Separation
Indestructible.
Everything in this museum was indestructible.
Once destroyed, they would return to their original state. Li Nanyi swallowed. The lights went out again. There were rustling sounds in the darkness—the statue was moving faster!
When the lights came back on, Li Nanyi’s pupils constricted abruptly. The place where two people were supposed to be standing was now empty. He was the only one left in the entire sculpture hall. The Weeping Angel statue covered its face again, but through the gaps in its fingers, its sinister smile was visible.
The sculpture seemed more tangible now. Long hair made of white plaster dragged behind it in crumpled strands, still swaying slightly. Plaster dust fluttered down from its wings. Li Nanyi pursed his lips and retreated a few more steps, issuing a command to the mecha: “Chixiao, bring up the map of the venue. Attempt to contact Chengying, Tai’a, and Zhong Yi.”
[Full venue map retrieved. 3D image generating. Attempting to contact Chengying and Tai’a. Signal blocked. Connection failed.]
The electronic voice reported the situation mechanically. Li Nanyi kept an eye on the statue while scanning the entire sculpture hall. He discovered that it wasn’t just the statue in front of him; the reliefs on the walls and other statues on the display stands were also stirring. Over a dozen twisted shadows were gathering toward him.
Trouble. He gritted his teeth. The metallic cover on his arm slid open, ejecting a crimson photon blade. The gun in his hand automatically reloaded with a click. The twisted ghostly shadows stopped three steps away from him, surrounding the Weeping Angel statue in the center.
“Nanyi… bzzzt…”
A fuzzy voice came from the communicator. It seemed to be suffering from special magnetic field interference. Zhong Yi’s voice was distorted by the static, unclear.
“Hengze… they are… photography… exhibition area. Magnetic field… strong. I can’t force… pazzzt.”
The communicator went completely silent.
Despite this, Li Nanyi extracted key information from her fragmented words: Photography exhibition area. Tai’a and Chengying had been transported to the photography exhibition area, the first zone they had walked through upon entering.
Combining this with Xiang Zhengming’s comment about the Weeping Angel having the ability to transport people, he deduced that something happened the moment the lights went out, causing the Weeping Angel to transport them to a different area. Li Nanyi stared at the 3D map on the screen. Chixiao‘s system had already automatically planned the fastest route to the photography exhibition area for him.
It was dangerous to be separated here. Just in the time since entering, they had already encountered several strange, supernatural things in the art exhibition. There were bound to be more dangerous things ahead. Searching alone was not a wise choice.
Li Nanyi turned around decisively.
The photon blade clashed with hard plaster blocks, sparks flying in all directions. The reliefs on the wall struggled to crawl down. They crawled forward desperately, heads tilted back, slender necks turning with a crack. Plaster dust drifted chaotically. Limbs stretched and twisted into limits unreachable by humans as they swung stiff limbs to crawl forward.
Their speed increased, from slow and difficult at the start to almost as fast as large predators later on. Li Nanyi’s photon blade smashed several statues pouncing on him. He leaned back to dodge their sharp claws, his loaded gun firing continuously. The firing pin struck the primer, sparking a series of flashes in the dark night. Within minutes, the fierce battle scraped black scorch marks across the smooth quartz floor.
The iron-hard mecha blocked most of the attacks for him. Sharp claws scratching the mecha were like hands scratching steel, leaving not a single mark.
Li Nanyi panted heavily, looking around. Whether reliefs or other statues, they had all been shattered. Snow-white fragments lay scattered on the ground, the scraping sounds irritating his eardrums.
Except for the Weeping Angel in the center.
It still stood in its original spot, looking at him with sinister malice and provocation.
The weather wasn’t good. Thick clouds drifted slowly, covering half the moonlight. The hall lights began to flicker again—
Crash.
Li Nanyi looked up and shot out the flickering light. In the darkness, the statue and he confronted each other, the atmosphere heavy.
With the help of Chixiao‘s night vision, he could clearly see the statue’s twisted face after breaking the light. Its hands were lowered, revealing a gaping maw with teeth gnashing. Its fingernails had grown to a hideous length, held up like claws in front of its chest. Its entire body was twisted in a bow, a prelude to an attack posture.
Pale, long hair resembling a wig was pushed back by it bit by bit, trailing on the ground. Its head faced forward, but its body turned backward, arms bending in reverse—ferocious and evil.
It could no longer use the light to create the illusion of blinking.
Li Nanyi retreated backward. There was a faint crunching sound on the ground, like fragments scraping against the floor.
The shattered statues seemed unwilling to give up. several broken limbs grabbed his feet, dragging him firmly, attempting to immobilize him.
With the Weeping Angel pressing in front and broken limbs dragging from behind, Li Nanyi didn’t dare distract his attention from the Weeping Angel. A few arms took advantage of the situation to climb up the mecha, fingers jamming into the mecha’s crevices, intending to peel the metal off his body.
Li Nanyi got goosebumps. He glanced at the wriggling black shadows on the ground. In a moment of desperation, he swung his arm continuously, the arm blade smashing the climbing limbs.
