Chapter 362 - Chapter 362: Chapter 361: Stepping on Footprints
Chapter 362: Chapter 361: Stepping on Footprints
The so-called miracle, of course, was impossible.
The only explanation was that Yang Jian’s very ordinary action just now had disrupted the ghost’s murder pattern, allowing Luo Su Yi, who would have been chosen as the target and killed at 2:15, to escape the fierce ghost’s targeting.
The pattern had been broken.
But why?
Just what method was the ghost using to select its targets, and could it really be changed by simply moving a carpet?
If that were true, it would mean the ghost’s murder pattern was actually quite simple, so simple that any person could easily do it.
“The carpet’s position changed, then Luo Su Yi survived, and the ghost didn’t stop to start killing as before… Is the carpet the key? No, the carpet isn’t the key, it’s the footprints the ghost left on the carpet that are the key.”
In the dim hallway, the deathly still corpse of the tall man was still wandering eerily.
Its heavy footsteps continued, leaving behind a trail of putrid footprints.
The footprints were not clear, only a hint of a black outline, which only became distinct after a few days when the liquid from the footprints decayed and deteriorated, as Yang Jian had seen when he first entered the hotel, those black, rotten marks, were particularly conspicuous.
“So someone died because the ghost’s footprints were left on the carpet? No, that’s not right either. The ghost is still wandering now, the footprints are still being made, but there are no deaths nearby, which means the ghost leaving footprints is just one condition, and another condition is the key.”
Yang Jian’s eyes flickered; he knew he was very close to the truth.
That Luo Su Yi had survived gave him a great reminder, directly negating some far-fetched ideas, leaving only one condition close to the truth.
“Re-enacting the scene we just walked through in the hallway might reveal the truth,” he vaguely felt that the reason he and the others had been targeted by the ghost was partly because they had all walked down that hallway.
Because the ghost had been lingering in the hallway they had just passed through when it started killing.
If the two were not related, he would never believe it.
Otherwise, why hadn’t Xiong Wenwen foreseen their deaths when the ghost was wandering elsewhere?
The pattern was right here.
“Yang Jian, the next person to die is still me.” Suddenly, Xiong Wenwen, who could foresee the future, opened his eyes in terror again, and he had once more perceived a very bad outcome.
“It’s the same as before; I can’t see the process, I can’t see the ghost’s pattern, I only see my body split into two, lying on the ground bleeding…”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, are you being targeted by that ghost again?” Luo Su Yi, who had just escaped death, had not even had time to celebrate before he was dumbfounded by Xiong Wenwen’s words.
“I, I don’t know what’s going on either, do you think I want to be targeted by that ghost…” Xiong Wenwen was so anxious that he had already started to cry.
Luo Su also began to panic; he knew that Xiong Wenwen absolutely must not die. If he died, there would be no one here to foresee the death of others, and then they would truly die once, and not just in a foreseen future.
“Yang Jian, why not pull the carpet again, maybe another miracle will occur.”
“No, there’s no need, I think I have figured out the ghost’s murder pattern, but I’m still missing the last bit of clarity. I need to replay the scene when we walked in just now, give me some time. By the way, Wenwen, when is your next death?” Yang Jian immediately asked.
“In two minutes,” Wenwen trembled.
“There’s still a little time, it should be enough.”
Yang Jian took a deep breath and once again entered the Ghost Domain. This time, the range of his ghost eye was not large, only covering the area about three meters ahead with the Ghost Domain.
The Ghost Domain did not conceal, but appeared as a red projection before everyone.
“I use the Ghost Domain to create an illusionary realm that simulates everything that happened in the hallway just now. Look, this is what it was like when we came in here,” Yang Jian controlled the Ghost Domain, and immediately a red ghost domain with a carpeted hallway appeared inside.
“This is the ghost’s route of movement, and it’s very accurate. I saw the footprints left by the ghost.”
“The ghost first walked back from this intersection, leaving a trail of footprints along the way. Pay close attention to the position of the footprints. And this is what it looked like when we came in,” he said.
