Chapter 196: Changing Faces

Whether all of this was real or not could only be known after they went to the Cliffside Cemetery.

After everyone put on raincoats, Lü Yang held Yi Ya’s hand and quickly walked into the heavy rain. They ran toward the back gate of Mountain Peak Village. On the stone path near the back gate of Mountain Peak Village, a flash of lightning lit up the night sky. Eight bodies appeared scattered in front of everyone…

Among them, six bodies wore raincoats, and two bodies were naked, showing pale skin. They lay messily in the muddy water. There were five more bodies than the ones Lü Yang found last night.

It went without saying that these bodies should be Counselor Chen and the four male students he brought out, as well as three of the four students who had run off.

Where was the female student’s body that Lü Yang possessed last night?

“What… what happened?” Gong Xue, who was being carried over Gong Jian’s shoulder, saw this scene and couldn’t help but feel stunned.

“These are the real Instructor Chen and the four male students who went out looking for people. The other three are from the missing two males and two females. Those who entered the Ancestral Hall earlier were Faceless Persons who came out of the mural. These Faceless Persons killed Instructor Chen and the others, took their faces, put on their clothes, and pretended to be them.” Lü Yang counted the bodies while explaining to Gong Xue. He picked up a waterproof flashlight from near one of the bodies, turned the body over, and shone the light on its bare face.

Gong Xue and Hu Yulan screamed together. Anyone seeing this for the first time would find it hard to bear.

“Stop screaming! Do you want to attract them over here?” Lü Yang sternly stopped Gong Xue and Hu Yulan.

Compared to the two of them, Yi Ya also seemed scared but was much calmer, at least not screaming. Lü Yang had seen this calmness of hers in the Golden Pagoda Mysterious Domain before, but he didn’t have much time to think about it now.

Sometimes, a person can be very sensitive to any anomalies about someone they deeply love, but at other times, they might choose to ignore those anomalies.

Whether sensitive or ignoring, the reason was only one.

Because of love. Love makes people blind.

Just as Gong Xue and Hu Yulan’s screams ended, a female student’s scream came from the direction of the Ancestral Hall. Soon, many more screams and calls for help from the female students were heard…

Based on Lü Yang’s guess, after they left, those Faceless Persons started targeting the female students.

As for why they didn’t act earlier but only now, Lü Yang didn’t know. But he knew that if he chose to turn back and save them now, not only might he fail to save them, but he might also risk the lives of the people around him.

“If you want to live, come to us!”

Lü Yang shouted toward the Ancestral Hall. Although escaping with Yi Ya and the others was more important right now, he couldn’t extinguish the kindness deep in his heart and wanted to save as many people as possible.

At the same time, Lü Yang stripped the raincoats from several bodies for future needs.

“If you want to live, come here! Come with us!” Gong Jian also shouted toward the Ancestral Hall. His voice was much louder than Lin Yin’s.

Sure enough, some footsteps ran toward them, but more were the shrill screams rising and falling, making it hard to imagine what was happening inside the Ancestral Hall.

The footsteps didn’t sound heavy, probably from female students, but Lü Yang still tightened his grip on Yi Ya’s hand, ready to run at any moment.

Three pale-faced female students ran breathlessly to near Lü Yang and the others. Then, the Ancestral Hall suddenly fell silent. It was so quiet that besides the sound of the heavy rain, no other noise could be heard. Everything seemed to have fallen into complete stillness.

“Let’s go!” Lü Yang didn’t dare delay any longer. He threw three of the stripped raincoats to the three female students, then used the flashlight to light the way ahead. Holding Yi Ya’s hand, he ran toward the back gate of Mountain Peak Village.

Just as Lü Yang expected, the path from the back gate of Mountain Peak Village leading directly to the Cliffside Cemetery was still within the Mysterious Domain’s range and wasn’t occupied or blocked by the Black Mist.

While running, the three female students, questioned by Gong Xue, shakily told Gong Xue and the others what happened in the Ancestral Hall after they left…

Counselor Chen and the other nine falsely claimed they were protecting everyone’s safety. They guarded the two doors of the Ancestral Hall and a collapsed wall gap only wide enough for one person. Two people guarded each door, one guarded the narrow gap, and the remaining four took out short sickles or similar weapons from their bodies. They selected one female student, forcibly took her out of the Ancestral Hall, and placed her in the human-shaped depression on the Altar. Then they forcefully stripped off her clothes and pants and forced her to spread her legs for some kind of examination.

Strangely, these people didn’t seem to want to assault the female student. After checking a certain part of her body, they took out their short-handled sickles and started cutting something from the female student’s face. The female student let out hysterical screams…

Then, the completely naked female student was carried back. Her face was gone, but there was no blood. It just became bare and creepy, as if the face had been cut off and a layer of skin was stretched over it.

