This entry is suspicious.

The grayish-white haze, like a thick shroud, enveloped the entire 10th-floor restaurant.

Under the cover of this thick fog, everything is unknown.

This fear is not the measurable fear one feels when facing a powerful enemy, but rather an invisible blade hanging over your head, a cold fingertip reaching for the back of your neck in the darkness, its touch uncertain.

It makes you guess, predict, and fantasize every second, exhausting your limited rationality in a state of mental tension.

As the fog closed in, another eerie event occurred.

Fang Beichen disregarded the need to conserve energy. With his jet-black blade swirling with qi, he unleashed another fierce, howling hurricane, carving a clear path through the thick fog.

Upon seeing the scene in the restaurant, everyone was shocked; the bloody handprint had already arrived in the center of the restaurant!

These bloody handprints were a striking crimson, with slender, long fingers and narrow fingertips, clearly belonging to a woman. One could even sense a strange elegance emanating from them.

They spread out in an overlapping and staggered pattern, like blooming crimson flowers, breathtakingly beautiful, yet chillingly beautiful, like watching a smiling beauty walking towards you with a sharp blade in hand.

[Blood Handprint], [Level Two Mystery], [Blood Erosion Mark], [Proliferation], [Suppression], [Smoke Mark], [Indiscriminate Killing]

The entries associated with the bloody handprint appeared before Zhou Ran's eyes.

This is actually a level two Weirdo!

"A direct confrontation would be certain death. Go to Wang Yunhan's corpse and find the forbidden item!"

Before the operation, Li Feng had already used his divine sense to transmit information to everyone, informing them of the forbidden items and other props carried by Wang Yunhan and Mu Feng.

If they had any chance of survival, it was to find the forbidden object that could contain the strange thing on Wang Zonghan's corpse before the fog closed in and the bloody handprints completely surrounded them!

The so-called forbidden objects are items tainted by strange powers, possessing all sorts of incredible magical abilities, which can be used to deal with the supernatural.

Some of the forbidden objects are even simply a controllable monster.

Zhou Ran's blood and qi surged, and he unleashed his power, rushing towards Wang Yunhan's corpse. Su Meilin, who didn't have many fighting skills, followed behind him.

Fang Beichen and Cui Jin covered the two. The former swung his black blade, unleashing a wave of black fire that quickly dried and disintegrated the blood handprints in its path. The latter raised his palm and thrust it forward, his blazing palm slamming into the ground. The explosive flames swept across the ground, completely destroying a large area of ​​blood handprints.

However, there were simply too many handprints, and they possessed a certain ability to regenerate rapidly. As soon as one was cut off, two more would surge in, pressing in like a tide at an extremely fast speed, leaving very little room to maneuver.

"March Devouring Sun!"

Fang Beichen took a deep breath, his internal energy surging and roaring.

He gripped the black knife tightly, and the dark black flames on the blade suddenly surged, as if some thirsty power was awakening.

The next second, Fang Beichen swung his sword and slashed out.

Three violent black flames transformed into crescent-shaped blade energy, shooting out with a piercing shriek as they tore through the air, like a giant three-fingered claw reaching out from the void, fiercely grabbing into the core area where the blood handprints were most concentrated.

boom!

The three blade energies exploded simultaneously, and the black fire waves spread wildly, evaporating and destroying the bloody handprint and even the surrounding mist.

Fang Beichen's face turned pale, indicating a significant loss of energy. However, this attack bought everyone at least five precious seconds.

Finally, Zhou Ran rushed to Wang Yunhan's body and squatted down to quickly search the cold, stiff corpse.

A moment later, he pulled a white candle covered in gilded patterns from his jacket pocket and decisively tossed it to Cui Jin: "Light it!"

This is a special item called a protective candle, which was developed by the Immortal Martial Empire about two hundred years ago. When lit, it can create a small protective field to resist strange attacks.

Cui Jin lit the candle with a spark from his fingertip, and a soft, golden flame instantly ignited, its warm glow spreading outwards like ripples on water.

The approaching bloody handprints recoiled as if burned upon contact with the candlelight, and the pervasive gray-white haze began to dissipate rapidly, as if ice and snow had met a raging fire, revealing a clear space.

"It works!" Su Meilin exclaimed in surprise.

"Great! As long as the candle is still burning, we're safe!" Cui Jin couldn't help but get excited.

