Chapter 4 Haunted Mansion_2

The descending shutter door, the empty passageways, the gloomy and hollow spaces, the quiet atmosphere...

Occasionally, one could hear the sound of water droplets falling from nowhere, uncertain if it was a loose tap or merely an auditory illusion.

He maintained a relaxed breathing rhythm, consciously accumulating strength within his body.

If "luck" was on his side, tonight he might encounter his first battle since rebirth...

Speaking of battle, the current Cen Dongsheng had not yet mastered any Cursing Prohibitions, and his power was at a low ebb.

The good news was, since the mall was operating normally from day to night, he didn't believe there was any "ghost house transformation" here, so it wasn't too dangerous.

In this era, real Ghost Houses were still rare, and once discovered, the government would likely choose to keep it secret.

During an era when the war between ghosts and humans had not yet come to the fore, the upper echelons often resorted to information blockades to avoid public panic.

He had anticipated this when he decided to scout around.

The core that triggered the "ghost house transformation"—be it a certain Cursing Prohibition, a Forbidden Item, or simply strong yin energy—often resided within the most powerful ghost of the Ghost House. Defeating it could exorcise the Ghost House and yield corresponding spoils of war.

This process was all too familiar to Cen Dongsheng.

However, although the accumulated yin energy in the building was not enough to warp space, it could still attract lower-class ghosts, which meant something was indeed hidden inside the mall.

...As long as the "haunted" rumors were true.

As for the ghosts themselves, he could only just about manage to deal with them now.

To gain an advantage, one always had to take some risks.

"Tap tap tap."

Footsteps echoed along the silent corridor.

The internal map of the building had been forcibly memorized by Cen Dongsheng during the security guard's tour. This was a skill honed to instinct for him.

Thus, no matter where he walked, he could replay the action in his mind: he had covered about a third of the patrol route, currently, he should be in the northeast area of the third floor, where stores mainly sold men's and women's fashion...

"Clang."

A strange muffled sound abruptly rang in his ear, breaking his train of thought.

Cen Dongsheng immediately halted. In an instant, the lengthy and deep corridor became eerily silent.

Only the moving beam from the flashlight in his hand remained, slowly turning towards the direction of the sound.

Behind the mesh of the shutter door was a glass door, beyond which lay a clothing store, and...

Mannequins.

A half-bodied mannequin without a face, wearing a wide-brimmed hat on its head.

"Clang."

Another familiar noise sounded, and Cen Dongsheng felt sure he wasn't mistaken, the mannequin that should have stood there motionless... really shook slightly.

"Clang."

The mannequin's head moved to the side once more, the extent slight yet distinctly visible, definitely not an illusion.

As if "it" had suddenly come to life, as if "it" was "click-clacking" its neck joints into action.

Without a doubt, it was a terrifying sight that defied common sense.

And in the face of sudden unknown fears, people often reveal their truest selves.

Some freeze up, scared stiff on the spot, others would wail and scramble away in terror, some would react with violence, their fear turning into anger, charging forth to fight...

But Cen Dongsheng's reaction was none of the above.

He did not move, yet he wasn't frozen. Instead, he tensed his shoulders and slightly crouched, like an athlete poised on the starting line.

His eyes stayed fixed on the direction of the mannequin, with vigilance and focus but no fear, like an experienced Snake Catcher facing a hissing snake threatening those around him.

This standoff lasted for a few minutes, until the mannequin's neck turned approximately 90 degrees and stopped moving.

A pale figure suddenly vanished behind the model.

"...Eh."

Cen Dongsheng's lips curved into a slight smile. Although he kept an eye on the mannequin, his body had already turned back.

"A wild cat, huh... I must have been mistaken."

Mumbling to himself, he continued walking deeper along the corridor.

"Mouthfuls of 'wild cat,'" he certainly wouldn't really consider the bizarre event that just happened as the work of a cat.

On the contrary, Cen Dongsheng could almost confirm that it was the doing of ghosts, but the way they went about playing tricks suggested they were of a lower grade.

Like the Forbidden Masters, ghosts were also classified into four danger levels, namely "A B C D," with those beyond not likely to appear easily in this era.

The four types of ghosts not only represented four grades but could also be thought of as four different types:

Class A Ghosts often form the core of a ghost house, possessing the basic ability to manipulate the interior space of the house. That was a super-dangerous monster he could not exorcise alone even before his rebirth;

Class B Ghosts, also called "Fierce Ghosts," are characterized by having powerful abilities to interfere with the physical world, creating illusions, possessing humans, which are also basics for them;

Class C Ghosts, also known as "Lonely Souls," are characterized by having a certain level of intelligence, even capable of communicating with humans, often resembling the deceased in appearance;

The lowest-grade Class D Ghosts, also known as "Floating Spirits," are the most uniform in characteristics, almost all "white, emitting a faint glow, faceless" in appearance, meaning that the Floating Spirits don't even have a substantial self-awareness and often appear in groups following instinct.

"If there really were Evil Spirits or Fierce Ghost-level entities, I should be running now. Luckily, there aren't."

Cen Dongsheng took a deep breath and continued forward.

"The most suspicious place in this building has to be the West Area."

The reason being nothing else but that parts of the walls in that direction were still covered with scaffolding and plastic cloth, unfinished, which he had noticed on his way there.

If the "Cursing Prohibition" he was looking for were hidden in a section of the building already open to customers, then the building wouldn't be so peaceful, and the victims would not be limited to just a few night patrol security guards.

Following the corridor straight on, he eventually stopped at a spot completely obscured by plastic.

Cen Dongsheng thought it over and decided not to make too much noise, so he changed direction and walked toward the nearby washroom.

He had only approached a few steps when he heard a faint cry coming from the women's restroom.

The sob was soft, mixed with whimpers, full of mournful weeping.

No wonder... Cen Dongsheng recalled the experience of the security guard who had come before him.

That said, this person was already brave; ordinary people would have broken by now, let alone muster the courage to go in and check things out.

Cen Dongsheng thought as much and walked into the women's restroom without hesitation.

He tried to turn on the light, but the bulb overhead only flickered twice before dimming again.

He then casually turned on the tap, washed his hands, and bent down to splash his face.

When he looked up again, he felt much more refreshed. He shook the water droplets from his hair and, using the dim light, observed his own face.

In the mirror, he gazed back at his reflection, and not far behind him, a frail woman in an old white dress stood quietly there.

Her long, withered hair fell in front of her, obscuring the woman's face; her body slightly hunched, standing in the corner.

And if one were to turn around at this moment...

That corner would be empty.

Cen Dongsheng did not speak or cry out; he simply watched her silently.

Time seemed to suddenly slow down.

After some moments of silence, he suddenly grinned and made a face at "her" in the mirror.

"..."

Alright, as expected, no reaction.

Likely the same one trying to scare him earlier with the mannequin.

Cen Dongsheng turned off the tap and, pretending not to see, casually walked past the corner where the white-dressed ghost girl was.

...

Between the two restrooms, he noticed a collapsed low wall, not yet fully filled in, so he boldly stepped over the barrier and slipped to the other side.

No sooner had his feet touched the ground than Cen Dongsheng felt a chill crawl up his spine; at the same time, because of the plastic cloth blocking, no light from the outside could penetrate, enveloping his surroundings in pitch darkness.

It was like he was in an endless abyss.

However, it was precisely this environment that made Cen Dongsheng involuntarily smile.

"Found it."

He whispered excitedly.

—The dense and distinct "Qi" emanating from the high-grade Cursing Prohibition without sealed treatment was clearly reflected in his senses.