Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 248: Anomaly

Chapter 248: Chapter 248: Anomaly

Bai Yanliang turned around and looked around, something was wrong...

This is unreasonable.

Although it sounds foolish to seek rationality in supernatural events, in fact, all supernatural events have their most basic rules. Even a fierce ghost has its limits; it may be omnipotent, but only within a certain rule.

And right now, the situation has detached from that rule.

Why did the entire village suddenly disappear?

If a fierce ghost could do that, why did it engage in such mysterious antics before, instead of making them disappear altogether?

That sense of discord reappeared.

Bai Yanliang always felt like he’d forgotten something very important, but what was it...

As Bai Yanliang pondered, Jiang Li and Yu Wenxuan were also holding their breath, watching their surroundings.

No one dared to take a step first, and even though it was broad daylight, the village was so hauntingly quiet that it was nerve-wracking; nobody knew if something might suddenly emerge from somewhere.

A faint sense of unease quietly appeared, gradually gnawing at the hearts of the three of them.

Just then, Jiang Li’s gaze inadvertently swept across an alley, just like Lu Guo had done initially, with only a brief glance.

However, as she withdrew her gaze, she realized...

That it’s... Lu Guo?!

At the entrance of the alley stood a person, an expressionless person!

Jiang Li would never forget his face because he was Lu Guo!

But at this moment, Lu Guo’s face was disturbingly eerie, as if covered with a layer of white flour, and his lips were bizarrely red. He didn’t look like a living person but more like a... paper figure often seen at funerals.

Goosebumps erupted instantly, and Jiang Li immediately said, "Run! Lu Guo is there... he’s watching us from the alley!"

Bai Yanliang and Yu Wenxuan heard this and quickly turned their heads to glance at the alley entrance. Lu Guo’s eerie figure indeed stood there, expressionlessly watching them.

Is that Lu Guo?

Is he... still alive?

"Go!"

From spotting Lu Guo’s figure to leaving, the three took only two or three seconds.

But it seemed it was already too late.

Lu Guo had already rushed over.

He ran uprightly, looking very off-balance, but his speed was astonishingly fast. If this kept up, all three of them would be caught by him.

"Split up."

After saying these three words, Bai Yanliang immediately darted into a narrow alley.

Yu Wenxuan didn’t hesitate either and ran towards another alley.

Jiang Li was slightly slower to react, but she didn’t need to choose an alley; she just needed to run along the main village road.

In any case, who Lu Guo would chase was entirely a matter of chance.

Moreover, those alleys might well be dead ends, and the risk of diving into an alley was much higher than fleeing on the main road.

As long as Lu Guo doesn’t come after me, I’ll be safe...

Jiang Li comforted herself in her heart.

However, just as that thought appeared, a huge chill enveloped her.

Jiang Li turned her head and saw... the one running stiffly behind her in that eerie posture, wasn’t it Lu Guo?

His ghostly pale face and the blood-red lips formed a stark contrast; he was already... no longer human.

Jiang Li bit her lip unwillingly.

It’s me again... why is it me again?

Her heart pounded fiercely, and with Lu Guo in such a tireless state, it was only a matter of time before he caught up with her.

What to do... what should I do?

Jiang Li desperately tried to think of a way to escape.

Where... would Lu Guo not be able to find her?

An image flashed in her mind, making Jiang Li shiver.

The ancestral hall...

The ancestral hall where a female ghost resided.

Last night, her head was chased by Lu Guo’s head into the ancestral hall, but he didn’t come in.

Jiang Li didn’t know if she had shaken him off at that time or if he feared the ancestral hall, but at this moment, it was her only choice.

The ancestral hall!

She lifted her head and glanced in the direction of the ancestral hall ahead.

The distance to the ancestral hall was at least three minutes away from her.

Can I... hold on for three minutes?

...

Bai Yanliang was the first to dive into a small alley.

Then he heard strange footsteps coming from behind him.

Is he chasing me? What bad luck...

Bai Yanliang didn’t turn around to look but dashed forward with his head down.

As he fled, he pondered his doubts.

He rarely found himself completely at a loss, but this task gave him such a feeling.

Although many clues began to emerge, Bai Yanliang always felt something was amiss, with these clues being full of contradictions and abnormalities.

If one had to name a source, he thought this task reeked of oddity from the very beginning.

Shangyuan Village, Zhongyuan Village, Lower Yuan Village.

The three names seemed to share some origin, villages all within Ping City. Yet, whether online or in the police database, no information could be found.

The existence of these three villages seemed only known to Ping City people.

This task was executed in reality, but could such a thing truly happen in reality?

Bai Yanliang had doubts.

And then there was that eight-word decryption—Mountain Moon Hiding, Coffin Fishing Underwater.

These eight words were too straightforward, almost as if worried they wouldn’t understand.

However... Bai Yanliang recalled carefully.

When they acted according to the first half, something happened to Lu Guo, and Jiang Li and Yu Wenxuan almost died at the hands of the ancestral hall’s female ghost.

Xu Zhifei’s situation also suddenly deteriorated; she untied the ropes herself and now was completely out of sight.

The only one faring slightly better was him.

But today, when he acted according to the latter half, more abnormal phenomena appeared.

Scenes of death replayed, showing events from over ten years ago, suddenly transmitting some chaotic information.

After leaving the well bottom, the whole village disappeared...

This couldn’t just happen inexplicably; they must have triggered something.

After careful confirmation, Bai Yanliang was sure the current situation stemmed entirely from the phrase "Coffin Fishing Underwater."

Though there was no water at the bottom of the well, and the swaddling wasn’t a coffin, he indeed went down with such thoughts.

In short, this task’s decryption didn’t appear to guide them to a safe path but rather seemed like it was pushing them step by step towards death.

Past decryptions, though sometimes misleading, could indeed uncover where survival lay.

But this time, the decryption seemed to straightforwardly indicate the survival path, yet it made the situation more complicated and abnormal instead.

This forced Bai Yanliang to wonder what went wrong...

But then Bai Yanliang suddenly felt a faint pain in his head.

"Hiss—"

Fleeing, Bai Yanliang forcefully slapped the side of his head.

What’s going on... it feels like I’ve forgotten something...

Something that shouldn’t be dismissed as ordinary has been overlooked by me.

What exactly...

Though Bai Yanliang remained expressionless, turmoil surged within his heart; he finally detected something abnormal.

His memory... seemed to have been interfered with.