[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-heavenly-official-bestows-evil":3,"chapter-heavenly-official-bestows-evil-heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-31":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Heavenly Official Bestows Evil",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2316650,4530,"Chapter 31: Footsteps in the Dark","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-31",31,"\u003Cp>In this clapping game, the order of clapping is crucial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To prevent chaos from multiple people clapping at once and violating the rules, the six survivors each have a number.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian is one, Shi Ji is two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yue Mei is three, Wen Chao is four.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Su Huilan is five, Su Huijin is six.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The order was decided by drawing lots in the room; Wu Xian drew for Room 403 and unfortunately drew number one—when number one claps, they clap once, number two claps twice…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next person to clap must clap within ten seconds of receiving the signal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The male corpse crawled through Rooms 401 and 402, finally stopping at the door of Room 403.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The footsteps drew closer; Wu Xian clapped again to let the Ghost Mother know his location, so she moved toward him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The prayers outside the window ceased, and the occasional eerie cries vanished; all Wu Xian could feel was absolute silence and darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each time the palm touched Wu Xian, countless images flooded his mind—mostly faces, men and women, old and young, faces at the moment of death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian swallowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just two seconds, it stood before him, two faces separated only by the length of a tongue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clap-clap, hiss…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wailing, raging, shrieking…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the next clapper fails to clap within ten seconds, it means something has gone wrong; the one after must clap within the next ten seconds to keep the game from halting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time is a strange concept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rustle-rustle, rustle-rustle…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Often, when people wish time would slow to prolong a beautiful moment, it races away like a mad horse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was not footsteps—it was more like hands slapping the ground, dragging the body along.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A puff of air on the eyelids is the signal to switch seekers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, every second felt like a year!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In absolute silence, Wu Xian’s hearing sharpened—he heard his own heartbeat, the ticking of the clock, and the restless agitation from other rooms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as he turned around, a pair of pale palms smeared across its face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One clap, and the entire world fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The original evil of this world—the Lost Child Ghost Mother!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So many chains clinking together—imagine how severely the Ghost Mother is restrained by this blessed land; compared to her, even that broken-door demon seems free.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even this mindless evil…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Skin split open on his arm, bones sprouting a blood-streaked bone blade aimed at Wu Xian’s abdomen—he could already imagine how sweet and satisfying it would feel to have new organs fill his body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The male corpse grinned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead; his mind was torn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The male corpse’s voice vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The male corpse had no internal organs, so it moved with great difficulty; only now, as Wu Xian stopped moving, did it slowly arrive here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could only pray that when the male corpse touched him, he’d have a chance to activate the Golden Crow Feather and drive it off with fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides Wu Xian, the other five survivors all simultaneously felt a cold, foul breath blow against their eyelids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Found… my organs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the Ghost Mother approached, fear surged uncontrollably—even Wu Xian, so close, lost his allure; it turned to flee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was that hollow-bellied male corpse!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had come for him!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had come for Wu Xian at this damned time!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold hand groped over Wu Xian’s body, the male corpse’s eye blood smearing onto him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Conversely, when people wish time would hurry past a tormenting moment, it crawls slower than a snail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After roughly five minutes, Wu Xian heard other sounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A new sound emerged—a dense clinking of chains, mixed with the rhythmic tapping of a woman’s footsteps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was not an ordinary evil; its internal organs had been hollowed out, its skull emptied, driven solely by instinct—which is why it dared enter the Ghost Mother’s domain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Lost Child Ghost Mother stepped over the corpse, waving her blood-stained pale palms, groping forward until she touched the source of the clapping—Wu Xian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian kept his eyes shut but sensed the male corpse’s presence through sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crawling noise of the male corpse sent all six survivors into trembling fear, adding a dangerous variable to the already perilous clapping game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as contact continued, these negative emotions kept flooding in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This minor demon—if he could just open his eyes, with his copper coin sword still holding eighty blades, he could easily chop it into mincemeat!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the deadliest thing was, he was waiting for the Lost Child Ghost Mother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despair and terror, madness and regret—countless negative emotions battered Wu Xian’s mind; he even considered opening his eyes just to end it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian clenched his eyes shut, gritting his teeth to endure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Wu Xian…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So it must find Wu Xian to become whole again!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Wu Xian had dropped its organs, its hollow abdomen would be filled with Wu Xian’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, Wu Xian had become the new seeker.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It dared not move, staring fixedly at the thing before it, watching those two pale palms pierce into its own eye sockets!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Splash!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at that moment, the male corpse froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dim yellow light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wu Xian could only silently clench his fist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A hollowed-out male corpse climbed to the fourth floor of Ping’an Lodge; its limbs were strong, its torn abdomen dragging on the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hated this version of himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rubbed his numb, over-tensed palms, waiting in absolute darkness for the evil to find him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Ji, upon receiving the signal, immediately clapped twice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He dared not open his eyes at all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t even dare use his copper coin spear for defense—it would heat up upon contact with evil, and it was far too long; if the Lost Child Ghost Mother found Wu Xian and accidentally struck it, she might perceive it as an attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clap!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clap was crisp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The male corpse grew agitated at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ghost Mother quickly found Wu Xian’s eyes, measuring the position of his eyelids with her hands, leaning close to blow a breath onto them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian shut his eyes, braced himself, then clapped loudly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time was nearly up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shifted from crouching to hunched standing, his speed suddenly increasing—yet making not a single sound; his horrifying face dripped with greedy longing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The male corpse collapsed to the ground, its body rotting at a rate a thousand times faster than normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the male corpse had no lungs, it could not breathe; Wu Xian had not sensed its approach and was still waiting for it to crawl closer to strike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian knew Shi Ji’s position; after groping in the dark for two seconds, he found him, touched his eyes, then blew a breath onto them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Wu Xian had brushed his teeth well, what everyone smelled was fresh toothpaste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1158,"2026-06-20T14:31:06.102Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","81e14d1ed5d0eea1382a2662033afa4bae5c4592f93fc49ddd6bef0ec9491501","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-32","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-30",556,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fheavenly-official-bestows-evil-cover.jpg"]