The Ghost Lips' Unforgettable Kiss

Chapter 9

Ning Yu ordered me to stay put, then turned and went upstairs, probably to the fax room or to report to the leaders on the second floor. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I suddenly jumped out of bed and rushed to the outer office. Suddenly, rows of surveillance screens on the wall caught my attention. This was a secret surveillance point of the security department—how come I didn't know about it? Moreover, I noticed that the screens included surveillance footage from the archives! This meant that my encounter with the "ghost" in the archives, including my every move, could potentially be being monitored here!

Ning Yu has three fingers? Could she be the second "ghost" wandering the dark corridor of the archives? No, that embroidered shoe footsteps... that's a headless white corpse! It doesn't seem like her at all! I tensed up. What if she was just playing a trick on me? Was my memory of the hand that grabbed the elevator door being made of human skin wrong? No, that wasn't human skin, maybe it was a special glove!

The scene in the archives flashed before my eyes: the computer turning on automatically, the surveillance TV in the corridor suddenly turning on, the coffin hanging in front of my window, and those skinned human heads... Perhaps all of this was controlled by someone, with the aim of confusing me, instilling fear in me, or perhaps even killing me.

Last night's accidental discharge of my gun—was it also orchestrated by "them"? That seems unlikely. Qi Silong was indeed hit by me; could there be any mistake? However, the actress from that film crew is suspicious. I was clearly knocked unconscious by the well, yet I was thrown into the women's restroom. Most dramatically, a mysterious actress called the police, claiming I had attempted rape. Who could she be? I recalled the "ghosts" from the first film crew; I even hallucinated seeing my cousin, which suggests it wasn't entirely unfounded. But the fact that I was burned and knocked unconscious by the well, then thrown into the restroom, indicates that the ghost film crew must be connected to the embroidered shoe ghosts at the bottom of the well. They didn't kill me; they likely kept me alive for some unspeakable "purpose."

Did I really fall into the women's restroom? I don't smell bad. Are they saving me or harming me? Why hasn't the captain shown up? What were they doing all night while I was on duty? The bullet case will put me in a bad position. Maybe I'll become a victim of a conspiracy! Thinking of this, I couldn't help but shudder: My two bullets... what if they use them against me? What if they frame me as Qi Silong's murderer?

I glanced around the room, and suddenly, a faint fragrance wafted from the women's restroom in the back, hitting my nostrils: the scent of locust blossoms! The scent of fallen locust blossoms? How could there be such a fragrance here? I searched the room with heightened alertness, only to notice that the room had no windows. The dim light from the desk lamp shone on rows of surveillance cameras, like a group of black ghosts acting as the masters of the house in the walls and corners. I counted the monitors; there were sixteen in total. But strangely, the glass surfaces of the closed monitors, which should have reflected the desk lamp light, were completely dark; I couldn't see the lamp's shadow.

As my gaze swept across the bathroom, I was drawn to a mirror embedded in the wall. Due to my particular sensitivity to mirrors, I tried desperately to see if the objects reflected in them were real. I slowly walked towards the bathroom, and suddenly, an image appeared in my vision—a very blurry impression. Reflected in the dark room by the mirror, the image became even more elusive. For a fleeting moment, it seemed to be a girl's face, with thick hair and a red dress, but I could only see half of it. Curiosity and fear intertwined in my heart. I hesitated. The room was dark, and there was no sound from inside. How could someone be looking in a mirror?

I looked straight ahead, and it seemed to be gone, but the girl in red was still there in my peripheral vision, as if she were looking at me! A figure in the mirror meant that the girl was in the bathroom, and was she deliberately hiding from me? I took a step back, the angle of the mirror changed, and the figure disappeared, but I saw an arm with a red sleeve reaching towards the faucet under the mirror!

"Whoosh!"

The fact that the tap is turned on means there must be someone inside.

Who's inside?

