Chapter 13 Spirit Adept
"What?!"
"The entity has appeared again?!"
"Who's missing?"
Panic surged through the group as they frantically searched their surroundings. Moments later, a voice broke through the chaos.
"Jia Liang is gone!"
"Jia Liang! Jia Liang!" His colleagues, those closest to him, called out desperately.
"Shut up! Do you want to lure the entity here?!" Wang Zitong roared, his last shred of reason hanging by a thread as more people disappeared.
The only reason he remained somewhat composed was because he had long been exposed to the existence of such horrors through his cousin. He had been prepared—at least, he thought he was.
More than just fear, there had been a buried, twisted sense of anticipation. He envied his cousin. He, too, wanted to become a Spirit Adept. But desire was one thing, and reality was another.
When the abyss truly stared back at you, fear always came first.
"Wang Shao, what do we do? I don't want to disappear!" Li Feifei sobbed, clutching Wang Zitong's sleeve, her voice trembling.
"You're asking me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask?!"
Just then, a calm voice cut through the hysteria.
"Two to three minutes."
"What?"
"The interval between disappearances," Fang Xiu stated flatly. "More precisely, women disappear every two minutes, men every three. Just now, after Security Officer Xiao Zhao vanished, Wang Xiaoli followed exactly two minutes later. Then, three minutes after Wang Xiaoli, Jia Liang disappeared. The pattern is clear—the entity takes one person every two to three minutes."
"If my deduction is correct, someone else will vanish in three minutes."
"It follows a timed sequence?" Wang Zitong's eyes burned red, his self-control slipping. "D*mn it! How the hell do we stop it?!"
Fang Xiu ignored him and turned toward the darkness.
The moment his foot moved, panic erupted.
His closest friend, Zhao Hao, shouted instinctively, "Xiu-ge, where are you going?! Are you out of your mind?!"
Without looking back, Fang Xiu replied, "Looking for an exit. Or would you rather stand here and wait for death? There are eight of us left. At this rate, we have—what?—twenty minutes before we're all gone. Better to take a chance than to sit still and die."
"Fang Xiu! Stop right there!" Wang Zitong bellowed, rage flaring in his voice. "Didn't I just say no one is to act alone?! Do you have any idea what happens if you trigger a taboo? We could all die because of you! You're just an ordinary guy—what the hell do you know about entities—"
Fang Xiu halted abruptly.
He turned back, his face bathed in the dim glow of the emergency lights—pale, expressionless, and eerily lifeless.
For a moment, Wang Zitong forgot to breathe.
Then came a voice, devoid of warmth or inflection.
"Say one more word, and I will kill you before the entity does."
No threat. No anger. Just a statement.
But it was precisely because it was so devoid of emotion that it sent an icy chill down Wang Zitong's spine.
For a fleeting moment, he felt as if death itself had wrapped around him.
His mind screamed at him to fight back, to retaliate.
But then he looked into Fang Xiu's eyes.
Still. Unwavering. Deep as a bottomless lake.
And suddenly, he understood—Fang Xiu was serious. If he said one more word, he would die.
Wang Zitong had met many dangerous people before—some criminals, some killers—but none of them had ever looked at him the way Fang Xiu was looking at him now.
This was different.
This was the gaze of someone who had died too many times to fear it anymore.
His throat closed up.
Fang Xiu turned and disappeared into the dark corridor.
A beat later, Zhao Hao hesitated, glancing between the group and Fang Xiu's retreating figure. He clenched his jaw, then made his choice—running after him without another word.
"Wang Shao... what do we do?" Wu Dahai's voice quivered.
Wang Zitong's face turned red with fury. When Fang Xiu was here, he hadn't dared to explode. But now that the other man was gone, rage boiled over.
"What do we do?! Let them go! If they want to die, let them!" He sneered. "A bunch of clueless nobodies who don't even know what a Spirit Adept is, daring to act on their own!"
"But... but Fang Xiu didn't look like he was just throwing his life away. Maybe we should follow—"
"Follow my *ss! If anyone—"
Before he could finish, a piercing scream shattered the air.
"AHHHHH! Someone else is gone!!"
Wang Zitong froze.
A quick headcount.
Only five of them left.
The words he was about to shout caught in his throat, twisting into something ugly and terrified.
His face paled instantly.
"Go! Go after them!"
—
Fang Xiu moved through the dark hallway, Zhao Hao trailing closely behind him.
Their flashlight beams cut through the gloom, but the further they walked, the more unsettling the corridor became.
"X-Xiu-ge... this isn't right. Where's the d*mn stairwell?" Zhao Hao's voice quaked. He clung close, practically pressing against Fang Xiu's back.
"Shh. Quiet."
Fang Xiu stopped abruptly.
Ahead, in the seemingly endless darkness, a faint, eerie green glow flickered to life.
It was the exact same shade as the lights in Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital.
His brows furrowed.
Impossible.
He quickened his pace, stepping toward the glow.
As he entered its reach, the world around him twisted—
And suddenly, he was no longer in the office building.
The air smelled of mildew and blood. The walls were cracked, dark stains marring their surfaces. The narrow corridor was lined with rusted chairs, abandoned and broken.
The floor beneath his feet was no longer polished tile, but rough, gray concrete.
This was—
Qingshan Psychiatric Hospital.
"X-Xiu-ge..." Zhao Hao's voice wavered, his breath hitching. "Am I losing my mind? Where... where are we? Wasn't this the office?! Why does it look like some haunted hospital now?!"
Fang Xiu's thoughts churned.
Zhao Hao could see it, too?
So this time, the psychiatric hospital wasn't just an illusion. It was real.
Tentatively, he reached out and pressed a hand against the cold, grimy wall.
Solid. Tangible.
His pupils shrank.
He had entered the hospital.
No—
The hospital had bled into reality.
Was this what they called... a Spirit Domain?