At this moment.
Chen Chen asked himself.
What kind of person could be as smelly and cold as Grandma's corpse?
The answer was clear—
The one standing in front of him was not human.
Chen Chen desperately wanted to warn himself, to comfort himself, not to let his imagination run wild.
But with adrenaline pumping from fear, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he gradually saw the figure standing on the eighth step.
Finally.
This became the straw that broke the camel's back.
He saw it.
The figure was rising; its already tall frame slowly grew taller from the steps.
A ghost!
Chen Chen's pupils constricted as he tightly covered his mouth and nose, wishing his heart would stop beating, wishing the entity wouldn't hear even the slightest sound from him.
But whatever one fears most is what happens.
As the figure completely straightened up from the steps.
Even though Chen Chen tried his best to stay quiet, the figure still sensed the internal stirrings of fear.
"!!!"
With eyes full of terror, Chen Chen caught sight of the figure turning its body in the darkness, slowly lowering its head to look at him... The living room, the basement Entrance.
Seeing no response from the basement.
The Class Monitor and the others were getting a bit restless.
In this deserted villa area at night, the sudden flickering of the lights and the lack of response from the basement all hinted at something unusual.
"Class Monitor, the wiring in your villa is terrible. Can you still turn on the lights? It's not broken, is it?" Jiang Xinyue said.
Now that the lights were out, everyone had to use their phone flashlights for illumination.
There were many girls here.
In the dark, no matter how many people there were, panic was inevitable. Jiang Xinyue knew this well and chose to joke around to lighten the mood.
While speaking, she squeezed Jiang Yan's hand to reassure her.
"I don't understand why it's so bad either."
The Class Monitor spoke, looking like she wanted to say more but hesitated:
"Actually, I had my dad call someone to check the wiring before I came. Logically, there shouldn't be any problems."
"Let's not talk about the lights for now," Jiang Xinyue interrupted. "Why hasn't there been any word from Chen Chen and the others?"
She was more concerned about Chen Chen than the lighting in the living room.
At the mention of the basement.
The group became animated; no one wanted to be at a birthday party where someone got hurt, as it might lead to their parents forbidding them from going out at night in the future.
"Could something have happened?" the Class Monitor asked.
She, most of all, didn't want anything to go wrong at her birthday party.
"Something happened? I think they're pulling a prank. There's no danger in the basement unless someone fell, but even then, they'd still be able to answer."
"I agree. They're probably trying to scare us."
"Whether it's a prank or not, we'll know if we go down and look," Jiang Xinyue suggested.
Jiang Yan chimed in, "Let's go down. If... the living room's electrical problem is because they messed with the circuit breaker in the basement, that would be dangerous."
Since the goddess and her best friend had both said so.
Even the most cowardly person present couldn't refuse.
"AHHHH!!!!"
Before they could move, a blood-curdling scream erupted from the basement.
Everyone, including Jiang Xinyue, was startled by the sudden scream.
Like a domino effect.
Giving them no time to process their emotions.
"AHHHH!!!!"
"HELP!!"
Heart-wrenching cries for help echoed one after another from the basement.
Something happened?!
The expressions of Jiang Xinyue and the others changed instantly.
No matter how cowardly they had been or how many excuses they'd made about pranks, they couldn't care less now as they rushed toward the basement.
"Wait! Look!"
Jiang Xinyue grabbed the Class Monitor and the others at the front. Her face was pale with horror as she pointed at the basement Entrance.
The basement door opened.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Everyone could clearly hear heavy footsteps coming from the pitch-black basement.
Like a gale in the night.
Along with the footsteps, an overwhelming stench of rot surged out of the basement.
But they had no time to worry about the smell; their faces were filled with terror as their attention fixed on the figure emerging from the basement.
It wasn't Chen Chen.
Nor was it the Classmate with Glasses and the others.
And it certainly wasn't Liu Yun and his group.
This figure was a total stranger; it wasn't anyone they knew.
No.
It couldn't even be called human.
