chapter 6 Ghost Face

Outside the old city district, a man who had just opened the forbidden area sat by the sign, looking back at the half-frozen old city district like a canvas. He shook his head helplessly, took out his phone from his pocket, and started playing a game.
"Brother, why are you sitting here playing with your phone in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?" Not long after, a pedestrian walked across the street from the opposite side and burst into laughter upon seeing the scene.
The man glanced at him, then lowered his head to continue playing. "I have nothing to do, just killing time."
The pedestrian smiled, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and offered it to the man.
The man waved his hand. "It's working hours, smoking is prohibited."
"Hey, you're sitting on the road playing with your phone, and you call that working?" The pedestrian chuckled.
"Yeah."
"Alright." The pedestrian shrugged, stood up, and walked towards the street behind the man.
"Where are you going?" The man suddenly asked.
"Home."
"You can't go back, at least not right now."
The pedestrian raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"This road is blocked now. Wait until it's open again, then you can go back." The man pointed to the sign behind him.
The pedestrian followed his finger and saw the inexplicable sign standing in the middle of the road. He was about to say something when the words "No Entry Ahead" flashed and disappeared.
The pedestrian's gaze suddenly became blank. After a few seconds, he turned stiffly and walked back the way he came, his eyes filled with confusion...
The man seemed unsurprised by this. Just as he was about to continue playing his game, the voice of another man suddenly came through his earpiece.
"Sam Zhao!"
As soon as this voice rang out, the man abruptly sat up from the ground. The leisure and weariness on his face vanished, replaced by absolute seriousness!
"At attention, Captain. What's the matter?"
"There's been a problem. Among this group of Ghost-Face, one has been promoted to Ghost-Face King. It ambushed and severely injured Alice while we were surrounding the other Ghost-Face. It escaped the Forbidden Ruins through the sewer."
"Ghost-Face King?" Sam Zhao's face changed. "Which way did he go? I'll intercept him!"
"No, Sam. You're not good at combat. You can't win against the Ghost-Face King. I'll go after it."
Sam Zhao hesitated. "Then what should I..."
"After the Ghost-Face King escaped, two more Ghost-Face slipped into the sewer. The others are tied up dealing with the remaining Ghost-Face."
"Which direction?"
"Southeast."
"Got it."
Sam Zhao's eyes sparkled. He sprinted to the other end of the street, jumped into a black van, floored the gas pedal, and raced away amid a loud hum.
Neatly folded on the passenger seat beside him was a black and red cloak, and a sheathed straight knife!
...
"Alright, I'm taking this turn. I'll be off." Tom Wang stopped and turned to the four people behind him.
Just then, Jack Li seemed to remember something suddenly. He asked, "Tom Wang, if I remember correctly, isn't your house near the old city district?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"...Nothing, just be careful on your way back."
Tom Wang's mouth twitched slightly, rolled his eyes, "If you have something to say, don't stop halfway and leave people feeling uneasy."
Jack Li hesitated for a moment. "I heard that the old city district hasn't been very peaceful lately. There's a serial killer!"
"A serial killer? Is that true?" Sherry Jiang was sceptical.
"Of course it's true!" Jack Li looked around and lowered his voice. "You guys may not know, but in the past few days, more than ten people have already died in the old city district."
"More than ten people? That's impossible. If there was such a big commotion, it would've been reported in the news long ago." Tom Wang shook his head.
"Hey, it's not impossible. Let me tell you, this thing happened strangely. Someone high up forcefully suppressed the news. If it weren't for my dad working at the police station, I wouldn't even know about it."
"Strange? What's strange?"
"It's said...," Jack Li paused and lowered his voice even more.
"It's said that the faces of the deceased have been completely peeled off, leaving only a bloody mess of flesh and protruding eyeballs. The method is extremely brutal!"
A chilly evening breeze swept by, and upon hearing this, everyone felt a shiver run down their spines!
"Jack Li! Are you crazy? Talking about this in the middle of the night!" Sherry Jiang's face turned pale, and she instinctively scanned the quiet street, irritated.
This area was already close to the old city district, a remote area of Canglan City. It was nearly ten o'clock at night after evening self-study, and there wasn't a single pedestrian on the road. Combined with Jack Li's words, it genuinely gave people the creeps.
Not only her, even Tom Wang and Liu Yuan, two grown men, felt a bit uneasy. Tom Wang glanced at the narrow alley he was about to enter and suddenly felt a bit apprehensive...
If Jack Li's words only made people a little frightened, what Ben Lin said next directly sent shivers down their spines!
After pondering for a moment, Ben Lin spoke softly, "Are you sure... these things were done by a person?"
"Ben, you..." Sherry Jiang's body trembled!
Tom Wang and Liu Yuan's mouths twitched slightly, and the way they looked at Ben Lin suddenly became strange.
You, Ben Lin, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, who would've thought that you were hiding the deepest?
Jack Li looked at Ben Lin in astonishment. "You think so too?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Sherry Jiang couldn't take it anymore. She reached out and gave Jack Li's arm a hard twist, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Stop telling ghost stories in the middle of the night!! I still have to go home later!"
Jack Li, clutching his arm, winced in pain and muttered quietly, "This isn't a ghost story..."
Tom Wang shrugged. "I'm not going to discuss this nonsense with you. I don't believe in all these supernatural things. I'm leaving."
Tom Wang's figure gradually disappeared into the narrow alley.
Sherry Jiang glared at Jack Li again, took a few steps forward, and suddenly stopped.
She sniffed vigorously, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
A look of puzzlement appeared in her eyes.
Turning around, she said, "Do you guys smell something foul?"
"Foul smell?"
"You know, like the smell of something rotting."
"I didn't smell anything. What about you, Liu Yuan?"
"Neither did I... Ugh!!"
Before Liu Yuan could finish his sentence, his face suddenly changed. He instinctively covered his nose, looking around in horror.
Ben Lin was just about to say something when an extremely nauseating stench suddenly rushed into her nostrils. It felt like throwing a piece of meat that had been rotting for over ten days into a cesspool, mixed with a dozen rotten eggs. Just a whiff of it caused her stomach to violently churn.
This was the most putrid smell Ben Lin had ever encountered in all her years of living.
As for Sherry Jiang, who had the most sensitive nose, she crouched down and began retching.
"Damn, what is that smell?!" Jack Li covered his nose and shouted.
"I don't know." Ben Lin's brow furrowed slightly. After a moment, she pointed towards the narrow alley Tom Wang had gone down.
"But judging from the direction the smell is coming from, it seems to be coming from there."
The next moment, a wretched, ear-piercing scream echoed from not far away, reverberating through the silent night.
..