Chapter 1 Aftermath

After leaving, the woman subconsciously headed for the elevator, but Jiang Cheng stopped her. "Let's take the stairs," Jiang Cheng said, "It's good for your health."

The woman looked at Jiang Cheng strangely, but ultimately said nothing.

After they left, the people remaining in the room were much freer to talk. Everyone began searching for clues, specifically Lin Chen's manuscripts.

Qiao Yu's brother also naturally came over, wanting to help. Before Hua Luo could refuse, Wan Yuanning spoke up, saying, "Could you please keep watch for us?" She nodded, using a very gentle voice, "Thank you for your trouble."

Though her words were gentle, the woman didn't give Qiao Yu's brother a chance to refuse. Then, she turned and busied herself with her own tasks.

Qiao Yu's brother couldn't help but feel a little awkward. At this moment, Hua Luo gave Chu Jiu a look, and the latter immediately understood what was needed.

Hua Luo went to search near the woman's desk, while Wan Yuanning went to the bookshelf. Chu Jiu didn't leave too far, keeping some of her attention on Qiao Yu's brother.

Qiao Yu's brother couldn't help but feel depressed, but he was under their roof, and he probably knew that following these people was possibly the only chance to uncover the truth behind his brother's death.

He sat obediently on the sofa, guarding the door, acting very docile.

The table still held the photocopies of the manuscripts that the woman had provided earlier. The man curiously picked them up one by one to look at them. Before long, his face changed with fear, especially at the monster tale depicting the shadow that was unbearable to look at.

The background in it looked suspiciously like his own café.

The other drawings were also terrifying, and they felt alive, as if one could feel the cold emanating from the depths of one’s heart, even through the screen.

It was a kind of indescribable... realism.

As he reached for the paper turned face down on the table, Chu Jiu’s voice rang out. "Don't touch anything." She warned.

"Oh, oh, okay, okay."

The man gave up on the paper, his attention drawn to the brown paper bag discarded on the sofa. It lay next to where the woman had been sitting, seemingly inconspicuous.

But the man felt drawn to it, as if under some sort of spell. He stretched out his arm, and the moment he picked up the paper bag, the man frowned.

The weight didn't feel right, and... he pinched it between two fingers. He could feel some thickness inside the bag, even through the paper.

Out of curiosity, the man shook the bag's opening, then turned it upside down, and several pieces of paper fell out.

"Huh?"

Chu Jiu immediately noticed the anomaly and quickly stepped forward, snatching the papers from the man's hand. "Were these in the bag?" She didn't look at them immediately, but first asked the man for confirmation.

"Yes, yes, they were." The man scratched his head, craning his neck, his eyes constantly glancing at the papers, seemingly curious about what was on them.

Just then, almost simultaneously, two voices rang out, "Found it!"

Hua Luo walked over quickly, holding a brown paper bag in her hand.

The bag had Lin Chen's name on it. It was mailed from Room 808, Building 3 of the Ping An Apartments. The address matched.

Wan Yuanning was even more direct. She was holding some papers, about a dozen or so. It seemed these were also Lin Chen's manuscripts.

Finding so much so quickly was something no one had expected.

Everyone first gathered around to look at the drawings in Wan Yuanning's hand. To everyone's surprise, it was a completely new monster tale.

It was called Cocoon.

It told of a warehouse in an underground shopping mall where people often found fallen strands of hair on the ground. The hair was very long, and appeared to be a woman's.

What was incomprehensible was that very few people came here, and the employees were all men. How could so much long hair appear?

Though puzzled, the warehouse user didn't think much of it, since there were no other problems besides this.

Until one day, he began to hear that people were looking for their pet dogs nearby. The night watchmen also began to report that, after everyone went home, they could occasionally hear strange, intermittent noises.

He used a very apt descriptive phrase. He said it sounded like someone was drinking bubble tea with a straw, the kind that had already been drunk to the bottom, an intermittent sucking sound.

Finally, one day, someone disappeared.

It was the watchman who had reported the strange noises.

But the shopping mall owner told everyone that the watchman had been bought off by competitors and had deliberately spread rumors before disappearing.

He told everyone not to worry and that he would expose the watchman in a few days and show him to everyone.

He also promised everyone that he would personally stay and keep watch that night to dispel the rumors and that everyone should believe in science.

Looking at the owner's confident assurances and the burly, sunglass-wearing bodyguards beside him, everyone regained their confidence.

Night came quickly. The warehouse user, who was sleeping at home, suddenly received a call from a client about a large business deal.

He hesitated again and again, but couldn't resist the old client's persuasions and finally agreed to go to the warehouse immediately to inventory the remaining stock.

When he drove to the mall, he found the watchman's booth lit up, but there was no one inside. The owner and his bodyguards, who were supposed to be on watch, were nowhere to be seen.

Had they gone on patrol?

Going underground, he turned on his phone's flashlight and walked alone toward his warehouse. His warehouse was located further inside, which made it cheaper.

After walking for a while, he suddenly had an ominous premonition, but looking at his warehouse, which was so close, he didn't want to give up this deal.

The other party was an old client he needed to maintain.

He tightened his coat and continued walking inward, but as he rounded a corner, he suddenly heard a strange noise.

It was exactly as the watchman had described!

Intermittent, making one's heart flutter.

And most importantly, the sound was coming from his warehouse.

As he approached, he found that his warehouse door was open, with faint light emanating from within.

"Is anyone there?" The man spoke as he approached the warehouse door. He saw someone inside, shining a flashlight at him.

The man was blinded by the light, but through his fingers, he recognized the mall owner, who was wearing leather shoes and gray slacks.

This was his standard attire.

The man couldn't help but feel angry. Without his permission, someone had opened his warehouse door late at night. What the hell were they trying to do, steal something?

The man walked toward the light, questioning him and telling the owner to turn off the flashlight, as the light was making him dizzy.

But the owner seemed not to hear him. It wasn't until the man walked in front of him and snatched the flashlight from his hand.

But in the next second, the man was stunned, because he saw that the owner's feet were almost suspended in the air, with only the tips of his shoes barely touching the ground, twitching constantly.

He trembled and slowly moved the stolen flashlight up the owner's lower body, and then he saw the most terrifying scene of his life.

The owner's eyes were gone.

His eye sockets, nose, ears, and mouth were filled with hair, and the hair was alive, slowly wriggling, and making sucking sounds as if they were consuming fluids.

The owner's body was visibly shriveling, and his limbs were twitching and twisting irregularly, as if he was dancing.

He immediately shone the flashlight toward the ceiling, close to the warehouse top, revealing a huge cocoon. Countless black hairs surged out of the cocoon in a radial pattern.

Around the cocoon were several smaller cocoons, all tightly fixed to the warehouse ceiling. A shriveled arm reached out from one of the cocoons.

Judging by the armband, it was the first missing watchman.

As for the smaller ones, they were probably the missing cats and dogs.

The warehouse ceiling was very high, and long pendant lights were used, the light from which was already dim, so no one had noticed this terrifying scene hidden on the dark ceiling.

Gradually, the largest cocoon in the middle began to wriggle slowly, and then a head emerged from the cocoon. Then, the head opened its mouth, and dense hair surged toward the man.

"This... this is..." Chu Jiu stared at the head emerging from the cocoon, her face turning pale.

"It's Yu Lan!"