Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

18:02.

In Massas City, beside the abandoned elevated highway.

The night fell like a curtain, the temperature was cool and damp.

Du Wei watched the figure waving at him expressionlessly, and instead of moving forward, he took a few steps back.

Although he should not be affected by ghosts while holding the Black Umbrella and wearing a mask, in a place like Massas City, the most dangerous things were not the Evil Spirits that one could fight against, but some eerie locations.

These locations themselves were more terrifying than the Evil Spirits, the most horrific of traps.

If left alone, it was fine, but once touched, it was very difficult to escape.

Seeing that Du Wei wasn't approaching, the figure, as if not willing to give up, continued to wave.

Regular and mechanical.

But Du Wei simply ignored it and just quietly watched.

A few minutes later.

The figure gave up the waving, turned around, walked to the broken part of the elevated highway, and leaped.

Thump...

Again, the sound of something heavy falling.

The scene was eerie and strange, as if someone was actually jumping from a bridge.

But Du Wei had already determined that this thing was a ghost and not a person possessed by a ghost.

If it were a person, they could not be so blurry that only a silhouette could be seen.

Ghosts were not terrifying enough to distort Spirit Vision; otherwise, Evil Spirits would not be more frightening than Ghosts.

Du Wei was very calm inside, not affected at all.

Then.

Another figure appeared...

This time, it was even closer to him...

At such a close distance, he still could not see the specific features, only a silhouette that was slouched and hunched like an old person.

Du Wei narrowed his eyes, he seemed to understand...

For some reason, these Ghosts were restricted to this unfinished elevated highway, and every time night fell, they would start to jump off the bridge.

His arrival seemed to have attracted the attention of the ghosts.

After each jump, the newly appeared Ghost was a bit closer to him.

At this rate, the next ghost would appear about five meters in front of him, about to leave the highway range.

The time after next, it was very likely to appear right in front of him or perhaps behind him.

By then, something truly terrifying would definitely happen.

Of course...

Du Wei thought the latter was unlikely, as the eerie place was this abandoned, broken elevated highway. If the Ghost left its range, it might be destroyed or just exist as a pure Ghost.

And pure Ghosts...

Were a bit too weak for him now.

Of course... it should be stronger than the crumpled old woman's face brought by the late Ms. Aisha.

"This place isn't suitable as a trap, I need to go to the next place," Du Wei said and saw the elderly-like Ghost walk to the broken edge of the elevated highway and leap directly.

Thump... a heavy object hit the ground.

The sound was unusually heavy, giving rise to an inexplicable irritation in one's heart.

It felt as if something was about to happen.

Du Wei's pupils narrowed, and he turned to leave.

However, as he took a step forward, he felt an overwhelming chill.

Goosebumps rose all over his skin, as though there was something incredibly terrifying behind him.

The Black Umbrella also tilted backward as if something had snagged it.

Without hesitation, Du Wei gripped the Black Umbrella tightly and ran forward.

After he no longer felt that hair-raising chill, Du Wei took a breath, turned his head, and looked back.

He saw a blurry figure standing where he had been, the outline suggesting a burly male.

The male Ghost held its hand out as if trying to pull on something.

And this time, it did not start jumping off the bridge.

This...

What was going on?

Du Wei's heart pounded erratically; he couldn't understand why, despite never setting foot on the overpass and always maintaining a safe distance, a ghost had almost touched him.

Moreover, according to previous patterns, this ghost should at most have appeared only at the entrance to the highway.

"Where exactly did things go wrong?"

As Du Wei ran, he frantically thought to himself that he had been well-prepared and constantly vigilant, yet an uncontrollable situation had arisen once again.

This city was terrifyingly bizarre...

"I must change my way of thinking."

A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit.

The first time it could be attributed to a momentary oversight, which led him into trouble.

But the second time was different.

No matter how much preparation was made, no matter how far the distance was maintained, it was all utterly useless.

This godforsaken place operated without reason or discernible triggering rules.

Even how one encountered the anomalies was imperceptible.

In such circumstances, setting traps in a suitable place would be insane.

It was uncertain whether the traps would kill the people from Dusk Bell Church, but one thing was sure: Du Wei would certainly take a trip through death's door first.

An indescribable, eerie sense of oppression made it almost impossible for Du Wei to breathe.

The strangeness of Massas City was unlike any Evil Spirit he had encountered before.

Even that bus didn't compare to the terror here.

Or rather, the form in which the horror manifested itself was different.

The rules on the bus applied only within it, not affecting the outside.

The terror of the highway was confined to its bounds, yet it could extend.

Everything he had seen and felt before had some trail to follow—perhaps an Evil Spirit, or comprehensible rules.

But in this Uninhabited City, even the Evil Spirits seemed to become harmless.

Not understanding, not seeing, not hearing, not detecting anomalies.

There was nothing more powerless than this.

Du Wei kept running until he was a hundred meters away from the severed overpass behind him before he finally stopped.

But he didn't have a moment to catch his breath.

Behind him...

A cough suddenly echoed...

"Cough cough..."

...

Within the darkness engulfing Massas City.

A man carrying a backpack and holding a Black Umbrella rode rapidly forward on an old bicycle.

Darkness lay behind him.

Right now, Du Wei was on edge, gasping for breath, sweat covering his face beneath the mask, yet he dared not remove it to wipe his sweat away.

Just now, he had encountered something terrifyingly horrifying.

In Spirit Vision, he felt that the broken overpass was extending indefinitely in some sense.

The location where Ghosts appeared corresponded to the range of the overpass; with each Ghost that appeared, the road stretched further ahead.

If he hadn't found another bicycle and cycled away in panic, he might have already entered the range of that road.

Once he fell into that situation, Du Wei would have no choice but to gamble with a Joker Card and "himself."

That was the only solution, but he didn't want to use it unless absolutely necessary in the most intractable situation!

Moreover, even if he did use it, the consequences would be severe.

This severed overpass could be considered an Evil Spirit itself, or something as terrifying as the bus.

Du Wei could only flee in disarray.

Behind him, a Ghost appeared once again.

This time, it was a female ghost, whose face was still unclear.

But it was very close to Du Wei, close enough that it merely reached out its hand to hook onto the bicycle and lightly sat on it.

However, due to the Black Umbrella behind Du Wei, it couldn't touch him.

At this moment, Du Wei could clearly feel an icy chill coming from behind him, emanating from the Ghost; but this ghost was just a vessel, a medium for the concept of the entire highway.

Du Wei's eyes were bloodshot as he struggled to maintain extreme rationality. There was no hint of panic in his eyes, only numbness and hollow indifference.

The feeling of being inhuman was even stronger than before...

Based on the timing of the Ghosts' appearances, the next one would show up in three minutes.

Within three minutes, he must find a way to escape this road.