Terror is resurging, but only I am.

Chapter 69 Hehe, found it!
"Wait...wait, my body is about to split open!"

As Yan Ming stepped forward and tore at the bodies of the paper figures, Lu Mingzhe cried out in pain.

Immediately afterwards, these people all showed expressions of pain, clearly indicating that the harm "Yan Ming" had done to the paper figures had affected them.

At this moment, the real Yan Ming and the others had already turned into paper figures, and could only watch helplessly as these people who had their own likenesses stood at the top of the stairs, repeating the things they had done in the past.

Is this yet another cycle?

Yan Ming suddenly felt exhausted, because he felt like he had fallen into a vortex, always doing the same things over and over again.

Now he has become a paper doll, his ability to move is restricted, and every time he struggles to move, the movements he makes are light and weak.

Moreover, he can't even speak normally now, because all he can say is "waijila waijila," and he doesn't even know what kind of gibberish he's speaking.

Surely there isn't a language where the three words "waikila" can encompass the vast majority of its meaning?

Yan Ming tried to break free from the iron gate. If this was truly a special cycle, then his process as a "human" had already been a failure.

Because Yan Ming and his group would soon choose to enter the corridor, only to find that moving forward was futile and they could only retreat. As a result, when they returned the way they came, they were turned into a string of paper figures and impaled on the iron gate railings...

Even if they wanted to remind them, they couldn't get the "self" standing in front of them to notice anything amiss. After all, just now, they themselves couldn't understand what the paper figures' constant screams of "Waikira" meant.

We can only hope to find a way to escape while still in paper doll form.

Yan Ming thought to himself with a hint of helplessness.

"What should we do? It looks like something is coming from over there."

At this moment, "Zhao Yunyao" spoke nervously, her voice trembling slightly.

Yan Ming, who was chained to the iron gate railing, felt that the words sounded somewhat familiar, so he observed Zhao Yunyao standing in front of him more carefully.

Because he was in paper form at this moment, Zhao Yunyao appeared incredibly majestic to him, like a female giant.

He had to strain to turn his head to see Zhao Yunyao's towering face.

Sure enough, she didn't show any expression when she spoke.

The voice and words were exactly the same as before, as if they had been recorded and replayed.

Oh?
Yan Ming couldn't help but feel a sense of joy, because he realized that the people standing at the top of the stairs were not the same people they used to be.

The “Yan Ming” and others in front of them were like wax figures, looking just like them, but their movements were stiffer, their expressions were unchanged, and their voices were exactly the same as what they had said before.

This proves that they are not in a time loop, and the situation is much better than expected.

The five humans in front of them were not them, but merely something created by the evil spirit on the first floor to deceive them.

We must hurry and find a chance to leave, or the evil spirits will come looking for us soon.

Yan Ming began to try turning his head to observe the surrounding situation, and Lu Mingzhe and He Lian did the same, both actively looking for a way to get away from the iron bars.

The hands of the five paper figures were forcibly locked by an invisible force, and they could not break free no matter what they did.

Even Yan Ming's power couldn't tear it apart, so it's even more impossible with the power of five paper figures.

"Waikira, Waikira!"

At this moment, Lu Mingzhe suddenly noticed something and started screaming in his paper doll form, trying to get Yan Ming's attention.

Yan Ming knew what he was trying to say, but limited by the paper figure's body, he could only make such sounds.

He followed Lu Mingzhe's gaze and noticed the section of sheet metal sticking up above the iron railing.

No, to be precise, it's not sheet metal, because it's much sharper, like a triangular blade.

If someone were to grab this section of the railing, they would likely get their fingers pricked by the sheet metal.

However, it might come in handy in a situation like this.

"boom--"

Heavy footsteps echoed through the forest of paper strips; they were footsteps that Yan Ming recognized.

The footsteps approached in this way when they were still human.

Yan Ming also realized why he hadn't directly encountered the evil spirit back then.

Perhaps, when the evil spirits brushed past them, they were on their way to deal with the previous batch of paper figures locked to the door.

Now, this evil spirit is ready to deal with them.

