Chapter 241: Beneath the Haunted House

Half-immortal Liu from Qingcheng Mountain: "Treating the symptoms won't cure the disease. What use is stopping the great array for a few minutes? If you can't get away, the yin souls won't just scatter. Listen to my advice: don't let the yin souls discover you until you're absolutely certain you can escape. Those things might not pack much power, but once they latch onto you, it'll snowball. More and more will gather."

Half-immortal Liu was worried I would act impulsively, but I didn't have many options right now. "Don't worry. Shutting down the Ferris Wheel to stop the great array is just my trump card. I won't use it until the critical moment."

I memorized the layout of the buildings around the Amusement Park and headed downstairs. The old beggar was hiding in the corner, clutching his tattered clothes. His eyes darted evasively as he muttered something under his breath.

"Find anything?" Tie Ningxiang had used her outerwear to crudely bandage the wound on her arm. Now wearing only a simple, form-fitting tank top, her sharp curves were on full display, perfectly highlighting her golden-ratio figure.

"Not looking good." I glanced at how she had bandaged her arm. It was basically identical to the emergency first-aid techniques taught at the Police Department.

I still couldn't be certain whether she was real or a replacement. Yet, everything she showed and so many of the little details matched my memories perfectly. I couldn't find any obvious flaws.

"You lost the Clown at the Haunted House and got ambushed," I said. "I've been to the Haunted House too. The third theme area leading underground is locked up with chains. There aren't many places to hide a person in the Amusement Park. If Yi Yi is still alive, she's most likely beneath the Haunted House."

"Then let's go now. Long nights bring many dreams. If we team up, our chances of saving Yi Yi will be much higher." Tie Ningxiang didn't care about the injury on her arm at all; she was entirely focused on Yi Yi's safety. This reaction also fit my impression of Tie Ningxiang.

"The enemy has already laid a trap and is just waiting for us to walk right into it," I pointed out. "And have you thought about what you'll do if they use Yi Yi's life to threaten you? Are you willing to gamble with your own life?"

Tie Ningxiang fell silent for a moment. "That's exactly what I'm most worried about. That's why I need your help. If things really come to that, I want you to act without hesitation. Find a chance to take Yi Yi and escape immediately. Don't worry about me. Wasn't I their target from the very beginning? I won't run away. After all, I'm a cop."

"Self-sacrifice?" Only someone with Tie Ningxiang's personality could have said that last part. Coming from a family of police officers, Deputy Bureau Chief Tie had instilled a sense of police honor in her since she was a child.

My reaction was lukewarm, and I kept my emotions in check. I neither rejected her nor offered any words of comfort.

"Alright then. Let's head out," I said. I had already surveyed the distribution of yin souls in the Amusement Park. Most of them were concentrated on the main road, so taking the side paths would allow us to effectively avoid them.

Seeing me turn and leave without wasting another word, Tie Ningxiang touched the United Heart Jade at her chest. She seemed to want to say something more, but she remained silent.

I saw this scene through the Underworld Live Show Phone. The livestream viewers had also started feeling sorry for this beautiful female cop, but I had to stay completely calm. I couldn't let external voices or emotions affect my judgment, because I knew there was more than one Tie Ningxiang in this Amusement Park.

The old beggar didn't try to stop me this time. He huddled in the corner of the stairs, clutching his head and not daring to look outside. He seemed terrified.

We turned and went downstairs. Taking advantage of the moment just after a yin soul had wandered past, Tie Ningxiang and I slipped along the edges of the rides, making our way toward the Haunted House.

"Gao Jian, don't you find that old man strange? This obviously isn't his first time encountering something like this, so why hasn't he reported it to the outside world? And even if he's keeping it a secret, he could easily leave and beg somewhere else. He wouldn't have to live in constant fear."

Tie Ningxiang kept her voice low, but I caught every single word. The truth was, more than half my attention was focused squarely on her. Compared to the yin souls, the woman beside me made me feel far more uneasy.

"I still haven't figured out the beggar's identity, but he shouldn't be a bad guy. Before any tourist enters the Amusement Park, he tries to stop them. Someone like that shouldn't be an issue." Answering offhandedly, I sprinted from corner to corner between the buildings, my eyes occasionally darting toward the highest structure in the Amusement Park—the Ferris Wheel.

