Volume One: Phantom Mansion Chapter Seventeen: A Moment Between Life and Death

Many details are often hidden in places you can easily see but tend to overlook out of habit.

Cheng Fan had never known this before—indeed, he had never even heard of it. Yet, as he scanned the oil painting again in desperation, searching for a way out, a seemingly normal detail emerged that starkly contradicted the current situation.

What was the current situation?

It was the dead of night, a time of absolute darkness. This supernatural instance had begun precisely at midnight, meaning that from the very start of the trial, time was completely divorced from daylight. Cheng Fan had just reasoned that the oil painting’s environment could be largely integrated into this trial, and the logic seemed sound. Yet, strangely...

When he inadvertently glanced toward the window in the room depicted in the painting, he noticed the window was white.

Or rather, the sky outside the window was white.

In an oil painting dominated by shadows and gloom, there was a conspicuously bright spot. Not only was this jarring, it was deeply unusual.

At first, he hadn’t paid it any mind—just habit, after all, many painted windows are white. But after repeated observation, he stumbled upon this detail by chance.

“White... a white window...”

“Could this be a hint for a way out of this trial? If it is, what exactly does it mean?”

Fixated on the striking pure white in the painting, He Fei’s eyes flickered as he murmured to himself, as if he had just uncovered an immensely crucial clue. Not only was his face marked by astonishment and suspicion, but his mind also whirred frantically as if wound up by a spring.

Next...

Like touching a fatal electric switch, Cheng Fan trembled inexplicably. His body shuddered, and in the next moment, his eyes snapped wide open!

No, it couldn’t be. This couldn’t be the way out. Even if it really was, escaping the building would still hold no real meaning for an adventurer.

No one knew what Cheng Fan was thinking at that moment, but he was utterly stunned. Shock meant he had found a way out. After an excruciatingly detailed process of deduction and analysis, he finally arrived at a conclusion he personally wished to reject but which was logically flawless.

That was...

The window—the only way out of this supernatural trial was through the window!

To put it plainly, you had to jump out the window. Only by leaping from the room’s window could you pass the trial and truly escape this haunted building!

“Damn it!”

As this revelation dawned, Cheng Fan stood pale before the painting, overwhelmed by shock. The shock was so intense it made him stagger backward several steps. Though he eventually regained his footing, his mind remained shrouded in astonishment.

***

“This is the way out? This is the damn way out? What a joke!” In his shock, Cheng Fan cursed loudly at the painting, the surprise on his face turning to anger without him realizing when.

It wasn’t his fault to grit his teeth and swear, nor was it strange for anger to flare up—it was because the way out was utterly unreasonable. First, this supernatural trial was set inside a tall building. Everyone knew how high it was. Jumping out the window was essentially jumping off the building. Sure, maybe a rope could help someone descend, but...

Utilizing some supernatural force incomprehensible to humans, the female ghost had altered the building’s height. The actual height now soared beyond the clouds, at least a kilometer above the ground!

Such an unfathomable height was far beyond what any rope could reach. Unless you jumped to your death, you simply couldn’t leave the building. But if you did jump, how was that any different from suicide?

Why jump just to smash into a puddle of flesh?

“This isn’t the way out. It can’t be the way out. I must have missed something!”

Muttering to himself, Cheng Fan shook his head firmly, rejecting the notion of escape through death. He then turned his gaze back to the painting, determined to search for another clue.

Although reluctant, he examined the painting again. But so focused was he that he lost track of time. At this moment, it was already 4 a.m.

Whoosh!

Just as Cheng Fan looked up to scrutinize the painting once more, a sudden chill swept through the corridor.

Startled by the cold wind, Cheng Fan shivered violently. A foreboding sense suddenly gripped his mind, and he realized he had been too absorbed, forgetting the terrifying truth that the building was haunted.

Sensing danger, Cheng Fan turned toward the sound, eyes locking onto the opposite corridor. But...

Suddenly!

A shadow fell from above, crashing straight at his feet.

The figure landed too fast for Cheng Fan to react. Instinctively, he glanced down—and what he saw made him freeze: a dead body lay there, drenched in blood, in a gruesome state. It was a corpse stripped of its skin!

Moreover, the tuft of yellow hair atop the body allowed him to identify the victim.

It was Zhou Cheng, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Zhou Cheng was dead, falling from the sky in a horrifying manner, landing right in front of Cheng Fan, who witnessed it up close.

Of course, Cheng Fan had no idea how Zhou Cheng had died or how his corpse had appeared. But seeing the dreadful corpse and the horrific state it was in stunned him into silence.

***

He had expected a scream of terror to follow, but reality had other plans. Before Cheng Fan could fully react, an even more terrifying scene unfolded:

“Hehehehe…”

Under Cheng Fan’s wide, unblinking eyes, accompanied by sinister laughter, a head slowly emerged—rising from Zhou Cheng’s chest.

Hair fluttered in the icy wind, facial features twisted grotesquely to the rhythm of the chilling laughter.

Then, a pair of eyes, redder than blood itself, locked onto Cheng Fan with lethal intent.

Along with that came a voice—a death sentence heralding doom:

“...It’s...your...turn...”

“Ah!”

Seeing the ghostly woman in red appear before him, staring directly at him, Cheng Fan’s pupils shrank instantly. Only then did he snap out of his shock, screaming as he turned to flee.

To escape the life-seeking female ghost, he ran as fast as he ever had in his life. In moments, he broke free from the corridor and burst into the stairwell.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t outrun the ghost.

Whoosh!

Watching Cheng Fan desperately flee, the ghost emerged from the corpse, floating in midair, and gave chase with terrifying speed—like a raging gale!

Because of her incredible speed, within seconds she entered the stairwell and swiftly caught up to the frantic Cheng Fan descending the stairs.

This was bad!

At that moment, sensing the ghost behind him, Cheng Fan’s hair stood on end. Instinctively, he reached into his pocket only to find his spare blood bags were all used up. His hand could only grasp a small knife.

The knife had been obtained earlier in the infirmary.

Realizing his blood supply was gone, Cheng Fan grimaced, but desperate to survive, at this critical moment, he pulled out the knife and, with a fierce expression, slashed his left arm sharply!