The concrete framework was fragmented, like the remnants of a giant beast forgotten by time.
Cracks spread across the walls like dried-up rivers, the windows long devoid of glass, leaving only empty iron frames, like hollow eyes watching the late-night visitors.
This abandoned, incomplete building hadn't seen this many people arriving consecutively within the same day in a long time.
Cang Qingsen climbed over the wall into the unfinished building, following the location from the multimedia message.
"Is anyone here? I've arrived, where are you?"
Cang Qingsen's voice echoed lowly within the empty building, the reverberation exceptionally eerie and unsettling.
Suddenly, the phone vibrated, and a text message appeared on the screen—Top floor!
The top floor wasn't yet roofed, leaving various sized openings between the slabs. Cang Qingsen paused, looked up, and vaguely saw a blurry figure standing on the top, silently gazing downward.
Cang Qingsen turned on the flashlight function on his phone, took a deep breath, and began climbing the shaky stairs, ascending layer by layer.
Each floor's stairway was dim, the air filled with a damp and moldy scent. The flashlight beam illuminated patches of gray mildew on the walls, resembling map patterns.
As the soles of his shoes pressed on the stair steps, he occasionally encountered broken concrete and exposed steel rebars. At such moments, rocks would fall from above, producing a dull echo that struck the heart, making it skip a beat.
Cang Qingsen had no doubt that if he tripped and fell here, he'd definitely be turned into his favorite meat sauce.
But he had an excellent psychological state, placing every step firmly.
Four minutes later, Cang Qingsen reached the top floor. In the eerie blue glow of the flashlight, debris of construction waste was piled on the floor. Broken concrete chunks, fractured bricks, and scattered steel bars intertwined, forming a desolate scene.
"I'm up, where are you?"
As soon as Cang Qingsen stepped onto the staircase landing, he clenched his phone tightly with his left hand, using the light to scan the surroundings. His right hand remained hidden in his sleeve, five fingers gently brushing the knife handle, feeling the cold touch of metal.
His voice echoed on the spacious rooftop: "I don't know why you want to videotape, but I think, since you lured me here at night, perhaps you should reveal yourself and have a proper talk with me."
Cang Qingsen habitually licked his lips while speaking politely and calmly,
"Whatever your demands, you should at least show yourself and discuss them with me, right? As long as it's not too much, rest assured, I can agree to it."
As Cang Qingsen climbed, he kept his gaze on the rooftop, ensuring that the dark figure surveying from the top hadn't come down and must be hiding behind some pile of construction debris on the top floor.
Cang Qingsen's attention was all in front of him, on the rooftop, so he didn't notice what was behind him, nor the staircase steps under his feet.
A deep shadow stealthily approached, clinging to the uneven stairs like a shred of abandoned night color.
The shadow moved gracefully and bonelessly, like a water snake slithering through dark currents. Each delicate twist of the waist surged forward several meters without making a sound.
Suddenly, a faint buzzing sound arose, breaking the deathly silence.
Cang Qingsen's eyes instantly shifted to the phone in his hand, where four bold characters and three blood-red exclamation marks leaped into view, like a warning in blood:
——Be careful behind you!!!
Cang Qingsen's mouth curled into a barely perceptible mocking smile; he wouldn't be fooled by such a trick.
Nevertheless, he immediately obeyed the phone's hint, quickly turning his head to look behind, intending to feign taking the bait as a lure, coaxing the hidden figure to reveal and attack him.
Then, Cang Qingsen's pupils constricted into pinpoints. He saw the snake-like Ghost Shadow abruptly rising, a face smeared with blood suddenly occupying his entire vision.
A close-range backstab attack?
The text message hadn't deceived him!!
Cang Qingsen's scalp tingled. Thinking himself clever, he only turned his neck, keeping the rest of his body motionless. In such an awkward posture, he found it too late to fully turn himself around.
Cang Qingsen's expression changed drastically, his footing staggered. Instinctively, he rolled towards the ground, trying to evade the sudden assault. Simultaneously, his right hand flashed a short dagger from his sleeve, slicing through the air, producing a sharp gleam.
A few strands of black hair were severed, and Cang Qingsen's pupils widened. In a fleeting glance, he saw a pale blind eye beneath the tangled hair, and another eye was full of malevolence.
Without time to ponder further, he felt a chill at his waist. Struggling to stand, he touched his waist, finding flesh and skin gouged away, faintly feeling the wet intestines within.
Holding his phone, he silently stepped back half a step, then shone the phone's flashlight on the woman who attacked him.
Cang Qingsen tore a piece of cloth from his clothes, haphazardly wrapping it around his waist, trying to stop the slippery intestines from sliding out of the wound.
His voice was hoarse and weak, tinged with uncontrollable pain: "Who are you?"
The phone's light cast on the woman's face, illuminating her twisted expression, making it even more horrifying. The malevolence flashing in her eyes sent a shiver through Cang Qingsen.
Suddenly, Cang Qingsen's gaze froze. In the woman's hand was a blood-stained cloth doll.
"My cloth doll."
"No, it's my cloth doll!"
The hoarse, malevolent female voice was chilling to the bone.
Cang Qingsen was terrified, his mind momentarily blank. At that moment, he finally recognized the malevolent face in front of him as..... Feng Yuhuai!!!
His gaze flickered between Feng Yuhuai's twisted face and the cloth doll, then suddenly, all doubts pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle.
He unintentionally burst into derisive laughter: "You and this cloth doll, hahaha, it's so ironic, and yet so amusing."
Feng Yuhuai carefully put the cloth doll into her pocket. Looking at Cang Qingsen's ecstatic laughter, she also showed an extremely angry, somewhat deranged smile: "Why didn't you listen and insist on mending my cloth doll?"
Cang Qingsen lifted his knife, lightly licking the tip with his tongue. His eyes became focused and serious as he replied, "Because one eye was asymmetrical. And you, why did you purposely leave the cloth doll in the canteen?"
In Cang Qingsen's mind, a spark flashed; he understood that the encounter in the canteen wasn't accidental. That life-threatening cloth doll couldn't have been carelessly lost.
Feng Yuhuai's face was flushed with rage. This was an unforgettable mistake in her life. She stared intensely at Cang Qingsen: "Because I want to devour you!"
Cang Qingsen looked at Feng Yuhuai with disdain, feeling disgust: "You're filthy, not pretty anymore, but don't worry, I'll make you beautiful again."
Feng Yuhuai was filled with unprecedented murderous intent. Her voice was cold as if a curse echoed from the abyss:
"I'll make you break your limbs yourself, watch your blood drained drop by drop, and experience the despair and horror of bones tearing from desiccated flesh. Then I'll see if you can still laugh."
Cang Qingsen's eyes suddenly sparkled; instead of fear, an excitement gleamed on his face as he blurted out: "Are you the rumored Skinned Mask from the school?"
Feng Yuhuai lunged at Cang Qingsen, letting out a haunting wail:
"Indeed, I am Mask. So, despair, repent, fear, then die screaming!"