Twin Birth

Feng Xinghan stared at the door still tightly shut before him, suddenly feeling a parched dryness in his throat.

Hallucination? Everything that just happened felt terrifyingly real; Feng Xinghan instinctively touched his neck, feeling a slight stinging sensation.

This... was not entirely a hallucination...

No, even if it meant being marked as passive by the Mist Gathering, he did not want to enter this room again!

That was a warning, a naked, blatant warning!

If he still insisted on charging in with a reckless attitude, he would be lucky to survive at all.

Feng Xinghan no longer wanted to ponder what exactly was hidden inside this room.

However... just as he prepared to turn back, he suddenly heard... the sound of water.

"Drip..."

A drop of water slid from the ceiling, shattering into pieces as it hit the floor.

Feng Xinghan froze, and a surge of intense fear welled up from the bottom of his heart!

Something was wrong... something was very wrong!

"Tap... tap..."

Footsteps suddenly rang out from the stairwell.

Judging by the sound, those feet seemed to be unshod, walking up the stairs barefoot...

Who... would be climbing the stairs barefoot at this hour?

Feng Xinghan's heart trembled, and goosebumps instantly erupted across his arms.

The pitch-black stairwell looked like a mouth gradually widening, drawing closer to him.

Cold sweat poured down Feng Xinghan; forget it, he had to run!

If he didn't run now, he would die!

He stopped thinking about anything else and turned to sprint toward the elevator!

Faster, he had to be faster!

The footsteps were becoming clearer and clearer.

Feng Xinghan rushed to the elevator entrance and frantically pressed the button, but the damn elevator was stuck on the first floor, as if someone were currently riding it up?

He looked up, watching the elevator slowly crawl up floor by floor, his head drenched in anxious sweat.

And at this moment... at the stairwell across the corridor, Feng Xinghan could already see the top of a head!

"Hurry! Hurry!"

Feng Xinghan frantically hammered the elevator button, even though it wouldn't increase the elevator's ascent speed by even a fraction.

It was nearly six o'clock; the sun in Yingcheng was about to set.

A dim, yellowish light slanted into the stairwell, and finally... she appeared!

In Feng Xinghan's horrified gaze, a woman with a deathly pale complexion, a bloated body, and water constantly dripping from her entire being stood at the stairwell!

Her long, sodden hair dragged on the floor, and her pupil-less eyes were filled with malice!

A wave of undisguised malice washed over him; Feng Xinghan's legs went weak with fright, and he nearly collapsed to the ground!

"Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop..."

Feng Xinghan turned his head, desperately mashing the elevator button until it clicked loudly.

His pupils dilated and contracted repeatedly, and his throat could no longer produce a normal sound.

This was the manifestation of fear pushed to its absolute limit!

In the corridor behind him, water stains began to spread across the floor.

Tendrils of a terrifying aura gradually reached toward him.

Feng Xinghan shuddered; he could feel a pair of horrific eyes staring at his back! This dreadful malice made him feel as if he were trapped in an ice cellar.

And at this godforsaken moment, the elevator stopped for a second on the third floor!

"Fuck!"

Fear had nearly cost him his sanity; the sturdy, middle-aged man slammed his fist against the elevator button, his eyes bloodshot.

Feng Xinghan dared not look back, fearing that if he did, that terrifying woman would be standing right behind him!

"Drip... drip..."

The water was increasing.

The woman walked barefoot, stepping through the water, and the sound of wet, squelching footsteps echoed through the narrow corridor.

Feng Xinghan's eyes were wide enough to split, because he realized something.

The ceiling above him and the walls all around were also beginning to seep water!

Until... a wave of malice, close enough to touch, pressed against his back.

However, at this very moment, a sound rang out!

"Ding--"

The elevator had arrived!

A surge of wild joy welled up from the bottom of Feng Xinghan's heart as the elevator doors slowly slid open before him.

A familiar face appeared before his eyes.

"Guifang? Why are you here?"

The words of shock had barely left his lips when Feng Xinghan felt a chill run through his entire body.

The person who appeared in the elevator was his wife, Zhang Guifang.

But... Zhang Guifang had died a long time ago!

An intense sense of terror surged into his heart, and the Zhang Guifang inside the elevator suddenly reached out a pale, bloodless hand, a bizarre smile spreading across that face Feng Xinghan knew so well...

Li Yuejun came to a halt, looking at the building before her with a somewhat strange expression—the Criminal Police Bureau.

That's right, she was here to report a crime.

Furthermore, she was doing so according to Bai Yanliang's instructions.

After hearing Bai Yanliang's request, Li Yuejun felt more and more that he was an eccentric man.

This was clearly the past, clearly events that had already occurred, and clearly a terrifying world where malicious ghosts existed; why on earth did he want to call the police?

But... regardless, out of gratitude for the help Bai Yanliang had given her, she didn't mind making this trip.

Although the Ruyi Inn had already been reported to the police once, that time it was on the grounds of a missing person; this time, it was for murder.

As for why she chose to go to the police station in person rather than calling, this had already become common knowledge within the Mist Gathering.

After all... in this bizarre world, who knew if the person on the other end of a phone call was actually human?

"I want to report a crime."

Li Yuejun entered the police station and stated concisely.

Upon hearing Li Yuejun's voice, the officer immediately began to record the situation.

"Miss, please explain in detail."

"At the Ruyi Inn, the inn owned by that boss Ding Lei, a murder has occurred."

Li Yuejun's words caused the officer taking the statement to change his expression, his demeanor suddenly becoming much more serious.

A murder... that was never a small matter at any time.

"A young lady named Zhang Qiao died at the Ruyi Inn; she is Ding Lei's sister-in-law."

"Ding Lei?" The officer suddenly began rummaging through some files, then pulled out a photograph and handed it to Li Yuejun.

"Is it him?"

Li Yuejun looked at the man in the photo—a man in his thirties with a well-proportioned build and fairly handsome features—and shook her head slightly.

"I haven't seen him, so I can't be sure."

Then, as if remembering something, she hurriedly asked: "Has he committed any crimes?"

The officer took back the photo, shook his head, and said: "He hasn't, actually. This is his younger brother, Ding Peng."

Li Yuejun's eyes widened abruptly; she snatched the photo from the officer's hand, scrutinized the man carefully, and asked:

"You mean... they are twins? Ding Lei and Ding Peng look the same?"

The officer nodded, confirming this statement.

"They are identical twins; their DNA is the same, let alone their appearance."

Having said this, the officer added: "Ding Lei is quite law-abiding, but his brother Ding Peng is a habitual offender. He's a petty thief who refuses to mend his ways, and he even relies on his decent looks to swindle young girls out of their money and virtue."

After hearing this, Li Yuejun's mind fell into a state of chaos.

Ding Peng... Ding Lei look the same...

Although she didn't know what this signified, a thick sense of unease suddenly appeared in the depths of Li Yuejun's heart.

No longer caring whether the phone was safe or not, she looked up directly and asked: "May I borrow your phone?"

Received notice from the editor: there will be a recommendation next week, a suspense front-page feature. Thank you all for your support and confidence; the author will strive to write a good story.