Chapter 25.1 Game End 

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Lu Tianyi hadn’t fully processed what had happened, but because of An Qing’s powerful slap, he quickly held onto An Qing and chased after Bai Yan with long furious strides.

Originally, Su Xiaoqian was curious as to why An Qing insisted on lugging around her crutches when she first saw the eldest son.
But looking at it now, An Qing really had foresight on the later events of the game.
When they desperately ran off, Su Xiaoqian also lifted her maid’s skirt and hurriedly moved forward, not caring at all on what she looked like, fearing that any further delay would result in the ghost easily overtaking her.

After everyone else ran away, the slow-reacting Li Hao finally awoke from his dream-like daze.
He eventually noticed the others were nowhere to be found and started sprinting towards the large door. 

It was a pity, but in the end, he was a second too slow.

The moment he hesitated, the master and the madam’s severed heads had already rolled to the door’s front and moved around in the pool of blood that gushed out of the eldest son’s lifeless body, using their bitter eyes to attentively stare at him.

Li Hao was terrified of the two heads with openly resentful eyes.
He was already behind the others but because he reacted too late, the two headless bodies suddenly snuck up from behind and silently grabbed the base of his neck.

As the ghost’s ice-cold fingers clutched his neck, Li Hao instantly let out a blood-curdling screech.
Immediately after, the madam forcefully pulled off his head, his headless body falling on the ground with a thud.

Li Hao’s head was thrown into the air and crashed into the window, giving everybody in the car a full view of his complete hopelessness.

As a result, Bai Yan quickly stepped on the gas pedal and brought the four people riding in the car forward.

Inside the master’s unbranded luxury car, Lu Tianyi along with An Qing sat at the back, while Su Xiaoqian sat at the front, using her hands to sort out her rain-drenched hair.

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The heavy rainfall outside the car still hadn’t stopped.
Su Xiaoqian’s whole body was completely soaked, making her wet maid’s uniform to clutch all around her body and causing her to feel uncomfortable.

However, Su Xiaoqian wasn’t in the mood to worry about her clothes.
Her eyes opened wide and stared at the moving view through the car window.
It was quite a while before she dared blink her beautiful eyes.
She was scared that if she closed her eyes, a ghost’s face would suddenly appear on the other side of the glass, taking advantage of everyone’s unprepared state and sending them to heaven.

“Bai Yan, why did you kill the eldest son who was still a person? He could still be saved.”

While on the road, Lu Tianyi harshly criticized Bai Yan’s murder of the innocent son.

Bai Yan was concentrated on the road ahead and didn’t want to put in the extra effort in arguing with Lu Tianyi, asking without thinking, “Mr.
Lu, are you part of an NPC Protection Society?”

Lu Tianyi was at a loss for words.
It was clear that between NPCs and the players he came here with, he knew that the players were more important.
Yet, these NPCs greatly resembled living beings.
If this were the real world, they would also be considered as real people.

In truth, every time he entered the game, he had always thought about it when they target the NPCs.
The NPCs were merely fabricated by the app’s system, so weren’t they the same as them, who had flesh, blood, and emotions like a real person?

The app carelessly threw real human beings into the game.
If that’s the case, then where the people inside the game nothing more than just a string of complicated data?

Looking at Lu Tianyi cover his face and droop his head as if he was discouraged, An Qing thought about something and pulled on his sleeve, quietly explaining, “Brother Lu, don’t be sad.
Bai Yan didn’t want to make it difficult for the older young master.
If he didn’t kill him, then we would have faced something troublesome.”

“Why?”

Knowing that Lu Tianyi still hadn’t been convinced, An Qing kindly explained, “When the master and the madam had recalled their deaths, they already weren’t considered as the villa’s owners.
Only one person was still alive in the villa, which was the person who escaped from the cellar, the oldest son.
There’s something wrong with the older son’s head.
If by chance we didn’t kill him, he may think that we are faceless ghosts and would order us to leave the villa, leading us all to our deaths.”

“For us to peacefully leave the villa, death is unavoidable.
A corpse can’t give us any orders.”

Seeing that Lu Tianyi’s expression changed for the worse, An Qing comforted him, “ Moreover, think of how the older son was like when we last saw him.
That sinister and terrifying face, not only did its tongue swell up like a balloon, but his eyes also nastily popped out of their sockets.
Is he still considered a person?”

