Raindrops pattered against the window, like countless tiny fingers scratching at the glass. Li Shanji curled up on the single bed in the apartment, her hands tightly covering her ears.
It was already three in the morning, but her eyes were wide open, and she dared not close them. The LED light on the ceiling emitted a blinding white light, illuminating the room as if it were daytime. This was a habit she had recently developed: she had to keep all the lights on when she slept.
"It's okay... it's safe here..." she told herself, her voice trembling and out of tune.
The black handprint on the inside of her right forearm was particularly glaring under the light. It looked like an ugly birthmark with charred edges, as if a burnt hand had really once gripped her skin.
This mark appeared after the New Dawn Church encountered the supernatural world.
Upon discovering a black handprint on her body, she realized something was terribly wrong. In many urban horror movies, such a mark often signifies being targeted. The protagonist briefly escapes danger, believing she is safe, but danger will unexpectedly return.
She was very familiar with this kind of tactic, but she didn't want it to happen to her at all.
There were five survivors at the time, four of whom were taken away by relevant departments for investigation and placed under quarantine.
Li Shanji ran even faster, deliberately avoiding the relevant departments. She simply couldn't trust the South Korea government, fearing she would be dissected or participate in some strange experiment.
Li Shanji rolled out of bed, her bare feet touching the cold floor. She walked to the dressing mirror and examined the mark again.
As time went on, it seemed to grow larger and darker. Most terrifyingly, sometimes she would feel the mark heating up, as if something was searching for her through the mark.
"Knock, knock, knock." The sudden knocking startled her so much that she almost screamed.
"Miss Sun-hee? Are you alright? I can hear you speaking." Jin Zhemin's gentle voice came from outside the door. He was the oldest resident in this shared apartment building, a bachelor in his fifties, who always took extra care of Li Shanji.
Li Shanji took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "I'm fine, Mr. Kim. It's just... I had a nightmare."
"Would you like some hot tea? I just brewed some ginger tea." Jin Zhemin's voice came through the door, hoarse with the characteristic raspyness of an elderly person.
"No, thank you." She tried to make her voice sound normal. "I have to get up early tomorrow."
As the footsteps faded into the distance, Li Shanji breathed a sigh of relief. How could she possibly let a single old man into her room in the middle of the night?
The new address wasn't very nice; she chose this shared apartment in Daegu simply because there were many people there.
There are four floors here, with six rooms on each floor, housing more than twenty tenants. More people means more safety; it means that if "that Charred Corpse" really comes after her, there will be enough people to stand in front of her as cannon fodder.
She initially felt a little guilty, but after being harassed several times by the residents of the apartment building, she suddenly broke free from her moral constraints.
Korean men are hopeless.
The rain outside the window grew louder and louder. Li Shanji went back to bed and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket. She couldn't sleep, her eyes fixed on the doorknob, afraid that it would suddenly turn by itself.
After an unknown amount of time, exhaustion finally overcame her fear, and her eyelids began to feel heavy...
"Bang!"
A loud noise jolted Li Shanji awake from her light sleep. She sat up abruptly, her heart pounding.
The sound seemed to be coming from downstairs, like something heavy had hit the ground.
Then came a scream, sharp and shrill, before it abruptly stopped.
Li Shanji's blood froze instantly. She knew what that sound was; she had heard something similar before—the last sound a person makes when they are in extreme fear.
"No... it's impossible..." She trembled as she got out of bed, her legs so weak she could barely stand.
A commotion broke out in the apartment; she heard the sound of doors opening, hurried footsteps, and questions being asked.
What happened?
"The sound is coming from the first floor, right?"
Should we call the police?
Li Shanji- hee bit her lip hard to stop herself from screaming. She knew that perhaps the worst had happened; the Charred Corpse was chasing after them.
The residents outside made a fatal mistake—they made noise.
When she first encountered the Charred Corpse at the New Dawn Church, she vaguely sensed some patterns in it: if you don't make loud noises and don't move quickly, you'll likely survive.
However, as the number of people killed by the Charred Corpses increases, this pattern is gradually changing, and the Charred Corpses ' killing ability is increasing.
