Under Pressure

"Depends on the lady in front of me," Wei Lan said.

The air stilled.

The woman who walked towards him looked through her hair at him, revealing those ghostly eyes even more.

"Hmm," the voice behind him said, "A bit rude to mention other women to me."

An oppressive air rose, a stifling heart wrenching scream started behind him.

Wei Lan started to sweat. Shit!

His mind worked overtime as he sifted through his memories about the story that he had read before.

In the Novel, "The Female Lead's Escape from Infinite Horror", there was the mention of a familiar scenario. It was similar to The ghost world that was called "Lan'er's Revenge." It had a bunch ghosts. There was the ghost under the desk, the ghost hidden in the dark room, the ghost the seduced men from behind, a baby ghost that attacked from dark staircases and the most important one, key ghosts who were the reason that the players of that world ended up meeting all the other ghosts in the first place.

And now, feeling the oppressive aura from behind him, the ghost woman in front of him and the key ghost that led him into this dark and dreary room in the first place, Wei Lan thought that this might either be a great recreation of that dungeon or, the most likely reality, he was now in that novel.

He had read enough and contributed to the entertainment industry for long enough that he speculated that he had replaced some player with the same name as him. That was how this worked in those stories.

There was also that man who looked like him that he met in his own world who said that Wei Lan would be his substitute…

Wei Lan wished he could meet that brat again! If saw that brat ever again, he was going to freaking murder the bastard with his own hands! Already being a ghost be damned!

He tried to calm himself down and tried to think about the plot of the novel. But he found that his recollection of the plot was non-existent for the moment. Which was not that of a surprise. He had read enough transmigration novels to know that it was a rare but regular trope for the transmigrated person to not remember everything about the work that they transmigrated into. Although…he would have really liked it if he had transmigrated into those Stallion novels or even romance novels.

What kind of bad luck did he have that he got transmigrated into a freaking Horror novel!

Wei Lan felt a great pressure from behind him.

He instinctively rolled away even as his mind gripped about his rotten luck.

The ghost that was behind him followed after him. The mouldy wet smell in the room became more pungent as he jumped to his feet.

The weird looking female twisted her head until her chin pointed to the ceiling and her eyes protruded out.

Blood oozed out of her and a pained, sharp cry came out of her lips.

The dark, evil pressure behind him started to gain power again.

Wei Lan tried to think of what other transmigrated characters would do in his situation even though he was not familiar of any novels that had the Main character transmigrating to a Horror novel.

He remembered that one of the most common tropes in these novels was that the transmigrator always migrated to a host that had the same name as them, looked like them or were in the same profession as them. And sometimes, it was a combination of the three.

He tried to think if there were any characters with the name "Wei Lan" or any of its variant in the novel "The Female Lead's Escape from Infinite Horror". The reason was simple, he wanted to know how quickly he died, or if he did not die.

The reason that he looked for the character in the novel and did not assume that he was not at all mentioned in the novel was because of the Soul that brought him to this world in its stead. There was no way that Host could have brought him into the novel without him having some kind of a power in the novel.

At least he hoped so.

The great pressure came towards him again.

The hair along his spine tingled.

Wei Lan dodged to the side but he was not quick enough.

A long black blade-like thing tore the place of his forearm and a deep gash appeared there.

A soul searing pain erupted from that place. It was different from the pain that you would get while getting hurt normally. He was an actor who had done all kinds of scenes and had all kinds of injuries but none of them gave him this feeling of great oppression.

He gritted his teeth, suppressing the scream that wanted to erupt from his mouth.

He blinked back the physiological tears and looked at the wound.

His eyes widened.

The blood that oozed out of the wound was black and gooey, and there was black miasma around it.

Wei Lan instinctively realised what it was.

Soul Power.

This was the power that his soul had.

His mind went to the information that the original novel had about this power. It was the thing that kept the souls in the physical realm and prevented them from entering reincarnation. It was the reason that ghosts appeared in this Fictional World.

