I'm Really Scared

Walking towards the abandoned factory, Xiao Xiao was actually quite nervous.

After all, he had already witnessed the twisted horror of the Rat-Man. Now, facing a similarly-ranked mutated monster, who knew what terrifying things might happen?

The Man-Eating Warehouse...

Xiao Xiao didn't know why the people around here had given this warehouse such a name.

But having seen the true face of this city, he firmly believed that this abandoned factory might really be hiding a giant, man-eating monster disguised as a warehouse.

He walked forward, one foot deep, one foot shallow, wondering if the road beneath his feet would suddenly start to writhe.

Fortunately, Ruan Ruan, the veteran, was following behind him, which gave him some courage. As a veteran among the Outsiders, she was also nervously staring at the screen, seemingly helping him analyze the surrounding environment...

...It wasn't until Xiao Xiao heard a short, familiar piece of music that he suddenly realized something.

What kind of person is this...?

In such a gloomy, terrifying, and tense place, she actually has the mind to play a fishing game?

Forget it, can't count on her.

Xiao Xiao perked up and looked towards the huge warehouse between the factory buildings, as tall as a crouching monster. The surrounding air was thick with darkness, and a flock of crows circled and danced above the warehouse.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Xiao pulled hard and opened the warehouse door.

"Whoosh..."

The moment the door was opened, a breath faintly mixed with the stench of decay rushed towards him.

Like other warehouses that had been abandoned for a long time, it was desolate, dilapidated, and filled with a dry yet lonely atmosphere.

But no one expected that along with the stench, a pale and eerie face would instantly stick to his face.

He could see those dim eyes and the half-extended tongue.

"Huh?"

The sudden change caught even Ruan Ruan behind Xiao Xiao off guard. She quickly raised the metal wrench in her hand.

Saying she didn't care, but in her heart, she was always on high alert, observing Xiao Xiao's potential. Although it was important, if something really happened to him, Jiajia-jie would definitely scold her severely.

But as soon as she raised the wrench, her eyes widened.

She saw Xiao Xiao, standing at the warehouse door, just slightly turned his body in disgust, letting the pale face brush past him.

When she was about to fall, he even kindly reached out to help her, so she could lean comfortably against the door.

"?"

Ruan Ruan's worldview was showing signs of collapsing.

"Don't be afraid, it's a dead person."

Xiao Xiao's voice sounded, as if worried that Ruan Ruan was scared, he explained softly: "She was clinging to the door. When I pulled the door open, she fell out."

"But..."

Ruan Ruan felt a slight tingling in her scalp: "You're not afraid of dead people?"

"I am afraid..."

Xiao Xiao answered, while squatting down, looking at the corpse, and said strangely: "Suddenly a corpse rushes at your face, who wouldn't be afraid?"

"Is that what being afraid looks like?"

Ruan Ruan was speechless for a moment: You even helped her up...

"I'm really afraid..."

Xiao Xiao observed the corpse leaning against the door, explaining in a low voice.

He was really scared. The moment the door opened, suddenly seeing such a face rushing towards him, his heart almost jumped out of his throat.

However, in the process of being slightly nervous, he realized that this was just a corpse.

And not rushing out. Judging from the posture and the angle of the fall, it was his action of opening the door that caused her body to lose support, which caused her to fall face down...

As for helping her up.

Since he had determined that it was a corpse, and he was the one who caused her to fall, wouldn't it be normal to help her up?

Is there something wrong with respecting the remains?

But in this tense environment, Xiao Xiao didn't have enough time to explain so much to Ruan Ruan. Squatting down to take a closer look, he had already noticed some strange problems.

This was the corpse of a dead woman, and it didn't seem like she had been dead for long.

Her tongue was sticking out long, looking like she had suffered extremely strong pain before her death, but there were no visible scars on her body.

While he was guessing in his heart, Ruan Ruan also came up and whispered: "She drowned."

"Drowned?"

Xiao Xiao was surprised for a moment, turned his head and glanced at Ruan Ruan.

"Life can also drown people..."

Ruan Ruan glanced at him and said softly: "Don't forget, our target this time is a Suffocation Puppet, this is its ability."

"Does that mean we're on the right track?"

Xiao Xiao felt a bit surprised and stood up, glancing at the dark, seemingly endless warehouse.

The space was vast, filled with seemingly useless junk, making the interior feel winding and deep. Stacks of discarded oil drums on both sides created a mountain-like, oppressive feeling.

Only in the middle, a faint flame flickered in an oil drum filled with trash.

After a moment's thought, Xiao Xiao walked inside.

Ruan Ruan followed behind him, her heart already filled with doubt: "Does this guy even know what fear is?"

