Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 269 Empty Canvas

Chapter 269: Chapter 269 Empty Canvas

The air around seemed to suddenly solidify.

Yang Xiaocan let out a faint sob; she regretted it.

Regretted entering this haunted house transformed from a gallery.

She found it hard to convince herself that all these eerie things were merely artificial mechanisms...

Not just her, Ruan Jie and Ou Zheng’s expressions were also somewhat dazed.

"Let’s keep moving forward."

Bai Yanliang said in a low voice.

Although he knew that these three people, in a sense, were not real humans, their emotions at this moment were something Bai Yanliang could genuinely feel.

He even... felt a bit envious.

"Once we get out, I must confront that bastard owner and settle the score!"

Ou Zheng said through gritted teeth.

Despite being a man, seeing Bai Yanliang’s fearless demeanor, Ou Zheng also regained some courage.

The two girls tightly held each other’s hands for mutual encouragement.

Bai Yanliang didn’t say any more encouraging words, first because he didn’t know how to, and secondly because it wasn’t necessary.

He held up his phone, shining it in all directions, and walked at the forefront.

Xu Zhifei followed behind him, with Yang Xiaocan and Ruan Jie in the middle, and Ou Zheng at the end.

The five of them walked along the dark, silent corridor for an unknown time, yet they hadn’t reached the end.

Finally, some white light appeared ahead.

Bai Yanliang secretly raised his guard but didn’t slow his pace, heading straight for the light.

It turned out to be an exhibition hall.

Bai Yanliang turned off his phone; the power hadn’t been cut here, and the soft white light from the ceiling was serene and cold.

Places with light can somewhat put people at ease.

At least, the emotions of Yang Xiaocan and the others noticeably improved a bit.

The hall was illuminated clearly and was very clean, without anything strange, just a bit cold but nothing scary.

Moreover, it seemed the transformation to a haunted house wasn’t complete; old paintings and exhibits were still hanging on the walls of the exhibition hall.

Bai Yanliang also surveyed around; the hall seemed ordinary at first glance, but after a careful look, Bai Yanliang noticed something odd.

And that was... the floor.

Perhaps due to the art gallery setting, the floor here had a special design.

For example... the floor tiles had simplistic yet intricate shapes.

Though these shapes looked uncomplicated, just simple triangles, circles, and rhombuses.

Once pieced together on the floor, they formed a harmonious whole.

This isn’t something an ordinary designer could achieve.

Perhaps because this place was bright and tidy, Ou Zheng, Yang Xiaocan, and Ruan Jie’s emotions stabilized significantly, and they even found time to glance at the paintings on the walls.

In fact, Bai Yanliang also noticed these paintings at the beginning.

Paintings are objects often associated with supernatural phenomena.

However, Bai Yanliang had scanned almost all the paintings and found nothing unusual.

So when Ou Zheng and the others went to view the artworks, Bai Yanliang didn’t think much of it and began studying the floor tiles underfoot.

He had a strong feeling that these floor tiles were designed this way for a reason.

Xu Zhifei glanced at Bai Yanliang, didn’t disturb him, and like Ou Zheng and the others, approached a painting on the wall.

The paintings on the wall weren’t of a single type; just on this wall, Xu Zhifei saw ink paintings, oil paintings, prints, watercolor paintings, and more, with differing styles, realistic, simple, aesthetic, abstract...

It’s clear that the gallery owner is a passionate lover of the art of painting.

However... among these many artworks, one painting caught Xu Zhifei’s attention.

It was an oil painting.

Upon seeing it, Xu Zhifei realized that on this wall, it was the only portrait painting.

The painting showed the back of a woman, standing by a river with clear, transparent water and rippling waves realistically depicted by the artist.

The woman had long hair reaching her waist and a good figure.

Although it was a back view, her body slightly leaned to the left, as if someone behind was calling her name, and she was about to turn around.

Xu Zhifei gazed at the painting, and as she looked, she began to have an illusion...

As if... the woman in the painting suddenly moved!

Xu Zhifei immediately shifted her gaze away.

Having experienced numerous life-and-death crises, she knew this was the prelude to an eerie occurrence; she must not look any longer.

However, at this moment, among the three near the other walls, Ou Zheng suddenly exclaimed.

"This woman is so beautiful!"

Upon hearing his voice, Bai Yanliang immediately raised his head, not out of a desire to meet this beautiful woman he mentioned.

Rather... something was unusual.

Everyone looked towards Ou Zheng’s direction and immediately saw the beautiful woman he spoke of.

Indeed, she was a beauty.

She was very young, with shallow dimples when she smiled, fair skin, possessing a sweetness akin to a school belle from student days.

However, Xu Zhifei, who saw the painting, sensed something amiss.

She glanced back at the wall behind her and compared it with the painting on Ou Zheng’s wall.

She discovered something astonishing!

Xu Zhifei quickly looked at the wall beside Yang Xiaocan and Ruan Jie, and sure enough.

At the corresponding spots, she discovered two more!

On these four walls, there were four similar paintings!

No... they couldn’t be called completely identical paintings, but the theme expressed was the same.

Xu Zhifei’s eyes darted between the four paintings.

In her painting, the woman by the river was about to turn around.

The one behind Yang Xiaocan, the woman had already shown half her face.

The one in front of Ou Zheng, the woman had fully turned around, smiling radiantly.

And on Ruan Jie’s wall... the woman was gone.

The painting only had a clear, gently rippling river left.

And the woman in the painting had vanished!

However, before she could inform everyone of this strange and terrifying discovery, something ominous occurred!

"Tap—"

A peculiar footstep echoed, instantly grabbing everyone’s attention.

Bai Yanliang focused on the corridor entrance, and in the darkness... a bizarre silhouette stood there.

Yang Xiaocan shivered, moving to hug Ruan Jie.

Ou Zheng swallowed hard, too stunned to speak.

Yet, there was another footstep... resonating in the corridor’s darkness.

"Tap—"

"Tap tap—"

"Tap tap tap tap—"

A plethora of footsteps emerged suddenly!

Even Bai Yanliang tensed up from this eerie scene.

What were those?

Ghosts?

So many ghosts?

Or was it just one ghost with the ability to duplicate?

One thought after another emerged, only to be quickly dismissed by Bai Yanliang.

"Bai... Bai Yanren, should we... get going!"

Ou Zheng felt a chill run down his spine, his words barely coherent.

He didn’t know what was standing at the corridor’s entrance, but instinctively sensed mortal danger.

Leave?

To where?

Bai Yanliang had long noticed that this hall had only two pathways: one they came from, and the other an unknown corridor.

Upon hearing the eerie footsteps and seeing the silhouette in the corridor they came from, he immediately glanced at the unknown corridor behind them.

Unfortunately... that corridor’s entrance was also filled with a dense mass of silhouettes.

They were surrounded.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.