Face (End)

Seeing the final line of text prompt in his mind, Shen Xing froze for a moment.

He hadn't expected the lock on the skin to only be valid for 10 days; if that time passed, the properties of this so-called skin would dissipate.

In other words, even if he wanted to absorb its properties later, he would be powerless to do so.

Of course, the solution was to craft a wooden carving of a face within these 10 days and have the carving absorb the locked skin, which would preserve its properties.

But where had this locked skin gone now?

Shen Xing frowned, and suddenly his body jolted as he realized that whenever he thought about this skin, it would immediately manifest in his mind.

However, if he shifted his focus to other things, the skin would vanish instantly.

What the hell... it's actually inside my head???

A strange sensation welled up, and Shen Xing felt completely uneasy.

He looked down at Song Xiaoyu, who was curled up on the floor. Her chest rose and fell slightly; she was still breathing, and her breathing was steady. Furthermore, her neck had eerily returned to normal, and she hadn't ended up dead the moment the skin was locked.

Thank goodness!

Shen Xing bent down and gently pushed aside the hair covering the back of her head. He discovered that the scalp beneath the hair was gone. It wasn't a bloody mess, but the skin on the back of her head had festered, with white maggots crawling about.

No wonder it stinks so much!

The sight nearly made him vomit.

However, looking at it, it seemed only the skin and flesh on her head had rotted due to the Scalp Ghost's possession. Song Xiaoyu's skull was still intact, so if she were rushed to the hospital for treatment, her life shouldn't be in immediate danger.

Shen Xing then paused and hurriedly reached up to touch the back of his own head.

Ever since he locked the "skin," the itching sensation on the back of his head had vanished, and he didn't know if he was still in trouble.

As soon as his hand touched the hair on the back of his head, something fell off. He looked down at the floor and saw a small piece of dried-out scalp with a few strands of hair still attached.

Looking at them, these hairs had all withered and curled, like grass suddenly struck by a harsh winter.

Inside the bathroom.

Zheng Ruijun had first been pinned by Song Hao's hands, which clamped onto his arms, making it impossible for him to break free for a moment. Then, An Lifen followed him inside.

She stretched out her hands and clamped them directly onto Zheng Ruijun's neck. A foul, rotting stench washed over him, making him want to retch.

At the same time, the back of Zheng Ruijun's head began to itch, but because he was currently facing danger, he automatically ignored the sensation.

He flicked the sleeve of his right arm, and a black telescopic baton slid out.

Just as his right hand gripped the baton, An Lifen, who had been choking him, suddenly loosened her grip and collapsed to the side, unconscious.

At the same moment, Song Hao, who had been pinning his arms, also stumbled and fell with a thud, his head knocking against the toilet lid, and he too showed no further reaction.

Panting, Zheng Ruijun was bewildered. He caught his breath, quickly stowed the baton, and leaned against the sink to steady himself as he looked down at the two people on the floor.

Because only the light from outside was shining in, he couldn't see clearly, so Zheng Ruijun walked to the door and turned on the bathroom light.

Looking down, he saw hair seemingly falling from the back of An Lifen's head. He crouched down, grabbed a lock of hair, and gave it a gentle tug, pulling off a piece of dried, withered skin that looked like a dehydrated facial mask.

The difference was that this "mask" had a large amount of long, black hair stuck to it.

Moreover, the area where the "mask" had covered An Lifen's own skin was now pitted and uneven, and a foul odor wafted up, though he didn't see any maggots yet.

Zheng Ruijun observed carefully and found that both An Lifen and Song Hao, who had fallen beside her, were breathing; they had simply fainted.

Then, he felt that Song Hao's cheeks also looked strange, as if a layer of skin had peeled off in that instant. A dry, pale, and thin piece of skin was resting just above the tip of his nose.

To be safe, the officer put on a pair of black rubber gloves he carried with him before reaching out to pinch the thin, withered skin and bringing it up to his eyes to inspect.

It really was no different from a snake shedding its skin!

As for Song Hao's own face, because it had been covered by this fake skin for so long, it looked smooth but was already inflamed, appearing as if he had been a long-time alcoholic whose face had been scorched by spirits.

A few seconds later, Zheng Ruijun suddenly realized there had been no sound from the living room.

He immediately stopped examining the shed skin, turned around, and rushed out of the bathroom into the living room.

In the living room, Shen Xing was also standing there, lost in thought while pinching a piece of withered skin.

"Don't touch it directly with your hands," Zheng Ruijun warned as he walked out. "This shed skin is very strange!"

With that, he took out his phone and called Li Naijing, asking her to send reinforcements to handle the scene and to call an ambulance as well.

Shen Xing put the skin down; he didn't need to worry, as this thing had peeled off his own head.

However, upon realizing it was Zheng Ruijun, he paused: "You... were in the bathroom the whole time?"

"I was in the bathroom the whole time." Zheng Ruijun nodded, clearly not wanting to continue the topic, and asked instead: "Are you alright?"

Shen Xing shook his head. He noticed that Zheng Ruijun seemed very cautious in handling these things, keeping his black rubber gloves on the entire time.

"Why did you come over? Was it really to deliver shampoo?" Zheng Ruijun glanced at the bottle of shampoo already lying on the floor.

Shen Xing didn't answer. Instead, he pulled a tissue from the table, reached out to touch the back of Zheng Ruijun's head, and then used the tissue to pluck off a nearly transparent piece of skin, which had a few strands of newly grown hair stuck to it.

"This is the reason I came here." Shen Xing waved the piece of skin in front of Zheng Ruijun, then pointed to the dried scalp he had dropped on the floor earlier.

Zheng Ruijun couldn't help but look at him a few more times: "You kid, weren't you afraid of an accident coming over here?"

"I just thought you might be here, too," Shen Xing lied casually, shrugging his shoulders. "Turns out my estimation was a bit off."

Zheng Ruijun stared at him for a moment before taking the transparent skin from Shen Xing's hand. "It's fine as long as you're okay now. Aside from these things, did you notice any other anomalies just now?"

Shen Xing thought carefully. "No. This woman tried to attack me, but she suddenly collapsed to the ground, and then it became what you see now."

"You didn't do anything?" Zheng Ruijun continued to probe.

"Nothing."

Zheng Ruijun frowned, unable to figure out why the situation had suddenly turned in their favor.

He crouched down and examined the back of Song Xiaoyu's head closely; the rotting flesh did not cause his expression to waver.

As he observed, Shen Xing leaned in as well and asked, "Old Zheng, have you encountered anything similar to this Scalp Ghost in your previous cases?"

To be honest, Shen Xing had always been curious, and since the current peculiar situation might be related to Ye Ting's disappearance, he figured there was no harm in gathering as much information as possible while he had the chance.

Zheng Ruijun didn't even look up as he repeated, "Scalp Ghost?"

He then let out a soft chuckle. "This thing is not a ghost."