"I’m not lying, and... the real expert is right there." Adila squinted his eyes, looking at the two figures pulling the cart in front.
No one refuted this ti. Musa’s religious identity had a natural advantage in such a Nightmare World, and as for the young man, Yang Xiao, everyone had witnessed his observation and judgnt skills firsthand.
Despite his young age, his sharp vision marked him as a formidable character, a notion that even the equally reserved Datou wholeheartedly agreed with.
Soon, it was ti to switch, and Adila and Aisha took over the cart-pulling duties, with the newcor Shari being deliberately ignored by everyone.
Cart-pulling was a skillful job, and the veteran players preferred to strain themselves rather than entrust their lives to a newcor, especially one who had just made a mistake.
"Now, I trust you." With the rope tucked under his arm, Adila turned his head slightly and raised his eyebrow at Aisha.
Aisha was not impressed by this person’s attentiveness. Her instincts told her he was a dangerous and unreliable fellow.
"Trust about what?" She didn’t even glance at him, unwilling to divert her attention for such matters.
"Trust you as a person, not a ghost." Adila didn’t shy away from the word ’ghost.’ He gestured with a nod towards the direction behind them, cautiously lowering his voice, "But as for the one behind us, that’s hard to say."
"Who?"
"You know who I’m talking about." Adila squinted his eyes, shrugged, and shifted to a more comfortable posture, "Be careful on the road. It’s bound to be anything but peaceful."
"You should worry about yourself." Aisha was sowhat wary of Adila’s unsolicited attention, to be exact, she was cautious of it.
But Adila didn’t mind; he just sighed and muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear, "I thought partnering with a woman would make work easier. Seems I’m not that lucky, unlike that guy who has won tending to him even while eating."
"What are you mumbling about?" Aisha frowned as she caught sight of Adila’s moving lips from the corner of her eye.
"Praying for us," Adila said in his usual tone, but a hint of sanctity suddenly appeared on his slightly cunning face, "Tonight, I have faith in Buddhism; I’m the most devout Buddhist."
Aisha withdrew her gaze and ignored him. Various crazies always appeared in the Nightmare World, and the best strategy was to stay away.
The people behind them continued to pull the cart. The night was very quiet. The road they took seed to be the main street of a town, relatively wide, lined with shops. Judging by the signs, business seed good.
These shops closed early at night, and besides the lanterns in their hands, there was no source of light on the street. The cold moonlight pierced through the clouds, spilling onto the bluestone-paved street, as if coating it with a layer of silver frost.
Footsteps rhythmically echoed, interspersed with the creaking of wooden cart wheels, with a sense of strangeness in the monotony.
Yang Xiao raised the map to ascertain their direction, while Musa held the piece of Corpse Incense.
The only good news for now was that the incense was burning slowly, barely consud at all, and its fragrant mist dispersed with the evening breeze.
Maria followed at the back of the group, tasked with keeping an eye on the newcors to prevent any foolish actions.
Suddenly, Maria noticed a strange expression on Sopa’s face, "What’s wrong?"
Sopa seed to snap back to reality, her eyes filled with fear as she stared at the coffin on the cart, "Did you... did you hear anything?"
The conversation quickly drew attention, with Datou being the first to inquire, "What did you hear?"
"I’m not sure, but I just heard a scratching sound, it seed... it seed to co from inside the coffin."
Sopa pressed her lips tightly together. Her nervousness was genuine, knowing fully well that the first one to sense sothing amiss in the group would likely encounter disaster first.
"Stop."
"Stop!" Yang Xiao called for the cart to halt, and while he did so, he cautiously refrained from shouting the nas of the two pulling it.
Adila dropped the rope and turned back with Aisha. At this mont, everyone stepped forward, cautiously approaching the coffin.
The coffin lay silently on the worn cart. Yang Xiao and the others held their breath, listening closely for a mont, but heard no sound.
"Soone heard sothing inside the coffin." Yang Xiao lifted his head, explaining to Adila and Aisha.
"I didn’t sense anything," Aisha responded first.
"Neither did I," Adila added.
The pressure fell on Sopa, who swallowed hard and looked at the pitch-black coffin, affirming, "Trust , I really heard it; that kind of... that kind of sound of fingernails scraping against wood, coming from the coffin."
She even mimicked the action with her hands, stiffening her back, curling her knuckles, and pretending to scratch with her nails.
"How co only you heard it?" Juan appeared skeptical, "I’m closer to the coffin than you are. Why didn’t I hear it?"
"It’s true," Sopa’s explanation sounded increasingly weak.
However, the group contained mostly veteran players. In their experience, it’s better to believe sothing exists than to risk it not. Datou urged the group to press on quickly; he couldn’t let Sopa take the risk.
They were close to leaving the town. Once they distanced themselves from the coffin, whatever issues it might have would no longer concern them tonight. It wasn’t their task.
Juan stepped forward, checking the ropes binding the coffin, suspecting one might be loose, as letting the coffin fall would be a disaster.
He tugged on the ropes to make sure they were secure, then signaled for the group to continue. But at that mont—
"Screech—"
In the stillness of the night, an unusually clear scratching sound emanated, right from within the coffin!
In an instant, Juan, who had his back turned to the coffin, leaped in fright like a rabbit and ran about ten ters before daring to look back.
After the initial panic subsided, the group quickly regained their composure. They were prepared for incidents along the way. They just hadn’t expected anything to happen so soon, assuming it would occur near the graveyard or during the burial process.
"Aisha, step down. Chu Xi, take her place. The won stay farther from the coffin,"
The experienced Musa imdiately took charge, then turned to Sopa and commanded, "Especially you, move to the back of the group."
"Speed up, let’s move!"
Under Musa’s orders, the veteran players carried out their roles, while Maria and Aisha oversaw the new players trailing behind, ensuring no one acted foolishly.
With Yang Xiao and Adila’s combined efforts, the group picked up pace and soon saw the outskirts of the town following the map’s route.
Yang Xiao and Adila remained extrely vigilant, as the scraping sounds inside the coffin beca more frequent, one after another, resembling the relentless scythe of death.
Yang Xiao could vividly imagine the thing inside the coffin growing restless.
Finally, they reached the town’s edge, and after confirming the stone monunt beside was the mark they were looking for, Juan Datu’s group bid farewell and quickly ran off in another direction, almost as if fleeing.
Watching their figures fade into the distance, Yang Xiao and the others had no complaints, nor did they have any reason to. If it were Yang Xiao himself, he would probably have run even faster.
"Don’t panic," Yang Xiao pulled the rope, "Everyone stay calm. The thing inside is rely scratching, not trying to lift the coffin lid. The Golden Buddha seems to be working."
"Imam, stay close and watch the Golden Buddha, make sure it doesn’t fall. And you, astronor, rember to look after Shari," Adila added.
This was a seasoned bit of advice from Adila, who used titles like ’Imam’ and ’astronor’ to avoid ntioning real nas.
Thus, among the three individuals referenced, only Shari’s na was revealed.
In light of the supernatural phenonon already occurring, this was tantamount to using one’s enemies to do one’s dirty work.
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