# 6
**Chapter 6: The Ghost-Faced Man**
Outside the old district.
The man who had just activated his Forbidden Ruins sat by the roadside sign, glancing back at the half of the old district frozen like a canvas. He shook his head helplessly, pulled out his phone, and started playing a match-three game.
“Bro, why are you sitting here playing games in the middle of the night? Aren’t you afraid of catching a cold on your butt?”
Before long, a passerby crossed the street and laughed when he saw the scene.
The man looked up at him, then lowered his head again. “Nothing to do. Just bored.”
The passerby chuckled, pulled out a cigarette, and offered it to him.
The man waved it off. “On duty. No smoking.”
“Heh, you’re sitting on the curb playing games and calling it work?” The passerby grinned.
“Yep.”
“Alright then.” The man shrugged and stood up, walking toward the street behind.
“Where are you going?” the man suddenly asked.
“Home.”
“You can’t go back. Not now.”
The passerby raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“This road’s closed. You can only go back when it opens.” The man pointed to the sign behind him.
The passerby looked over and saw a strange sign standing in the middle of the road. Just as he was about to speak, the words “No Entry Ahead” flashed faintly and vanished.
His gaze went blank.
A few seconds later, he turned stiffly and walked back the way he came, eyes full of confusion...
The man didn’t seem surprised. Just as he was about to resume his game, a voice crackled through his earpiece.
“Zhao Kongcheng!!”
The moment he heard it, the man sprang to his feet. All laziness and drowsiness vanished, replaced by absolute seriousness.
“Here! Captain, what’s happened?”
“We’ve got a problem. One of the Ghost-Faced Men evolved into a Ghost-Faced King. While we were dealing with the others, it ambushed and seriously injured Hongying, then escaped through the sewers outside the Forbidden Ruins.”
“A Ghost-Faced King?” Zhao Kongcheng’s face changed. “Which direction did it go? I’ll intercept it!”
“No, Kongcheng, you’re not a combat type. You won’t beat the Ghost-Faced King. I’ll go after it.”
Zhao Kongcheng froze. “Then what should I...”
“After the king escaped, two more Ghost-Faced Men slipped into the sewers. The rest of us are tied up cleaning out the remaining ones.”
“Which direction?”
“Southeast.”
“Got it.”
Zhao Kongcheng’s eyes flashed. He sprinted to the end of the street, jumped into a black van, slammed the accelerator, and sped off with a roar.
On the passenger seat lay a neatly folded crimson-black cloak and a sheathed straight blade.
...
“Alright, I’m turning here. See you guys.”
Wang Shao stopped and turned to the four behind him.
Just then, Li Yifei seemed to remember something. “Wang Shao, if I recall, your house is near the old district, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“...Nothing. Just be careful on your way home.”
Wang Shao’s mouth twitched. He rolled his eyes. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it. Don’t leave me hanging.”
Li Yifei hesitated. “I heard the old district’s been... unsettled lately. There’s a psycho killer on the loose!”
“A psycho killer? Seriously?” Jiang Qian didn’t believe it.
“Of course it’s real!” Li Yifei looked around and lowered his voice. “You guys probably haven’t heard, but over the past few days, more than a dozen people have died there.”
“Over a dozen? No way. If something that big happened, it’d be all over the news.” Wang Shao shook his head.
“Hey, it’s true. It’s weird—someone up top’s suppressing the news. If my dad didn’t work at the police station, I wouldn’t know either.”
“Weird? How?”
“Apparently...” Li Yifei paused, lowering his voice even more.
“Apparently, the victims’ faces were completely flayed off. Nothing left but bloody pulp and bulging eyeballs. Brutal stuff.”
A cool night breeze swept by. The group felt a chill shoot from their feet to their heads.
“Li Yifei! Are you sick? Telling ghost stories at night!” Jiang Qian’s face went pale. She glanced around the silent street, furious.
They were already near the old district, a remote part of Cangnan City. It was almost ten after evening classes, and not a soul was in sight. Li Yifei’s words made it all the creepier.
Even Wang Shao and Liu Yuan, both grown boys, were shaken. Wang Shao glanced at the narrow alley he was about to take and suddenly felt a pang of dread...
If Li Yifei’s story was just scary, Lin Qiye’s next line made their scalps tingle.
Lin Qiye thought for a moment, then said quietly, “Are you sure... a human did it?”
“Qiye, you...” Jiang Qian shuddered!
Wang Shao and Liu Yuan’s mouths twitched as they stared at Lin Qiye like he’d grown a second head.
You dark-eyed, thick-browed Lin Qiye—turns out you’re the creepiest of us all?
Li Yifei stared at him in shock. “You think so too?”
“Shut up shut up shut up!” Jiang Qian couldn’t take it. She reached out and twisted Li Yifei’s arm hard. He yelped in pain.
“No ghost stories at night!! I still have to go home!”
Li Yifei clutched his arm, grimacing. “It’s not a ghost story...”
Wang Shao shrugged. “I’m not wasting time on this crap. I don’t believe in monsters or demons. Later.”
His figure vanished into the narrow alley.
Jiang Qian shot Li Yifei another glare, took a few steps, then stopped.
She sniffed, frowning.
Confusion flickered in her eyes.
“Do you guys smell that stench?” she asked, turning back.
“Stench?”
“Like... something rotting.”
“I don’t smell it. Liu Yuan?”
“Me nei—ugh!!”
Before Li Yifei and Liu Yuan could finish, their faces changed. They clapped hands over their noses and looked around in panic.
Lin Qiye was about to speak when a revolting stench slammed into his nostrils. It was like a chunk of meat left to rot for ten days, dunked in a septic tank, then blended with a dozen rotten eggs. One whiff made his stomach lurch.
It was the worst smell Lin Qiye had ever encountered in his life.
Jiang Qian, with the sharpest nose, dropped to her knees and vomited.
“What the hell is that smell?!” Li Yifei yelled, pinching his nose.
“No idea.” Lin Qiye frowned, then pointed to the alley Wang Shao had taken.
“But judging by the direction, it’s coming from there.”
A second later, a shrill scream tore through the quiet night.