After An Qing was done talking, Su Xiaoqian, who was quietly sitting in front, also vocally expressed her support for the older son’s death.
She served the older son’s meals the past few days and knew that he wasn’t as innocent as he seemed.
But, people are selfish beings.
If the older son hadn’t died, they would no doubt be undertaking some risks.
Compared to their lives, an NPC’s death shouldn’t be something to care about.

An Qing’s comforting words made Lu Tianyi feel a bit better, but it was perfectly clear in his heart that even if the older son was indeed a human, his teammates wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice him for their safety.
In the majority of the player’s eyes, the NPCs don’t have human rights and his guilty conscience was completely useless.

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It was possible that he still couldn’t accept that his fellow teammates had used the NPC as a scapegoat since Lu Tianyu fell into silence, making An Qing to also keep quiet.

The raindrops outside continuously hit on the car’s glass windows and gathered together, forming long lines that disturbingly resembled long traces of blood and dividing the glass into countless pieces.

Nicely curling up inside the car and watching the fast-moving rows of trees, Su Xiaoqian always felt that the canopy of trees was densely packed with shadows of ghosts, these countless ghosts hiding inside the forest.

The car has been on the road for a while now.
No one said a word as the car immediately fell into silence.

As everybody kept quiet, Su Xiaoqian shivered from the chill she felt, so she rubbed her hands along her arms, restlessly asking, “Where are we going? Do we have enough gas in the car?”

Bai Yan quickly glanced at the fuel meter and it showed that there wasn’t much fuel left.
He opened his mouth and asked everyone where they think they should go, but apart from Su Xiaoqian, no one else answered back.

“An Qing, Lu Tianyi, did you guys hear that the car is almost out of gas?”

Bai Yan couldn’t believe that the two would simultaneously fall asleep, given their grave circumstances.
He shifted his gaze into the rearview mirror, yet what he saw made his head feel instantly numb.

Sitting behind them were supposed to be An Qing and Lu Tianyi, but what he saw were two headless corpses.

The master and madam sat inside the car with their heads resting on their thighs.
Through Bai Yan’s careful surveillance, the headless bodies had lifted their deathly pale hands and were slowly inching towards their necks.

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How could this be?

When did An Qing and Lu Tianyi disappear?

For how long have these headless bodies been sitting at the back of the car?

These series of urgent questions made Bai Yan’s heart feel numb.
He abruptly stepped on the brakes and the sudden halt made Su Xiaoqian dizzy, her whole body moving leaning forward from the strong force.

“Bai Yan, why didn’t you warn me that you would be stepping on the brakes?”

“Look at the backseats, are the people sitting behind us still people?”

The car still hadn’t fully stopped, but Bai Yan got off the car by recklessly jumping out.

Su Xiaoqian quickly became aware of the misfortune that had taken place, so she undid her seat belt and lifted her skirt, following what Bai Yan did.

As she got out of the car, she glanced back and saw the two headless bodies collide into the back of the front seat, clinging to the seat in front of them.
Their arms were already near the front that if she and Bai Yan hadn’t gotten out, the four pale arms would have been firmly wrapped around their necks by now.

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Knowing that the ghosts were still trapped inside the car, Su Xiaoqian was terrified and ran for her dear life.
After running for a long time, she finally saw Bai Yan from a distance.

After running far away, Bai Yan stopped and started walking slowly to conserve his energy.

When he escaped, the ghost’s hand was able to seize his glasses, so when Su Xiaoqian hurriedly came over to him, he cautiously kept his distance and checked if this girl had long hair.
He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that there was a head on top of her shoulders.

“Su Xiaoqian.”

He tried calling out to her, but upon hearing the girl’s breathlessness, he completely dispelled his hesitation.

Across the heavy curtain of raindrops, he looked back to see Su Xiaoqian not be followed by the ghosts, so he stood still and waited for her, the two finally met up.

“What happened back there? When did An Qing and Lu Tianyi disappear?” Su Xiaoqian finally reached his side and asked while gasping for air, “Those two ghosts, when did they get in the car?”

