After the Skyfall

Chapter 817 The House of the Dead

"I never expected that such a peculiar cross-border point was hidden in Tianchang City. I just wonder what kind of world it is."

Li Yi stood by the window, carefully observing this new world.

This world is clearly a modern world, but the level of technology doesn't seem very high. The cars on the road are quite old-fashioned, and the buildings are still at the level of the 1990s.

After observing for a while, he didn't get any more information.

"Go out and see."

Li Yi decided to take a walk, see the world for himself, and then try to find a way to destroy the building. Whether his clone could return to Earth was not important; he could simply die here.

Just as he turned around to return the way he came, he suddenly stopped and stared intently at the dining table.

There were originally three bowls of rice and three dishes on the table, but now there are only a few empty plates left. It seems that someone came here at some point and ate all the food on the table.

Only the fish head remained intact on the plate that held the braised fish. Its grayish-white eyes seemed to be looking in Li Yi's direction, and an unsettling and eerie atmosphere permeated the surroundings.

The scattered corpses of evolved beings tell a story that this building is not simple.

These evolved beings, like Li Yi, were able to come to this world through food. Logically, they shouldn't be trapped here. At the very least, they should be able to leave this building and go to the outside world.

"Is this building also problematic in this world?"

At this moment, Li Yi noticed that his location was some distance away from the area where normal people were active, at least three kilometers away.

Although there are many old residential buildings around, they are all deserted and empty.

This is an abandoned, or perhaps sealed-off, area.

"Just like in World 36, places where paranormal events occur are sealed off if they can't be dealt with. It seems the people in this world are aware of the dangers here, so what I need to do now is find a way to escape this apartment building?"

Li Yi did not act rashly. His experience as a messenger told him that there was some kind of incomprehensible and strange power in this world.

After a brief moment of thought, he tried to leave the room.

soon.

Li Yi entered the dimly lit stairwell.

The corridor was silent, and only this one place showed signs of habitation; the rest was abandoned, just like when I first entered the building. I quickly went down the stairs.

Soon, Li Yi arrived at the first floor.

But when he looked outside, his expression darkened.

The hallway led not to the outside world, but to a room with the exact same layout as the place they had just come from. There was a dining table with three empty plates and three empty bowls on it.

After he walked out of the building, he found himself back in the room.

It was like an endless loop, trapping Li Yi here.

However, Li Yi was not surprised by this. If it were so easy to escape from this building, these evolved beings would not have been trapped here and would have already gone to the outside world.

He then went to the window and tried to climb out and jump out of the building.

However, the window was tightly closed, and Li Yi was unable to open it.

He took a deep breath, raised his hand, and threw a punch. Although it was just a clone, the power it unleashed was still enough to easily flatten a building.

The punch slammed into the window, causing the entire building to shake violently. Cracks appeared along the walls, but the window did not break, and the cracked walls were repairing themselves at an unimaginable speed.

Sure enough, an incomprehensible force was entrenched here.

This power is not cosmic energy; it's more like a supernatural force.

"I don't like this kind of bizarre world. I feel like I have no way to use my martial arts skills, and I'm restricted in my actions. Plus, I have to use my brain to solve puzzles." Li Yi stopped trying to break the deadlock by brute force.

If they could leave simply by force, these evolved beings would have left long ago.

So he calmed down and stopped destroying anything there, lest he cause trouble and miss the opportunity to leave.

"Perhaps the supernatural objects from World 36 can play some role in this world."

Li Yi subconsciously touched his wrist. He remembered that he had collected many black letters, and perhaps he could use the power of the letters to leave this place. But at this moment, he realized that this was a clone of himself, and he had not brought anything with him. He was empty-handed.

With no other option, he turned his attention to the evolved beings who were trapped and dying here.

Li Yi collected some belongings from these corpses and found quite a few things.

Several smartphones that had run out of power, a battle sword made of extraordinary metal, a nano-metal suit, and a storage ring from the Xuanxian Continent. However, what surprised Li Yi was that the storage ring also contained nutrient solution, nutrient chambers, and some pills.

In other words, this evolved being did not starve to death here; he was killed here.

If someone starved to death, there wouldn't be any food left in the storage ring.

In other words, this building is not simply a place to trap people; there is a terrifying danger that may arise at some point. If Li Yi stays here for an extended period, he will also encounter danger and will most likely be killed here.

Although it wouldn't matter if he, as an avatar, died here, once the avatar was destroyed, Li Yi himself would definitely not explore this place again, which undoubtedly signified the failure of this operation.

I glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

It is now 5:20 PM.

It was already dusk outside the window.

According to Li Yi's guess, if he was safe during the day, then he must be in danger at night.

“I came into this world by being touched by some kind of medium’s power after eating that bowl of rice, so the key to breaking the deadlock is still on this dining table.” His gaze shifted again to the empty plates that had been eaten.

The fish head, now just a skeleton, still stared at Li Yi with its grayish-white eyes. Its lifeless gaze seemed to be telling him that death was imminent and that he would have to find a way to end it soon.

Li Yi then went into the kitchen. He thought that since the meal had been finished, he could probably cook another meal and bring it up to restore the previous state, which might allow him to meet a certain condition and leave.

But after he walked around the kitchen, he found it empty.

There were simply no ingredients to cook for him, so this idea was clearly wrong.

"Isn't that right?"

However, when Li Yi turned on the tap in the kitchen, he found that tap water was flowing out; it was clear, clean, and slightly cool.

"If all else fails, shall we wash the dishes?"

He couldn't help but have this strange idea pop into his head.

However, Li Yi actually did just that.

He took all the empty plates and bowls on the table to the kitchen and washed them. As for the somewhat creepy-looking fish head, he threw it into the kitchen trash can.

In short, give it a try; if it really doesn't work, then there's nothing we can do.

After doing all that, he wandered around to see if there was anything unusual. Looking at the sky outside, he knew it was almost night, and a premonition told him that if he didn't find a way, he might not make it through the night.

Finally, I walked around the room several times.

When Li Yi opened a wardrobe in a room, he was immediately stunned.

Hanging in the wardrobe were clothes made of red and green paper. These clothes were not meant for the living; they looked like they were burned for the dead. What was most chilling was that these clothes showed signs of use.

Who would go out wearing paper clothes?
“I understand now what’s going on with the cold rice on the table and the paper clothes in the cupboard.” Li Yi took a deep breath: “This is a house for the dead, a haunted house. It’s daytime now, so the owner of the house hasn’t appeared yet, but at night, when the living fall asleep and the dead appear, that’s when terror descends.”

“I hate this godforsaken place. Next time, we should send Yang Wei here. He’s better suited to deal with these awful things.”

It's certain that this world can be haunted.

I just don't know if the ghosts in this world can be killed. If they can, then there's no problem.

Li Yi didn't touch the paper clothes, and then started looking for them elsewhere.

In the corner of another room, he found something.

A gray-white paper umbrella.

Li Yi tried to pick it up and take a look, but found that it was just an ordinary paper umbrella, not some supernatural item. He could easily destroy the paper umbrella, but he didn't do so.

"Paper clothes and paper umbrellas may be the key to leaving here."

The idea popped into his head.

Li Yi's idea was simple: if this was a haunted house for the dead, it meant that the dead could come and go freely, so as long as he became a dead person, he could easily leave this place.

And this dead person is not actually dead in the true sense; all that is needed is for the haunted house to think that the person is dead.

Having eaten food from the dead and worn clothes from the dead, if night falls, one might very well become a real dead person.

(End of this chapter)