I shouted and rushed over, subconsciously confirming my suspicions and laying the groundwork for my judgment. But when I stepped into the bathroom, I was disappointed to find it completely empty; there was no one there at all!

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Arm Reaching Out from the Sewer

Who's inside?

I shouted and rushed over, subconsciously confirming my suspicions and laying the groundwork for my judgment. But when I stepped into the bathroom, I was disappointed to find it completely empty—no one was there! And the tap water didn't seem like water at all; it was blood red! I was terrified and quickly turned off the tap, but my hand accidentally bumped into a soap dish on the marble countertop. Opening it, I saw two round objects side by side. When I moved them closer, I almost vomited—they were two whole eyeballs! Drenched in blood…

A soft sob sounded at my feet. I looked down in surprise, searching for the source of the sound, but there was nothing. When I looked up again, I saw a blurry girl in the mirror, dressed in red, with a deathly pale face, her features indistinguishable. Her eyes were just black holes! Yet she was "looking" at me. I was so frightened that I turned around abruptly, but still there was nothing. I turned back to face the mirror, and the sobbing girl in red was still there. I knew the eyeball in the soap dish must be hers, so I carefully picked it up and placed it in the eye sockets of her reflection in the mirror, hoping to comfort this tragic ghost. Her withered arm stretched out from the mirror, but suddenly, the mirror rippled like water, and her shadow receded further and further away, disappearing while crying...

I was somewhat frustrated, unsure how to help this poor female spirit. Just then, the manhole cover on the ground suddenly popped open, and a skeletal hand stubbornly reached out from the ground, clawing upwards with all its might. It was a desperate waving, like a living person nailed into a coffin, desperately howling and scratching in their grave. Her fingers were so thin that I could tell they were the hands of the girl in the mirror from earlier. She stretched out these convulsing fingers towards where I was standing, and I suddenly understood: she wanted those two eyeballs!

"Don't rush! Wait a minute!"

I quickly picked up the two objects and lunged at the arm. Because of the slippery ground, I slipped and fell. One of the eyeballs fell to the ground, and I only managed to place one in her "hand." She clutched it tightly, and the spasm represented her gratitude and excitement. When I picked up the other eyeball, the tap gushed open again, and bloody water gushed down. The girl's withered arm flared a few times before being washed away by the sewage...

I stumbled to my feet, rubbing my eyes vigorously with my sleeve, only to find that the "eye" in my hand was nothing more than a broken, crumpled bar of soap. Was I dreaming with my eyes open, or was I gradually forgetting my true self?

A strange experience: the arm disappeared, and the girl in red was no longer reflected in the mirror. Although I felt uneasy, a sense of pity and loss welled up in my heart the moment she vanished. I quietly placed the spherical soap on the table, but my hand inadvertently touched a small, exquisite glass bottle, which immediately caught my attention. My sixth sense told me that there was something more to it! I quickly picked it up, opened the delicate cap, and smelled it… It was a bottle of special perfume.

The scent of locust blossoms! Was Luo Yi putting on makeup here, or had Ning Yu used a similar perfume? All signs pointed to this beautiful policewoman as very likely the female "ghost" whose footsteps echoed in the archives hallway, the "ghost" who unlocked the electronic lock, or perhaps she was impersonating the headless ghost. That scent was meant to mislead me, to make me suspect that Luo Yi was behind it all. No wonder I was confused by the two locust blossom scents when I encountered the headless ghost and Luo Yi on my way back to the dormitory; she intentionally wanted me to believe that the embroidered shoes belonged to Luo Yi. However, past experiences told me that Luo Yi was afraid of this headless corpse. If the headless corpse was Ning Yu, then how could a ghost be afraid of an ordinary woman?