“I don’t know either.
Anyway, as soon as I saw them, I stepped on the brakes.” Bai Yan shook his head from not knowing.
As he and Su Xiaoqian slowly walked along the road, they talked about what had taken place inside the car, “The villa’s faceless ghost had the ability to manipulate memories and control dead bodies.
Today is the last day of the game.
The game’s forum said that as time passes by, the game’s restrictions on the ghosts were weaker, making the ghosts become bigger threats than ever before.”

“That too.” Su Xiaoqian accidentally stepped into a big puddle and walked through the rain with great difficulty, “The master and the madam had already recalled their tragic deaths.
Now, we have to deal with three ghosts instead of one.
Without a doubt, it won’t be easy– Wait a minute, there’s someone ahead.”

Bai Yan slowly raised his head and followed the direction where Su Xiaoqian was pointing to.
At the distant curb, there awaited a normal-looking man with an umbrella, standing beside an illuminating streetlight near a tree.

Behind the tree was a bus sign.
This person was standing in the middle of the pouring rain just to wait for a bus.

The street lamp’s white light playfully mixed with the tree’s lush green leaves, giving the still person an inexplicable layer of a sickly green color, making him look horrifying.

Seeing this quiet and peaceful scene, Su Xiaoqian hesitantly asked, “Bai Yan, should we go over there and ask for directions? I feel that the rain wouldn’t be stopping any time soon.
We’re unfamiliar with this place, so we can ask that person and find a place to take shelter from the rain.”

“Okay.” Bai Yan meekly replied.
In truth, he couldn’t clearly see the person she was talking about, being so far away.
He could only discern the person’s outline and that he carried an umbrella to take cover from the rain.
After a few strong gusts of wind, the person seemed normal.

Of course, there was also a chance that his eyesight was extremely poor.
So much so, that he saw an illusion in the middle of the downpour.

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“Okay.
Let’s go there, but if ever he is a ghost, what do we do in this dead of night? Thinking about it, it’s very suspicious.”

Su Xiaoqian had read dozens of forum posts.
She knew that the game’s setting was huge.
Apart from the ghosts, the NPC’s lives in the game’s world were no different from that of a regular person’s.

She now understood the shady circumstances.
Even though it was originally her idea to ask the person for directions, given the incident with the two ghosts in the car earlier, she still felt terrified, “Thinking about it more, it does seem suspicious.
How about we don’t go there anymore.”

“If he’s really a ghost, even if we don’t go over there, he still won’t let us go easily.” Bai Yan said as he wiped away the splashes of water on his face, his head slightly throbbing, “Let’s go and assess the situation first.
If there are any problems, it would be best for us to take it on now.”

“En, I agree.”

The two reached a unanimous decision and slowly walked towards the street lamp’s direction.

When they were halfway through their destination, the person moved and mysteriously walked behind the tree.
As they walked closer, they only saw half of the person’s umbrella under the tree’s leaves.

With the bus sign being too far and the two people’s sluggish pace, the two almost reached the sign after a long time.

They were only a dozen steps away when a powerful gust of wind suddenly overturned the stranger’s umbrella.

The person strongly clung to his umbrella, but both of them already saw the large chilly raindrops land on the bare and headless neck, making their hearts turn cold.

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That man had no head.

No head.

Taking a closer look, aren’t the clothes he was wearing similar to what the master usually wears?

“F*ck! These ghosts never go away.”

Su Xiaoqian cursed under her breath.
This time, she learned from experience.
In a split second, she turned her head and ran towards the opposite direction, leaving Bai Yan behind.

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Su Xiaoqian ran wild like the wind until she found herself in an intersection and saw a pasty-white body standing at the sidewalk.
The road was outrightly blocked by the madam.

She quickly turned around and saw the master holding a broken umbrella, standing behind her on the road, getting closer and closer.

“Bai Yan, where should we go?” She anxiously screamed aloud but discovered that Bai Yan was foolishly standing on the same spot while tearing off his name tag with all his might.

“Go right.” Bai Yan said in a low voice that only the two of them could hear.

Amid the noisy drops of rain, Su Xiaoqian couldn’t understand what Bai Yan had said, but she could still see Bai Yan’s movements and knew where to go.

Before her brain could think of something else, Su Xiaoqian’s body started to follow suit.
She immediately ripped off her name tag, throwing it away to her left, and began sprinting towards her right.

