Chapter 556: Chapter 555: Shh, Footsteps Approaching

Entering from the museum, the first thing that meets the eye beyond the pushed door is the art gallery corridor, where the light is quite abundant, making it look no different from usual soon-to-be-demolished buildings.

However, the scent inside is a bit strange, and the paintings are damaged in an eerie manner.

Li Yang, Guo Yin, and Chu Qiu looked up and scanned the artwork on the walls, carefully avoiding the broken glass on the ground.

"These are all paintings I’ve never seen before, not replicas of any famous works; they are truly beautiful," Chu Qiu commented after examining five or six paintings, giving them high praise.

Guan Yu added from the side, "Chu Qiu likes antique calligraphy and paintings and often visits various galleries to see paintings."

Li Yang was very surprised, "Chu Qiu, you have this kind of hobby?"

Seeing him chasing Guan Yu around just now, I thought he was the same as Guan Yu, didn’t expect him to have such a refined hobby.

Chu Qiu laughed while waving his hand as he walked: "Anyway, there’s nothing much to do; galleries and museums are relatively quiet."

As they walked deeper, the artworks became fewer, transitioning into more meaningful items like clothes, letters, and tools. Moreover, those items were well-preserved, with the glass cases over them unbroken.

"Only the glass over the paintings has been shattered, and it broke in a clump from the center without falling off, merely obstructing the view of the paintings’ contents."

Chu Qiu observed a strange phenomenon.

Mu Qiu and Zhao Yu didn’t notice these details when they first entered, but after hearing, they followed to take a look.

"Could it be they didn’t want us to see the content of the paintings?"

Li Yang: "In that case, do these shattered paintings contain hint information in their content?"

Chu Qiu nodded: "Quite possibly."

"There should still be paintings ahead, let’s check that painting first, and see if that thing is still there, based on the number of paintings and the extent of the damage, the innermost paintings might have more information," Mu Qiu suggested.

She turned on the flashlight of the intercom, aiming at the deepest part of the gallery.

"The lighting inside is broken, everyone needs to turn on their flashlights."

Suddenly the place was brightened, illuminating the path clearly. After a small turn, they arrived in front of the wall they had seen before.

The wall was smooth and flat, with some broken glass scattered on the smooth surface below.

The strange object that had just been nailed to the wall with an axe was gone, the axe was gone, too, and most strangely, the marks left by the axe on the wall had disappeared as well.

Zhao Yu leaned close to Mu Qiu, unconsciously lowering her voice.

"That thing is gone. But why are the deeply etched marks of the axe gone too?"

Guan Yu widened her eyes and mimicked her low voice, "You mean, there was an axe nailed to the wall before, right? Now that mark is gone?"

Zhao Yu nodded and continued, "Although it wasn’t very clear, being able to nail something into the wall must have gone quite deep... Was it a foam wall just now?"

"It’s definitely not something supernatural."

Li Yang and the rest hadn’t seen the strange thing before, now seeing the smooth and intact wall, they didn’t find it strange, some even went up to knock and tap on the wall, pressing their ear against it to listen.

"It’s a real wall, with the scent of a newly constructed one. That strange thing you all just saw was really nailed...!!!"

The flashlights that had brightly illuminated the area suddenly all started flickering, as if their batteries had run out, after a few flickers, they all went out.

The corner fell into an abnormal darkness in the middle of daylight.

Because the whole corridor was of a wavy design, this area was slightly curved, the light barely leaked in after multiple curves.

Thus everyone stood rigidly in the dimness.

"This," Guo Yin cautiously voiced out, "why did the flashlights all go out at the same time?"

Mu Qiu swallowed her saliva, still maintaining a relatively calm face.

"Maybe the crew took the innermost batch from the inventory? The batteries were all out."

"This one seems to be rechargeable."

"..."

Several people huddled closer in the dark, nervously clustering together, back against back, using the faint light to discern positions and surroundings.

Zhao Yu looked at the camera with the faint red light and quietly asked the photographer behind, "Mr. Photographer, why not turn on your light again?"

The photographer did not respond.

In this quiet, dim place where strange things had just appeared, the mind’s imagination automatically kicked in, and fear wrapped around like a breeze, thread by thread.

The slightest sound was amplified by psychological effects.

Just like now.

"Shhh—" Guan Yu whispered so lightly it was nearly inaudible, "There are footsteps."

Everyone even softened their breathing, listening carefully.

Indeed, footsteps echoed, resonating through the wavy corridor—step by step, pounding on their tightly wound nerves.

Before they could speculate what it was, another person’s footsteps joined in—heavy, treading twice, releasing teeth-gritting, glass-crunching sounds.

It is a person, but who could it be? What if they go out and see nobody, yet always hear the sound? Then what thing is making those sounds?

Mu Qiu’s mind raced at a frantic pace, anxiously turning. She kept telling herself that this wasn’t a horror movie, but in her self-suggestion, her mind automatically deleted "isn’t" leaving only—horror movie.

This is a goddamn horror movie!

The sudden synchronized blackout of flashlights, this is the part of a horror movie!

Although their breathing was intentionally suppressed, the sound of heartbeats in the space became more evident, chaotic and loud.

Mu Qiu swallowed again, trying to reach back to grab Zhao Yu, but Zhao Yu had moved a bit to the left at some point, when reaching back, she suddenly touched an unknown biological entity’s thigh.

Her heart jumped immediately, swiftly withdrawing her hand, just before nervously stuttering to ask who it was, Chu Qiu behind her let out a shriek.

"Aaaaaahhhh someone touched me!!!"

The sudden scream triggered panic among others, no one knows who pulled or pushed forward, and Li Yang who was at the side immediately started yelling too.

"Aaaaaahhhh someone pinched me!"

"Who stepped on me?! Aaaaaah there is something soft and slippery touching me!"

"Get out of here, aaaaaahhhh! So terrifying!"

Mu Qiu hadn’t reacted yet, being shoved and pushed towards the exit. The group ran fast and rushed, like escaping from disaster.

Screaming as they ran, the echoes of their screams filled the entire corridor, appearing like a flock of crazy ducks trying to fly away.

Halfway back, Mu Qiu bumped into someone’s arms.

Cheng Zhirang was unaware of what happened, watched them rush out screaming, just about to hug Mu Qiu to ask.

Unexpectedly Mu Qiu and Zhao Yu holding hands didn’t seem to see him, colliding into him and then pushing him aside, continued running without looking back... ran out... ran out...