5: Chapter 5 Bloodbath on the Village Road

The door was open.

Chen Mo stood at the entrance of the Farmhouse, not rushing to go in.

His Pupil of the Sequence was still active, his golden vision sweeping over the half-open iron gate.

Faint golden lines were coiled around the doorframe; they were very faint, almost invisible.

It wasn't a Ghost Shadow, but looked like some kind of... trace.

Someone had escaped from here.

He turned back to glance at his car.

That mass of black, viscous substance had already engulfed more than half of the car body and was spreading toward the engine compartment.

If the fuel tank were contaminated, it might explode.

He had to stay away.

Chen Mo stepped over the threshold and pulled the door shut behind him.

Behind the door was a small courtyard with a concrete floor, piled with some farm tools: a hoe, a shovel, and a rusty cleaver.

Chen Mo put down his wrench and picked up the cleaver to weigh it.

It had good weight; although the blade was rusty, the edge was still intact.

It was easier to use than the wrench.

He tucked the cleaver into his waistband and continued walking inside.

At the end of the courtyard was a two-story building; downstairs were the living room and kitchen, and upstairs was the bedroom.

All the doors were wide open, and all the lights were dark.

Only in the direction of the kitchen was there a faint light.

It wasn't the light of an electric bulb, but the candlelight he had only seen when he was a child.

Flickering, dim yellow candlelight.

Chen Mo lightened his footsteps and moved toward the kitchen, hugging the wall.

His Pupil of the Sequence operated intermittently, confirming there were no golden lines around.

The kitchen door was half-ajar.

He leaned toward the crack of the door and looked inside—

A white candle was lit on the stove, its flame swaying gently in the windless room.

Beside the candle was a bowl of rice with three chopsticks stuck into it.

An offering.

This was an offering for the dead.

Chen Mo's gaze shifted to the corner behind the stove—

Someone was squatting there.

No.

It was a child.

About seven or eight years old, wearing old clothes common in rural areas, hugging its knees, huddled in the corner.

It had its back to Chen Mo, its shoulders heaving, as if it were crying.

Chen Mo did not move.

His Pupil of the Sequence swept over—

Golden lines appeared.

But they were very faint, so faint they could barely form a complete outline. On that "child," there was only a blurry mass of light at the heart position.

【F-Class Ghost Shadow (Resentful Child) · Status: Dormant】

【Core Weakness: Heart exposed, but extremely fast after activation】

【Threat Assessment: Medium (Dormant) / High (After activation)】

【Suggestion: Remain quiet, do not wake it】

Chen Mo retreated slowly.

His heel hit an empty bottle, making a slight rolling sound.

The "child's" shoulders stopped heaving.

Chen Mo held his breath instantly.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

The "child" did not turn around.

Chen Mo continued to retreat, exiting the kitchen area, exiting the courtyard, and retreating to the iron gate.

He pulled open the iron gate—

Someone was standing outside the door.

No.

It was that thing with the drawn-on smiley face.

"Window Knocker".

It stood outside the iron gate, tilting its head, that drawn-on smiley face facing Chen Mo directly.

It raised its hand.

Chen Mo did not wait for it to knock down.

He drew the cleaver with a backhand motion and swung with all his might at the side of its knee, the same position where he had killed those three before.

The cleaver cut in.

The sensation was like cutting into frozen meat, hard and tough.

The "Window Knocker's" body trembled violently, its raised hand froze in mid-air, and then...

It fell down.

But no golden threads gushed out.

【Attack ineffective】

【Target is E-Class Ghost Shadow "Window Knocker · Elite"】

【Weakness shifted: Core located at the seventh vertebra of the spine】

Chen Mo's pupils contracted sharply.

The position he had just struck was the F-Class weakness. This was not F-Class; it was E-Class.

The "Window Knocker" lying on the ground began to twitch; its body seemed to have a life of its own, its limbs twisting backward, its joints making crisp cracking sounds.

Then it stood up.

No.

It was its body that stood up, but its head was still facing the original direction.

Its neck twisted 180 degrees, and that smiley face turned from its back to its chest.

It raised its hand.