They both ran for a long time, desperately escaping their deaths.
But after running for so long, they slowed down their steps, and at this moment, their surroundings were completely devoid of any signs of humans.

Possibly because of their name tags being thrown away, the headless corpses didn’t overtake them, giving them enough time to catch their breaths.

“I can’t.
I can’t take it anymore.
I would die from exhaustion if this continues.” Su Xiaoqian said as she gasped for air.
She started to tremble as she complained, “I’m freezing.
I’m about to die in the pouring rain.
Bai Yan, how long till we can get out of this broken game?”

“There’s still four and a half hours left.”

Bai Yan quickly fished out his phone from his pant pockets and looked at the time.
Because of the app’s upgrade, the phone was thankfully waterproof and shockproof, leaving no traces of damage from the rain.

After a few hours of drenching themselves in the cold rain, Su Xiaoqian was not the only one who couldn’t endure it anymore, so couldn’t Bai Yan.

Before Su Xiaoqian could utter a word, Bai Yan started ceaselessly coughing, but he didn’t look better than the freezing and trembling Su Xiaoqian.

In the shower, the foundation that had originally masked his skin color was washed away long ago.
Bai Yan’s face was hideously pale but was accompanied by a morbid pink flush in his cheeks.
Fortunately, Su Xiaoqian was too muddle-headed from changing directions that she hardly noticed his skin, even more so with Bai Yan’s fading hair color.

“This won’t do.
We need to quickly find a nice warm place to hide from the rain.
If we faint in this game, it might automatically lead to a dead end.” Even though Su Xiaoqian wanted to curl herself up into a ball, she still had to force herself to have the determination to live and move forward.

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The harsh rain in the middle of the night finally weakened a little, but the intense raindrops hammering down on their bodies made their steps harder to make.

This place’s drainage system wasn’t effective since the ground was fully covered with large and small puddles.
At this moment, the two people didn’t have the energy to avoid them one by one.
Each big step resulted in a big splash of water when walking in the bumpy road.
They were slowly walking towards the building ahead.

After being on the run for so long, the two people have completely exhausted their strengths.
Compared to the street lamp’s sickly green glow, the hotel’s warm and gentle light made their heart’s relieved.
Its lights could make anyone trust the hotel at first glance.

“I’m going to die.
I’m really going to die.
Even if that place is a devil’s den, I still want to go in and escape the rain,” Su Xiaoqian howled as she swore to God.
“Bai Yan, let’s go in and take a look.”

“Are we just going in there like this?”

Su Qian stared at Bai Yan’s bloody clothes, causing her to be speechless for a while.
The heavy rain easily washed away the fresh blood on his face, but it made the bloodstains on his white shirt even worse.
If they walked in there like this, they would definitely be kicked out since the people inside might think that they were a pair of wedlock murderers.

Particularly, it was Bai Yan’s miserable face that was filled with blisters that made him look terrible.
Although he looked attractive and intelligent from the start, he looked at his reflection using the table knife he got from his pocket and felt that even if he claimed to be a good person, no one would believe him.

“Otherwise, how about you take off your clothes?” Su Xiaoqian suggested hesitantly, feeling that it would be cruel to lead someone to take off their clothes in this downpour.

Moreover, when Bai Yan stabbed the older son with a knife, she was standing at the side and was accidentally sprayed with blood too.

The app was interestingly specific to her uniform.
The maid’s uniform didn’t have a coat, so if she took off her clothes, then she would be naked.

Should they just let their appearance be and directly go in?

Bai Yan didn’t wait for Su Xiaoqian to think of something and simply uttered a sentence, “We have money.”

Yeah right, they haven’t received their salaries from the madam because they ran away.
How would they have this world’s money to pay for a room?

Although it wasn’t impossible to stay in the hotel for shelter, if two barely clothed individuals stepped inside in the middle of the night, it would look like they were basket cases.

Furthermore, if the headless ghosts followed them, they would be trapped inside the room, which was extremely troublesome, and this small hotel, it was more common for only one person to take the night shift.

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Su Xiaoqian suddenly thought of a bold idea.

Su Xiaoqian excitedly turned her head around to face Bai Yan, only to coincidentally find out that the two people had the same idea.

