Chapter 35: The Visitor (3)

At that moment, a sudden cry came from Mai and Asami.

“Quick… come over here.”

Mai shouted, her voice panicked.

Mai and Asami’s voices startled the other three, who had been filming. They turned their heads and saw the two standing by the cave wall, holding flashlights.

“What happened?”

“Look at the wall… there are several shadows on it?!”

Asami, who was usually lively, now sounded on the verge of tears, which puzzled the three. Still, they hurried over.

“Asami, are you and Mai okay?”

“We’re fine… but look at the wall, there are so many strange things on it?!”

Both Asami and Mai sounded uneasy, with the latter pointing towards a corner of the wall.

Following Asami’s finger, the other three finally saw what they meant—several dark shadows gradually emerging on the rock wall.

“Look, there are many gray-black shadows on this wall, like charcoal smudges…”

The group raised their eyes and took a step back in surprise, realizing the wall was covered densely with black human-like shadows.

What was most bizarre was that these shadows had human outlines, as if they were a crowd of charred people.

“Strange? What are these? Why…”

Even Huma and Akai felt a surge of fear rising in their hearts.

“And look closely at this… There are five shadows here that are very clear, as if they’re standing hand in hand. Don’t you think… these five shadows look like ours?”

Mai stammered these words, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Only then did Huma, Akai, and Reiko notice the five distinct gray shadows on the wall. Their outlines were sharp, clearly distinguishable as two males and three females, with clothing, body shapes, and heights almost identical to the five of them.

“Th-this is impossible.”

Huma couldn’t help but step back, his face turning pale and sweat dripping from his forehead.

“…Why is this on the wall? It’s disgusting!”

Reiko furrowed her brows, unable to make sense of it. She simply found the whole thing revolting and shocking.

Meanwhile, Akai grew agitated and suddenly grabbed Huma by the collar.

“Huma, was this your doing? Do you think this kind of joke is funny?”

“Let go, Akai… How could I do something like this?”

Huma and Akai struggled briefly, and the others hurriedly stepped in to calm them.

“Enough, Akai. There’s no way Huma would do this.”

Mai rushed over to intervene.

“Stop it, you idiot. Don’t do this.”

His girlfriend Asami also came over and held him back.

“Besides, who could pull off such a large-scale prank on such short notice? Even if someone wanted to, there wouldn’t be enough time.”

Hearing this, Akai gradually calmed down.

“Sorry, Huma.”

“…It’s fine.”

Both of their tones were stiff, and even though they made up temporarily, a slight tension remained between them.

“Strange? Besides our five shadows, there’s a sixth shadow here in the lower right corner.”

Reiko shone her flashlight toward the lower right corner and slightly opened her mouth in surprise. She saw a slightly smaller gray shadow—a young person with a backpack.

“…The sixth shadow.”

————————

Fang Jing, hiding in the secret compartment, naturally had no idea what Reiko had seen.

He only barely overheard the five people’s conversation.

Some parts were unclear because they were too far from his hiding spot.

However, he understood certain parts clearly, such as their discussion about the five shadows appearing on the stone wall.

“There are gray shadows on the stone wall? And from what they said, there seem to be many of them…”

What on earth was happening?

He couldn’t fully grasp the situation, but Fang Jing clearly realized one thing: in this cave, the Strange Phenomenon had already begun…

He took out his Phone and glanced at the time—it was already past nine, almost ten o’clock.

“Has my sense of time become messed up, or did time really pass this quickly? It’s already around ten.”

Time seemed to have accelerated without him noticing, and Fang Jing increasingly felt that the situation was growing complicated.

“What should we do, Huma?”

Reiko came closer and whispered, “This place is too eerie. I can’t stay in such a disgusting spot any longer.”

“Me too! Me too!”

Asami clung to her boyfriend Akai’s arm and chimed in urgently.

“Indeed… I think this place is a bit creepy. It really doesn’t feel right.”

Mai also hugged her shoulders tightly. All five of them vaguely sensed that the cave held an abnormal atmosphere, as if something eerie was lurking deep within.

“Alright! Everyone, pack your things and make sure nothing is left behind. Let’s get out of here!”

Huma made the suggestion, and his words prompted the group to move. They didn’t want to spend another second in that cave.

However, at this point, leaving Mount Sagiri might not be so easy.

————————

After leaving the cave, the five carried their luggage and filming equipment, using flashlights to descend the mountain.

The path down wasn’t easy, but fortunately, the five were accustomed to outdoor activities and had no major issues even walking the mountain trail at night.

However, when they were halfway down, those in front unexpectedly noticed something and stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

Asami peeked out from behind her boyfriend Akai.

“This is just… terrible. It looks like there was a landslide ahead. The path is completely blocked.”

Damn it! Akai clicked his tongue in frustration. Not far ahead, their flashlights only illuminated a Cliff-like collapse of the mountain.

“There’s no other way. It seems we’ll have to take a detour.”

“Probably not possible. This mountain doesn’t seem to have any other paths. There’s only this one trail up the mountain—I noticed that when we came up…”

“What about cutting through the forest?”

“No, the vegetation is too thick. There’s nowhere to step, and with the night so dark, it would definitely lead to trouble!”

After some back-and-forth discussion, they couldn’t reach a decision. Reiko wanted to take a detour and find another way down.

But in the end, both Mai and Huma opposed the idea.