Global Ghost Stories: I'm Investigating Ghosts in My Nightmare!

Chapter 50 The Cracks in the Cage

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Fueled by decades of pent-up resentment and rage, it powerfully pounded against the cabinet door.

The lead cabinet door, painted with intricate pentagram runes in scarlet paint, finally reached its limit.

"boom--!"

With a deafening roar that shook even the soul, immense energy erupted from within the cramped cabinet. It was a torrent of energy bursting forth from the collapse of a spiritual energy "singularity."

The lead cabinet door, several inches thick, was melted in an instant by an indescribable surge of energy, and the runes on it quickly turned back into fluid and slowly flowed down.

The entire cabinet door, like a piece of butter thrown into a raging fire, silently caved in and melted, eventually turning into a pool of dark red, ominous liquid metal that hissed and corroded on the ground.

The seal has been broken.

Endless grief, overwhelming hatred, and insane jealousy, mixed with a deep longing for blood relatives, formed a contradictory mental storm, like an ancient beast breaking free of its last shackles, roaring out from that dark cabinet opening!

It has no form, no color, but everything it passes through begins to change rapidly. All the frozen time and death in this dilapidated morgue passage is given a violent "life".

The dried mold on the walls throbbed violently like living blood vessels, oozing a black liquid with a strong, fishy smell. On the ceiling, rows of iron cabinets used to refrigerate corpses began to shake uncontrollably, their doors clattering and opening repeatedly, as if the countless souls imprisoned within were cheering wildly for the birth of this new "king," playing a frenzied symphony. On the ground, the solidified grime transformed into invisible hands made of resentment, reaching out from the cold cement, futilely grasping at the air, seemingly trying to drag the souls of all living things into this quagmire of despair.

"Come on!"

Bai Yu's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints. He didn't even have time to analyze the composition of this power; the instinct for survival had already overwhelmed everything.

He gripped the still-warm silver locket tightly in his hand, grabbed Lu Yueqi's wrist firmly with his other hand, pulled her along, and turned to rush towards the uphill staircase they had come from!

"My...child..."

"My...home..."

"Yao...Yao! I'm going to kill you! Kill you—!"

A roar, a mixture of a mother's tenderness, a wife's longing, and the deep malice of a betrayed, exploded from the darkness behind them, seemingly threatening to devour everything. The voice belonged to the pitiful woman imprisoned for decades, Fang Heng's wife—Su Qin, whose consciousness, the moment she was freed, was completely dominated by hatred.

Because Bai Yu and Lu Yueqi were tainted by her "anchor point" aura, they directly became the first targets she needed to devour and question in this cage of despair!
A chilling malice locked onto their backs, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, ready to strike a fatal blow at any moment.

Lu Yueqi's senses established a faint connection with that darkness. She could even clearly sense what was happening in the churning darkness behind them, where a pair of enormous eyes, composed of tears and hatred, were slowly opening. Those eyes had no pupils, only a vortex reflecting her and Bai Yu's desperate escape.

"Baiyu! It's catching up!" Lu Yueqi's fear was amplified infinitely under the oppressive power of that giant eye.

“I know, stick close to me.”

Even without her saying it, Bai Yu could sense it.

That mental pressure was like an invisible mountain, pressing heavily on their souls, making each step forward feel like sinking into a bottomless swamp, requiring several times more effort than usual.

His lungs felt like they were being burned by flames, and every breath carried a strong, metallic taste of blood. His vision blurred, and he was only holding on by a will that he absolutely could not die here.

They stumbled and rushed up the moss-covered staircase, returning to the corridor on the first floor of the hospital's main building.

However, the scene upstairs plunged their hopes of escape, which had just begun to ignite, back into despair.

The once deathly silent corridor disappeared, replaced by a scene that was all too familiar to them, yet now seemed incredibly eerie and terrifying—the children's activity room with the sign "Sunshine Home".

This time, however, they were not standing outside the door, but were directly inside the activity room.

This activity room was countless times larger than the one they had seen before. It was like a boundless plaza, with walls covered in children's desperate graffiti on all sides. The walls stretched infinitely upwards and disappeared into the unseen darkness, like a giant tomb tailor-made for them.

In the center of this "tomb," the "Wen Mao Ran" mural they had seen earlier, composed of countless intertwined black tentacles and a huge vortex, now stood silently.

Yes, standing tall.

It is no longer a two-dimensional painting, but has become a huge sculpture full of eerie atmosphere.

“The space… has been altered…” Bai Yu gasped for breath. He immediately realized that they had not only failed to escape, but had also stumbled into another “hunting ground” temporarily constructed by the monster with its own power, a temporary graveyard set up for them.

"Squeak... squeak..."

The chilling sound of a wheelchair rolling came from behind them.

The two of them turned around abruptly.

There stood the terrifying "head nurse," her head made of countless glass eyeballs and her arms of syringes, blocking the way, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws. The staircase behind her leading to the morgue had turned into a swirling, ink-like darkness. Her hundreds of eyes, of varying sizes, were now rotating in unison, "enjoying" with keen interest the two prey who had walked right into her trap.

"Run! Why have you stopped running?"

Yao and Suqin.

These two "kings," who are mortal enemies in this mental hospital, actually reached a brief "tacit understanding" when facing "outsiders."

One blocked their way in, and the other altered their path out.

This is the real dead end.

A deadly trap set up by two S-class mental nightmares working together.

