The World Below Surface
Chapter 80

The sound of dripping water became clearer, audible to everyone this time. It had a distinct, echoing sound that captured their attention.

Torchlights were used to scan the ceiling, revealing its dampness streaked with water, which formed rivulets trickling down.

Some of the people complained about the museum's poor renovations, keeping themselves busy with their tasks.

However, one man, who was holding two glass cups, stared intently at the ceiling, a feeling of unease settling in his mind.

Something didn't feel right.

As the pooled water continued to increase and cascade, it started to take on a peculiar shape, catching the man's eye.

Determined to understand its pattern, he raised his flashlight higher, widening his eyes in an effort to make out the form.

Unfortunately, the museum's darkness hindered him, frustrating his attempts. Damn it! What on earth could be up there?

What could it possibly be?

Yi Yun was fixated on the man. She watched as he froze, rooted to the spot and stared up at the ceiling. A surge of fear shot through her as lightning slashed across the sky.

She was so focused on what was in front of her that she completely missed the growing, chilling sensation creeping up from behind.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning tore through the sky.

In that brief moment of light, the middle-aged man's eyes widened as he finally noticed the pattern above.

Water began streaming down from the ceiling, forming the shape of a human face.

The brightness from the lightning quickly faded, plunging the museum back into darkness. However, the middle-aged man's eyes continued to widen.

Why did he feel like things were becoming clearer instead?

It wasn't his vision sharpening; it was the face coming closer and expanding! It twisted into a strange grin, directly aimed at the middle-aged man.

He thought he heard a creepy sound.

Someone was laughing.

Within the unsettling silence of the museum, laughter swirled, genderless and unnerving, sometimes distant, sometimes near. These ghostly pale shapes, reminiscent of spectral visions, wove through the darkness, casting an eerie pall with their translucent forms.

Amidst these figures, pale and giggling, some reached out toward him...

Yi Yun gazed at him for a prolonged moment, unaware of Cao Yi's sudden disappearance behind her.

Maintaining a cautious distance from the middle-aged man to avoid any potential trouble, she could only make out a dark silhouette faintly against the backdrop.

What was above?

Baffled, she lifted her gaze, directing the light, but still unable to discern anything.

Then, in an instant, her eyes widened.

The man had vanished!

Driven by instinct, Yi Yun tentatively took a few steps forward, scanning her surroundings in disbelief.

The place was silent, with the emptiness emphasised by the damp water stains on the floor. Suddenly, a single sound broke the quiet: "drip-drop." The sound echoed through the room as a droplet fell from the ceiling, creating small ripples as it hit the ground.

One couldn't vanish without a trace in an instant. Something eerie must have happened.

What had just occurred?

Was the disappearance of the middle-aged man connected to the artefact he had retrieved from the tomb? Or was it a result of his constant upward gaze?

"Cao Yi, you..." She hesitated to look up again and took two steps back. But when she turned around, the other person was gone too!

This nearly made her scream out loud.

Unconsciously, she realised that she was all alone in the museum hall.

Where had everyone gone?

Yi Yun didn't dwell on the thought for long. She quickly moved forward, trying to contact others using her phone. However, the signal was weak, and she couldn't send any messages.

Stay calm... considering their previous experiences, it was wise not to shout or seek company, as it could be a ghost's trick.

Yi Yun tightly pressed her lips together and increased her pace, despite her fear.

'I must keep pushing through, for the sake of my little one. No one else will raise her.'

Yi Yun remembered that night vividly with pouring rain and everything, just like tonight’s wicked weather. After dropping her little one off at home, she had the urge to take a shower after being drenched when she heard a voice in her mind. The voice told her that she had to reach a certain place before midnight next Wednesday for a task, otherwise she would be transported to another world.

At first, Yi Yun didn't believe it. But after days of relentless nightmares, she had no choice but to accept it. The nightmares warned her that if she didn't participate, she would meet a gruesome end on Wednesday and the task would be passed onto her daughter.

How could she bear that? Her little one was so young.

And so, she started this cycle of tasks, one after another. Each task brought her to the brink of death, almost taking away half of her life. Resentment grew in her heart – towards the tasks, towards that other world. Unfortunately, she even began to resent her own daughter.

If it weren't for her little one... If it weren't for her, if she hadn't gone to pick her up that day, would any of this have happened?

Yi Yun couldn't face her own conscience; she simply numbed herself with love for her daughter – she wasn't just surviving for herself, but for her little girl.

The flashlight on the mobile phone flickered twice, then dimmed, and shortly after, the already faint light completely disappeared. The hall was now plunged into boundless darkness.

Sweat trickled down Yi Yun's forehead even more profusely. She hurriedly tried to fiddle with her phone, but it had run out of battery and shut down. She then grabbed a flashlight, but as soon as she turned it on, there was a faint electrical crackling sound and the beam vanished instantly.