Yan Ming turned his head and glanced at the five people, "Yan Ming," who were gradually walking away. He knew that some time after those people left, the evil spirit would pass through the forest of paper strips and walk to the iron gate.

There is not much time left for them.

He looked up and saw that the sharp piece of sheet metal was near the top of the railing, out of their reach; they would have to climb up a bit to get there.

So Yan Ming picked up the hand of the cane-wielding king beside him and shook it, signaling Lu Mingzhe to go upstairs.

Lu Mingzhe nodded in understanding, leaned against a section of the railing, placed his feet on the railing in front of him, and began to climb upwards.

"Waikira, Waikira!"

Yan Ming didn't know what he was saying; he just wanted to make a sound to draw the attention of the other paper figures to Lu Mingzhe's movements.

The crutch king and Zhao Yunyao also realized what was happening and began to climb upwards with great effort.

The five people formed a circle and worked together to climb upwards. This was much more difficult than a race with five people and six legs, so they climbed very slowly.

Fortunately, the iron railings were rusted and therefore very rough, so they didn't slip down halfway down.

"boom!"

"boom!"

Yan Ming and his group had completely disappeared into the forest of paper strips, and the heavy footsteps in the forest were gradually getting louder, which meant that the evil spirits were approaching them.

They didn't speed up; they just walked step by step.

"Waikira!"

The man with the cane said something, then desperately kicked his legs downwards, using the reaction force to climb more than a dozen steps in a row, even dragging the others up with him, and the speed of climbing increased dramatically.

Yan Ming was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that the Cane King, in its human form, could run so fast, and even in its paper form, it still possessed such powerful leg explosiveness.

With the help of the Cane King, the group quickly approached the iron blade.

"boom--"

Footsteps were approaching, and they were about to leave the forest of paper strips that was so close at hand.

The iron blade was closest to Lu Mingzhe, and without saying a word or hesitating, Lu Mingzhe mustered all his strength and rammed his shoulder into the iron blade, like a moth drawn to a flame, without looking back.

"Thorn-"

The sound of a blade slicing through paper rang out, and several wisps of paper flew out from the severed arm. "Waikira."

Lu Mingzhe muttered something under his breath, his face contorted with intense pain.

Fortunately, the circle formed by the five paper figures finally broke, allowing them to escape from the iron gate.

Yan Ming immediately tried to squeeze through the gaps in the iron railings to get out of the dormitory building, but as a paper figure, he seemed to be blocked by something and could not pass through the iron gate to leave the dormitory building.

Helpless, the five could only jump down the railing. Since they were all paper figures, their bodies were light and airy, so they wouldn't get hurt or killed.

After landing safely, the five little paper figures quickly moved towards the stairs, trying to hide in the dark corner behind them.

"boom."

With the final footstep, the evil spirit stepped outside the forest of paper strips. It reached out and pushed aside the paper strips blocking its way, then peeked out to look around.

Its first glance was toward the dormitory building's main entrance, where the string of paper figures that should have been hanging on the iron railings had vanished.

In an instant, the evil spirit's steps quickened. It strode towards the iron gate, even attempting to open it to confirm that the string of paper figures attached to the gate's railings had disappeared.

"Bastard thing!"

It cursed angrily, regretting that it was a step too late.

The evil spirit's voice was very deep, like a subwoofer, and Yan Ming and the others hiding in the shadows could feel their bodies vibrating just by listening to it.

The cane king, unable to contain his curiosity, decided to take advantage of his position in the shadows to peek out and see what was going on with the evil spirit.

However, Yan Ming immediately grabbed him and shook his head to signal him not to show his face.

The fact that we can vaguely see outside through the cracks is enough for now. If the evil spirit's perception were strong enough, it would easily spot the Cane King peeking out.

The five of them are a unified team, and no one can afford to make a mistake.

The evil spirit paced around in frustration, then looked down and noticed that the paper scraps that had caused Lu Mingzhe's severed arm were actually scattered paper scraps on the iron gate railing.

Then it pondered for a moment, as if realizing something, and a wicked smile appeared on its face.

The evil spirit reached out and slammed the iron gate shut. Then it turned around and began searching the area near the stairwell, starting with the dark corner behind the stairs, as that was the easiest place for someone to hide.

