Nightmare Assault-Chapter 355: Nail

As the guard was about to bring them over, a voice came from behind them, “Old Wu.” A man carrying a blue-and-white striped bag shouted at the guard. It was one of the people who came out earlier, “Who do I need to get to sign off on these things later?”

“I can sign it,” The guard shouted back. The man nodded, shuffled the bag onto his shoulder and left. The guard looked awkwardly as he turned to the group of travellers. “I have to get that done. Do you mind waiting for me?”

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Hua Luo looked at the scattered shops. There was a female boss of a food stall playing on her phone. He asked the guard, “Is it far from here?”

“No. Just keep on walking straight. Do you see the elevator in front?” The guard pointed. “Take the elevator and just go down.”

“Where are the stairs?” Hua Luo asked.

“Stairs?” The guard was stunned. Why would they take the stairs when there was an elevator? Then, it dawned on him. He stared at Hua Luo’s throat. The Adam’s Apple was conspicuous. Plus, his voice was rougher than normal females. As he expected… The guard studied Hua Luo. Light flashed in his eyes. He swallowed and thought to himself that he should mind his own business.

His interest dipped. He said directly, “The stairs are over there. Once you go down the floor, you’ll see a row of shop lots.” He paused before adding, “The empty ones are for rent. Just note down the lot number and tell me.”

“Okay.” The group headed to the stairs. Ever since they entered the nightmare, the travellers gained an indescribable fear of confined spaces like elevators. The fear was a bloody lesson. Before they entered the staircase room, Banana Wolf put down his bag and took out the long blade.

“Follow me,” he ordered. Wan Xiaoning, Hua Luo and Yu Lan obediently moved into a straight line to follow Banana Wolf. Then, Hua Luo exited the row and moved to stand behind Yu Lan. Yu Lan was touched. She whispered to Hua Luo, “Thank you.”

They knew that this place had to be related to the ghost’s life experience. It was probably where the ghost worked. In other words, the chance of them running into supernatural events was high.

In many horror media, the people at the front and the back were often the ones being ambushed.

Hua Luo nodded. He stared down the stairs. His beautiful brows sharpened. When they were downstairs, the sight startled them.

They expected an abandoned floor, but the place was relatively sparse. Wan Xiaoning looked around. She believed this place had more than one entrance.

Near the door, there was an old lady. Next to her legs was a cloth bag. In front of her was a white foam box with a yellowing blanket on top. The delicious smell of steamed corn wafted out.

Yu Lan swallowed hungrily.

They walked forward and were met with two small rows of businesses. Like the guard said, there were a lot of empty lots. Most of the business owners were lazy. They didn’t respond to the potential customers and focused on their phones. They probably had webstores.

The group did a quick browsing. The items on sale were tiny merchandise like toothpaste, gloves and so on. A few shops specialised in imported Korean items. Yu Lan picked up a few items to take a look. She hadn’t seen the brands before.

There was a shop that didn’t even have a proprietor. There was only a wooden cardboard that stated that everything was for sale.

As they went deeper, the signs of abandonment became clearer. Trash appeared on the ground. Wooden boards and sand piled up on the ground. No one cleaned them. They forced themselves to keep going forward. The lights felt dimmer than before. Thankfully, they purchased six flashlights from one of the earlier stalls. Each of them had one. There were two spares.

Banana Wolf suggested they bought a knife each for self-protection. However, considering how gnarly he looked when he said that, the rest didn’t think it was necessary. They felt safe with him carrying the large blade. Wan Xiaoning, who was right behind him, purposely moved slower to maintain a distance away from him, just in case Banana Wolf might accidentally hurt her as he waved the blade around. This created a strange phenomenon. Banana Wolf stared at the road ahead while the rest stared at the glinting blade he carried.

“Are we not there yet?” Yu Lan whispered. She looked nervous. Her gaze floated about. They had passed more than ten shop lots. All of them were empty. Only the dirty counters and scattered merchandise remained.

In the corner, there were mannequins of unknown plastic materials. They were strangely colourful. They assumed different poses. They were scary in the dim lighting like they would come alive in the next second.

After turning the corner, Banana Wolf stopped moving. “We’re here.”

They turned to look. A shop was open. A string of rainbow lights created the shop named Sunshine Story. The cheap lights blinked. They thought this shop would be closed. Despite the dust and dimness, the shop at least looked like it was open.

They walked closer and noticed this was a manicure shop. There was a row of old seats. A table with golden threads tablecloth was placed at the entrance. The table was decorated with different nail samples and nail polishes. The interior decor was cute and young. The main colour scheme was pink. There were posters on the wall. However… there was no one around.

WHOOSH

The sudden sound of water caused them to jump. Yu Lan stumbled several steps back. She bumped into the table. If Wan Xiaoning didn’t grab her, she’d knock over the table.

A bottle of bright red nail polish fell to the ground. The paint splattered on Yu Lan’s white shoes. The red polish flowed down her shoe. The polish looked like blood in the dim lights.

Then, a well-hidden curtain inside the shop opened. A wrinkly face looked out.