‘No... I can't panic…’

Yi Yun strained to widen her eyes and cautiously stepped into the depths of the hall. She moved slowly along the wall to avoid bumping into the display cabinets.

There was a faint glimmer ahead, a mere flicker in the darkness, like an oasis for a long-thirsty traveller in the desert. Yi Yun knew there might be traps, but she couldn't resist taking step by step toward it.

As she got closer, she realised it was a small exhibition room with its door closed, emitting a faint ghostly green glow from the crack beneath it.

Almost unintentionally, she knocked on the door.

"If you open the door, you can come in," a young man's somewhat indifferent voice came from inside.

Yi Yun suddenly noticed that the door was latched from the outside. She pulled back the latch, hesitated for a moment, and then forcefully pushed open the door.

The walls were still lined with display cabinets, but those were unimportant details. The focus was on the exhibit inside the glass cabinet in the middle. It was about the size of a child's head, round, smooth, and emitted a deep, luminous green glow.

As soon as Yi Yun laid eyes on it, one word came to mind—Night Pearl.

(夜明珠: refers to natural jewellery that glows in the dark, visible to the human eye, emitting light on its own. It's a material composed of luminescent substances within the depths of the Earth, formed over millions of years. Initially ejected from volcanic magma, these substances gathered through geological movements, coalescing within ores. The stones containing these rare luminescent elements, once processed, become what people call the Night Pearl. They often exhibit hues of yellow-green, light blue, orange-red, and such.)

This was the first time Yi Yun had encountered something like this. She let out a small gasp and then realised there was a young man standing at the edge of the display cabinet.

It seemed like he was the one who had just responded.

Bathed in the faint, serene green light, the man's shadow was cast against the wall, but it was nothing like a ghost.

As the man turned around, Yi Yun was momentarily stunned.

Wasn't he the man who had switched rooms with them yesterday?

Lu Yan also recognized the woman and nodded slightly, saying, "So it's you."

After observing the hall for a while and seeing that both of them were standing motionless, the man feared that he might end up the same as before if he lingered too long, so he moved to leave.

No matter how careful he was, he found himself unintentionally trapped in the exhibition hall. The glass door closed abruptly behind him, seeming to lock itself securely, leaving him with no choice but to wait.

A familiar face brought Yi Yun a sense of relief. "What a coincidence. I'm Yi Yun. And you?"

"Lu Yan."

"So, Mr. Lu, do you know anything about this?" Yi Yun gestured towards the Night Pearl.

"Sorry, no clue," Lu Yan's demeanour remained cold, but Yi Yun persisted, longing for company to boost her courage.

With the door now open, Lu Yan saw no reason to stay. After giving another a chilly glance at the Night Pearl and a polite nod at the other person, he left the hall.

Just as Yi Yun prepared to follow, two more people arrived.

Jing Tao and another trapped visitor entered, the latter completely fixated on the Night Pearl, their eyes unwavering.

"Bloody hell, there's a bloody Night Pearl here! Gotta be worth a fortune, right?"

"Consider this, in this pitch-black place, using a torch drains the battery. But with this, you wouldn't need that torch to see clearly, right?"

The man continued talking, though not explicitly, his implications were perfectly clear.

Jin Tao appeared to be swayed, and Yi Yun joined in, saying, "But isn't it risky to show it off like this? What if the staff check later..."

"Just take it out for a look, give it a try. We're not keeping it out forever, it should be fine, right?"

Yi Yun fell silent, clearly persuaded by his argument.

Tick-tock.

A drop of water landed on the glass counter.

They gathered around the Night Pearl in a circle, completely unaware as a figure slowly walked past the doorway.

Lu Yan returned to the lobby, relying on his memory to replace the spot where the middle-aged man had stood earlier, crouching down to thoroughly examine it.

The previously soaked floor had completely dried, with no trace of the previous water stains.

Since his disappearance, where had the glass cups gone? And why had the water stains on the floor vanished?

Lu Yan stood up and returned to the counter where the glass lantern had been. Shards of glass still covered the floor.

He hesitated as faint noises caught his attention before approaching the door.

He wanted to try if he could leave.

As soon as this thought occurred to him, it felt as though the ground beneath him stretched endlessly. Despite walking towards the entrance, he found himself stuck in the same place.

Pausing, he glanced once more at the door, turned on his heel, and ventured further inside.

Despite what felt like an eternity of walking, there was no end in sight. A strange thought crossed his mind: Could this museum truly be this vast?

"Ah!"

Inside the museum, a chilling scream echoed, quickly followed by hurried footsteps coming from the right. The source of the chaos appeared visibly terrified.

Exiting a small exhibition room were a man, one of the taskers, and a woman, a regular visitor.

