Fang Wenhong entered the toilet stall without even lifting his head. Only after relieving himself and slowly exhaling did he feel up to inspecting his surroundings.
It was far from clean. Yellow-black grime nearly smothered the area around the toilet, and the floor felt sticky beneath his feet. Some unidentifiable liquid flowed over the restroom tiles, giving off a faint, foul, fishy stench.
The partitions surrounding the stall were the worst of all, covered in a chaotic mess of graffiti.
Among the many black scrawls, several blood-red words stood out.
Do not look behind you.
To Fang Wenhong, those words meant nothing. But just as that thought crossed his mind, the red lettering changed.
The blood-red color seemed to come alive, bright crimson blood slowly seeping out along the outlines of the words.
The atmosphere in the previously normal space suddenly froze.
Su Ziqiu's voice, which had been drifting in through the gap in the door, had vanished completely at some point.
"Su Ziqiu!"
"Are you guys still out there?"
Hearing no reply, Fang Wenhong dared not delay any longer. He tried to push the door open, but before his hand reached the handle, it slammed shut with a bang.
The faint scraps of light from Su Ziqiu's flashlight disappeared into the darkness as the door closed.
For a moment, there was nothing but dead silence.
The crimson words were still bubbling with that strange, sticky liquid. Perhaps he was imagining things, but he kept feeling that the liquid flowing out was giving off wisps of heat.
Fang Wenhong tried kicking the door and shouting, even launching into a stream of incoherent curses, until he finally accepted reality.
He could not get out.
Fang Wenhong swallowed and forced himself to switch on his phone's flashlight.
He tried looking up, down,