Within the Ghost Domain, the images of Yang Jian, Luo Su Yi, and the others appeared, exactly as they were when they had just walked in.
“The ghost didn’t kill anyone on its way back.”
Inside the Ghost Domain, the phantom ghost and the illusory figures of Yang Jian and others crossed paths in a corridor, and everyone was unharmed.
“The problem started when the ghost turned around to head back,” Yang Jian’s ghostly gaze shifted, and the scenery within the Ghost Domain changed. The ghost began to turn and head back, which was when it met others face to face.
“The movements of the ghost were very slow, so pay attention to the time. The first murder occurred at 2:10, which was also when Xiong Wenwen was first attacked.”
“I can’t see anything unusual,” Luo Su Yi said, widening his eyes in an attempt to discern any tricks, but he discovered nothing.
Yang Jian calmly said, “The information is already very clear. I’ll re-illusion our appearance when we first entered at this time.”
Then, in the Ghost Domain, the figures of Yang Jian and his group appeared again.
At that moment, in everyone’s eyes, the ghost was walking forward along the passageway together with them.
However, at a certain moment, something very noteworthy happened.
Inside the Ghost Domain, just after 2:10, the ghost’s footprints overlapped with Xiong Wenwen’s footprints in the passage.
No, to be precise, the ghost had stepped exactly on top of the footprints Xiong Wenwen had left on the carpet.
The scene in the Ghost Domain froze.
It was deliberately paused by Yang Jian. His eyes narrowed. “You see, just after 2:10, when the ghost turned and traversed the corridor, its ghostly footprints perfectly overlaid the footprints previously left by Xiong Wenwen. Then the ghost stopped and began to kill—Xiong Wenwen was attacked.”
“If you look at the position from which the ghost swung its knife, I had already taken note of it earlier. The ghost swung its knife precisely at the neck of Xiong Wenwen, which is why his head fell off.”
“However, the ghost wasn’t swinging at the present Xiong Wenwen, but at the Xiong Wenwen from when the footprints were left.”
The scene within the Ghost Domain began to operate once more.
The ghost raised its rusty firewood knife, then swung down.
Xiong Wenwen, who had stopped where his footprints were left, was struck by the firewood knife, and his head fell off.
“This is exactly the same as the death scene I foresaw earlier,” Xiong Wenwen shrieked in terror at this sight.
“Oh my god, so that’s how it is. This ghost starts to kill as soon as it steps on someone’s footprints,” Luo Su Yi exclaimed, almost jumping up in shock.
At this moment, seeing the scene simulated inside the Ghost Domain, Xiong Wenwen grabbed Yang Jian’s arm and yelled, “Hurry, the time is almost up, the ghost is about to step on my footprints again.”
“No, stepping on the footprints isn’t the key part. Could the footprints that the ghost steps on while traversing the corridor be less frequent? To really meet the conditions, the ghost’s footprints must completely cover ours. Only then does the ghost begin to kill,” Yang Jian said, as he grabbed the carpet beneath his feet and flipped it over.
All the footprints previously left by everyone were now on the underside.
Two minutes passed, and Xiong Wenwen was unharmed once again.
The ghost continued to wander through the corridor.
Seeing this, Yang Jian breathed a sigh of relief.
His judgment was correct; this ghost’s murder pattern was to begin killing as soon as it stepped on someone else’s footprints.
As such, it’s no wonder that he and Xiong Wenwen were not harmed during their first encounter with the ghost. It was only when the Ghost Domain was on the verge of breaking due to the laughing ghost that Xiong Wenwen had foreseen the death scene for the two of them.
Without the Ghost Domain, the footprints naturally became exposed. The ghost that was loitering on the second floor of the restaurant could easily step on their footprints.
“Damn, such an easily discovered rule almost killed several of us. No wonder you, Yang Jian, were never attacked. It’s because you’ve been walking along the wall since you came in. Your footprints were on the side, not in the middle. The ghost, walking down the center, could never step on your footprints,” Luo Su Yi remarked as he fumbled for a cigarette but couldn’t find his lighter to light it.
“From the replay of the scene just now, it’s indeed the case,” Yang Jian said.