She couldn't understand how Xiao Xiao could be so calm. He was actually extremely nervous, already in a state of mental overdrive, taking in everything around him as he walked.

His normal pace was equivalent to an ordinary person taking a step and observing for a minute.

Of course, in Ruan Ruan's eyes, it looked like Xiao Xiao was strolling around casually, completely at ease in such a strange place.

"One... two... three..."

As he walked, Xiao Xiao was secretly shocked. He had only taken a few steps inside the warehouse and had already seen several corpses scattered throughout.

Some were curled up in corners filled with garbage, while others lay quietly on the ground covered in shadows.

Some were kneeling, facing the wall.

Seeing so many corpses at once, Xiao Xiao's heart began to beat slower and slower, but the expression on his face became increasingly indifferent.

The faster his mind worked, the slower his body moved, and even his expressions became difficult to control.

He felt a strange sensation, lingering and hard to shake off. He felt like something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He could only walk and speculate.

"All the corpses drowned..."

Walking among the corpses, Xiao Xiao made careful observations and analyses: "The cause of death for these corpses is the same as the female corpse at the entrance of the warehouse. It's just that some of them seem to have died longer ago, and some seem to have died more recently. I've only walked through half the warehouse and have already seen seven or eight corpses, making this dark and gloomy warehouse look like a large morgue..."

"Is this what they mean by the Man-Eating Warehouse?"

"If so, where's the source?"

"..."

As he walked forward, trying to capture every detail, he thought to himself, "Is that Suffocation Puppet still here?"

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Xiao Xiao's legs, which had been moving forward, suddenly stopped. His heart skipped a beat, and he slowly turned to look at Ruan Ruan.

In the quiet warehouse, you could hear a pin drop.

Xiao Xiao looked at Ruan Ruan, who was standing quietly in the dim light, and slowly asked a strange question: "How long..."

"...has it been since we last breathed?"

"..."

"..."

His voice echoed in the dark warehouse, among the strangely contorted faces of the dead, unusually monotonous, as if lacking the sound of breath.

The strange feeling in his heart finally became clear.

Xiao Xiao realized that he had forgotten to breathe.

It was originally an instinctive, automatic action of the body, but he had forgotten it at some point. Only now that his body was starting to feel stuffy did he realize it. When he became aware of the problem, he subconsciously tried to breathe more deeply, but he found that the surrounding air seemed to have solidified, and he couldn't draw any oxygen from it to relieve the stuffiness.

"You finally noticed..."

Ruan Ruan raised her head in the shadows, a huge metal wrench resting on her shoulder, and said in a low voice, "The Suffocation Puppet has already started to affect us..."

"If you think it's too difficult, you can ask me for he..."

"..."

Before she could say the word "help," her expression suddenly changed slightly, and she opened her mouth to warn Xiao Xiao.

"What's wrong?"

Suddenly, a sudden sense of crisis arose around Xiao Xiao, causing his hair to stand on end.

His heart beat heavily, with longer and longer intervals. He felt like time had almost stopped.

From Ruan Ruan's tense expression, he could tell that she had noticed some danger and was trying to warn him, but there wasn't enough time.

But there were no living people here. What was the danger?

In that instant, countless thoughts exploded in Xiao Xiao's mind, and he quickly began to search for clues in the surrounding details.

Following Ruan Ruan's gaze, he realized that she was looking behind him, to the left.

Seeing her tense expression, he could also tell that it seemed to be something sudden, but not enough to make her feel afraid. So what was it?

The corpses!

It was the corpse behind him.

As Xiao Xiao thought of this, he vaguely saw out of the corner of his eye a pale hand reaching for his waist.

"Bang!"

Ruan Ruan was worried, but she saw Xiao Xiao, who was clearly standing there blankly, suddenly dodge nimbly to the side, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, avoiding the grasp of the pale hand.

Then, he turned and pressed the gun he'd been holding against the other's head, pulling the trigger before his warning could even escape his lips.

A loud gunshot rang out, and the animated corpse had a chunk of its head blown away, splattering brain matter everywhere.

Xiao Xiao, having done all this, stumbled back a few steps, a wave of disbelief and tension making his scalp tingle:

"The dead can move?"

"..."

But he quickly noticed that some fleshy tissue, riddled with nerves and blood vessels, extended from the animated corpse, stretching far into the depths of the warehouse.

It was this flesh that writhed, controlling the corpse's slow, trembling movements like vines controlling a blooming flower.

"Oh..."

Xiao Xiao's mood eased slightly: "That makes sense..."

No girlfriend, no monthly tickets, no recommendation votes either?