Chapter 19 Master Xie! You should just obediently die.

"Alright, that's enough."

After a while, Xie Xun interrupted the group's noisy argument, looked at Brother Qiangzi, and said in an unquestionable tone, "Lead the way."

These two words instantly stunned everyone.

Master Liu stared at him in shock, "Young friend Xie! You..."

Qiangzi also looked surprised, and even Xiao Chen and Ye Zi paused for a moment while repeating their empty words.

Xie Xun ignored everyone's reactions.

He took the initiative to walk forward, his steps steady and without hesitation.

Rather than being tormented to the point of collapse by invisible fear and piercing noise, it is better to actively seek out that glimmer of hope.

He was afraid of death, but not terribly.

No matter what, he still has Fu Qinghuai, that thousand-year-old evil spirit, to back him up.

The moment he took a step, a familiar, icy touch immediately wrapped around his wrist. Fu Qinghuai was almost pressed against his side, the black mist clinging to his wrist, while his hand gripped his waist without warning, sticky and clingy.

"Xunxun is so brave~"

The demon's voice was sickeningly sweet, and its peach-blossom eyes shone with feigned adoration and intense excitement. "Even though you're terrified, you still walk in front to protect me! But don't worry, if it gets too scary inside, just hide behind me, and I'll protect you~"

Xie Xun: "..."

He was disgusted to the core and wanted nothing more than to slap him. He struggled to free his hand, but couldn't break free.

Xie Xun abruptly stopped, finally unable to bear it any longer. He turned his head, his eyes icy cold, his voice filled with undisguised disgust.

"Fu Qinghuai, stop with your hypocritical act, it's disgusting. Get lost."

The moment the words left his mouth, the icy touch on his wrist and the hand around his waist suddenly froze.

Fu Qinghuai's sweet and hypocritical smile froze instantly, and the smile in his peach blossom eyes vanished in an instant, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on his face.

He said nothing, but gave Xie Xun a deep look with his dark eyes.

Then, she released Xie Xun's restraints, gracefully crossed her arms over her chest, slightly raised her chin, and always kept a distance of two steps from Xie Xun.

Xie Xun stopped looking at him and walked straight ahead.

After a short while, the flashlight beam shone ahead and finally illuminated a door.

The door was ajar, with a yellowed seal pasted on the door panel. The edges of the seal were curled up, and the characters on it were blurred by bloodstains.

Xie Xun took a deep breath and pushed the door open forcefully.

The moment the door opened, a strong stench of blood hit you, mixed with the smell of rust and rotting flesh, making your nose hurt.

Looking around, the room was a mess, with furniture overturned on the floor and dark stains on the ground, like dried blood, stretching from the doorway all the way to the master bedroom.

As Xie Xun stepped into the entryway, a soft "plop" sound came from the sole of his shoe.

He looked down and realized that he had accidentally stepped on a flat paper figure on the ground, and a thick, dark red liquid quickly spread down the sole of his shoe.

At the same time, the compass needle in his hand suddenly trembled.

No matter where he pointed the compass, the needle remained frozen as if glued shut by a scab, refusing to turn.

Xie Xun frowned, abandoned the compass, glanced casually out of the corner of his eye, felt a chill run down his spine, his legs felt as heavy as lead, and his heart pounded wildly.

He saw that there were several paper figures hanging on the ceiling of the living room!

A figure in red clothes with a white paper face and eyes dotted with ink, facing the doorway, with an unusually eerie grin on his lips.

Each paper figure has a string in its hand, with the other end of the string hanging on the ground, which looks like it's wrapped around something from a distance.

Xie Xun looked closely and noticed that there were several bluish-gray things wrapped around it.

It's a baby tooth! There's still blood on it.

He frowned, wanting to turn around and look at Qiangzi and the others, but suddenly everything went black!

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on the edge of the rooftop of the housing estate, with dozens of meters of empty space beneath his feet. The night wind blew, raising goosebumps.

"Master Xie! Are you alright? What happened just now? Why did you suddenly stop moving?"

Xiao Chen's voice came through, sounding concerned.

Qiangzi and Yezi stood beside him, all three of them with the shock of surviving a disaster and the confusion of him suddenly standing frozen on the edge of the rooftop.

