Horror Camgirl - Ch. 126: Invitation to Death
My face was a bit grim.
Xue Haotian continued, "When the police arrived to investigate, there was no one in the bathroom except Chen Fei, and when my family's bodyguard found his corpse, it had been less than half a minute since he entered the bathroom. To be able to silently and gruesomely kill and dismember him within that half-minute window, and then escape through the seventh-floor window, would require at least a Core Strength Martial Artist or a Level Four Ability User. But why would such a skilled person bother to kill an ordinary man?"
"My mom was very shocked. She blamed herself, feeling guilty for not saving him." Xue Haotian sighed. "So she sent people to conduct a detailed investigation. It turns out Chen Fei had only returned to the country two months ago and was working as a department manager at a multinational company. His career was thriving. But a week before the incident, he suddenly disappeared."
"Disappeared?" I asked.
"He didn't request leave from his company. They sent people to find him, but no one could locate him, and eventually, the company reported it to the police." Xue Haotian handed me a photo, his expression dark. "My mother used all her resources to investigate and discovered that he drove a car with a fake license plate to this place in Jinling."
I took the photo. It showed an abandoned middle school, with old, deteriorating buildings, and large Chinese characters on the walls indicating it was scheduled for demolition.
"This is Huanshan Middle School in Jinling," Xue Haotian said. "It was abandoned ten years ago. They kept talking about tearing it down but never did. There are even rumors that it's haunted—by some particularly vicious ghosts."
Xue Haotian sighed. "At the time, I was seriously ill, unsure of how long I had to live, so I couldn't look into it, though I always kept it on my mind. Once I recovered somewhat, I sent people to investigate and found that over the past ten years, people would sometimes wander into this abandoned school alone, stay for a week, and then flee in panic—only to die under strange circumstances."
He handed me a file full of photos from various death scenes. The images were extremely graphic; each person had died in cruel, bizarre ways. Even the Special Department had gotten involved, but they were unable to find anything.
I stroked my chin. This was a perfect story—a lot of hype, capable of drawing attention—but it was also extremely dangerous.
"Madam Yuan, I hope you will allow me to join you for this live stream," Xue Haotian suddenly said, startling me. I replied, "You're the eldest son of the Xue Family. If anything happened to you, I wouldn't know how to face them."
"No need to worry about that, Madam Yuan," Xue Haotian said. "Our family is a Martial Arts Family. We raise our children tough—none of us are pampered. When I was a child, my grandfather took me deep into the mountains to train, where we lived in the wild, often not seeing another person for weeks at a time."
At this point, his gaze turned determined. "Chen Fei was my good friend. Finding out the truth behind his death is a matter of honor. Alleviating my mother's worries, and not letting her be tormented by guilt, is a matter of filial duty. If I were neither honorable nor filial, how could I claim to be a martial artist?"
I immediately felt deep respect for Xue Haotian, gaining a certain fondness for him. Practicing martial arts isn't about picking fights or seeking power—it's about upholding justice. That is the true spirit of martial arts.
There was a reason why the Xue Family was one of Jinling's top Martial Arts Families.
Besides, with him being the eldest son of the Xue Family, his joining my live stream would show a connection between me and the Xue Family. Any other family thinking of targeting me would need to think twice.
I agreed, and we arranged to set out in three days. During those three days, I made various preparations: refining numerous elixir pills to carry with me, crafting some new array flags, and packing them all into a large, bulging hiking bag.
I thought to myself, "Carrying all this stuff is such a hassle. It would be nice if I had a Qiankun bag."
Since I had just experienced a plane crash, Xue Haotian booked a luxury train compartment for our trip to Jinling.
The luxury compartment had all kinds of facilities. Xue Haotian brewed some fine English bone china tea, and we laid out a variety of exquisite pastries on the long table, enjoying an afternoon tea as we chatted and laughed along the way.
