All Realms and Worlds: The Lost Home

This scream was even more desperate, filled with extreme pain and fear, and trailed off with a long, drawn-out tone.

But just two seconds later, the sound was completely cut off, leaving only the hoarse echo of a throat being torn apart, and then utter silence.

gurgling—

The sound of copious amounts of blood flowing could be clearly heard, seeping wildly down the cracks in the floorboards and the stair steps.

The warm, pungent smell of blood instantly intensified several times, completely enveloping the entire corridor, pungent and nauseating.

"Another person has died! Someone else has died!"

The crowd erupted in chaos, everyone turning pale, trembling, and gripped by extreme panic and confusion.

"Who is it this time?! Who has gone missing again?!"

Everyone hurriedly counted heads and checked each other's numbers.

"Xiao Li is gone! Xiao Li was just sitting next to us against the wall!" A girl broke down in tears, frantically pointing to the empty spot. "He said he was a little cold and wanted to go upstairs to a room for some shelter. I saw him go up!"

"It took less than three minutes! The person was gone!!"

Two lives lost in a tragic accident!

Everyone's mentality completely collapsed!

"No! Something's definitely not right!" The middle-aged man gripped the steel bar tightly, veins bulging on the back of his hand, his voice trembling. "Both deaths, both were caused by individuals acting alone!"

"And neither time did I sense any eerie or sinister aura! No ghostly presence, no chilling oppression, no howling!"

"In the past, bizarre murders were always accompanied by an explosion of ghostly energy and howling winds, but this time there was nothing!"

This statement instantly hit the most crucial point of doubt!

The girl in the yoga outfit felt a chill run down her spine and replied in a low voice, "I didn't sense any strange energy fluctuations either."

"If it were a high-level, bizarre hunt, it couldn't have been so clean and efficient; it couldn't have left no trace!"

"Low-level anomalies are simply incapable of silent, instantaneous kills or continuous hunts!"

All the clues point to the most terrifying and despairing answer.

Ning Ye's eyes were icy as he slowly spoke, his voice low and chilling: "Stop deceiving yourselves, everyone."

"The ones hunting us tonight aren't ghosts."

"It's a person."

Those two short words were like two icicles, piercing deep into everyone's hearts!

The entire room fell into a deathly silence; you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone felt ice-cold all over, their backs went numb, and they couldn't believe it.

"Humans? How is that possible!" someone retorted, trembling. "There were only eight of us. Two are dead, and the remaining six are here!"

"Everyone was within sight, no one left, no one was alone! Who had the opportunity to kill?!"

"Could it be that the killer has been lurking in the shadows all along, toying with us from beginning to end?!"

Suspicion, fear, and doubt completely shattered the last vestiges of trust among the people.

The survivors, who had been huddled together, instantly and instinctively moved away from each other, wary of one another, their eyes fixed on each other with fierce yet panicked expressions.

You doubt me, I suspect you; the enclosed stairwell has become a battlefield of mutual distrust.

"Everyone calm down! Don't panic. Killing each other will only hasten your deaths!" Ning Ye immediately shouted to stop them. "The killer is hidden among us. The more internal strife we ​​create, the easier it will be for them to strike!"

"From now on, no one is allowed to act alone, not even to the restroom or to change shifts; everyone must go in pairs!"

"Maintain eye contact at all times; no one may stray from the group!"

"As long as we stick together and defend our territory, the killer won't have a chance to strike!"

Everyone nodded quickly. At this moment, Ning Ye had become the backbone of everyone. Only by following him could they have any hope of survival.

Even though everyone was on guard, the lurking killing intent did not cease.

At two o'clock in the morning, the darkness is at its thickest and the yin energy is at its heaviest in the entire ghost city.

huh-huh-

The wind outside surged again, violently battering the old, broken windowpane, causing it to rattle and shatter at any moment.

The temperature in the hallway plummeted, and the icy chill seeped into everyone's clothes, making them shiver.

After the two consecutive murders, no one dared to close their eyes or rest; they kept their eyes wide open, on high alert.

Everyone's eyes were bloodshot, and they were exhausted both physically and mentally, yet they dared not relax for a moment.

"I can't take it anymore..." A short-haired girl said in a hoarse voice, her face full of exhaustion. "I've been on edge the whole time, my brain is about to explode."

