Chapter 198: Safe Point

Although they now had ‘faces,’ Lü Yang knew their true nature was still that of Faceless Persons, and their hearing remained extremely sensitive.

Gong Jian rushed over and struck one of the Faceless Persons with an Iron Shovel… As ‘Lin Yin’ had said earlier, it felt exactly like hitting iron or stone—he couldn’t move her at all, and the impact numbed his hand.

Just as ‘Lin Yin’s’ scream stopped, the Faceless Person’s body returned to normal. As the Faceless Person reached out to grab Gong Jian’s Iron Shovel, Gong Jian imitated ‘Lin Yin’ and let out a loud scream. The Faceless Person’s movements froze briefly again, but compared to ‘Lin Yin’s’ scream, Gong Jian’s scream was much less effective. The Faceless Person only paused for a moment before moving again, and her face showed no sign of irritation.

Maybe it was because girls’ screams had a higher pitch? It was said that a girl’s scream could directly scare a mouse to death, but a boy could never achieve that.

After catching her breath, ‘Lin Yin’ let out another sharp scream, taking over from Gong Jian. Gong Jian raised his Iron Shovel and, following ‘Lin Yin’s’ earlier instructions, slammed it toward the Faceless Person’s face…

This time, he actually managed to slice off half of the Faceless Person’s face!

But he had only removed the human face covering their blank face—the smooth face underneath remained unharmed. It seemed this face was merely ‘worn’ over their blank faces and not truly part of their bodies.

Under the cover of ‘Lin Yin’s’ screams, the two quickly retreated through the back gate of Mountain Peak Village. When ‘Lin Yin’s’ screams stopped, the two Faceless Persons regained their normal mobility. The one who had half her face sliced off bent down to look for the missing half, while the other Faceless Person chased the two out through the back gate of Mountain Peak Village.

From the behavior of the Faceless Person who went to retrieve her face, it seemed she didn’t show much intelligence; her actions were more like animal instincts. Perhaps the Faceless Persons on the wall had varying levels of intelligence? The Faceless Person wearing Instructor Chen’s face was probably one of the smarter ones.

‘Lin Yin’ screamed once more. Gong Jian followed with another flying shovel strike, slicing off most of the face of the Faceless Person who had chased them. Then, the two turned and ran toward the hill Cemetery.

After ‘Lin Yin’s’ scream stopped, the Faceless Person who had chased them out of Mountain Peak Village also bent down to search for her lost face. Lü Yang and Gong Jian quickly seized the opportunity to run to the base of the cliff, using their hands and feet to climb up the hill.

“This is bad—these Faceless Persons have chased us out of Mountain Peak Village!” Lü Yang exclaimed as he climbed, glancing back. This was something he hadn’t anticipated.

Lü Yang had originally thought the Faceless Persons couldn’t leave Mountain Peak Village, but he didn’t expect the one they had drawn out, after finding her face and putting the half-face back on, would continue chasing them toward the hill!

“You go up first. I’ll guard the stone steps and make sure she doesn’t get up!” Gong Jian told Lü Yang.

“It’s no use. These Faceless Persons are incredibly strong—you can’t stop her,” Lü Yang replied to Gong Jian.

“Don’t worry about me. Just go up quickly!” Gong Jian pushed ‘Lin Yin’ from behind, but his hand landed on her bottom. Realizing his mistake, he quickly pulled his hand back.

“Let’s go up together. Waiting here will just get you killed for nothing. It’s better to go up to the Cemetery and find rocks to throw at her—that might actually help,” Lü Yang disagreed with Gong Jian’s suggestion.

Gong Jian thought ‘Lin Yin’s’ words made sense and didn’t insist any longer. He quickly climbed up the hill cliff behind Lü Yang. The group of girls was already waiting at the entrance to the stone steps, pulling the two up with many hands.

“Don’t block me! Find rocks! Find rocks!” Gong Jian shouted at the girls as soon as he got up. He knew that if the Faceless Person reached the top of the cliff, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Up here were his sister and his beloved. Even if it cost him his life, he would protect their safety.

Since primitive society, there had been a basic division of roles: women provided pleasure and bore children for men, while men provided food and protected their safety.

So, since ancient times, protecting women had always been men’s undeniable responsibility.

…

When the chasing Faceless Person climbed up the stone steps, Gong Jian had already found a large, heavy rock. He lifted it high and hurled it down at the Faceless Person below.

A dull thud echoed.

The rock shattered like a watermelon, but the Faceless Person remained unharmed. After only a slight pause, she continued climbing up the hill cliff.

“When she comes up, I’ll hold her off. Yinyin, you and the others slide down from the side slope!” Gong Jian shouted. The fact that such a heavy rock couldn’t kill the Faceless Person made him feel somewhat desperate. He prepared to fight to the death to protect the ones he loved.