Halfway through, I went to use the restroom, only to find that it was broken—I couldn't open it no matter what I tried. So, I had to head to another compartment's restroom.
As soon as I closed the door, I noticed an invitation lying on the sink.
The invitation was very distinctive, and I couldn't help but pick it up. When I opened it, there was an intricate pop-up design. My photo popped up, and behind me, a ghostly paper figure held an ax, poised to strike my head.
I was startled, and my hand shook, causing the invitation to fall to the floor. Suddenly, my surroundings changed dramatically. I found my hands bound, hanging in a filthy slaughterhouse. The air was thick with the stench of blood and decay, with severed human limbs hanging around me and a pile of bloodstained clothes and shoes in the corner of the room.
What kind of place was this? How had I ended up here?
Click, clack.
I heard footsteps approaching from outside, sounding like someone wearing metal-tipped shoes.
The footsteps grew closer and stopped just outside the door. My heart pounded in panic as I struggled desperately, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break free from the rope.
Click.
The doorknob turned, and the worn, mottled wooden door slowly swung open.
A ghostly figure appeared in the doorway—it was the paper figure I had seen in the invitation!
The figure was draped in a huge black cloth that covered its entire body, with only a pair of pale, deathly hands visible, gripping a bloodstained axe. Step by step, it walked toward me.
Calm down, Yuan Junyao. You have to stay calm.
I was just on a train, and now I find myself here, tied up in an instant. What level of ghost could possess such immense power?
No, something's wrong!
I looked at the door behind the ghostly figure. It was half-open, revealing nothing but pitch-black darkness beyond. I couldn't see anything at all.
Suddenly, I understood—none of this was real. I wasn't kidnapped in the blink of an eye; the invitation carried a hint of ghostly aura that had invaded my mind, making me see these horrifying illusions.
As the ghostly figure drew nearer, a cold smile tugged at my lips.
"I am a cultivator who has awakened Divine Perception. Playing tricks like this in front of me is like showing off your axe in front of a master carpenter." With that, I closed my eyes and released my Divine Sense with a surge. Everything around me shattered instantly, and I found myself back in the restroom, holding the invitation.
Only then did I realize there was no picture of me on the invitation—just an image of a female paper doll. The reason I had thought it was me was also due to the influence of the ghostly aura.
I flipped the invitation over and saw a line of text: "Proceed immediately to Huanshan Middle School for the trial. Only those who pass the trial will survive. If you fail, everything in the illusion will become reality, and you will die, hacked into pieces."
Huanshan Middle School?
I rushed back to the luxury carriage and recounted what had happened. Xue Shao’s expression darkened.
"It seems that everyone who died before must have received an invitation like this," I said. "Their week-long stay at Huanshan Middle School was their trial, and ultimately, not a single one of them succeeded."
Everyone had died!
Xue Haotian’s face turned grim. "This is more complicated than it seems."
He summoned a train attendant and asked her to pull the security footage.
To ensure safety, high-speed trains have cameras installed everywhere, and the attendant soon brought over the footage.
Three minutes before I had gone to the restroom, a middle-aged woman had also been there. Her behavior was extremely strange—she wore a deep maroon down jacket, with the hood pulled up tightly, completely covering her face.
Xue Haotian turned to the train police and said, "Find that woman immediately."
The train police nodded and quickly began their search. Before long, someone reported that they had found her in the third carriage, but hadn’t acted yet to avoid alarming her.
Xue Haotian and I personally went over. As soon as we stepped through the carriage door, I felt something was off.
This is… ghostly aura!
I turned to Xue Haotian. "Something’s strange here. Clear the carriage."
Xue Haotian nodded and instructed the train police to evacuate the passengers. Cautiously, we approached the woman. She was sitting by the window, her head bowed, with her hood still up, as if she were asleep.
I used my Peachwood Sword to lift her hood. As soon as I did, her body slumped over, and one of the train police officers following us took one look, turned pale, and rushed off to the restroom to throw up.
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