The moment the language was spoken, it no longer seemed to belong to oneself.
It had become an entity in its own right, born from the mouth, influencing the world.
Beneath their feet was a massive mysterious symbol, which resonated with the spell the instant it was spoken.
This resonance made the spell spoken by Han Su and Xu Ji heavier, more powerful, and able to travel far.
But this “far” was not in the spatial sense.
It was like being at sea, where the voice didn’t spread farther over the surface, but, endowed with mysterious significance by the ritual pattern underfoot, instead transmitted into the depths of the sea.
Thus, the waves began to surge.
It was as if a force capable of penetrating multiple layers of space had begun to stir a distant resonance.
It began to summon, or perhaps lure, something.
Han Su did not grow discouraged. It was obvious that the Ghost Freight Truck, which even the Disaster Management Bureau was helpless against, would not be so easily summoned. He prepared at once to chant the spell a second time with Xu Ji. But just as he opened his mouth, a sudden turmoil surged in his mind.
It was a metallic scraping sound, filled with obscure mystery and strangeness, clashing in his head.
“Bronze… World… Reflection… Echo…”
The voice came so abruptly it sent a sharp pain through Han Su’s head, stopping his chanting in an instant.
It was that voice from the Ancient Castle, the one that had chased him all the way here.
Han Su’s voice even distorted slightly, speaking in a bizarre tone:
【By My Command, Appear in the Light】
It was as if that sentence had been tainted the moment it left his mouth.
This caused the spell to carry, beyond its piercing effect, a mysterious sense of will.
But such a spell consumed Spiritual Power at an alarming rate. Han Su couldn’t even summon the strength to chant the third sentence.
Across from him, Xu Ji immediately sensed something was wrong. When they had spoken the first spell together, he had felt nothing unusual.
But after the second chant, faint sounds of machinery and human groaning reached his ears.
It felt like he had returned to that night with Han Su when they first encountered the Ghost Freight Truck.
Somehow, everything around them had become hazy. The dazzling lights of Qinggang City in the background and the headlights of the cars stopped up and down the slope seemed farther away. The surroundings felt empty, and a sense of isolation welled up within him. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel•fire.net
The innate roar, terrifying from the start, now grew clearer, as if it was approaching.
Just as he was about to chant the third time, he suddenly noticed Han Su’s voice did not follow.
In this situation, chanting the spell alone felt like summoning that thing by himself.
Like two people standing at the edge of a forest calling for a tiger — and when it finally appeared, one person suddenly fell silent, leaving the other to become the tiger’s first target.
How could someone as clever as Xu Ji not realize this shift?
So Xu Ji immediately believed this to be Han Su’s ploy. He puffed out his chest and shouted the third chant even louder, then continued with a fourth!
After all, Han Su had missed a verse. As a good brother, he had to make up for it!
A thunderous noise fell from the heavens and rolled into the depths of the earth, echoing deeply.
Han Su felt the tremors beneath his feet. The land seemed to have been destabilized by their chanting. He saw thick mists rolling in from all directions, enclosing him and Xu Ji.
He struck his head forcefully, suppressing the excruciating pain and the maddening voice echoing in his mind, then opened his bloodshot eyes wide: “It’s coming!”
The change happened in that instant.
Even as an ordinary person, Xu Ji noticed something was wrong the moment he finished chanting the fourth time.
The heavy fog came too suddenly and was too strange.
The surrounding headlights and the distant brilliant lights of Qinggang City were completely blocked out. This small stretch of highway seemed forgotten by the world.
Even Han Su, only four or five meters away, appeared as a vague silhouette, difficult to discern.
A strong sense of loneliness engulfed him, as if he stood alone at the center of the world.
Recalling past encounters with supernatural entities, he immediately tensed his nerves, eyes wide open, alert and trying to discern from which direction the roaring engine sounds were approaching.
Suddenly, the front dimmed, while bright lights flared from both sides.
