Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Darkness filled Chen Ji's entire field of vision.

My feet landed firmly on a hard surface as I stepped into the river.

Having come here from the bright rooftop, Chen Ji's eyes were momentarily unable to adjust.

It's too dark here.

"This is the Domain River," Du Tingfeng said lazily, having been here several times before.

The two were at a narrow, old ferry crossing, where the deck creaked and smelled damp and rotten.

The surroundings were very dark. When Chen Ji turned around, he found that the passage behind him was blocked by a huge rock covered with moss, making it impossible to enter the ferry crossing.

He looked up and saw that the boulder was actually just a small piece of a series of towering mountains, which were endless and had no end in sight.

Ahead of the ferry crossing lies a long, quiet river, and on the other side are the same continuous mountain ranges.

Two large mountains, like a canyon, sandwich the river between them.

This long river is of unknown depth and appears dark and unclear, but its bottom is filled with countless shimmering stardust, adding some bright colors to this space.

Where is Ding Xiang?

Chen Ji withdrew his gaze. The ferry crossing was surrounded by dim red lanterns, and there were only the two of them.

“She should have already left,” Du Tingfeng said. “She came out a little earlier than us.”

Chen Ji nodded, and suddenly heard the gurgling sound of flowing water.

A small wooden boat drifts in from afar.

A few minutes later, the wooden boat came to a stop in front of the deck of the ferry, but there was no one rowing it.

Once Chen Ji and Du Tingfeng were seated, the wooden boat gently waded through the water and drifted forward.

As Du Tingfeng said, this journey was indeed like drifting.

The two remained silent on the boat, with Du Tingfeng leaning against one side to rest.

As the wooden boat drifted, the scenery along the riverbanks gradually came into Chen Ji's view...

Along the shore, a ferry crossing was built at intervals, corresponding to different domains.

After drifting on the water for a few minutes, the ferry crossing on the shore gradually disappeared, and the boat entered a new area. Looking around, all that could be seen were dark, towering mountains surrounding the long river.

But on this continuous mountain range, a stone statue resembling a giant Buddha is carved into the surface of the mountain!

This stone statue is incredibly tall, almost comparable to a building of more than ten stories, and exudes an eerie aura.

"This is......"

Chen Ji's pupils dilated instantly. In his eighteen years of life, he had never seen such a magnificent and spectacular scene!

Du Tingfeng sat up abruptly, his gaze following the giant statue as he murmured in awe:

"I was just as shocked as you were when I first saw them."

"Take a close look later, there are twenty-eight colossi here in total, if you're lucky enough..."

He stopped talking abruptly and looked towards the riverbank with Chen Ji.

Just as Du Tingfeng said, the wooden boat drifted past one giant statue after another. Only when they got close could they see that they were statues of ancient people. Each statue had a different expression and posture, some were male and some were female.

Some even have creatures that resemble mythical beasts accompanying them, and even though they are just stone statues, they exude an ethereal and otherworldly aura.

Just as Chen Ji's gaze swept across them one by one, his ears suddenly twitched, and he and Du Tingfeng looked ahead at the same time.

Suddenly, several huge rocks rolled down the mountainside in front of them and crashed into the water with a splash.

Accompanied by a deep rumbling sound, a giant statue in front of the wooden boat suddenly began to shake violently, as if a landslide had occurred!

Chen Ji's heart tightened suddenly. He immediately looked at Du Tingfeng, only to find that the other party was not surprised, but instead showed a hint of interest on his face.

"Ah, just as I guessed, you were indeed chosen."

Selected?

Before Chen Ji could ask Du Tingfeng what he meant, his eyes suddenly widened slightly as he looked ahead.

The trembling stone statue, with a compassionate expression, gentle and lowered eyes, and no discernible gender, had somehow broken off from the mountainside, as if it were alive!

The small boat drifted slowly past Him.

The colossal statue's stone eyes, eroded by time, moved their gaze obscurely, following the trajectory of the small boat.

The next second, accompanied by a deafening sound of collapsing rocks, He actually stretched out a finger and pressed it onto the ship.

This stone finger was dozens of times larger than a small boat, and it blotted out the sky!

Chen Ji's vision went completely black immediately, but at that moment, he suddenly felt a faint heat in his wrist, accompanied by a burning pain, as if something had been branded onto it.