Its skin looked like that of a corpse from an old black-and-white movie—ashen and pale. Black veins were visible beneath the surface, as if the body had been drained of all blood.
With every step, its unlubricated bones ground together with a sound like teeth gnashing, grating on everyone's nerves.
The Dried Corpse slowly walked out of the basement.
The living room fell into a dead silence.
The group stood frozen in place, stunned by the sudden appearance of the Dried Corpse.
Creak, creak. The sound of bones grinding and turning.
The Dried Corpse was like a reanimated cadaver. Its eyes were closed, but its neck twisted to look at the people present.
Even though its eyes were shut, everyone felt the unsettling sensation of being watched.
Soon.
The Dried Corpse turned its head toward the student closest to the basement.
Thud.
Without any warning.
The student suddenly shuddered. His eyes rolled back until only the whites were visible, and then he collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Pan Qiang..."
The Class Monitor, Jiang Xinyue, and Jiang Yan, who were closest to Pan Qiang, instinctively reached out to help him, but the moment they touched him, they screamed in terror.
Pan Qiang was dead.
His body was as cold as ice.
He didn't look like he had just died; he felt like a corpse from a morgue freezer, his skin even covered in frost.
Panic, like fire doused in oil, instantly spread through everyone.
The Dried Corpse did not stop because of their terror.
Creak, creak. With the sound of grinding bones, it turned its neck again, its sightless head facing another student.
Driven by intense fear, the student tried to bolt. But as soon as he turned and lifted his foot, his body jolted. He stumbled and fell. When they looked at him again, his eyes were white and he had stopped breathing.
"G-ghost! It's a ghost!!!"
"A Zombie?!"
Everything happened too fast, in just a matter of seconds.
With the death of the second student, the group finally snapped out of their shock.
Run!
Without a word, Jiang Xinyue grabbed Jiang Yan and bolted toward the living room's main door.
The group that had been happily gathered moments ago now scattered like startled birds.
Though they were terrified by the sudden turn of events, biological instinct drove them to flee from danger.
Jiang Xinyue was the first to reach the door. She yanked it open and rushed outside.
Then, another horror occurred.
"Huh?!"
Jiang Xinyue and Jiang Yan turned pale with fright as they stared at the center of the living room where they now stood.
"How can this be?" Jiang Yan was terrified.
She remembered clearly that she and Jiang Xinyue had rushed out the door, yet in the blink of an eye, they were back in the middle of the living room.
"AHHH!!"
A scream erupted beside them.
The Class Monitor had appeared beside them at some point. The same thing had happened to her; she had followed them out the door, only to find herself in the center of the living room.
A Ghost Wall?
Jiang Xinyue and Jiang Yan locked eyes with the Class Monitor and instinctively looked toward the door. One by one, people were rushing out, only to vanish.
And then reappear inside the living room.
Some were in the center of the room, some in the kitchen, some on the stairs to the second floor... Thud.
Another person fell.
The Dried Corpse was still moving. Every time it turned its head toward a student—regardless of gender or appearance—they died without warning. There were no exceptions.
Perhaps sensing their desire to escape.
The Dried Corpse moved.
Accompanied by the scalp-tingling sound of grinding bones, it slowly left the basement area and headed toward the door.
Three students about to rush out the door heard the noise behind them. They looked back and were instantly confronted by the approaching Dried Corpse.
Thud.
Still no exceptions.
The three students collapsed one after another, their eyes rolling back.
Three more dead.
By now, Jiang Xinyue and the others were scared out of their wits. Like madmen, they no longer dared to run for the door, instead fleeing toward the kitchen or the second floor to find a place to hide.
"To the second floor."
Jiang Xinyue was also terrified, but having been influenced by Jiang Jiuguo's talk of folklore and ghosts for years, she remained relatively calm.
While pulling Jiang Yan toward the second floor.
She took out her phone and dialed Jiang Jiuguo's number.
Beyond the panic, there was a deep sense of helplessness... Dad, Mom, Brother, save me!!
...