Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces

Ah Tou had never seen such a scene before. She had always thought that a materialized ghost wasn’t frightening at all, and it was only illusory and elusive ghosts that were frightening. She never expected that there could be such a strange thing in the world.

What the hell is this?

Ah Tou was covered in a cold sweat as Liang Yanyan dragged her back. As the two slowly retreated behind the wall, they kept hearing the cat's meow coming from Ah Tou’s house.

Liang Yanyan then grabbed her hand and pushed her bit by bit in the opposite direction, trying to get far away from her house. There was an abandoned low wall over there, which they hid behind. This wall belonged to the original factory building in the art district and was covered in graffiti. "We aren’t saving him?" Ah Tou asked. 

"Did you not notice that he couldn’t hear anything?"

Ah Tou’s body was cold all over. It wasn’t in her character to sit back and watch somebody die, but at the same time, she was too scared to get close to the house. She thought for a bit and finally made her decision. She took a few steps towards the house but was immediately pulled back by Liang Yanyan, “What are you thinking?"

"I need to let him know."

"Your legs are shaking. What do you think you can do?"

Ah Tou thought for a while. She’s right. She was so anxious that her brain had completely blanked out.

Liang Yanyan sneered at her, “You’re already that scared and you still want to help other people? Your life must’ve always been full of meeting others’ demands.”

Ah Tou knew that Liang Yayan was right. She had been sacrificing herself for other people's ideas since she was a child. She criticized herself a lot after she grew up, but she still couldn’t overcome her own thinking habits. But this wasn’t the right time to ponder over it. 

"How can he exert so much pressure?" Liang Yanyan muttered to herself.

"Is there any way we can stop that thing for a while? I thought fighting ghosts was a psychological thing, but now it’s like hard labor. I can't do it anymore, I need time to catch my breath," Ah Tou said as Liang Yanyan lit a red cigarette

"What’s that?

"It’s said that this cigarette was once soaked in the blood of someone with a special identity and has a strong effect.” Liang Yanyan pulled Ah Tou up and said, "You have to follow me. It’s possible that we never actually left the room and everything here is fake. So, you can’t be alone.” Ah Tou nodded and they walked back to the two buildings. While Ah Tou hid behind the corner, Liang Yanyan walked to the space between the two buildings and took a deep drag of her cigarette.

The long guy stretching between the two buildings immediately spotted her. Ah Tou saw Liang Yanyan quickly step on the walls, flip a couple of times, and reach the second-floor windowsill. As she hung on the windowsill one-handed, she blew the smoke towards the long thing.

That thing seemed to be alarmed and used its whole body to hit Liang Yanyan. As Liang Yanyan slammed into Black Glasses’ second-floor window, she cursed loudly and stuck the cigarette into that thing’s eye. The long-shaped man immediately retracted back into Ah Tou’s window as if the air had leaked out of his body. 

Liang Yanyan instantly fell down. But just as she thought she was about to break her tailbone, Ah Tou rushed over and caught her. The two of them fell into the wall, shredding the skin all over their bodies. 

Ah Tou’s head hit the wall with a terrible sound and her mind started buzzing. She thought her brain was going to be reduced to mush. She immediately yelled and almost broke out in tears. 

The two women held onto the wall and stood up while covering their wounds. "We're even now. I'm not completely useless," Ah Tou said.

Liang Yanyan held her waist with one hand while checking the scrapes on her other wrist. The cigarette on the ground was still lit, so she picked it up and started smoking it again. Liang Yanyan blew the smoke on Ah Tou, which made Ah Tou cough. At that moment. Liang Yanyan saw that a mass of things behind Ah Tou instantly disappeared into the air. It appeared that thing was trying to sneak over just now. 

Ah Tou turned around and saw it as well. She was so scared that she immediately stuck herself to the wall again, “Thank you."

"I didn't mean to. I just wanted to get some of the cigarette odor onto you. But this thing is impatient and never stops." Liang Yanyan frowned. It appeared that her ribs were hurting a lot, so Ah Tou went over to help her but was pushed away. “I broke my back ribs.” Liang Yanyan couldn't stand it anymore and knelt down on the ground. “Let’s change strategies. We won’t fight it anymore. I need to get out of here and find help.”