Strange game designer.

Chapter 860 Mass Hysteria
"Holy crap!" Old Ma cursed instinctively, using both hands and feet to hide behind Xue Se: "When did this old lady arrive? She didn't even make a sound."

With her hands clasped together, the disheveled old woman bowed to Xue Se, muttering something under her breath. Despite her advanced age, she bent over stiffly in worship.

"Isn't this shortening your lifespan?" Old Ma felt that the scene in front of him was indescribably strange. The old man didn't come closer, but just followed them.

Looking around, Xue Se found no one and no surveillance cameras. He took out his sidearm and pointed the dark muzzle at the old woman: "Get lost! Don't interfere with the investigation."

The old man wouldn't listen at all; he seemed to have gone mad, speaking even faster and incomprehensibly, which was quite eerie.

"Are you having a fit? Second warning! Get out!" Xue Se treats everyone equally and doesn't give preferential treatment just because the other party is an elderly person or a child. He didn't back down, but walked forward with his gun in hand, pressing the heavy gun down on the old lady's head.

"This is the third warning. If you don't stop, this will be considered assaulting a police officer and interfering with official duties."

"Please, lend me a way to live, please lend me a way to live..." The old woman's cloudy eyes looked at Xue Se through her dirty white hair. Her gaze was not that of someone she was looking at, but full of longing and malice.

"I'll lend you my ***!" Xue Se raised the butt of his gun and slammed it down, pinning the old woman to the ground on the stairs. He took out handcuffs, intending to restrain her, but perhaps feeling it was a waste to give them to such an elderly woman, he raised the butt of his gun again and slammed it down until the old woman could no longer stand up before stopping.

"You beat up the old lady?" Old Ma was shocked. Unlike the refined and gentle Dr. Gao, Xue Se had a violent streak hidden in his bones. Old Ma had seen with his own eyes that a trace of blood had just appeared deep in the other party's eyes.

"Who saw it? We need evidence to do things." Xue Se wasn't worried; any of his informants could easily take the blame for him.

Xue Se didn't waste much time retreating to the first floor, but things were different here than before.

Above the connecting corridor, each doorway displays a black-and-white portrait of a deceased person, with fruit and rice piled up next to the photos. The people in the photos have vivid expressions, as if they might sneak a peek at you when you're not looking.

"The building entrance seems to be locked."

The smell of burning paper money wafted from the other side of the corridor. The smoke lingered inside the tower, and no residents complained or expressed their dissatisfaction. Every household's door was tightly shut, and apart from the crazy old woman from earlier, no one else could be seen in the corridor.

He kicked the unit door several times, but the iron door didn't budge. The loud noise caused some changes in the surroundings. Xue Se sensed something was wrong and called for help while retreating into the emergency exit. It seemed like something was approaching in the swirling dust.

"Don't make a sound, stay still." Xue Se leaned down and peered through the smoke from the burning paper money towards the corridor. In the smoke, red clothing could be vaguely seen swaying. It was a figure wearing a strange hat and a red coat.

It is described as an object because its movement is completely different from that of a human. It appears and disappears, and is estimated to be two meters tall. It wears a mask with a protruding "longevity" character on its face, shakes a basket full of needles and thread and longevity packages in its left hand, and holds rusty black scissors in its right hand, constantly cutting something in the smoke and dust.

"Playing tricks." If the unit door hadn't been locked, Xue Se probably would have fired a shot at the other party to see if he could physically exorcise the demon. He had no respect for these strange beings, only felt annoyed and wanted to tear off his own skin, dig out bloody marks, and frantically bite them.

"The gardener's diary says that everyone in this world is sick, and the more normal a person seems, the more abnormal they are. All the signs that are showing in my subconscious seem to be corroborating his statement. How can a gardener with little education see things so clearly? Is this his own idea? Or did Dr. Gao teach him?" Unconsciously, Xue Se had drifted off into thought. Only after being reminded by Old Ma did he look back at the corridor.

Wearing a mask and sporting a deformed red mask, he entered the connecting corridor of the next unit. Every household remained indoors. Once the smoke and dust had cleared somewhat, a young man appeared, holding a portrait of a deceased man and stuffing fruit offerings into his pockets. "This kid..." Xue Se leaned out, quietly closing the distance. After talking with the neighbors in the community where the man had been strangled, he had specifically sought out photos of Li Shou and Li Zhi. The young man before him was Li Zhi, and the portrait he held was of Li Shou, the housing allocation manager.

"Those neighbors said that Li Shou disappeared in this community, and his son came looking for him. Could it be that Li Zhi has been living in the Death Time community all this time and has never left?" Xue Se had many questions she wanted to find out, such as whether Dr. Gao's family actually had a father.

Once the strange red thing was out of sight, Xue Se immediately darted out, grabbed Li Zhi from behind, and slammed him against the wall: "Don't move! I'm a police officer!"

Li Zhi was startled. His eyes, like scattered spheres, rolled around in their sockets, unfocused. His arms were also limp and boneless, without any strength.

"I'm here to investigate the disappearance of your father, Li Shou. Please cooperate."

"Cooperate, hehe, don't kill me, cooperate..." Li Zhi's words were incoherent, and he seemed somewhat confused.

"You've been living in this building all this time? You've never gone out?" Xue Se grabbed Li Zhi by the collar; the man was covered in a thick layer of paper dust.

"Live, live in a box."

"Box?"

"Black box, white box, and red box, such a big red box, mouths everywhere, bite by bite, never full, never full!" Li Zhi chuckled again. His body was as thick as a noodle. Normally he wasn't that old, but his face was already wrinkled and his temples were all white.

As he continued, Li Zhi clapped and giggled loudly, causing footsteps to be heard in the houses on both sides. Xue Se, worried that someone was peeking through the peephole, tried to pull Li Zhi to the safety passage.

Just as he made a move, Old Ma spoke up to remind him, "Officer Xue, that red monster seems to have stopped, it seems... it's turning back, it's coming to find us!"

The red monster was very fast, and Lao Ma took off running. Officer Xue grabbed Li Zhi with one hand and held a gun in the other. He didn't want Lao Ma to get out of his sight, so he could only chase after Lao Ma into the safety passage.

Returning the way they came, the old lady who had collapsed on the stairs earlier was nowhere to be seen. Xue Se didn't have time to think about it further and ran all the way to the fifth floor before catching up with Lao Ma: "Calm down."

The building wasn't safe, so Xue Se wanted to calm himself down first. He grabbed Li Zhi and pulled him in front of him, saying, "Take me to where you live!"

Li Zhi, grinning foolishly, seemed to understand, but he raised his limp hand and pointed in a certain direction. The two of them and a horse arrived at the corner of the fifth floor in front of an inconspicuous rental house.

The door was covered with advertisements, the floor was covered with grime and scattered rotten vegetable leaves, and there were nail marks on the wall next to it. On the other side, there was a large frame containing various old items wrapped in red cloth.

(End of this chapter)