There's only one answer: she's no ordinary person. She's the prime suspect—the headless corpse, the "female ghost" in embroidered shoes. She's an internal affairs officer in the security department, possessing all the electronic keys to the security files. No wonder I couldn't lock that evil door back then! Why is she playing tricks? Why is she secretly monitoring me? She even deliberately created the hanged ghost in the elevator. Who exactly is she? It's certain that the small-eyed woman's corpse, along with many other vengeful spirits, might be hiding in the archives building. There must be a huge conspiracy behind this!

I need to investigate Ning Yu's background—is she a person or a ghost? I suddenly remembered what she mentioned about the files earlier. So, my and Qi Silong's personal files should be here. I'll also take a look at Qi Silong's work records; perhaps they'll be helpful to the case. Suddenly, my gaze fell on the computer on her desk. There must be an internal police information network system here; employee personnel files are here. I became bolder and turned on the computer.

A password blocked my way. It was a common UNIX password cracking technique, a boot password, and a network firewall password. What could it be?

I remembered the strange number my cousin had called me from, so I decided to try my luck. I entered 0001644004, but the system wouldn't open; it said the password was incorrect. What could it be? What did 1644004 mean? I had no other ideas. Suddenly, I remembered the nine-linked rings Ning Yu played when she interrogated me. Seven links were already broken, and there were two left… 002. Could it be some secret command? And a countdown? 002—two days left, wasn't that the 80th anniversary celebration of the Palace Museum? …Just as I entered 0001644002, the password was entered successfully! My blind guess was correct; instantly, the system connected to the public security joint defense information network!

Next, I opened the identification system terminal and entered Qi Silong's badge number... but there was no response for a long time, which was extremely unusual. Entering my own number also yielded no results. The file request was rejected, meaning that both Qi Silong's and my probationary badge numbers were virtual and didn't actually exist, which wasn't surprising. I looked around suspiciously, and my gaze fell on Ning Yu's women's police uniform hanging on the wall, its badge featuring a four-pointed star. It caught my attention, and I subconsciously entered her badge number...

Something unexpected happened: the network system suddenly displayed a file with red text.

Ning Yu, female, 25 years old, born in May 1980, graduated from XX Police School, police officer stationed at the Palace Museum Security Department of the Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Office, with the rank of First-Class Police Superintendent..., died in the line of duty in 2004...

What? She was my senior? We both graduated from the same police academy? She died in the line of duty? My vision went dark, and a deep-seated fear gripped my mind. I stared at her online profile picture; Ning Yu's charming smile chilled me to the bone. I couldn't believe that she had died months ago, and that "she" was sitting right next to me, questioning me with such seriousness...

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Woman's Leather TV Cover

Fear, a fear more chilling than facing death itself, cast a shadow over me. I recalled the desolate and eerie scene when I arrived at the Forbidden City a few days earlier. There were five people in the room; the deputy minister and Ning Yu sat facing each other, while the other three had their backs to me. I met the team leader on the second floor; Ning Yu and the others were sitting in this office on the first floor. These strange memories flooded my mind, and I suddenly realized the reason for that indescribable desolation:

Several security guards not only ignored me, their intern colleague, but didn't even turn their heads. This defied normal interpersonal logic. They were all busy with their own things, each at a computer… seemingly surfing the internet, but actually… my brain raced, but I didn't remember any keyboard clicks or mouse clicks. I realized, there were two lights on the office ceiling, and they were intentionally avoiding being in the light's shadow because they had no shadows! One guard was facing me sideways, seemingly solving something. Now I remember! He was solving a nine-linked puzzle! He didn't look at me, his head buried in the shadows of his desk. Besides intentionally avoiding his "proper" shadow from being in my sight, there was another most unsightly phenomenon: they were intentionally preventing me from seeing their faces, for fear of revealing their secrets. They had no pupils! Or rather, their eyes couldn't move because they were dead… only the whites of their eyes could face upwards! That's it, that's it.

