Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

The rain gradually subsided.

It will stop soon.

The group crept out of the teaching building in the dark, trying not to make any noise so as not to attract the ghost's attention.

The outdoors is now fraught with danger.

Junior high school student, girl in gray skirt, sportswear, yellow hoodie... Of course, the main source of the crisis is the junior high school student ghost.

To be honest, compared to the ghost that first appeared in this domain, the tour group truly upheld the "one for one" principle.

Chen Ji waded through the water, lost in thought.

The male ghost disguised as Li Yinghe uttered incoherent ramblings before being subdued by the boy, subtly suggesting that it might be...

It's not just about pretending to be a ghost to harm people.

She truly cares about the identity of "Li Yinghe"!

"Where is the river...?"

Chen Ji silently pondered the ghost's last words, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

The tour group came from the Jagu River, so it definitely wasn't referring to the Jagu River.

It can't be the Yuhe River, can it?

The idea seemed absurd at first glance, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized it was actually quite possible.

Domains can be connected.

The tour group had no connection to the story of this domain; they came from a village several miles away and were not within the scope of this domain.

However, that village may be located in another domain.

Moreover, the tour group... as mentioned before, there are no attractions nearby, so the tour group's identity seems more like a front.

This perfectly matches the identity that the domain has assigned to its new members.

Chen Ji's thinking diverged, and when he put it this way, it seemed perfectly normal for ghosts to crave human identities.

They desperately want to leave the domain.

This also makes another of his guesses possible.

That is, there are teams among these ghosts. For example, the woman in the gray dress and the woman in the sportswear were likely teammates in life.

This also means that the tour group is actually divided, or even hostile, whether because of what happened before his death or because of the struggle for the right to replace the few survivors.

However, the tour group only appeared after the heavy rain, which doesn't match the time when the guidebooks became ineffective...

Chen Ji frowned slightly. Had he made a mistake in his reasoning?

While pondering, the boy suddenly uttered a soft "Hmm?"

Chen Ji's expression shifted slightly.

He asked casually, "What's wrong?"

"There are signs that the branches ahead have been broken," the boy said. "Wan Chengzhong may have gone in this direction."

He pointed to the woods ahead, where several broken branches floated in a puddle, seemingly snapped by someone running.

Go down from here to the southwest area of ​​the forest.

The boy gestured for Chen Ji to come over and take a look.

Without saying much, Chen Ji walked past Li Yinghe and went straight to the boy's side, bending down slightly.

A few seconds later, he straightened up, picked up a short, chopped piece of wet wood, and said, "Wan Chengzhong did come."

"Isn't this just a piece of rotten wood?"

Li Yinghe looked puzzled: "How did you determine that?"

“Wan Chengzhong has a strange artifact with the side effect of turning his fingers into tree branches,” Chen Ji said. “His hands are always hidden in his sleeves, haven’t you noticed?”

After thinking for a moment, Li Yinghe nodded somewhat uncertainly.

Suddenly, she remembered something, and a hint of excitement appeared in her eyes: "Then he's probably going to die."

"The baseball jersey and blue jacket ghost is in this area. Wan Chengzhong doesn't know. He has used ghostly objects before. Going in will only lead to death."

"You can't say that."

Chen Ji warned, "Wan Chengzhong definitely has more than just that one strange object on him."

“Yes.” Wan Xiaoshuang walked over a few steps, took the branch, examined it for a few seconds, and then said: “This is our chance.”

“It’s too dark outside. If he runs, he’ll make a sound. Only by making a sound can we determine his location.”

"But there are ghosts in here..."

Li Yinghe hesitated. She had just escaped from here, so how could she dare to go back in?

"Just stay by my side."

The boy reassured him and walked straight ahead.

Chen Ji followed closely behind.

Before long, more and more tree branches were broken, just as the boy had said, someone had fled here in a panic.

Even deep within the jungle, a faint smell of blood could be heard.

It's getting thicker and thicker.

But as they passed an old cedar tree, the scent suddenly faded.

The group continued walking forward, but they saw no other traces.

"Is Wan Chengzhong dead?"

Li Yinghe looked around, but couldn't see a single person.

There were no ghosts.

The boy and Chen Ji exchanged a glance, then took out three copper coins.

"Let me take a look at the divination results."

He and Wan Xiaoshuang walked behind a tree, where there was a large rock that could be used as a flat surface.

With Zhu Guang absent, Wan Xiaoshuang was the only one among them who knew a little about the subject, so she took notes.

After a while...

There was silence behind the tree.

Li Yinghe was clearly a little anxious. She stood up, a hint of doubt showing in her eyes.

Chen Ji gestured for her to step back first, then stood up and called out softly:

"Isn't it better yet?"

No one answered.

"Boy?"

A few seconds later, he urged him again.

There was silence.

"I gonna go see."

Chen Jidao walked towards the back of the tree.

His whole body tensed up, and he was about to walk behind the tree, but just then...

A hand gently grasped Chen Ji.

"You're leaving too, aren't you?"

Li Yinghe had somehow gotten close to his back, her voice low and menacing.

Chen Ji didn't speak.

The next second, he shook off Li Yinghe's hand, activated Night Walk, and ran away!

As his speed suddenly increased, the surrounding scenery changed constantly. Just as Chen Ji had guessed, their direction completely changed after they approached the old cedar tree.

in other words.....

It means you've entered a ghostly illusion!

If everything is normal, at their previous walking speed, they should be at the westernmost edge of the woods now, and the teaching building should be on the northeast side.

But when Chen Ji looked up, the lights from the teaching building were shining directly at him.

At first, they walked southwest from the middle of the forest, and when they reached the old cedar tree, they entered the illusion. They appeared to be continuing west, but in fact they turned east and circled around.

That's why the smell of blood gradually faded, and that's why there were no signs of escape.

This is because Li Yinghe, one of the four, doesn't want them to see certain things, things that might make them realize...

Something that is a ghost.

That is, Li Yinghe's body.

It should be right near the old cedar tree.

This is indeed the area where Li Yinghe was being chased by the ghost.

Those broken tree branches were the marks left by Li Yinghe when she fled for her life.

That's right, the Li Yinghe who took the initiative to find the boy was a ghost in disguise, and the second Li Yinghe who came to Chen Ji and Wan Xiaoshuang was replaced by a ghost!

"Disguise" and "replacement" are not the same concept.

Disguise is merely an imitation of appearance.

The replacement, on the other hand, is a complete replica, from the inside out, from memory to appearance.

But they have something in common...

They are all ghosts.

The real Li Yinghe is already dead; it was a divination performed by the boy himself.

She didn't escape at all.