absurd deduction game.

The three began to explore the surrounding area in a small area.

As Yu Xing walked along the edge of the road, leaning against the twisted house next to him, he felt more and more that the entire city itself was a huge, living entity.

Those twisted buildings are its organs, the writhing sky is its skin, the deep throbbing sound is its heartbeat, and the omnipresent fear and madness is the air it breathes.

He raised his hand and glanced at the badge of protection.

The white light emanating from the badge appeared particularly faint here, like a candle flickering in the wind, but it still steadily emitted that faint warmth, proving that the connection with the distant world had not been completely severed.

"Where could Edgar be?" Qu Xianqing asked, glancing at the writhing veins and cysts on the walls out of the corner of her eye, but telling herself to ignore them for now and focus on the mission objective.

“According to the notes, he’s likely in the ‘center’ of the city, or somewhere that holds special significance for him.” Yu Xing recalled the contents of Edgar’s notes, then looked up. “…Should we go check out the church first?”

His gaze fell to the end of the street.

There, one can vaguely see the outline of an exceptionally tall, twisted building. The shape of its spire is somewhat similar to that of the Harvest Church, but it is elongated and twisted like the horns of some monster.

They had entered through the entrance at the Harvest Church in Yolikev, so after falling into this terrifying city that is connected to many places in the real world, they were still near the "church".

This is a distinctly special building; even Edgar thirty years ago, he would probably have tried to go inside and take a look.

In such a bizarre environment, no location that seems to hold a clue should be overlooked.

"Then let's set off." The performer seemed to leave everything to Yu Xing's decision, her light amber eyes like mirrors, reflecting everything within her sight.

The three of them began to carefully make their way along the dark red street toward the building that resembled a mirror image of a church.

Their footsteps echoed softly on the cold stone slabs, sounding particularly jarring in the deathly silent city.

The translucent shadows around them seemed to stir slightly as they passed by, their empty "faces" turning towards them. Although they had no eyes, they could clearly feel a cold "gaze".

Perhaps the props the performers had just used had worked, because the shadows hadn't been able to spot them and seemed dazed.

Occasionally, the translucent shadows around them would drift slowly as they moved, like disturbed algae at the bottom of the water.

They made no sound, but their silent "gaze" carried a chilling coldness that seeped into their bones, constantly trying to penetrate their minds and stir up negative emotions deep within their hearts.

Yu Xingneng sensed that these shadowy figures were spiritual remnants formed from pure "fear" and "despair," the most basic "residents" of this terrifying city, and one of the most direct manifestations of its corrupting power.

If Edgar were just an ordinary person, how long could he stay in a city like this without going insane?

The cloying, fishy stench in the air seemed even stronger.

Deathly silence was the main theme of the city, with only their own footsteps and the low thumping of their hearts echoing in the empty streets.

Suddenly, Qu Xianqing, who was walking on the flank, stopped and shouted in a low voice, "Watch out!"

Almost at the same moment she spoke, dozens of translucent shadowy figures at the street corner ahead, as if stimulated by something, suddenly coalesced. Their previously blurry outlines instantly became clear and distorted, opening gaping maws devoid of teeth, filled only with endless darkness—

No sound was emitted.

But a violent, tsunami-like mental shockwave, centered on those shadowy figures, suddenly swept towards the three of them!

This is a shriek that directly affects the level of consciousness!

A chilling despair, a heart-wrenching fear, a sense of emptiness at the end of all things... all sorts of extreme negative emotions, accompanied by a spiritual power strong enough to tear the soul apart, brutally assaulted the mental defenses of the three.

Yu Xing felt as if his consciousness had been thrown into an icy vortex, with countless malicious thoughts and illusions trying to flood in. A ghostly blue light quietly appeared in his eyes: "I've been discovered."

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the actor who claimed to be responsible for concealing his presence.

The actor shrugged innocently: "Unexpected things can happen."

