25: Chapter 25, Second Assessment: Photophobia Period

[Second Assessment: Photophobia Period]

[Rule: Evade the pursuit of the Shadow Devourers.]

[Supplementary Rule: Faint light sources will attract Shadow Devourers.]

[Duration: 120 hours.]

[Failure Penalty: Death.]

Seeing the new Assessment content and the additional supplementary rule, Fang Yingying didn't dare to dwell on it and immediately sprang into action.

She rushed into the living room and pulled the heavy curtains shut with a clatter, instantly cutting the indoor light by half.

Then she ran back to the bedroom and tightly closed those curtains as well.

Next, she looked around, and anything that might emit light became her target.

She unplugged the small nightlight by the bed and smashed it with force. The mirror that could reflect light was also smashed, and she even pried the batteries out of the digital clock.

After doing all this, she thought for a moment and pulled down the main circuit breaker for the apartment.

The entire house fell into complete gloom, with only a sliver of faint daylight peeking through the gaps in the curtains.

Once everything was done, she finally chose the large wardrobe in the bedroom and hid inside.

Curled up behind the hanging clothes, she hugged her knees tightly.

Fang Yingying kept her breathing very light, just as she had during the previous Silent Day, for fear of making even the slightest noise.

It'll be fine. Just like last time, as long as I hide quietly at home for five days, everything will be fine.

Faint light will attract those Shadow Devourer things, but now there's not a single spark of light in my room. I should be safe, right?

Time became exceptionally long in the darkness.

She didn't know how much time had passed; it could have been half an hour, or perhaps an hour.

Anxiety began to gnaw at her heart like ants.

She wanted to know the time, and her fingers subconsciously reached for the pocket where she usually kept her phone.

But with her hand halfway there, she stopped.

Right, I can't let out even a bit of light, or it'll attract those ghost things.

Thinking this, she forced herself to withdraw her hand and clenched it into a tight fist.

Can't move, can't look.

She closed her eyes and tried to recall a "Heart Clearing Incantation" she had seen online a few days ago, reciting it silently in her mind over and over.

Whether it was psychological or actually effective, that inexplicable anxiety really seemed to be suppressed a little.

But just as her heart was beginning to settle...

Suddenly.

BOOM!!!

A dull, massive thud came from downstairs, accompanied by a faint sensation of vibration.

The wardrobe shook slightly a few times.

Fang Yingying's silent recitation came to an abrupt halt, and her heart constricted violently.

Immediately after, a man's shrill, distorted scream tore through the silence outside!

"Aaaagh!!!"

The voice was filled with ultimate terror and lasted only a brief moment before being abruptly cut off, as if something had physically snapped it.

Dead silence returned to the building.

Fang Yingying held her breath, covering her mouth tightly. Her whole body shook uncontrollably, and tears welled up silently.

It's over, someone's been caught. And it's so close to her... Those ghost things won't come looking for her, will they?

She shook her head vigorously, trying to shake off these terrifying thoughts.

They won't, they won't.

She did everything right. The curtains are pulled tight, and everything that could emit light has been dealt with.

She is safe, as long as she stays quiet, just like last time...

She desperately tried to cheer herself up, but her curled-up body couldn't stop trembling slightly.

Just then.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

A strange sound drifted vaguely from the hallway.

It wasn't the crisp sound of shoe soles hitting the floor, but a bizarre kind of footstep. It was slow and carried an uncomfortable rhythm.

Fang Yingying instantly held her breath, her ears desperately straining to catch the movements outside.

That sound... was moving.

It stopped at...

BANG!!!

A massive, violent impact suddenly exploded!

It was the direction of her front security door! The door had been forced open!

Fang Yingying's heart stopped for a second, then began to thrum frantically, almost bursting through her chest.

The eerie footsteps sounded again, and this time, they were incredibly clear.

It was right there in her living room.

Tap.

Tap.

The sounds were slow, yet they possessed a definite sense of direction.

It didn't linger in the living room, heading straight toward... the bedroom.

Fang Yingying bit down hard on the back of her hand, her teeth sinking deep into the flesh until she tasted a faint hint of blood.

The footsteps stopped at the bedroom door.

What made her skin crawl even more was that she seemed to feel an invisible, cold gaze scanning the bedroom, piercing through the thin wardrobe door.

The entity walked inside.

Fang Yingying held her breath, her ear pressed tightly against the wardrobe wall.

She could clearly hear that thing moving slowly within the bedroom.

The footsteps paused by the bed, seemingly checking something. Then it moved toward the desk, followed by a slight scraping sound.

It was searching.

Fang Yingying's heart was nearly jumping out of her chest, but she still clung to a sliver of hope.

Under her frantic prayers, after the thing circled the bedroom once, the footsteps began to head toward the door.

Tap, tap, tap...

The sound gradually receded, seemingly crossing the living room and finally disappearing outside the front door.

It's gone... it's really gone...

Her tense body went limp, nearly collapsing from exhaustion. She gasped for air silently, her back already drenched in cold sweat.

As expected... as long as you follow the rules, you'll be fine...

However, this relief lasted for less than three seconds.

A sense of wrongness quietly emerged.

The space inside the wardrobe... seemed to have become crowded?

It wasn't physical crowding, but a kind of... invisible filling sensation. The air had become viscous and icy.

An indescribable chill surged from her tailbone to the top of her head, and Fang Yingying's scalp instantly went numb!

Almost instinctively, she whipped her phone out of her pocket and tremblingly pressed the screen to light it up.

The pale light instantly illuminated the cramped wardrobe.

Right before her eyes, less than ten centimeters away, a distorted, blurred "face" that looked like melting shadows was silently facing her.

The entity seemed to have been here all along, watching her.

"Aaaah!!"

Ultimate terror shattered her sanity, and Fang Yingying let out a scream!

She slammed open the wardrobe door and scrambled out of the bedroom, rushing toward the hallway like a madwoman.

The hallway outside was also pitch black, like a giant mouth waiting to devour people.

After running a dozen meters, her intense survival instinct forced her to glance back.

The moment she turned her head, that ghost face made of shadows was almost touching the tip of her nose!

No sound, no warning, as if it had been there the entire time.

"Urgh!!!"

The scream was only half-uttered before it was abruptly cut short.

The Shadow Devourer now had a spherical object in its arm, carrying it like a trophy as it slowly turned toward the other side of the hallway.

There, the security door of another household was tightly locked, and behind that door, it was equally pitch black.

...

On the balcony.

A few minutes after the Assessment was announced.

Gu Changming's phone received an official push notification. Looking at the content, his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.

"Stay away from all light sources, create a relatively dark environment at home... Stay at home and do not go out?"