"Something is very wrong here."
Zhang Han, who was at the front, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Listening to the footsteps coming from the corridor above, it seemed like a group of people was descending the stairs, while at the same time, there were sounds of footsteps climbing up from the lower floors.
The sounds were dull, devoid of the lightness, variation, and liveliness of normal human footsteps, only a mechanical stiffness remained.
Everyone present had dealt with supernatural events before, and upon hearing this kind of footsteps, they were acutely aware of what was happening around them.
"It's more than just wrong; it's as if we're surrounded. The ghosts from earlier couldn't have already woken up, could they?" Sun Yi started to panic.
"We can't go forward, and we can't go back. What do we do now? Isn't this a dead end? Are these things trying to force us to jump from this ten-story building?"
"I don't mind jumping. It's just that Professor Wang won't be able to withstand it."
Wang Xiaoming's expression was changing, but he remained calm; "There's no need to panic. A direct confrontation was bound to happen sooner or later. If you withstand this wave of attacks, the situation will turn around, everything will change. If you can't, then prepare yourselves to die here together."
The implication was that there was no intention to flee, but to stand and fight.
"Professor Wang, what are you joking about? Listening to these footsteps, it's not just one or two—it's far too many. How can we withstand that?" Someone was flabbergasted.
"No, you're wrong. There's only one real ghost. What we're about to face are all Ghost Infants, which are derived from the main one. I believe these are incomplete ghosts, unable to possess all the characteristics of a real ghost. The ghost child that passed us earlier is the best proof of that."
"Besides, Yang Jian has gone to fetch what I need. If the ghosts attack us, that means he's safe. As long as his mission isn't compromised, the plan is still on track."
Zhao Kaiming said with a stern face, "But what if he doesn't come? Aren't we going to die in vain here? Professor, aren't you being a bit too reckless by putting all your hopes on him? I don't trust Yang Jian."
"It's not that I want to put all my hopes on him; I have no other choice," said Wang Xiaoming calmly. "And he will come. He's a smart man. It's in his best interest for us not to die; if he were the only ghost controller left in Dachang City, his own chances of survival would diminish greatly."
"It's decided then. This isn't the place for a confrontation. Follow me. I remember there's a ward on this level with a window that leads to a small platform where the air conditioners are. We can get to the floor below through there. It might not be much, but at least it's an escape route—better than being trapped on three sides here."
After finishing, Wang Xiaoming immediately took action.
"Damn it, looks like we have to fight for it. If I'd known it was going to be , I would have gone with Yang Jian," cursed Zhang Han under his breath, hurrying back to follow the others to a ward on this level.
Just as the group hadn't gotten far, the dull footsteps reached the corner of the stairs below, and through the dark green murkiness, it was clear to see figures slowly ascending, coming to a halt on their floor.
Simultaneously, the footsteps from above also reached their level.
Two streams of dark green figures converged, completely sealing off the stairwell.
From the vague silhouettes, it was apparent that the numbers weren't just a few or a dozen; there were at least twenty or thirty.
But it didn't stop there.
The sound of the elevator operating came to a halt, and the hospital's two large elevators arrived on their floor at the same moment.
The doors of both elevators opened automatically, and inside stood more figures.
From upstairs, downstairs, and the elevators, the figures converged, all silent, all moving stiffly through the dimly lit hospital, and their direction was shockingly unified—towards where Wang Xiaoming and the others had left.
This floor became even darker, and in this darkness, it seemed as if everything around was gradually disappearing.
As if being swallowed, leaving behind only a blurry outline, until even that outline was gone.
Wang Xiaoming led the others to a relatively spacious ward. It was empty of patients, having been evacuated earlier, leaving behind only empty beds.
"Close the door first, then tie together the bed sheets to make a rope. If we really can't hold on, we'll retreat. But in my view, this retreat is just a delay—fruitless if the situation can't be reversed."
The others kept silent, hurriedly locking the door and barricading it with useless items.
