Chapter 41: Butterfly Chasing Light
Chapter 41: Butterfly Chasing Light
Dongdong. It was the sound of metal spikes hitting the floor tiles.
Before she had a chance to be happy about finding her daughter, Feng Yuxu saw a young man wearing a checkered long-sleeved shirt and work pants. He was wearing a pair of sturdy hiking boots, and the anti-slip steel nails embedded in the soles of his feet hit the ground, making a thudding sound.
Normal walking would not make such a crisp sound when the soles of the shoes hit the ground, but he was jumping.
Just like the classic zombie image in Hong Kong zombie movies, the man in work clothes put his legs together, stretched them straight, jumped up the stairs, crossed the corridor, and jumped towards where Feng Yusu was.
This scene was so funny, but it was so terrifying to Feng Yusu that it made her shudder.
Because she had just seen the man in work clothes.
That was when she was walking through the hall with Ning Zhe just now. She walked towards the stairs, sticking to the wall and carefully avoiding the fresh corpses lying on the ground. The corpses died in different ways, and their expressions were frozen at the moment before each person died. Some were dazed, some were confused, and some were horrified.
Among them was an electrician who was conducting a routine safety check on the transformer box and the lines inside the wall. He looked serious and focused, and did not notice the approaching death at all until this serious and focused expression solidified on his body like a plaster mold.
thump—
The man in overalls took another step forward. His hands hung down on both sides of his body, straight against his pelvis. His whole body was as solemn as a javelin, thrust heavily into the ground.
His eyes were still focused and his serious expression remained at the moment when he checked the circuit before his death.
dong dong——
The man in work clothes took two steps and instantly closed the distance between him and Feng Yusu. Now there were only two rooms between him and Feng Yusu.
The gorgeous crystal chandelier on the ceiling of the corridor cast beautiful and tiny points of light onto the floor, stretching the faint shadow under the man's feet very long. The threat of death filled Feng Yuxu's chest coldly, making her nerves tense to the extreme.
The reason he didn't run away was because Ning Zhe and her daughter were still in the room.
"Ningzhe, a ghost... a ghost came upstairs..." Feng Yusu's voice trembled slightly, and he tried his best to suppress the fear in his throat.
Almost immediately, a soft girl's voice came from the room. It was Bai Zhi's voice:
"Turn off the lights."
Feng Yushu was stunned: "Azhi?"
"Turn off the lights." Ning Zhe's voice also came out.
Feng Yuxu immediately realized what he was referring to, but it was too late to find the power switch. She quickly took out her iPad Mini from her handbag and threw the tablet directly upwards towards the crystal chandelier on the ceiling in front of her.
With a series of crisp sounds of crystal shattering, a crystal lamp went out and Feng Yuxu's vision suddenly became dim.
There was not only one crystal chandelier above the corridor, the one in front of Feng Yusu. Even though one was turned off, the others were still on. Bright white light was also shining through the windows of the rows of rooms. The entire castle was brightly lit, except for the area in front of the door of Feng Yusu's room, which was relatively dark.
thump—
The man in work clothes landed his feet heavily on the ground. He stood there, motionless, with a serious look as if he was looking at something, or as if he was simply maintaining the same appearance as before his death.
The ghost is not moving?
Feng Yushu stood in front of Baizhi's door, staring nervously at the body standing upright under the light, not daring to breathe. She could feel her heart pounding, like a wild horse struggling to jump out of her throat.
At this time, a black and white bird came out of the window. It was a magpie.
Ning Zhe jumped onto Feng Yusu's shoulder and observed the corpse standing upright under the light with her, his mind in a mess.
"After turning off the lights, the ghost stopped moving." Ning Zhe looked around and said softly, "To be precise, the ghost stopped moving after you hid in the dark."
Feng Yushu looked around and it was true. In the spacious and bright castle, there were few blind spots that were not illuminated by light, except where she was standing. This reminded her of what Bai Zhi had said before: "Within the range of this ghost's activities, light means danger, and darkness means safety. As long as you hide yourself in the dark, you won't be found and killed by the ghost."
The ghost now was exactly the same as Bai Zhi's description. It was still standing upright and motionless under the crystal chandelier, with a serious and focused look on its face, as if it was looking for something, but it could not find it.
At this moment, a crisp sound suddenly came from downstairs, like tables and chairs falling to the ground.
"Hmm?" Ning Zhe noticed that the eyes of the corpse standing upright seemed to move at the moment the sound of tables and chairs falling to the ground was heard.
It is looking at the floor beneath its feet, or rather, at the lobby on the first floor below the floor.
The next moment, the body of the man in work clothes fell to the ground.
His body was no longer straight, and he fell face down on the ground, splashing bright little flowers of blood, and his limbs were scattered irregularly, just like every corpse Feng Yusu had encountered along the way.
"The ghost is gone." Ning Zhe said softly, "It couldn't find you hiding in the dark, so it may have turned around to look for the person who made the noise in the hall."
Feng Yusu breathed a long sigh of relief. At that moment, she felt her whole body go limp and her legs trembled.
"Ningzhe, you saved me again..." Feng Yushuxin put his hand on his chest, feeling terrified: "I don't know how to thank you."
"It was your daughter who saved you. It has nothing to do with me." Ning Zhe said lightly: "Find a way to open the door."
After confirming the premise of 'darkness = safety', Ning Zhe relaxed his mind a little. After spending some time, he and Bai Zhi worked together to pry open the locked door.
As soon as the door opened, Feng Yushu immediately stepped forward and hugged the girl in the loose nightgown, her arms around her shoulders, and cried excitedly, "That's great, you're okay, that's really great..."
Bai Zhi didn't seem to be used to her mother's hug, but she didn't break free. She smoothed her scattered hair behind her ears, revealing a pale and haggard face. She looked at Ning Zhe who was standing beside her: "Who are you?"
"My name is Ning Zhe."
Bai Zhi shook her head: "I know your name, I am asking about your identity. Who are you? Why do you know about the existence of ghosts? What is your relationship with my mother?"
Ning Zhe spread his hands: "You can understand it as your mother and I went to your dream together."
"Huh?" Bai Zhi was stunned.
"Let's talk in the room. It's dark inside." Ning Zhe said, walking past the mother and daughter and entering the room.
The three of them entered the room and closed the door. Feng Yushu briefly told Baizhi how she mistakenly entered Hejia Village and how she escaped from it with the help of Ningzhe. Ningzhe just listened. In the darkness, the girl's expression could not be seen, but she could feel her breathing getting heavier and faster as she continued to narrate.
"Actually..." Bai Zhi's voice was surprised. Feng Yusu's experience obviously gave her a great shock.
"You already know my origins, so now it's my turn to ask questions." Ning Zhe didn't care about Bai Zhi's psychological process and said directly:
"When the ghost first appeared in the manor, I tried to investigate the murder scene of the ghost, and then I died. I was standing on the treetop at the time, and even the nearest corpse was more than ten meters away from me. Auntie was only two rooms away from the ghost, less than 10 meters away. She was much closer to the ghost than I was."
"But why did I die on the spot, without even having time to react? And she had time to be dazed, stunned, reminded by you, and then hurriedly extinguish the crystal lamp?"
Ning Zhe's voice was not loud, but every syllable of the word was pronounced very clearly: "Why didn't the ghost kill your mother immediately?"
Bai Zhi was silent for a moment and replied:
"Because ghosts are afraid of light."
Ning Zhe was a little surprised: "Didn't you say before that ghosts need light as a prerequisite for killing people?"
Why do people say ghosts are afraid of light now?
(End of this chapter)