The faceless female student was thrown on the ground like a corpse… Then, two of the four men, one holding her clothes and the other holding her ‘face,’ walked toward the mural…

A terrifying Faceless Dried Corpse walked out of the mural. While howling, with the help of the four men, it put on the female student’s clothes and then… ‘wore’ her face!

After this face was put on the dried corpse, it gradually started to move, as if coming to life. With this face plus the female student’s clothes, if you didn’t look carefully, you’d think it was the original female student!

Only, it gave off a strong smell of corpse rot!

By this time, no matter how foolish these female students were, they knew what they were about to face…

Not to mention the later part with the short-handled sickles cutting faces, even the earlier part of being forcibly stripped and having their legs spread for examination by several men was embarrassing enough.

They deeply regretted not listening to ‘Lin Yin’ and leaving with ‘her.’ But now, regret was useless. The three exits of the Ancestral Hall were tightly guarded by the face-changers. These face-changers were incredibly strong, at least several times stronger than normal men. There was no way for them to escape!

When the female students screamed, those face-changers got very angry. They even covered their ears and threatened that whoever screamed again would be caught first.

These three female students managed to escape because, during the chaos, they ran to the narrow gap where the tour guide old man Gu Zheng was. The tour guide old man Gu Zheng didn’t stick to his duty but quietly moved aside. While the face-changers weren’t paying attention, he let them out.

About five or six female students were let out by the tour guide old man Gu Zheng, but they were soon discovered by other face-changers. The tour guide old man Gu Zheng was knocked to the ground. One of the four face-changers replaced him guarding the narrow gap. The other three chased out of the Ancestral Hall, caught several of the escaped female students, and brought them back. These three were the first to run out, and they came here because they heard ‘Lin Yin’ and Gong Jian’s calls.

…

“Isn’t that place up ahead the Cemetery? Could it be…” Yi Ya asked Lin Yin. No matter how strange Lin Yin had been acting these past two days, she basically hadn’t questioned ‘her’ about anything, but her doubts were certain.

“Only the Cemetery is safe. Just trust me!” Lü Yang didn’t want to say too much. He pulled Yi Ya and continued running toward the stone steps of the cliff.

The heavy rain was intense, and with the continuous cloudy days, the stone steps leading up to the Cliffside Cemetery had grown some moss, making them extremely slippery. Everyone had no choice but to use both hands and feet to finally climb up the cliff hill.

After reaching the cliff, looking around, there were about several dozen graves, appearing very eerie in the heavy rain. Seeing this, the already terrified female students’ legs started trembling again. Some even wet their pants from fear.

There were no grave mounds behind the tombstones, only rectangular Coffin Pits one after another. The Coffin Pits were empty, and despite such a heavy thunderstorm, there was no water accumulated in them. This seemed quite Strange Point, unless the Coffin Pits had some special drainage method.

Lü Yang shouted for everyone to follow him to a clearing in the graveyard. They temporarily stopped and stayed there together. Without thinking of an effective way to deal with those Faceless Persons and end this Mysterious Domain, this was all he could do for now.

Then Lü Yang and Gong Jian began searching. As expected, next to the Coffin Pit where Lü Yang stayed last night, there were four Iron Shovels. Lü Yang handed the flashlight to Gong Jian, telling him to take an Iron Shovel and carefully explore the cliff hill to see if there were any other ways up. Lü Yang himself started checking the Coffin Pits for any strange objects.

In the Coffin Pit where Lü Yang stayed last night, something strange indeed appeared! It seemed like something was moving!

Because he had given the flashlight to Gong Jian, to check if there was anything unusual in the Coffin Pit, he had to get very close to see clearly. When Lü Yang almost put his head into the Coffin Pit, he found a completely naked female student lying inside! He didn’t know if she was dead or alive.

All of this was basically within Lü Yang’s earlier predictions.

Lü Yang lay by the Coffin Pit, reaching his hand toward the female student’s body…

The female student let out a very shrill scream, suddenly stood up, and tried to climb out of the Coffin Pit to escape.

“It’s me! Lin Yin! And Director Gong! Don’t be afraid! We’re here to save you!” Lü Yang quickly grabbed the female student’s arm.

The female student was clearly overly frightened. She screamed and struggled desperately, trying hard to break free from Lü Yang’s grip. ‘Lin Yin’s’ strength was too small, and she could hardly hold her. Fortunately, Gong Jian, Gong Xue, and the others heard the noise, ran over together, and forcefully restrained her.