"Ghost-Face"

Outside the old town area.

The man who had just initiated the Forbidden Ruins sat by the signboard, glanced back at the half of the old town area that remained still like a canvas, shook his head helplessly, and took out his phone from his pocket to play a matching game.

"Bro, why are you sitting here playing with your phone in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold on your butt?"

Not long after, a pedestrian walked over from the opposite side of the street and burst into laughter upon seeing this scene.

The man looked up at him, then lowered his head to continue operating his phone. "Got nothing to do, so I'm killing time."

The pedestrian chuckled, pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, and offered it to the man.

The man waved his hand and said seriously, "It's work hours, no smoking."

"Hey, you're squatting on the street playing with your phone, is that considered work?" the pedestrian teased.

"Yeah."

"Fair enough." The pedestrian shrugged, stood up, and walked towards the street behind the man.

"Where are you going?" the man suddenly asked.

"Home."

"You can't go back, at least not now."

The pedestrian raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"This road is closed now. You can only go back when it's reopened." The man pointed to the signboard behind him.

Following his finger, the pedestrian saw the inexplicable signboard standing in the middle of the road. Just as he was about to say something, the four big words "No entry ahead" on it flickered briefly and vanished.

The pedestrian's gaze suddenly became blank.

A few seconds later, he turned stiffly, retraced his steps back the way he came, his eyes filled with confusion...

The man seemed unsurprised by this turn of events. Just as he was about to resume playing his game, the voice of another man suddenly sounded in his earpiece.

"Zhao Kongcheng!!"

The moment the voice sounded, the man sat up abruptly from the ground, the leisure and weariness on his face vanished, replaced by absolute seriousness!

"What's up, Captain?"

"We've got a problem. Among this group of Ghost-Faced people, a Ghost-Faced King has emerged. While we were besieging the other Ghost-Faced individuals, he launched a sudden attack and seriously injured Hongying, then escaped the forbidden ruins through the sewers."

"Ghost-Faced King?" Zhao Kongcheng's face changed, "Which way did he run? I'll intercept him!"

"No, Kongcheng, you're not good at fighting. You can't defeat the Ghost-Faced King. I'll go after him."

Zhao Kongcheng was taken aback, "Then what should I do?"

"After the Ghost-Faced King escaped, two more Ghost-Faced individuals took the opportunity to flee into the sewers. The others are busy dealing with the remaining Ghost-Faced individuals."

"Which way did they go?"

"Southeast."

"Got it."

Zhao Kongcheng's eyes sparkled, he sprinted to the other end of the street, jumped into a black van, stepped on the gas pedal, and sped away amid a buzzing sound.

Neatly folded on the passenger seat beside him was a black and red cloak,

and a sheathed straight sword!

...

"Alright, I'm turning here. I'll be off."

Wang Shao stopped in his tracks and turned to the four people behind him.

Just then, Li Yifei seemed to suddenly remember something and said, "Wang Shao, if I remember correctly, isn't your home near the old city area?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"...Nothing, just be careful on your way back."

Wang Shao's mouth twitched slightly, rolling his eyes. "If you have something to say, just say it. Don't stop halfway through, it makes people feel uncomfortable."

Li Yifei hesitated for a moment. "I heard that the old city area has been restless recently, with a serial killer on the loose!"

"A serial killer? Is it true?" Jiang Qian looked skeptical.

"Of course it's true!" Li Yifei glanced around and lowered his voice. "You may not know about this, but over a dozen people have died in the old city area in the past few days."

"Over a dozen people? That's impossible. If something that big happened, the news would have reported it by now," Wang Shao shook his head.

"Hey, why is it impossible? Let me tell you, this is suspicious. Someone higher up forcibly suppressed the news. If my dad didn't work at the police station, I wouldn't have known about it either."

"Suspicious? What's suspicious?"

"It's said..." Li Yifei paused and lowered his voice even more.

"It's said that the faces of the dead were all peeled off, leaving only a bloody mess of flesh and protruding eyeballs. The method was extremely brutal!"

A chill wind brushed by, and upon hearing this, everyone felt a cold shiver from their feet to their heads!

"Li Yifei! Are you crazy? Talking about this stuff so late at night!" Jiang Qian's face turned pale, and she instinctively looked around the silent street, annoyed.

This area was already close to the old city area, a remote area of Cangnan City. It was almost ten o'clock after evening self-study, and there wasn't a single pedestrian on the road. Combined with Li Yifei's words, it made people feel a bit panicky.

Not only her, even Wang Shao and Liu Yuan, the two big men, felt a bit scared. Wang Shao glanced at the narrow path he was about to take and suddenly felt a bit apprehensive...

If Li Yifei's words just made people a bit scared, what Lin Qiyue said next sent shivers down their spines!

After a moment of contemplation, Lin Qiyue spoke softly, "Are you sure... that these things were done by a human?"

"Qiyue, you..." Jiang Qian's body trembled!

Wang Shao and Liu Yuan's mouths twitched slightly, their gazes towards Lin Qiyue becoming strange.

You, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, turns out you're the one hiding the most?

Li Yifei looked at Lin Qiyue in surprise, "You think so too?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Jiang Qian couldn't take it anymore. She reached out and twisted Li Yifei's arm hard, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Don't tell ghost stories in the middle of the night!! I still have to go home later!"

Li Yifei rubbed his arm, wincing in pain, muttering under his breath, "This isn't a ghost story..."

Wang Shao shrugged, "I'm not going to waste time chatting with you guys. I don't believe in all these supernatural things anyway. I'm out."

Wang Shao's figure gradually disappeared into the narrow alleyway.

Jiang Qian glared at Li Yifei again, took a few steps forward, then suddenly stopped.

She sniffed hard, furrowing her brows slightly,

A hint of confusion appeared in her eyes,

Then she turned and said, "Have any of you smelled something foul?"

"A foul smell?"

"Yeah, like the smell of something rotting."

"I don't smell anything. Liu Yuan, how about you?"

"Me neither... Ugh!!"

Liu Yuan and Li Yifei hadn't finished their conversation when their faces suddenly changed. They abruptly covered their noses, looking around in fear.

Lin Qiye was about to say something when an extremely nauseating smell invaded his nostrils. It felt like throwing a piece of meat that had been rotting for over ten days into a septic tank, mixed with a dozen rotten egg yolks. Just a whiff of it made his stomach churn violently.

This was the foulest smell Lin Qiye had ever encountered in all his years of living.

As for Jiang Qian, who had the most sensitive nose, she immediately squatted down and started vomiting.

"Damn, what the hell is that stench?!" Li Yifei exclaimed, holding his nose.

"I have no idea," Lin Qiye furrowed his brow slightly. After a moment, he pointed towards the alley where Wang Shao had left.

"But judging from the direction of the smell, it seems to be coming from there."

The next moment, a mournful scream echoed from not far away, reverberating in the silent night sky.