Chapter 235 The Strange Tale of Huaishu Road Construction Site (Conclusion)

Chapter 235 The Strange Tale of Huaishu Road Construction Site (Conclusion)

In the dimly lit small room, eight candles of varying lengths burned at the four corners, their flames flickering without any wind.

The firelight, which should have been glaring, seemed unusually dim. If one did not look closely, it was almost imperceptible.

Zhou Yong paused at the door, gazing at the candles with a furrowed brow.

"What's wrong?" Qu Yuanzhou asked as he approached.

Zhou Yong turned back, "Did you see these candles the day before yesterday?"

His question implied his suspicion that the candles might have been placed there by the previous team of players.

Qu Yuanzhou finally noticed the changes in the room and spoke uncertainly, "I don't think... so?"

"No, no, no," he reconsidered, "I think I did see them; I saw candles in here yesterday."

Almost all the players had wandered around this room the day before yesterday, including Qu Yuanzhou.

But given the unclear situation, everyone only dared to observe from the perimeter. What Qu Yuanzhou remembered most vividly was the offering table in the center of the room with an empty incense burner on top, which were still present now.

As for the rest...

Qu Yuanzhou strained his memory but found that he could recall very few details.

Zhou Yong's lips tightened.

The old man on the third floor had mentioned that there was an array set up in the room, so it wasn't surprising that miscellaneous things appeared.

In the end, Zhou Yong decided not to touch those candles.

If the candles were part of an array set up by a yin-yang master, they naturally shouldn't be disturbed.

And if they were placed by the previous players...

The most dangerous female ghost had already been killed, turning into a blood-stained red dress.

The rest shouldn't be too frightening, right?

The West Team and North Team players did not follow the scheduled work order but came together, a decision made by Zhou Yong on the spot.

Ever since arriving at the construction site, he had felt uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen.

To alleviate this inexplicable tension, Zhou Yong decided to seal the small house as quickly as possible.

However, despite his plans, the task, which should have been simple, proceeded abnormally smoothly.

Either the cement truck tipped over or the stacked bricks collapsed.

An hour passed, and although progress wasn't slow, it was far from completion.

"Lunchtime, come eat," the NPC foreman called out from outside.

Players from the southeast groups rushed over, and Qu Yuanzhou and Zhou Yong exchanged glances before dispersing their teams, leaving two players to guard.

Before leaving the small dark room, Zhou Yong took one last look.

The candles in the corners had burned halfway but were still not extinguished, with wax dripping onto the ground, while the incense burner stood quietly on the offering table.

The air outside was fresher and warmer than inside, but the weather seemed to be worsening over the past two hours, with dark clouds gathering above the construction site, as if a heavy rainstorm was imminent.

The heavy clouds weighed on Zhou Yong's heart, and he walked briskly to the lunch distribution point, announcing to the northwest groups, "Take a half-hour break, and we'll start working early after that."

The players glanced at each other but raised no objections.

Not far away, Qin Fei's group had already collected their meals and were chatting leisurely, creating an atmosphere that seemed to be in a completely isolated world from theirs.

Squatting on the ground, Zhou Yong ate quickly, his eyes fixed on the direction where the other two groups were, feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

Why... do they look so calm?

Indeed, the death of the female ghost wouldn't affect their clearance.

But without the mission, their rewards would be greatly reduced, and they might even face punishment from the strange tale. They should be demoralized.

Zhou Yong had a strong premonition that something unexpected was silently growing and spreading beyond his sight.

He thought again about the candles in the small dark room.

Earlier, Zhou Yong questioned several players, but none could provide a clear answer. The lighting in the small house was too poor, and the players who passed by yesterday couldn't see clearly.

There were two precognitive players in the northwest groups, but their abilities were limited, and neither could actively predict answers. Zhou Yong asked them to use their sixth sense, but they shook their heads vigorously, either because they truly felt nothing or were afraid of taking responsibility.

No... No, that's not right.

He still found the attitude of the other two groups suspicious!

Zhou Yong shoved the remaining rice in his meal box into his mouth, got up, and decided to head towards the small dark room.

He decided to blow out those candles!

"Brother Zhou, what are you thinking? Have some water, won't you choke eating like that?"

Just as Zhou Yong stood up, a familiar voice sounded behind him.

It sounded a bit like Qu Yuanzhou and a bit like Chen Hao.

The familiar tone struck a chord in Zhou Yong's unguarded heart, and without thinking, he reached out to accept it.

However, in the next second, Zhou Yong suddenly froze in place.

He saw an unusually pale hand reach out from behind Zhou Yong, holding a bottle of mineral water. The transparent bottle had a blue cap and appeared completely ordinary.

But.

Zhou Yong clearly remembered that during the three days they had been in this strange tale, he had never seen a mineral water bottle like this one.

It wasn't available in the system store either, so it couldn't have been brought in by another player.

A drink of unknown origin.

A person whose face he hadn't seen.

Zhou Yong instantly broke out in a cold sweat!

The construction site rules he had seen on the first day of entering the strange tale vividly resurfaced in his mind.

"Rule Three:

Please remember the number, names, and faces of your companions who entered the construction site with you.