“It’s no use. Going down will just lead to more Faceless Persons, and you’ll die even more horribly,” Lü Yang, wearing a raincoat and sitting on a rock, shook his head. He pointed down the hill toward the village’s back gate, where several more Faceless Persons were approaching, gathering toward the cliff!

Although they had confirmed that screams could briefly stun the Faceless Persons, it didn’t cause any harm. Now, with so many Faceless Persons storming the Cliffside Cemetery, once they broke through, the fate awaiting everyone was easy to imagine.

“You take turns screaming! I’ll slice off their faces. Once their faces fall down the hill, they’ll go down one by one to retrieve them. That way, we can keep them from coming up!” After thinking for a moment, Gong Jian came up with a tactic.

“That’s actually a good tactic… but… eventually, everyone will lose their voices and won’t be able to scream anymore, and then…” Lü Yang shook his head sadly. He still wanted the girls to save their voices for his plan to find a way out. If everyone lost their voices, his plan would be completely ruined.

And according to Lü Yang’s own speculation, his plan was probably the only way to end this Mysterious Domain.

“This is the only way!”

Gong Jian rushed forward and let out a sharp scream. The Faceless Person who was about to climb the hill froze on the stone steps. Gong Jian swung his Iron Shovel in a flying strike, slicing off half of the face that had already been partly removed from the Faceless Person.

That Faceless Person indeed turned around and went down the hill to look for her face…

But other Faceless Persons had already arrived at the base of the cliff steps and began climbing up.

“These half-human, half-ghost creatures are really strange! They care so much about their faces…” Gong Jian watched the Faceless Person searching for her face down the hill with interest and joked with ‘Lin Yin.’

“This isn’t sustainable. Our voices will give out eventually. It looks like we have to take a risk…” Lü Yang watched the Faceless Persons climbing the stone steps one by one, and his mood was anything but light.

“Take a risk?” Gong Jian looked at ‘Lin Yin’ in confusion.

“Everyone, lie down in the grave pits! The grave pits are safe!” Lü Yang pulled Yi Ya toward the edge of a grave pit and shouted to Gong Jian and the girls.

If last night’s nightmare had any useful hint, this was it. Last night, when Lü Yang lay in the grave pit, a half-human, half-ghost monster without clothes had passed by—probably a Faceless Person who hadn’t found clothes or a face yet. It didn’t attack ‘Shanshan,’ who was lying in the grave pit at the time, likely selectively ignoring people in the grave pits.

“Lie in there and wait to die?” Gong Jian asked ‘Lin Yin’ curiously.

“This is the only Path of Survival. Don’t you believe me!?” Lü Yang scolded Gong Jian loudly.

“We need to hide in the grave pits!” Zhang Shanshan finally spoke up, clearly having some experience in this matter.

“I believe you!” Gong Jian quickly replied to ‘Lin Yin.’

Although he was still very confused and didn’t quite believe ‘Lin Yin’s’ strange escape method, hearing ‘Lin Yin’ get angry made him nod in agreement.

Lü Yang pulled Yi Ya to the grave pit where he had lain last night. A grave pit could only hold two people at most. It was likely that only this grave pit was safe and would be selectively ignored by the Faceless Persons.

At this point, Lü Yang had no choice but to be a bit selfish and ensure Yi Ya’s safety first.

Lü Yang had Yi Ya lie down first, then he lay on top of her. After the two hid in the grave pit, ‘Lin Yin’s’ body was still about twenty centimeters from the top edge of the pit, which should be safe… unless Lü Yang’s speculation that the grave pits were Safe Points was wrong.

Gong Jian ran over to ‘Lin Yin’ and Yi Ya’s grave pit to take a look. Only after being scolded by ‘Lin Yin’ did he lie down in the adjacent grave pit. The other girls, though terrified, had no choice but to follow ‘Lin Yin’s’ instructions, lying down in pairs or alone in various grave pits.

…

Several minutes passed.

More than ten minutes passed.

…

The Torrential Rain continued to pour. Those lying in the grave pits couldn’t see what was happening above, but they heard some faint footsteps. Then, the footsteps disappeared too, and the only sound left was the rain.

“You’re not Lin Yin.”

Yi Ya, pinned beneath Lü Yang, whispered.

“Shh…” Lü Yang made a gesture to stop her from continuing.

After staying in the grave pit for another ten minutes or so, Lü Yang lifted his head and looked around…

There wasn’t a single figure in the Cliffside Cemetery. Clearly, after coming up, the Faceless Persons had selectively ignored the people in the grave pits. Finding no fresh humans, they had turned back the way they came!