Moving my feet became increasingly difficult, and my shoulders grew heavier and heavier.

Even the air entering my lungs turned incredibly cold, making me shiver.

An inexplicable sense of oppression expanded rapidly in just a few seconds, leaving me nowhere to escape.

By the time Tianma Xingkong reached the corpse, he was completely surrounded by fear…

He wanted to look back to check on his teammates, but found that he couldn’t take his eyes off… his gaze was firmly fixed on the face of the corpse, and his hand was frozen in place, uncontrollably holding the flashlight at an upward angle.

In that instant, deathly silence descended.

Tianma Xingkong suddenly couldn't even hear his own breathing… He was like standing in a still world, his body shrouded in darkness, his mind occupied by terror.

And it was in that instant that the corpse… stopped swaying.

It slowly raised its head, revealing a face hidden in the shadows.

Two turbid eyeballs rolled under its eyelids, and saliva dripped from the tongue lolling from its mouth.

It grinned at Tianma Xingkong, but didn't say anything.

After a few seconds, its fingers twitched a couple of times, and then its whole arm started to swing.

Then… the corpse raised its hands and tried to untie the rope around its neck.

But it couldn't untie it… because the rope was very tight.

"Ugh… ah…" A few low, garbled sounds came from its throat, sounding painful.

After several unsuccessful attempts, it began to scratch at its neck with its fingernails…

The sound of flesh being scraped off by fingernails was quite interesting, sounding kind of "muddy."

Before long, the "corpse's" neck was a bloody mess. But it still wouldn't give up, scratching more frantically…

Splashes of blood kept dripping onto Tianma Xingkong's face and body.

Finally, a large drop of blood landed on the glass at the front of the flashlight. So… everything in Little Ma’s eyes turned bright red.

A scarlet beam, a pitch-black stage, a bloody performance, a trembling audience.

Witnessing this vivid scene up close undoubtedly increased Tianma Xingkong's fright level sharply, but he couldn't resist… because he had completely lost control of his body, and couldn't even close his eyes.

…………

"What's wrong with him?" Honghu, standing in the distance, looked suspicious and muttered worriedly.

"Hmm… did he see some clue?" Jibu added.

In their sight, the hanging corpse dozens of meters away was still swaying in the air. And Tianma Xingkong was standing two meters in front of the corpse, staring blankly with his flashlight.

"Something's not right… he's been standing motionless for two minutes," Feng Bujue said with a solemn expression. "I suspect… he's been hit by a skill."

"Is it some kind of immobilization skill…" Honghu replied, while looking over there again, "But after immobilizing Tianma Xingkong, the 'hanging corpse' didn't launch any follow-up attacks…"

"Perhaps… the monster can't move itself when it activates its skill?" Jibu guessed.

"That makes sense…" Honghu said, "Then we…" He turned to look at Feng Bujue, "Go help?"

"Yes, we definitely have to go… but it's best not to go together," Feng Bujue said. "Think about it… if this is a regional skill that will directly hit anyone who walks into its range, then we are very likely to be wiped out here."

"Then… should one more person go?" Jibu asked tentatively.

"No, two people," Feng Bujue replied, and turned to look at Honghu, "Jibu and I will go, you stay behind."

Honghu pondered for two seconds: "You mean… if the situation changes…"

"…you directly launch an attack from a distance," Feng Bujue continued Honghu's words, "Use Guang Shi (Light Arrows) to hit the corpse hanging in the air."

"What if I hit it and it still doesn't solve the problem…" Honghu added.

"Then you'll have to play it by ear…" Feng Bujue said.

"Okay…" Honghu adjusted his glasses and replied in a rather helpless tone.

Honghu also understood that Feng Bujue's choice to have him stay behind was well-considered. The words "play it by ear" contained immense trust.

"Okay, then… Jibu." Jue-ge then patted Jibu's shoulder and gestured, "Let's go." Before he finished speaking, he had already stepped out.

"Hey! Aren't you going to ask for my opinion?" Jibu roared in a low voice, "I haven't agreed to go with you yet!"

Hearing this, Feng Bujue slammed on the brakes, turned his head and squinted at the other party: "Are you f***ing coming or not?"

In a sense, Jue-ge's words were indeed asking for his opinion…

"Uh… coming… coming…" Jibu hesitated for two seconds, then picked up his flashlight and followed.

"Come on, then," Feng Bujue responded and turned around to move forward again.

His eyes watched in all directions, his ears listened for any sound, he held a searchlight, and his feet moved quickly. In a short while, he approached behind Tianma Xingkong…

In Feng Bujue's eyes, the corpse had not become animated, and he had not deliberately used his searchlight to shine on the corpse's face.

