Outside the old town.The man who had just deployed the forbidden zone sat by a notice board, glanced back at the half of the old town frozen like a painting, shook his head helplessly, and pulled out his phone to play a match-three game."Brother, why are you sitting here playing on your phone in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid your butt will get cold?"Before long, a passerby crossed the road and, seeing the scene, couldn't help but chuckle.The man looked up at him briefly, then lowered his head to continue playing. "Nothing better to do. Killing time."The passerby laughed and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, offering it to the man.The man waved it off with a straight face. "On duty. No smoking.""Hey, you're sitting on the roadside playing on your phone, and you call that work?" The passerby was amused."Yeah.""Alright then." The passerby shrugged, stood up, and walked toward the street behind the man."Where are you going?" The man suddenly asked."Home.""You can't go back. At least not now."The passerby raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?""This road is closed for now. You'll have to wait until it's open before you can go." The man pointed at the notice board behind him.The passerby followed his gesture and saw the inexplicable sign standing in the middle of the road. Just as he was about to say something, the words "No Entry Ahead" flashed briefly with a faint glow.The passerby's eyes immediately went blank.A few seconds later, he turned around stiffly and walked back the way he had come, his eyes filled with confusion...The man seemed completely unfazed by this. Just as he was about to return to his match-three game, a voice crackled in his earpiece."Zhao Kongcheng!!"The instant the voice rang out, the man shot up from the ground. The leisure and weariness vanished from his face, replaced by an expression of utmost seriousness!"Present! Captain, what's the situation?""There's been a problem. One of the ghost-faced men has evolved into a Ghost-Faced King. While we were clearing out the other ghost-faced men, it ambushed and gravely injured Hong Ying before escaping the forbidden zone through the sewers.""A Ghost-Faced King?" Zhao Kongcheng's expression changed. "Which direction did it go? I'll intercept it!""No, Kongcheng. You're not good at combat. You won't win against the Ghost-Faced King. I'll chase it down myself."Zhao Kongcheng hesitated. "Then what about me...?""After the Ghost-Faced King escaped, two more ghost-faced men took advantage of the chaos and fled into the sewers. The others are tied up dealing with the remaining ones.""Which direction?""Southeast.""Got it."Zhao Kongcheng's eyes flashed with determination. He sprinted to the other end of the street, jumped into a black van, and slammed on the accelerator. The vehicle roared to life, speeding off into the night.On the passenger seat beside him lay a neatly folded black-and-red cloak and a sheathed straight blade...."Alright, I'll take this turn here. I'm heading off now."Wang Shao stopped in his tracks and turned to speak to the four people behind him.At that moment, Li Yifei seemed to suddenly remember something. "Wang Shao, if I'm not mistaken, your house is near the old town, right?""Yeah, so?""...Nothing. Just be careful on your way back."Wang Shao's mouth twitched slightly, rolling his eyes. "If you've got something to say, just say it. Don't stop halfway and leave people feeling uneasy."Li Yifei hesitated for a moment. "I heard the old town hasn't been very safe lately. There's a psychotic killer on the loose!""A psychotic killer? Are you serious?" Jiang Qian sounded skeptical."Of course I'm serious!" Li Yifei looked around, lowering his voice. "You guys probably don't know, but over the past few days, more than a dozen people have been killed in the old town.""A dozen? No way. If that were true, the news would've reported it by now." Wang Shao shook his head."Hey, why not? Let me tell you, this whole thing is shady. Someone higher up has suppressed the news. If it weren't for my dad working at the police station, I wouldn't know about it either.""Shady? How so?""Supposedly..." Li Yifei paused, lowering his voice further."The people who were killed had their entire faces skinned off, leaving behind nothing but a bloody mess of flesh and bulging eyes. The method is extremely brutal!"A cool breeze swept by, and as soon as he finished speaking, everyone felt a chill run from their feet to their heads."Li Yifei! Are you insane, telling stories like this at night?" Jiang Qian's face turned pale. She instinctively glanced around the quiet street, furious.The area was close to the old town, a remote part of Cangnan City. It was almost 10 p.m. after evening classes, and there wasn't a single person on the road. Coupled with Li Yifei's tale, the atmosphere was downright eerie.Even Wang Shao and Liu Yuan, two grown men, were starting to feel uneasy. Wang Shao glanced at the narrow alleyway he was about to take and suddenly felt a bit nervous...If Li Yifei's story had just been unsettling, Lin Qiye's next words sent chills straight down their spines.After a moment of thought, Lin Qiye spoke in a low voice. "Are you sure... this was done by a person?""Lin Qiye, you..." Jiang Qian trembled.Wang Shao and Liu Yuan both twitched slightly, their expressions turning odd as they looked at Lin Qiye.Good grief, Lin Qiye. You, with your serious demeanor, turned out to be the most sinister of them all?Li Yifei stared at Lin Qiye in shock. "You think so too?""Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Jiang Qian finally lost her patience, grabbing Li Yifei's arm and twisting it hard. He yelped in pain."Stop telling ghost stories at night! I still have to go home later!"Li Yifei clutched his arm, wincing in pain as he muttered under his breath, "It's not a ghost story..."Wang Shao shrugged. "I'm not going to keep messing around with you guys. I don't believe in those supernatural things anyway. Later!"Wang Shao's figure gradually disappeared into the narrow alleyway.Jiang Qian glared at Li Yifei again and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, she stopped.She sniffed the air hard, her brows furrowing in confusion. Turning back, she said, "Do you guys smell something foul?""Foul?""Like the smell of something rotting.""I don't smell anything. What about you, Liu Yuan?""I don't either... Ugh!!"Before Liu Yuan and Li Yifei could finish their sentences, their expressions changed dramatically. They clamped their hands over their noses, looking around in panic.Just as Lin Qiye was about to speak, a nauseating stench filled his nostrils. It was as if a piece of rotting meat had been thrown into a septic tank, mixed with a dozen rotten eggs. The sheer foulness of it churned his stomach.It was the worst smell Lin Qiye had ever encountered.As for Jiang Qian, who had the most sensitive nose, she immediately crouched down and started retching."What the hell is that smell?!" Li Yifei shouted, covering his nose."No idea." Lin Qiye frowned deeply. After a moment, he pointed toward the alleyway Wang Shao had just entered."But judging by the direction it's coming from, it seems to be coming from there."The next second, a blood-curdling scream echoed from the distance, piercing the quiet night.