All Realms and Worlds: The Lost Home

The entire old residential building was completely enveloped in boundless darkness, like a steel cage buried deep in darkness, oppressive, gloomy, and suffocating.

The cold wind howled and howled outside, rushing wildly through the cracks in the broken windows.

Woo-woo-woo

The mournful howling of the wind swirled around the corridor, sometimes low and muffled, sometimes sharp and piercing, like countless lonely ghosts sobbing and wailing in the dark.

The old wooden window frames trembled incessantly in the strong wind, making a strange, creaking sound, a fragmented and eerie rhythm that gripped one's nerves.

In the enclosed corridor, the air was damp and cold, mixed with dust, mold, and a faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood, lingering around everyone's nose.

Having survived the bizarre and bloody chase by the eggplant-faced man during the day, and Ning Ye's desperate counterattack against the girl in the yoga outfit, the eight survivors were all exhausted and tense.

Following the division of labor discussed during the day, everyone took turns on duty in pairs, while the rest of the people huddled in a sheltered corner in the middle of the corridor to rest.

This location, backed by a load-bearing wall, offers a wide view and is far from the building entrance, making it the safest spot in the entire building.

After resting and recuperating for most of the day, Ning Ye's strength had finally recovered to about 70-80%, and he was no longer as completely exhausted and sore as he had been during the day.

However, the soreness and fatigue deep in the meridians still lingered, and the potential exhausted by that desperate rampage could not be fully repaired in a short time.

He leaned against the cold, rough wall, his eyes sharp and tense, never completely letting his guard down, his gaze constantly scanning every corner of the dimly lit corridor.

The girl in yoga clothes sat beside him, her eyes slightly closed as she regulated her breathing. Occasionally, a faint blue light would linger in her palm, slowly nourishing her damaged meridians.

Her superpowers have been greatly depleted, and she has only recovered 20-30% of her combat strength so far, which is far from enough to support high-intensity combat.

Nancy nestled tightly in Ning Ye's arms, burying her head in his shoulder, not daring to look up into the dark depths of the stairwell.

The bloody massacre she witnessed during the day was still etched in her mind, haunting her and filling her with fear.

Everyone thought that by hiding in closed residential buildings, blocking the entrances, and taking turns on guard duty, they could safely get through the long night.

Everyone assumed that the strangeness from the outside world was blocked by the building, and as long as they didn't go out on their own or break any taboos, they could safely wait until dawn.

But none of them realized that the real, deadly crisis had been lurking within their ranks from the very beginning.

In the shadows at the back of the line, the little girl in the floral dress, who had grabbed the smiley face balloon and was now completely tainted by eeriness, kept her head down.

The darkness concealed her face, and no one could see the stiff, exaggerated, and extremely eerie smirk on her lips that never faded away.

The air around her was always a few degrees colder than elsewhere; a silent, chilling black aura flowed slowly down her clothes, quietly eroding the entire corridor.

It was exactly 11 p.m.

Thump—! Thump—!

Two deep, resonant chimes echoed from the distant streets of the eerie city.

The deep, hoarse toll of the bell pierced the night, carrying an ancient, eerie stillness, and slowly echoed above the buildings.

The group, who had been occasionally talking in hushed tones and trying to relax, instantly fell silent.

The hallway became so quiet you could hear a pin drop for a moment, with only the faint breathing of the people, the howling of the wind outside the window, and the strange creaking of the window frame.

"The bell has rung..." The girl with glasses lowered her voice, her tone clearly panicked, "The night bell of the Ghost City has rung, which means that night has completely fallen."

"I've analyzed countless instances of the Mysterious City dungeon, and the eeriness and danger at night are more than three times that of the daytime!"

The burly, middle-aged man on duty gripped the steel bar he had picked up and said in a deep voice, "Don't scare yourself. We'll guard the entrance, stay put and don't move around. The strange creature won't be able to get in."

"Everyone stay put, don't talk, don't move, and don't touch anything unfamiliar. If we can get through tonight, there's hope."

"Mmm!" The crowd responded in hushed tones, curling up and tensing every nerve in their bodies.

But only ten minutes had passed.

slap... slap...

Extremely light, slow, and delicate footsteps drifted down from the dark stairwell above.

The footsteps were very light, like bare feet stepping on a dusty cement floor, soft and silent, yet precisely penetrating all noise and reaching everyone's ears.

The most terrifying thing is that the footsteps are irregular and not hurried. They don't sound like a chase, but more like someone is strolling around leisurely.

"Who?!"

The young man guarding the stairwell tensed instantly, gripping his steel pipe tightly, and hissed sharply, "Who's moving around upstairs?!"

Panic instantly erupted in the stairwell. Everyone looked up sharply, staring intently at the dark, seemingly endless staircase above.

The stairwell was dark, empty, and deathly silent, with no one responding.

Only the eerie footsteps continued to echo.

slap... slap...

Sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes elusive, it seemed as if someone was brushing against the darkness, slowly moving above everyone's heads.

"Nobody went up!" a girl cried, her voice trembling. "We were all downstairs, no one left the group the whole time! Nobody went upstairs!"

"That's right! We all gathered on the middle floor after we came in, and there were people guarding the stairwell the whole time. No one would sneak upstairs!"

"Whose footsteps are those?! Could it be... the strange thing hiding in the building?!"

Panic instantly spread throughout the room; everyone's heart was in their throat, their backs were cold, and their scalps tingled.

Ning Ye immediately stood up, suppressing the chill in his heart, and reassured everyone in a deep voice: "Don't panic! Stay where you are!"

"Those on duty, keep an eye on your surroundings. Everyone else, don't run around, and don't look up into the darkness of the stairwell!"

"There are no taboos against nighttime raids in the rules, but the unknown and unpredictable are best at surprise attacks. Holding the formation will prevent any trouble!"

His voice was steady and powerful, which calmed the scattered minds of the crowd.

The next second!

A very short, extremely shrill scream came from upstairs!

"ah--!!!"

The screams abruptly stopped!

It's like someone just made a sound and was instantly choked and completely silenced!

Then, with a whoosh—

The soft, gurgling sound of viscous liquid flowing down the stair steps slowly dripped and spread.

is blood!

That was definitely the sound of blood flowing!

Everyone's pupils constricted instantly, and their bodies went cold!

"That voice...that was Old Zhang!" one of the survivors cried out in despair, his face ashen.

"Old Zhang just said the air upstairs is fresh, and he wanted to go up to see if there was a clean water source, so he quietly went up there! I thought he'd be down soon!"

"I thought he was just doing a simple investigation, so I didn't dare say anything more, but I didn't expect..."

This statement completely ignited everyone's fear!

Someone sneaked upstairs and died a horrible death!

The girl in the yoga outfit tensed up, her fists clenching instinctively. She whispered urgently, "There's something strange upstairs! It's definitely a native ghost in the building!"

"Otherwise, there's no other explanation! We've guarded the entrances and exits, preventing anything from the outside from getting in; there can only be something hidden inside the building!"

The middle-aged man stared intently at the dark staircase, gritting his teeth and roaring, "Damn it! I told everyone not to wander around! They insisted on doing it on their own!"

"Now look what happened! They triggered a taboo, resulting in instant death! And they've brought danger right to our side!"

Everyone echoed this sentiment, filled with fear. They all tacitly agreed that this was a bizarre murder committed by someone hidden inside the building.

Ning Ye frowned deeply, a profound sense of unease rising within him.

He stared intently at the bloodstains flowing down the stairs and said in a deep voice, "Something's not right."

"What's wrong?" Everyone looked at him in unison, their faces full of confusion.

Ning Ye's expression turned serious as he slowly spoke: "If it were a bizarre hunt inside the building, it wouldn't just be a short, sharp scream."

"Moreover, the footsteps just now were so steady, without any eerie, floating or hoarse feeling; they sounded more like the rhythm of a living person walking."

"Furthermore, bizarre hunts are all instant kills and brutal slaughters; there won't be any slow, dripping blood or gradual build-up of momentum like this."

His words instantly silenced the chaotic crowd, and a strange suspicion quietly took root in everyone's hearts.

Someone muttered quietly, "If it's not eerie... then could it be...?"

No one dared to say those words, but the same chilling guess popped into everyone's mind.

In the dead of night, inside the closed building, besides the eerie atmosphere, there were only these living people!

Could it be that the killer wasn't a ghost at all, but one of their companions?!

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Someone immediately shook their head frantically, forcefully denying the conjecture. "We're all survivors who fled together, we're all human beings, how could we possibly kill each other!"

"Having all survived life-or-death ordeals, they're too busy sticking together for warmth to even think about going crazy and killing someone."

"Ning Ye is definitely overthinking it! It's just that the building is eerie! It's just that the method of killing is different!"

Most people instinctively reject this horrifying truth, preferring to believe it's the work of a supernatural force rather than suspecting their companions are the murderers.

The human heart is always more terrifying and harder to accept than ghosts and monsters.

Once suspicion takes root, it can never be erased.

The people who had initially huddled together for warmth and trusted each other began to subtly change their expressions.

Although everyone appeared to be gathered together, their bodies subconsciously kept a slight distance between them, secretly wary of everyone around them.

The night continued to pass, and the atmosphere grew increasingly gloomy and oppressive.

Time ticked by, and deathly silence once again enveloped the corridor.

Just when everyone thought the tragedy was over and they were temporarily safe.

squeak-

The dilapidated wooden door of a room on the second floor was slowly pushed open.

The door opened slowly and dryly, accompanied by the grating, strange noise of rusty parts rubbing together, making one's teeth ache and scalp tingle.

Then came another faint rustling sound, like fabric rubbing against the ground.

Then, a second scream suddenly rang out!

"Help...help me!!"