Could I really have fallen into a haunted house? But were the principal's instructions, the train ticket he personally gave me, the letter of introduction he wrote for me, and the mission he entrusted to me all products of ghostly deception? How could that be? Could even the principal be possessed in broad daylight? ... Were the solemn and tidy offices of the Palace Museum's security department, the desks, the police equipment, and the relaxed conversations of the patrolling teammates all the work of ghosts? Without a doubt, there must be ghosts among the people I know, and they infest the Palace Museum's security department? Just thinking about how I once lived in a desolate, haunted house, with ghosts and spirits roaming the corridors, gives me goosebumps.

If one of them is a ghost, why was I completely unaware at the time? Did Captain Ji also not know? Why, in all the world, did they specifically bring me from a place so far from Beijing? What secret did they discover?

One can imagine that when Qi Silong came to the Forbidden City, he also encountered Ning Yu and those "colleagues" in this haunted office, and gradually descended into the abyss. His and his cousin's scarlet letter love game with the ghost may only be the tip of the iceberg of the truth I can deduce so far. The fact that neither his nor my police numbers are in the public security system's files proves that we do not exist in the public security system. In other words, from the very beginning, we were both summoned by the ghost and acted as terrifying pawns.

Therefore, the fear she and the nine ghost babies felt when they encountered the female ghost removing her clothes in the archives building can be explained as follows: although they were ghosts, they were equally afraid of dark forces that were more ferocious than ghosts.

So, it turns out that Qi Silong and I weren't recruited here through normal channels. Now I finally understand the underlying suspicions I had when I was happy to be able to work in Beijing. It turns out that everything was a trap, and even our police academy principal may have been deceived by the tricks. Furthermore, Ning Yu was once in the same police academy as us. This means that this sinister conspiracy has been going on for nearly seven years without being known to the outside world, which shows that the secret behind it is not easily exposed.

One thing is certain: those nine iron rings might be a code for ghostly communication. The pregnant woman with limb deformities I saw by the well had an iron ring on her foot, but it was dark then, so I couldn't remember it more clearly. The nine-linked rings on Ning Yu's table might not have been something she played with, but a code indicating the timing of the ghost's actions or something else. That thing is like a noose around my neck; now only two sections remain. Could it be the deadline for the ghost's conspiracy?

I'd only scratched the surface of the mirror mystery, unsure if my explanation was correct, and now the Nine Linked Rings added to the puzzle. The truth was daunting. A slight noise broke the silence of my reverie. I suddenly remembered my promise to Tang Yuqing and glanced at the quartz clock on the wall. It was almost eight o'clock, and I was under house arrest in the security department's office, about to be investigated as a suspect. What should I do? ... A cold wind blew, and my head began to swell. As my gaze lingered on the quartz clock, the hands made me shudder. I remembered seeing the hour hand at 7:44 when I woke up. At least ten minutes had passed, and the hands hadn't moved, meaning the clock had stopped. Looking closer, my eyelids twitched in horror: the two hands were thin, withered fingers!

Spiderwebs appeared on the roof. Had I missed them, or was it a sudden change? The building suddenly felt eerie and terrifying. The faint noises seemed to have disappeared. Listening to the sounds inside, apart from the howling wind, there wasn't a single sound of movement. This couldn't be. If the security department was this quiet, wouldn't the world be at peace? It was hard to reconcile with the bustling crowds in the Forbidden City during the day. This could only mean either this was a haunted building, or it was still the middle of the night, not morning at all. Ning Yu must be a ghost, because this office couldn't possibly be the daily workspace of a tidy woman; it was a long-abandoned room!

The room? My eyes froze when they turned to the first-floor corridor. Wasn't this the second-floor archive building where I had secretly checked the DVD from February 17th? But my current angle was on the north side of the first floor. I remembered, when I was in the basement, the sound of embroidered shoes footsteps I heard first came from here! The familiar corridor and the color of the walls made my heart pound. I didn't even need to look ahead; that shadowy place in the distance was the elevator.

