The mascot of the wishing shop is a cat.

Chapter 172 We've Found Them

After the system repeatedly assured Lin Xiyue that this place was definitely a safe spot, she cautiously approached the shack and tried to open the door.

It's called a gate, but it's just a gate in name only.

Lin Xiyue cautiously reached out her hand, as if to explore an unknown secret, and gently touched the cold doorknob.

She had only approached it with a try-it-and-see attitude, not expecting the door to open so easily. However, to her great surprise, when she gently pulled on it, the seemingly tightly closed door opened slowly and effortlessly!

As the crack in the door widened, a faint sliver of light shone in from outside. Lin Xiyue quickly turned on her terminal and activated the flashlight function.

In an instant, a bright beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the scene before them.

By the light of her flashlight, Lin Xiyue was astonished to find that everything in the room was covered with a thin layer of dust.

Those dilapidated stools, beds made of stacked boxes, bowls with missing corners, and other such things seemed to have been forgotten by time, quietly sleeping in this dust.

The air was exceptionally murky, and you could even clearly see tiny dust particles floating slowly in the air like dancing sprites, propelled by the airflow from the newly opened door.

The scene sent a chill down Lin Xiyue's spine. She wondered to herself, "How long has this place been uninhabited?"

The entire small shack was filled with an old and worn atmosphere.

"This place is strange..."

Seeing the scene before her, Lin Xiyue couldn't help but murmur aloud.

[Strange? What could be strange about it? ∑(′△｀)? ! ]

The system watched Lin Xiyue cautiously move forward and found it very incomprehensible. What could be so strange about a shack that no one lived in?

"Think about it, this is a slum, right?"

[yes.(??_??)?]

The system still doesn't quite understand.

"Then tell me, in the slums, there's such a well-preserved house, and no one lives there. Why doesn't anyone come to occupy it?"

Lin Xiyue carefully searched her surroundings while asking the system for help.

[？？？！！！]

[Oh yeah! So there must be a problem here! But, but this is a safe spot, I've already scanned it. ∑(′△｀)？! ]

The system has great confidence in its scanning function, after all, this function has never been known to malfunction.

"Did you scan the details inside the house?"

As Lin Xiyue spoke, she opened a drawer next to her.

"Pfft-"

Suddenly, a muffled snort of gas release rang out without warning, a sound as if something long suppressed had finally been released, making one's heart tighten. Immediately afterward, a thick plume of black smoke, as black as ink, slowly rose from the crack in the drawer.

Unlike common smoke, this black smoke did not linger in the air for long before quickly dissipating.

Instead, it seemed to possess its own unique will and power, and began to slowly condense and gather together. As time passed, the black smoke gradually revealed a clear outline, eventually transforming into a chilling black skull!

The skull looked extremely terrifying, with an eerie red light flickering in its empty eye sockets, as if it could penetrate one's soul.

Its pale teeth were clenched tightly, and with each opening and closing of its mouth, a chilling sound emanated: "You...cannot...stay...here...anymore...unless...you...give...me...a...sacrifice..."

The voice was both ethereal and eerie, as if it came from the depths of hell, making one think of the hideous and terrifying ghosts in traditional ghost movies.

However, what is even more surprising is that the sound also contains a faint mechanical quality, making the whole scene even more mysterious and unpredictable.

[Ghost! Ghost!!! Help me!!!]

Before Lin Xiyue could make a move, the system screamed first. It was terrified and was now screaming wildly. Luckily, the system didn't have a physical form, otherwise Lin Xiyue probably would have seen it running around frantically on the ground.

"Quickly...give me...the offering!!!"

The skull was clearly alarmed when it saw that Lin Xiyue showed no fear; its voice even quickened.

As its voice sped up, the faint mechanical sound became more pronounced and sounded even stranger.

"strangeness……"

Lin Xiyue was initially a little scared, but after hearing the mechanical voice, she was no longer afraid.

She moved her feet carefully, slowly approaching the mysterious and creepy skull.

When she got close enough, she stopped, leaned down slightly, widened her eyes, and began to carefully observe this strange creature.

However, the moment she brought her face close to the skull, something unexpected happened!

The skull, which had been floating there silently, seemed to come alive and instinctively recoiled. Its empty eye sockets seemed to reveal a hint of fear and unease, as if it were extremely terrified of Lin Xiyue's approach.

This sudden action made the whole scene even more bizarre. The already terrifying skull now seemed even more comical and ridiculous.

Lin Xiyue couldn't help but wonder to herself, "Could this seemingly intimidating guy just be a paper tiger?"

As she observed, this feeling grew stronger. She stared intently at the skull, not missing a single subtle change.

Gradually, she discovered that although the skull appeared ferocious and terrifying on the surface, it did not actually display any truly threatening power or ability.

On the contrary, its various reactions seem more like mere mystification and bluffing.

"What are you..."

Don't touch it!!!

"Stop, baby!—"

Just as Lin Xiyue reached out to touch the skull, two voices stopped her.

One was the system's voice, and the other was Meros's voice.

Lin Xiyue was about to turn her head to look when Molos suddenly pulled her into his arms.

The embrace was warm yet somewhat unfamiliar. After all, Meros had grown a lot in the past few years, while she had been in the arms of the same Meros not long ago. Therefore, this embrace still felt a little strange to Lin Xiyue.

"You're here? ヾ(????)?"

Lin Xiyue felt the trembling in Molos's arms. She smiled, turned around and hugged Molos's waist, even subconsciously touching his abs a couple of times.

……