Distracted for a moment, the Weeping Angel found an opening and rushed at him with a shrill laugh. Sharp claws tore through the air, whipping up a gust of wind.
Li Nanyi bit down hard, his gaze changing.
Yan Hengze ground his teeth and punched Xiang Zhengming next to him without hesitation, speaking angrily: “Idiot, who told you to move randomly!”
He looked at the photography area, which looked no different from when they entered, so angry he couldn’t speak. Just five minutes ago, they were confronting an urban legend. Now they were back to the starting point and separated from Chixiao.
“I… I didn’t mean to. Its claws were about to hit my face; anyone would dodge…”
Xiang Zhengming explained guiltily. The moment the lights went out, that ghost thing pounced toward him. These ghost things knew to pick the softest persimmon to pinch. Seeing this ghost thing for the first time, with claws about to hit his face, he instinctively dodged to the side, forgetting he was back-to-back with Yan Hengze. Tai’a slammed directly into Chengying. During the collision, he lost his footing and was touched by the Weeping Angel. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the first exhibition hall.
“I really…” Yan Hengze raised his fist at him. Xiang Zhengming shrank back. He bared his teeth under the faceplate: “I’ll deal with you when we get back!”
The two walked one after the other. passing the exhibition hall’s main door, the broadcast system that had long been down suddenly screamed as if agitated: “Crowded area. Heavy foot traffic. To avoid stampede accidents, the side doors of the exhibition hall will be opened for passage.”
The sound startled both of them into raising their guns. They scanned their surroundings. Xiang Zhengming looked up and complained, “This broken broadcast, the system must be broken. What’s it shouting for in the middle of the night? Crowded? Where are the people?”
Yan Hengze noticed the side door swaying in the corner, revealing a crack. Gun in front, he gently pushed the door open and peeked in. His gaze swept the side corridor—quiet, empty, nothing there.
Several paintings hung on the wall by the window. Heavy curtains were drawn, letting in no light.
“Chengying, activate night vision mode.”
He pressed the communicator by his ear, which emitted a static bzzzt. Yan Hengze frowned; the signal was indeed interfered with.
He glanced at the paintings, then turned back to the exhibition hall, seeing Tai’a standing silently in a shadowed area, just looking up at the photos in the hall. He quickly walked up and pressed Xiang Zhengming’s shoulder: “What are you doing? Still in the mood to look at—”
“I know.”
“What?”
Xiang Zhengming spoke softly, as if afraid of waking something. Tai’a‘s faceplate turned to him: “I know where the missing people went.”
He pointed to the photos hanging on the display stand: “Look at these photos.”
Yan Hengze looked in the direction he pointed. The next moment, his mouth gaped in shock. The photos hanging on the stand had various backgrounds—gardens, ponds, convention centers—all densely packed with people. What remained constant was that the expressions of these figures were uniformly terrified. Regardless of gender or age, they all stared with eyes wide in horror like they had seen a ghost, mouths open and hands reaching out for help.
They stood under the display stand, wanting to speak but stopping. However, just as they wanted to get closer to see clearly, a massive banging sound erupted from behind the wall. The loud noise shook the entire wall.
All the scenes in the photos disappeared, replaced by countless densely packed human hands. They frantically beat against the photos, as if an air barrier blocked them. Voices filled with terror and despair rang out from all directions.
“Save us…”
“Please! Please! Save me!”
“I don’t want to be trapped in a photo!”
“I was wrong, I shouldn’t have come to the exhibition, I was wrong, save me!”
Xiang Zhengming pulled Yan Hengze back as fast as an electric shock. In the spot where he had just stood, a massive circular black shadow had appeared. Just getting close to it, one could feel a huge suction force from beneath their feet.
Yan Hengze was still shaken. Just a little bit more, just a little bit, and he would have been sucked into the photo.
“Good thing I have quick eyes and hands, or you would have fallen in.”
Yan Hengze was silent for a while. The chaotic cries for help still echoed in the hall. He felt a bit awkward. Just a moment ago he thought Xiang Zhengming was a burden, and the next second the guy saved him. He took a few deep breaths and squeezed out a very quiet “Thanks.”
“Hey, you’re welcome. If you were gone, I’d have to clear the dungeon alone. I’ve already sent what I just saw to Sister Zhong Yi. Let’s leave here first; I’ve got goosebumps all over. Hey, do you play games? I’m telling you, I’m amazing at games. When we get back, if there’s anything you want to play, come find me, I’ll carry you…”
They walked quickly out of the photography exhibition area, shutting the terrifying cries for help behind the door.
This jumpy, scatterbrained guy seemed to have adjusted his state in a very short time and started chattering again. Yan Hengze seemed to see dialogue boxes popping up one after another in front of his eyes, burying him under an ocean of text.
Yan Hengze slowly exhaled: “Please stop talking, my trypophobia is acting up.”
“Huh? You mean those hands just now? Don’t mention you, even I got trypophobia looking at them. But why shouldn’t I talk?”
“Because, I’m talking about you. My trypophobia is triggered by you.”
Xiang Zhengming: “Huh?”
“Where am I densely packed?”
Yan Hengze: “…”
Yan Hengze: “…Idiot.”
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