Another loud bang, this time closer, like something in the second-floor corridor had been knocked over, followed by a series of crashes and shouts.
Li Shanji covered her mouth as bloody images flashed through her mind, making her stomach churn.
"Ah!! Help! Help..." A male voice suddenly rang out, only to be cut off halfway, replaced by the sound of liquid splattering and the muffled thud of a corpse falling to the ground.
The entire apartment building was instantly thrown into panic, filled with screams, running, and the sound of doors being slammed.
Li Shanji knew this was exactly what the Charred Corpse wanted; the sound and rapid movement would attract it and point it to its prey.
She forced herself to calm down, moved silently to the door, and pressed her ear against it.
The corridor was in chaos; she could hear people running for their lives and terrified sobs.
"Everyone calm down, don't run around!" It was Jin Zhemin's voice. "Many hands make light work, we're safer staying together!"
"No! "Li Shanji screamed inwardly. Gathering together would only make them easier targets for the monster. She had to get out of here, now! Immediately!
She gently turned the doorknob, opening the door a crack. The sight in the hallway almost made her collapse to the ground.
The lights flickered, and the floor was covered in blood, stretching all the way to the stairwell. A corpse lay in the middle of the corridor; although it had only been dead a short time, the body was already showing obvious signs of decomposition, and its unclosed eyes were staring in the direction of Li Shanji.
Most terrifyingly, she saw the monster: a charred humanoid silhouette standing at the corner of the stairs. Its body, just as before, looked as if it had been burned by a fire; its skin was charred and cracked, revealing dark red muscle tissue underneath. Its lipless mouth was wide open, revealing blackened teeth. Its empty, lifeless eyes seemed to be scanning the corridor, searching for its next prey.
Li Shanji held her breath and gently closed the door. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest. Suddenly, a burning pain shot through the black handprint on her arm. To her horror, she realized that the Charred Corpse seemed to sense something and slowly turned its head toward her room.
"It found me..." Li Shanji thought desperately.
It seems my guess was right; that mark was a curse, a beacon, that could guide the Fierce Ghost to her.
Outside the door, the screams and running sounds gradually subsided, replaced by an eerie Silence, with only the occasional sound of dripping liquid and cracking bones reminding us that the killing was still ongoing.
Li Shanji knew that waiting in place meant death; she had to act, but she had to remain silent.
She looked around the room, her gaze settling on the window.
The second floor isn't very high.
She tiptoed toward the window, trying not to make a sound. Just as she was about to open the window, a sharp scraping sound came from outside the door, as if something sharp was scratching the door panel.
Li Shanji stood frozen in place, overwhelmed by fear. The scraping sound stopped, replaced by a heavy, strange noise, hoarse and gurgling with liquid.
An extremely cold and eerie aura seeped in from the crack in the door, as if it could freeze one's soul.
Her survival instincts warned Li Shanji to run, so she flung open the window and jumped out without hesitation.
She fell onto the damp grass, a sharp pain shooting through her right leg, but she didn't bother checking her injury; she got up and ran.
In the rain, the apartment lights began to go out one by one, as if some kind of darkness was engulfing the entire building.
Li Shanji ran desperately, rain mixed with tears blurring her vision. She didn't know where she could escape to, only that she had to get away from that monster.
After turning a street corner, she bumped into someone, and the two of them fell to the ground.
"Are you alright?" The other person helped her up; it was Jin Zhemin. The old woman was pale, breathing heavily, and her face was filled with fear; she had clearly just escaped as well.
"It... it killed so many people..." Li Shanji sobbed.
Jin Zhemin's expression was unusually grave. "I saw it... that thing... it wasn't human at all. I've heard of many supernatural events happening abroad, and now we've encountered one too."
He pulled Li Shanji to her feet, "We need to call the police, and we also need to..."
Before he could finish speaking, a dark figure stood behind him, its charred arm piercing through Jin Zhemin's chest.
The old man's eyes widened, blood gushed from the corner of his mouth, and his body lay in the puddle like a rag doll.
Li Shanji- hee let out a silent scream with her mouth agape, then collapsed to the ground, too afraid to move.
