This is my home.
After figuring this out, Jiang Jingyuan felt like the sky was falling.
So she is now trapped in this secret passage leading to nowhere with a guy who is not sure whether he is a human or a ghost, right?
Jiang Jingyuan's expression froze.
After a pause, she raised her hand and gestured and asked, "Why have you played here several times?"
In the dim, almost pitch-black tunnel, a girl of about Jiang Jingyuan's age, dressed in mourning, was stunned. She subconsciously raised her hand and responded, "Because this is my home."
“……?”
Jiang Jingyuan... Jiang Jingyuan didn't know how to respond.
Taking a deep breath silently, Jiang Jingyuan gestured again, still unwilling to give up, and asked, "You live here? Do you know where this place is? Also, what is your relationship with those old people in blue-gray shrouds in the mourning hall? If you live here, why are you hiding from them?"
The girl looked at the previous questions and raised her hands blankly to gesture: "They are my grandfather..."
Suddenly, the expression on Jiang Jingyuan's face was completely distorted, no longer as calm and indifferent as before.
She silently lowered her hand and took two noiseless steps back. Just as her right hand was about to place the icy plum blossom sleeve arrow under her sleeve, she saw the girl in front of her shaking her head in panic, as if she had realized something. She gestured hurriedly to explain, "I don't know what's going on. I was originally in the mourning hall tonight, watching over the spirit, and I don't know when I fell asleep. When I woke up, I didn't realize anything was wrong. It wasn't until you entered the hall that I realized something was wrong and hid. Then I saw those things that looked exactly like my grandfather jumping down from the beams."
After a pause, the panic on the girl's face eased a little, and she continued seriously, "That mourning hall is exactly the same as the one in my house, even the mechanism is the same. And my grandfather... and the things in the mourning hall not only look exactly like my grandfather, but even the blue-gray shroud is exactly the same!"
The girl's expression gradually grew uglier as she gestured to this point. "If you hadn't appeared, even if I had seen those things, I would have just thought this was my home, and that something strange had happened..."
After a pause, she raised her hand and pointed at the tears on her face as if to prove something, and gestured hurriedly, "And these tears, I just can't stop... I don't know what's going on here, but I really have nothing to do with those things!"
Seeing this, Jiang Jingyuan relaxed and nodded at her. He raised his hand and gestured, "I understand. I believe you." Then he put his hand down and grasped the plum blossom sleeve arrow that seemed to be made of ice and emitted a faint chill.
Jiang Jingyuan took out a lamp and turned his head slightly towards the depths of the secret passage. The two walked side by side towards the depths of the secret passage.
As they walked, Jiang Jingyuan recalled the faint light in the dark passage he had seen when he had just spoken to the girl, and thought, "Secret passages must lead to places with light. Otherwise, the dark passage just now should have been pitch black, not just dim."
The orange-red light ball moves slowly in the darkness, and the light and darkness complement each other, making the light brighter and the darkness darker.
Two figures in white walked down the stone steps cautiously and vigilantly. Their footsteps, which had unconsciously become lighter, were still particularly loud in the empty dark passage. They seemed to be surrounded by countless feet and were walking forward. The crisp "thump thump" sound of their footsteps lingered in their ears.
“Da…da…da…”
"Da da...da, da da...da..."
A faint smell of rust lingered at the tip of people's noses. The dark passage seemed to be someone's burial place. Countless wronged souls and ghosts passed by them silently. The cold air penetrated into people's pores, and their blood seemed to be frozen.
The blood-red heart was beating "thump, thump, thump" beside my ears...
There was a subtle rustling sound mixed in, which I didn't know if it was just an illusion.
The orange-red flames danced on the surface of Jiang Jingyuan's eyes. She walked down the stone steps with a lantern in her hand. The flickering flames could not warm her cold fingers. She seemed to be in confusion and walked aimlessly.
At this moment...
"ah--!!!"
A terrified scream exploded beside her. Jiang Jingyuan trembled all over and turned around abruptly to look behind her.
When Jiang Jingyuan turned around, he held the lamp in one hand and subconsciously threw a few fluorescent night pearls in the direction they came from with the other hand.
In the darkness, the round and plump night pearls emitted a faint green light, briefly illuminating the old and skinny faces on the dome. Their skinny bodies were tightly attached to the surface of the dome, and hatred and resentment flashed in their eyes as they looked down.
The dim green light like a ghost fire slid across the darkness in a beautiful arc, and "plop" fell into the dark abyss. The light of the night pearl became weaker and weaker, and disappeared completely in the blink of an eye.
"Boom..."
As if knowing that she had discovered it, the stone steps in the secret passage sank faster and faster, making an undisguised rumbling sound.
"Ha..." The skinny faces on the dome all opened their bloody mouths, and smelly saliva dripped like rain. They crawled rapidly on the dome, roaring and pounced down from top to bottom towards the two figures in white on the ground.
Holy crap!!!
Quick, quick, quick, quick——
Run!!!