Is this a surveillance room? Then many secrets I don't know must reside in this room. I scanned the room and noticed the number of monitors—a full sixteen, 1644. Perhaps I could discover something, so I excitedly went to the sixteenth television in the far corner. Only then did I realize with surprise that the television had always been on; I had simply overlooked it in the darkness. Strangely enough, without a power switch, how was it controlled? Was it a system terminal?

In the dim light, I carefully felt around on the television screen, and I think I touched a button, but a strange feeling sent a shiver down my spine! The button was so soft and elastic... I grabbed it immediately and pulled hard, and the whole screen fell down. It turned out to be an opaque television cover, black and yellow, and it was a complete woman's skin! The soft button was a girl's breast...

Chapter Twenty-Nine, Number 44: The Ghost Bride

I felt a little dizzy. A sadness I had never experienced before instantly enveloped my optic nerves, and a tear inexplicably welled up in my eye. I didn't know if it was a tear of fear or a pity for the woman in the human skin being peeled off, mimicking the heart-wrenching screams in my ear. That surge of sadness was overwhelming, and my eyes welled up with tears.

I know this place was once a den of iniquity, a place where vengeful spirits linger. Just like the girl in red I saw in the restroom, countless young lives must have perished under inhuman humiliation and slaughter. That girl's abdominal skin reminded me of the unease that lingered in my mind for three days after watching the movie "The Silence of the Lambs." Now, this human skin incident has actually come to life in my own, pushing me to the brink of despair.

In the era of the resentful palace maids of the Qing Dynasty, such horrific events must have occurred. But could the still-elastic human skin I hold now be that old? Whose sister was she, suffering such a tragic fate? Why did they kill her? Was it for pleasure, or a cursed punishment? Whatever the reason, evil will not be forgiven! A righteous hatred suddenly surged within me. I angrily scanned my surroundings, knowing that the evil eye of that curse was watching me from the shadows. Perhaps they endured all kinds of humiliation in life to survive, but would I now bow to the death game being played out in the darkness?

I would rather die than suffer humiliation. Death is a part of life. Since they brought me here from so far away, they won't give me a chance to turn around and escape, much less let me leave the Forbidden City alive. What I see today may be the scene that a young man who stares at a strange mirror will inevitably experience before his death.

But I will fight, even if I am the seventeenth TV cover that never came, even if they will peel off my skin.

Thinking this, I forced myself to raise my head in cowardice and look directly at the screen of the human skin television. It was a little brighter than before. With trembling hands, I removed the two layers of human skin cover one by one. The softness of the skin was nauseating. I knew they were the life symbols of three women. Finally, the television revealed its true nature, presenting me with a yellowish image. The image was so eerie that I immediately wanted to avoid it.

By now, I had figured out that the slight static I had heard earlier was coming from this television monitor. It was a faint, distant suona horn sound, like the suona horn chants in a remote village or in ancient times, spreading an eerie atmosphere through the images.

In order to find out what secrets were hidden on the television, my gaze was forced to focus on that gloomy scene.

The television screen froze on a yellowed photograph, and it was one of the most controversial photographs I'd ever seen, which struck me as very strange! It was a ghostly photograph of a Republican-era ghost marriage that had circulated online before and received much commentary.

I recalled my friends discussing it over drinks, and I'd seen it myself. It was the cover of the 15th issue of China National Geographic magazine in 2002, without any explanation—the cover of the infamous ghost marriage, or "death marriage" custom! This wedding photo of a dead person is truly terrifying. I've never dared to look at photos of women before, given her expression, the colors, and the eerie background! The woman in the brightly colored wedding dress has her feet dangling in the air, her eyes rolled upwards stiffly. It's said that the bride was dressed in paper dowry and photographed with the groom at dusk on the sixth day after her death. You can't see the bride's feet in the photo because it was taken while she was suspended in mid-air; there's a support behind her body… If you zoom in on the woman's head, you can see the whites of her eyes rolling upwards—the unforgivable horror of a dead person being photographed as if they were alive. Behind her is a mirror, and the blurry image reflected in it is their portrait.