The overly normal reaction before his eyes made Xie Xun's heart tighten.

Things happened so fast that he didn't even have time to think about where Master Liu and Fu Qinghuai had disappeared.

"I...I'm fine."

Xie Xun's voice sounded somewhat abrupt on the empty rooftop, "How did we get to the roof?"

“We don’t know either,”

Qiangzi chimed in, his brow furrowed, "It seems like we were just walking along and suddenly found ourselves here. This place is too eerie; we need to find a way down quickly."

"Yes, Master Xie, come here quickly, stay away from the edge, it's too dangerous!" Ye Zi quickly echoed, even taking a step forward and waving at him.

This all makes perfect sense!

Xie Xun's tense nerves unconsciously relaxed a little in this normal atmosphere.

He bent down towards them, intending to jump off the edge, but as soon as he took a step, something unexpected happened!

The expressions on the three people's faces vanished instantly. Without any warning, six hands pressed down hard on his chest at the same time.

The thrust came like an overwhelming force.

"you……!"

Xie Xun only managed to utter two words before he was propelled backward by the immense force.

The feeling of weightlessness gripped him instantly, and as he fell, Xie Xun looked up in disbelief.

At the edge of the rooftop, the three people poked their heads out again, their expressions returning to normal. All three faces wore identical smiles, as if they had finally completed their mission and were quietly watching him fall.

"Bang--!"

Excruciating pain shot through every joint and bone; he finally understood what it meant to be shattered to pieces. Xie Xun collapsed into a pool of blood, his consciousness plunging into boundless darkness.

He slowly closed his eyes.

The darkness recedes, and the night wind blows, still icy and biting.

Xie Xun stood on the edge of the rooftop again, the excruciating pain from being shattered to pieces still lingering in his nerve endings.

It's here again!

Is this a cycle, a death loop?!

Xie Xun's heart pounded wildly. He immediately tried to move his feet, jumped off the edge of the rooftop, and walked towards a safe open space.

"Master Xie! Are you alright? What happened just now? Why did you suddenly stop moving?"

Xiao Chen's voice came through, carrying the same concern as last time.

It's here!

Xie Xun ignored him and suddenly took two quick steps to the side, trying to break through and leave this godforsaken place.

We must leave here!

But just as he was about to jump, the three men stepped forward, their bodies forming a wall, blocking his path in whichever direction he turned.

"Master Xie, where are you going? It's not safe there!"

"Come back quickly! Come to our side!"

The three men spread their arms wide, their faces showing exaggerated worry, instantly forming an impenetrable encirclement that pressed him closer and closer.

Xie Xun's heels touched the edge again, below which was dozens of meters of empty space.

"Don't come any closer!" he shouted sharply, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

But the concerned smiles on the three faces remained unchanged, and six hands pressed down on him again.

"Get out of my way!"

Xie Xun tried to make a last-ditch effort to dodge to the side, but all his escape routes had been anticipated and blocked.

A tremendous force struck him, and he was pushed backward again.

In his final moments of falling, he gripped the edge of the rooftop with his right hand. Above him, the three expressionless faces peered out once more.

Qiangzi's thick hand covered his fingers and began to forcefully pry them off one by one.

“Master Xie,” Ye Zi’s voice was icy, “don’t struggle anymore.”

Xiao Chen's fingers joined in, like cold iron clamps, breaking off Xie Xun's last finger that was holding on.

"Go to hell and die."

With a crack, his finger bone broke, and his last finger was mercilessly pried open.

The despairing feeling of weightlessness engulfed him once again.

When Xie Xun stood on the edge of the rooftop again, this time, he was not angry, nor did he try to run away; he even forcibly suppressed his physical fear.

He had to find a way to break the deadlock.

The purpose of this cycle doesn't seem to be to kill him, otherwise he would have been annihilated the first time.

Rather than endlessly torturing him, it's more accurate to say that the mastermind behind it was collecting something.

His fear? Despair? Or something else...?

"Master Xie! Are you alright? What happened just now..." Xiao Chen's voice rang out right on time.

Xie Xun did not answer immediately. His gaze went past Xiao Chen's shoulder and was fixed on the tightly closed iron door at the entrance to the rooftop.

I saw thin red lines.

It's a paper figure!