stonecrandall Chapter 2: One Pair of Feet is Missing
Chapter 2: One Pair of Feet is Missing
The rain showed no signs of letting up; on the contrary, it seemed to be trying to wash the entire Qingyu Apartment into the sewers.
A black SUV cut through the rain, its blinding headlights illuminating the dim alleyway in a stark white light.
The wheels rolled over the puddles, splashing muddy water that almost landed on Lu Dan's trouser legs.
The car stopped abruptly in front of him, and Lu Dan twisted the handlebars sharply, causing the old electric bike to emit a screeching sound.
He frowned and stared intently at the car blocking his way.
The car door opened, and three people got out; this was the main group the system had indicated.
Lu Dan squinted and quickly scanned the area using the car headlights in the corner of his eye.
Leading the way was a middle-aged man, wearing a dark gray jacket. He was burly with a bulging waist, walked with a confident stride, had sharp eyes, and exuded an imposing aura.
This is usually done by police officers or veterans, who are responsible for providing materialistic confidence in the early stages and physically breaking down the door later.
Such people have strong yang energy, so ghosts and monsters usually won't target them first, but once they are possessed, they become the cause of total annihilation.
Following closely behind was an old man dressed in a Tang suit, holding a string of blackened beads in one hand, his other hand hidden in his sleeve, occasionally shifting his shoulder, his expression solemn.
This type of character is a standard feature in most horror scripts, responsible for explaining the setting and providing props that seem useful but are actually just for buying time.
If he comes in all cocky and arrogant, he probably won't last three minutes, but if he looks weak and feeble, he might survive to the end.
At the very back huddled a young girl, wearing a university uniform, her face paler than paper.
Clinging tightly to the old man in the Tang suit, her shoulders trembled violently with each breath—she was the soul of the horror script, her purpose being to run around screaming, open doors she shouldn't have opened despite warnings, and drag the whole team down at crucial moments.
A classic "iron triangle" configuration.
Lu Dan even wanted to applaud the designer.
The script structure is too clichéd, like dehydrated vegetables in instant noodles—it has no nutritional value, but it does taste the same.
"Hey, delivery guy!"
A middle-aged man in a jacket strode over, his voice loud and commanding.
"Just came down from up there?"
Lu Dan hadn't forgotten his current identity—a deliveryman who was extremely annoyed, in a hurry to deliver the next order, and who had just been driven mad by that bizarre customer.
Frustrated, he reversed his electric scooter slightly to avoid the other person's aggressive stance, and said curtly, "Are you planning to spend the night up there? Move aside, don't block the way!"
The middle-aged man was clearly used to giving orders, and his brows furrowed instantly when Lu Dan retorted.
He pulled an ID card out of his pocket and flashed it in front of Lu Dan.
"Criminal Investigation Team, Chen Feng. Answer the police's questions honestly."
Chen Feng put away his identification and stared at Lu Dan's face: "Did you see any suspicious people in the building? Or hear any noise?"
Lu Dan's heart skipped a beat.
The police involvement indicates that the plot involves a criminal case—a disappearance? Murder?
He has to give information, but he can't give it too readily.
Lu Dan wiped the rain off his face: "This dilapidated building is full of lunatics. The guy on the fourth floor who ordered takeout wrote a note that looked like a suicide note, and he wouldn't let me knock. I just dropped off the food and left. What? Did that lunatic do something bad?"
Upon hearing the words "4th floor," Chen Feng and the old man in the Tang suit behind him exchanged a glance.
The old man in the Tang suit, who had been silent until now, suddenly took a step forward. His cloudy, yellowish eyes stared intently at Lu Dan, and his face instantly turned extremely ugly, as if he had swallowed a dead fly.
"Young man," the old man's voice was hoarse, "are you cold?"
Lu Dan's heart contracted suddenly.
That old man's got some skills; he saw it!
If you don't respond at this point, you'll be suspected; if you respond too professionally, your image will be ruined.
Lu Dan instinctively shrank his neck and retorted irritably, "Nonsense, try getting soaked in the rain wearing only a thin shirt! Stop talking nonsense... Move aside, I'm leaving!"
After saying that, he twisted the accelerator.
However, just like the inevitable plot points in all third-rate horror movies—
No matter how he tried to turn it, the old electric scooter suddenly stopped working, completely unresponsive. The red light on the dashboard flashed wildly before finally going out.
[Extra Scene Extension. As the sole witness, you need to provide the main characters with the opportunity to enter the instance and remain there for at least 10 minutes.]
"Damn, this piece of junk!"
Lu Dan kicked the electric scooter hard; the kick was seven parts acting and three parts genuine anger.
The girl who had been trembling suddenly spoke, her voice weak: "Master Zhang, his car broke down, is it because...?"
"Shut up." The old man, known as Master Zhang, whispered to stop the girl, then took out a yellow talisman from his sleeve and quietly placed it in his palm.
Chen Feng glanced at the car that had stopped under the streetlight, then at the dark stairwell entrance, and said in a deep voice, "Since we can't leave, let's take shelter from the rain downstairs. I have something to ask you anyway."
Lu Dan was forced to push the cart back to the eaves at the entrance of the apartment building, and the four of them stood at the dimly lit entrance of the building.
The malfunctioning motion-activated light overhead crackled, creating an atmosphere of anxiety about a potential power outage on this rainy night.
Lu Dan took out a flattened cigarette and tried to light it several times before he finally succeeded.
He needs to obtain information.
"Officer," Lu Dan exhaled a puff of smoke, pretending to ask casually, "what exactly happened in this building? Did that person who ordered takeout commit a crime or something?"
