The hanged female ghost did not pursue.
It seemed that this entity could not leave that patch of black mist.
Lin Mo had intended to support this female neighbor all the way down to the first floor, but when he looked down from the second floor, Lin Mo temporarily abandoned this plan.
Because the entrance to the first floor corridor was now sealed off by clusters of spider silk, and there were many raised objects on the ground that looked like insect eggs.
Vaguely, a huge black shadow could be seen flashing by.
With the way forward blocked, they could only go to the second floor.
Pushing open the fire door to the second floor, Lin Mo saw that the security door of the first room on the second floor was ajar. He pushed it open and walked in directly, finding no one inside.
"Close the door, quickly close the door," the woman spoke, her voice trembling, her beautiful eyes filled with fear.
Lin Mo nodded.
Closing the security door did give a sense of security.
Lin Mo took the opportunity to check the other rooms in this household.
It was a two-bedroom apartment with a living room, and there was no one else. Looking carefully at the decoration style of the house, it was very retro, completely in the style of forty or fifty years ago.
Upon closer inspection, the furniture and appliances also had the same sense of age, with floral patterned sofa covers, big-bellied thermos flasks, and old wooden photo frames.
Lin Mo looked at the photos, which showed a family of three, but strangely, the people in the photos had no facial features.
Where the facial features should have been, it was blank.
Lin Mo didn't find it strange.
Since it was in a dream, anything could happen - strange photos, a house that didn't belong to this era, this further confirmed his previous speculation.
Indeed, it wasn't his own dream.
Because he couldn't possibly imagine this kind of decoration style from forty or fifty years ago.
Of course, he could further confirm.
Lin Mo walked over to the frightened woman, who was curled up on the sofa, hugging her legs, her body shaking uncontrollably.
It was clear she still needed time to recover.
Lin Mo wasn't in a hurry.
He had thought it through carefully. With that hanged female ghost guarding the third floor, the disemboweling killer upstairs probably couldn't come down, so for now, this second floor seemed relatively safe.
After a while, the woman on the sofa seemed to have calmed down a bit, not shaking as much. Lin Mo felt the timing was about right.
"Let me introduce myself, I'm Lin Mo, I live on the seventh floor," Lin Mo broke the silence first.
The woman looked up and said bravely, "I know, we've seen each other in the neighborhood before."
As long as she could speak, that was fine.
The two chatted for a bit, and Lin Mo learned that the woman's name was Liu Ying, she lived on the third floor, and was a music teacher at a training institute.
"The people hanging on the stairs of the third floor, I took a look, some faces were familiar, also our neighbors, and a few were unfamiliar faces..."
"Those were my friends, we were originally celebrating a birthday together, had some drinks, and decided to stay at my place. Who knew that after I fell asleep, I would find..." Liu Ying revealed a terrified expression.
That was clearly a horrifying memory.
"We're dreaming, aren't we?" Liu Ying suddenly asked.
Apparently, Lin Mo wasn't the only one who thought so.
"So when we wake up, will everything be normal?"
"I don't know."
Regarding this dream, neither of them knew more details. No one spoke, and the atmosphere suddenly became cold.
Liu Ying's state had obviously improved a lot. At this moment, she said to Lin Mo, "Thank you, just now."
Mentioning this, Lin Mo had a question: "At that time, was it not possible to speak?"
Liu Ying nodded hurriedly: "My friends saw that female ghost, got scared and cried out, and were immediately hanged by ropes. I was so frightened at the time, I didn't cry out, and instead escaped disaster."
She looked terrified.
Lin Mo nodded,
No wonder she had made the gesture for silence to him at that time, she had already understood the ghost's method of killing.
To be honest, if she hadn't warned him earlier, Lin Mo might have fallen into the trap too.
"Just now, weren't you scared?" Liu Ying couldn't help but ask at this moment. She had seen clearly earlier, Lin Mo had come face to face with that terrifying female ghost, at a distance where if they had moved any closer, they might have kissed.
Yet under the impact of such a horrifying scene, this man remained calm as usual, even with a smile on his face.
How much composure would it take to achieve that? Was his courage made of iron?
For this type of question, Lin Mo's answer was always the same.
"I'm just a person with a rather big heart!"
Just at this moment, there was suddenly a frantic knocking at the door.
That sound wasn't just knocking, it was more like someone was trying to break down the door.
Liu Ying was startled by this sudden noise and curled up on the sofa, while Lin Mo remained very composed, walking to the security door and looking out through the peephole.
"Open the door, please, open the door!" someone pleaded outside.
"It's Old Zhang from the property management," Liu Ying recognized the voice.
Lin Mo nodded: "Indeed it is."
But he showed no intention of opening the door, instead firmly bracing against it.
"We're not letting him in?" Liu Ying was surprised, she had also noticed Lin Mo's intention.
Lin Mo nodded: "Correct."
She was somewhat surprised. Old Zhang was a familiar face from the property management, why not let him in? In this situation, one more person meant one more source of strength.
"Why?" Liu Ying sensed something was off.
"There's something following behind Old Zhang," Lin Mo's voice showed no trace of emotion, but these words struck Liu Ying as bone-chilling when she heard them.
Something following behind... what kind of thing? Just imagining it was scary.
She didn't try to persuade him anymore.
In the current situation, self-preservation was the top priority. It wasn't that she was refusing to help someone in danger, it was that she and Lin Mo were already in a precarious situation themselves.
Outside the door, Old Zhang's voice was already tearful.
"Please, open the door, I don't want to die."
Bang bang bang.
The sound of slamming against the door grew louder, the force seeming not like that of a normal person, more like a monster pounding on the door.
Lin Mo continued to observe through the peephole, his expression calm.
