Chapter 30: The Clapping Game
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Wu Xian had been trembling with fear for quite some time. Several times, he reached his hand inside, only to jerk it back out.
But what he feared did not happen. There was no trap inside the integrated stove, and the statue could be moved with ease. Wu Xian dragged it out effortlessly, a smile spreading across his face.
Pop!
His smile froze.
“Damn it!”
Things were indeed not that simple. Something else had come out with the statue!
It was a warm, sticky mass. One section had been tied to the statue with a thin cord. When the statue was removed, the mass was dragged out from the depths of the stove as well, then landed on the floor with a wet slap.
A closer look revealed that the mass consisted of a human heart, liver, stomach, lungs, intestines, brain, and other internal organs, along with various unidentifiable substances that stained the floor red and yellow.
The shape of it...
It did not belong to some beast or livestock.
It had come from a human being!
Before Wu Xian could figure out what had happened, a shrill scream rang out from outside, filled with agonized pain and a trace of relieved ecstasy.
Clatter, clatter!
Amid the sound of chains, light and shadow shifted behind the advertising board. Something fell from the sign and struck the ground with a dull thud.
Although his view was blocked, Wu Xian knew perfectly well what had fallen.
It was the male corpse whose abdominal cavity had been hollowed out!
“Damn!”
Wu Xian angrily grabbed his curly hair. He realized that he had fallen into another trap.
No wonder the corpse had been hung in such an obvious place. It had been bait. The moment someone tried to use the statue in this room to worship the gods, the male corpse would be released, and its evil spirit would immediately fix its gaze upon them.
The sudden turn of events cast another shadow over Wu Xian’s heart.
But he had no time to deal with this hidden danger.
The sun outside the window was already sinking westward. If he wasted too much time outside, he would be forced to face those strange and sinister entities without the protection of shelter.
Besides, tonight would be different from previous nights. He had to return early and discuss with Yue Mei how they would survive the night safely.
Wu Xian found a box in the room and placed inside it the statue of the Lord of Fortune and Industry, along with the incense burner, candles, and other items. Then he dragged the box quickly out of the room.
Once outside, Wu Xian examined the surroundings carefully.
There was a clear human-shaped impression on the floor, presumably left when the male corpse had fallen. Handprints and footprints stretched toward the shadows, accompanied by marks left by something being dragged along the ground.
It seemed that the male corpse’s evil spirit moved by crawling on its hands and feet, dragging its torso across the floor.
“I only hope it finds me sooner or later—but please, not during tonight’s operation...”
...
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Night had not yet fallen.
All the survivors had gathered in the lobby on the first floor of the Peace Inn.
Shi Ji was still in charge of cooking today.
Yesterday’s dish of rice with large intestines had been replaced by rice stuffed into pig stomachs. Whatever he cooked, the man could never seem to escape the world of offal.
Time had been too tight the previous day, so everyone had merely made do. But when they saw the steaming food today, they could no longer be bothered to complain. They all began devouring their meals.
Afterward, Su Huilan asked Yue Mei, “You were being evasive this morning. It’s time to tell us plainly—how are you planning to solve the problem?”
“Have you heard of the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother?”
Yue Mei described the Ghost Mother’s appearance, and everyone immediately understood. It was the first evil spirit Wen Chao had ever told them about—the first evil spirit in this world.
Shi Ji asked doubtfully, “Can this evil spirit help us avoid that damned Door-Breaking Great Evil?”
“Do not be disrespectful. You must address her as the Ghost Mother!”
Yue Mei rebuked him sharply. Whenever she spoke of the Ghost Mother, her eyes shone with a strange radiance.
The day before yesterday, she had been forced to seek out the natives in search of a way to survive.
On the first night, she had encountered a terror beyond measure.
But on the second night, amid that terror, she had found a rare sense of safety after entering the Blessed Land. The feeling had brought her a happiness she had never known before.
She was a kind-hearted girl.
Of course she wanted to share such a wonderful thing with everyone.
So she had returned to the Peace Inn to spread the Ghost Mother’s gospel among the outsiders, just as she was one herself.
“Have you heard this prayer before?”
“Praise the Ghost Mother. Offer flesh and bone. Cover the eyes and preserve life. Clap your hands and honor the Lord!”
At the sound of that familiar prayer, Wu Xian’s pupils widened.
He suddenly understood what Yue Mei meant. Predators, like all living creatures, possessed territories. In the presence of a stronger predator, the others would usually retreat.
The way to keep the Door-Breaking Great Evil from attacking them that night was to lure an even stronger evil spirit over!
But the stronger the evil spirit, the more lethal it would be to them as well.
Everyone fell silent for a long while. Wu Xian finally asked the question they all wanted answered.
“How can you guarantee that after we lure the Ghost Mother here, we won’t be killed by your Ghost Mother?”
Yue Mei raised her hands into a clapping position, her expression devout.
“It’s simple. We all play a game with the Ghost Mother!”
...
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The sun sank below the horizon.
The city fell into darkness. Only a handful of advertising signs still flickered, casting an eerie and terrifying atmosphere over the streets. From time to time, a twisted shadow could be seen flashing past.
Fourth floor of the Peace Inn.
The doors of Rooms 404, 401, and 403—the only rooms that remained—stood open.
The six survivors left were divided into pairs, each pair staying in a different room.
Everyone already knew how to summon the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother.
All they had to do was clap their hands.
But once the Ghost Mother arrived, there was only one way to avoid being harmed:
They had to play a game of clapping hands.
Wu Xian and Shi Ji stood with their eyes closed on opposite sides of Room 403, in the positions they had arranged beforehand.
Although they had already memorized the rules of the game, standing there with their eyes shut still filled them with dread. The door remained open, and an evil spirit might enter from outside at any moment.
But there was no alternative. They had to play this game.
The rules were simple.
The players were divided into Seekers and Those Being Sought.
The first Seeker was the Ghost Mother. She would designate as her target the first person to clap. Once that person was found, they would replace the Ghost Mother as the new Seeker, while the Ghost Mother would remain where she was.
Whenever the Seeker changed, the information would reach the ears of everyone nearby.
The second person had to clap within one minute. With their eyes closed, the first person then had ten minutes to find the second. The second person would subsequently become the Seeker, and so on.
That was the basic cycle of the game.
To survive, however, there were certain ironclad rules that could never be broken.
First, the timing had to be exact.
Second, while waiting, the Ghost Mother would continue clapping. In every round, the Ghost Mother had to appear at least once.
Third, no one could open their eyes at any point during the game. Everyone also had to remain relatively quiet and could make no loud noises apart from the sound of clapping.
If the game proceeded smoothly, the Child-Seeking Ghost Mother would be nothing more than an ordinary player, and no evil spirit would appear throughout the entire game.
But if anyone violated the rules—
The Child-Seeking Ghost Mother would transform into a terrifying nightmare, forcing the offender to pay the price with their life...
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