Chapter 421: Chapter 421: Servant’s Needle (14) 1 Chapter 421: Chapter 421: Servant’s Needle (14) 1 “I knew something was off,” Fu Qian muttered, eyeing the hole at the bottom of the stairs.
The place had been in ruins, with a thick layer of dust covering everything and obscure any tracks, which made him subconsciously think it had collapsed due to years of neglect.
But on closer reflection, when he had walked down earlier, he hadn’t noticed any fragments of the floor on the steps.
Could it be possible, then, that the object covering the hole had actually been lifted?
Recalling his discovery below, Fu Qian seemed to see a vision—a myriad of squirming transparent worms, latching onto each other, and forming a massive body.
This mass, invisible to the naked eye, had slowly made its way up the stairs before flinging open the covering obstruction above.
Click!
The next moment, Fu Qian switched off his flashlight, and the light inside the building instantly dimmed.
Although it was only a guess, if it turned out to be true, he would undeniably face a problem—where did that thing go after emerging?
Had it left the museum, spreading the “virus” elsewhere?
That certainly was a possibility.
But don’t forget, that thing is invisible.
Meaning, even if it hadn’t left, he still wouldn’t be able to see it.
That was why Fu Qian turned off the flashlight.
Just because he couldn’t see it, didn’t mean it couldn’t see him, so he needed to reduce exposure as much as possible.
At the same time, Fu Qian held his breath and listened intently to the noises around him.
The movements of the worms might be soundless, but once gathered in a large mass, they should make some noise, right?
Indeed, in the stillness where one could hear a pin drop, apart from the sporadic sobs deep in his consciousness, Fu Qian did hear an extremely faint sound the next moment.
The noise was peculiar, similar to something being stretched beyond its capacity, and alarmingly, it was coming from above, right over his head.
Damn it!
Before he could marvel at the uncanny accuracy, Fu Qian leaped aside.
Less than half a second later, a dull thud sounded; something had slammed into the spot where he had just been standing.
There was something there after all!
While feeling grateful, Fu Qian threw the dagger in his hand.
After flying several meters, the antique dagger stopped in the void, hanging in mid-air without falling.
Whether it had always been there or had silently crawled over after detecting him, it was no longer possible to tell.
The one thing Fu Qian was sure of was that this entity was definitely not from any friendly camp.
At this very moment, although it still appeared empty, the dagger suspended in mid-air was slowly moving, marking the position.
A quick glance, and it was clear that the thing was resolutely charging towards him.
Though its speed was really quite slow—damn!
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the dagger suddenly flew through the air.
The trajectory was as if an invisible body with a dagger stuck in it powered off the ground, leaping high, and heading straight for him.
Did this creature also know how to feign weakness?
Fu Qian was quite impressed for a moment, thankful that his constant vigilance had paid off, dodging the invisible assault.
Clang!
Though it missed, the violent motion sent the dagger shaking in mid-air before it fell to the ground.
Great, now even the marker was gone.
Sure is tough!
Fu Qian clicked his tongue and didn’t attempt to throw another pair of daggers; instead, he turned and walked away.
As everyone knows, the best way to deal with a persistent problem is to not engage.
After all, as far as finding clues went, he had perfectly completed his mission; it was time to go back and see the reaction of those two people.
As a professional mission operator, one must dissect the task like a surgeon with a scalpel, never allowing the target to affect one’s emotions.
Having circled around twice, Fu Qian was now intimately familiar with the museum layout, so he didn’t even need to look at the route, heading straight for the exit using the shortest path.
From the noise coming from behind, that thing seemed to have a relentless spirit and was no longer trying to hide, chasing after him all the way.
And as he nimbly avoided two lunges, Fu Qian successfully rushed out of the museum’s main entrance and casually closed the door behind him.
Unsurprisingly, the outside was in just as much disrepair as the inside, with no difference in the dismal scene.
Then, a dull thud sounded behind him as something crashed heavily against the door, causing it to shake.
He didn’t bother to find something to barricade the door; Fu Qian wasn’t naive enough to think it would stop it.
The reason he closed the door was to see if it would follow him out.
It turned out that until the museum disappeared around the corner, the door remained firmly shut, and the creature seemed to have given up.
I seem to have made a slight mistake!
Without stopping, Fu Qian also realized a severe issue—he didn’t know how to get back.
Could it be that, following Kelly’s experience, if he stayed here for a while, he would automatically wake up?
Or was she going to stop playing the baby’s cries at a specific time and try to wake him up?
Actually, he had another choice, which was to let that thing catch up to him just now.
After all, theoretically speaking, he was currently in some kind of nightmare illusion; if he were truly killed, he should also be able to wake up in the interrogation room.
But that was just in theory.
Not to mention that everything in this place was eerily strange, Fu Qian also didn’t admire the ending where a face full of maggots smothered him to death.
So why not take the time to do some exploring?
If what Kelly said was true, she surely wouldn’t let him slack off indefinitely.
Actually, speaking of this, Fu Qian always had a question—if the place he entered through the baby’s cries was a reenactment of the accident scene at that time, then which world was real? The one he was currently in, or the world where he was having fried eggs a moment ago?
Theoretically, it was more likely that this place was unreal.
After all, both times he entered this world were through the mental breakdown of others, which felt slightly off.
It was easy to explain; one could assume that after seeing a group of people go mad, he formed such a fantasy out of shock.
But there was a problem: everyone he encountered in that world, whether it was Kelly or that couple, none seemed normal, and Shen Yuan was even working whilst decapitated.
Could all those also be his hallucinations? That would be a seriously heavy delusion!
Considering this, Fu Qian faintly wanted to verify something.
Uh!
Not long after, Fu Qian finally stopped in his tracks, staring at the scene in front of him.
After a long trek, he was now in front of the hospital he had previously visited.
And just like when he last came, the outpatient building with a missing section stood there.
The continuity in a world of illusions shouldn’t be this strong, right?
Could it be that this world was the real one? Meanwhile, he was wandering around here, fantasizing those breakfast scenes?
As a plethora of thoughts arose, Fu Qian noticed that the baby’s crying in the depths of his mind had stopped.