Chapter 47: Level-One Evil Entity [Nameless Will-o'-the-Wisp]

Although Ji Yun knew that the two individuals from the Special Investigation Bureau were Transcendents, he still wore a look of slight surprise as he watched the green flames burning on Wu Feng’s hand.

A Tier 1 malefic entity: [Nameless Ghost Fire].

He had seen people selling it on the Bagua Forum.

Elemental malefic entities of this kind were not particularly rare.

However, the probability of fusion failure and losing control was extremely high.

One careless mistake would result in a backlash from the ghost fire, burning the user to death.

Among the Yin Five Elements, it was considered the elemental malefic entity with the highest mortality rate upon fusion.

Yet, once successfully fused, it allowed a Transcendent to command ghost fire, vastly enhancing their proficiency in and affinity for fire-type spells.

Its combat capability was both formidable and striking,

and its potential ceiling was high.

Within the Transcendent community, it was a quite popular malefic entity.

Beside him, Zhao Kai saw the ghost fire, and his worldview collapsed for a single fleeting moment.

Immediately afterward, his eyes lit up fiercely!

Unable to contain his excitement, he quietly tugged at Ji Yun’s clothes and whispered in a trembling voice, "Brother Yun, there are people with superpowers in this world!!!"

In truth, today's college students had a remarkably high acceptance rate for things like ghosts and supernatural abilities.

So high, in fact, that it bordered on anticipation!

Knowing what the chubby fellow was excited about, Ji Yun gave a simple acknowledgment, "Yeah."

Since the Transcendents from the Special Investigation Bureau had chosen to step in,

this ghost, presumably, posed no further threat.

......

Wu Feng toyed with the ghost fire in his palm, his spiritual pressure imposing and oppressive.

Hearing this, no one in the crowd dared to offer a word of rebuttal.

Seeming to pay little heed to the "ghost" either, Wu Feng played with the cluster of ghost fire in his hand and said coldly, "Are you going to come out and talk on your own... or shall I beat you until your body and soul are utterly destroyed?"

It was evident that those who played with fire all possessed rather fiery tempers.

Although the ghost had disguised itself quite well, now that supernatural abilities had been displayed, no matter how skilled the ghost was at camouflage, probing one by one would eventually flush it out.

The ghost likely understood its predicament as well.

It stopped pretending.

"Song Wei" laughed with a piercing, wicked cackle and stepped forward. "So the spiritual pressure I sensed was the two of you. I originally thought it was the fellow who brought the 'cat' inside..."

Hearing this eerie laughter, the group turned to look, all of them thoroughly shocked.

None of them had expected that "Song Wei" was actually the ghost!

Xia Li was relatively familiar with this junior student. Before she even fully processed it, she covered her mouth in a startled gasp. "Song Wei... what are you doing?"

Noticing that Song Wei's complexion was unnatural, Jiang Tian blurted out the truth, "He is the ghost!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expressions shifted in unison.

Liao Feifei felt a mix of lingering fear and relief, quickly defending herself, "I told you it wasn't me!"

The ghost had been exposed, and the game was over.

The invisible sense of restriction that permeated the entire room seemed to dissipate right then and there.

Observing the shifting expressions on the faces of those few, Zhao Kai sneered inwardly.

Yet at this moment, his vision was entirely filled with the ghost fire.

Ji Yun remained silent, having never taken those people's words to heart from the very beginning.

An easily overlooked detail had caught his attention: The fellow who brought the cat in?

Seeing official people with superpowers present, everyone else seemed far less frightened than before.

Watching the ghost step forward on its own initiative, Wu Feng asked, "Who are you?"

Ghosts in normal Ruins usually possessed only the instinctive obsession to kill and rarely showed any intelligence.

The feeling this ghost gave them was quite unusual.

Once its identity was clarified, breaking this Ruin would become much easier.

"Song Wei" appeared entirely unfazed by the two individuals before him, still maintaining a cold sneer. "Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that you cannot possibly leave here alive."

Hearing this, the group of people was once again startled and bewildered.

Ji Yun was well aware of the grading system for Transcendents and ghosts.

Judging by this weak spiritual pressure, even he would disdain it.

Thus, his inward suspicion only grew deeper: It’s this weak, yet it still dares to provoke us?

Naturally, Wu Feng's temper was not one to tolerate such insolence, and he declared sternly, "Just you? A phantom that doesn't even qualify as a malevolent ghost?"