From the thick fog behind him, eerie lights abruptly flared, piercing through the mist and casting a massive shadow of him.
The engine roar, mingled with ragged breathing and pounding heartbeats, surged from behind.
Xu Ji shouted, his voice cracking. He scrambled toward the roadside.
But as soon as he took a step, he felt a damp hand suddenly grip him.
Two figures appeared out of nowhere, seizing him on both sides, leaving him unable to move.
Instinctively, Xu Ji turned his head — and nearly lost his soul.
The old friend who had died under the wheels of the Ghost Truck a month ago, now drenched in blood, flesh torn open, wore a strange smile and stared fixedly at Xu Ji.
One arm, crushed by truck wheels with bone fragments showing, clutched his arm.
On the right, the Leg Model Lady who died alongside Zhang He on that road, also smiled eerily, clinging to his arm with her blood-soaked body.
The two completely blocked Xu Ji’s escape. The roar of the engine behind him suddenly exploded.
“Zhang He, you son of a bitch! I even sent money to your mom…”
Overwhelmed by terror, Xu Ji screamed and cursed madly, but before he could finish his sentence, the fog behind him split open violently.
A massive beast emerged from the fog at over 300 kilometers per hour, bearing down on him.
Xu Ji, facing away from the Ghost Freight Truck, couldn’t see its full form. He only felt the rushing wind and his life as fragile as an egg.
“Bro, wipe my hard drive…”
Xu Ji instinctively shouted his final words to Han Su, wherever he was, but heard only a calm response.
In the next moment, Han Su’s figure appeared through the swirling mist. He had been there all along, and Xu Ji had simply been too frightened to see him.
Electric sparks crackled from Han Su’s right hand — the Thunder 101 High-Voltage Baton. Zhang He and the Leg Model Lady shrieked, turning faint and semi-transparent.
Then Xu Ji’s collar tightened — he felt himself lifted and thrown.
As he hit the ground, violent wind rolled him a few times. He saw the monstrous truck roll over the spot where he had just been standing.
Now he finally got a good look at the grotesque form, a nightmare etched into his heart.
Steel and flesh formed the shape of the entire truck in a bizarre fashion.
It had just roared past with a frenzied aura and, with an unnatural twist, whipped around in the fog to make a sharp turn.
The massive truck head emerged from the mist in front of Xu Ji. Its two bright headlights seemed to radiate a soul-piercing force. Xu Ji even felt playfulness and greed from those lights.
All around them, shadowy figures emerged from the fog, surrounding Xu Ji from all sides.
Pale and shattered faces stood like stakes — some drooping, some grinning grotesquely. Strange sounds filled the air, flooding his ears, vanishing when he tried to listen closely.
“This… this is freakin’ insane…”
Xu Ji could no longer describe what he felt. His eyes sought out Han Su — only to find he had vanished again.
His legs gave out like noodles, leaving him pounding the ground in despair and sobbing.
But this despair only fed the Ghost Freight Truck.
Even the surrounding vengeful ghosts became clearer — a pure fear, the very state the Ghost Freight Truck craved most.
As the fog thickened again, the engine’s roar exploded, and wild energy surged with it.
All around, the vengeful ghosts crept in without moving their legs, closing in fast.
Pale faces pressed toward Xu Ji. Countless white arms reached out from every direction and clung to him.
His body grew heavier. He had no strength even to take a step.
The piercing headlights shone straight into Xu Ji’s face, forcing his eyes shut. His ears filled with whispers and mocking laughter.
Then, in that moment, the Ghost Freight Truck suddenly charged forward, its tires grinding against blood and flesh.
The force of the direct impact would drive anyone to despair.
But just then, a figure flashed in front of Xu Ji — Han Su stood before him, left hand behind his back gripping a precise mechanical construct.
His right hand extended forward, and he chanted in a low voice:
“I speak for the gods, delivering their decree!”