006 Trapped in the Dormitory Building

“Chen Hao? What are you doing here?” The muscular man before me was not only the president of D University’s Taekwondo Club, but also my classmate, Chen Hao.

“I have no idea,” Chen Hao replied, rubbing his head with a helpless expression. “I overslept this afternoon, and when I woke up, everyone was gone.”

“I saw you passed out in front of Zhou Zhenyu’s dorm door, so I just dragged you inside.”

Dragged me inside? He clearly kicked me into the room. Chen Hao lived in dorm 308, right next to Zhou Zhenyu. No wonder he suddenly appeared; after all the times I called out, he must have heard my voice.

But what about Carbon Head? Was he still stuck in 306? Or had he encountered something terrible in the hallway? I hurriedly sent him a few more messages, but received no reply.

Suddenly, all light vanished. I felt Chen Hao’s presence as I stared at the dim sky outside the window.

“The power’s out,” Chen Hao said, cautiously walking to the door. I quickly grabbed him. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving, obviously. Do you want to stay cooped up in the dorm?” Chen Hao looked at me like I was an idiot.

“Damn it.” I darted in front of the door. “Don’t you know there’s toxic gas in the hallway?”

Chen Hao shook his head. “I woke up to your voice and just came out.”

“So, you don’t know anything?” Chen Hao shook his head again. I held my head in frustration. “Can you at least assess our environment before figuring out our next move?”

“What environment? It’s just the dorm building. What’s there to figure out?”

“I… I… Can you at least look downstairs? From the window.” His honest answer left me speechless; arguing with him was pointless, so I just had him look outside.

Chen Hao craned his neck to look outside. Down below, a dense crowd waited for a solution.

But Chen Hao turned to me and said, “Zijian, look! They’re all waiting for us to come out!”

I couldn’t believe this big guy hadn’t grasped the situation. “Those people downstairs have already escaped! Only a few of us are left here! Got it?”

“Oh?”

“Oh!”

“We’re trapped here!!”

Thank heavens, he finally understood. Carbon Head replied to my message: “I’m in 307, together with Li Feng.”

Li Feng? The long-legged guy from last semester’s sports meet? He’d been the center of attention at the freshman games, winning over a legion of female admirers.

“Are you okay? Let’s hurry and regroup.”

After sending that message, I grabbed Chen Hao and forced him out of the dorm. Chen Hao grumbled, “You just said not to go out, and now you’re dragging me along.”

I ignored his complaints, quickly pounding on the door of 307.

“Open up! Carbon Head!”

Carbon Head heard my voice and hurriedly opened the door. At last, the four of us were together. After a brief exchange, we pieced together what had happened. Carbon Head had tried to find me but was attacked by some unknown creature in the hallway. If Li Feng hadn’t dragged him into 307, the outcome would have been disastrous.

Still, staying in the dorm wasn’t a solution. Our supplies amounted to a few bags of instant noodles and a water dispenser. The bizarre smell was growing stronger, and who knew how long it would linger. The school staff had vanished. Most crucially, I had no idea if the toxic gas would seep into the dorms.

If the dense fog invaded, whether it was the poisonous stench or the unknown creatures, both could kill us with ease. We had to break out and join the others outside—only then was there a glimmer of hope.

We tore bed sheets into strips, soaked towels in water, and covered our mouths and noses, wrapping the strips around for extra protection. This would let us resist the gas for a short time. We dismantled four iron rods from the beds’ mosquito net frames—one for each of us to use as a weapon. Ready at last, we exchanged glances, opened the door, and charged out.

Our hurried footsteps echoed through the night hallway. We ran toward the stairs and reached the second floor, but thick gas still lingered. The towels over our mouths no longer filtered enough air. So we turned into the second-floor washroom to get water.

But just as we entered, a loud bang sounded. Chen Hao, leading the way, was struck and sent flying over our heads, landing heavily on the floor.

“Watch out!” I barely finished speaking when Li Feng screamed—an ominous shadow slammed into him, knocking him out of sight.

Now only Carbon Head and I remained. I watched the unknown creature looming in the fog—it stood two meters tall.

I raised my playing cards defensively. A dazzling golden light burst from the copper mirror on the back of the cards, pushing back some of the thick fog and revealing the creature’s true form.

It was two meters tall, with skin smooth as porcelain and, most strikingly, teeth shaped like an inverted triangle—so sharp they were terrifying. I instinctively stepped back. The cards seemed useless against her. They dispersed the deadly gas, but they couldn’t drive away this monster.

“The Faceless One…”

Carbon Head murmured, “She really exists…”

“Carbon Head, what do you know?” I grabbed him and fled, no longer caring about Chen Hao or Li Feng. With the cards’ protection, at least we could ignore the toxic gas, but a sharp ache shot through my arm—the Faceless One blocked our escape, and several bloody scratches appeared on my arm.

I stared at her inverted triangle teeth, beads of my blood clinging to them.

“She’s the protagonist of a horror story,” Carbon Head stammered, “In 1972, she used her fangs to kill several doctors and nurses at a hospital in Los Angeles.”

“She had no expression, killed without emotion, so people called her the Faceless One.”

Carbon Head and I edged backward. The Faceless One’s throat emitted a chilling, cackling laugh as she drew closer.

Cornered, I hurled my playing cards, hoping for a miracle. Unfortunately, the cards missed her entirely and fell to the floor.

Carbon Head gasped, his teeth chattering, and pulled a card from his pocket.

“Get away!” He mimicked me and threw his playing card. This time, the card seemed alive—it struck the Faceless One’s face, and a crack appeared. Her body began to split apart.

Crack, crack.

The Faceless One’s body shattered like a broken porcelain bowl, disintegrating into powder, leaving only the playing card amid the dust.

Still shaken, Carbon Head slumped to the ground while I braced myself and retrieved both his and my cards.

Mine was the Two of Spades; his was the Ace of Diamonds.

“Carbon Head, stay here. I’m going to look for Li Feng and Chen Hao.” I placed the Ace of Diamonds in his hand and turned to leave.

Carbon Head grabbed me and shook his head. “Don’t go yet!”

“Relax, you have this card! You’ll be fine!” I broke free and ran back to the washroom. Somehow, I sensed the playing cards held more secrets, but at least they could protect us.

I found Chen Hao unconscious beneath the sink, with an inconspicuous playing card in his pocket—the Two of Diamonds. I didn’t take it; instead, I pushed it deeper into his pocket and woke him up. Being trained in Taekwondo, he wasn’t badly hurt.

After rousing Chen Hao, we found Li Feng beneath the windowsill. Chen Hao hoisted him up. I checked him over—aside from a few bruises, he wasn’t bleeding. Really, I just wanted to confirm my theory: did everyone have a mysterious playing card? Apparently not—Li Feng wasn’t a holder.

After the three of us regrouped with Carbon Head, a crowd suddenly appeared in the hallway—among them, my roommates.

“Fourth!” Our leader rushed over, seeing my disheveled state. “What happened to you? Why are you such a mess?”

I smiled, offering no explanation, and asked, “How did you all come back?”

“We smelled the stench fade from downstairs, so we hurried up with the others.”

Seeing the familiar faces behind him, I felt a warmth in my chest.

Friends truly are a blessing.

I handed Carbon Head over to his roommates and bid farewell to Li Feng and Chen Hao, then followed our leader back to my own dorm.

At last, things had come to an end. Tonight, I might finally get some sleep.

I gazed at the moon outside the window, only to see a face in the corner.

Instantly, goosebumps rose. That expressionless face and inverted triangle teeth stared at me from outside.

But in the next moment, the face vanished…