"Hey, Little Ma," Feng Bujue only took a dozen seconds to walk to a meter behind Tianma Xingkong, and gently called out to him, "It's me, what's wrong?"

Two sentences were spoken, but the other party did not respond at all.

Feng Bujue immediately turned his head to say something to Jibu behind him, but unexpectedly…

"Huh?" When Jue-ge turned around, he found that the scene behind him had become completely dark. Where was anyone?

At this moment, a chill quietly swept over…

This was definitely not psychological (Jue-ge was very sure of this), but a real cold.

"Heh…" Faced with this creepy scene, Feng Bujue actually smiled. "I see…" he muttered to himself, "It's this kind of ability…"

With that, he turned around and stepped forward, reaching out to grab Tianma Xingkong's shoulder.

As a result… as soon as his palm touched Little Ma's body, the latter's head fell off and rolled to the ground…

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue looked at the blood-covered head on the ground and said in a relaxed tone, "A little interesting… anything else?"

"You seem…" The corpse hanging high up at this moment opened its mouth to speak, "...different from the others."

"Oh? How so?" Feng Bujue strolled around the "Little Ma" in front of him and walked to the corpse, as if he were taking a leisurely walk.

"The fear in your heart…" the other party replied, "…cannot be triggered."

"Did you need to tell me that?" Feng Bujue laughed, "I thought… you wanted to say I was 'uniquely handsome' or something."

"Hmph… don't get cocky…" the corpse snorted coldly, "You are still under my control…"

…………

Time rewinds slightly…

Let's look at Jibu's perspective from a minute ago…

He picked up his flashlight and followed Jue-ge forward.

Without a word along the way, in just a dozen seconds, the two had approached Tianma Xingkong and the hanging corpse.

"Hey, are you okay?" The "Feng Bujue" in front said this and reached out to grab "Little Ma's" shoulder. As a result, the latter's head suddenly broke off from his neck and fell to the ground.

For a time, a large amount of blood spurted out from "Tianma Xingkong's" wound, and the surroundings seemed to be raining blood.

Faced with this sudden change, Jibu was naturally frightened and didn't know what to do for a while.

And at this moment, "Tianma Xingkong's" headless body actually moved…

He suddenly turned around and shone the flashlight, already stained with blood, at "Feng Bujue."

When the scarlet light touched "Feng Bujue's" body, he screamed in pain, and his body rapidly turned into blood under the light…

"Ah—" Jibu roared out.

As the saying goes, extreme joy begets sorrow, and extreme fear begets anger. The current Jibu obviously belonged to the latter.

Driven by fear, he lost his rational thinking and rushed forward following his instincts…

What Jibu was thinking at this moment was: the headless "Tianma Xingkong" is definitely not the real person anymore, he has killed Feng Bujue, I can't sit still and wait for death!

Having made up his mind to attack, Jibu reached into his backpack, wanting to take out a weapon.

Unexpectedly…

"What's going on?" Jibu's face turned pale, because he suddenly realized that the backpack was empty…

"How is this possible…" Jibu quickly opened the game menu to check, but he was shocked to find that not only the backpack was empty, but even the skill bar was empty…

His heart and pupils contracted sharply at this moment, and he shifted his gaze up to look at the team bar. As a result, he saw the following line of words: 【No one can save you】

Jibu couldn't believe his eyes. He looked at the status bar again, but saw… that his survival, stamina, and spiritual power values were all empty, and his level actually showed as level 1.

"Hehehe…" Suddenly, a burst of laughter came.

Jibu instantly shuddered, took two steps back, and then looked up to follow the sound.

It turned out that the corpse hanging in the air was laughing, and it was laughing so triumphantly…

A few seconds later, the corpse raised its head and said, "Don't worry, you still have a companion…" It paused, and then said eerily, "He's right behind you."

Pa—

Almost at the moment the word "behind" came out, a bloody hand grabbed Jibu's shoulder.

"Don't look back!" Honghu's firm voice sounded, "Listen to me, Jibu, you don't need to be afraid, these are all illusions."

These words calmed Jibu down a little, and he nodded: "Then what should I do?"

"Don't panic, first look at the quest log," Honghu replied, "Just do what it says."

"Okay." Jibu replied with forced composure. At the same time, he opened the game menu again and entered the quest log.

Who knew… the quest log window was actually a pale white color, with a line of messy blood-red words written in the middle—【Come and accompany us in the underworld…】

At the same time, "Honghu's" voice suddenly turned into a shrill wail: "Have you finished looking… do it quickly…"