To avoid being discovered by the ghost, Feng Yang did not rashly leave the clothing store.
He chose to stay put and observe, waiting for the ghost to leave the street before making a move.
Feng Yang had a vague premonition: If he were caught by the ghost outside, something terrifying would definitely happen.
And even if he doesn't have a premonition, anyone with good eyes can say that ghost thing is not something he should come in contact with.
After waiting for a long time, the ghost finally floated out of the convenience store.
But to Feng Yang's surprise, the ghost began floating toward the clothing store where he was hiding.
The clothing store had two floors.
The ghost's intrusion forced Feng Yang to retreat to the second floor.
At the same time, a question arose in his mind.
This ghost had entered both the convenience store and the clothing store.
These two places were exactly the shops Feng Yang had entered.
So, did this ghost have some special ability to track his route?
Was it sound? Or was it his scent?
Feng Yang could not be sure how the ghost had tracked him.
But he knew that, in any case, he had to be even more careful than before.
Feng Yang hid on the second floor of the clothing store, quietly observing the ghost below.
He began to think rapidly.
First, Feng Yang was certain that he had not made a sound since encountering the ghost. In other words, the monster could not be tracking him by sound.
"Could it be his scent? No, that was unlikely too."
Based on common sense, Feng Yang quickly dismissed this guess.
Generally, as the outside temperature decreases, the speed of molecular movement slows down.
Simply put, the lower the temperature, the slower the diffusion of scent.
Plus, Feng Yang was wrapped up tightly and was indoors. The monster had little chance of smelling him.
Thinking this, Feng Yang could not help but speculate: could the ghost be tracking its prey by heat?
Using heat to locate prey is an ability seen in nature, such as in snakes.
This perfectly explained why the monster entered the convenience store and roamed the first floor of the clothing store:
because the indoor temperature was slightly higher than the outdoor temperature!
Just as a dog tracks its prey by scent,
The ghost wandered around the first floor for a while before drifting toward the second floor, drawn by Feng Yang's body heat.
Seeing this, Feng Yang immediately took a lighter from his backpack and quickly lit the clothes hanging on the wall.
With no wind in the room and the clothes themselves being highly flammable, the clothing store was ablaze in just a few seconds.
The temperature of the burning fire was definitely higher than normal human body temperature.
Feng Yang intended to use this heat to stall the ghost for a while.
Not long after the fire started, the ghost, which had been heading upstairs, seemed to sense something.
It began to float faster and quickly moved toward the burning fire.
It worked!
Seeing this, Feng Yang felt a surge of excitement.
The ghost could indeed be attracted by fire!
Taking advantage of the ghost's distraction, Feng Yang did not hesitate.
He quickly walked to the second-floor window, grabbed a chair from the floor, and smashed the glass with all his might.
At the same time, Feng Yang glanced downstairs.
The street was deserted.
Most importantly, there was no ghost-like creature on the street.
Confirming the street was safe, Feng Yang jumped from the second floor.
The snowy street cushioned his fall, and he was unharmed.
As for the ghost, it doesn't seem very intelligent; like an idiot, it was now attracted by the flames and stood before it without moving, and did not chase after him.
But Feng Yang knew he was not truly out of danger.
In such cold conditions, objects with high ignition points were difficult to ignite.
As time passed, the fire inside the clothing store would only subside.
And once the flames were gone, the ghost would inevitably be drawn back to Feng Yang by his body heat.
He had to escape, and the faster, the better.
After all, even if the ghost's ability to sense heat sources was extremely strong, that ability must still have a limited range.
In other words, as long as Feng Yang could escape beyond the ghost's sensing range, he could completely escape the danger.
Of course, walking alone would not be fast enough.
He needed to find a working car.
Since the city's inexplicable disappearances, parked cars were almost everywhere.
And almost all of these cars had keys inside.
So, Feng Yang hurried along, trying to start the cars parked on the roadside.
But for some reason, most of the cars would not start.
Even when he found one that could start, the tires had poor traction, and in the heavy snow, it would just spin in place and quickly stall again.
Time was of the essence.
Having failed to start a car, Feng Yang did not dare delay any longer.
He began walking.
Soon, it was afternoon.
After walking for so long, Feng Yang was already feeling tired.
He went into a shop on the street to rest briefly.
But before he could stay long, the ghost caught up with him again.
Seeing this, Feng Yang was at a loss for words.
This thing is like a persistent leech, relentlessly chasing after me even after I've traveled so far!
In desperation, Feng Yang could only continue lighting nearby items to attract the ghost's attention.
He continued forward. But unsurprisingly, at regular intervals, the ghost would retrace his escape route and catch up again.
Left with no other option, Feng Yang kept lighting campfires along the way to stall the relentless ghost.
Actually, lighting fires had another benefit for Feng Yang; it helped him maintain a normal body temperature.
Walking in the empty city and stopping like this, night quickly fell.
At the same time, Feng Yang discovered a very serious problem:
Because of the ghost, he could no longer rest properly.
Ordinary wood does not burn for long.
Each campfire Feng Yang lit would last for a maximum of two hours before the ghost would catch up again.
Two hours was more than enough for traveling and eating, but not enough for rest.
There was nothing he could do.
To avoid being killed by the monster, Feng Yang set an alarm on his phone before each rest to prevent himself from sleeping too soundly. Because he feared the phone would go off lack of power, he also put some power banks in his bag, so he doesn't have to worry about it going off anytime soon. Anyway, he wasn't using it, so the battery can last a long time.
And the alarm could not be set only once. If Feng Yang was not woken by the alarm, he might become the ghost's food when he next awoke.
Thus, Feng Yang endured the bitter cold and exhaustion, relentlessly moving forward.
He did not know where he was going, but the instinct for survival kept him from stopping.
In this way, Feng Yang stumbled along for nearly three days, severely sleep-deprived.
Finally, some distance from the city, a forest appeared before him.
Yes, a forest. Only god knows how it appears near a city, but it is indeed a forest.
Between this forest and the snow-covered road was a peculiar-looking "transparent light barrier like doom covering the forest."
This transparent light barrier, emitting a white glow, acted as a dividing line.
On the side of the barrier closer to Feng Yang, the cold wind howled, and snow fell heavily.
On the other side of the barrier, the sun shone brightly, and flowers, grass, and trees grew vigorously.
This scene was extremely eerie.
It was as if the two sides of this light barrier were two completely different spaces and times.