Horror

It was early in the morning. 

The sun rose, illuminating the earth and sky. 

Along with all the monsters! 

Fang Zheng had a dream, a lengthy dream. 

In his dream, he had been transformed into a prawn and was being boiled by Old Wang, owner of the food stall by the junction. He had been in a ring of broiling heat and steam. His body had turned into a shade of boiling red. 

An excruciating pain gripped his body; it was as if all his cells were about to rupture. 

He had vainly struggled in the pot. Swimming, he had tried his best to break free from his cage. He had raised his pincers, desiring to scream, "I don't want to be blinded by the sky anymore! I don't want my intentions to be buried by the earth anymore!". But before he could yell, Old Wang shoved him to the very bottom of the pot. Glug! Glug! He was going to be cooked to death! 

Fang Zheng sprang up from the floor. 

He checked himself from head to toe. He was thankful that all his limbs were intact. 

He had not been cooked. It was all a dream. 

Relaxing a little, Fang Zheng noticed that a dry layer of grey grime coated his skin, as if he had not taken a bath in 800 years. 

Perhaps it was the sweat of last night's nightmare mixed in with the dirt from his floor, which he had been sleeping on the entire night. Fang Zheng did not over think the matter as his mind was preoccupied with a more pressing matter: could the Lieuwei Dihuang teapills be a counterfeit product? Had they damaged his body? 

What else could have caused him to suddenly faint? 

Fang Zheng grabbed a quick shower, threw on some clean clothes, and rushed to the hospital. He wanted to get himself examined. But before he had left, he remembered to take the scripture of human skin with him. 

After last night's incidents, he felt that it was safer to keep the scripture of human skin with him, as it seemed to have a complicated past. 

He had also wanted to take the bottle of Liuwei Dihuang pills, so that he could have it sent to a lab for testing. If it proved to be a counterfeit, he would go and settle it downstairs with the pharmacy owner's daughter. Unfortunately, the bottle was empty. Last night's dose had been the final one. 

He had to let it go for now; it was his only choice. 

He exited his area and flagged down a taxi, speeding away to the People's Hospital located in the city center. 

Fang Zheng was anxious and worried throughout his journey. Was he going to be okay? 

The driver, a greasy man with a bald patch, kept intermittently glancing at Fang Zheng. 

"What?" Fang Zheng felt a tad bit annoyed. 

The driver, who appeared to be a well-worn man, said, "Young man, nine out of ten men have hemorrhoids, and half of the latter wind up on the operation table, while the other half went to an anorectal specialist. Men smoke, consume spicy food, or they just sit for long hours in a single position due to work induced stress, it's normal, understandable. 

"Song Jie, the specialist in the anorectal department at the People's Hospital is pretty good." 

'Ugh!' 

Fang Zheng felt his soul sour. 

It was obvious that they were not on the same wavelength. He whipped out his phone and began searching for news about the blue blood moon that had appeared last night. The government had to, at the very least, maintain public order... Didn't they? 

Various experts had made an online appearance to debunk the rumors surrounding the incident last night. All of them swore that the blue blood moon was simply a rare eclipse. 

When the moon reached a certain point in its orbit, the Earth's atmosphere reflected light onto the surface of the moon, causing an eclipse. There was nothing to overthink or panic about. 

The remainder was dry, dull facts. Blah, blah! Lists of historical super eclipses were given being listed by the experts. 

Despite the netizens voicing their doubts in the comment sections--as the citizens of other countries were witnessing the blue blood moon during the day--the government merely brushed everything away. 

Every social media platform contained reports of a similar theme: society appears unusually calm and peaceful. 

Prosperous, democratic, civilised, peaceful, free, equal, fair, lawful, patriotic, respectful, honest, and friendly. 

They were all singing the same tune. 

Meanwhile, the posts of the Human Torch and Flash had disappeared from the internet. 

Fang Zheng visited the hackers' forum to find out whether there were similar posts from other countries. 

What greeted him on the forum was terrifying. 

[Scroll quick! Prevent this post from being deleted! Secret footage attached! A high school student was playing the Bloody Mary game in school last night, and over a thousand students in the hostel were found dead this morning! There might actually be ghosts in this world!]

[Shocking! Video proof! A show exploring carnivores in the wild was being filmed in a small European country. The 13 participants who had entered the jungle yesterday, were found. Their bones were skewered!] 

[Dozens of movie goers disappeared from an American cinema during a midnight show! The cinema has been on lock down. Tons of FBI cars were parked outside the cinema! Video and photos available!]

Fang Zheng wanted to click into the post to watch the video; another error 404 message popped up. 

The Internet police were extremely efficient in their jobs.

Fang Zheng felt that he was in danger. 

He perceived that the peculiar incidents had happened even before the appearance of last night's blue blood moon. 

It could be that politicians, both local and global, had prior knowledge and had agreed upon a set of guidelines for dealing with such cases. Furthermore, there might even be an international police agreement for the banning and removal of online posts in order to prevent the spread of fear. 

Peace had to be maintained. 

This was a possible explanation for the hasty removal of abnormal and petrifying online content in current times. 

The only reason it blew up was because of the blue blood moon. 

Right then, Fang Zheng stumbled upon a new post after he had hit the refresh button.

[Life-threatening filming!! There might be a huge secret at the People's Hospital in Zhou City! Armed police have surrounded one of the buildings in the hospital; even medical personnel were not allowed into the building. Someone saw an old priest enter People's Hospital today!! Could it be that it's haunted? Or is there a serial criminal being detained at the hospital?]

'I'm going!' 

Fang Zheng's hands trembled, causing him to nearly drop his phone. 

Zhou City. Was this not the city he was currently in?

People's Hospital, he was on his way to it...

Ten minutes later. 

Fang Zheng stood in front of the People's Hospital. He knew that from this point on his life might never be the same again. 

The scroll of scripture written on human skin, which he had been carrying, transformed before his very eyes. It had been acting normal all this while, but now, he could feel it pulse a terrifying pulse, and then the pulsing morphed into a powerful inhalation. 

He watched a tendril of smoke rise from the hospital. Within a second, the scripture had inhaled the tendril. It was unavoidable. 

Fang Zheng was shaken. 

However, people around him appeared to have neither seen him, nor the cloud of smoke, nor any other abnormalities that oozed from Fang Zheng. They behaved normally. It appeared to be that Fang Zheng was the only individual who had seen what had happened. 

"Oh no, am I really cursed?"