"Phew...this is truly...the highest level of hospitality." Bai Yu leaned against Lu Yueqi's body, chuckling self-deprecatingly, a trickle of blood slowly flowing from the corner of his mouth. He could clearly feel his already torn and precarious soul, after being caught in the crossfire of these two immense and malicious mental pressures, emitting a mournful cry of unbearable strain. The cracks that had been barely held together were visibly shattering again.

"Bai Yu! Stop talking!" Lu Yueqi's tears could no longer be held back, rolling down like pearls from a broken string. She could feel the life force of the man in her arms draining away at an alarming rate.

She had never felt so desperate and helpless. She would rather be the one torn to pieces by those monsters than see the man who always stood in front of her fall while protecting her.

“Crying… is useless…” Bai Yu reached out and gently wiped away her tears with the hand that wasn’t holding the locket. His hand was covered in his own blood, leaving a faint bloodstain on Lu Yueqi’s face. “Listen… Yueqi… we… may… only have one last chance…”

His gaze passed over the enormous mural sculpture in front of him and fell into the darkness further away.

“This…is a world that Su Qin built with her hatred…” His voice broke as he spoke, “But she…is also…trapped in Yao’s ‘cage’…their powers…repel each other…restrain each other…this is our…only chance of survival…”

He gripped the cold silver pendant box tightly in his hand.

“This…is Fang Heng’s last anchor and hope for his wife…” He slowly placed the locket into Lu Yueqi’s hand. “Your power…can empathize with it…you…are the only one who can awaken her…the last shred of humanity…awaken her…and then…escape…”

"No! I won't!" Lu Yueqi shook her head frantically, grabbing Bai Yu's arm tightly. "We'll go together! I don't want to be alone!"

"Let me finish!" Bai Yu's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, and a sharp light rekindled in her eyes, which had been somewhat unfocused due to blood loss. "Yao... will not allow Su Qin... to obtain these two 'sacrifices'... She will soon... make her move... to interfere... At that time... it will be the most chaotic time... and also... your only chance..."

He looked at Lu Yueqi intently, his eyes filled with reluctance, determination, and a tenderness he himself was unaware of.

"I will...create...enough time for you..."

"What are you going to do?" A strong sense of foreboding welled up in Lu Yueqi's heart.

Bai Yu did not answer her.

He simply pushed away Lu Yueqi's hand that was supporting him, and then, under the gaze of those two terrifying "kings," he walked step by step, limping, alone toward the mural sculpture composed of black tentacles and a huge vortex.

His steps were unsteady, his back desolate, like a martyr walking to the execution ground.

"Bai Yu! Come back!" Lu Yueqi cried out in anguish, trying to rush forward, but found her feet rooted to the spot by an invisible force, unable to move. It was Bai Yu using the power of black words to "protect" her.

"Oh?" The "head nurse" in the wheelchair hummed with interest. "What a clever child! Knowing she can't escape, she chooses to offer her loyalty to her true master?"

It seems to think that Baiyu is about to surrender to "Yao".

However, Bai Yu stopped three meters away from the sculpture.

He slowly raised his head, and a smile full of madness and mockery appeared on his pale, bloodless face, surrounded by an eerie black aura.

"What a...boring farce."

His voice suddenly changed. It was no longer Bai Yu's cool yet gentle tone, but a magnificent aria filled with elegance, arrogance, and disdain for all things in the world.

"Two clumsy imitators, one who stole the remnants of the 'Tower' and thought himself a messenger of divine punishment; the other, consumed by his own hatred, who attempted to build his own kingdom with tears and roars... You... dare to call yourselves 'art'?"

Accompanying these artistic words, a tremendous energy erupted from Bai Yu's frail body! That power was ancient and profound, filled with madness and unpredictability.

His hair moved without wind, and his deep black eyes were completely replaced by pure darkness that could devour all light. At the location of his heart, a bottomless void slowly emerged, its edges adorned with countless black runes composed of eerie nightmare power. These runes flowed like living things, praising their master's arrival.

Bai Yu's hospital gown was gradually replaced by a sleek black suit.

At this moment, the performer on stage is no longer Bai Yu, who used wisdom and willpower to break the rules.

Instead, it is Black Words, a nightmare representing madness and despair.

"Since your performance is so lackluster, then... I'll add a little... variation to this farce."

"Black Words" slowly raised his hand and aimed it at the huge mural sculpture in front of him.

"Included".

He uttered two words softly.

The next second, a huge ancient book composed of darkness and starlight suddenly unfolded behind him! The pages moved without wind, making a "rustling" sound, which seemed to be a symphony of countless worlds at birth and death.

The mural sculpture, formed from Wen Maoran's mad will, began to tremble violently the moment it came into contact with the aura emanating from the ancient book!

Its body, composed of black tentacles, began to disintegrate uncontrollably, turning into strands of "information" and "rules," which were absorbed by the ancient book without any regard for reason!

No! What are you?

For the first time, Yao, the "head nurse" in the wheelchair, let out a scream filled with horror and disbelief.

It could clearly sense that its "connection" with the world was being forcibly severed by a superior force!

"Me?" Hei Yan slowly turned his head, his pure black eyes reflecting the "head nurse's" terrified "face" made up of countless eyeballs.

"I'm just a... collector who likes rare and unusual items."

He smiled, revealing his white teeth.

“And this piece of yours… I’m very interested in.”

(End of this chapter)