He remembered a peculiar thing about the novel at that moment. In it, the ghosts were treated the way that monsters were treated in video games and beasts were treated in cultivation novels. Killed to gain experience and loots.

There was another thing. A ghost became more powerful by eating other ghosts.

He finally knew why he was the first one to be attacked.

Killing a newbie soul like his was easier and more useful for these ghosts.

This thought also made him realise another thing. The female ghost in front of him and the ghost that was trying to kill him from behind were fighting for resources!

The Head-twisted ghost ran towards him, blood spilling everywhere from its mouth.

Wei Lan ducked from a swipe at his face and kicked the female ghost in the ribs.

Crack!

The female ghost screamed as it flew through the air and slammed into the far wall, very close to the only light source in the room. Blood pooled around it as it tried to get to its feet. The area of the creature's hair that touched the light smoked and burst into flames.

The female ghost realised where it laid and scrambled away in fear.

Wei Lan smirked. His guess that the ghost was scared of the light was correct!

Then he thought about it and the smirk went away into a flat line.

…but…he was also a ghost now…

The evil pressure gathered again.

"How could you hurt a girl?" the voice asked.

He had forgotten about its existence.

Wei Lan shrugged. "It's a ghost. Am I supposed to kiss her?"

His words offended the female ghost and she started to attack him even fiercely.

He dodged again and again and kicked the thing every time it got too close to him and tried to avoid the blood it oozed out as he did not know the side effect that it could have on him if it touched him.

He was lucky that he was also a ghost and the power-level between the female ghost and him did not seem to be that different. But he was weaker, it was why the female ghost dared to try to kill him.

The female ghost jumped away from his kick as the evil pressure rushed to him again.

Wei Lan skid towards the female ghost, cleanly avoiding the attack and stood in front of the female ghost.

There were close to the desk that it had hidden under.

The female ghost attacked again.

He jumped on top of the desk and gave the twisted head a kick.

Crack!

The female ghost's neck broke.

"Sorry sister," he said to it. "But since it is either me or you, I choose me. You should understand."

There was an inhuman screech from her.

Long nails protruded from her claws and scratched at him.

Wei Lan jumped off the desk and dashed under the desk. Using the edge of the desk as support, he kicked at the knees of the female ghost.

She fell down.

There was confusion on her twisted, broken face. Why was this weak prey able to hurt her so much?

Wei Lan hauled himself to the top of the desk and missed the attack of the evil pressure again.

His eyes seemed to see that the black blade was unique…like it was not a blade at all.

Why did it look like locks of hair?

The evil pressure hit the leg of the desk and dissipated.

Wei Lan raised his eyebrows in surprise.

He crouched and patted the top of the desk.

"Very sturdy," he said to himself.

The female ghost rose up again.

She looked even more twisted than before, the anger in her eyes prevalent.

Wei Lan gave her a charming smile. "You don't mind if I use your home for some time right?"

There was visible confusion in the ghost's eyes at the word 'home'. What was he talking about?

Wei Lan knocked on the desk. "This is your home, right?"

The female ghost shook her hanging neck.

He cringed at the image. "Okay, okay. Got it. Just don't do that anymore. It looks really creepy."

There was anger and frustration in the female ghost's eyes at his words. Who was the one who broke her neck!

The evil pressure came again.

Wei Lan jumped towards the female ghost, who avoided him like a plague due the incoming pressure attack.

He used the momentum to kick the edge of the desk and flip it over, using it as a shield against the attack.

The power dissipated again.

The air stilled.

The female ghost who was ready to attack him as well stood still in shock.

"That was unexpected," the voice said from all corners of the room, an inexplicable lose in its tone. "Well done?"

Wei Lan grinned. "Thank you. It is all thanks to you though."

The mouldy smell in the room increased in response.

Wei Lan got ready, grabbing the leg of the desk.