In the bizarre haunted building of the Instance, a terrifying place where violating a taboo meant death—their identity had suddenly been called out by someone who was either living or dead.
Chen Xi chose to press her gun against the other's head.
The girl opposite her was so frightened her voice trembled, yet she didn't seem too panicked. Her eyes darted around. “P-Put it away first! What if it misfires? It's very dangerous!”
“You've got the wrong person.”
Chen Xi didn't budge, the muzzle firmly pressed against her brow. “We are newly deceased security guards, here to work in the building.”
This building was full of taboos.
Lin Jianguo had been silently “swallowed” by the building precisely because his identity as a living human had been exposed.
So even if someone suddenly claimed to be a living human and took the initiative to come to their door—who was to say it wasn't a trap?
Countless thoughts flashed through Chen Xi's mind in an instant.
Should she admit it, or deny it?
Should she silence the girl to be safe, or interrogate her after confirming her identity as a living human?
In the end, she held herself back.
Acting rashly before figuring out the other party's background was far too risky.
Not to mention there was also Granny Lai, who could beat someone to death just by performing “villain hitting” and throw their corpses around the corridor like garbage.
...
“I already told you, my name is Li Yafei. My grandma calls me Sai Mui.”
The girl squeezed into the room like a fish, looking around curiously. “I live on the twenty-second floor. I'm really a living person. If you don't believe me, touch my hand. It's warm, and I have a pulse—”
She reached out to touch Chen Xi as she spoke, but the latter made a shushing gesture, turning around to put the portrait containing the two ghosts into the communal kitchen.
Seeing how cautious she was, Li Yafei pouted.
“Are you all always this alert? I really don't mean any harm.”
“How did you get here?”
Chen Xi's tone did not soften, her gun still pressed against the girl's forehead. “And those two corpses in the corridor, do you know how they died?”
“I know.”
Li Yafei's face was filled with a near-naive joy.
“You mean A'kai and A'le? Those two bastards. They bullied me and forced me to take photos, so my grandma beat them to death with villain hitting.
One broke his neck, and the other was bleeding all over. They died such a miserable death.”
She paused, adding with a hint of pride:
“I was hiding behind the door and saw it with my own eyes. My grandma just took a cloth shoe and beat a paper doll, over and over, chanting as she beat it, and then they died—isn't my grandma amazing?”
As if to gain their trust, Li Yafei explained the whole story, including how she picked up the paper money, how she was chased, and how she reunited with her grandma.
The details matched up.
Chen Xi's fingertips twitched slightly.
She could feel that the young girl before her had warm breath and a slightly trembling body—these were the reactions of a living human.
Chen Xi slipped the gun back behind her waist, her tone cold.
“You're mistaken. We are all ghosts. Newly deceased, hired by Uncle Biao as security guards to watch the building.”
“Pfft—”
Li Yafei burst into laughter, waving her hands.
“Come on, you can only fool ghosts with that! How could a ghost have such pure yang energy? I can feel the warmth even standing this far away. And why would a ghost carry a gun?”
She tilted her head, sizing up Chen Xi. “You look just like a madam. I used to want to apply for the police academy to be a policewoman, but my grades were bad, so I couldn't get in.”
“So you came looking for us...”
Chen Xi didn't take her bait and went straight to the point. “What exactly do you want? Do you want us to take you out of the Instance?”
To her surprise, the other party shook her head, her expression serious yet carrying a trace of unhidable joy.
“Even if I go out, my grandma won't be out there. She's my only relative left. If I go back to reality, I'll be all alone. I'd rather just stay here.
Anyway, wherever my grandma is, that's where I'll be.”
Standing to the side, Kang Xiaojia looked toward the kitchen and asked in a low voice, “Then what did you come to us for?”
“To make a deal.”
Li Yafei smiled, showing a bit of cleverness. “I have a way to leave the building and go outside, but I don't dare go alone. I'll tell you how to get out, and you take me with you. Deal?”
Chen Xi immediately recalled the second taboo: Do not agree to the residents' requests.
This young girl seemed like a living person, but she lived in the building, which also made her a resident.
Would agreeing to her request trigger the taboo?
Seeing Chen Xi remain silent, Li Yafei grew a bit displeased, her tone naturally taking on a slight hint of a threat:
“You have to agree whether you want to or not. Otherwise, I'll go tell my grandma that you aren't dead people.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room instantly turned cold.
Kang Xiaojia frowned and stepped behind Chen Xi.
“Little girl, that's not how you use your petty cleverness.”
Chen Xi looked at her, suddenly chuckling. “Do you believe that I could shoot you dead right now?”
“Y-You won't!”
Li Yafei shrank back, but then she stiffened her neck and quickly added:
“You police don't kill people indiscriminately! And... and if I die, you'll never find out how to leave the building!”
Though her words were stubborn, her voice trembled slightly—only now did she feel she was truly a fool. Why had she chosen to come when her grandma wasn't around?
Although the other party looked like a cop, what if she had guessed wrong?
...
“Alright.”
Chen Xi glanced at Li Yafei, deciding not to scare her any further. “You said you have a way to leave the building. What is it? Tell me first.”
A mutually destructive outcome wouldn't benefit them.
In this haunted building, it was always good to know more information.
Li Yafei took the cue to back down, letting out a huff before she was willing to speak:
“There's a Sister Fang on the seventh floor. She's a tailor and makes skin coats. If a living human puts one on, they can disguise themselves as a ghost and leave the building without being noticed.
My grandma told me that if I want to go out to the streets, I should go borrow one from Sister Fang. But I have to take good care of the coat, because if I ruin it, I'll die a very miserable death.”
