On the peeling and mottled ceiling, ghostly faces were imprinted, their expressions frozen in terror as if struggling to escape the surface.
“Drip… drip… drip…”
Dark red blood seeped from the corners of the walls, gradually staining the corridor walls on both sides.
“This time, it’s your turn to play the ghost!”
A young boy’s voice echoed eerily from all directions, chilling and haunting.
“Well, you’d better hide really well. Don’t let me catch you,” Qing Li said, narrowing her eyes as the curve of her lips deepened.
“Q-Qing Li Miss, I… I’ll go with you,” Lin Zizhou stammered, his voice trembling.
His instincts screamed at him that clinging tightly to Qing Li, this powerful lifeline, was his only hope of leaving this place alive.
Before Qing Li could respond, Lin Zizhou hurriedly added, “Once we’re out of here, I’ll give you a million yuan as compensation.”
“Sounds good, sounds good. Don’t worry, as long as I’m here, your safety is guaranteed,” Qing Li replied with a reassuring smile and an appreciative glance at him.
Money was something she could never have too much of.
As her very first client, Lin Zizhou could expect her most sincere service and care.
“Here, take this charm,” Qing Li said, tossing him a small triangular talisman.
Lin Zizhou caught it with both hands. The moment he touched it, a wave of warmth spread through his body, dispelling the cold that had been gnawing at him.
Was this the legendary protective talisman?
Lin Zizhou treated it as though it were a priceless treasure, carefully tucking it into his inner pocket.
[So envious of Lin Zizhou! That’s a talisman personally given by our village deity beast!]
[Village Lass: You’re the beast! Your whole family are beasts!]
[I’d spend ten million just to buy a talisman made by her.]
[That lucky brat Lin Zizhou! My jealousy has turned me green-eyed—I feel like robbing him.]
Lin Zizhou followed behind Qing Li obediently. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the dim corridor. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the hallway was stretching endlessly, as though they would never reach its end.
“Qing…” Lin Zizhou instinctively called out but was quickly silenced by Qing Li.
She pressed her finger to her lips, signaling him to stay quiet.
Lin Zizhou immediately clamped his mouth shut, fixing his gaze on Qing Li and waiting for her next instruction.
Qing Li moved lightly to the base of the wall, her sharp eyes narrowing. A mass of black energy, invisible to ordinary human eyes, was gathering on the surface.
“Boom—”
A deafening explosion rang out as a massive battle-axe suddenly appeared in Qing Li’s hands. With a single strike, she shattered the cement wall, sending dust and debris flying everywhere.
“Ah, wrong one.”
Qing Li’s pale little face flashed with annoyance as the heavy battle axe crashed onto the floor, shattering the tiles into pieces. She continued forward, dragging the axe behind her. The blade screeched against the floor, producing a piercing noise like the claws of a vengeful ghost scraping against a surface, torturing everyone’s nerves.
Lin Zizhou covered his ears and followed behind Qing Li, while the audience in the livestream shrieked in agony.
[For a moment, it’s hard to tell who’s human and who’s the ghost.]
[Village girl, please don’t act like this. You’re a spitting image of a psycho killer.]
[I’m actually a little worried for Lin Zizhou. I’m afraid she might turn around and chop him down at any second.]
The dark, ominous energy in the corridor was dispersed with a single swing of Qing Li’s axe, and the seemingly endless hallway returned to normal. Lin Zizhou shuddered when he spotted a red-painted “4” at the turn of the staircase at the end of the corridor.
The next floor was… the fourth floor.
But since Qing Li was already heading down, Lin Zizhou had no choice but to steel himself and quickly follow.
“Zizhou.”
A gentle female voice called from behind Lin Zizhou. He turned around and was startled to see a familiar face. His pupils trembled.
“Vivi.”
He froze in disbelief, his expression gradually twisting with pain. “Why? Why are you here too? Did you also get dragged into this cursed livestream?”
His eyes turned bloodshot, unable to process this devastating blow.
“Zizhou, I came to find you.”
The woman stepped forward and embraced Lin Zizhou, speaking sorrowfully, “You’ve been missing for so many days. I did everything I could to track you down, and now I’ve finally found you.”
“Zizhou, let’s never be apart again, okay?” Her eyes glistened with a misty sheen.
Lin Zizhou found himself sinking into her gaze and slowly nodded. “Okay.”
The woman’s lips curled into a faint smirk. Her hands, still wrapped around Lin Zizhou, began to rapidly decay. Blackened fingernails extended and slowly pierced into his back…
“Ahhh—!”
A heart-wrenching scream tore through the air as the decaying woman abruptly shoved Lin Zizhou away. Her body convulsed in agony as endless streams of black energy poured out from her, accompanied by a stench of rot and scorched flesh.
“Vivi…”
Lin Zizhou’s vision cleared. The figure before him was not his fiancée but a grotesque female ghost, stripped of flesh and hideously deformed.
“Thank goodness for Miss Qing Li’s protective charm.”
Lin Zizhou felt the talisman tucked in his chest pocket grow scalding hot.
The ghost, now a smoldering husk, lay on the ground completely burnt to blackened charcoal.
Clutching his chest, Lin Zizhou trembled with lingering fear. Looking down the hallway, he saw Qing Li’s figure disappearing around the stairwell and quickly chased after her.
Third floor.
Second floor.
First floor.
-1……
Upon reaching the first level of the basement, Lin Zizhou froze in shock.
“Miss Qing Li, this place seems to be…”
Lin Zizhou’s teeth chattered as his face contorted in terror.
“Just a morgue. Don’t worry, there’s nothing to fear from corpses.” Qing Li gave him a reassuring glance.
Lin Zizhou was on the verge of tears. In despair, he pointed at the scene before them and stammered, “But… all those corpses have sat up!”
The expansive morgue was lined with hundreds of gurneys, and every corpse that had been lying peacefully on them was now sitting upright.
“Crack—”
“Crack—”
“…”
The sound of bones snapping echoed throughout the room as every corpse slowly turned its head toward Qing Li and Lin Zizhou.
Lin Zizhou’s knees buckled, and he nearly fainted from fright. This was his second mission, and he had never witnessed anything like this before.
Qing Li squinted her eyes. In her vision, each corpse was accompanied by a ghost, which lifted the bodies and twisted their heads to face the same direction.
“Heehee, come catch me, big sis!”
A chilling voice suddenly rang out, dripping with malice and resentment.
The corridor was blocked by a crowd of ghosts, and the voice of a young boy echoed from the deepest, darkest corner.
“Little brat, wash your neck and wait for me.”
Qing Li’s lips curled into a lazy yet confident smile. She slung the massive axe over her shoulder, exuding an aura of invincible defiance.
[Village girl is so cool. Can’t wait for her to wreak havoc.]
[It’s just a bunch of dusty old skeletons. Village girl’s got this in the bag.]
[Breaking news: Young woman livestreams herself taking down over a hundred elderly figures! Is it moral decay or a lack of humanity?]
[The commenter above deserves a Pulitzer for that title.]
Lin Zizhou quietly backed away, leaving the battlefield to Qing Li. He was fully aware of his uselessness in situations like this.
“Miss Qing Li, you got this!”
From a safe distance, Lin Zizhou waved his arms and cheered. He felt no shame in hiding behind a woman—in fact, he even felt a twinge of pride…