As the three ventured deeper into the ghost domain, the fog thickened until visibility was nearly zero; even their companions' outlines were nothing but vague shadows in the gloom.
At that moment, Jiang Yan noticed their footsteps were becoming erratic. He immediately grew alert.
"Something's coming toward us!" he warned.
Startled, they instinctively drew closer to each other.
"What is it? Do you see anything?" Feng An asked, bewildered; he hadn't noticed anything unusual.
"I'm not sure of the direction yet. Let's stop and listen carefully," Jiang Yan said, pausing rather than explaining further.
The others exchanged surprised looks but followed his lead, coming to a standstill. In the sudden quiet, the chilling, clammy mist drifted over them, sending shivers through their bodies.
Though they were standing close together, the fog created an unsettling feeling of isolation—like each of them was alone in this gray void.
Jiang Yan listened closely. At first, there was nothing but silence. But then, faintly, came a sound: a soft scraping, like something crawling across the ground. The sound grew steadily closer.
"There really is something coming!" Feng An's skin prickled in alarm.
The man in the black hat frowned, a hint of hesitation in his expression. "What do we do? Fight or flee?"
"We run. Whatever it is, it's probably a ghost. We might not have triggered its killing rule yet. Let's hold hands, don't split up!" Jiang Yan responded without hesitation.
The three men gripped each other's hands, ignoring any embarrassment; in this fog, separating was a risk none of them could afford.
Hand in hand, they quickened their pace, but the crawling sound sped up too, as if it were locked onto them.
Their steps grew jumbled, and soon it was impossible to tell how close or far the crawling noise was, only that it was relentlessly following.
No longer daring to linger, they broke into a full sprint.
Running blind in the fog was dangerous. Without knowing the terrain beneath them, any misstep could lead to a fall—or worse, a collision with another lurking ghost.
But all they could think about now was outrunning whatever was after them.
After several minutes of frantic running, the sound finally faded, and they came to a halt, panting heavily.
"We finally shook it off," the man in the black hat gasped.
"Yes, but things still don't look good. We've been running blindly for who knows how long—I have no idea where we are now." Jiang Yan frowned, peering into the swirling fog around them.
In this mist, there were no landmarks, no points of reference. It was as if they'd been cut off from the world, adrift in a sea of gray.
"So, what now? We have no idea which way to go. We could end up right back at the wall," Feng An said, worried.
"No, we're still moving deeper into the ghost domain," Jiang Yan replied with certainty.
"Oh? How can you tell?" The man in the black hat sounded puzzled.
"I kept my first-tier ghost domain active. Though it's so faint here that it's barely visible, I can still sense it. Back at the wall, its range was about ten meters, but now it's shrunk to just one meter. That means we're moving further into the domain," Jiang Yan explained.
"But that doesn't make sense. Our path has been random—we turned several times. How could we still be heading deeper in?" Feng An couldn't understand.
"Don't try to make sense of a ghost domain with normal logic," the man in the black hat interjected. "At first, we thought this domain was just around the shrine, but it's clearly far more expansive. This place doesn't follow physical laws."
"Exactly," Jiang Yan nodded. "It's almost like we're in a funnel. No matter which direction we take, gravity pulls us deeper into the center."
"You mean we just have to keep moving forward, and we'll reach the core of the ghost domain?" Feng An was taken aback.
"Yes, but we'll need to avoid any other ghosts along the way. If we encounter one, we'll have to escape like we did just now," Jiang Yan cautioned.
They nodded seriously, fully aware of the dangers. Their purpose was to uncover the source of the village's supernatural disturbances, not to battle each ghost they encountered.
After agreeing on this plan, they continued onward, still holding hands.
As they walked, Jiang Yan noticed the ground underfoot changing. The soil became wetter, uneven, and yielded disturbingly with each step, as if they were walking over something soft and decayed.
"It seems we're reaching the depths of the ghost domain. The ground itself feels different here," the man in the black hat observed, turning toward where he remembered Jiang Yan was standing.
"Yes, we can't let our guard down now," Jiang Yan warned.
They pressed forward, though it was impossible to tell how much time had passed. Suddenly, the man in the black hat felt something tug at his ankle, bringing him to an abrupt halt.
"What happened?" Jiang Yan asked, surprised.
"Nothing. I think I just tripped over something," he replied, brushing it off.
"Be careful. The ground here is strange; a single misstep could mean a fall."
They moved on, though their pace slowed.
But gradually, the man in the black hat felt an uncomfortable tightness around him. His ghost windbreaker seemed to be constricting, making it hard to breathe.
"Probably just the ghost domain pressing down on the coat," he thought, pushing forward.
But soon, his steps grew heavier, until he could barely move forward.
Because they were holding hands, the others felt his sluggishness and stopped.
"What's wrong? Can't walk anymore?" Jiang Yan asked, perplexed.
In his memory, the man in the black hat was strong and fit; he shouldn't be tiring so quickly.
"It's nothing, probably just my ghost starting to revive." The man in the black hat was panting, looking noticeably weaker.
"Oh, come on, big guy! You're slowing us down already?" Feng An scoffed, frustrated by the frequent pauses.
"If the ghost's reviving, then we should take a short break. But let's not linger too long," Jiang Yan advised, frowning.
"Fine," the man in the black hat replied between labored breaths.
They sat to rest for just over a minute, when suddenly, the man in the black hat clutched his chest, his face twisted in pain.
"No… we can't stop…" he murmured, then forced himself to start moving again, leaving the others looking puzzled.
"Didn't you just say you couldn't go on and needed to rest? Why are you getting up now?" Feng An asked irritably.
"I don't know… It's just this overwhelming feeling. I have to keep moving. If I stop… I feel like I'll die!" he said, his voice weak.
Jiang Yan's heart dropped as he took in those words.