"Who would have thought that after escaping a bizarre pursuit, one would still have to be wary of those closest to them..."

"Who...who is behind this murder?! Come out and fight me head-on! What kind of coward is this, sneaking around like this?!"

No one answered her roar; the darkness remained deathly silent, and the killer remained elusive.

Just then, the little girl in the floral dress, who had been silently huddled at the very back of the line without uttering a word, stirred slightly.

She kept her head down, her long hair covering most of her face, and no one could see that her eyes were completely dark and lifeless.

Unseen by anyone, the pink balloon floating beside her grinned more and more grotesquely, wisps of black mist escaping from its gaping mouth.

Hehe... Hehehe...

A faint, eerie laugh escaped from the balloon once more, perfectly masked by the sounds of the wind and people.

The little girl lightly lifted her foot, her movements stiff and mechanical, like a marionette, slowly breaking away from the group and moving towards the dark corner to the side.

Her movements were so light and inconspicuous that none of the tired and tense crowd noticed.

Only in the corner, the thin boy who had always been taciturn and had a keen eye for observation glanced at it unintentionally.

He was the most inconspicuous of all the survivors, small in stature and timid in character, but possessed a keen eye for detail far beyond that of ordinary people.

From the moment the first scream rang out, he had been silently observing everyone's every move.

At that moment, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his heart jolted violently!

Others might not see the details in the dark, but because he had been observing in the dark for a long time, his eyesight had long since adapted to the pitch-black environment.

He saw it clearly and completely!

I saw the little girl's stiff and strange gait!

I saw that hideous, exaggerated, and inhumanly sinister smile on her lips!

I saw a pink balloon with its mouth wide open floating beside her!

I also saw that there was still some fresh, bright red blood under her sleeve!

In an instant, all the doubts, all the inconsistencies, and all the truths of the murder case came together!

Why is there no eerie aura?

Why is it so silent?

Why do killers always manage to find a lone victim and commit murder?

Because the killer was never an outsider, nor was he a strange creature in the building!

It was this little girl whom everyone let their guard down and whom everyone thought was innocent and harmless!

It is a puppet that has been completely corrupted and distorted by smiley face balloons!

The skinny boy felt every hair on his body stand on end, his scalp tingling, and extreme fear instantly overwhelmed him!

He covered his mouth tightly, forcibly suppressing the scream in his throat, not daring to make a sound.

He fears!

He was afraid that if he made a sound, he would be the next to die!

But looking at his unsuspecting companions ahead, still distrustful of each other, and at the monstrous little girl who could strike again at any moment, he had no choice but to speak up!

If we don't speak up, everyone will be silently slaughtered!

He took a deep breath, mustered all his courage, and with trembling hands raised his finger, pointing to the little girl in the dark corner.

His pupils trembled, his lips quivered, and with the last of his strength, he managed to utter the words with difficulty.

"It's...it's her...the murderer is...Xiao..."

laugh--!

Before the words were finished, a faint, sharp sound of wind being cut suddenly rang out!

In the darkness, a pitch-black afterimage shot out instantly!

The speed was so fast that Ning Ye and the girl in the yoga outfit didn't even have time to react!

Everyone only saw a blur before their eyes!

next second!

Heh...heh...

The skinny boy let out a broken, breathy sound, his eyes widened instantly, and his pupils became completely dilated.

A blinding crimson spurt erupted wildly from his neck!

Blood splattered three feet high, staining the cold walls and the dust on the ground red!

He stood frozen in place, his finger still pointing at the murderer, his eyes fixed on extreme terror and resentment.

That sentence was never fully uttered!

The truth was completely stifled by darkness!

Puff-!

The thin boy's body went limp, and he collapsed into a pool of blood, lifeless.

The entire room fell silent!

Everyone froze instantly, their minds went blank, and their breathing stopped!

No one could tell where the attack came from!

No one saw how the killer made his move!

Only the splattered blood and the suddenly cold corpses on the ground silently spoke of fear.

In a dark corner, the little girl in the floral dress slowly withdrew her slender hand.

The crimson blood stained his fingertips dripped slowly down his fingertips.

She kept her head down, and the eerie, sinister smile on her lips grew increasingly exaggerated and sinister.

The pink balloon beside him burst open with a giant mouth, laughing silently.

Hehe... Hehehe...