“Physical attacks have limited effectiveness.” Qu Xianqing had already rushed forward, and the blood-red blade easily pierced through the bodies of the shrieking shadows, but it was as if it had cut through the air, only slightly blurring their shapes before they quickly condensed again, and the intensity of the mental shrieks was even greater than before.

She clicked her tongue, and a few drops of scarlet liquid dripped from the blade. This time, when she raised the sword again, the evil soul power on the sword successfully slashed the shadows away, annihilating them into thin air.

But more similar shadowy figures are approaching from afar.

“They are entirely composed of emotions and mental energy.” Yu Xing devoured a few with a branch. “Theoretically speaking, in the City of Terror, their numbers could be endless.”

As if to confirm his words, one after another, shadowy figures emerged from the chaos from the walls of the houses on both sides and from the debris on the ground, detached from their carriers, and drifted toward the three of them.

These things aren't actually considered threatening monsters to them, but judging from the current situation, they'll only multiply as they're killed.

The City of Terror is the territory of the ancient gods, and being stuck here is definitely not a good thing.

"Then let's avoid it for now." The actor chuckled, and a distorted, highly misleading mental fluctuation spread out from him, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.

The shadowy figures that were frantically unleashing mental screams suddenly paused. A hint of confusion seemed to appear in their empty "gazes," and their targets became unclear. Some of the shadowy figures even began to collide and tear each other apart.

"go!"

Taking advantage of the brief moment when the shadowy figures were distracted by the performers, Yu Xing gave a low shout, and the three of them stopped entangled and quickly rushed past the street corner, leaving the chaotic shadowy figures behind.

Only after they had left the area of ​​silent shrieks far behind and the feeling of being locked on had disappeared did the three slow their pace. This first encounter alone had given them a taste of how troublesome this terrifying city was.

“These shadowy figures are different from the ones we saw at the beginning. The latter were like the natives who stayed in the corner and shut themselves off. These ones that attacked us were like guards,” Yu Xing said. “The actors’ props can help us avoid the natives, but not the guards. I guess it’s related to the rules of the City of Terror itself.”

“If it’s a rule, there should be a way in the city to stop the ‘guards’ from watching us, but I don’t know where it is.” Qu Xianqing immediately understood Yu Xing’s idea.

Just as real cities have their own order, so too do terrifying cities.

Yu Xing nodded, his gaze sweeping over the scattered shadowy figures of the 'native inhabitants' still lurking in the shadows.

While resisting the mental shock, he had just tried to devour a trace of the Shadow's energy with the power of the curse. That energy was cold and pure, formed from the most desperate human emotions. For Ghost Tree, it was a unique but not very palatable food.

More importantly, he gleaned from it some extremely fragmented and chaotic pieces of memory—endless darkness, a distorted sky, an inescapable suffocating feeling… and a recurring, intense obsession pointing toward the city center.

“These things… seem to be bound here by some force, imbued with the emotions of the living people who once came here. They have an instinctive longing for the city center; something is attracting them,” Yu Xing shared his findings.

“The center…” The actor looked at the increasingly close, twisted church spire. “We need to go up to a higher place to determine the city’s center.”

After a moment to adjust, the three continued their journey toward the twisted church.

The closer they got to the distorted mirror image of the church, the more eerie and ominous the surrounding environment became. A faint but real pulsation began to emanate from the dark red street, as if they were not stepping on stone slabs, but on the skin or mucous membrane of some enormous creature.

The cloying, fishy stench in the air was so strong it was almost tangible, clinging stickily to the nose and mouth, making it difficult to breathe.

On the walls of the twisted buildings on both sides, the vascular patterns bulged and writhed at a significantly faster frequency, and some of the larger cysts even undulated slightly as if breathing, with a viscous, yellowish-green unidentified liquid seeping from their surfaces.

"Watch your step," Yu Xing suddenly warned, his senses constantly alert to the slightest changes in his surroundings.

As soon as they finished speaking, the dark red "stone slabs" on a section of the street about ten meters in front of them suddenly rippled like water. Then, the entire street arched and twisted upwards, like a giant python turning over, trying to shake off or devour the foreign object walking on its "body"!
"retreat!"

