Chapter 2466 — Beyond Reason

"Idiot! Then just sit in the car and wait until dawn." Su Lengzi was naturally not going to send a car for him at this hour—that would defeat the whole purpose of frightening Kang Jinglong and the others to vent his spleen. As for whether the expedition driver would be scared out of his wits, that was none of Su Lengzi's concern.

"Hello? Hello? Brother Lengzi?" The expedition driver stared at the hung-up call, and sat glumly in the driver's seat. He lit a cigarette and did his utmost to keep his eyes from straying toward the windows.

This area was the worst of the haunted zones, marked on the resort's maps as a key danger area where drivers and tourists were strictly forbidden. Even by day one did best to stay away unless absolutely necessary—let alone at night. The expedition driver knew full well there were unclean things about, and naturally did not dare let his gaze wander.

Wei Zhao was an expert at the peak of the mid Earth Rank; if he chose to eavesdrop on the expedition driver's call, in the stillness of the night he could hear every word with perfect clarity. A cold smile flickered at the corner of Wei Zhao's mouth. So the expedition driver had been acting on Su Lengzi's orders, abandoning them all out here in the wilds!

This whole mess had evidently been stirred up by Kang Jinglong and You Panhu; he and Wang Xinyan and Han Jingyi were merely unlucky enough to be caught up with them. Clearly Su Lengzi meant to use this method to take his revenge on Kang Jinglong and You Panhu.

Having sorted all this out, however, Wei Zhao felt his heart ease. Su Lengzi's aim was nothing more than to give Kang Jinglong and You Panhu a fright—but one of them came from a medical background and the other was a cultivator who refined pills. Unless there were truly ghosts here, there was simply no way to scare them badly.

"Since Kang Jinglong is willing to walk, let's take a walk. It's cold enough here as it is—stand around without moving and we'll be frozen stiff before long." Wei Zhao said to Wang Xinyan.

The moment the words left his mouth, Wei Zhao felt something was off. It was as though that sentence had not come from his own will at all, but as though someone had prompted him to say it. Or perhaps a voice was calling to Wei Zhao, telling him: come, come quickly, come into the shadows ahead...

Wei Zhao's willpower was strong and resolute, and in that brief lapse he sensed the problem. Yet even he could not be certain just what the problem was—like that sudden sentence a moment ago. Had his mind been bewitched by a ghost, or was Wei Zhao himself a little curious?

"Then let's go take a look..." To Wei Zhao's surprise, Wang Xinyan actually agreed to his suggestion. A moment before she had been thoroughly timid, yet in the blink of an eye Wang Xinyan seemed to have turned curious.

"Hey, Wei Zhao, even Wang Xinyan's got more nerve than you!" Kang Jinglong said.

Wei Zhao was puzzling over it in his heart and had no mind to trade words with Kang Jinglong. He was just about to say something when he saw that Wang Xinyan had already followed Kang Jinglong, You Panhu, the yellow-haired man, and the purple-haired man toward the shadows of the desolate village...

"Brother Wei Zhao, do you feel it too? Something seems off about this place." Han Jingyi turned her head, her gaze somewhat grave as she looked at Wei Zhao.

"Off?" Wei Zhao glanced at Han Jingyi. "How is it off?"

"Jingjing can't quite say. There's something strange here—Jingjing feels that though this place is dark and grim, there seems to be an invisible magic to it, drawing people to go and find out..." Han Jingyi said, her brows knitted tightly as she gazed at the pitch-blackness not far off.

"Then you—do you want to go and find out?" Wei Zhao's heart tightened. Han Jingyi felt it too? Then might Wang Xinyan and the others be feeling it as well?

"I do. But Jingjing will do whatever Brother Wei Zhao says." Han Jingyi said.

Wei Zhao looked at Han Jingyi and drew a sharp breath of cold air! He himself had felt that way earlier and had snapped awake thanks to his resolute willpower. But Han Jingyi's mind was almost frighteningly cool—even in such circumstances she had still been able to notice something was wrong.

This made Wei Zhao all the more unable to see through the background of this girl Han Jingyi. The girl was a genius, her intelligence exceptionally high, her thinking exceptionally keen, and she was, moreover, exceedingly calm.

Watching Wang Xinyan walk farther and farther off with Kang Jinglong, You Panhu, and the rest, Wei Zhao could not help but feel a chill in his heart! This did not suit Wang Xinyan's character. Wang Xinyan did not like to get too close to Kang Jinglong and You Panhu, and yet now she had not even waited for him and Han Jingyi, but had gone on ahead with them toward the dark corner of the desolate village. This truly defied all reason.

"Xinyan, wait!" Had Han Jingyi not spoken it might have been fine, but since Han Jingyi felt it too, Wei Zhao could now be basically certain that there really was something uncanny about this place, and so instinctively he called out to stop Wang Xinyan: "It's dangerous here, don't go far!"

Wei Zhao's voice brought Wang Xinyan to a halt. She turned back somewhat dazedly, her heart skipping a beat—how had she come to walk over here with Kang Jinglong and the others? She wanted to turn and go back, but then she heard Kang Jinglong speak.

"Wei Zhao, if you're scared just say you're scared. If you don't want to go, don't hold the others back!" Kang Jinglong regarded Wei Zhao with a mocking look.

Wang Xinyan had meant to turn back at Wei Zhao's call, but somehow, after hearing Kang Jinglong's words, she turned around again and walked on ahead, as though some magic lay before her that in an instant bewitched her mind once more.

"Let's go take a look—but be careful!" Wei Zhao hesitated a moment, then followed after them. He did not know whether this decision of his was because of Wang Xinyan, or because of that faint thread of bewitchment in his own heart.

"Oh, all right." Han Jingyi nodded and followed Wei Zhao over as well.

Come quickly, come quickly over...

Wei Zhao kept feeling that some inexplicable, magical voice was calling to him—yet when he listened closely, there was nothing at all...

Everything, all of it, seemed so uncanny, and the dark place in the distance looked all the more grim and dreadful.

This feeling sat very ill with Wei Zhao. He kept sensing an indescribable strangeness running through it all. The haunted desolate village ought, in theory, to be a fake—a trick the resort used to draw in tourists—and yet at this very moment Wei Zhao felt that the legends here might not be entirely groundless.

The group walked on together, farther and farther. That patch of darkness which had seemed not so far away proved, when walked toward, to be strangely distant, strangely beyond reach. The little earthen mound was close enough to touch—and yet no matter how they walked, they could not reach it!

It was as though these people were walking, and the little mound was walking too. However fast these people walked, however far they went, the little mound could never be reached!

And yet, strangely, none of them noticed anything amiss. Wei Zhao's heart gave a sudden chill, and in an instant he came awake, a flicker of alarm passing through his eyes. This was the sort of thing that could not be explained by common sense—and Wei Zhao had indeed encountered it before!