Why was this image on the monitor screen? A chill ran down my spine. I looked around but found nothing unusual. Then I fumbled for the channel button and started pressing… Channel one. Immediately, another identical photo appeared. The newlywed couple in the picture were a man and a woman I didn't recognize. They all had the same expression—were these ghost wedding photos? The terrifyingly stiff expressions made me afraid to look. In the background, there were buildings similar to those in the 15th issue of National Geographic magazine in 2002, each with a blurry portrait behind it, some with funeral couplets. The more I looked, the more familiar it seemed. 1, 2, 3… I flipped through more than a dozen channels and looked at more than a dozen ghost wedding photos before it dawned on me: the background of the dead people's "new house" in the photos was actually a palace in the Forbidden City!

Each photo had a watermark of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in the background. Finally, I switched to the last channel, channel 44. When the photo came into view, my enthusiasm for solving the mystery instantly turned to ice. I couldn't believe it; I had actually seen the most absurd wedding photo in the world! The familiar groom was none other than myself, but I wasn't dead! Who put me in the ghost marriage file? ...

When did they take my picture? Was it while I was unconscious last night? But who is that dead "bride" next to me? She's so slender, yet her face isn't visible. Why is she covered with a red veil, unlike in the other photos? This woman's legs are also not visible; they're suspended in the air. And look at the bride next to "me"—wearing a red dress, her arms hanging stiffly at her sides. Her hands seem to have only three fingers! And she's holding a nine-linked ring—seven joints on her left hand and two on her right!

The haunting ghost wedding left me with cold hands and feet. In that moment of anxiety and utter confusion, all the surveillance cameras were simultaneously turned on. First, there was static, then my "wedding" photo appeared on Channel 44. Most unbelievably, the person on TV was me right now—the police officer's uniform, the astonished expression, all were reflections in my mirror! On the TV screen, the bride's hand slowly rose… placing the two left rings of the nine-linked rings onto the hand of the person in the photo, then slowly lifting the blood-red veil to reveal long, black hair past her shoulders, and tilting her face towards my lips!

Chapter Thirty: The Sixth Iron Ring

"Are you Luo Yi? What are you doing? Why did you trick me into coming here!"

I raised my hands in fury, but faced with that absurd image of a ghost marriage, I was helpless. Disappointment made me lower my eyes, but my paranoid mindset only intensified. I felt an arm reach out from behind me, wearing a red sleeve. Startled, I was about to turn around...

"Ding-dong!"

I seemed to hear a strange sound, the clear sound of iron rings colliding. My eyes were fixed on the iron rings, and the arm slowly turned to my side. I could clearly see that she had three dark fingers!

What was going on? I stared intently at the screen, and there I was, about to be embraced by the woman in the red veil, her arms also clad in red sleeves. The strangeness vanished in an instant; I felt a chill in my fingers. Looking down, I saw two iron rings on my hands! Like handcuffs, they tightened around them. I was stunned, terrified. How could this bizarre magic trick have happened right before my eyes? I broke out in a cold sweat, searching around, but there was no sign of the red-clad arms. I was bewildered, unsure whether my hands were reality or the image on the television was.

I stared up, and the person on TV was also rolling their eyes and looking up. I was scared half to death by my own reflection! I started to understand. Maybe the people in the ghost wedding photos weren't all photographed after they died, which is why they look like they're rolling their eyes. Maybe they were "forced" to look up in the moment before they died, and that's when they died. So, every photo shows them with their eyes rolled back!

Is this a hint to me? What was the cause of death for those dead people? Who were they? Did they, like me, suffer a tragic yet passionate death, taking ghost wedding photos with their deceased "lovers" before an unexpected massacre struck, leaving them with their eyes open, unable to rest in peace? Is this room a den of iniquity where countless lovers have been murdered? And are these surveillance cameras recording the murders?

