Chapter 068: I have good intentions.

Chapter 068: I have good intentions.

Several stray cats wailed outside the window, sounding like they were in heat.

Bai Heng Qing opened his eyes; the clamor from below grew louder, as if a fight had broken out.

He sat up in bed, switched on the bedroom light, and gazed at the slightly ajar window.

With age, people tend to sleep more lightly. Bai Heng Qing always had restless nights, attributing it to his aging.

But tonight was unusual. It was the caterwauling that had roused him, not his own waking.

Bai Heng Qing pressed a button on a bedside phone. Almost instantly, someone entered, bowing respectfully, "Second Master, is there something you'd like me to attend to?"

Standing by the window, Bai Heng Qing looked down and spoke in a calm tone, "How did today's tasks proceed?"

The attendant replied, "The items have been delivered as instructed."

Bai Heng Qing nodded, "That should do. Remember, we must avoid any fatalities; we don’t want the police getting involved."

The attendant continued, "Our arrangements are discreet. No one has noticed. You can rest assured, Second Master."

Bai Heng Qing sighed, "Ever since the Special Security Bureau arrived, our operations have become increasingly challenging. They truly don't understand our concerns."

The attendant hesitated, seemingly unsure of how to respond to this remark. As Bai Heng Qing didn’t appear to be looking for a reply, the man remained silent.

Bai Heng Qing wasn't expecting an answer either. While he stood contemplating by the window, the attendant remained still, waiting patiently.

After a significant pause, the attendant felt the need to speak, "Second Master, do you have any other instructions?"

"There are too many stray cats downstairs," Bai Heng Qing remarked, "It's time to deal with them."

The attendant nodded, "Understood, Second Master. Please rest, and I will have someone address the issue right away."

A short while later, Bai Heng Qing reclined back in bed. From downstairs, the cries of stray cats echoed briefly before the night returned to its silent embrace.

——

At a construction site in the northern district of Harbor City, Chi Shen and Li Xu exchanged glances.

The scream had emanated from the security room – the very place they had come from earlier, where Security Officer Wang was located. Without a doubt, it was Wang who had cried out for help.

Li Xu gently set down the blood-stained doll he was holding and cautiously inquired, "He arrived before I made my choice?"

"Let's go see," Chi Shen suggested.

As the two headed toward the security room, they noticed scattered paper money along the path and fresh dark-red stains on the ground.

"Is this syrup a bit too dark?" Li Xu commented, shining his flashlight on the reddish-black stain. After the lengthy discussion with Chi Shen, he felt more informed. Examining the stain and even touching it, Li Xu considered how he might apply his newfound knowledge.

Chi Shen glanced briefly at the stain, stating flatly, "That's real blood, not syrup."

"Huh?" Li Xu stared at the red-black liquid in his hand, momentarily stunned, "Is this... real blood?"

"Take a whiff; it smells of blood," said Chi Shen.

Following Chi Shen's suggestion, Li Xu brought the substance to his nose and sniffed. Indeed, there was a metallic tang to it!

With an expression of shock, Li Xu asked, "How did you know?"

Chi Shen replied, "I could smell it. I have a keen nose."

"Perhaps it's just chicken blood again. Whoever is trying to create this haunting scene has really invested a lot." Li Xu stood up and looked in the direction of the security room.

"It's not... this is human..."

Li Xu quickly turned to him.

A cold breeze brushed past them. Chi Shen reached up to touch his earlobe and corrected himself, "It's probably artificial plasma, designed to mimic blood. Not the sugary kind used in performances. Real blood would have coagulated by now. This seems to have been here for a while and yet it hasn't clotted, so it's likely artificial plasma."

Li Xu nodded vaguely, only half-understanding, and continued walking with Chi Shen. After a while, he suddenly asked, "How do you know so much about this?"

With a smile, Chi Shen responded, "Just a personal interest. After all, I'm a horror game enthusiast, so I'm quite knowledgeable in this area."

Li Xu nodded again, but he still looked puzzled, uncertain if he accepted that explanation.

The two soon arrived at the security room. There were more bloodstains outside it, as well as marks suggesting something heavy had been dragged. The door to the security room was open, and the guard, Xiao Wang, was nowhere to be found.

"Xiao Wang? Xiao Wang?" Li Xu circled the security room twice and called out, but there was no sign of him.

Chi Shen stood still, his gaze fixed on the blood on the ground.

"Have you found anything?" Li Xu inquired, "With all this blood here, is this another grand fake haunting setup? Did they spend a lot of effort creating this one?"

Having witnessed so many fabricated haunting scenes before, Li Xu instinctively believed this was another fake.