Chen Feng checked the magazine in his pistol without looking up: "A female student was doing a live stream in this building six days ago, and then she disappeared. The last known location of her signal was here."
"It was a ghost-hunting livestream," Lin Xiaoxiao, a female student next to her, added with a sob in her voice. "Our roommate Mengmeng said this place was a notorious haunted house, and she wanted to do a ghost-hunting to gain followers... but... but..."
"Enough!" Master Zhang glared at her sternly.
But that's enough.
Lu Dan flicked his cigarette ash. (The following phrases appear to be unrelated and possibly from different sources: live ghost hunting, haunted houses, missing persons.)
This is the most typical example of a reckless, suicidal opening.
"Spirit detection..." Lu Dan threw the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it out with his toe.
"That place on the 4th floor is really weird, there's a brazier at the door and talismans all over the door, it's like a funeral."
"That's right." Master Zhang finally spoke, holding a palm-sized compass in his hand.
The compass needle spun wildly across the dial, as if it were possessed, and wouldn't stop.
"This is a courtyard-style building, with a central courtyard that gathers yin energy and no windows on any side." Master Zhang looked into the depths of the corridor, his face ashen.
"Plus, tonight is the seventh night after the death of the deceased, when the yin energy is at its strongest, and the compass needles are spinning wildly... There are so many things here that even the compass can't keep up."
Chen Feng sounded impatient: "Stop with the nonsense. Even if it's a ghost, I still have to find the person. Let's go upstairs!"
The main characters are about to take action.
Lu Dan leaned against the wall, seemingly to avoid the rain, but in reality, he was observing.
According to the script's logic, once they go up there, they'll quickly trigger the first climax, commonly known as "feeding kills." As a bystander, I should be waiting downstairs.
Suddenly, Lu Dan felt the weight on his back disappear, and the ever-present cold touch vanished in an instant.
Before he could even catch his breath, he saw the compass in Master Zhang's hand suddenly stop—the red pointer was pointing firmly at Lu Dan's feet.
The female student, Lin Xiaoxiao, suddenly let out a suppressed scream. She pointed at the wall behind Lu Dan, her pupils dilated to their maximum: "Shadow! Your shadow!"
Lu Dan suddenly turned around.
The voice-activated light flashed briefly at that moment.
On the wall, another slender black shadow split out from his elongated shadow.
The dark shadow, like a black snake, slithered silently along the base of the wall towards Chen Feng, who had just stepped onto the first step.
It lay down on Chen Feng's ankle.
A term from online games flashed through Lu Dan's mind: OT (Aggro Transfer).
Compared to himself, a nobody with little nutritional value, the policeman, with his stronger yang energy and greater threat, was clearly more to the vengeful ghost's liking.
This should have been a good thing, but Lu Dan's expression became even more unpleasant.
The blood-red system notification reappeared on his retina, this time with even more grotesque font.
[Plot Twist: The Vengeful Ghost Changes Host]
[Passerby A's Exclusive Mission (Part Two) Triggered: Return the Lost Token]
[Task Description: It's gone, but it left something in your delivery box—its favorite thing. If you don't return it, you'll become its next target.]
Please follow the main characters into room 404 and return the keepsake to its original place.
Lu Dan stiffly turned his head to look at the delivery box on the back of his old electric scooter.
Inside the once empty box, a worn-out red high heel had appeared out of nowhere.
The heel was broken in half, and a few strands of wet, long hair were tangled on the shoe upper.
Lu Dan cursed the system's ancestors for eighteen generations in his mind.
"etc."
Lu Dan called out to the three people who were about to go upstairs.
Chen Feng stopped and turned around, frowning. "What is it now?"
Lu Dan bent down and took a plastic bag out of the takeout box, then used his body to block the high heel, pretending to be taking something.
He took a deep breath, forcing a look that was worse than crying: "Officer, since you're going up there, could you do me a favor?"
Lu Dan pointed upstairs, his tone full of resentment: "This takeout order was supposed to have a 50 yuan tip, and they haven't settled the bill yet. If something really happens to that customer, I can help, right? I'll go upstairs with you, okay?"
Going to a haunted house for 50 yuan?
Is this reason absurd?
In this world, there are countless people who would risk their lives for a few dollars.
Master Zhang gave Lu Dan a deep look, seemingly sensing his darkening complexion and impending doom, so he stopped interfering and coldly said, "You want money but not your life. If you want to die, come with me. If something happens, no one will save you."
"I'm strong, I can help you move things." Lu Dan patted his chest, actually trying to hide the plastic bag he was clutching tightly in his hand.
The four of them embarked on the deadly staircase leading to the fourth floor.
The temperature in the hallway was even lower than when Lu Dan was alone earlier.
When they reached the corner between the 3rd and 4th floors, Chen Feng, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped.
"Who's there?" Chen Feng shouted, and the beam of his flashlight shone forward instantly.
A beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the corridor on the fourth floor, where the door to room 404 was wide open.
The box of white rice that was left at the door is gone.
Three pairs of bright red chopsticks, like three sticks of incense, were stuck vertically into the cement ground, blocking the middle of the road.
In the empty room 404 behind the chopsticks, a faint chewing sound could be heard.
"Click...click..."
It sounded like teeth grinding bones.
Lin Xiaoxiao's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
Lu Dan stood at the back of the line, carrying the bag containing the ghost shoe in his hand. His gaze went over everyone's shoulders and landed on the door that was like a black hole.
He heard it clearly: amidst the chewing sounds, a woman's indistinct whisper: "Still missing... a pair of... feet..."
Lu Dan looked down at the bag in his hand.
These are those feet.