Shutting it down would temporarily disable the great array. I hadn't even told Tie Ningxiang about this; I wanted to save it as my trump card.

First, I'd enter the Haunted House and burn the remaining rag dolls, then immediately regroup with the Fate Ghost.

The Fate Ghost was my greatest asset in this broadcast. Only when I was with it could I feel at ease.

Thinking of this, I suddenly realized something—the little girl in red seemed to have disappeared from my side.

I didn't know the exact reason. She might have been killed by the Mirror Ghost in the maze, or maybe she couldn't move freely after the great array activated at midnight. There was also a third possibility: she was afraid of the Tie Ningxiang beside me, so she didn't dare show herself.

It took Tie Ningxiang and me over ten minutes to dodge the yin souls and get close to the Haunted House. The number of yin souls outside had dropped significantly, but there were still a few lingering stubbornly at the entrance.

"I'll go lure them away. You head inside." Tie Ningxiang pressed a hand against my shoulder and gave me a tactical hand signal used by police when coordinating an arrest.

"Forget it. It's better if I go." I couldn't muster an ounce of trust for the person beside me. Every word she said needed to be carefully scrutinized.

Tie Ningxiang seemed to notice my reservations and gave a helpless nod.

"Once I lure these yin souls away, go straight into the Haunted House and find a way to pry open the door leading underground." I hid my true objective, using this as another way to test her.

"Got it."

After getting Tie Ningxiang's response, I slapped a Disaster-Averting Talisman onto my chest and charged out onto the main road.

A living person's body held three yang flames: one on the crown of the head and one on each shoulder. Yin souls and ghostly entities were naturally drawn to yang flames, but they would absolutely never dare approach someone whose flames burned bright—unless a living person stepped onto their turf.

That was exactly my situation right now. The moment the yin souls spotted the beacon of my yang flames, they swarmed over, desperate to blow them out.

To buy Tie Ningxiang enough time, I waited until the yin souls were within five meters of me before I finally started running. I circled the Haunted House counterclockwise. The ghosts trailed behind me, lingering spirits acting like spectral soldiers ordered to collect my life.

"Gao Jian!"

Hearing Tie Ningxiang's voice, I waved my hand and flung several dust-clearing and disaster-warding talismans behind me. Although they were low-grade Talisman Papers, they had come from Lu Jin's hands. They were drawn by an orthodox Celestial Master Profound Truth and carried a trace of Daoist essence—more than enough to deter these yin souls.

I ducked into the Haunted House. Nothing inside had changed, except that the theme area leading underground was now wide open.

"Where are the chains on the door?" I asked. The iron door gaped open like the maw of a monster, exuding a bone-chilling cold as it waited to devour everything.

"I don't know. Isn't this exactly how it was when I first came here?"

Tie Ningxiang's surprised question only made me more suspicious. Glancing at the story for the third theme written on the wall, I didn't immediately follow her underground. Instead, I sprinted toward the first theme area.

'If I rescue the Fate Ghost, I'll at least have some power to protect myself!'

"Where are you going?" Tie Ningxiang asked, following me in confusion. I didn't explain. I kicked open the wooden door to the first Haunted House theme and dashed straight to the fifth room on the second floor.

Standing at the doorway, I found the scene inside just as horrifying as every other time I'd seen it. Every rag doll in this room represented a dead person. They were tossed haphazardly around the room, their marker-drawn eyes staring at me from every possible angle.

Tie Ningxiang followed right behind me. Taking in the sight, she looked slightly intimidated. "Why do I feel like they're looking at us?"

"You're not wrong. These things already have yin souls dwelling inside them." The number of rag dolls in the room had decreased significantly; only about half remained. I guessed the person behind the scenes couldn't control all the yin souls at once either.

I pulled out my lighter and picked up a rag doll, getting ready to burn it, but the flame snuffed out the moment it touched the fabric. It wasn't until I filmed it with the Underworld Live Show Phone that I realized a yin soul was poking its head out from the doll's back. Its ethereal body had wrapped a snake-like neck tightly around my arm. As long as my lighter got close, it would blow out the flame, even at the cost of injuring itself.

Burned by the yang flame, it shrieked in pain. Awakened by its cries, all the rag dolls in the room slowly seemed to come alive, sitting up and crawling out from the corners.