Translator: CinderTL
"Doctor," Fatty whispered, noticing Jiang Cheng's unease, "what's wrong?"
Huai Yi seemed to sense something amiss as well, his brow furrowing slightly as he scanned the room. Apart from the rows of peacefully closed-eyed heads and scattered severed limbs, he found nothing out of the ordinary.
Jiang Cheng slowly straightened, stealing a quick glance at the display shelves. The heads were now tightly shut, completely different from how they'd been before.
But now, Jiang Cheng clenched his fists. Reflected in the glass jars before him, the pale heads had not only opened their eyes, but their once-serene expressions were twisting into grotesque contortions.
"It's nothing," Jiang Cheng said calmly. "We've signed the document. Let's get out of here quickly."
Though Fatty still felt uneasy, he trusted the doctor's words and dutifully followed Jiang Cheng as the group moved toward the exit.
As they walked, they noticed something was wrong. The temperature in the display room plummeted, their breaths condensing into visible white mist.
"Brother Jiang..." Wen Liangshan stammered, genuinely frightened. He remembered Fatty's ominous warning about the dark shadow on his forehead, a harbinger of great misfortune. Could this be the calamity he'd been warned about?
The display room was divided into two sections. The inner chamber was straightforward: they simply had to navigate past several rows of shelves in the center to reach a pair of wooden double doors leading to the slightly larger outer room.
Despite circling the room several times, they couldn't find the exit.
Even Wen Liangshan, usually oblivious, began to realize something was wrong.
"W-we're trapped in a ghost wall, aren't we?" he stammered, trembling uncontrollably.
"Look over there!" Fatty suddenly shouted.
Following his pointed finger, they saw a row of display shelves tucked away against the wall, lined with glass jars.
Oddly, the jars were empty, yet not entirely so. Each still contained the preserving liquid used for specimens.
Under the light, wisps of sediment floated within the liquid, as if the jars had been vigorously stirred moments before.
Jiang Cheng's pupils narrowed. He noticed damp patches near the empty jars, giving the distinct impression that something had recently crawled out of them.
Drip.
A drop of liquid fell from the ceiling, landing squarely on Jiang Cheng's shoulder. As it splattered, a strange, acrid odor filled the air—the kind used to preserve corpses.
Jiang Cheng knew this smell well.
Huai Yi, Fatty, and even Wen Liangshan understood now: these empty glass jars had once contained severed limbs and other body parts. And now...
The grotesque entities lurked above them, concealed within the pitch-black ceiling.
Fatty swallowed hard, the nervous gulp audible in the tense silence. No one dared to look up, fearing that the first to do so would witness the most terrifying sight of their lives.
The group stood frozen, the atmosphere thick with dread.
Drip.
Drip.
More and more of the pungent liquid splattered from the ceiling, some droplets landing on their heads and faces. The cold, viscous substance clung to them like a nightmare, searing itself into their memories.
Though none dared to raise their heads, their eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for escape. This reprieve wouldn't last; the ghostly creatures wouldn't abandon their hunt just because the group refused to look up. Their time was running out.
Then Jiang Cheng noticed something deeply unsettling. Through the reflection in a glass jar beside him, he spotted a row of human heads lurking not far behind them. The severed heads, preserved in jars, glared at them with venomous resentment, as if craving the warmth of living flesh and plotting to keep them trapped here forever.
But the heads should have been at the very back of the display. They had already traveled a considerable distance. Could these severed heads have somehow followed them?
Puzzled, Jiang Cheng began to reevaluate their situation. He shifted his perspective, searching for a display shelf that would reflect the row of empty glass jars in front of them.
To his surprise, the reflection revealed that the jars weren't empty at all. Each contained a specimen, unsettling to look at but seemingly inert.
After a moment's thought, Jiang Cheng exhaled in relief, feeling he had found a direction—more precisely, a way out of here.
"Everyone, gather around," Jiang Cheng whispered.
The others quickly converged, forming a tight circle around him.
"Get your phones ready," Jiang Cheng instructed in a hushed tone, as if afraid of being overheard. "Turn on the flashlights, but cover them with your fingers to block the light. When I count to three, everyone turn around simultaneously and shine your flashlights behind you."
"Move quickly, and aim slightly higher than eye level—about the height of the top shelf of the display rack," Jiang Cheng added, offering no explanation, merely giving instructions.
Fortunately, everyone understood the gravity of their situation, and no one wasted time with questions.
"Understood."
The group slowly dispersed again, each finding a suitable position.
"One..."
Jiang Cheng began to count softly.
"Two."
"Three!"
At the final command, the four turned in unison, whipping out their phones and shining their flashlights behind them.
A horrifying sight materialized. The previously empty space had transformed under the harsh light.
In the darkness loomed an iron rack, upon which rested over a dozen human head specimens.
Each head had its bloodshot eyes wide open, fixed on the group. The sudden glare caught them off guard, forcing them to slam their eyelids shut, thrashing violently and emitting inhuman shrieks.
"Brother Jiang! The road... the road's back to normal!" Wen Liangshan exclaimed, his voice trembling with relief as the familiar scenery returned.
But when he turned around, he discovered that Jiang Cheng and the others had vanished without a trace.
They didn't dare stop running until they had burst out of the Second Display Room and put some distance between themselves and it. Standing in the corridor, they couldn't shake off the lingering fear.
"That was a close call!" Fatty wiped cold sweat from his forehead, his chubby hands still trembling uncontrollably. He thought to himself that if it weren't for the Doctor's cunning, they would have been doomed.
"Brother Jiang's skills are unmatched," Wen Liangshan said with a fawning smile, now convinced that Jiang Cheng was the real powerhouse of their group. "Lucky stars shine on the virtuous."
Recalling the earlier scene, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel relieved. Fortunately, his gamble had paid off. The disappearing limbs and other grotesque visions had indeed been illusions. The true danger lay in those severed heads.
These bizarre heads could induce hallucinations through their gaze. In reality, the group had been running in circles the whole time. To escape, they needed to disrupt the heads' gaze and force them to close their eyes.
The outcome had proven his theory correct.
(End of the Chapter)
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