It was worth it to have someone to escape with since he had also thought of it.

The two quickly looked at each other, exchanged a few simple words, and completely understood what they had to do.

Since Bai Yan’s white dress shirt was too eye-catching, Su Xiaoqian was the first to walk forward and assess if there was only one person inside.
What she saw was that plus it was a weak petite girl that could easily be overpowered, so she quietly signaled Bai Yan to quickly come over.

After Bai Yan went over, the two went straight into the hotel.

When the two infiltrated the hotel, the hotel night staff girl was already dozing off, her head slowly but surely inching down.
The inn was just a small rundown hotel located in a remote area.
Hardly anyone came by past nine o’clock.
This kind of job was easy to find, difficult to resign from, and it would be hard for the manager to find someone to cover another’s shift.
As a result, the young girl had gotten used to going out during the day and staying at the hotel’s reception area at night with her chin resting on her hand to catch up on her sleep.

She couldn’t be fired anyway.

“Welcome, please register first.”

Upon hearing the sound of the door opening, the young girl sleepily rubbed her eyes and slowly raised her head, preparing to greet the rare guests.

As she opened her guests and saw the guest, she couldn’t help widen her eyes from extreme shock, even forgetting how to make a sound.

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The scene she saw was an eloped couple engrossed in their illicit love affair.
The woman’s skirt was messily splattered with blood as if she were a victim of a horrid crime, while the man suspiciously carried a knife with him.
The knife’s edges were dyed in blood.

What was more terrifying was that the man’s originally white shirt was all covered with large stains of blood.
The creepy smile he had on his face looked like a murderer’s, which made the little girl understand the message of the ominous rolls of thunder.

The unlawful pair who had just recently killed someone immediately sprinted inside the hotel lobby, quickly intending to kill her.

She would be featured in tomorrow’s news.

The young girl tried to open her mouth to scream but her efforts were all in vain.
Bai Yan suddenly covered her mouth, while Su Xiaoqian struck her head from behind, making the girl roll her eyes and faint.

“I heard that not controlling your strength well could kill someone.
Is she alright?”

After grabbing a random room’s keys and moving the young girl inside, Su Xiaoqian’s long lost conscience had unexpectedly resurfaced.

Bai Yan drew near the girl’s nose and nonchalantly said, “She’s still breathing, so she’s not dead.”

Su Xiaoqian released a stressful sigh, but she was still worried that she hit the girl too hard, making her stupid.

If it weren’t for their situation being life or death, she wouldn’t have wanted to harm the NPC.

After entering the toasty room, the two seemed to be less cold.

However, although they had a place to stay, it didn’t mean that they had time to rest there.

Su Xiaoqian pondered for a while but first ordered Bai Yan turn around.
She took the young girl’s clothes off and dressed the girl in her wet and dirty clothes.
She then let Bai Yan face them and the two started using the table knife to cut the bed sheet into long pieces to make a rope.

After, they firmly tied the girl up, using the newly made rope, to the chair.

Su Xiaoqian felt that what they did was enough but was instantly proven wrong.
She silently watched Bai Yan take the pillow cloth on top of the bed.
He couldn’t care less if it were clean or dirty and forcefully shoved the girl’s mouth.
He then looked closer if the gag was enough to muffle the girl’s voice and nodded his head once he was satisfied with his work.

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“Su Xiaoqian, go check the other vacant rooms and see if there are other points of entry like doors and windows.
My clothes won’t look right if I go out now, and if people saw me, it would pose a problem.” Since Bai Yan tied the girl up and gagged her, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt ordering Su Xiaoqian around.
“I’ll stay here and watch the girl in case she wakes up.”

You’ve shoved the gag so deeply, will she still be able to make a sound?

Even though Su Xiaoqian’s heart was full of doubt, what Bai Yan had said still made sense.
She agreed but first went to the bathroom to grab a dry towel, patting her damp hair dry.

“You’re right, Bai Yan.
I’ve always sensed that your head was bright(1).” As she came out, Su Xiaoqian said with suspicion, “Your hair color seems like it’s fading.”

I think Su Xiaoqian did a play on words here.
Bai Yan in Chinese is 白言, which means white words.
In this sentence, she described Bai Yan’s head being 白, which means bright in this context.

