Volume One: The Ghost Building Chapter Twenty-Three: Unimaginable

No one could have expected that while heading back upstairs, Zhou Cheng and Zhao Linxuan would encounter a corpse once more.

No, this time it was not a corpse, but the remains of one. The term "remains" was used because the body was no longer intact; it was a pile of nauseating bone fragments and minced flesh. Furthermore, perched atop this pile of gore was a man's head, completely unscathed.

The head’s expression was one of sheer terror, its eyes bulging so far from their sockets that they seemed ready to burst. It was as if, in his final moments, he had witnessed something unimaginably horrific; there was nothing left but raw, petrified dread.

Stumbling upon this scene at the corner, both Zhou Cheng and Zhao Linxuan froze in their tracks, stunned. The shock lasted only a few seconds.

"Waaah!"

With a piercing shriek, Zhou Cheng collapsed to the ground, his hands splayed out as he began to retch. The scene was so revolting that Zhao Linxuan, feeling her own stomach churn violently, could not help but vomit as well.

"Ugh!"

As she heaved, an ominous premonition began to gnaw at her. Especially after seeing the twisted, terrified expression on that severed head, Zhao Linxuan was gripped by fear. Even though the female ghost had not yet appeared and there was no immediate danger, her forehead was beaded with sweat, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

Cheng Fan had said the corpses were left by the female ghost to intimidate explorers, to exert psychological pressure and shatter their will to resist. The facts seemed to bear this out, but why? Why did I feel such a bone-chilling cold? Nothing had happened yet, so why was I growing increasingly panicked? What is going on?

"Ah, it’s this guy! Didn't he run out of the elevator earlier? How did he end up like this?"

Zhao Linxuan would not—and could not—find the answer. Setting aside the fact that Zhou Cheng’s wailing was severely disrupting her thoughts, the oppressive, icy dread made it impossible for her to stay even one second longer.

"Let’s go! Keep heading up!"

After urging him on, Zhao Linxuan immediately took action, grabbing Zhou Cheng and pulling him along as she skirted past the remains toward the stairs.

Time slipped away as they ran, and before they knew it, the time reached four o'clock. In truth, the exact time did not matter; Zhao Linxuan did not care about that at all. The only person she truly cared about was Cheng Fan.

Do not doubt it—for Zhao Linxuan, who was now utterly frantic, only Cheng Fan could provide her with a sense of security, and only he had any hope of leading her out of this haunted building.

And then, Zhao Linxuan’s wish came true—at least, it came half true.

Three minutes later, while the two were running in a panic, Zhao Linxuan’s eyes widened. As they passed a certain floor, she spotted a patch of deep red bloodstains.

"Found it! This is the 19th floor!"

"Look at the ground!"

Sure enough, seeing the prominent bloodstains at the edge of the floor, both Zhou Cheng and Zhao Linxuan were overjoyed. The thick, dark clouds that had been hanging over their hearts dissipated significantly.

Confirming that the blood was right before their eyes, Zhou Cheng excitedly urged, "What are we waiting for? Let's go up quickly! Maybe Cheng Fan is right up there!"

With that, he brushed his yellow-dyed hair, bypassed Zhao Linxuan, who was still staring at the blood, and rushed toward the stairs. Snapping out of her daze, Zhao Linxuan hurried to follow.

Before long, they arrived at the 19th floor. But...

As soon as they stepped into the corridor, Zhao Linxuan, standing behind Zhou Cheng, began to shiver. It was an icy, piercing gust of ghost-wind that had struck her from behind without warning!

Noticing the anomaly, she didn't even have time to look down the hallway; she turned around in a panic.

To her horror, the first thing she saw was a head.

From the ground beneath her, a disheveled head suddenly lunged upward. In the blink of an eye, Zhao Linxuan saw its true form: long, wild hair, a face pale as paper, a dress hovering in mid-air, and a pair of eyes redder than blood.

It was the Woman in Red!!!

"Ah!"

Seeing the ghost appear before her without warning, Zhao Linxuan’s pupils contracted, and she screamed on the spot. But strangely...

Even though the ghost was right in front of her—even face-to-face—it did not attack Zhao Linxuan. Instead, it ignored her entirely and lunged straight toward Zhou Cheng.

As for Zhou Cheng?

As mentioned, Zhao Linxuan’s sudden, piercing scream had startled him. Who could have guessed that her scream, in a twist of fate, ended up saving him? It forced the yellow-haired youth, who would have otherwise been oblivious to the danger behind him, to turn around quickly.

Hearing the scream and turning around in a panic, Zhou Cheng asked, "Miss Zhao, what's wrong? You..."

"Waaahhh!"

Zhou Cheng’s words were cut short, replaced by a terrified shriek. Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the ghost. Swept along by a howling, icy wind, it was charging directly at him with lethal malice!

Because the ghost was moving with such incredible speed, Zhou Cheng had nowhere to run. He couldn't even dodge; he could only watch, paralyzed, as the ghost lunged toward him.

His mind went blank.

However, in that final moment, as the ghost flew through the air and was about to strike him down, he suddenly remembered his special ability—the talent that could instantly mask his presence from the living.

With that thought, he activated his Presence Concealment with a surge of mental willpower.

Then, a bizarre scene unfolded.

As the ability activated, it was as if the ghost had suddenly lost track of its prey. The Woman in Red, who had been charging at breakneck speed, stopped dead in her tracks.

Clearly, Zhou Cheng had saved himself by a hair's breadth. But then, another situation occurred that neither he nor Zhao Linxuan could have anticipated.

*Whoosh!*

As Zhou Cheng’s presence vanished completely, the ghost hovered in mid-air for only a second before abruptly changing direction, lunging straight toward Zhao Linxuan, who had been ignored just moments before!

Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Cheng, who had been scared to the point of wetting himself, turned and fled without a second thought.

As the saying goes, secrets are only known to those who keep them. Zhao Linxuan was someone with secrets, and she knew them all too well. Sure enough, seeing the ghost charging at her, she knew she couldn't outrun it. In the face of death, she acted quickly, pulling out a backup blood bag, tearing it open, and throwing it at the Woman in Red!

*Splash!*

The spraying blood momentarily halted the ghost. Without a moment to dwell on her terror, Zhao Linxuan turned and bolted in the direction Zhou Cheng had fled. There was no denying she had reacted quickly—and ran even faster—but...

She had barely started running, and before she could even catch up to Zhou Cheng, only five seconds had passed when she heard the ghost-wind howling again, accompanied by the eerie, chilling laughter of the ghost that echoed throughout the floor:

"Heh... hehe... hehehehe!"