The three reacted extremely quickly, retreating almost the instant the street trembled.

However, the street that came back to life did not give chase. Instead, after arching into an exaggerated arc, its surface suddenly cracked open with countless round mouthparts covered with fine fangs, like lamprey suckers, emitting a chilling hissing sound and spewing out large amounts of viscous, black asphalt-like substance that emitted strong corrosiveness and mental pollution!

These black substances, as if they possessed a life of their own, twisted in the air, rapidly covering the area and spreading outwards.

“…We can’t stay.” The actor’s eyes dimmed slightly. The moss tentatively touched the black substance, barely managing to block the small amount of black slime that splashed towards it. However, the moss was visibly withering, clearly indicating that resisting this corrosive attack had taken a toll.

Yu Xing wasn't idle either; she tried to use the power of the curse to touch a drop of black slime that had splashed over.

The slime contained a strong sense of chaos and destruction, even more aggressive than the mental pollution of those shadowy figures, as if it could erode and disintegrate all orderly structures.

His curse power collided with it, producing a "sizzling" melting sound. Although it was eventually annihilated, he also felt a slight resistance.

“These things are driving us, or rather… guiding our direction.” Qu Xianqing keenly observed that the distribution of those cracks that spewed black slime was not random; they appeared more often on the paths that deviated from the direction of the church, while the threat was much smaller on the sides of the relatively “safe” paths.

“It seems that ‘it’ doesn’t want us to wander around aimlessly.” Yu Xing also noticed this. This living city seems to possess some kind of vague will, forcing them to follow a specific route through this environmental anomaly.

With a "let's see what you're up to" mentality, they abandoned their straight-line advance and began to adjust their route, meandering towards the church, based on the frequency of the streets "coming alive" and the range of the black slime spray.

After dodging another attack that suddenly emerged from the ground like bone spikes, the three were forced to take refuge in a twisted building with an open doorway that resembled a giant maw.

The doorway was dark and damp, filled with an even stronger smell of decay.

The walls were covered with a slimy, fungal-like substance, and underfoot was a springy sensation, as if stepping on the internal organs of some kind of creature.

“That’s interesting. Let’s assume that when Edgar came in, he encountered the same thing as us…” Qu Xianqing leaned against the edge of the doorway, watching the street outside, which had temporarily calmed down. “He was like a mouse being chased by a cat, passively following its rhythm. His energy would increase, and he would have no idea what he would encounter next.”

So what will he do?

Yu Xing's gaze swept across the inside of the doorway.

His senses were also suppressed here, but he could still perceive the abnormality of the building's internal structure—hollow and winding, like the intestines of some kind of creature.

“Since the streets are alive, and the buildings are alive... then Edgar can change the ‘road’.”

His gaze fell upon the dark, seemingly endless passageway deep within the building.

"Travel through the 'inside'?" The musician raised an eyebrow, immediately understanding Yu Xing's intention. An interested look appeared on his face. "A very interesting idea. These buildings are interconnected, perhaps forming an internal network uncontrolled by the streets. However... the risks inside are probably no less than those outside."

“At least, the ‘rules’ inside might be different.” Yu Xing analyzed calmly, “The streets outside are clearly driving us in a certain direction, while the interior of the building, perhaps closer to the ‘physiological structure’ of the city, may contain some ‘gaps’ that are not completely controlled by the main will.”

He recalled the fragmented memories he had captured when he devoured the shadows. Those desperate souls, besides their longing for the center, also seemed to harbor an unspeakable fear of the interiors of certain buildings. No matter how you looked at it, the city center was definitely the place to go.

Even if Edgar, an ordinary man, failed to reach the city center, it didn't stop them from going to take a look.

"It's worth a try," Qu Xianqing decisively agreed.

The actor was unusually agreeable today and didn't offer many opinions.

Having reached a consensus, the three of them no longer hesitated and turned to walk deeper into the dark passageway inside the building. (End of Chapter)