Yet everyone knew very well that such measures wouldn't affect the overall situation—ghosts would find you regardless of where you hide.
When the key moment came, they would have to rely on their own ghosts.
Only the power of ghosts could contend with ghosts.
Even so... deep down, they still felt extremely uncertain.
The power they could draw from fierce ghosts was limited, whereas real ghosts were limitless.
Just as everyone was using bed sheets to untie knots, leaving a route for retreat, heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor outside. The footsteps were dense and numerous, the quantity of those beings outside could be felt even through the walls.
"They're here." Zhao Kaiming whispered.
Everyone's heart chilled, and their hands involuntarily stopped what they were doing.
The ghosts had found them.
Right outside the door, just a wall away.
Wang Xiaoming didn't speak anymore, he just stood at the back holding a flashlight, shining it forward to maintain the surrounding light, while also keeping absolutely calm.
He was just an ordinary person, he had no means to counter this situation, and since his trip to Dachang City was quite hasty, he hadn't brought many life-saving items. Even Li Jun, who was supposed to protect him, was left behind in the laboratory.
So what he could do now was just to keep quiet and not to be a burden to the ghost-manipulators.
All eyes were fixed on the door that had been sealed off, hearts raised to their throats.
They were terrified that the door before them would be pushed open by the ghosts at any moment, and then flood in and kill them instantly.
However, the situation was not as imagined.
The footsteps outside the door suddenly disappeared.
No, not disappeared, but the ghosts outside had stopped walking and stood outside the ward.
The dense footsteps began to gradually disappear.
This disappearance didn't bring any relief, on the contrary, it was incredibly heavy because the fading of each footstep meant a ghost had taken its place outside the door.
"Why haven't they attacked directly? What are they waiting for?" Zhang Han's palms were covered in cold sweat.
He felt this incident was much more terrifying than the incident at Huanggang Village.
"Look, the wall has changed." Suddenly, Sun Yi pointed forward in shock.
But they saw that the wall, which had blocked the group of ghosts, was now rapidly dimming, its color blending with the surrounding environment, turning into a dark, cyan haze.
Only this dark, cyan haze was much thicker, like darkness itself.
Even the flashlight could no longer illuminate this wall.
At this moment, everyone couldn't help but retreat, not daring to get close to this pitch-black wall anymore.
Then, in the next moment, something terrifying happened.
A protruding outline suddenly appeared on the pitch-black wall in front of them, at first it was just slightly elevated, but soon the raised outline became clearer, and the dark wall rapidly formed into the shape of a human face.
There were eyes, a nose, facial features.
As this human face became clearer, the darkness began to recede, and a blue-black skinned deathly face appeared before everyone.
At first glance, it seemed as though a dead person had been embedded alive into the wall.
The eyes on this dead face were empty sockets with eyes inside, but they were pitch black without pupils, revealing an eerie color. Yet those dark eyes moved slightly when they saw the people, revealing a sinister and bone-chilling violence.
As if everyone had been targeted, it sent a shiver down their spines.
And just below this face on the wall, a slight bulge appeared, and the contour of a body began to emerge.
A blue-black arm, marred with what seemed to be postmortem lividity, stretched out from the wall.
This ghost was actually passing through the wall forcefully, ignoring the barrier.
And it wasn't just this one face, other parts of the wall began to show more outlines of faces one after another.
One, two, three... dozens of faces imprinted on the dark wall, and quickly passed through it, attempting to enter the ward.
Although they knew that a single wall couldn't stop these ghosts, the way they entered the ward was chilling to the bone.
"They can even change matter? This is no longer something that can be done by just a Ghost Domain." Wang Xiaoming deeply furrowed his brow, and for some reason, he felt mission was going to end in a terrible defeat.
"Let's stop them together." A ghost-manipulator issued a horrified and desperate low growl.
At this time, there was no need to be stingy with the power of the fierce ghosts; if they couldn't withstand this wave of assault, everyone would die.