Why did they die here? What were their identities? Did they all, like me, have feelings for male (female) ghosts, become unable to extricate themselves, and willingly participate in a ghost marriage ceremony, only to be brutally murdered or even skinned alive?

Am I the 44th, or the 1644th? If it's the latter, it means that killing me would complete their conspiracy, fulfilling this devilish number. ...Could they kill me so easily, the last groom in a ghost marriage? Hmph! I snorted. Meeting me is your misfortune!

I became alert. Just then, I saw "Luoyi" on the TV stand up, reaching out her arms to hug me, her thick hair covering "my" face. But just as she turned and tilted her head back, revealing her dark hair, I suddenly noticed an unexpected hand appearing in the corner of the TV screen, stealthily reaching for me on the screen! I froze, my eyes darting around!

The arm was still there, this time it was sticking out from under my armpit, and the three red fingernails were clearly visible, but when I looked at her, the hand was gone!

"What the hell!" I blinked hard, trying to focus on the wedding scene on TV, but all the eerie images vanished. All I saw was "Luo Yi," with her full head of black hair, walking towards me from the direction of the TV, tilting her head back, waiting for my embrace. In the darkness, her bright red lips radiated a deathly glow. I was terrified and tried to back away, but the cramped space left me nowhere to hide. Suddenly, I realized I had entered the TV; my soul was in this virtual world.

I bit my lip hard, and blood suddenly trickled down my cheek. I used this method to keep my soul from leaving reality. Sure enough, "Luoyi" in front of me froze, desperately trying to avoid my bloody gaze. But she seemed prepared, and suddenly pounced on me. I gave a cold laugh, feeling pathetic. If my past attachment to Luoyi was only going to be used as bait for the devil to lure me to death, I would rather die under her sharp teeth.

Just as I was about to receive her kiss, I noticed a slit in her hair. In that fleeting moment, less than a second later, I saw her white neck, without any trace of blood. She wasn't Luo Yi; Luo Yi had a bloodstain on her neck. This striking resemblance was so remarkable that, while receiving the ghost's kiss, I could somehow discern that she wasn't Luo Yi.

I knew this death game was about to begin. At that moment, my bride rushed over and hugged me. Then, iron rings appeared on my feet and neck, and an unstoppable force pulled me to both sides, like a person being torn apart by five horses, verifying their identity before being split apart. I felt that death had come.

I now have five rings on my body. According to the Nine-Ringed Death Method, there are still four rings left to attach to my body. She squatted down, her head facing my genitals. I knew the purpose of the sixth ring! A vicious ghost! Just as her three-fingered ghost claws had already reached into my pants, she suddenly tightened the rings binding me, bit her hair, and then frantically clamped her legs around her. In the instant she looked up in terror, I bit her lips with all my might!

My teeth tore off a piece of skin, bit off a piece of flesh—it was her lips—and then her cold, bloody neck, nothingness. I knew beneath my teeth was a cervical cavity…she had no head at all. I suddenly opened my eyes and found myself still on the ground, looking up. The eerie scene of the “tragic marriage” was still on the screen, but the ring on my wrist was gone.

"Ding-dong!"

Just then, the sound of an elevator starting up echoed in the dimly lit corridor across the street on the first floor, followed by a loud "whoosh!"—the sound of the elevator motor running. Like a rumble of thunder, it pierced my eardrums, and an indescribable sense of terror and oppression assaulted my sensitive nerves once more. Before I could prepare for this deathly sound, the elevator had already automatically ascended to the second floor.

With a slight thud, the elevator came to a stop on the second floor. As expected, the sound of embroidered shoes walking down the elevator floor suddenly changed, replaced by the rhythmic sound of high-heeled leather shoes. The sound was more terrifying than before; it was the sound of a woman hopping on one leg in unusual shoes. It was definitely one foot. The monotonous and rhythmic sound frightened me. My anxious eyes were fixed on the side staircase in the corridor, because I could already clearly hear the monotonous echo of the shoes hopping on the ground on the side of the staircase outside the building door... Danger was getting closer and closer.

