wei Ling had encountered no danger inside, they followed them in one by one. Some clearly still didn't understand the situation and, seeing the ancestral hall was temporarily safe, asked with confusion, "So, is this a safe zone?"

"I don't know. I don't even know what happened yet!"

"Are we just going to stay here? Should we be doing something else?"

The group voiced their uncertainties, clearly anxious and feeling that the ancestral hall was not truly secure. "Hey, you who brought us here, do you know something?" someone asked, looking at Lu Jinchao.

By now, Lu Jinchao had recovered some of her strength. She exhaled and replied slowly, "Didn't A-Luo say that if any accidents happened, we should go to the ancestral hall for shelter?"

"Is that it?"

"You brought us to the ancestral hall just because of that?"

"Those villagers are clearly problematic; you can't believe a word they say!"

A commotion broke out in the hall at Lu Jinchao's answer. Some were ready to turn and leave, and Lu Jinchao did not try to stop them. Her reasons went beyond A-Luo's words, though those words had confirmed her belief that the hall was safe. But why should she explain so much? She hadn't left them behind; she had warned them, brought them to the hall, and shared her reasoning. She had done all she could. Whether the others believed her was not her concern.

Although some made a show of leaving, once they looked out into the darkness, they hesitated. *Maybe... maybe I should just stay with the group for now?*

Driven by this thought, even those dissatisfied with Lu Jinchao or uneasy about the hall did not truly leave. Within the hall, despite the light of the torches and the presence of their companions, a sense of unease permeated the space.

"So... what exactly happened at the altar?"

"Why did the ritual fail? Didn't two of our own go in? Zhang Junjie even had a paranormal item, and what about those villagers?"

"What is going on with this instance? We’ve already lost four people, and I don't even know what happened!"

Her words resonated with the others. Indeed, in their eyes, they hadn't faced any major direct danger so far, yet in this "peaceful" atmosphere, four teammates had died inexplicably.

But... had nothing really happened?

Lu Jinchao’s expression was grave. Many clues were stringing together in her mind, leading to a conclusion that filled her with regret. "If I had known sooner..."

But in this station, "knowing sooner" was the most impossible thing of all.

"Did... did anyone else see a shadow outside the door?"

In the silence, someone suddenly asked, acting paranoid.

"What shadow? Don't talk nonsense."

"No, I really saw it!" Her tone became somewhat hysterical. "It was just a shadow. A human shadow."

"Then where is the person? Did you see them? Who was it?" someone asked vigilantly.

"There was no one!" She shook her head, her expression terrified. "Only a shadow... didn't you see it? It... it’s been lingering at the door for a long time, ever since we came in. It’s been following us... and now it’s about to come in."