“Biao, look... can that girl really live here?” Punk Chen gulped.
“This place... even ghosts would find it too desolate! A pampered young lady like her probably wouldn't last a night before going insane from fear!”
A Biao agreed wholeheartedly.
The horror of this environment was far beyond their imagination. Even two thugs like them felt a chill deep in their bones. How could a woman like Su Wan, who had lived a life of luxury, possibly stay in a place like this alone?
“Who cares! Brother Leopard said to check, so we check!” A Biao gritted his teeth, pulled out his phone, and turned on the flashlight. A piercing white beam shot out.
He signaled Punk Chen, and the two of them crept forward on tiptoe, cautiously approaching the window with the glass pane, aiming the flashlight inside.
The beam pierced through the darkness outside and hit the glass.
But something bizarre happened.
That beam of light... seemed to be swallowed by the glass!
Logically, the flashlight should have illuminated some of the room's interior, even if it was just rough concrete walls.
But at that moment, the darkness behind the glass remained as thick as ever.
The light was like it had been shone into a bottomless pool of ink; there was no reflection, and it illuminated nothing. Only at the edge of that darkness did a faint, weak halo blur.
That darkness was deep and viscous, as if it possessed a life of its own.
The two men even had a terrifying illusion—that something deep within that darkness was silently watching them, the two intruders, through the glass.
“B-Biao... this...” Punk Chen's voice shook like a leaf in the wind, and he nearly dropped the flashlight.
A Biao's forehead was also drenched in cold sweat, and his heart pounded wildly.
This was not normal!
Suddenly!
“Flap, flap, flap—!!!”
An intense, scalp-tingling sound of wings beating erupted without warning from that deep darkness!
Then, before their horrified eyes, a massive swarm of black shadows surged out from the darkness inside the window!
They weren't ordinary bats at all!
They seemed larger, their outlines distorted, carrying an indescribable sense of decay and malice, with crimson eyes flickering within the shadows!
Most terrifyingly, they completely ignored the existence of the glass, lunging straight out!
“Ghost—!!!”
A Biao and Punk Chen were scared out of their wits!
They let out inhuman, blood-curdling shrieks and turned to run for their lives!
The skewers and beer were long forgotten, and they didn't even care about the phone. Their minds held only one thought: escape! Escape this cursed place!
They ran back the way they came, desperately sprinting toward the exit of the construction site, toward the warm, bright lights of the night market across the road.
However, after running a dozen steps, the two of them skidded to a halt. The color drained from their faces, leaving only boundless terror.
The road, the night market, the lights...
They were clearly visible just dozens of meters ahead.
But no matter how hard they ran, the distance didn't seem to shorten at all!
It was as if they were sprinting on a treadmill. The rusted building materials, the crumbling walls, and the terrifying unfinished building remained tightly surrounding them!
They couldn't run out of this unfinished construction site at all!
“Help—!!!”
...
The faint morning light filtered through the beige curtains, casting a soft warmth into Room 102.
Su Wan sat up cross-legged, preparing to begin her “training plan.” As she extended her mental energy toward the water cup on the table again, her movements paused slightly.
Her enhanced hearing allowed her to catch an unusual sound from the construction site outside.
Someone's there?
Su Wan immediately became alert.
She stood up silently, walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and looked out.
The construction site still held the dampness and chill of the night. In the open space by the main gate, she saw two huddled figures.
They were wearing crumpled floral shirts, lying on the ground, struggling to sit up.
Their movements were slow and stiff, as if they had just endured a massive hangover.
One of them clutched his head, letting out a muffled groan of pain.
Su Wan narrowed her eyes. Her enhanced vision allowed her to quickly identify those two faces.
They were two lackeys from the debt collection company—A Biao and Punk Chen, she believed!
Why were they here?
And why were they lying on the ground in such a pathetic state?
Su Wan's confusion grew.
She gently opened the door of Room 102, pushed open the heavy fire door, and stepped onto the concrete steps outside the building.
A Biao and Punk Chen had just helped each other up, sitting with dizzy heads.
The hangover-like headache and full-body aches made them grimace, but what terrified them more were the horrific images lingering in their minds.
The endless darkness, the bat-like phantoms lunging through the glass, the desperate loop they couldn't escape...
Those images were so real that even after waking up, their hearts continued to pound wildly, and cold sweat soaked their backs.
They looked around in a daze and terror, the bone-deep chill and palpitations still present.
Just as they were trying to gather their wits, they caught a glimpse of the side of the unfinished building out of the corner of their eyes.
The fire door had opened at some point.
A figure stood quietly on the steps in front of the door.
The figure was slender and still—it was the very target of their trip, Su Wan!
However, the moment they saw Su Wan appear, the last string of sanity in A Biao and Punk Chen's minds snapped!
All the inexplicable oddities and terrifying fragments from the previous night found an absurd yet hair-raising “source” the moment they saw Su Wan!
Why did she come out from there?!
Does she actually live in a place like that?!
Was everything last night... related to her?!
Is she human or a ghost?!
Massive fear, like ice water pouring in, instantly flooded all their thoughts.
Debt collection, Brother Leopard's mission—everything was thrown to the back of their minds!
“Aaaah—!!! Ghost! There's a ghost!!!”
Punk Chen let out an inhuman shriek and scrambled backward on all fours.
A Biao was also scared out of his wits, his face deathly pale. He practically bounced off the ground using both hands and feet, not daring to spare Su Wan a second glance as he turned and sprinted toward the exit of the construction site!
The two of them stumbled, nearly falling several times. One of them even lost a shoe but didn't dare stop to pick it up, as if a life-claiming demon was chasing them.
They charged onto the dirt road at a speed they had never achieved in their lives, not even glancing at their van as they scrambled away.
Su Wan stood on the steps. From beginning to end, she hadn't even had the chance to say a single word.
She watched their terror-stricken expressions as if they had seen a ghost, heard their hysterical screams, and witnessed their pathetic flight...
The whole process lasted only a few dozen seconds, yet it was filled with incomprehensible absurdity and eeriness.
Rate on N.U.