Without a clear direction in mind, they bolted towards the exit but failed to create much distance between themselves and Lu Yan, who watched them helplessly.

"What do we do? I don't want to die!" The girl sobbed, her nose running and tears streaming down her face. "I shouldn't have come. What kind of haunted museum is this?"

"Quiet down; what if someone hears us?" the man urgently cautioned. "Let's figure out a way to escape, shall we?"

"You're right. Rain or no rain, worst case scenario, we'll catch a cold. Let's hurry out of here. Should we ask for help?"

"Are you crazy? What are you suggesting?"

Enshrouded by darkness, they seemed unaware of Lu Yan's presence, carrying on as if they were alone. It wasn't until Lu Yan coughed softly that they finally noticed someone standing in the corner. The girl screamed again in terror, and the man hastily reassured her, "It's alright, it seems like it's just a person."

"Apologies for interrupting, but could you please clarify what you mean by 'haunted'?"

Upon realising that the other person appeared human and composed, both individuals promptly began to explain.

"...We were inside another exhibition hall, admiring a displayed suit of armour. We were lingering for a moment..."

Here, the girl aggressively punched her companion. "Clearly, he is the one who touched that armour," she accused.

"Well, the head of the armour accidentally fell off, and we were just about to fix it. Then, unexpectedly, it started moving and chased us! This museum must be haunted!" exclaimed the companion.

Lu Yan smirked subtly. "Not necessarily. What if it's a robot? I've heard that some museums use disguised robots as exhibits."

"Is that true?" The man remained sceptical.

Although he had a suspicion that it could be a ghost, he wished that the eerie occurrences wouldn't ensnare them so quickly. Lu Yan's words provided a hint of reassurance.

How much time had passed? They hadn't even caught a glimpse of the elusive Pisces jade pendant. It would be terribly unfair if they were so early preyed upon by a ghost.

"Yes, if it were truly haunted, why didn't it continue chasing you?" questioned Lu Yan in a calm and soothing voice. Even with his face hidden in darkness, both the man and woman couldn't help but lean toward believing him, sensing that his reasoning might be correct.

Lu Yan had a hunch that each exhibit had its own sphere of influence. It seemed the museum lured visitors to wander off, exploring different sections of the museum. However, he needed to confirm this theory.

"Be careful with these relics; they're very old," he warned.

He purposely avoided mentioning ghosts, which ironically made his credibility stronger.

The girl found his words somewhat believable, as her fear of ghosts made her trust him more.

"But we didn't just run..." Her words trailed off.

Ignoring her, he changed the subject.

"What are your names? I'm Lu Yan. And you two?" In the dim lighting, Lu Yan moved closer, his eyes dark and intense, fixed on them.

"I... I'm Wang Peng Fei (王鹏飞: “King flying on a mythical bird”)."

"Ke Xiao Xue (柯小雪:"Snow on a humble branch." )."

Ke Xiao Xue was still scared and made a request, "If you don't mind, could you walk with us? I feel something really strange. Earlier, we wanted to run, but we couldn't get out." Her voice grew weaker, "It's like... hitting a ghost wall."

Because of the recent psychological suggestion, they all felt closer to Lu Yan.

Lu Yan smiled and said, "Sure."

Coincidentally, he also needed to witness some phenomena firsthand to verify his own speculations.

As a provincial-level museum, the local government spared no expense; the museum was enormous, divided into three main exhibition halls and forty-two subsidiary ones. Among them, the two main halls, C1 and C2, stood side by side, along with thirty-one subsidiary halls, D1 to D31, on the ground floor. The rest were on the second floor, usually closed off and not open to regular visitors.

They walked past the first row of display cabinets.

Lu Yan remembered clearly that they contained small jade artefacts.

Wang Peng Fei, the tasker, carefully examined them before moving on to the next row.

Soon, they passed the second row, which mostly showcased jewellery.

Wang Peng Fei intentionally whispered to Ke Xiao Xue, "Look, these hairpins are quite beautiful, aren't they?"

Under the glow of the flashlight, several jade hairpins shimmered with a gentle, warm light.

The daylight visit had gone well, as Ke Xiao Xue had approached it in the mindset of appreciating relics. But now, the hairpins were right in front of her, within arm's reach. No one knew about her secret desire, and no one would leak a word. Her attitude towards the hairpins immediately shifted from that of a tourist admiring artefacts to that of a woman eyeing accessories.

Bloody hell... they're so beautiful...

She reached out, her hand groping the glass case.

Lu Yan didn't intervene; he simply stepped back.

Wang Peng Fei was even more excited. "If you really like them, we can take them out and try them on, just for a bit. We won't take them away. After trying them on, we'll put them back. Nothing will happen."

Ke Xiao Xue muttered, "Just try them on?"

