Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 305: Self-Rescue

Chapter 305: Chapter 305: Self-Rescue

It’s coming.

The heart began to pound violently, and the breathing became uncontrollably rapid.

This time, Xu Zhifei clearly felt her own abnormality.

She shouldn’t be this afraid.

It’s the script...

It must be that in the second act of the script, there were words written about Xu Zhifei being filled with fear.

Realizing she wasn’t truly afraid, yet her body trembled with fear of its own accord, it was an absurd and eerie experience.

This was even more terrifying than the fear brought by the slender ghostly figure to Xu Zhifei.

Xu Zhifei felt... like she was a puppet on strings, her fate dictated by some entity’s written words.

But she couldn’t resist.

Her brain clearly knew this fact, yet her body’s response was extreme fear.

Soon, an inexplicable thought appeared in her mind.

Find a room... and hide.

Then, her body indeed went ahead and did it on its own!

Like a classic horror movie scene, the shadow of that slender evil ghost was always projected on the wall, but it was walking leisurely, not immediately rounding the corner to stare directly at Xu Zhifei.

As Xu Zhifei attempted to push open a door of her own accord, she realized that perhaps it wasn’t just humans controlled by the script, but also... the fierce ghost.

Considering the agility of that slender evil ghost while scaling walls, it couldn’t possibly take this long to walk a short corner.

Clearly... it was limited by the script too.

"Click—"

An unlocked door was opened by Xu Zhifei.

She quietly closed the door and silently hid in the dark room.

Here... seemed to be a study.

The control over her body returned to herself once again, and Xu Zhifei finally confirmed one thing...

If the fierce ghost of Fog Gathering’s goal was to kill all living things.

Then the goal of the fierce ghost in this mission, no... the purpose of the entity that wrote the script, was to create enough fear.

A ghost killing wasn’t the pursuit of a movie; the person who wrote the script was intentionally creating fear.

They forced this by controlling the actions of humans and the fierce ghost.

So... the way to survive this mission might not be to find the real protagonist of this horror film, but to... find the person controlling everything in the mansion.

Would that person be hidden among those five people?

Xu Zhifei held her breath, temporarily stopped thinking.

Her troubles had arrived...

Because of "herself," she was locked in the study room by "herself."

The light from the hallway cast a large shadow, clearly visible through the crack under the door... something was standing outside the door.

Just a door apart from her.

...

He was the fake Bai Yanliang.

Qi Nian had confirmed this early on.

But... the words he said really made her happy.

If one day he really said that to her, it would be nice...

Qi Nian felt a bit wistful.

She could sense that Bai Yanliang was deliberately avoiding something.

He was smart, smart enough that he couldn’t possibly not notice, much less not feel it.

But his behavior was foolish, or rather, he was pretending to be foolish.

Qi Nian didn’t know what was wrong with herself.

Maybe, it was just the suspension bridge effect.

She wasn’t in love with him, just in love with the feeling of her heart being moved.

In this Fog Gathering where one couldn’t tell if tomorrow or death would come first, seeking love?

Qi Nian thought she was indeed a bit foolish, and Bai Yanliang’s approach was what most people would do.

She wasn’t a newcomer, but she hadn’t seen much life and death farewells.

In fact, Qi Nian could feel that everyone in Fog Gathering was deliberately keeping their distance from each other.

After all, watching someone not too close to you die would never be as heart-wrenching as hearing that a close friend, a loved one, was harmed by a ghost.

Fearing grief and despair, so they simply didn’t want to get to know each other well.

Ultimately, this was also a cowardly act.

But... there was an emotion that was harder to suppress than fear, even if you covered your mouth, it would escape through your eyes.

Qi Nian thought she was that fool who couldn’t control her emotions.

Knowing full well he was the fake Bai Yanliang, knowing full well that he was a ghost, but when he said after leaving Fog Gathering, they would travel around the world together, she still couldn’t refuse.

Fortunately, he was locked up, just saying those words, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Qi Nian collected her emotions and followed the passage leading upwards.

After walking for a while, Qi Nian saw a bright exit.

From there, she would return to the surface, right?

Qi Nian quickened her pace slightly.

However, as she approached the exit, she saw...

On the wall next to the exit, there was a string of shiny keys hanging.

Go over and take it.

As soon as this thought appeared, Qi Nian’s body moved of its own accord.

By the time Qi Nian came to her senses, she had already taken the keys and was standing at the exit.

This... this is...

A trace of unease appeared in Qi Nian’s heart.

No... it was the same feeling just before entering the mansion.

It’s an essential scene where one can’t make an independent choice!

That being said...

Qi Nian’s prior sense of luck vanished completely.

The ghost existing underground was absolutely not something that could be easily fooled...

Now that this key was inexplicably in her hand, it further reminded Qi Nian of this point.

She had to make a choice.

Since she obtained this key, it proved she had fulfilled part of her promise to the fierce ghost.

The key was in her hand now... so... should she let it out?

Qi Nian suddenly found herself caught in an extremely terrifying choice.

If she lets it out, a ghost... would never spare humans.

If she broke her promise, she... also had a high likelihood of dying.

Qi Nian finally realized the massive trouble caused by a casual commitment she had made.

She might even lose her life because of it.

What to do...

What should she do now?

Even though there wasn’t a fierce ghost beside her, the cold and eerie atmosphere grew increasingly intense.

Qi Nian could even feel countless eyes staring at her from somewhere... waiting for her to make a choice.

That... seemingly both deadly choices.

If Bai Yanliang faced this conundrum, what choice would he make?

In her nervousness, Qi Nian suddenly thought of him.

Bai Yanliang surely would have never said any words with the nature of promises or agreements from the start.

If... Bai Yanliang were to carelessly make some promise, how would he break the deadlock?

Qi Nian substituted herself into Bai Yanliang’s role, thinking about what he might do.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes...

The choice Bai Yanliang would make...

Is...

Qi Nian suddenly opened her eyes with a bright look!

Rules.

It’s rules!

Bai Yanliang said that all rules restrict not only humans but also the fierce ghosts, applying this to the current predicament...

That would be... manipulating the promise she spoke of!

That’s right, she indeed promised the ghost to bring back the key for it, but... she hadn’t agreed to hand the key over to it. As long as she placed the key within a certain distance, it should count as... bringing it back, right?