Seeing that Liu Baimu did not speak, Zhang Qing continued to ask, “Is there some new discovery?”
Liu Baimu turned to look at Zhang Qing, but did not answer him. Instead, he asked in return, “Do you still remember why we were trapped here?”
“Of course it’s because our fierce ghosts were about to revive, and we had no choice but to come here to seek a sliver of hope. That thing here—”
Halfway through his sentence, Zhang Qing suddenly froze. His mouth hung wide open, but he could no longer say a word. He abruptly realized that he could not remember at all why he had come here.
What exactly was that thing?
A look of terror appeared on Zhang Qing’s face. He had never encountered anything this bizarre before.
“I can’t remember… What happened?”
At this moment, everyone inside the old residence, including Wang Chaling, had their memories wiped clean as if erased. The existence of that strange pendulum clock had completely vanished from their minds.
Liu Baimu’s expression was grave. He slowly said, “It’s not that you can’t remember. We were attacked. I suspect someone tampered with our memories…”
“Perhaps it was a ghost, or perhaps it was the enemy of some member of the Pendulum Clock Organization. But the only thing we can be certain of is that whoever attacked us is an existence whose supernatural level far surpasses ours. Otherwise, it would be impossible to forcibly erase our memories without even showing their face.”
The terror on Zhang Qing’s face gradually faded. Still shaken, he said, “Thank goodness… I don’t have any enemies. As long as it wasn’t aimed at us, that’s fine. I didn’t even notice I had been attacked.”
Liu Baimu said viciously, “How can you be so sure your other memories haven’t been tampered with?! Maybe it was your enemy who did it!”
Zhang Qing was rendered speechless by Liu Baimu’s words. Right now, he truly had no way to confirm the authenticity of his own memories.
Liu Baimu’s face was exceedingly solemn. He did not believe his understanding of the supernatural would lose to anyone. The only reason he himself had ended up trapped here was merely because his luck had been poor.
After thinking for a moment, he said,
“Perhaps everyone has now forgotten the existence of that thing. I can’t be sure whether continuing to stay here still has any effect on prolonging our current state.”
“I think we should leave this place first, join forces with everyone, find the existence that attacked us, and then work together to eliminate him. Someone like that is too dangerous. We can’t let him obtain the things inside the Wang family’s old residence.”
After hearing this, Zhang Qing felt that Liu Baimu’s words made perfect sense. He immediately nodded frantically and said, “You’re right! We’ll go notify the others right now. With our forces, killing one person should be effortless.”
The two discussed as they moved. Outside, moonlight shone in through the damaged structure, showing that this old residence, which had not seen the light of day for many years, had returned to reality once more.
Looking at the moonlight spilling in, the corners of Liu Baimu’s mouth lifted slightly in a smile.
‘My guess was right after all. This place has already returned to normal. Now is the best time to leave. I really ought to properly thank the person who attacked this place…’
Seeing Liu Baimu’s somewhat sinister smile, Zhang Qing asked, “Brother Liu, what’s wrong? Why are you smiling so frighteningly…”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Liu Baimu patted Zhang Qing on the shoulder.
“I just thought of something happy. Look at this moonlight. Something like this has never happened in the old residence before. That means we’ll be able to leave in a while. After being trapped here for so long, it’s inevitable that I’d feel a little happy.”
After hearing this, Zhang Qing looked at the ground. Indeed, just as Liu Baimu had said, there was moonlight on the floor, something he had not seen in a very long time. He was so excited that he almost stood up.
“You’re right! That’s the moon outside! We’ve stayed here for too long. We can finally get out.”
Liu Baimu turned his head away and continued pondering his plan.
‘Unite the ghost controllers here and walk out of this place, then find that person and kill him! These useless people on the verge of revival will be my best shields…’
However, at that very moment, without any warning, the light above their heads abruptly went out, and their surroundings suddenly changed.
Liu Baimu’s gaze sharpened as he looked around.
This was a quiet, dim corridor. On both sides were rows of small rooms, sealed off by iron bars. They looked like prison cells used to confine criminals.
But these rusty iron cells did not have doors, and the gaps between the iron bars were extremely wide. An adult man could turn sideways and squeeze in and out.
Zhang Qing’s expression changed.
“We’ve run into a ghost? Since when was there a place like this inside the old residence…”
“Don’t panic. It should be related to that thing that disappeared from our memories. This place is very wrong. In any case, we leave first…”
A trace of astonishment flashed in Liu Baimu’s eyes, and he immediately turned to leave.
A thick stench of corpses rapidly spread through the air. This place was far too sinister. In that instant just now, Liu Baimu had clearly felt that the fierce ghost inside his body could not be used, and there was even a faint sensation that it was about to break away from him.
Yet the moment the two of them turned around, expressions of surprise appeared on their faces at the same time.
Through the dim yellow light, they could vaguely see a corpse covered in livor mortis lying in the middle of the path, as if it had been abandoned here for many years.
The corpse lay there quietly, and did not seem to pose any danger.
Directly behind the corpse stood an old wooden table. It looked rather aged, and there were many mottled bloodstains on its surface.
On the table was an old desk lamp. There were no wires around it, yet the lamp emitted a dim yellow light that happened to illuminate the entire area of the wooden table.
Liu Baimu said, “Zhang Qing, go up and take a look.”
Zhang Qing looked troubled. No matter how one looked at the thing before them, it was sinister. He was crippled in the legs, not in the brain.
“Um… Brother Liu, my legs aren’t convenient. I really can’t move…”
Liu Baimu glared fiercely at Zhang Qing. After hesitating for a moment, he still took the initiative and walked forward. Right now, they could not afford to waste time here. They had to find the others first.
“Zhang Qing, if you notice anything abnormal, tell me immediately. With the two of us working together, ordinary ghosts won’t be able to do anything to us.”
“Of course.” Zhang Qing craned his neck and watched Liu Baimu, who was about to approach in the distance.
“Don’t worry. As long as that corpse dares to move, I’ll act at once to help you suppress it.”
Liu Baimu nodded and walked closer, looking at the tabletop. There were several notebooks on it, as well as a bottle of black ink and a fountain pen.
He carefully picked up one of them. It felt icy cold in his hand. The cover of the notebook seemed to be made of human skin, but Liu Baimu was not too surprised. Most of the things in this old residence were related to the dead.
The writing in the notebook was crooked and blurry. Liu Baimu casually closed it and was just about to open another one to examine it closely.
Just then, a gust of cold wind swept over, chilling both of their spines. Liu Baimu instinctively turned his head to glance behind him, but that single turn nearly frightened him into crying out.
A human face was pressed tightly against Liu Baimu’s back. It was the very corpse that had been lying on the ground. Only now, the livor mortis on the corpse had already disappeared, and it was gradually regaining the aura of a living person.
The man looked to be around forty or fifty years old, with graying hair at his temples. On his stiff face hung a strange smile.