This time it wasn't knocking on the door, but slapping directly at Chen Mo's face.

Chen Mo dodged to the side, simultaneously swinging his blade at the seventh vertebra of its spine on the back of its neck, exactly that position.

The cleaver hit.

The "Window Knocker's" body froze again.

Golden threads gushed out from the wound on the back of its neck, like a punctured water pipe.

It fell down.

【Killed E-Class Ghost Shadow "Window Knocker · Elite"】

【Obtained: sequence fragment × 5】

【Current fragments: 16】

【Sequence evolution progress: 32%】

Chen Mo panted heavily.

His right shoulder was still hurting; he had used all his strength in that strike, and the wound seemed to have torn open again.

He looked down at the corpse.

After the golden threads were completely drained, it turned into a real corpse—a corpse wearing a gas station uniform, having been dead for who knows how long.

The drawn-on smiley face on its face was slowly disappearing, revealing the real face underneath.

The eyes were open.

Something was reflected in the pupils.

Chen Mo looked in the direction of its gaze.

The sky above the courtyard had changed.

The originally thick gray fog was dispersing, revealing the scene above.

That was not a normal night sky, but a piece of twisted space.

Countless golden lines intertwined in the sky, forming a huge net, the end of which vanished into the infinite distance.

And in the center of that net, there was something.

A huge, beating heart.

A golden heart.

Every time it beat, the ground vibrated once.

Those golden lines were like blood vessels, extending from the heart, piercing into the ground, into the surrounding houses, into...

Chen Mo looked down at his own hands.

There were also golden lines on his hands.

Very thin, very faint, extending from his fingertips, connecting to that heart.

All Chosen Ones were connected to that heart.

That was the "Source of the Sequence".

【Detected spatial rule activation】

【Current area: Fog Village Road】

【Rule changing... Complete】

【New rule: Village Road terrain will randomly twist】

【Duration: Until Ghost Night ends】

【Survival suggestion: Keep moving, avoid being trapped】

The moment the text disappeared, the ground beneath Chen Mo's feet began to move.

The concrete floor tiles slid forward one by one.

The courtyard was stretching, that two-story building was moving away from him, and the kitchen door was getting further and smaller.

Chen Mo turned and rushed toward the iron gate.

The iron gate was also moving, but slower than him.

He took two steps in one, and before the iron gate was about to slide out of his line of sight, he grabbed the doorframe.

He pulled himself out of the door.

Outside the door was no longer that Village Road.

It was an alley.

There were walls on both sides, very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through. The alley extended forward, and at the end was darkness.

Chen Mo looked back.

The iron gate was still there, but behind the door was no longer that courtyard, but a Void Realm.

He closed the door.

The door disappeared.

His Pupil of the Sequence operated; in his golden vision, the surrounding walls were not real walls, but barriers woven from countless golden lines.

Those lines were flowing slowly, like the blood vessels of a living thing.

He walked forward along the alley.

After walking about fifty meters, the alley suddenly forked into three.

Chen Mo stopped and used his Pupil of the Sequence to scan each fork.

On the left fork, there was a dense mass of golden lines at the end—Ghost Shadows, and several of them.

On the middle fork, the lines were very faint, but there was a completely blank section in the middle—a trap.

On the right fork, the lines were very faint, and there was a faint light at the end; it was most likely a Safe House.

He chose the right one.

After walking a few steps, the ground suddenly tilted.

The whole alley seemed to have been folded; the road that was originally in front suddenly appeared overhead.

The section Chen Mo was stepping on was still horizontal, but five meters ahead, it was a vertically upward wall.

He had to climb up.

Chen Mo tucked the cleaver away and grabbed the gaps on the wall; those gaps were formed by intertwined golden lines, they had substance and could be gripped.

He climbed up.

After climbing about ten meters, an exit appeared overhead.

He climbed out—

It was a room.

The living room.

The living room of the Farmhouse he had just left.

Chen Mo stood in the center of the living room, looking at the surrounding furniture: a dilapidated sofa, a dust-covered television, and a black-and-white photo hanging on the wall, showing an elderly couple.

The old people in the photo were looking at him.