“I dyed my hair red before.
Because it seemed too unconventional, I decided to dye it back to black.” Bai Yan said the first thing that popped up in his mind, but he still explained it in a way that made it sound real.
“As for my pale face, my body has always been weak and due to being in the rain for a long time, it made my body feel cold.

“Oh.”

The excuses Bai Yan gave were reasonable, so Su Xiaoqian paid no mind to him anymore.
She then pulled at the clothes on her chest and couldn’t help but heave a breath in annoyance.

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The young girl’s clothes were clean as can be but the downside was her body was too petite for Su Xiaoqian, making her feel a little breathless.

After exiting the room, Su Xiaoqian thoroughly checked every room, took note of every window, and found a back door in the hotel.

She then told Bai Yan what information she had gathered and the two decided to call each other when they ran into trouble.
In the meantime, Su Xiaoqian stood at the front reception area and temporarily assumed the young girl’s identity, remaining extremely vigilant and ready to fight against the headless ghosts.

The place where Bai Yan was detained was a room with only one window.

The room was located on the hotel’s first floor.
This was done so that if something bad happened, he could easily escape.
Similarly, if the headless ghosts barged into the hotel’s front doors, Su Xiaoqian could also retreat to this room.

The hotel was only a small one, so the rooms in it were only simple.

In the room, there was only one chair, which the girl was helplessly tied up in, leading Bai Yan to sit on top of the bed.
He motionlessly watched the open window but was ready to make a call and flee for his life at any given moment.

At around three in the morning, the young girl came to.

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The young girl woke up in a daze and took ten seconds to realize that she was kidnapped.
She then started to whimper and struggle.

The soundproofing inside the hotel was bad, so when he saw the young girl rock the chair back and forth to create some noise, Bai Yan simply took out the knife and tapped it in the girl’s soft skin.

“Miss, please be quiet.”

Seeing the bitingly-cold table knife pressed against her face, the young girl trembled from fear and nodded with tears in her eyes.
She stared at Bai Yan in horror for the rest of the night until it rolled around five o’clock.

“Okay, you can scream now.”

After being drenched in the rain all night, Bai Yan’s face was flushed red and his hands shook as he held the knife.

He did his best to control his voice, so it didn’t tremble along as he shivered uncontrollably.

Before he left, he unstuffed the pillow cloth in the girl’s mouth and easily severed up the cloth tying the girl’s body down.

However, even though Bai Yan signaled that she could already leave, the young girl shook her head and didn’t dare move an inch.
She was still afraid that the murderer in front of her was playing mind games and if she turned around, he would mercilessly stab the knife in her back.

After untying the girl, Bai Yan left her along.
He just simply tapped on the return button on his phone and quickly went back to the real world.

“What about the others?” The young girl watched the man disappear in front of her eyes.
His spirit slowly fading into the air, making her shiver even more.
She felt that she encountered ghosts instead of murderers.

She stayed still in her place for a moment but the next thing she knew, she cautiously moved towards the phone beside the bed and called the police, shaking as she said, “Uncle policeman, I met a ghost, no.
I saw murderers.”

The young girl realized what she was wearing.
It was the woman’s bloodied clothes.
Although the man had already disappeared, there was still a chance that the woman was still there.
Even if she truly did come across a supernatural event, she still might face criticism when reporting this to the police.
Her face was more important than her life.

The police on the other end was especially nice and helpful, even asking her where she was to immediately dispatch someone over.

Despite the police’s reassurance, the girl didn’t dare hang up the phone.
She cowered in fear while standing in the room and became on guard as she heard some strange sounds nearby.

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“Boom boom boom.”

“Boom boom boom.”

There were knocks outside the door.

“What’s knocking on the door over there?”

The young girl trembled as she said in loud sobs, “I… I don’t know.”

She backed up into the window and was ready to exit through it when the door came open, but as soon as she pressed her back against the cold glass, she heard a dull pounding from behind.

“Boom, boom, boom.”

“Boom, boom, boom.”

She stiffly turned around to see what was making the sound, only to be shocked when she saw a headless corpse tapping on the window with its bony fingers.

Creak.

At long last, the knocks on the door finally stopped.

The door… opened.