This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

"What's wrong?"

Lin Qingya's voice pulled Wang Xiaoer back from his shock.

She saw Wang Xiaoer freeze in place after entering the room, his face pale, and she couldn't help but feel worried.

"Is there...something inside?"

"It's nothing," Wang Xiaoer replied almost instinctively, his voice clearly unnatural.

He dared not say it.

He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, Lin Qingya would be so frightened that she would run away on the spot.

"Brother Chen."

Wang Xiaoer turned his head and whispered a name to Zhang Chen beside him.

Zhang Chen's expression was also not good.

Although he couldn't see the strange footprints, he could sense them.

The air seemed to have turned into semi-solidified glue, thick, cold, and making one's chest feel suffocated.

He didn't answer Wang Xiaoer, but instead took out a palm-sized brass compass from his canvas bag.

At that moment, the black iron magnetic needle in the compass seemed to be on drugs, spinning wildly in his palm and emitting a soft "buzzing" sound.

The pointer simply cannot stay still.

This indicates that the magnetic field inside the room has become so chaotic that it's terrifying.

"Meow—Ha!"

Fugui, who had been following behind, suddenly bristled, his entire body arching like a fully drawn bow.

It didn't take another step forward, but instead shrank into the corner and hissed threateningly at the empty space in the living room.

Lin Qingya was so frightened by the scene that she turned pale and instinctively grabbed the arm of Wang Xiaoer, who was closest to her.

"What happened to Fugui... what's wrong with it? What's going on here?"

Her voice was already trembling with sobs.

Wang Xiaoer could feel her arm trembling. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He leaned close to Zhang Chen's ear and spoke quickly in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"Brother Chen, the room is covered in footprints!"

"Glowing, childlike footprints are running everywhere!"

Zhang Chen's grip on the compass tightened suddenly, and his expression instantly became extremely serious.

footprint?

Is it glowing and can run?

He immediately understood what this meant.

This is neither a remnant left by a bound spirit nor an ordinary condensation of yin energy.

It's alive!

A group of spirits with their own consciousness are wandering around this room!

"How many?" Zhang Chen asked in a very low voice.

"Countless." Wang Xiaoer's Adam's apple bobbed. "The floor, the walls, the ceiling—they're all over them!"

Zhang Chen's face darkened completely.

One of them is a ghost.

A group, that is... a nest.

So many little devils gathered in one place, could this place have been...?

A terrible thought crossed his mind, but he immediately suppressed it.

He can't say it; saying it now will only make things worse.

"Don't be afraid."

Zhang Chen put away the compass, turned to Lin Qingya, and gave her a fairly calm smile.

"It's possible that the wiring in this house is old and there's a problem with the magnetic field, which is affecting the cat's mood."

He himself didn't believe this explanation, but it was the only way to appease Lin Qingya at the moment.

As he spoke, he subtly pulled Lin Qingya behind him, placing Wang Xiaoer at the very front.

Wang Xiaoer: "..."

Zhang Chen patted him on the shoulder and gestured with his eyes: You can see, you take the lead.

Wang Xiaoer was on the verge of tears, but could only grit his teeth and cast his gaze once more upon the chaotic sea of ​​countless bare footprints.

He suppressed the tingling sensation on his scalp and carefully observed the movement of the footprints.

Although they seemed chaotic, Wang Xiaoer quickly discovered a pattern.

All footprints, whether climbing on walls or running on the ground, seem to have a common starting point.

They are like spring water gushing from a source, flowing to every corner of the room, and then, as if drawn by an invisible vortex, eventually returning to the vicinity of that source.

The source is...

Wang Xiaoer's gaze swept across the living room and finally settled on the closed door at the far end of the room.

It's a guest room.

"Brother Chen."

Wang Xiaoer raised his hand, his fingers trembling slightly as he pointed in that direction.

"All the footprints seem to have come from that room."

Zhang Chen looked in the direction he pointed.

It was an ordinary white wooden door, with even a cute cartoon sticker on it.

But in his perception, behind that door seemed to lie a huge, icy cave.

A chilling aura was seeping out from the cracks in the door.

That's the crux of the problem.

Wang Xiaoer's "spiritual vision" once again played an irreplaceable role.

With the compass malfunctioning and his senses blurred, he acted like a human-shaped paranormal detector, directly pinpointing the core of the problem.

It is more precise and more efficient than any other magical implement.

Zhang Chen took a deep breath and made a decision.

He put his canvas bag on the ground, unzipped it, and started rummaging through it.

A moment later, he took out a small sword and put it into Wang Xiao'er's hand.

This is the plastic sword from last time that looked like it cost 9.9 yuan with free shipping. It has crooked symbols painted on it in red paint.

"Take this for self-defense." Zhang Chen's tone was very serious.

But even as Wang Xiaoer held this peach wood sword that looked like a "toy," he felt no sense of security whatsoever.

Zhang Chen ignored his expression and took out a yellow talisman with complex runes from his bag, carefully holding it between his fingers.

He glanced at Wang Xiaoer, then at Lin Qingya hiding behind him.

"No matter what happens later, don't run around."

After saying that, he didn't hesitate any longer, and started walking towards the door of the guest room.

The living room was quiet.

Only those unseen footprints continue to run and play silently.

With each step closer, the chill in the air grew stronger.

As I approached the door, the chilling aura was almost tangible, stinging my skin.

Zhang Chen stopped, holding the yellow talisman between his right fingers, and slowly placed his left hand on the cold doorknob.

He turned his head and winked at Wang Xiaoer.

Wang Xiaoer immediately understood, gripping the cheap plastic peach wood sword tightly with both hands, and nervously staring at the doorway.

Zhang Chen turned his head and suddenly exerted force on his wrist.

"Click".

The door lock opened with a click.

He didn't push the door open completely, but only carefully opened it a crack.

Just as the door opened.

call--!

A wave of yin energy, ten times stronger than that in the living room, burst forth from the crack in the door like a flood bursting its banks!

A faint, almost imperceptible laugh could be heard amidst the eerie wind.

That wasn't a child's voice.

They were a group of children.

Their laughter overlapped, ethereal and fleeting, devoid of any joy, only possessing a chilling eeriness.

"whee……"

"...Come play!"

"...Let's play together..."