On the seventh day inside the scam compound, Lin Xiao had finally memorized the daily routine.
At 6:00 PM, the armed guards switched shifts.
At 7:30 PM, the kitchen released its usual nauseating blend of curry and rotting meat.
And now—11:17 PM—he heard the familiar sound of tires crunching over gravel beyond the perimeter wall.
"Xiao, look!" Ah Kun clung to the iron-barred window, his voice twisted with excitement. "That's the third one this month!"
The searchlights swept across the courtyard, illuminating a container truck reversing into position.
Four tattooed men jumped down from the truck bed, their bodies marked with esoteric symbols. Their deliberate movements, careful and measured, reminded Lin Xiao of funeral home workers—the kind who took care not to disturb the dead.
Then, the coffin was revealed.
Lin Xiao's breath hitched.
The black lacquered casket was adorned with golden talismanic inscriptions, writhing under the moonlight like living things.
"Qing Dynasty relic…"
Boss Wang rubbed his jade thumb ring, his greasy face glowing with excitement.
"This one's the corpse of a direct descendant of the Lin clan from Fuzhou—born under an extremely yin horoscope."
A feng shui master circled the casket, holding a bronze compass.
Then—he suddenly convulsed.
The compass needle spun wildly in reverse, the brass bell at his waist exploded into shards.
"Boss Wang!" He stumbled backward, choking on his breath. "We can't take this coffin! Look at the blood patterns seeping through the wood—this is a 'Nine Insects Corpse Devouring Formation'! Someone tried to break the seal before—"
"Shut up!"
Boss Wang kicked over the incense altar. "I paid three million US dollars for this! You think you can just talk me out of it?"
Lin Xiao noticed dark sweat stains spreading across the back of the feng shui master's tang suit.
As the coffin was dragged inside, a wisp of black mist seeped from the cracks, coalescing into a centipede before dispersing into the ground.
Nightmare Unfolds
Lin Xiao woke to a bursting bladder.
The digital clock read 2:44 AM.
He moved through the darkness toward the bathroom—
And then—
The thick scent of sandalwood hit his nose.
It was impossible.
This compound was a fraud operation, filled with unwashed bodies and cheap cigarettes—there was no way such high-quality incense should exist here.
Moonlight filtered through the iron-barred windows, casting prison-like shadows on the ground.
Then—
Lin Xiao's peripheral vision caught movement.
In the center of the courtyard, the black coffin was trembling.
A viscous, black substance seeped from its cracks.
And more disturbingly—
Boss Wang was kneeling before it, his hands cradling an antique bronze oil lamp, its flame flickering with an eerie green glow.
"…Borrow the Yin path… open the wealth vault…"
Boss Wang's voice trembled, on the verge of tears.
"Lin ancestors above, I—your humble disciple Wang Meifeng—offer this noble daughter's remains… in exchange for three generations of prosperity…"
A deep, resonant thud echoed from within the coffin—
As if something was pounding from inside.
Boss Wang fell back, terrified, his oil lamp tumbling to the ground.
For the first time, Lin Xiao saw the inscriptions on the lamp's surface—
A simplified version of the "Blood Basin Sutra".
BOOM.
The coffin lid flew open.
A female corpse, clad in ornate funeral robes, sat bolt upright.
Boss Wang didn't even have time to scream before his body shriveled into a dry husk, his skin tightening over his bones like aged parchment.
Escape from the Undead
As the compound filled with screams, Lin Xiao clamped a hand over his mouth, pressing himself against the wall.
The corpse's embroidered silk shoes touched the concrete—
Leaving behind blackened, corroded footprints.
Lin Xiao saw it with his own eyes—
Bullets fired by the armed guards passed straight through her, ricocheting off walls, shattering the third-floor security monitors.
"This way!"
Ah Kun yanked Lin Xiao's wrist. "Cargo elevator!"
They sprinted through the hallway, the corpse's wails piercing the air.
Ah Kun slammed the elevator button—nothing.
The stench of decay thickened—
Lin Xiao's blood ran cold.
The corpse's nails had pierced through the elevator doors.
At the last second—
Ah Kun yanked a wooden spike from his shoe and stabbed the rotting hand.
A hiss of green smoke erupted—
The elevator slammed shut just in time.
"Go to B2!"
Ah Kun tore at his collar, revealing a stitched scar along his neck.
"There's something in the warehouse that can seal her—"
The elevator halted abruptly at B1.
As the doors slid open—
Lin Xiao's heart stopped.
The support pillars of the entire floor were wrapped in corpse bags.
Each bag's opening revealed a withered hand reaching outward.
The female corpse's shriek triggered a chain reaction—
The corpse bags burst open, spilling dozens of reanimated bodies.
They moved like marionettes, drawn toward the living scent.
Ah Kun shoved open an air vent cover—
"Climb!"
Lin Xiao scrambled inside, just as rotting fingers clawed at his pant leg.
The stench of death filled the confined space.
A choked groan echoed behind him.
Lin Xiao turned back—
And saw half of Ah Kun's bloodied leg fall into the vent.
Ah Kun had blocked the opening with his own body.
"Under the bed… my notebook…"
His final words mixed with blood and breath.
"Find… Wen…"
Dawn's First Light
Lin Xiao crawled out of the drainage system.
The first glimmers of dawn colored the sky in pale hues.
His fingers clenched around Ah Kun's bloodstained peachwood spike.
Behind him, sirens blared in the distance—
But beneath the sound of approaching rescue, Lin Xiao heard something else.
The slow, deliberate creak of shifting bones.
Something inhuman was still following him.