While the ghost was hiding earlier, the situation remained uncertain, but now that it had shown its face, its spiritual pressure was clearly not high.

"Song Wei" seemed truly oblivious to the situation, a bizarre smile still hanging on its face as it repeated its previous words. "Hehe... you're all going to die tonight..."

However, before it could finish speaking,

"Then you go die first."

Wu Feng refused to give it any opportunity to use "Ghostly Chatter" to intimidate the crowd. Forming his hand into the shape of a pistol, he raised it and took aim. "Ghost Fire: Void Rapid Fire!"

"Thud, thud, thud, thud..."

A succession of egg-sized flames shot forth from his fingertips like bullets.

The green fireballs struck "Song Wei," igniting it instantly like a paper doll, causing the entire figure to flare up rapidly in a blaze.

In the blink of an eye, the ghost's body was reduced to a semi-transparent spiritual state. Amidst the verdant ghost fire, within the span of two or three breaths, it was burned away completely.

Faintly visible within the center of that burning body, serving as the source of the ghostly Qi, was a ferocious rakshasa mask.

......

Exterminated?

Watching the thoroughly incinerated "Song Wei," Ji Yun found that this aligned with his understanding of low-tier ghost entities.

Yet, recalling the chilling, eerie smile the ghost had worn right up until it was burned to death,

he felt that the matter was far from over.

Furthermore, what was that mask hidden inside the ghost's body?

Sure enough, beside him, Zhang Xiaonan seemed to sense something. Her expression shifted slightly, and she let out a soft cry, "Wait! We haven't left the Ruin yet."

Wu Feng also hurried over to the window, glanced at the moonlight outside, and wore a puzzled look as well.

The ghost moon was the most direct indicator for identifying a Ruin.

Since the ghost had been dealt with, why was the Ruin still present?

It could only mean that there were other ghosts about.

The entire room watched the solemn expressions of the two, a vague sense of foreboding settling into their hearts.

Having been thoroughly panicked by the unexpected events of tonight, Xia Li had no desire to stay in this dilapidated building for even a single second longer. Panicked, she blurted out, "Shall we leave this place first?"

Lacking the courage to run alone, she wanted to drag the others along with her.

Jiang Tian also snapped to his senses. "Right! Let's get out of here first!"

They had no idea what a Ruin actually was.

They simply assumed that fleeing this haunted building would bring an end to this nightmare.

Although Zhang Xiaonan and Wu Feng knew that leaving was impossible, they couldn't understand why they still couldn't get out now that the ghost had been killed.

Besides, under the present circumstances, trying to persuade anyone to stay would be utterly futile.

Heading downstairs to assess the situation wasn't a bad idea either.

Right at that moment, the lights in the room suddenly dimmed.

Turning to look, they realized the fill light used for the livestream had run out of battery and gone dark.

Before anyone could turn on their phone flashlights, the room was plunged into absolute darkness.

Someone let out a sharp scream, and Jiang Tian grabbed Xia Li, bolting toward the exit first.

The faint illumination of cell phone screens revealed a string of fleeing figures rushing toward the door, terrified of being left behind and overtaken by some terrifying entity.

Ji Yun and Zhao Kai paid no mind to anything else and followed closely behind.

Before long, the flashlights were switched on.

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway, accompanied by a chaotic flurry of swaying lights and human silhouettes.

......

The livestream had been set up on the fourth floor.

Ordinarily, they could have reached the ground floor very quickly.

However, as they ran, everyone gradually realized something was amiss.

They clearly only needed to descend three more flights of stairs to reach the ground floor.

Yet, despite running frantically for what felt like a long time, they still hadn't reached the bottom?

The final two Transcendents in the rear of the group were the first to notice the problem.

In the chaotic hallway, Wu Feng suddenly let out a sharp roar, "Wait! Don't run anymore, everyone!"

Ji Yun also realized something was wrong.

Hearing the shout, he promptly grabbed the chubby fellow and came to a halt.

Once the rear of the group stopped, Liao Feifei and Lu Jiu, who were in the middle, took a few more steps before stopping as well.

Meanwhile, Xia Li and Jiang Tian at the very front had failed to hear clearly, and in their panic, they ran a bit further before vanishing from sight entirely.

The next moment, an even more bizarre scene unfolded.

A piercing scream suddenly rang out!

"Ah...!!!"

Just as Xia Li rounded the corner of the stairwell at the very front, she unexpectedly spotted several human heads appearing downstairs.