Liu Ying also noticed this scene.
She had long sensed something was off.
Lin Mo was acting too calmly, not at all like how a normal person should react.
Some things are better not thought about too deeply. The more you think, the more problems you find.
Doubt began to creep into Liu Ying's eyes. She felt that she couldn't easily trust anyone now.
Including this Lin Mo.
So she quietly got off the sofa, then slipped into the bedroom, closing and locking the door.
Bracing against the door, Liu Ying's heart was pounding non-stop.
She had made up her mind. Old Zhang in the corridor was definitely problematic, judging by the force of his pounding on the door just now, which was beyond human capability. But this Lin Mo wasn't normal either. Hiding in the bedroom was safest.
Even if Old Zhang outside broke down the door, Lin Mo would be there to hold him off. Hiding in the bedroom was undoubtedly the safest option.
At this moment, Liu Ying had completely forgotten who had saved her earlier.
Human nature under the control of fear reveals its most selfish and dark side.
Just then, Liu Ying heard the sound of the security door being smashed open outside. She was even more terrified, her whole body starting to shake again.
In the living room.
Lin Mo had already retreated to a corner.
The security door hung on its frame, completely deformed. A darkness seeped in from outside, accompanied by a human figure.
This person wore a security guard uniform, it was Old Zhang from the property management, but his head was now twisted 180 degrees. He had clearly walked in facing forward, but his face was turned towards his back.
One can imagine how eerie and frightening this sight was.
"I give full marks for the difficulty of that posture," Lin Mo commented. Although he wasn't afraid, he sensed real danger.
The danger didn't come from Old Zhang, but from the pale figure standing behind him.
This figure seemed able to distort light, making it impossible to clearly see its appearance.
Lin Mo had seen clearly earlier, the thing behind Old Zhang had suddenly attached itself to his back. Earlier at the door, Old Zhang had turned his head to look back in fright, and after that, his neck had twisted around by itself.
Lin Mo had heard the sound of his neck bones breaking clearly at that time.
Lin Mo knew Liu Ying was hiding in the bedroom, and had even locked the door.
He didn't blame her.
Normal people, when scared, often make some foolish moves.
As for the other bedroom, Lin Mo had no intention of hiding there, because that kind of wooden bedroom door could not possibly stop this entity.
Hadn't even the security door been torn apart?
Moreover, hiding would mean losing the opportunity to observe.
At this moment, Lin Mo was carefully watching, not missing any detail.
Old Zhang, who had entered the house, moved like a marionette, but he didn't walk towards Lin Mo. Instead, he turned and walked towards the bedroom where Liu Ying was hiding.
Lin Mo's heart stirred.
If Liu Ying was hiding behind the door, then in terms of direct distance, Old Zhang was closer to Liu Ying than to himself. Lin Mo was at the edge of the living room, at least five or six meters away.
So this monster should prioritize attacking the closest target.
With a crack, the wooden door was instantly smashed open.
From the bedroom, Liu Ying's terrified scream rang out, but Old Zhang didn't stop, walking in at an extremely fast pace.
Lin Mo's pupils contracted as he watched.
Old Zhang now moved like a wild beast, the wooden door seeming as fragile as paper, shattering with one hit.
What kind of strength was this?
Now Old Zhang and that ghostly thing were cornering Liu Ying in the bedroom. This was an opportunity.
Lin Mo ran out without hesitation.
Save her?
Unrealistic.
If there was a possibility, Lin Mo wouldn't stand by and watch someone die. But if it meant throwing his life away, Liu Ying was neither family nor friend, how could he risk his life to save her?
After all, Lin Mo had previously speculated that if he died in this dream, he would die in reality too.
Just as he rushed out the main door, Lin Mo glanced back and immediately felt his eyelid twitch.
Old Zhang lay motionless on the ground, while Liu Ying was crying and trembling, standing in an extremely eerie posture.
Behind her stood that terrifying pale figure.
It seemed this ghostly entity had changed targets.
Liu Ying was not as composed as Old Zhang had been. At this moment she had already turned to look back - after all, with a ghostly thing standing behind her, who wouldn't be scared?
Looking back was human instinct.
The next moment, Liu Ying's neck twisted 180 degrees, the expression on her face frozen.
The sound of her neck breaking echoed through the second floor.
At this point, Lin Mo sped up, rushing out of the apartment towards the stairwell.
Although there were many rooms on the second floor, they were all dead ends. Even security doors couldn't stop this ghostly thing, staying on the second floor would be suicide.
Only by entering the stairwell and then going up, passing through the area of the hanged female ghost, might there be a chance to use the hanged female ghost to block this pale shadow.
As for the psychopathic killer upstairs, Lin Mo couldn't worry about that for now. After all, no matter how formidable that killer was, he probably couldn't be as terrifying as this ghost that liked to twist people's necks.
The plan was good.
But Lin Mo miscalculated one thing.
That was speed.
Liu Ying, under the ghost's control, was too fast, catching up to Lin Mo in just a few steps.
Bang.
Lin Mo was hit hard, falling to the ground.
The feeling was like being rammed by a wild elephant. Lin Mo nearly passed out.
Falling who knows how far, Lin Mo only felt dizzy, his head aching. He reached up to touch it and his hand came away bloody.
Pain.
Lin Mo hadn't expected to be injured in a dream, and for the pain to feel so real.
Looking again at Liu Ying, Lin Mo was stunned.
Liu Ying now lay on the ground about two meters away, her neck twisted, completely motionless.
The dark shadow had disappeared.
No, that wasn't right.
It hadn't disappeared.
Thinking of Old Zhang earlier, and then of Liu Ying, Lin Mo sighed. He looked down at his feet, and could faintly see that behind him, something was standing there.