The formal suited monster's long, cold body was nearly pressed against the office worker. The stench of decay from the back of the monster's head was overwhelming, making the worker want to vomit. Fear gripped him so tightly that he trembled uncontrollably, the sound of his chattering teeth clearly audible to the nearby passengers.
"My head... Did you find my head... Give me... my head..."
The monster's voice was icy, repeating its words like a broken record.
The office worker instinctively opened his mouth, glancing at the monster's head. He was about to blurt out, "Isn't your head right on your shoulders?"
Standing nearby, Zhao Gang saw the expression on the office worker's face and felt a chill. He realized something was terribly wrong.
In fact, when Zhao Gang noticed that the monster had approached the office worker without killing him, he formed a hypothesis. The monster might need certain conditions to be met before it could kill. As long as the passengers didn’t meet these conditions, they were temporarily safe.
Having experienced countless supernatural events, Zhao Gang had some understanding of such creatures. Usually, monsters that haven't started a killing spree are often restricted by some condition that prevents them from harming humans at close range.
In such cases, even ordinary people could escape danger if they knew the monster's conditions for killing.
But Zhao Gang also knew that these monsters wouldn’t remain harmless forever. If someone inadvertently triggered the conditions for killing, the monster’s terrifying nature would fully manifest.
Zhao Gang's intuition told him that the head the monster was searching for was likely a key part of its killing conditions. If it found the head, everyone in the carriage would be doomed.
He had to stop the office worker from revealing the head's location.
"Don't say it!!!"
These thoughts flashed through Zhao Gang’s mind in an instant. In reality, the moment he noticed the office worker was about to speak, he disregarded his own safety and shouted to stop him.
But it was too late.
The office worker, on the brink of a mental breakdown from the monster's proximity, couldn’t hear Zhao Gang’s warning. He instinctively opened his mouth, tears and snot running down his face, and said, "Your head... it's right there on your neck!"
It's over.
Zhao Gang's face showed despair. The other passengers, although not fully understanding, were immediately thrown into panic when they saw the usually calm Zhao Gang looking so hopeless. They began to breathe heavily, causing the talisman to lose its effect.
"My head?"
The monster muttered. It slowly raised its withered, branch-like arm and gently touched its twisted head.
Its long nails dug directly into its fragile skull. With a slight twist, there was a sickening sound of bones grinding. The monster snapped its neck, and its bloody head, still connected by a few tendons, was lifted off by its dry, skeletal hands.
"I found it. My head."
The monster held its head in its long arms, positioning it correctly in front of its chest.
The office worker, paralyzed with fear, was unable to move. His gaze slowly lowered to the monster's half-rotting head.
The monster’s face, with its exposed gums, showed that its previously vacant eyes were now eerily moving. Its half-rotted lips were still moving as it spoke.
The monster’s voice was still cold, inhuman, and hoarse.
But this time, it had changed its line.
"Look, I found my head."
"Bang! Bang! Bang——!!!"
In an instant, the office worker and two nearby passengers' heads exploded simultaneously, splattering blood across the carriage windows, turning them a bright crimson like they’d been painted with red dye. The carriage was filled with blood and gore.
Zhao Gang, witnessing this horrific scene, felt a deep sorrow but was powerless. He had to prioritize the safety of the remaining passengers.
"Don't look at it! If you don’t want to die, don’t look at it!!"
Zhao Gang hastily shouted his command. He suspected the monster’s killing condition involved being directly looked at. The passengers hurried to comply.
But things went from bad to worse. Despite their efforts, people’s heads continued to explode.
What was even more terrifying was that the monster, after killing everyone in its immediate vicinity, began moving towards the areas with more people. A chorus of screams followed by silence echoed in the carriage. To the monster, killing a human seemed easier than smashing a watermelon.
Watching the carnage unfold in the carriage, Zhao Gang’s expression darkened.
Just moments ago, the passengers who had followed his instructions and covered their eyes still hadn’t escaped their grisly fate, splattering blood all over him.
This realization made it painfully clear that his earlier judgment had been entirely wrong.
But if the condition of directly looking at the eyes was incorrect, what was this monster’s actual method of selecting its victims?
Come to think of it, when the monster approached earlier, Zhao Gang had been closer to it than some of the other passengers, yet he remained unharmed.
This must be the key to survival!
Zhao Gang understood that he must have inadvertently avoided triggering the death condition, so he didn’t dare to move. He maintained his position while frantically trying to figure out a way to escape.
However, the other passengers, unaware of Zhao Gang’s thoughts, only saw the once-reliable police officer cowering in a corner, looking as though he was waiting for death.
Their last hope shattered.
A cloud of death hung over everyone in the carriage. Those who had been holding onto hope were now utterly despairing, screaming in panic, creating chaos.
The smell of blood in the carriage grew stronger, with flesh and gore scattered everywhere.
