Chapter 3: Fatal  

Luo Jian shifted his eyes to the wall on the left. In actuality, there wasn’t a precise concept of what the left-side was referring to, but it should most likely be the left side of the writing desk. There were traces of aging on the walls, the white paint peeled off almost everywhere, leaving behind only red brick. A house built in 1989, even if it was still a house in the countryside, it was impossible for it to be any more robust.

“Let’s smash it.” Luo Jian instantly straightened his back, raised the hammer, and immediately smashed at the wall. Unlike the door or window, this wall wasn’t entirely indestructible, or perhaps it was simply fragile. One smash created a large crack, then another smash created a hole; the inside was dark. It was only natural that Luo Jian’s strength was also great; after all, he was nearly driven insane by this narrow, enclosed chamber; even if he didn’t have claustrophobia, he already felt as if he was being forced to develop it because of this room!

Fueled by madness, Luo Jian quickly smashed the wall and created a massive opening that would allow a person to pass through. A faint glow shined onto the hole; the inside of the hole was dark, and there seemed to be a small space that could be considered spacious enough.

Panting deeply, Luo Jian looked at the wall he destroyed, then he thought of a horrifying notion.

This room was actually bigger, as least much bigger than it was now. The murderer killed someone here, he dragged the corpse to the corner of the wall, cleaned up all traces of blood indicating a murder, and then, using red brick and cement, he rebuilt a wall at about one-third of the region of the room! Then, he sealed himself and the victim in that one-third region! He just had to paint a little over the red brick and adjust a couple more things in advance, then once the paint dried up, the wall would look as old as its surrounding. Thus, the murderer and the victim were able to disappear from this room without a trace!

It’s no wonder that when Luo Jian opened his eyes and first laid sight on this room, he always felt that there was this sense of incongruity; it may have been because the bricks and stones building the wall were a bit slanted, evoking an odd feeling of crookedness.

His bold imagination was quite outrageous, but the possibility was also very likely. Luo Jian was not a detective so he couldn’t come up with a logical conclusion, but he just knew that there was indeed a space behind the wall. And there may also be two bodies, the murderer’s and the victim’s, meaning the key must be with one of them! Luo Jian felt his hands tremble in anticipation; he would soon be able to leave this place!

Luo Jian continued to smash the wall, creating an even bigger hole and roughly exposing the space behind the wall. The dust flew everywhere, making him cough, and when the dust finally settled, everything behind the wall was revealed at last.

Luo Jian guessed correctly.

Behind the walls was a smaller, narrower, rectangular space with a ladder; there were also some remaining materials, bricks, dried cement, as well as…two corpses.

Luo Jian set aside the crushed pile of bricks and tiles, then he squatted beside the two bodies. Luo Jian couldn’t stop coughing because of the rising dust, and the following rancid smell made Luo Jian feel an urge to vomit. He carefully observed the two bodies, only to discover something strange.

One of the corpses was decomposing, maggots were even growing and appearing everywhere. Luo Jian felt extremely disgusted from finding bugs still wriggling in the body’s mouth; the eyes had no eyeballs, and the sleeves exposed the hands, revealing ghostly white bones. The body was sitting in the corner of the wall; it was dressed in grey clothes covered in dust, and a knife was stuck in its chest, imposingly and seemingly about to fall off at any moment. Apparently, this was the victim.

Luo Jian couldn’t bear to give it another glance. He covered his mouth and turned his pale face towards the other body.

It was also just a quick glimpse, but Luo Jian nearly screamed his head off.

It wasn’t that the degree of rotting in the body was terrifying; if that were the case, Luo Jian wouldn’t be scared of a dead man. But he was afraid of this body…it wasn’t like a corpse at all, but a living person instead!

It was a young man. He had black hair and an absolutely stunning face. Based on his handsome facial features, he was about twenty years old. The entire body, from top to bottom, wasn’t decayed at all. He was wearing a black combat uniform, the kind of protective uniforms that military special forces wore, long boots, and tactical gloves. His hand still gripped at a military knife. It was as if he still hadn’t departed from the battlefield, like he still wasn’t able to relax his guard.

Luo Jian held his breath as he stared at the man. Just now, he hit the wall with a lot of force, and the debris from the bricks and tiles fell on the man’s body, but it didn’t wake the other up…perhaps he really was dead? But compared to the decayed corpse nearby, Luo Jian sensed that the other was alive; although his bare skin was rather pale, it was definitely the skin color of a living person.

Luo Jian hesitated for a second, but his desire to escape made him act. He slowly reached out and touched the man’s neck, it was certainly ice-cold, and there was no pulse. This made Luo Jian subconsciously sigh in relief. He absolutely didn’t want the other person to be alive; according to the hints, this man was the so-called killer, the savage murderer. If he were still alive, he might immediately stab Luo Jian with his knife too.

Luo Jian persisted through his fears and started groping the man. He quickly pulled out a key from the other’s coat pocket, and from the shape and size of it, it was undoubtedly the key to the door of the room!

Luo Jian was beyond ecstatic. He turned around and looked at the alarm clock on the desk: 12:54. It didn’t take much time to smash the wall. Since the wall was built hastily, and it also wasn’t built by professional construction workers, destroying it was easy. So, i was only natural that it didn’t take much time. Luo Jian was so happy that he was finally able to leave before the time ran out.

Unable to hold himself back, he rushed to the door and inserted the key; just as he wished, the key and the lock were a perfect match. He twisted it slightly and heard the sound of a click. The lock had been opened. As long as he turned the handle and pushed open the door, he would be able to get out!

Can get out!

