Wan Hao's body instantly stiffened, and goosebumps broke out all over him.
The sight of the rotting face scared him back several steps. The sudden shock made Wan Hao's face pale, and as he retreated, the corpse fell to the ground.
"Bang!"
The cold, stiff corpse hit the ground with a dull, oppressive sound, and this noise finally brought Wan Hao back to his senses, causing him to retreat several more steps.
"Slap!"
A crisp sound came from under Wan Hao's foot. He lifted his foot and looked down; he had stepped on and crushed an eyeball!
Wan Hao's pupils contracted, and his gaze shifted to the corpse on the ground. One of the eyes in the corpse's socket was now missing.
At this moment, the people nearby also saw the tragic state of the corpse, and they all cried out in alarm.
Wan Hao noticed that some patrons had spotted the disturbance and were gathering around to watch the spectacle. He took a deep breath, forced himself to remain calm, and said,
"The venue is closing today. Everyone evacuate first! Xiao Hong, call the police immediately, just tell them the truth!"
As Wan Hao was instructing the visibly shaken staff, another shout came from another area.
"Ah! Someone is dead!"
"Y-you, don't come over here!"
"Call the police! Everyone call the police quickly, someone is murdering people here!"
The noisy exclamations drowned out the various music playing in the arcade, and the scene descended into chaos as everyone rushed out of the arcade in a disorderly fashion.
Wan Hao also noticed this scene.
"Damn it, why is someone else dead!"
Wan Hao cursed inwardly, but watching his patrons flee, he couldn't help but sigh. He had intended to disperse the customers before anyone noticed to avoid affecting the business, but who knew someone else would die on the premises.
"You all go out first, wait for the police, and calm the customers down. I'll go check the situation."
Upon hearing this, everyone ran out of the arcade. Several staff members had already slipped away earlier, but most were waiting for Wan Hao's instruction.
Wan Hao figured out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up. He didn't move immediately. Everyone usually only noticed his usual dominance and boldness, completely unaware that he had been momentarily paralyzed by fear just now.
After taking a few puffs of the cigarette, Wan Hao finally adjusted his emotions.
"Damn it, I, a guy who can take on twenty people, was scared by a corpse!" Wan Hao felt ashamed and angry about his momentary inaction due to fear.
He had seen many scenes, but never a corpse rotted to this extent, let alone having touched it with his own hands.
Wan Hao, with the cigarette dangling from his mouth, headed toward the place where the shouting had come from. The arcade was almost empty now, so Wan Hao moved relatively quickly.
As Wan Hao turned to leave, the corpse on the ground began to move.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
A sound of dislocated bones came from within the corpse on the ground. As the sound of bones shifting echoed, the corpse stood up from the floor.
The corpse tilted its head, like a walking corpse. Most of the body tissue on its neck was horribly rotted; only the presence of the spine kept the head from falling off. The corpse's eyes no longer held the previous look of terror but instead conveyed numbness and deathly silence.
Anyone who saw this scene would be terrified and panic-stricken. That single remaining eye showed no trace of human expression!
After standing up, the corpse remained stunned in place for a moment, then its body turned in the direction Wan Hao had left. It began to move with stiff steps, each one accompanied by the cracking sound of shifting bones, making one suspect it could fall apart at any moment.
Wan Hao hurried to the other end of the venue. This area mostly contained dance machines, primarily used by young women.
As soon as he arrived, Wan Hao smelled the same rotten stench as before!
Two or three people were already lying on the ground here. This time, Wan Hao dared not casually examine the people lying down. He looked around, found a broom, and used it to flip one person over.
"Hiss!"
Wan Hao gasped in shock. Unlike the previous corpse that was rotted beyond recognition, this person's body was relatively intact.
However, the entire body was purple and black, and large Corpse Spots covered the exposed skin. Both eyes were wide open, filled with an indescribable terror, as if they had witnessed something utterly unbelievable.
Wan Hao swallowed hard. Even though he often fought and had seen many situations, this was the first time he had seen such a succession of corpses with such horrifying appearances.
He turned to look at the other corpse. He knew it was a corpse because it was a female, and her attire was different from the man's, using less fabric.
Even though she was lying face down, upon approaching, he could see purple and black bruising on her exposed shoulders and waist, identical to the previous corpse.
For some inexplicable reason, Wan Hao recalled a comment he had seen while browsing posts—a comment claiming Dachang City was haunted. Wan Hao, who had always dismissed talk of ghosts and spirits, felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered it now.
"Could there really be ghosts?"
He decided not to examine the remaining bodies because everyone who could run had already fled; those on the ground were already dead. Wan Hao prepared to leave; this was beyond his ability to handle, and the police would have to deal with it.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, shouts came again from inside the arcade!
"Ah! Help me!"
"Someone save me!"
"Please, please don't kill me!"
The screams mixed with the cries of men and women made Wan Hao pause his departure.
"Damn it, taking someone's money and then running away feels wrong!"
Picking up the broom, Wan Hao walked toward the source of the sound.
Wan Hao was a man with some sense of honor, which might be related to his life spent on the streets. The owner of this venue had treated him very well. Although he was scared now, he decided to see what the situation was.
Arriving where the sound originated, Wan Hao saw five or six people cornered by a person in black, with three bodies already lying on the ground.
This area was for singing, with separate small booths where one could pay to sing. This group clearly hadn't heard what was happening outside while they were inside.
That group also noticed Wan Hao's arrival. One of them, a girl about seventeen or eighteen, recognized Wan Hao and immediately cried out to him.
"Brother Hao, save me!"
Her voice was hysterical, like she was hitting a high note. Tears and snot mixed together from her fright, and the beautiful young girl showed no trace of charm at all.
The person in black continued to walk stiffly toward the group in the corner, seemingly not noticing Wan Hao's arrival at all.
Wan Hao had watched many movies about walking dead and zombie sieges. Judging by the way the person in black moved, they were clearly not a normal person!
Ghost!
The thought suddenly surfaced in Wan Hao's mind: the person in black before him was a ghost!
Years of fighting had given Wan Hao excellent psychological fortitude, but facing something that wasn't human now brought back a sense of tension he hadn't felt in a long time.
Large amounts of adrenaline began to secrete, and the hand gripping the broom also became sweaty.
He didn't consider himself a hero capable of saving the world, but the person calling for help was a girl he had a decent relationship with. She knew Wan Hao liked to smoke and would bring him a pack of cigarettes every time she came to the arcade, even though Wan Hao constantly lectured her like a teacher.
He still had the cigarettes that girl gave him in his pocket. If he walked away now and abandoned her, he would feel guilty.
Wan Hao's eyes hardened, and he gripped the broom tightly, sprinting forward!
In a few strides, he reached the person in black and swung the broom down toward the head. The blow, delivered with immense force, instantly shattered the broom!