However, their joy lasted only a few seconds before Zhou Ran poured cold water on their enthusiasm: "The candle burns very quickly; it will probably only last two or three minutes."

Looking up, the light from the protective candles could repel the mist and bloody handprints, but it couldn't truly drive them away or kill them.

The bloody handprints that had been pushed aside lingered around the candlelight, piling up in layers like a red wall, slowly squeezing inward, trying to break through the candlelight's defenses.

The gray and hazy fog from all directions began to surge back, covering the entire floor. Only the small area illuminated by candlelight remained clear, but even that area was shrinking inch by inch.

In just a few breaths, the protective candle became shorter than before, and the area covered by the candlelight shrank from ten meters to five meters.

"Where is that forbidden item? Quickly collect this bloody handprint," Fang Beichen said in a deep voice.

"Found it!"

Zhou Ran pulled a palm-sized urn from Wang Yunhan's waist bag.

This is the forbidden item that Li Feng mentioned. It has the ability to suppress and contain strange things. It is a core item of the agency, and Mu Feng also has one.

However, at that moment, something unexpected happened.

A red shadow shot out from the thick fog at incredible speed, like a blood-stained arrow, and went straight into the candlelight, aiming to kick Fang Beichen's head.

Perhaps because he had a third eye on his forehead, or perhaps because of his naturally amazing reaction speed, Fang Beichen instinctively turned to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack.

The red dancing shoes that launched the attack emitted blue smoke as the candlelight purified and burned them, but because they were too fast, they rushed out of the candlelight's range in just one second and disappeared into the thick fog.

"What kind of attack method is this?"

Zhou Ran's eyes widened in disbelief. He was dumbfounded. Using speed to forcefully break through the candlelight's defensive power? What a joke!

"Don't just stand there, take it in right away!"

Fang Beichen's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he shouted with lingering fear. If he hadn't dodged that kick, his head would probably have exploded like a watermelon.

Zhou Ran quickly aimed the urn at the bloody handprints that were piling up outside the candlelight.

Open the box.

In an instant, a violent suction force burst forth from the urn, uprooting the layers of bloody handprints, which flowed like a bloody river into the deep opening of the urn.

The bloody handprints on the ground began to disappear in large patches. Before long, the bloody handprints were completely gone, and the urn closed its lid automatically with a "snap".

"call……"

Zhou Ran breathed a sigh of relief as he held the urn containing the ashes; the blood handprint had been successfully contained.

However, now is not the time to relax, because there is still a strange creature lurking in the grayish-white smog.

The red dancing shoes... might be even more dangerous than the bloody handprint.

Because it was so fast, if it had been someone other than Fang Beichen who attacked, that person would probably be dead by now.

"Let's go, hurry to the 12th floor, Mu Feng still has an urn containing ashes on him," Zhou Ran said.

"The candles are burning slower now; that should be enough time for us to run up." Cui Jin had been observing the burning speed of the protective candles.

After the bloody handprint was contained, the candle's burning speed suddenly slowed down, and it could easily last for another five minutes. The four people present were all cultivators, and going up two floors would only take a few seconds.

No one dared to waste any time. Holding their protective candles, they ran towards the 12th floor, all the while remaining vigilant against the possible attack from the red dancing shoes.

But the attack did not occur.

Zhou Ran speculated that the woman in red shoes must have suffered considerable injuries for forcibly entering the candlelight area, and should not launch another attack for the time being.

The group successfully arrived at the 12th floor of the Mingzhu Hotel.

This is a sports floor that includes a swimming pool, badminton court, and gym.

The higher you go, the thicker the fog becomes, and the light of the protective candle is reduced once again, only illuminating a three-meter radius around it, although more than half of the candle remains.

Cui Jin struck out with his palm, creating a fierce hurricane. The air currents howled and blew away the pale smog.

The gym is right inside the entrance on the 12th floor.

Several treadmills were running, their belts rattling loudly, which sounded particularly jarring in the quiet building.

Behind each treadmill lay a corpse, in various poses, as if they had suddenly collapsed while running and been thrown behind by the conveyor belt.

Even more bizarrely, these corpses, which had clearly only recently died, were already showing signs of decomposition.

"Did they... die from running?" Su Meilin asked uncertainly.