Chi Shen lowered his eyes, focusing on the ground. After a moment, he began to smile, "Brother Li, this might be what you've been looking for."

Confused, Li Xu asked, "What do you mean?"

"A ghost," Chi Shen turned to look at Li Xu, a gentle and kind smile on his face.

An involuntary shiver ran down Li Xue's spine. The expression on Chi Shen's face unnerved him. Taking the lead, he walked forward, his voice slightly shaky but trying to maintain his calm, "So, following these bloodstains should lead us to the ghost, right?"

Seeing a real ghost would undoubtedly be frightening. However, he genuinely wanted to witness one with his own eyes.

"Most likely," Chi Shen followed Li Xue out of the guard room, carefully closing the door behind him.

——

Security guard Xiao Wang was sprinting across the vast construction site. He had noticed the two explorers heading towards the guard room, but he dared not look back. The headless ghost, dragging its axe, was chasing him. He wanted to shout a warning, but a gust of cold wind took his breath away, making him cough. Concern for himself overpowered any urge to help the others, so he kept running.

He aimed for another exit on the construction site.

Earlier, after closing the guard room door, Xiao Wang had hoped to pretend that nothing had happened and wait for this ghostly prankster, or real ghost, to leave. However, when he heard the ghost begin to bang on the door, images of scenes from "The Shining" flashed before his eyes. He imagined the ghost wielding its large axe to break down the door, peering inside with a sinister smile and saying, "Found you."

Without hesitation, he climbed out of the guard room's window and fled.

The headless ghost stood near the main entrance of the construction site. Not wanting to run in that direction, Xiao Wang decided to aim for the other exit.

In his haste, he forgot his phone. His only thought was to reach the other exit, alert a colleague about the ghost, and run together.

The headless ghost was surprisingly fast. Despair gripped Xiao Wang as he calculated his chances of reaching the exit before being caught. He needed a plan!

The ghost didn't seem to teleport. Driven by intense survival instincts, Xiao Wang quickly thought of his advantage: his intimate knowledge of the site. Having patrolled it eight times nightly, he could navigate the area with his eyes closed.

Making a sudden turn, Xiao Wang dashed towards the unfinished cabin area.

The headless ghost paused for a moment, torn between the lit guard room and the flattened, undeveloped plot of land that hadn’t even sprouted weeds. After a brief hesitation, it headed towards the cabins.

Just as Xiao Wang entered the cabin area, he glanced back to see the ghost hot on his trail and quickly raced up to the second floor.

The cabins were stained with "blood" and exhibited eerie marks. Regardless, Xiao Wang sprinted into an empty room, shutting the door behind him.

He heard the dragging sound of the axe echoing in the hallway below. He stilled himself, even muting his breath, to focus on the noises outside.

After a while, the sound ceased. It appeared the ghost hadn't come upstairs. Xiao Wang let out a sigh of relief, assuming the entity had moved in a different direction.

Some time later, feeling somewhat assured of the silence outside, he cautiously opened the door to head downstairs.

Just as he descended, sounds from the cabin material storage area reached his ears. He swiftly ducked into a nearby room, feeling his heart pounding against his chest. He pressed down on his heart area, fearful that the ghost might hear its loud beats.

"Come here; this spot is harder to detect," a faint voice whispered into his ear. Puzzled, he wondered if another colleague had also taken refuge from the ghost. Without turning on his flashlight, he slowly inched towards the source of the voice.

A hand suddenly gripped him, guiding him into a cluttered corner. Xiao Wang hid, feeling that his colleague's hand was as cold as ice. But he dared not speak, fearing the headless ghost might discover them.

——

Chi Shen and Li Xu had returned to the board house area, following the blood trail.

The blood traces led them windingly inside one of the board houses. With their flashlights scanning a wider range this time in search of the trail, they discovered things they had missed earlier.

Surrounding the board house, scattered paper money lay about, ashes from burnt offerings and remnants of incense suggested that someone had held a ritual here.

Li Xu lingered on the traces and wondered, “Did these rituals summon the ghost?”

Chi Shen remarked, “There are security guards here regularly. Such acts would surely be noticed.”

An idea struck Li Xu, “Did the locals think this place was haunted, so they burnt offerings to appease the spirits?”

Chi Shen nodded, not lingering on the topic, and led the way to the door of one of the board houses, guided by the blood.

Li Xu briefly inspected the ashes before quickly catching up with Chi Shen. He tried pushing the door, but it was locked.

Chi Shen, familiar with such situations, knocked gently on the door.

Knock, knock, knock.