"Yeah, just put them on and have a look. After all, they're on display for us to see. I don't think it should be a problem to touch them a bit, right? Besides, they're all made of jade. Just be a bit careful, and you won't damage them."

While Ke Xiao Xue hesitated, Wang Peng Fei had already taken a metal knife out of his pocket and forcefully started opening the casing.

"Calm down, let's just look," she said, but he had already sliced open a seam in the glass cabinet, creating an opening about the size of an open hand.

"Choose whichever catches your eye and give it a try," Wang Peng Fei encouraged her.

Ke Xiao Xue succumbed to the temptation. She reached out and plucked a pin made of vibrant jade from the shelf.

"It's absolutely stunning..." Her expression turned enchanted as she caressed it, unaware of anything unusual.

Wang Peng Fei and Lu Yan now felt certain that something strange was in the museum's collection.

A faint, fluorescent green glow emanated from the side. Wang Peng Fei spun around, shock evident on his face as he rushed over.

"Wow, you guys are incredible, you found the Night Pearl." He turned off the flashlight, completely amazed.

Yi Yun offered a helpless smile.

Both she and Jing Tao knew better than to handle the artefacts carelessly. They had simply enticed that ordinary tourist into taking the Night Pearl.

Now, that tourist, holding the Night Pearl, walked alongside them, almost oblivious to anything else, serving as a mobile light source.

In Yi Yun's thoughts lingered a gnawing worry: "Could they undergo some kind of change?"

Jing Tao shook his head: "It shouldn't. Look at the guy with the glass cups. He just disappeared. The worst that could happen is probably just disappearing, right?"

The man holding onto the Night Pearl trailed behind, then suddenly stopped at a certain distance. At the same time, Ke Xiao Xue, wearing the jade hairpin, touched her face with a dreamy expression. But as if she had just realised something, she spun around and fixed an intense gaze on the man holding the Night Pearl.

Finally, the three taskers noticed something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

Why were they radiating so much hostility? It was as if they were about to start a fight.

Lu Yan retreated once again, hiding in the shadows, observing the only three perceptive individuals among this group of taskers.

Jing Tao cautiously reached out his hand to pull the man holding the Night Pearl forward, but the man refused to budge, standing stubbornly in place.

It felt as though, by taking another step forward, something dreadful would happen!

Jing Tao had no other option but to give up.

Yi Yun pursed her lips. "What do you think? Is the museum causing trouble again? What's our escape plan?"

She counted on her fingers. "Once someone gets close to an artefact, they become drawn to it. Taking it forcefully could be harmful, so the first solution is to not take the artefact. But now, we have two people who possess artefacts at the same time and can't go near each other. Is this a common occurrence or unique to us?"

Wang Peng Fei understood. "Well, let's conduct an experiment with another person."

Jing Tao and Yi Yun nodded in agreement.

Seemingly intentionally or unintentionally ignoring Lu Yan, the latter felt satisfied with his hypnotic effect. He quietly stood in the corner, waiting for the results of their experiment.

They quickly devised a plan. Wang Peng Fei stayed in place, waiting, while Jing Tao and Yi Yun, along with the person holding the Night Pearl, attempted to bring other visitors for the experiment.

Another drop of water fell, landing on the already water-covered floor.

Jing Tao and Yi Yun left, and the brightness gradually faded.

"After thinking about it, the person who stole the glass cups earlier disappeared. Where do you think the glass cups?" Jing Tao wondered after they left.

Yi Yun shook her head. "I was watching closely, but I didn't see it. It happened so quickly, and he was gone. Even Cao Yi vanished."

As they continued on, they entered a small exhibition hall. It was completely dark inside, but there were faint, eerie sounds seeping out.

"Is anyone here?" Yi Yun called out into the darkness, motioning for the person holding the night pearl to step forward, illuminating the entire space with its soft glow.

Under the gentle radiance of the night pearl, the exhibition hall was fully revealed. Their keen eyes spotted a girl huddled in a corner, trembling violently, her clothes soaked from the water on the floor.

And that girl... if she wasn't Cao Yi, then who could she be?

"Cao Yi? What are you doing here?" Yi Yun demanded, her voice growing louder.

The figure remained hunched over, facing away from them, appearing unaware and unresponsive. Yi Yun approached, reaching out to turn the person around, only to be taken aback by their face.

Why did Cao Yi's face resemble that of a wild creature?

It was akin to some mythical feline demon or similar creature.

All of a sudden, Cao Yi's eyes flew open, shining with an eerie greenish glow; Yi Yun could even make out her pupils, sharp as straight lines.

"What in the... what's happening?" Jing Tao was equally startled. "Run, hurry!"

Yi Yun spun around and dashed off, Jing Tao dragging her along, legs churning as they bolted away, leaving the daft tourist standing there, motionless,

Cao Yi sat up, struggling against the brightness, and knocked over that annoying light.