Chen Mo stared at that photo.

The old man's eyes moved slightly.

Then, the two people in the photo smiled at the same time.

That kind of smile was not a normal person's smile; it was a smile with the corners of their mouths split to their ears.

They were crawling out of the photo.

Chen Mo did not wait for them to crawl out.

He turned and rushed to the door, pulled it open...

Outside the door was not the courtyard.

It was that alley with the three forks.

He had returned to the starting point again.

【Spatial Rule: Loop Trap】

【How to break: Find the real exit, or kill the loop core】

【Loop core location: Living room photo】

Chen Mo took a deep breath, letting himself calm down.

The loop core was in the photo.

But the things in the photo were crawling out.

He turned and returned to the living room.

That elderly couple had already crawled halfway out of the photo; their upper bodies were outside the photo, and their lower bodies were still inside.

Their bodies were stretched like plasticine, but the smiles on their faces were becoming more and more real.

Chen Mo drew the cleaver and rushed toward the photo.

His Pupil of the Sequence operated at full power; in his golden vision, the golden lines on the photo were flowing rapidly.

The source of those lines was the old man's heart position in the photo.

That was the core.

The old man saw Chen Mo rushing over, and his smile became even more ferocious.

His hand suddenly elongated, grabbing toward Chen Mo's neck.

Chen Mo ducked to dodge, simultaneously swinging his blade to slash at his hand.

The cleaver severed that hand.

The hand fell to the ground and was still moving, its fingers crawling on the ground like insects.

But the old man did not stop, and his other hand reached over again.

Chen Mo's Prediction vision activated: in three seconds, the old man's hands would simultaneously grab his neck.

The old woman would pounce from the side and bite his shoulder.

He had to hit the core before that.

Chen Mo did not retreat but advanced, rushing straight toward the photo.

The old man's hand grabbed toward his head.

Chen Mo dodged to the side, letting that hand graze his cheek, simultaneously pushing off the ground with both feet.

His whole body leaped up, holding the blade with both hands, swinging with all his might at the old man's chest.

The cleaver stabbed into the photo.

It stabbed into the old man's chest.

A shrill scream, and the whole room began to shake.

The old man and old woman in the photo froze simultaneously, and then their bodies began to melt, like candles being roasted by fire.

Golden threads gushed out from the photo, surging into Chen Mo's body.

【Killed E-Class Ghost Shadow "Photo Wraith" × 2】

【Obtained: sequence fragment × 8】

【Current fragments: 24】

【Sequence evolution progress: 48%】

【Broke the Loop Trap】

【Obtained additional reward: Night Vision (Elementary)】

【Night Vision: Can see in the dark, effective distance 20 meters】

The photo turned into a normal black-and-white photo.

The old people inside returned to their normal expressions, smiling peacefully.

Chen Mo took the photo down from the wall and flipped it to the back.

On the back, a line of text was written:

"Thank you."

Chen Mo was silent for a second, then put the photo back in its place.

He pushed open the door.

Outside the door was the courtyard.

A normal courtyard.

That two-story building was still in its original position, the kitchen door was still open, and that white candle on the stove was still burning.

Chen Mo did not linger. He walked through the courtyard and pulled open the iron gate.

Outside the door was the Village Road.

His car was still in the same place, but that mass of black, viscous substance had disappeared, leaving only an empty shell that had been corroded beyond recognition.

The safety car was completely totaled.

【Safety car damage level: 100%】

【Cannot be repaired】

【Please find a new vehicle】

A roar of engines came from the distance.

Not one, but a group.

Chen Mo looked in the direction of the sound; at the end of the Village Road, more than a dozen cars were driving toward him.

The headlights formed beams of light in the fog, like the opening of some ritual.

At the very front was a modified off-road vehicle, with a person standing on the roof, holding a lamp in their hand.

The light emitted by that lamp was golden.

The same gold as the sequence fragments.

That person saw Chen Mo and waved.

"Hey—you over there—are you still alive—"

Chen Mo did not respond.

He just gripped the cleaver tightly, stood in place, and waited for those cars to approach.

There were still six hours left in the Ghost Night.