Chapter 2179 - 1183: _3

The sobs seemed to have an infectious magic, as Guo Tiejun, with his slicked-back hair, also had reddened eyes not long after. A nameless emotion wandered and spread throughout the room, turning the atmosphere oppressive with fear, as if a death sentence had already been handed down.

Ye Zheng also noticed something was wrong and stood up to scold, "Why are you crying? What are you doing? Everyone shut up!"

Yang Xiao reacted more quickly than Ye Zheng, realizing that an unsettling aura was fermenting in the room, seemingly a harbinger of impending danger.

"Thud"

"Thud"

"Thud"

...

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the direction of the hallway outside, as if a person were jumping forward with legs held together. In an instant, Yang Xiao’s mind was filled with scenes from zombie movies he watched on discs as a child.

"What’s that sound?" Liu Hongwei turned pale with fear, nearly falling off her chair, but Ye Zheng was quick to act, stepping forward to cover her mouth.

"Everyone shut up," Ye Zheng whispered to everyone.

"Thud"

"Thud"

"Thud"

The heavy footsteps drew nearer until they stopped outside the door of the utility room where they were. At that moment, everyone held their breath, while Yang Xiao quietly slipped his hand into his coat, gripping the flashlight hidden within.

"Bang"

"Bang"

"Bang"

The door rattled incessantly as if the ghost’s power was terrifying, making it feel like the door would break through at any moment.

But fortunately, it didn’t last too long; after a while, the knocking stopped, and silence fell over the outside.

Since nobody knew what was happening outside the door, everyone held their breath, afraid to make a sound.

"Buzz... buzz buzz..."

Suddenly, everyone looked up at the overhead light bulb, which began flickering inexplicably and emitted a buzzing sound.

In just the blink of an eye, before anyone could react, the bulb "popped" and went out, plunging the utility room into darkness.

"Creak—"

Yang Xiao heard an ear-piercing friction sound; the door to the utility room was opened.

"Thud"

"Thud"

Two jumping sounds came from the utility room; they were the ghost’s footsteps, amplified indefinitely in the pitch-black environment.

Clearly, the ghost... had come in!

"Ahhhh!!" a scream erupted close to Yang Xiao; it was Liu Hongwei’s voice.

Then came the sound of tables, chairs, and miscellaneous items colliding, chaos enveloping the room, with men’s shouting mixed in.

"Don’t panic, don’t panic!!" Ye Zheng shouted to stop the chaos.

But his attempt to calm everyone was evidently futile.

"Bang bang bang!"

The sound of panicked footsteps arose as Liu Hongwei screamed, running out of the room. Her cry for help echoed from the hallway, growing distant, unbelievably, she had truly escaped.

Seeing someone had run away, the others in the darkness became restless, and Yang Xiao vaguely saw the door open with the faint light.

One by one, silhouettes fled; everyone was scrambling, as if the last one left would be killed by the ghost, since... the ghost was in the room!

The first one to escape was Liu Hongwei, which was clear evidence. She ran, and the ghost didn’t pursue her, so she could survive.

It was a clear example, but Yang Xiao remained indifferent.

Because it was a trap.

He saw through it at once, recognizing it as the ghost’s trick.

Honestly, he was a bit disappointed in the ghost; this act was too fake, with too many holes, he was too embarrassed to expose it.

First of all, when the light went out and the room was utterly dark, to the point of hand-invisible darkness, yet the door was visible, it defied scientific logic—it was clearly a trap to lure him out.

Secondly, the ghost’s handling of Ye Zheng’s character was too crude.

If it were really Ye Zheng, she wouldn’t have shouted to remind them when the room went dark; that would only expose her location.

What she would do is quickly leave the group, find a safe hiding spot, and quietly observe.

Clearly, these were all the ghost’s blinding techniques, leading Yang Xiao to conclude that the ghost couldn’t directly kill him in the room.

It needed to apply pressure and "expel" him, driving him into the trap it set to complete the slaughter.

Thus, Yang Xiao concluded that the environment outside the door must have changed. The moment he stepped out, he would be killed by the ghost.

Having figured it all out, Yang Xiao was in no rush. He didn’t hide at all; he just stood still, waiting to see what would happen.

Anyway, he wasn’t in a hurry; he had plenty of time to wait out the ghost—whoever was anxious would know.

Aware that Yang Xiao wouldn’t take the bait, the ghost’s act became increasingly exaggerated. It began "searching" the entire room, creating a lot of commotion, yet Yang Xiao stayed as still as a mountain.

At last, the room light gradually brightened, not normally but as if it was being "spit" out from the previous darkness.

With this light slowly returning, Yang Xiao surprisingly saw the ghost.

It was a scorched corpse ghost, burned all over, unrecognizable, its milky white ghost eyes fixed on Yang Xiao, with spite enough to tear him apart.

Simultaneously, Yang Xiao detected a strong burning stench, reminiscent of a smell he’d encountered before.

As the bulb slightly illuminated, the darkness in the room was slowly dispelled, forcing the charred corpse ghost to hide in the shadows.

Just before the bulb fully lit, the ghost was expelled from the room, vanishing completely into the outside darkness, and until the last moment, its gaze remained fixed resentfully on Yang Xiao.

"Buzz... buzz buzz..."

"Pop"

With the ghost’s complete disappearance, the overhead bulb lit up, the previous dark and cold aura vanished, and the room instantly felt like it returned to the human world.

"He’s back, Captain Yang is back!!" Suddenly, someone behind exclaimed, voice brimming with delight.

Yang Xiao turned, seeing that the previously vanished people had reappeared—Ye Zheng, Guo Tiejun, Hu Weimin... even Liu Hongwei, who had "escaped" before, everyone was there!

After Ye Zheng quickly explained the sequence of events, it aligned with Yang Xiao’s deductions.

From Ye Zheng and the others’ perspective, they didn’t vanish, it was Yang Xiao who disappeared.

For an instant, Ye Zheng and the rest were terrified.

"Bang bang bang"

There was the sound of running outside the door followed by Captain Zhou and others rushing in. Seeing Yang Xiao unharmed, Captain Zhou’s tense expression finally relaxed.

Ye Zheng quickly recounted the whole story, and after hearing their ordeal, Captain Zhou was filled with admiration for Yang Xiao, "You’ve done well, seems the situation’s solved, you’ve greatly helped us!"

"Finally... finally survived!!" Liu Hongwei couldn’t hold it anymore, covered her face, and burst into tears—a cry of relief.

Infection spread, moving many to tears, making the scene deeply touching.

But Yang Xiao didn’t shed a tear, appearing out of place among the emotionally overwhelmed crowd.

Not only didn’t he cry, but he didn’t utter a word, silently watching them perform.

"Alright, no more talk, let’s find Captain Zhai. You’ve survived thanks to Captain Zhai’s care—you should thank him!" Captain Zhou advised sincerely, smiling.

Saying this, everyone gathered around Yang Xiao, heading out as if welcoming a hero, faces shining with post-crisis smiles, overflowing with happiness.

Yang Xiao followed them, stopping a step away from the door.

Saying this, everyone gathered around Yang Xiao, heading out as if welcoming a hero, faces shining with post-crisis smiles, overflowing with happiness.

Yang Xiao followed them, stopping a step away from the door