45: Chapter 45 The Eerie Laughter

"Why... can we still not run out? How much longer do we have to run..."

The pale-faced man was so exhausted he was on the verge of collapse: "Didn't you say that as long as we jumped down, we would successfully escape?"

Chu Xuan did not deliberately speed up, nor did he intentionally slow his pace; he just ran on in silence.

"Answer me!"

The pale-faced man's voice carried a hint of a sob.

"Sister Qing, hurry and think of a way to save us! Aren't you an official member?"

The others were also extremely terrified and helpless.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Tang Zheng scolded: "I told you long ago to jump down from the rooftop, but you refused to listen. Now, who can you blame?"

"The Night Demon's Domain has been enveloping us all along."

Qin Qing's voice slowly sounded at this moment: "Under the rules, there must be a path to survival! Logically, we should have successfully reached the outside world after jumping down from the building. The current situation only means that the Night Demon has been chasing us, keeping us continuously enveloped within the scope of its Domain. Coupled with the fact that the power of The Gloom has not completely dissipated, it has caused our perception of space to become disordered; in reality, we haven't run very far. A distance that would normally take a few seconds to run might now take ten or twenty minutes, or even tens of minutes..."

The pale-faced man was regretting his actions deeply at this moment. If he had known sooner, he would have jumped from the rooftop earlier; perhaps he would have already escaped by now.

The others also stopped speaking; their legs felt like they were filled with lead, and they truly had no strength left.

One after another, people fell behind and were swallowed by the encroaching night.

This couldn't go on; sooner or later, they would be dragged to their deaths!

Chu Xuan's expression was grave as he thought of a countermeasure.

"Keep running. I can hold on for a little longer. The Night Demon's promotion failed, so it can't maintain the Forbidden Domain for long. Don't let it catch up to us." Qin Qing's voice was calm, and the light from the oil lamp in her hand continued to shine.

However, Chu Xuan suddenly felt his shoulder and back becoming wet.

When he inadvertently looked back, Chu Xuan was horrified to discover that fresh blood was continuously flowing like tap water from Qin Qing's seven orifices—her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth—soaking his back along his shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Chu Xuan asked urgently.

"Why don't you let me hold the oil lamp?" Tang Zheng had long noticed that the oil lamp in Qin Qing's hand was strange, and he immediately volunteered.

Qin Qing shook her head to refuse, her face pale and her voice becoming increasingly weak: "Don't worry about me, keep running!"

The light of the oil lamp dimmed suddenly, and the range of illumination shrank to about three meters.

The surrounding air seemed to become viscous. Chu Xuan felt the resistance to running increase, and an inexplicable sense of fear slowly lingered in his heart, making his breathing difficult.

Even Chu Xuan was like this, let alone the others.

Tang Zheng was better off; he hadn't suffered serious injuries, nor had he lost as much blood as Chu Xuan.

But the others couldn't hold on immediately. They hadn't killed any monsters, their physical fitness was still that of ordinary people, and most of them lacked exercise—some were even worse than ordinary people.

"I... I can't breathe... I feel so uncomfortable..." The pale-faced man's eyes revealed unprecedented fear and horror. He had already been struggling to keep up, his lungs were about to burst, and at this moment, he clutched his own throat and stopped abruptly, gasping for air.

Losing the light of the oil lamp, the pale-faced man's figure was enveloped by darkness, and his voice came to an abrupt end.

There was no need to guess to know what had happened to the pale-faced man.

And the others, one by one, collapsed.

The brightness of the oil lamp was getting dimmer and dimmer.

The resistance grew greater and greater; it felt like wading through water, and their running speed couldn't help but slow down. Chu Xuan felt increasingly strained.

The tearing pain in his chest and shoulder blades suddenly became intense. Chu Xuan knew that his wounds had reopened.

The effect of that little blue pill had worn off.

[You have sustained minor injuries...]

[You are in a state of continuous bleeding and are engaged in strenuous exercise. Your current state will reduce your HP by 1 to 3 points per minute...]

[Current HP: 68]

This was truly like it raining on a leaking roof; his HP hadn't recovered much, and it was starting to drop again. In the current situation, it was adding insult to injury.

"Hehehe! Hehehe!"

Strange laughter suddenly sounded from behind, ghostly and evil, like a vengeful spirit cackling.

"You can't escape! You can't escape..."

At first, this voice was very far away, but in the blink of an eye, the distance closed. A chill couldn't help but rise from Chu Xuan's spine, shooting straight from his tailbone to the top of his head.

Tang Zheng was also so scared that his hair stood on end, and he kept shouting "Holy crap."

"Brother Zheng, I can't hold on much longer!" Chu Xuan turned his head to look and shouted: "Your best brother is about to be eaten. Don't you have any thoughts on this?"

"What other thoughts could I have? I just want to run faster!" Tang Zheng was drenched in sweat and running wildly, having long since thrown away the half-broken Tang sword and the homemade fluorescent lamp in his hands.

"Then why the hell did you come down to find me? Just to run along with me?"

Chu Xuan wanted to curse in his heart. The reason he had strongly demanded that Tang Zheng leave was that he hoped if he really died, then on some future day, if the other party could contact his past self again, perhaps the outcome would be different.

Although this was just his own conjecture and might not come to pass, it at least added a sliver of possibility. But in the current situation, they could only face life and death together.

"I regret it like hell now!" Tang Zheng panted with his tongue hanging out and shouted: "Brother Xuan, you have to think of a way; I don't want to die here yet!"

Chu Xuan really wanted to punch him. What was the use of being afraid now?

The eerie laughter behind them was getting closer and closer. Chu Xuan's scalp went numb, and he roared again: "So many classmates have died, and now the two of us are about to be eaten. We are still so young, with such a bright future ahead of us, and it's all about to be ruined here. Aren't you angry? Aren't you furious?"

"Helpless rage? If I could, I would rather kowtow and beg for my life!"

Chu Xuan's expression was uncertain, his brain racing, and suddenly he shouted sternly:

"Do you think it's over just because this thing eats us? It will obtain our memories and even turn into our likeness to eat our families! My parents are long gone anyway, but your family has all moved to Haicheng, right?"

Tang Zheng shuddered and stared at Chu Xuan.

"Think about your uncle and aunt; they are such good people. No matter how much you screw up, they always forgive you and spoil you! And your sister—she always thought of you first whenever she had something good to eat since you were kids, and she always took the blame for you when you made mistakes! You're an adult in college now, and she still gives you pocket money. What have you ever given her? She got married two years ago, and I remember she even had a son, but have you ever given your little nephew any decent gift? Before long, they will all die, to be eaten by that thing behind us!"

Tang Zheng's body couldn't help but tremble.

"Do you remember the state of Wang Hua's death? And the others—who among them was left with a complete corpse?! Your dad! Your mom! Your sister! And your little nephew! None of them can escape! Their heads will be chewed to pieces, and their internal organs will be eaten hollow! Especially your little nephew—such a small child, he must be tender and delicate..."

"Ah!!! Stop talking!!!"

Tang Zheng clutched his head and roared, his eyes bloodshot and filled with red veins. He stopped abruptly and turned back to glare furiously at the figure that had emerged from the darkness, whose tall outline had already appeared.

The black became blacker, the yellow yellower, and the red redder.

Tang Zheng's entire body suddenly became vivid in color; his hair, skin tone, eyes, bulging veins, and even his tattered clothes were emitting a bright, translucent light from the inside out at this moment.

Tang Zheng was glowing!