After this question blurted out, I felt a pang of regret. If it caused any change in Ives, that was something I didn't want to see.
However, the words were already spoken, so I instinctively stared intently into his eyes, my left hand quietly reaching for the hunting knife at my waist, ready to act if I sensed anything amiss.
Ives was taken aback by my question, and then he noticed my guarded posture.
But he showed no unusual reaction. Instead, he opened his hands in a calming gesture, signifying friendliness.
"Lu, you don't need to be so nervous. I understand. Such a bizarre environment can have a significant impact on anyone. I didn't hear any sounds. Perhaps you're experiencing auditory hallucinations."
"It's alright. If you encounter any trouble, you can tell me, and I'll offer my advice."
Did he want me to tell him that he was already dead?!
Although I remained highly vigilant internally, my hand slowly moved away from my waist. Kuai Shu Ge.
"Perhaps I did mishear. I'm fine now."
The whispers from that monster came and went as quickly as they appeared.
While Ives and I were talking, it had already silently vanished.
However, this was at best an appetizer. According to the diary, these sounds would become more frequent until I could sense its presence.
To be honest, EZ's diary recorded the monster behind me very vaguely, which, while making me wary, also stirred my curiosity.
If there was an opportunity, capturing such a ghastly thing and bringing it back to the outside world as a haunted house NPC would surely earn full marks.
Without the first disturbance, my thoughts became active again. Just then, I suddenly heard Ives cry out urgently.
"Lu, look there quickly!"
I looked up in the direction Ives was pointing and saw a faint human figure about fifty meters away.
The sky was very dim now, and even with my far superior vision, I could only make out a man wearing a hat. As he had his back to us, no other details were discernible.
"Hey..."
We had been wandering in this city for so long, and suddenly finding a suspected human, Ives was instantly excited and opened his mouth to call out to the person, but I quickly covered his mouth.
"In this godforsaken place, if someone suddenly appears, what do you think is more likely – that they're human or some other monster?"
Seeing that Ives was about to become a liability, I quickly stopped him and whispered a string of words in his ear.
Ives's eyes widened. After listening to me, he nodded. Only then did I release his mouth, and a sense of doubt crept into my mind.
Logically, those sent by the company to this island for covert missions were the cream of the crop, hand-picked elites, much like Mr. A, who partnered with me to take down the High Priest before.
Ives was undoubtedly one of them. Yet, faced with this sudden situation, his instinctive reaction was completely uncharacteristic of his status.
Was he influenced by the monster, or...
The most important thing right now was to figure out what the figure ahead was, so I merely filed the question away in my mind.
Fifty meters was not a long distance. Ives and I slowly approached the human figure.
As we closed the distance, we finally got a clear look at him.
He was a man in a gray overcoat, standing at the alley entrance with his back to us. The coat was exceptionally long, completely obscuring his form, though I estimated he was about the same height as Ives standing beside me.
"Who are you?"
As we got closer, I motioned for Ives to call out to the person and then drew the hunting knife at my waist.
Ives's voice cut through the air, but there was no response. The man in the coat seemed deaf, remaining motionless.
Our questions were met with silence, and my heart sank.
This fellow was probably not human. The only uncertainty now was whether he was a trap or a hidden monster.
Due to the angle, I couldn't see if there was anything else inside the alley beside him. I had once read in a comic about a type of monster that would place things attractive to humans at the alley entrance, while its main body would hide within the alley, waiting to ambush.
"Why aren't you talking?!"
Ives, seeing the lack of response, became anxious. He took a step forward but was pulled back by me.
"Don't interact with him. Slowly retreat, facing him."
I said in a low voice, then pulled Ives back with me.
What a joke. In this vast, dark city, why must I go in that direction!
Ives and I slowly retreated, all the way back to the previous intersection. After seeing that the figure had disappeared from our sight, we chose another path to continue on.
"I wonder what that was," Ives muttered. I could tell that anything that appeared now was likely Ives's lifeline.
"Never mind. If we had gotten closer to that person, it might have made our current situation even worse..."
As I spoke, I suddenly stopped. Not far ahead, in the darkness, the figure of the man in the hat flickered in and out of sight.