Noticing the evil spirit disappear from the front door and hearing its approaching footsteps, Yan Ming immediately realized something was wrong and began searching for a place to hide.

Behind the stairs is a storage area with lots of cardboard boxes, empty buckets, brooms, and the like, making it easy to hide things.

However, Yan Ming did not choose to hide among these things. As long as the evil spirit was patient enough, it could definitely catch them all from this pile of junk.

Five paper figures linked together make for a formidable target, and there's no way to get anywhere else from here, so they'll be found sooner or later.

We must find a way to move them, even if it's dangerous.

Yan Ming looked around and his gaze fell on a piece of white wall that had fallen off. The piece of wall was not small, about the size of two palms, enough to cover the paper figures. Moreover, it had fallen off right at the corner of the wall.

So he made a quick decision, signaling to the others to move to the vicinity of that piece of wall plaster, and then had the Cane King lift up the plaster.

The paper figures moved quickly, climbing all the way to the spot where the plaster had peeled off and standing near the corner.

The five paper figures are basically thin, so they can be folded together repeatedly. The outermost one, the Cane King, is pressed against the wall with its body slightly leaning back, giving the wall a point of support so that it can lean against the corner of the wall.

Although there are still gaps underfoot, they are not noticeable unless you look closely; the rest of the floor is basically seamless.

The paper figures held their breath as the footsteps were right in front of them, then completely passed by.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of rummaging through things could be heard from the space behind the stairs.

The evil spirit dismantled and tore the cardboard boxes to shreds, lest a paper figure hide inside.

The stacked empty buckets were also removed one by one, and every gap was carefully checked, leaving no place for the paper figure to hide.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Yan Ming turned to the side and peeked out through the gap under the wall.

The burly, evil spirit had its back to them and was intently rummaging through the clutter.

So he tugged at the cane king and stepped out of the crack in the wall first.

The others understood and stepped out of the wall one after another, while the last person carefully leaned the wall against the original gap to cover it up.

The group slowly walked towards the corner of the wall. What would be a mere half-step for a normal person felt like an eternity to them.

Everyone tried to walk as quietly as possible, even though their movements were already light enough as paper figures.

"Not here, and not here either?"

"No, no, they definitely didn't escape. Paper figures can't escape, paper figures absolutely can't escape."

The evil spirit muttered to itself as it searched, and every sound it made made the five paper figures by the wall extremely nervous.

Their entire focus was on the evil spirit below the stairs; their hearts nearly stopped, fearing that the evil spirit might suddenly turn around.

The group of paper figures moved across the flat ground without any obstruction. They had to turn the corner to temporarily escape the evil spirit, and now was the most dangerous moment.

Even if the evil spirit hears the slightest noise, it can see them on the "main road" as soon as it turns around.

If discovered, I will surely die.

The paper figures maintained a steady pace of movement forward, and were only about ten paper figure steps away from the corner. Yan Ming, who was at the front, was already close to the corner.

He peeked into the corridor on the other side, his gaze landing on the pile of paper scraps under the forest of paper strips.

The paper scraps covered the ground like snowflakes. As long as they could run over there, they could perfectly hide among the paper figures and would never be discovered again.

"Tsk, tsk."

Just as Yan Ming turned the corner, he suddenly heard a mocking voice coming from above.

what?
His heart felt as if it were being gripped by a giant hand, and he slowly turned to look up.

Through the gap in the stairs on the second floor, they could see the platypus's smiling eyes fixed on them.

From beginning to end, their focus has never wavered.

The evil spirit on the second floor!
Yan Ming felt as if his limbs had fallen into an ice cave, almost numb and unable to move. He hadn't expected that the platypus was still peeking from the second floor.

even……

It secretly observed all of Yan Ming and the others' actions, but deliberately chose to make a sound to warn them when they were just one step away from success.

The evil spirit behind the stairs also heard the voice above, so it turned its head to look up.

"Tsk tsk." The platypus pursed its lips and made another mocking sound.

The evil spirit on the first floor immediately realized what was behind it and quickly turned around, just in time to see the last paper figure run around the corner.

"found it!"

(End of this chapter)