Believing she had run into a ghost, she shrieked in terror.

This shrill scream echoed throughout the entire old building,

giving Ji Yun and the others a severe fright as well.

Because the sound had come from behind them!

Looking back, they saw two dark shadows appear on the stairwell landing directly above their heads!

Among them, one flashed and vanished instantly.

......

There were only a few of them in this hallway.

For people to suddenly pop up behind them would frighten anyone.

There's a ghost!

The exact same thought instinctively arose in everyone's minds.

Wu Feng reacted with extreme swiftness, shooting two streams of ghost fire toward the spot.

Yet, the ghost fire darted through the gaps in the stairwell and struck the figure slumped on the ground, failing to ignite it; instead, it illuminated a greenish human face.

Seeming to have guessed something, Wu Feng muttered in bewilderment, "A person?"

The instant the firelight flickered, everyone saw clearly that the person on the stairs who had been frightened to the point of collapsing limply to the ground was none other than Xia Li, dressed in her short skirt!

How could there be two Xia Lis?

One was at the front, and now another had appeared behind them!

And the strange occurrences continued to unfold!

At that very moment, Jiang Tian came running back from downstairs.

Looking up, he too spotted the "Xia Li" on the upper stairs, his face turning pale with terror.

This surreal scene caused everyone on the stairwell to huddle together in the corners like startled quails, holding their breath in utter panic.

At this juncture, Wu Feng seemed to have confirmed something and barked sharply, "Don't panic, that's a human! We've encountered a ghost wall!"

True to being a member of the Special Investigation Bureau, he pinpointed the crux of the problem at a glance.

He and Zhang Xiaonan stood their ground, seemingly instilling a measure of courage in everyone.

A human?

The crowd gradually calmed down as well.

Only then did they notice that the floor number marked on the wall was still—Four.

Despite running for so long, they were still on the fourth floor.

......

Hearing the term "ghost wall," Ji Yun immediately understood what was going on.

Once Wu Feng explained it, the truth came to light.

As it turned out,

the staircase was caught in a loop.

Earlier, they had simply been running in circles between the 4th floor, the 3rd floor... the 4th floor, the 3rd floor... over and over again.

Because Jiang Tian had been running at the very front, the human heads he spotted appearing at the lower stairwell entrance were actually Ji Yun and the others trailing at the back of the group.

Terrified out of his wits and completely unable to worry about Xia Li, who had collapsed in fright, he had turned and bolted back the other way.

Then, upon returning, he collided with Ji Yun's group.

Xia Li had been left behind in her original spot.

And just like that, the two people who had been leading the pack earlier ended up separated—one appearing at the top, and the other at the bottom.

The Xia Li upstairs was not a ghost; rather, because the staircase had looped, she had shifted from the front of the formation to the very rear.

With the mechanism understood, everyone finally heaved a massive sigh of relief.

Yet, upon second thought, the situation was even worse.

They were trapped inside this haunted building.

The illumination from a few cell phone flashlights cast a harsh glow upon faces that were already devoid of color.

In the hallway, only the sound of ragged, overlapping breathing could be heard.

Everyone's gazes had no choice but to rest upon the two experts from the Special Investigation Bureau.

However, neither Wu Feng nor Zhang Xiaonan—despite being Transcendents—had seemingly ever encountered a situation like this before.

With grim expressions, they stared intently into the darkness, as if trying to smoke the "ghost" out of hiding.

As a prolonged silence stretched on without anyone speaking, the terrifying atmosphere in the air grew even heavier.

No one dared to run,

yet staying put filled them with dread.

Liao Feifei could finally no longer bear this agonizing dilemma. Casting an imploring gaze toward Wu Feng, she asked with a tearful, trembling voice, "What... what should we do now?"

Wu Feng's expression hardened as he delivered the standard answer drilled into them by their instructors, "Since the ghost is hiding and refusing to show itself, we have no choice but to go find it."

Hearing this, the group's expressions slumped in unison.

They would have thanked the heavens just to avoid encountering it, and now they were supposed to go look for it?

Right at that moment, however, Zhao Kai seemed to spot some terrifying spectacle. Pointing toward a nearby spot, he cried out in alarm, "Look over there, everyone! There's a person standing on the windowsill!"

Startled, the group followed his gesture and looked over in unison.

Straining their eyes, they saw a human figure with long hair wearing a white dress standing chillingly atop the windowsill.