If you encounter a stranger during construction, do not speak to them.

Remember, do not! Do not! Do not!

Rule Four:

Strangers can be trusted.

You can drink the water offered by strangers.

Strangers are friendly."

The fourth rule clearly contradicted the third and was undoubtedly fake.

Strangers could not be trusted, and drinking water offered by strangers would have unpredictable consequences.

Zhou Yong swallowed lightly, and his hand, halfway extended, smoothly changed direction, brushing aside a strand of hair near his temple.

"Brother Zhou?"

The thing behind him actually tried to confuse him again.

Zhou Yong's face twitched slightly as he took a step and walked in the opposite direction.

He walked quickly, and although the thing behind him didn't make any more noise, Zhou Yong felt a chilling gaze continuously sticking to his back, as if trying to peel off his skin and devour his flesh and blood.

Zhou Yong held his breath and walked straight from one end of the construction site to the other before daring to stop.

"Brother Zhou? What happened?" Chen Hao approached, noticing his unusual expression and asked curiously.

Zhou Yong squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "...Is there someone behind me?"

Chen Hao looked at the air behind Zhou Yong, puzzled, and shook his head. "No!"

Zhou Yong immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He had left according to the rules, did not look at the monster, and did not talk to it, successfully avoiding a disaster.

Why?

The monster that didn't appear on the first day emerged on the third day?

Upon closer inspection, the polluted atmosphere on the construction site seemed to have become noticeably thicker without anyone noticing.

Zhou Yong turned around and looked toward the center of the construction site.

In just over ten minutes, the weather had become even gloomier, with distant thunder rumbling faintly.

Although the wind wasn't strong, the dark clouds in the sky were moving rapidly. The surrounding atmosphere was inexplicably eerie.

The plastic sheet hanging in front of the small black house rustled, as if something was about to break through the barrier and rush out from inside.

The two players who were supposed to be guarding the small black house were nowhere to be seen.

Zhou Yong's expression gradually darkened.

"Chen Hao," he suddenly said, "go check what those two are up to. If they want to eat, switch shifts with them."

"Oh, okay." Chen Hao didn't find anything unusual and obediently left.

Zhou Yong half-closed his eyes, watching Chen Hao lift the plastic cover and enter the house through the increasingly narrow entrance.

One minute, two minutes.

Still no sign of the players coming out.

A sense of foreboding rapidly escalated, and Zhou Yong, unable to hold back any longer, strode forward.

Approaching the small building once again, Zhou Yong sniffed the air, which carried a faint, peculiar smell. That smell, that smell—

Zhou Yong abruptly stopped!

Just a few meters away from the small black house, a panicked figure burst out, almost colliding with Zhou Yong.

It was Chen Hao.

Zhou Yong stepped back and grabbed Chen Hao's shoulder. "What happened?! Why are you so panicked? Did the people disappear?"

Chen Hao snapped out of his overwhelming shock.

His mind was filled with the scene he had just witnessed:

In the dimly lit room, the four walls were smeared with blood, and the heavy stench of blood made it hard to breathe.

The clothes of the two guard players were scattered on the ground, while their bodies had vanished. Judging from the state of the room, those two had likely been turned into blood and pulp, evenly spread across the walls.

The incense burner on the altar had fallen to the ground, and all eight candles had burned out completely. The room was chillingly cold.

Chen Hao seemed somewhat numb, and he spoke in a daze, "T-they're still inside."

"But..."

Their lives seem to be gone.

Thick black mist surged out from the house at the center of the construction site, swirling around and enveloping the entire building like a giant black cocoon. The cocoon trembled as if something was about to break free at any moment.

"Boom—"

The long-suppressed thunder finally erupted.

The sky quickly darkened, even though it was noon, the brightest time of day, yet the world became pitch-black like midnight.

At the edge of the construction site, the players put down their lunch boxes and turned to look.

There was nothing in sight; where were the NPCs?

"Swoosh—"

The heavy rain arrived as expected.

Just like yesterday, the large raindrops fell onto their bodies, bringing a sharp cutting sensation like razor blades. Clothes were torn, blood seeped through the skin, and mixed with the rain, falling to the ground.

An explosion of cries erupted on the construction site!

"Go back! Quickly return to the building!" Zhou Yong shouted loudly, rushing towards the entrance of the site.

Players who were closer had already reached the gate, but then they despairingly discovered, "What's going on? We can't get out!!"

The entrance to the construction site had only a turnstile, no gate, but it now seemed to be blocked by an invisible air wall, sealed tightly!

Through that air wall, Zhou Yong saw someone standing on the other side of the turnstile.

It was Xiao Qin.

Xiao Qin with black feathers.

The young man stood there with a smile, slightly tilting his head, looking through the heavy rain, meeting Zhou Yong's eyes.

Despite being in the midst of the heavy rain, it was as if he had an invisible protective shield covering him, and the raindrops disappeared before touching his body.

He looked so calm and composed, as if everything happening in the construction site had nothing to do with him.

Behind Xiao Qin stood all the players from the Southeast teams.

Zhou Yong's lips couldn't help but tremble violently!