A minute or two later, the small boat left the shadow of the finger and continued to drift into the distance.

Chen Ji turned to look at the giant statue. The stone sculpture had already retracted its fingers and slowly returned to the embrace of the mountain.

He immediately rolled up his sleeve and saw several curved red dots on his wrist, forming a crooked curve.

Du Tingfeng moved closer to him, and when he saw the mark on Chen Ji's wrist, he also pulled open his own collar.

There, the mark was also made up of red dots, but it was more intricate, resembling a simple tiger's head, branded on Du Tingfeng's collarbone.

"What do these marks mean?" Chen Ji frowned.

"Did you receive a ship ticket on the day you first entered the domain?" Du Tingfeng suddenly asked.

"Hmm, what does this have to do with the mark?"

Chen Ji frowned. The boat ticket was still in his pocket, but the destination on it had disappeared.

"It's just an invitation-like thing. After that, when you open the domain again, it won't give you any more notifications."

"You might be on a date one second, and the next second, Yuhe will appear right in front of you."

Du Tingfeng shrugged.

"The purpose of the marking is to remind you a few minutes in advance."

"From this day forward, whenever the domain is about to open, your mark will burn."

"But I think this mark is more than that, because not everyone who passes the test will have it."

He thought for a moment before saying, "I have participated in four domains in total. You are the second person to be marked by the colossus."

"The other one is myself."

"I was the only one who survived that expedition. On the way back, I experienced the same thing as you."

After a pause, Du Tingfeng added, "Of course, what I was branded with was another colossus."

Chen Ji nodded, understanding why Du Tingfeng had only said half of what he was saying earlier.

If Chen Ji had not been given the mark, Du Tingfeng would naturally not have wanted to reveal his secret.

After all, even among those who enter the realm, those with the mark are a minority.

Chen Ji looked at the curve on his wrist again, feeling like he'd seen it somewhere before. He turned to Du Tingfeng and asked:

"Does this mark look familiar?"

Du Tingfeng glanced at it and said directly:

"Like insects."

"..."

Chen Ji was speechless for a moment. What he wanted to ask was whether Du Tingfeng had seen this mark anywhere.

Suddenly, he was startled and remembered where he had seen this curve before.

"The pen once drew this design for me."

Du Tingfeng thought for a moment, a hint of surprise appearing in his eyes. It really was true.

He suddenly remembered something and immediately said, "Never mind this line for now, quickly check the pen and see if it still works!"

Chen Ji nodded and took the pen out of his pocket. This pen was supposed to stay at the cram school forever, but for some reason, Fang Jia eventually gave it to him.

Judging from Fang Jia's expression, she seemed unwilling to keep the pen with her any longer.

Chen Ji opened the pen cap, and a foul, fishy smell immediately rushed into their nostrils. Du Tingfeng, who was next to him, frowned and looked disgusted.

The pen tip, once stuck in the charred face of a corpse, is now sticky and filthy, covered with strands of flesh and some unidentified human tissue.

"Ouija board spirit, come out."

The pen remained still.

Du Tingfeng asked, "Does it lose its function once it leaves the domain?"

He had experienced four realms and seen many strange items, but he knew that items like chips that could be taken out and reused were rare.

Chen Ji shook his head: "The ink outlet is probably blocked by something dirty."

After saying that, he bent down and rinsed the pen in the river water.

Almost the instant the pen touched the river water, it sprang from Chen Ji's hand as if it had been splashed with hot oil. The entire pen was shaking violently, and upon closer inspection, it was revealed that it had been corroded into hollow spots.

"Brother, this is the Yu River! You dare use the water here?!"

Du Tingfeng's pupils dilated in shock; Chen Ji's speed was too fast, and he didn't even have time to stop him!

The chips in his pocket seemed to sympathize with the pen's fate, trembling slightly as well.

"Hmm?" Chen Ji said softly, raising his eyebrows. "It's afraid of the water in the Domain River?"

The pen remained beside him, bending down repeatedly, as if begging him not to put it back into the river.

Immediately afterwards, it gently floated onto Chen Ji's arm, and three lines of ink appeared:

【elder brother】

Don't mess with me.

I am still useful.