Acai's Sky

Chapter 989: Embers of Night Corridor: Ghosts on the Stage 4

The secret door slammed shut behind him. The moment Liu Fengqi's tactical boots rolled over the locker room floor, a layer of fine ice mist suddenly rose from the cracks in the blue bricks.

Hundreds of costumes hung like upside-down corpses, and the faded silk swayed gently under the dim blue emergency light. The friction sound was like countless fingernails scratching on glass, giving everyone goose bumps on the back of their necks.

Wang Changming's mace accidentally touched the costume next to him, and the fabric suddenly shrank as if it were a living thing, leaving five dark red fingerprints on the metal weapon.

"Abnormal fluctuations detected!"

He Youxing's detector emitted a shrill beep, and the data stream on the screen surged wildly like boiling magma. "These costumes have all developed consciousness!"

Before he finished speaking, a Zhengdan opera costume embroidered with peonies suddenly moved without wind, and the glass beads in the eyeballs glowed with an eerie red light. A skinny arm stretched out from the sleeve like lightning, and the light blades that popped out from the fingertips vibrated with a high-frequency sound that made one's teeth ache.

Qi Kai's two alloy swords instantly crossed into a cross, and sparks exploded into gorgeous fireworks in the collision between the sword blades and the light blades.

"Try this!"

He roared, and the lightning wrapped around the sword followed the light blade to strike the costume, but the fabric twisted and deformed like liquid metal, absorbing all the attacks.

What was even more bizarre was that barbs quickly grew out of the places where the sword blade had passed, forming a large net in the air that flashed with dark blue arcs of electricity.

Liu Jialiang's energy shield blocked everyone in time. The moment the rune light came into contact with the big net, a deafening roar erupted.

"This is not the way to go!"

His voice was muffled by the vibrations of his shield. "Their adaptability is increasing exponentially!"

Taking advantage of the gap between the monster's attacks, He Xin rushed towards the overturned dressing box like a civet cat. His tactical gloves sparked on the rotten wooden box, and he finally grabbed the stack of yellowed scripts.

"found it!"

His smart glasses projected a holographic scan, and the ink on the yellowed rice paper reorganized in the air, revealing Liu Rushuang's tragic past.

Scenes from a thousand years ago unfolded like an old movie: a popular actor was drugged to silence him by a powerful figure, and later strangled to death with silk. And between the cracks in the text, a dark energy pulsed eerily.

"The core of the star track, the resentful soul is the key; yin and yang are suspended upside down, life hangs on a thread."

The bronze mirror in the locker room suddenly oozed out black slime, which flowed down the mirror surface like tears of blood.

The shadow of Liu Rushuang slowly emerged from it, her costume covered with dark red pixel fragments, and her eyes were as empty as two black holes.

As she opened her mouth, the temperature of the entire space dropped sharply, hundreds of costumes simultaneously let out screams like babies crying, and countless arms with claws emerged from the satin.

"Spine! Attack their spines!"

A shrill whistle came from He Youxing's headphones, and scarlet energy nodes were marked on the back of each costumed puppet on the holographic map.

Liu Fengqi's interstellar glasses instantly locked onto the target: "He Xin paralyzed the communication system, Qi Kai beheaded, and Liu Jialiang held the defense line!"

His command pierced through the chaos like a bullet, and everyone immediately began to cooperate.

Wang Changming's psychic weapon, the mace, was wrapped in flames and smashed towards the nearest costume, but a large number of red light balls splashed out at the moment of impact.

Those balls of light reorganized in the air like living things, transforming into three giant spiders with opera masks.

"What the hell is this monster?"

He wiped the debris from his face and felt a burning pain on his skin.

At this moment, Liu Rushuang's shadow suddenly let out a shrill scream, and the space in the entire locker room began to distort.

A blood-colored array diagram emerged from the ground, and more ghosts dressed in Qing Dynasty official uniforms crawled out from the wall, with flashing data cables wrapped around the mourning sticks in their hands.

He Xin suddenly remembered the wonderful use of the ghost money before, pulled open the storage bag at his waist and shouted: "Scatter the gold ingots! Quick!"

The golden ingots rained down on the ghosts and monsters, and a strange scene happened: these vicious monsters stopped attacking instantly and scrambled to pounce on the ingots.

Some ghosts even bite each other in order to snatch property, and data fragments fly everywhere in the air.

Liu Fengqi seized this fleeting opportunity: "He Youxing, locate the weakness of the barrier, and the others prepare to break out!"

However, just as everyone was preparing to act, Liu Rushuang's shadow suddenly stretched out his hands, and all the scattered ghost money automatically gathered into a golden torrent.

A glimmer of clarity flashed in her eyes, but was quickly swallowed by resentment. The golden torrent turned into chains that trapped everyone.

"She's absorbing this energy!"

He Xin's electromagnetic rifle fired wildly, but only left shallow dents on the chain.

Wang Changming suddenly raised his mace and slammed it to the ground: "I'm going to fight you!"

His attack shook off the dust on the beams, but accidentally revealed a star map hidden on the ceiling.

Liu Fengqi's interstellar glasses captured the key information and shouted, "Stop attacking! These chains are part of the star track system. We need to use the melody of "The Fragments of Colorful Clothes" to crack them!"

He Youxing quickly called up the sound pattern of the incomplete score, and everyone used weapons and shields to beat out a specific rhythm.

As the rhythm sounded, the chains began to glow blue, and Liu Rushuang's shadow revealed a painful expression.

When the last note fell, all restraints collapsed, and the ghosts fighting for the gold ingots turned into ashes in the golden light.

"Hurry up! The teleportation array leading to the top floor is in the mirror!" Liu Fengqi pointed at the bronze mirror that was regaining clarity.

However, just as everyone rushed towards the teleportation array, the entire dressing room suddenly began to flip over, and costumes poured down like a black waterfall.

Liu Rushuang's shadow spoke one last time in the data stream, her voice a mix of electrical noise: "Remember... at 12:30 pm... yin and yang are upside down..."

The moment the teleportation array's light came on, Liu Rushuang's figure completely disappeared, leaving behind only a pile of unabsorbed ghost money and a cooling red ball of light.

Just as they were about to leave, Wang Changming caught a glimpse of countless figures flashing in the mirror - they were the explorers who had disappeared before, now they had become puppets in the theater, staring at their receding backs with empty eyes.