Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

The four of them sprinted for 100 meters, but Du Tingfeng suddenly stopped!

He glanced back, a hint of confusion on his face.

There were no footsteps chasing behind.

and.....

"They're gone."

The red-umbrella figure silently disappeared again from the spot where Li Bo had been standing.

All that remained were puddles on the ground, as red as blood.

"Approached three times in a row, but made no move whatsoever..."

Chen Ji's gaze narrowed slightly, unable to guess for a moment what the curse of the [Red Umbrella] was trying to do.

Du Tingfeng interrupted his thoughts:

"This is not the place to discuss this. Let's go to Ah Xiang's house first."

Just a few more steps and you'll reach Ah Xiang's village house.

Chen Ji nodded and walked quickly forward in the rain.

His brows furrowed, and a hint of anxiety appeared on his face. His usually calm demeanor was now beginning to waver!

There's still no clue about Du Tingfeng's curse!

And Fei'er, inexplicably, is trapped in an [alternate dimension]!

Chen Ji pursed his lips. He knew too few clues at the moment and needed to ask Hui Ci what had happened before.

"Huici!"

Tian Qinghe had already reached the door of the village house and was shouting into the house.

He opened the door and saw Huici standing in the living room.

"Amitabha Buddha, you've finally arrived."

Huici visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"What happened? Why is your face covered in sweat?"

Tian Qinghe was startled and saw that Huici's clothes were soaked and she was trembling all over.

"To make a long story short, this village house is haunted."

Huici forced a smile, quickly walked to the stairs, and pointed upstairs:

"It's all on the second floor."

"Fei'er disappeared in the bedroom upstairs."

Upon hearing his words, all four of them changed their expressions drastically!

Li Bo took a step back, reluctant to enter the house, his face extremely grim!

He gritted his teeth, looked at the empty streets outside the village house where the rain was pouring down, and then looked at Chen Ji and the others.

After a long while, he reluctantly moved into the house.

Chen Ji and Tian Qinghe immediately looked up at the second floor, but they didn't hear anything.

"Huici, is the ghost you're talking about in reality, or in another dimension?"

Du Tingfeng finally squeezed into the house and stood in the living room, frowning.

"Another dimension".

"They weren't always there; I didn't sense them before—"

Huici abruptly stopped speaking.

He stared straight at Du Tingfeng, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying!

Chen Ji's heart skipped a beat!

Just as he was about to turn his head, he heard Huici say in a trembling voice:

"Du Tingfeng, Li Bo..."

"Where did you get your umbrellas from?"

Li Bo was startled and immediately turned around to look outside the door, but he did not see the person with the red umbrella.

Du Tingfeng was somewhat puzzled:

Our umbrella?

He looked at Chen Ji, only to find that the other man was pale and staring intently at his left hand!

Left hand.....

My left hand is perfectly normal.

Du Tingfeng looked at his left hand, which was raised in mid-air.

He suddenly paused for a moment.

That stiffly raised hand...

He was holding a large red umbrella.

The next second, Li Bo's utterly horrified voice echoed throughout the entire village house:

"This umbrella..."

"How did I end up holding it up?!"

Li Bo's body seemed frozen as he looked at the left hand that was raised high, just like Du Tingfeng's!

He recalled how, when he entered the room, he felt as if he were stuck, and had to squeeze forward a bit before finally getting inside.

At that time, the red umbrella was already in Li Bo's hands!

But he didn't notice at all!

Li Bo didn't even feel the slightest sense of incongruity; it was too natural. The suddenly appearing red umbrella didn't seem like an external object, but rather like his hand and his fingernails, something he was born with.

When did it all start?

Du Tingfeng was silent for a moment, then looked at his feet.

Just as he guessed.

The red cloth had already wrapped around his ankles.

It looks like it will continue to extend upwards.

He tried to shake the red umbrella, but it seemed to be stuck to his left hand and he couldn't shake it off no matter what he did.

"I see."

"The curse of the red umbrella is assimilation."

Du Tingfeng said, then simply sat down on the sofa, his expression already calm.

"This shouldn't be an instant-death curse."

After pondering for a moment, Du Tingfeng spoke again: "We can only be considered assimilated when we are completely covered by red cloth, just like the previous Red Umbrella Ghosts."

He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, no longer holding the chips.

Luckily, it only lasts for ten minutes, which is not very useful for a curse that is not instantaneous.

He gestured with his chin towards the second floor, indicating that Chen Ji should go up:

"Go and check on how Fei'er is doing."

"I'll wait here and see just how fast the red cloth extends upwards."

Chen Ji looked at Du Tingfeng's strange appearance holding the red umbrella and nodded silently.

Du Tingfeng's curse can wait a while, but we don't know what's going on with Fei'er yet.

Without further hesitation, he went up to the second floor in a few steps.

It was unusually quiet here; there wasn't a single sound.

There was no sign of Fei'er either.

What exactly happened before?

Chen Ji looked at Hui Ci, who had followed him up, and asked with a frown.

Huici briefly repeated it, then said:

“Fei’er showed no signs of anything unusual before she disappeared.”

"She followed behind me the whole time, and hardly touched anything here."

Hui Ci meant that Fei'er had not violated any possible taboos at all.

So why was she suddenly pulled in?

Just as Chen Ji was deep in thought, a cell phone suddenly rang downstairs.

Immediately following was Tian Qinghe's somewhat excited voice.

"Hey, Inspector Chung!"

"Do you have any clues?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing, held their breath, and listened intently to Tian Qinghe's phone call.

A few minutes later.

"well!"

Tian Qinghe nodded repeatedly and hung up the phone.

He opened the clue book, scribbled something down, and said quickly:

"We are very close to clearing customs."

Everyone was shocked when he said that, and Li Bo even stood up!

Tian Qinghe continued:

“Inspector Chung said that he found that Leung Ming had no further activity records after June 3rd.”

"His daytime routine is like this—"

"Liang Ming first went to a magazine office, and then most likely walked home, so there is no record of him."

"After his death, the book went through Liang Xiaobao's hands again and ended up with Fatty Hua once more."

Tian Qinghe paused for a moment, then continued writing rapidly, as if afraid of forgetting:

"At the same time, the story of Liang Ming was not found in Fatty Hua's house."

"Call records show that Fat Hua had contacted the magazine that Liang Ming later went to several months ago."

Now, the entire outline of the mission is clear.

Chen Ji quickly summarized what Tian Qinghe had said, and Liang Ming's experience was roughly as follows:

His manuscript was swindled by Fat Man Hua and sold to a magazine.

Afterwards, perhaps he wanted to argue his case, or perhaps he wanted to sell his new book.

Liang Ming took the first draft and went to the magazine office again.

The Fat Man Hua family doesn't have the page for "Liang Ming's Story".

So.....

"That page is in the magazine!"

Li Bo shouted excitedly, "If I find this story, I can pass the game!"

But then he looked at the red cloth on his feet, which had spread down to his calves.

"Forget about Fei'er, hurry up and get to the magazine office!"

Li Bo immediately spoke, his expression anxious.