Shashasha.

Those five fingernails slowly lifted from the back of Wang Congshan's head, rising slightly,

Before five gray-black fingers extended from underneath.

Li Ang's pupils contracted, his mind raced, and he recalled everything that had happened, from the moment they entered the village until they walked into the courtyard of the Hiratsuka family's residence.

What was this hand, and why did it appear behind Wang Congshan's head?

After entering the Hiratsuka family's residence, Li Ang would use the level-zero mind prophecy ability [Vague Intuition] every once in a while, which gave him a certain probability of roughly sensing whether the next action would be good or bad.

But until now, he hadn't felt any threat at all.

Was it that [Vague Intuition] had failed,

Or had this hand already parasitized and attached itself before they entered the Hiratsuka residence,

Or did the hand only target Wang Congshan, not Li Ang, which was why the psychic detection didn't work...

In the blink of an eye, those five fingers continued to climb out of Wang Congshan's head, revealing a gray-black, bloodless palm, wrist, and even half an arm.

It was as if someone was trying to climb out of her head.

Wang Congshan only felt her hair suddenly lift, a burst of itching and stinging behind her head, and a strange weight applied to the back of her head, causing her head to droop involuntarily.

She instantly realized what was happening, her scalp went numb, and a chill ran through her body. She instinctively raised her gun and aimed it behind her head.

"Wait!"

Li Ang raised his hand and pressed down on Wang Congshan's gun-wielding hand. At this moment, he also felt his head being dragged down by weight.

But his gaze was fixed on a lantern hanging in the courtyard in front.

That lantern was the only light source directly facing this corridor, and it was emitting light at this moment, shining into the corridor.

With the help of the level-one mind prophecy ability [Extended Vision], Li Ang could see the same gray-black arm growing out of the back of his head while facing forward.

The feeling of having a hand growing out of the back of his head was extremely strange. He couldn't feel much pain, but there was a sense of dizziness that made the rationality in his brain disappear rapidly.

Li Ang's hair moved without wind, and his psychic energy flowed quietly, releasing a paralysis suggestion toward the gray-black arm behind his head.

Ghosts, especially those that are not abnormal phenomena but have individual independence, are affected by psychic energy.

Although [Paralysis Suggestion] is only a level-one ability, it can still cause this level of wraith to slow down slightly, or even stop completely.

Psychic energy manifested and took effect. The gray-black arm behind Li Ang's head did indeed soften,

However, correspondingly, Li Ang's own right arm, which was hanging in the air, also inexplicably lost its sense and control, drooping down as if it had been cut off completely.

As expected.

Li Ang took a deep breath, ignoring the arm behind his head. He used his still-movable left hand to grab Wang Congshan's shoulder and pulled her back.

The two retreated from the corridor and returned to the entrance of the courtyard, and the gray-black arms behind their heads also dissipated.

"What happened..."

Wang Congshan only felt the back of her head lighten, and the feeling of losing her mind finally stopped.

"It's the light."

Li Ang quickly explained, "The arms extending from the back of our heads are not evil spirits, but our own shadows.

There's something wrong with the lantern in the front courtyard. The light it emits can animate our shadows.

If we attack our own shadows, we will reflect the damage back onto ourselves.

Like this."

He raised his right shoulder, which moved freely, but his right arm below the shoulder was still limp and weak.

"I didn't react at first either, until I noticed that the outline of the shadow arm, from the fingernails to the palm, was exactly the same as our own hands."

Li Ang slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air and explained, "My right middle finger bends slightly to the left because I used to grip the pen too hard when writing.

And you have always had the habit of trimming your nails into an oval, trapezoid shape."

"Hmm?"

Wang Congshan subconsciously glanced at her own palm. She did like to trim her nails neatly, parallel to her fingers, but in that kind of situation, Li Ang could still recognize it, which was quite outrageous.

"Rationality has dropped by about... ten percent."

Li Ang estimated the loss and shook his right arm, which was beginning to regain sensation, and said, "If we stay in the candlelight for a little longer, the loss will probably increase.

And if our shadows completely separate from us, something very bad might happen."

"What do we do now?"

Wang Congshan frowned, "There are only two roads to the courtyard on the map. If we don't go this way, we have to go back to the front hall and go around the left corridor again."

"We can't go back."

Li Ang pursed his lips, "The lanterns in the courtyard are like the hemp ropes in the Rope Corridor, they are abnormal objects.

Such abnormal objects may also exist in other places in the Hiratsuka residence. Returning to the front hall and re-walking the left corridor may lead to new dangers..."

He thought seriously for a while, and then, to Wang Congshan's stunned gaze, he used the Secondary Creation Technique to create a long brown cloak with a huge headgear.

The cloak was made of heavy material, and its surface was covered with glass shards, making it look dazzling.

The headgear was circular, with two protruding viewing holes.

The overall shape was similar to the lion skin in a lion dance prop.

"We'll wear this thing through the corridor later, and rely on the mirror fragments on the surface of the lion skin to reflect the light and offset the shadows."

Li Ang fiddled with the lion skin, got into it, and skillfully propped up the lion's head, performing a few moves on the spot. "If my calculations are correct, doing this should be able to avoid the light's judgment.

Do you have any questions?"

Wang Congshan looked at Li Ang, who was holding the lion's head with a serious expression, and the corner of her eye twitched.

The lion skin for this lion dance was brown like loess, and its surface was covered with fish scale-like glass shards, like a lion with non-mainstream dyed hair. It was too ugly.

"...Why can't you just make a huge mirror and walk straight through the corridor?"

"A huge one-way mirror can't block the sides and back, and will still create shadows.

And making a mirror box directly for us to hide in would consume too much energy – making a soft cloak with Creation Technique consumes much less than making a whole piece of glass."

Li Ang said quickly, "And using lion dance props can also move flexibly, making it easier to retreat.

Okay, stop talking nonsense, come and form the head with me."