The Killer You Mentioned...

Never mind that—the moment he got the Fire Axe in his hands, its heavy feel made him want to chop something.

He carried the axe into the house where the entire family had died.

Even Qin Liu could not help commenting on his appearance: a gas mask and a bloodstained axe.

"Are you really not the killer returning to the crime scene to admire your own masterpiece?"

"How could I be?" Liu Haoyu said in a muffled voice through the gas mask. "I'm a five-star good citizen. How could I possibly be a homicidal maniac?"

"Why don't you look in a mirror first? Do you really think you look convincing like this?"

After muttering that, Qin Liu returned to Red Jade.

Liu Haoyu did not pay any attention to the little ghost's words. Carrying the axe, he began preparing to go downstairs.

The red house had only three floors in total. Coming down from the roof, Liu Haoyu naturally arrived at the third floor first.

This floor appeared to contain the family's bedroom and storeroom.

Liu Haoyu entered the bedroom.

As soon as he opened the door, the first thing he saw was a bedsheet covered in bloodstains.

Judging from the marks of struggle spread across it, a fight had evidently taken place here.

After all, who would have thought that sweet, peaceful sleep could suddenly be interrupted by a Fierce Ghost's attack?

Looking at the room, which was practically bare, it was clear that Zhu Xingxue's family was not well-off either.

However, there was nothing unusual in the room, so Liu Haoyu could only turn and leave.

The flashlight illuminated the darkness ahead.

But the light was not very strong. Anything a little farther away was impossible to make out clearly.

After searching for a while, Liu Haoyu saw a trail of footprints.

The footprints were somewhat messy and extremely fresh.

Judging from the patterns on the soles, there were probably two people.

Liu Haoyu frowned.

Those freshly made footprints meant that the two people were still inside the house.

After considering that possibility, Liu Haoyu tightened his grip on the Fire Axe.

Then he walked downstairs one step at a time.

Upon entering the second floor, the stench of decay grew even stronger. Even with the gas mask, it was difficult to conceal the smell completely.

It was true that an abandoned house where someone had died would smell bad, but this stench was truly difficult to endure.

The second floor seemed to be a living room for receiving guests. However, since Zhu Xingxue was merely an ordinary farmer without much of a social circle, the living room had fallen into even greater disrepair and had practically become a place for piling up odds and ends.

There was grain, along with various farming tools. But logically, in an old house like this, rats should definitely have appeared at night.

Yet it was eerily quiet now.

The air grew abnormally heavy, and the smell of death became increasingly intense.

Liu Haoyu looked at the unusually vigorous candle flame, his vigilance rising sharply.

"Tap tap tap!"

Just as Liu Haoyu was on guard, a burst of footsteps suddenly came from the stairs.

The footsteps were extremely hurried and panicked, as though something were chasing their owner.

Liu Haoyu shone his flashlight toward the stairwell.

Soon, two people who looked like university students appeared before them.

Blinded by the strong light, the two could not make out Liu Haoyu's appearance. Perhaps because they saw the flashlight, they immediately cried out excitedly.

"Wang Qiang! Someone's here! Look, there's someone here!"

Before Liu Haoyu could say anything, the other person, named Wang Qiang, raised his hand and said,

"There really is someone?! Sima Cai, we're saved!"

As they spoke, they moved closer to Liu Haoyu.

"Take us out of here! I can give you money—lots and lots of money!"

Looking at the two people who seemed to be university students, Liu Haoyu recalled what the old man had said.

It seemed these were indeed the two young people who had entered the house seeking paranormal thrills.

The two were drenched in sweat, their eyes filled with urgency and panic.

"Brother, where did you come in from? We don't know what happened to the door on the first floor. It locked itself as soon as we came in!"

Seeing them try to approach, Liu Haoyu reached out to stop them.

"Stop. Are you students from Jiangcheng University?"

"Yes, yes, we are!"

Because of the campus curfew, the two were carrying their student IDs. They deliberately took them out to show Liu Haoyu before continuing,

"Hurry and leave this place! There really is a ghost in this house!"

Before Sima Cai finished speaking, he got a clear look at Liu Haoyu's appearance, and the smile and joy of having been rescued instantly froze on his face.

Fear once again filled both their hearts.

A sturdy figure in a black windbreaker stood before them. The shadow of the hood, combined with a battered gas mask, completely concealed his appearance.

Beneath the mask, a cold, terrifying gaze was sizing them up.

Even more horrifyingly, the object in his hand was a Fire Axe covered in blood.

"Hiss..."

The two university students' minds went almost completely blank. Trembling, they said,

"Sorry for interrupting you while you were killing someone. We'll leave right away."

For the two of them, entering this place and encountering one strange event after another had already been terrifying enough. Now they had run into a cursed homicidal maniac, making them even more desperate.

Under the effects of fear, their calves began trembling uncontrollably, and they could barely get the words out.

That was right. How could any normal person possibly come to such a gloomy, terrifying place?

"Don't be afraid. I'm a good person."

Because he was wearing a gas mask, Liu Haoyu's voice sounded somewhat low.

"Have you ever seen a good person appear in a place like this in the middle of the night carrying an axe?"

"Didn't I hear that a murder happened here, with the victim disemboweled and gutted in an especially gruesome manner? As a five-star good citizen, I came to investigate and help the police find the killer. That's perfectly reasonable, right?"

Upon hearing Liu Haoyu's words, Sima Cai backed away several more steps, secretly swallowing several mouthfuls of saliva. He really wanted to summon the courage to ask Liu Haoyu, This killer you mentioned... is it you?

But he had already been scared witless and did not dare make a sound.

On one side was a haunted house; on the other was a suspicious five-star good citizen. No matter how he chose, it seemed like a dead end.

So after weighing the pros and cons, Sima Cai chose one path. Gritting his teeth, he said,

"Murderer, big brother! This house really is haunted! Let's get out of here!"

After all, no matter what, a murderer was still human. Surely he would be afraid of ghosts too.

However, things did not go as expected. After hearing the word "ghost," Liu Haoyu not only failed to show any fear, but instead raised the Fire Axe in his hand and said with a smile,

"Come on, it's already the twenty-first century. How could there be ghosts in this world? Don't be superstitious. You have to believe in science, understand? You must have seen wrong. Come on, follow me downstairs."