"There might be some strange force on the treadmill, just like the piano that was smashed in the restaurant earlier," Fang Beichen said.

"With the protective candles here, there shouldn't be any major problems. Let's be careful and leave as soon as we get the forbidden items," Zhou Ran said in a deep voice.

The four of them carefully reached for Mu Feng's body.

Suddenly.

Something terrible happened.

The protective candle in Cui Jin's hand exploded with flames, the golden flames expanding several times in an instant, turning into a huge fireball. The entire candle burned wildly, and in the blink of an eye, only a short section remained.

"what!"

This sudden change startled Su Meilin, who screamed in terror and panic.

Zhou Ran and the other two were also shocked, their hearts pounding. There was no doubt that they had just been attacked by a strange entity, but the protective candles had helped them withstand the attack.

But...where did the attack come from?

Zhou Ran fell into deep thought, his eyes flickering. Was it the kind of eeriness that was difficult to observe with the naked eye?

He glanced at the candle in Cui Jin's hand; it was only a small piece left, and it certainly wouldn't be enough to stop the next attack.

Therefore, we must take action.

Zhou Ran hesitated for only a moment before steeling himself and equipping the newly acquired affix: [Eye of Truth]!

Although seeing the strange thing will definitely attract an attack, the attack will still come even if you do nothing. So why not take a gamble? If you can see the strange thing, you might still have a chance to survive.

With each blink of an eye.

The next second, a figure appeared in Zhou Ran's line of sight, standing in the center of the gym without any warning, as if it had always been there, only to be seen by him at this moment.

It was a tall male corpse, its skin deathly pale, devoid of any color. Its face had no eyes, only two dark holes, deep and bottomless like dry wells. What was even more striking was the blood-stained gold medal hanging around its neck.

Immediately afterwards, a series of terms appeared before Zhou Ran's eyes.

[Stopper], [Level 2 Mystery], [Inevitable Death Upon Action], [Area-Specific Boss], [Smoke Mark], [Forced Movement]

—Stop, Go, Those!

Zhou Ran could hardly believe her eyes.

Damn it, why are you still chasing me?!

When we asked Li Feng about the strange information just now, Li Feng's consciousness was affected before he could finish speaking, which resulted in him not being able to tell everyone some strange information.

Now Zhou Ran knows that the strange creature is the Stopper!

Why is it here?

Zhou Ran was shocked and bewildered when he noticed that a new ability called [Forced Movement] had appeared in the entry for the Stopper.

This seems to be related to the bloodstained gold medal hanging around its neck.

The supernatural wouldn't award itself, so someone must have deliberately given it a medal, and this medal is very likely a supernatural being with the ability of "forced movement" or a forbidden object.

Based on what happened inside the hotel, Zhou Ran knew without a second thought that it was the work of those demonic cultivators from the Heavenly Chosen Organization.

Forced exercise + certain death.

When these two are combined, it becomes an unsolvable murder rule.

From the perspective of setting a trap, this scheme undoubtedly exceeded expectations. Li Feng and Wei Si, who came together without knowing the situation, were simply easy targets.

At this moment, seemingly sensing Zhou Ran's gaze, the Stopper slightly raised his head, and two dark holes looked in Zhou Ran's direction.

Even though there were no eyeballs, Zhou Ran felt a chilling sense of being "stared" at.

Zhou Ran felt a chill run down his spine. His thoughts raced, and he quickly came up with a solution, but he didn't know if it would work.

He immediately took out the urn and ripped open the lid.

The urn shook violently, and hundreds of bloody handprints surged out like a flood bursting its banks—the very same bloody handprints that had just been contained!

"What are you doing!" Cui Jin and Su Meilin exclaimed in unison, utterly astonished.

Fang Beichen frowned slightly upon seeing this, as if he had thought of something.

"Believe me, we'll die right now if we don't do this."

Zhou Ran looked serious, staring intently at what was in front of him, hoping that the following developments would go as he had anticipated.

They are currently safe, protected by the protective candles and because the Stoppers just launched an attack.

However, the bloody handprint outside the protective candle is different; it will inevitably be attacked by [Forced Movement] + [Inevitable Death Upon Action].

The strange creatures are not very intelligent; they will attack whoever attacks them.

Therefore, the bloody handprint will inevitably collide with the Stopper.

Just like in room 404, Zhou Ran had to use the bizarre to deal with the bizarre.