Chapter Thirty-One: Midnight Wedding Photos

The TV screen suddenly went black, and I could no longer see the eerie "wedding tragedy" scene of "myself" on the screen. I was terrified and mechanically looked away from the TV.

"Crack... Crack."

The embroidered shoes were about to appear! That terrifying sound made my head feel like it was going to explode. I quickly assessed my situation; it was clear I had to escape, otherwise…

Suddenly, a row of shadows appeared on the office wall, like a hanged man swaying in the wind on a wooden stake in the night. The fleeting, uncertain impression of death was so overwhelming that my numb mind couldn't distinguish whether the wall was a ghost, or a ghost clinging to it. As I stared with bloodshot eyes at the door leading to the corridor, the door transformed into a floor-to-ceiling mirror.

The mirror reflected a vibrant, bright, and elegant image, instantly transforming it into a living photograph of a newlywed couple! Two young people dressed in crisp funeral gowns. I recognized them immediately; the "bride," with her wooden-carved expression, was my cousin. She wore a white wedding dress underneath a bright red funeral gown, holding Qi Silong's arm. They stood frozen, like figures in a painting, against the same Forbidden City backdrop, both without legs, their eyes rolled upwards… their stiff expressions couldn't conceal the features of the dead, even though my cousin seemed to be smiling at me…

I knew she was truly dead. Although I didn't see their "ghost marriage" photo on the monitor, I was certain that the two eerie figures before me were their final moments. And... behind them, a scene not seen in the other photos appeared: a girl in red stood deep in the corridor. Her face was somber, her features indistinct, seemingly the same girl in red who had been swept down the sewer. She only had an upper body, no legs, and moved towards me like a bridesmaid...

"Sis! Don't scare me! Tell me why the hell is all this happening?"

Although I was trembling with fear, I could still let out a roaring, trembling voice and shout at the two ghostly phantoms in front of me. They were still there. I looked at their feet. Although the corridor lights shone brightly on their heads, they had no shadows. They were undoubtedly dead.

As the monotonous footsteps drew ever closer to the door, the "photo" of my cousin and Qi Silong's tragic wedding grew increasingly dark. And then, hand in hand, they slowly walked towards the second door, smiling blankly as they entered! I could no longer discern from the light whether they were being pulled closer or if a ghostly spirit was supporting them. In any case, their rolled-up white eyes remained fixed on the ceiling, while the corners of their mouths twitched strangely, curving upwards, indicating their smiles!

I was so frightened that I backed away. Suddenly, there were several loud cracking sounds. It was as if someone had turned on a flashlight behind my cousin, and a bloody lightning bolt exploded in front of her eyes, bringing my gaze directly to their deathly pale faces. However, the instant the "firecrackers" exploded, their faces twisted and deformed, their skin disappeared, revealing bloodstains on their tattered and filthy heads, along with black teeth and eye sockets! From the middle of my cousin's "smiling" jaw, I saw a long and leaping shadow shoot down the stairs behind her. At that moment, my heart was pounding in my throat. Backing away was impossible. The row of dark figures against the wall behind me was swaying, and suddenly they turned into bloody, mangled hanged ghosts, their bones and internal organs clearly visible!

They were almost upon me. I didn't know how to stop their advance. Looking at my "cousin's" gruesome flesh and blood, a wave of sorrow washed over me, and I blurted out...

"Sister, I know you've come to tell me about your wedding, but look in the mirror. Your beautiful face is gone; you're dead!"

I didn't know what else I could do for them. A word of advice made the newlyweds stop in their tracks, turn around, and face the door. Perhaps they were still conscious, or perhaps they knew that the door between life and death was a mirror. A terrifying sound came, and my cousin suddenly covered her face with her skeletal hand and slammed her head against the door!

"Splash!"