Outside the old urban area.
The man who had just set up the Forbidden Ruins sat beside the notice board. He looked back at half of the old urban area that was as still as a canvas, shook his head helplessly, and took out his phone from his pocket to play a match-three game.
"Bro, why are you sitting here playing with your phone in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid of getting a cold on your butt?"
Before long, a pedestrian came over from the opposite side of the road and couldn't help laughing when he saw this scene.
The man looked up at him, then lowered his head and continued playing. "I've got nothing to do. I'm bored."
The pedestrian smiled, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and offered it to the man.
The man waved his hand and said seriously, "I'm on duty. I don't smoke during working hours."
"Hey, you're squatting on the road playing with your phone. Is this considered working?" The pedestrian chuckled.
"Yeah."
"All right then." The pedestrian shrugged, stood up, and walked towards the street behind the man.
"Where are you going?" The man suddenly asked.
"Going home."
"You can't go back, at least not now."
The pedestrian raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"This road is blocked now. You can go back only when it's open again." The man pointed to the notice board behind him.
The pedestrian followed his finger and saw the notice board that was inexplicably placed in the middle of the road. Just as he was about to say something, he saw a faint light flash and disappear on the four characters "No Admittance Ahead".
The pedestrian's eyes immediately went blank.
A few seconds later, he turned around stiffly and walked back step by step along the way he had come, his eyes full of confusion...
The man didn't seem surprised by this at all. Just as he was about to continue playing the match-three game, the voice of another man suddenly came through his headset.
"Zhao Kongcheng!!"
The moment this voice sounded, the man suddenly sat up from the ground. The leisurely and sleepy expression on his face disappeared, replaced by absolute seriousness!
"Here! Captain, what's going on?"
"There's been a problem. Among this batch of Masked Men, a Masked King has emerged. While we were encircling and suppressing the other Masked Men, he suddenly attacked and seriously injured Hongying. Then he escaped from the range of the Forbidden Ruins through the sewer."
"A Masked King?" Zhao Kongcheng's face changed. "Which direction did he run in? I'll go and intercept him!"
"No, Kongcheng. You're not good at fighting and can't win against the Masked King. I'll go after him."
Zhao Kongcheng was taken aback. "Then what about me..."
"After the Masked King escaped, two more Masked Men took the opportunity to flee into the sewer. The others are still clearing out the remaining Masked Men and can't get away."
"Which direction?"
"Southeast."
"Okay."
A sharp glint flashed in Zhao Kongcheng's eyes. He quickly ran to the other end of the street, got into a black van, stepped on the accelerator hard, and sped away with a loud hum.
On the passenger seat of his car, a black-red cloak was neatly folded,
along with a sheathed straight sword!
...
"All right, I need to turn here. I'm leaving now."
Wang Shao stopped and turned back to the four people behind him.
Just then, as if he had suddenly remembered something, Li Yifei said, "Wang Shao, if I'm not mistaken, isn't your home near the old urban area?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"…Nothing. Just be careful on your way back."
The corner of Wang Shao's mouth twitched slightly, and he rolled his eyes. "If you have something to say, just say it. Don't stop halfway. It makes people feel uncomfortable."
Li Yifei hesitated for a moment. "I heard that the old urban area hasn't been peaceful recently. There's a crazy serial killer!"
"A crazy serial killer? Is that for real?" Jiang Qian didn't quite believe it.
"Of course it's real!" Li Yifei looked around and lowered his voice. "You guys might not know this, but a dozen people have died in the old urban area in the past few days."
"A dozen people? Impossible. If there was such a big commotion, the news would have reported it already." Wang Shao shook his head.
"Hey, why is it impossible? Let me tell you, this thing is really strange. Someone from above has forcibly suppressed the news. If it weren't for the fact that my dad works in the police station, I wouldn't know about it either."
"Strange? What's so strange about it?"
"It is said that..." Li Yifei paused and lowered his voice a little more.
"It is said that the faces of those who died were all skinned off. All that was left on their faces was a mass of bloody flesh and protruding eyeballs. The method was extremely cruel!"
As the cool evening breeze blew by, when they heard these words, the group felt a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads!
"Li Yifei! Are you crazy? Why are you talking about this at night!" Jiang Qian's face turned pale. She subconsciously looked around at the quiet street and said angrily.
This place was close to the old urban area and was a remote part of Cangnan City. It was almost ten o'clock after the evening self-study, and there wasn't a single pedestrian on the road. Combined with Li Yifei's words, it was really creepy.
It wasn't just her. Even Wang Shao and Liu Yuan, the two men, were a bit scared. Wang Shao glanced at the narrow path he was about to take and suddenly felt a little心虚 (uneasy).
If Li Yifei's words just made them a little scared, then Lin Qiye's next words made their scalps tingle!
Lin Qiye thought for a moment and said softly, "Are you sure... these things were done by a human?"
"Qiye, you..." Jiang Qian's body trembled!
The corners of Wang Shao and Liu Yuan's mouths twitched slightly, and they looked at Lin Qiye with a strange expression.
You look so honest, Lin Qiye. Who would have thought you were the one hiding the most secrets?
Li Yifei looked at Lin Qiye in surprise. "You think so too?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Jiang Qian couldn't take it anymore. She reached out and pinched Li Yifei's arm hard. The latter let out a cry of pain on the spot.
"Don't tell ghost stories in the middle of the night!! I still need to go home later!"
Li Yifei covered his arm, grimacing in pain, and muttered softly while hiding to the side, "This isn't a ghost story..."
Wang Shao shrugged. "I'm not going to chat nonsense with you guys. Anyway, I don't believe in these supernatural things. I'm leaving."
Wang Shao's figure gradually disappeared into the narrow alley.
Jiang Qian glared at Li Yifei again, took a few steps forward, and suddenly stopped.
She sniffed hard, furrowed her brows slightly,
and a hint of confusion appeared in her eyes.
She turned around and said, "Do you guys smell something stinky?"
"Something stinky?"
"It's that kind of smell, like something rotting."
"I don't smell it. What about you, Liu Yuan?"
"I don't either... Ugh!!"
Before Liu Yuan and Li Yifei could finish their words, their faces suddenly changed. They quickly covered their noses and looked around in horror.
Lin Qiye was about to say something when an extremely disgusting stench suddenly entered his nostrils. It was like throwing a piece of meat that had been rotting for more than ten days into a septic tank and mixing it with a dozen rotten egg liquids. Just one sniff made his stomach churn violently.
This was the most disgusting smell Lin Qiye had ever smelled in his life.
As for Jiang Qian, who had the most sensitive nose, she directly squatted down and started vomiting.
"Damn it, what the hell is so stinky?!" Li Yifei shouted, covering his nose.
"I don't know." Lin Qiye furrowed his brows slightly. After a moment, he pointed towards the alley where Wang Shao had left.
"But judging from the direction the smell is coming from, it seems to be coming from there."
The next moment, a shrill scream came from not far away and echoed in the silent night sky.