The Charred Corpse slowly turned towards her, and Supernatural power that terrified the living began to erode her body.
"Why...?" Li Shanji asked, trembling, knowing the monster wouldn't answer.
The Charred Corpse took one step toward her, then another.
Li Shanji wanted to escape, but her body was as if nailed to the ground and she could not move. She watched as death approached step by step, and the black handprint on her arm was so hot that it seemed to be burning.
The Charred Corpse reached out and grabbed her. Li Shanji immediately felt dizzy. The black handprint wriggled like a living thing, and the black patterns spread rapidly all over her body like a spider web. An indescribable coldness spread from the mark, instantly freezing her blood.
The Charred Corpse stopped moving. Li Shanji felt something invading her; an indescribable, strange power entered her body, a process that was extremely painful.
"No... no...!" She struggled, but was powerless to resist.
In her final moments, she saw only the Charred Corpse's body merging with her own, as if possessed by a demon, she and the Charred Corpse gradually becoming one.
In a daze, Li Shanji felt herself sinking, sinking into an endless darkness.
A blinding white light—that was Li Shanji's first sensation upon regaining consciousness.
She blinked, and her blurry vision gradually focused.
The fluorescent tubes on the ceiling emitted an unpleasant, cold light, and the smell of disinfectant filled the nostrils.
This is a hospital, and she is lying in a hospital bed.
"You're awake." A strange female voice came from the right.
Li Shanji turned her head with difficulty and saw a middle-aged nurse adjusting an IV bag. The nurse had heavy dark circles under her eyes, downturned lips, and a faint... black veil surrounding her.
Li Shanji abruptly closed her eyes and then opened them again. The eerie blackness remained, like a semi-transparent veil wrapped around the nurse, especially thick around her neck.
"What... what's wrong?" Li Shanji asked, her voice hoarse and unlike her own.
"A major homicide occurred in the city last night. You were found unconscious on the roadside and were brought to the hospital by the police." The nurse recorded the data from the monitor; "Your condition is very strange. Your temperature, heart rate, and respiration are all below normal."
Last night? That word triggered Li Shanji's memories. A rainy night, Charred Corpse, Jin Zhemin's death, the searing pain of the black handprint... She instinctively looked at her arm—
"Ah!" she cried out in surprise, sitting up abruptly.
What was once a small, palm-sized black handprint has spread like dissolved ink across my entire right arm, resembling an ugly spiderweb, with black lines crawling across my skin along the veins. Even more terrifying, those lines seem to be wriggling slightly, like something alive.
The nurse was startled by her reaction. "What's wrong? Does your wound hurt?"
Li Shanji- hee stared intently at the nurse's face, realizing the nurse seemed oblivious to the unusual appearance on her arm. "N-nothing... could I have a mirror?"
The nurse looked at her suspiciously, took a small mirror from the cart drawer, and handed it to her. "The doctor said you need to be observed for a few more days..."
The nurse kept talking, but Li Shanji didn't hear a word she said; she was only staring intently at her reflection in the mirror.
With a "thud," the mirror slipped from her trembling hands.
"I... I'd like to rest for a bit," Li Shanji forced a smile. "Could you please leave first?"
The nurse hesitated for a moment, then nodded and left the ward.
The moment the door closed, Li Shanji threw back the covers and was horrified to find that black patterns had covered most of her body.
She stumbled towards the bathroom in the ward, locked the door, tore open her hospital gown, and checked herself in the mirror.
The sight in the mirror almost suffocated her.
It looked as if countless black worms were crawling beneath her skin, the lines rising and falling with her breath.
Even more terrifying, when she got closer to the mirror, the reflection in the mirror was a beat slower than her movement. He vaguely saw that the face... didn't seem to be her original face, but a charred and festering face!
"What's going on?" Li Shanji hissed at the mirror, "What's wrong with my body?!"
No one could answer her question.
As her emotions surged, she felt a strange power coursing through her body.
She unconsciously used that power, and a sudden, intense pain struck.
Li Shanji knelt on the ground, burying her face in her hands. She could clearly feel something inside her eroding her body.