The terrifying third floor

The two of them reached the stairwell.

They saw that the iron door leading to the third floor had already been opened.

An unbearably foul stench wafted down from above.

It was exactly the same smell as the corpse fluid dripping from the ceiling of their room!

It was the smell of rotting animals!

Unable to stand it, Liu Chengfeng covered his nose and mouth, his brow furrowing.

He fought back the urge to retch and followed Ning Qiushui up to the third floor.

Once they reached the third floor, the stench of rotting flesh grew even stronger. Liu Chengfeng could no longer control himself. His stomach spasmed again and again, until he finally crouched down and vomited!

"Urgh-"

Liu Chengfeng retched, looking utterly miserable.

Ning Qiushui patted him on the back.

After throwing up his dinner, Liu Chengfeng felt a little better.

They made their way down the pitch-black corridor. The floor beneath their feet was sticky, and Liu Chengfeng's face was deathly pale. Even without any light, he could guess what covered the floor...

It was... corpse fluid!

An entire layer of it covered the third floor!

Both men were horrified.

How many corpses would have to rot and decompose to produce enough fluid to cover an entire floor?

"Just as I thought..."

Ning Qiushui narrowed his eyes.

Although he, too, found the stench in the air utterly disgusting, he felt no urge to vomit.

Before coming up, he had already guessed most of what they would find on the third floor.

Trudging through the disgusting, sticky corpse fluid, they finally reached the first room giving off the rotten stench. They slowly turned the handle and opened the door. The sight before them sent a shudder through both men!

It was a horrific scene they would never forget...

Countless rotting corpses were packed tightly together in the moonlit room!

Some were relatively fresh, their flesh still a bloody mess. Others had long since rotted into heaps of dry bones, leaving nothing but skeletons and hair!

Yet every one of them had an almost intact head. Those that had not fully decomposed wore eerie smiles, staring at the two men in the doorway as though inviting them inside...

Thud-

Liu Chengfeng clapped a hand over his mouth and stumbled back in fright, trembling all over.

He looked toward the other rooms, seemingly realizing something, and pushed their doors open with a violently shaking hand.

"Holy shit...!"

Liu Chengfeng nearly shouted.

Sure enough.

Every room was piled high with rotting corpses!

All their internal organs were missing, and their flesh was covered in knife and fork wounds, revealing that something had feasted on them!

And the bodies of Wang Yuning and Yamo were right there among them!

Liu Chengfeng's legs went weak. Bracing himself against the wall, he slowly crouched down, his face paler than the moonlight.

"So..."

"This is where the corpse fluid on our ceiling... came from..."

"But where did all these bodies come from?"

"Could it be..."

Ning Qiushui looked through the window toward the dark cluster of villas in the distance.

"I'm afraid... all the original residents of this villa complex are in these rooms."

Liu Chengfeng swallowed, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

That thing hiding on the third floor... had eaten everyone in the entire villa complex?

"I suspect we aren't the first group of caregivers to come here, either. There are so many rooms downstairs, each with its own bathroom. They were probably prepared specifically for the caregivers who came to look after the elderly residents..."

With every sentence Ning Qiushui spoke, Liu Chengfeng felt his heart give a violent thump!

"Buddy... why don't we hurry back..."

"If it comes back, won't we..."

Liu Chengfeng was starting to lose his nerve, but Ning Qiushui showed no intention of leaving.

"We're already so close to the truth..."

"Beardy..."

"Aren't you curious what that thing that ate every original resident in the complex... actually is?"

At Ning Qiushui's words, Liu Chengfeng froze, then the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Seriously, buddy, you really aren't afraid of dying..."

"Is the truth... more important than your life?"

Ning Qiushui countered:

"You can leave this floor, but can you leave the villa? Can you leave the complex?"

"Who knows what other rules it follows when killing?"

"Maybe we triggered its killing rules the day we entered the villa. We've just been lucky enough that our turn hasn't come yet..."

"Besides, it's already gone downstairs to feed. It might be feasting right next door to our room... The more people die, the greater the danger for those of us who remain!"

Liu Chengfeng's expression shifted uncertainly. Finally, he gritted his teeth.

"Fine!"

"I'll trust you this once, buddy!"

They passed those rooms and reached the one at the far end.

It was a study.

There were no bloodstains at the entrance. It was so clean that it seemed out of place on this floor.

They exchanged a glance, their eyes lighting up.

"This must be it!"

They carefully pushed the door open, and a thick smell of dust hit them in the face.

Judging by the furnishings, it appeared to be a study.

It was neither large nor small. Inside lay a skeleton that had been decomposing for a long time. Judging by its size and features, it appeared to belong to a girl of fourteen or fifteen.

The skeleton still held a teddy bear in her arms.

The teddy bear's dark eyes seemed to scrutinize them.

Ning Qiushui carefully approached the skeleton, examined her, and said:

"...This person wasn't eaten."

"There are no knife or fork marks on her ribs, breastbone, or the bones of her throat."

He had previously examined Wang Yuning's and Yamo's bodies. Although only their internal organs and some muscle tissue had been eaten, their bones bore plenty of knife and fork marks, too.

But this skeleton had none.

"She wasn't eaten?"

"Then how did she die?"

Liu Chengfeng grew even more puzzled.

Ning Qiushui studied the body for a long time.

"Most likely starvation or dehydration."

"That thing outside probably couldn't enter this room, but she couldn't get out, either. She was trapped here... Without food or water, most people would die in three to five days."

"Look, steel bars were nailed over this window. They're heavily rusted, unlike the ones in the old lady's room on the second floor, which means they were installed a long time ago. Probably when she was little. Her family must have worried she'd climb out and fall, since this is the third floor, so they put steel bars over her window."

"But back then, her family probably never imagined that those very bars... would cut off her last hope of escape!"

Listening to Ning Qiushui, Liu Chengfeng felt an icy chill spread through him.

He could imagine the despair this girl must have felt while she was still alive.

A terrifying man-eating monster lurked outside, and there was no other way out of the room. In the end, she could only die trapped here in utter despair!

"Hey, buddy, look! Behind the body's backside... I think there's something there!"