In an instant, Chen Mo felt a chill run through his entire body, a lightning-fast realization dawning on him: this ghost's method of killing didn't seem to involve directly attacking participants. Instead, it generated various illusions around its victims, then made those illusions real.
But Dai Minghan had already leaped out the window.
In that split second, Chen Mo dashed to the window in a single stride, thrust out his right hand, and in that flash of an instant, grabbed for Dai Minghan.
The immense force slammed him into the windowsill, sending a sharp pain through his chest. Yet that grab caught hold of one of Dai Minghan's arms, and he顺势 tightened his grip on his right hand!
"Chen Mo, you—"
Dai Minghan's face changed color, but then he heard Chen Mo's voice ringing out from above.
"Dai Minghan! Look at your feet!"
Lowering his head to look, Dai Minghan's expression shifted dramatically. At some point, the window outside the haunted house was shrouded in thick fog, and beneath his feet, there was no solid ground at all—only black mist enveloping a bottomless, unfathomable abyss!
"What... what is this..."
"This is that ghost's ability. I think, maybe due to the story's limitations, at least for now, it can't directly kill people. It can only keep creating illusions around us, but these illusions aren't fake—once we see them, they become real. In other words, the noose for hanging, and this bottomless abyss beneath your feet, are both real illusions and the ghost's killing method!"
"What are you saying..."
Dai Minghan was stunned, but then he glanced at the endless abyss below his feet and looked left and right, his face suddenly twisting in shock.
Whether to the left or right, the walls of this small house had turned into infinitely extending stone walls. That meant, no matter which way he looked, all he saw were boundless stone barriers. In this world churning with black fog, only this tiny window remained!
"What the hell is this damn thing!"
In that moment, a wave of bone-chilling dread surged through Dai Minghan's heart. If Chen Mo hadn't reacted quickly and grabbed him, he would have already plunged into that seething, fog-filled abyss!
And even if he hadn't jumped, stepping outside the window—whether left or right—only led to endless stone walls. Trying to leave the haunted house through the window was undoubtedly a dead end.
This ghost's ability was utterly terrifying!
"Chen Mo... thanks..."
Thinking this, Dai Minghan felt an overwhelming sense of fear. This ghost's power was too horrifying—just a hair's breadth away, and he would have died in the story for no reason!
"Don't thank me yet... I... I can't hold on much longer..." Chen Mo was drenched in sweat. Not only was Dai Minghan incredibly heavy, but the thought of a vengeful ghost floating behind him, glaring fiercely, was enough to make anyone's heart tremble.
Using Chen Mo's strength, Dai Minghan vaulted back onto the windowsill. Just then, the ghost behind Chen Mo vanished once more into the corridor.
"What do we do now?" In just ten minutes, they had suffered two ghost attacks. Exhausted both physically and mentally, the two of them were drained. That ghost named Yin Xiong was clearly trapping them in this old mansion, but even knowing that, Chen Mo and Dai Minghan were at a complete loss.
"How about we fight it head-on!"
After thinking for a moment, a fierce look reappeared on Dai Minghan's face. "Chen Mo, you've got items too, right? I say we just charge down there, kill whatever comes—Buddha or ghost. With your items and my ghost hand, I bet we can carve out a bloody path!"
Hearing Dai Minghan's suggestion, Chen Mo fell silent. It was true that in the stories of the Creepy Radio, there were times like this—when no other way existed to deal with the supernatural forces, participants had to rely on their items to fight their way out.
"If you don't show your fangs, they think you're a pushover. We're all seasoned folks here—who the hell's afraid of who!"
With that, Dai Minghan stood up, his face full of impatience.
"Wait, Dai Minghan."
Chen Mo furrowed his brow. Even though death loomed over them, a seemingly unrelated thought suddenly struck him.
In this cursed game, there was a storyline about a family of three: Yin Xiong, his wife, and their daughter.
But in reality, aside from the ghosts transformed from participants, only the spirits of Yin Xiong and his wife had appeared from that family!
A flash of insight lit up Chen Mo's mind, making him realize something they had overlooked all along.
In the cursed game, the little girl—who had appeared multiple times and clearly hinted at the participants' way out—why had her soul never shown up in reality?
"Why haven't we seen Yin Xiaowei's ghost?"
"Yin Xiaowei? Who's that?" Dai Minghan was taken aback, but quickly remembered. "You mean that little girl? Hey, is this really the time to think about that?"
"Wait, let me think!"
Even knowing that Yin Xiong's soul was still in the room, even knowing death could strike at any moment, Chen Mo refused to let go of the vague idea floating in his mind. He felt like he was gradually grasping the story's key!
This game hadn't started as a curse. It was a game Yin Xiong had poured his heart into, designed for his family.
Though the man seemed cold and sometimes silent, in Yin Xiong's story, Chen Mo could still sense his love for his family, especially his daughter. All his efforts were ultimately for his family's happiness.
Maybe we've been misled by this story. The final truth we uncovered isn't the real ending.
Could it be that Yin Xiong isn't the key to this story, but Yin Xiaowei is?
"Dai Minghan, have you ever thought that what this story ultimately wants us to do might not be to find Yin Xiong, but to find Yin Xiaowei's soul?"
"Yin Xiaowei's soul?"
"Yes, the soul that has never appeared in reality. Precisely because it hasn't appeared, we've overlooked it. What made Yin Xiong despair at the world and breed such immense hatred—wasn't it because of Yin Xiaowei?"
The moment Chen Mo finished speaking, the surrounding atmosphere suddenly turned even colder. The lamps and cabinets in the corridor began to tremble violently. The noose on the stairs, which had been still, started swinging wildly, and from under the cracks of every door, a flood of blood seeped out!
The supernatural force was intensifying, which conversely meant that Chen Mo might have found the right direction to break the story.
"Dai Minghan, didn't you want to charge out? Let's go—fight them to the death!"
A bit stuck on the writing, sorry for the slight delay.
7