Jiang Jingyuan's heart suddenly beat rapidly. She turned her head and opened her mouth, looking anxious and about to say something, but was suddenly shocked by the scene before her -
The girl in white, enveloped in the orange-red flames, had distorted features on her face, unable to hide the pain. Her hands became claws, tearing at the flesh on her face tightly, and her fair and tender face was covered with corpse spots from bottom to top at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Jiang Jingyuan's pupils shrank at the sight, and out of the corner of her eye she saw a series of blue-gray figures jumping "bang" on the stone steps that had not yet fallen. Without thinking too much, she grabbed the girl's arm and ran down the dark stone steps with her "da da da".
“Boom—”
“Dongdongdongdong——”
The stone steps above kept sinking, and the strangely skinny old men who jumped down were hit hard by the falling stones on the steps in front before they could stand firmly. Amid the howling of ghosts and angry roars, a cloud of lime dust was raised at the back of the secret passage.
call--
Two figures in white rushed out from the gray dust at a high speed, with orange flames stretching out. They rushed down desperately with a "da da da da da da" sound, while the dark abyss that swallowed the stone steps followed closely behind them.
Jiang Jingyuan cursed inwardly, but he could only muster up all his strength and drag the person down the stairs.
"No! I have no idea how far I am from the end of the stone steps. If I can't maintain my strength and speed, it's only a matter of time before I'm caught up!" Jiang Jingyuan gritted his teeth and thought anxiously, "It seems like only the stone steps are falling. I might as well climb up the wall... Rather than falling and being crushed to death by the rocks, I might as well climb up the wall and fight those weird, skinny old men!"
After all, even with the defensive barrier, the weight on the barrier still existed, and it was impossible for her to climb out of the ruins while carrying the thousand-pound stone - besides, the best outcome was that there were only ruins under the abyss.
In comparison, it would be better to fight for territory with those skinny old people!
Jiang Jingyuan ran while looking up at the walls on both sides, pondering in his heart: "But the problem is, how can we hold on to the wall firmly? If we fall off as soon as we try to climb on it, and it's difficult to move, I'm afraid those things will knock us into the abyss together."
Just as she was thinking over and over again, the girl in white she was holding seemed to wake up. The girl's face was covered with sweat and tears and she was panting. She ran after Jiang Jingyuan's footsteps, turning her head back and forth to look at the situation around her.
Her eyes suddenly met Jiang Jingyuan's. After a pause, Jiang Jingyuan gestured at the wall of the secret passage, then tilted his head to look at the blue-gray figure behind him, and then looked at her steadily.
The girl thought for a moment, then nodded seriously. While running, she concentrated on searching for something in the storage space with her spiritual sense.
Jiang Jingyuan looked at her, feeling a little uncertain. He wasn't sure if what the girl understood was what she meant... At the same time, Jiang Jingyuan couldn't help but think, "If only it was Jiang Jingjian who came. He'd know what I meant with just one look..."
After a moment, the girl raised her head, and a brass disc engraved with array patterns appeared out of thin air in her hand. She turned to look at Jiang Jingyuan.
Jiang Jingyuan immediately understood what she meant, and pulled her towards the wall in front of her, clinging to it tightly.
The falling lamp fell down along with the stone steps the moment it touched them. The orange-red flame turned into a small dot in the darkness and was submerged by the newly fallen stones in the blink of an eye.
The wind was howling beneath their feet, and there was no road at all.
Jiang Jingyuan grabbed the girl tightly. The girl frowned and anxiously but seriously took out a bottle of gum and smeared it on the bottom of the brass disc. Then, with a "snap", she simply and roughly stuck the disc engraved with the formation on it to the wall of the secret passage.
Jiang Jingyuan was stunned.
In an instant, a defensive barrier lit up in the dim passage, blocking the road behind them and also blocking the skinny old man who was roaring behind them.
This was not enough... The girl took out a few brass discs engraved with formations, and just like before, she used resin to stick them one by one on the wall.
Several layers of defensive barriers rose up, unable to break through despite the claws and bites of the strange, withered old man behind them. The extremely fast blue-gray figure that had already entered the barrier was also swiftly knocked down into the abyss by Jiang Jingyuan.
Only then did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief.
After the girl climbed up the wall, Jiang Jingyuan let go of his sore hands and looked into the depths of the secret passage.
The sound of "bang bang bang" was heard from behind. Jiang Jingyuan had a flash of inspiration, and blood-red lines appeared on the back of her right hand. A blood-red circular barrier slowly expanded from around her, wrapped around the girl below, and supported by the walls on both sides of the secret passage.
Jiang Jingyuan was the first to let go and jumped down from the bottom of the inner side of the blood-red barrier. The girl in mourning followed suit and jumped down.
Jiang Jingyuan walked forward, and the blood-red barrier, with her as the center, slowly moved forward in the dim passage.
"call--"
Jiang Jingyuan took out another orange lantern, and the warm red light illuminated the surroundings.
In the empty darkness, the rumble of falling stone steps echoed from afar, their breathing intertwined. Jiang Jingyuan's heartbeat was still throbbing in her ears, and she thought wearily, "Why do they all love setting up secret passages and stone steps so much..."
The road leading to the ice cellar from Bai Zhou Mountain was like this, and so was the secret passage to the silver sachet last time... This time it was even worse, the stone steps in the secret passage were unsteady to walk on...
The two walked quietly for an unknown amount of time before Jiang Jingyuan saw a corner of gray-white stone illuminated by the orange-red flames in front of them. When they walked closer and took a look, they were both stunned.
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