Luo Jian was just about to turn the handle, but in the very next second, he fell into the dark abyss.

Because someone from behind suddenly used an arm to hold Luo Jian back, and with a military knife in hand, stabbed directly into Luo Jian’s abdomen. Luo Jian immediately saw stars from the pain, but his will to survive was too strong; he instinctively used his elbow to deal a heavy blow to the person behind him, forcing the other too loosen the grip on his body.

But afterwards, Luo Jian was unable to bear it, and he coughed a mouthful of blood, it flowed down the corners of his mouth and onto his neck. He leaned against the door, but was unable to open the door. The pain drained his strength, he slid down to sit on the ground, and then he looked up at the man who attacked him.

It was the murderer! The man who had no pulse, who he thought was dead, was standing right before Luo Jian, looking down at him from above.

This man was unconditionally the handsome type, with short black hair and messy bangs; to add, the corners of his lips curled up, making him appear to have a malicious and cold expression, but his eyes weren’t the normal black color that Asians had. Shockingly, his eyes were scarlet; without a doubt, these were not the eyes of a human being!

Luo Jian was vaguely aware at this point; this strange room and the odd piece of paper made Luo Jian realize that the place he entered was undoubtedly not a normal world. And the man in front of him was more proof of this; his entire body exuded a terrifying, cold aura. Luo Jian had a keen sense, it was so sharp that he could easily avoid accidents, such as a car crashing into him or empty wine bottles falling from upstairs. In short, predicting danger was Luo Jian’s forte.

I can’t go against him.

And at this point, Luo Jian’s indistinct yet accurate intuition seemed to be telling him that.

The knife inserted in his abdomen was agonizing, Luo Jian felt himself convulsing because of the pain. He wanted to stand up, but the strength in his hands and feet seemed to have been torn away from his body away due to the pain and suffering. He was barely able to flip his body over, but he fell sideways to the ground, and watched on as the man approached him.

He crouched down, stared at Luo Jian’s face, and then grinned.

Really hateful. Luo Jian looked at the other through his blurring vision; this man was truly born with an exceptional appearance, even with that twisted grin, Luo Jian still thought he was good-looking, the type that he liked.

I’m dying. Luo Jian was left in a daze; he never did anything bad in his life, he worked for a small company, he only knew some eccentric friends with strange hobbies, such as the military fanatic, but Luo Jian felt that he himself was a good person, he always directed a gentle smile at everyone, he would try his best to help anyone who needed help; the only bad thing he did in his life was probably…coming out of the closet to his parents and confessing that he loved men.

Why am I going to die here?

Luo Jian suddenly felt resentful, he also wanted to go home on New Year’s Day to see his parents, even if they didn’t forgive him, he also wanted to look them, to say anything to them. He also borrowed an entire set of his favorite discs from Ah Lan1, which he did not return. To add, there were some company reports that haven’t been handled. He didn’t exactly make contact with people, and the people he liked were often straight; it was awfully pathetic, but he was a true virgin.

He was not willing. The door was clearly behind him, he just had to push it open and he could get out.

Luo Jian simply wanted to cry, and as a matter of fact, he really began to cry. Tears blurred his vision, and through his haziness, he could see the murderer’s beautiful grin. Luo Jian exhausted all of his strength, he reached out and grabbed the other’s collar; this action obviously made the murderer pause for a moment, but he didn’t react. Luo Jian pulled the other’s head downwards towards him, propped himself on his elbows to lift his body, and bit the other person’s lips!

It was a ferocious and strong bite!

Kissed by the man whom he killed, or perhaps to kiss a man who wants to kill him, this was such an exciting thing, but the thought hardly occurred to Luo Jian. He merely wanted to go crazy for once, he couldn’t accept that he wasn’t able to go against him, he wasn’t willing to die; so even if he did die, he also wanted the other person to firmly remember him in his mind!

Then, Luo Jian’s lungs convulsed, a mouthful of blood surged up, and he poured it all into the man’s mouth.

The man did not push him away; to be precise, the other person even reached out with his arms to hold him, he embraced Luo Jian’s waist and supported his weight, allowing Luo Jian’s entire body to stand up slowly. Their lips remained in a state of union; the man drew Luo Jian closer and sat down on the bed behind him.

Blood flowed down all over Luo Jian’s body; this massive blood loss made everything in his view blacken. He squinted his eyes as leaned on the man’s shoulder, he actually wasn’t conscious of what he was doing. The man released Luo Jian’s lips and seemed to thoughtfully watch Luo Jian. This human’s face showed that he was absent-minded as he leaned on him; his expression was stiff, and his pupils were dilated, this was, of course, an indication of excessive blood loss. Moreover, the man was clearly aware that his knife stabbed a fatal point, it was impossible for this human to survive.

Suddenly, the man looked up at the alarm clock on the desk, 12:59. It was the last minute.

The man unexpectedly laughed. He leaned forward, licking the blood off of Luo Jian’s lips, and a gentle bite to his neck followed after. A purple mark appeared where he was bitten, it resembled a circular tattoo of a snake biting its tail. Then, rounding his arm around Luo Jian’s waist, he semi-dragged, semi-carried him to the front of the door. The man single-handedly opened the front door, and the door creaked as it opened halfway.

There was nothing outside the door.

Absolutely nothing, it was pitch-black; the feeling it gave was similar to if the door suddenly opened to a dark, chaotic empty space. The man gathered Luo Jian into his arms and stood inside the doorway. He looked down at Luo Jian who had lost consciousness, and once the hand of the alarm clock pointed to the very last second, he pushed him out the door, into the chaotic darkness.

阿嵐– Ah Lan/A-Lan/Alan.