Tailor Sister Fang.
Human skin clothes.
Chen Xi's heart stirred.
She had already planned to go outside to investigate after daybreak—the missing citizens and the separated Hong Kong team members would all have to be searched for outside.
This piece of information delivered right to her door happened to align perfectly with her plan.
Except... the coincidence was so perfect that it looked like a trap no matter how she viewed it.
How could there be such a coincidence?
Just as she wanted to leave the building, someone immediately came to offer a solution, and happened to know the secret of the human skin clothes.
“Fine.”
After some thought, Chen Xi finally made her decision:
“We can take you with us. But once we are outside, you must follow orders. No running around. If you dare play any tricks...”
“I won't, I won't!”
Li Yafei immediately nodded, her eyes curling with laughter. “Madam, if I do, you can just shoot me dead! I'm the most obedient person! I promise I won't hold you back!”
She was as happy as a bird released from its cage, completely losing her threatening attitude from moments ago.
Yet, Chen Xi did not let her guard down.
“Get ready. We are going to the seventh floor now.”
Chen Xi turned back to instruct Kang Xiaojia. “Go inform Jiang Chen and the others. Have Zheng Wenxuan come with me. The rest of you will stay in the building on standby.”
“Okay.”
Kang Xiaojia quickly packed her medical kit, her tone a little nervous. “Captain Chen, are you really going to borrow those human skin clothes?”
“Yes.” Chen Xi nodded. “If we want to know what this Instance really ‘is,’ we must venture into danger.”
...
Walking down from the seventeenth floor, the corridor during the day appeared even more dilapidated than at night.
Large sheets of wall plaster had peeled off, exposing the blackened red bricks beneath, with dark brown stains seeping from the mortar joints—it was unclear whether it was blood or mold.
The building was very quiet during the day, with almost no sound.
“There are very few ghosts in the building during the day.”
Li Yafei walked ahead with light steps, whispering, “Most of them have gone out to set up street stalls. My grandma usually goes to Temple Street during the day to do villain hitting, so she's not at home.”
Chen Xi nodded, her gaze scanning the doors on both sides. Sure enough, most of them were tightly shut.
When they reached the seventh floor, the smell of blood in the air suddenly grew thick.
The bloody stench mixed with sandalwood drifted into their noses, making them feel as if they had walked into a slaughterhouse.
It inexplicably brought to mind the large chunks of pork displayed on summer meat stalls, along with the scent of mugwort incense lit to ward off mosquitoes.
The wire hangers in the corridor were hung full of human skin clothes, of various lengths.
Only when viewed during the day, they looked no different from ordinary clothes on the outside.
“Is this Sister Fang's tailor shop?”
Li Yafei shrank her neck, hiding behind Chen Xi. “Grandma said... Sister Fang is very fierce.”
Zheng Wenxuan, who was following behind, didn't dare to look, obediently covering his mouth and keeping silent.
He was truly afraid that if he opened his mouth, the sights from last night would flood his mind and cause him to vomit uncontrollably.
Just then, a low whimpering sound—“Wuu-wuu”—suddenly came from the entrance of the tailor shop.
It sounded like a dog's bark, yet also somewhat unlike one; in any case, it was muffled and filled with a trace of despair.
The three paused, using the light from the corridor to look toward the entrance of the tailor shop—
Right in front of the door to Sister Fang's room, a dog was lying.
It was a very large dog, a good half-man high. Its body was curled up, its head drooping over its paws, and its snout was fitted with a thick, polished iron muzzle.
But at first glance, anyone would feel a wave of intense discomfort.
The dog's entire skin was in pieces.
Yellow, black, white—patches of dog skin in different colors had been stitched together with thick black thread.
The stitches were crooked, looking like centipedes crawling across its body.
In some places, the skin was misaligned and turned outward, exposing the dark red flesh beneath, which was oozing bloody water.
One of its ears was a floppy dog's ear, while the contour of the other looked more like... a human ear.
Thin, with fine peach fuzz.
Its limbs also appeared uncoordinated. Its two front legs were of different lengths; one paw was a dog's paw, while the other was faintly in the shape of a human hand.
A stitched-together dog.
It looked like a “Frankenstein dog” stitched together from different skins and limbs.
The group felt a chill run down their spines. Did Sister Fang not only peel human skin to make clothes, but also stitch humans into dogs?
The dog, which had been lying there listlessly, suddenly raised its head upon hearing the footsteps.
A pair of eyes was naturally revealed.
They were not dog eyes, but a pair of human eyes.
Clear black and white, with pupils and sclerae, one could even discern the despair and terror within them.
Its gaze swept past Zheng Wenxuan and Li Yafei without much reaction.
But the moment it saw Chen Xi, the dog froze instantly. In the next second, it suddenly became agitated.
“Wuu-wuu—Woof! Wuu-wuu woof!”
“Wuu-wuu-wuu-wuu!! Help!”
“Wuu-wuu-wuu-wuu-wuu-wuu! Help!”
It wagged its tail frantically, lunging forward, its claws scraping the ground as it desperately reached toward Chen Xi.
The iron muzzle on its snout clattered loudly against its movements, tearing at the flesh around its mouth, yet it seemed completely oblivious to the pain.
Within those human eyes, there was nothing but pleading and tears.
It was as if it had met a long-lost relative, striving with all its might to get closer.
Chen Xi's heart leaped.
She felt that those eyes... looked somewhat familiar.
Where had she seen them before?
Where on earth was it?
Faces flashed rapidly through Chen Xi's mind, but she couldn't grasp a specific outline.
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