The passengers could only curl up helplessly in their seats, crying out in hoarse voices.
"Someone, please save me! I don’t want to die!"
"Stay away, monster! Stay away!!"
"Help! Help!!!"
It wasn't that they didn't want to escape; it was just that the creature's movements had become swift, now blocking the only door that could be opened. No one dared approach that terrifying specter, so they could only curl up in the corners like Zhao Gang, trembling and awaiting death.
But there are always some who refuse to die without a fight. The door, which couldn't be opened and was shrouded in mist, became their only hope of escape. A passenger, driven nearly mad with fear, frantically yanked at the handle, trying to make one last desperate attempt before dying, leaving behind bloody handprints on the door.
Beep——
Moments later, as if by some miracle, the tightly shut door actually began to slowly open, and the dense fog gradually dissipated. A humanoid figure faintly emerged from within the mist.
The passenger pulling the door handle was overjoyed and was just about to step through when a cold voice preemptively rang out.
"Look, I found my head."
The passenger immediately showed a look of terror, his heart sinking in despair.
——“Excuse me, what are you all doing?”
Just as the passenger was preparing for death and the creature, holding its head, was about to turn towards him, a lazy voice echoed out, completely out of sync with the tense atmosphere in the carriage.
Ke Su had been watching through the frosted glass of the door, observing the strange actions and expressions of the people inside, which resembled a silent comedy. Initially, he hadn't intended to intervene, but seeing the bloody handprints on the window reminded him of many murder scenes in horror films. He decided to open the door to see what was going on and asked what they were up to.
After speaking, Ke Su finally saw everything clearly before him.
He observed the twisted expressions and blood-stained bodies of the passengers, as well as a tall figure obscured by the passengers.
Ke Su remained silent for a moment.
So, they really were filming a movie.
The actor cosplaying as a Slender Man-like ghost behind the passengers was indeed a bit scary at first glance.
If they were shooting a horror film, he actually might be interested in watching it.
"......"
The carriage fell silent, everyone stared at Ke Su with blank expressions, as if seeing an actor who had wandered onto the wrong set in a horror film. The tense nerves in the carriage were suddenly interrupted, leading to a brief moment of paralysis.
And for some reason, the creature that had approached the door also stopped moving.
The next second, Zhao Gang was the first to snap out of it. Although he didn't know who this passenger was, he was fully aware of how dangerous the creature was and couldn't bear to see this young man die without knowing why. He loudly warned, "Run! There's a ghost in the carriage! It'll kill you!"
Zhao Gang hadn't yet figured out the creature's killing conditions, so he continued to shrink in the corner, unable to protect Ke Su, and could only shout at the top of his lungs.
Hearing the shout, Ke Su turned his head to look at Zhao Gang in confusion.
But before he could react—or rather, before Zhao Gang could finish his sentence—only the words "Run" had escaped his lips when the creature, standing not far from Ke Su, abruptly turned and ran away.
And perhaps it was Zhao Gang's imagination, but he felt that the creature's steps were hurried, almost as if it was taking small, panicked steps.
Clang!
Zhao Gang watched in disbelief as the creature ran so fast that it dropped the head it was holding.
The creature, which had just been deciding the life and death of the passengers in the carriage, sprinted away as if something terrifying was chasing it, not daring to look back. It didn't even bother to pick up the head it had spent so long searching for, kicking it along like a soda can as it ran. Its arms dragged on the ground, leaving behind a series of tapping sounds as its fingers struck the floor.
Tap-tap-tap-tap——
"——kill!"
At the same time, Zhao Gang's warning came to an end, and then he fell into a complex and nearly twisted expression of silence.
What just happened? He told the young man to run, but why did the creature run away instead?
It... it almost seemed as if Zhao Gang had deliberately told the creature to escape.
As this thought crossed his mind, Zhao Gang's feelings became increasingly complicated. The events had unfolded so suddenly that his brain was completely scrambled, various doubts swirling in his mind, yet he couldn't articulate a single word.
After the creature fled, the passenger in front of Ke Su collapsed onto the ground, giving Ke Su a full view of the carriage's interior. He blinked and slowly uttered, "A ghost? Where?"
As a steadfast successor of Communist ideology, Ke Su considered himself a materialist and didn't believe in ghosts or gods.
The passengers, still in shock, turned their heads to look at Ke Su, dazed and dumbfounded. The events of the past few minutes had completely overloaded their capacity to process, leaving them in the same semi-shutdown state as Zhao Gang.
Receiving no response, Ke Su calmly observed the scene, including the seven or eight headless corpses in the carriage. He thought that perhaps he should call the police.
It was obvious that the cosplayer from earlier was the culprit.
The only question was—would there be a reward for reporting the culprit?
Ke Su pondered as he patted his flat wallet.
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