Chapter 80: The Aloof Heartthrob Su Cheng

"Did you see anything just now pass outside the door?"
Su Cheng had not yet had time to see clearly when a blurred shadow swiftly darted into the guest room opposite.
Ji Ze felt a chill run through his whole body, his face contorted into a smile uglier than crying. "Don’t scare me. There aren’t really ghosts in this house, are there?"
"There are. And they’re right before our eyes."
Trembling in fear, Ji Ze followed Su Cheng’s gaze to the empty guest room across the hall.
At that moment, the door to the guest room creaked open from inside, leaving a narrow gap.
A jet-black eye appeared in the crack, staring at them with a terrifying intensity.
"G-ghost, ghost, ghost, ghost..." Ji Ze felt as though a bucket of icy water had been poured over his head, chilling him from scalp to toes. His eyes widened involuntarily, his expression twisted with terror, and he could hardly speak.
What frightened him even more was that Su Cheng stood up and walked straight toward the haunted guest room.
"What are you doing?"
Su Cheng glanced back with a calm smile. "Going to meet the ghost. Perhaps it knows something."
"Don’t joke around."
"Do I look like I’m joking? Want to come along? The ghost seems lonely—more people, more merriment."
Ji Ze immediately gave in, shaking his head desperately.
"Alright, then I’ll leave you in charge of watching over Natsumi’s body."
Gulp.
A chill wind swept across the back of Ji Ze’s neck, and he swallowed with difficulty, feeling as if someone were blowing cold air right behind him.
Frightened, Ji Ze turned to glance at the corpse lying flat on the floor. At that moment, the body suddenly twitched...
Stepping into the guest room opposite, Su Cheng immediately saw the small, obedient shadow of the ghost sitting inside.
"Big brother, let’s play a game."
Genta’s spirit ran over, radiant with joy, and grabbed Su Cheng’s hand.
"Alright, what do you want to play?" Su Cheng sat down before Genta, as if ready to take the game seriously.
"Let’s play making scary faces. Whoever laughs first loses."
With that, Genta hooked his forefinger at his eye, stuck his little finger into his mouth, and pulled backward with all his might.
His face twisted like malleable clay, mouth stretched wide, a tongue as black as ink protruding grotesquely. His eyes bulged so wide that, perhaps from the strain, two lines of fresh blood seeped from his pupils.
Drip, drip.
Dark red blood slid down his face, drops splattering the floor like tiny blossoms.
Any normal person confronted with such a terrifying face would never laugh—even keeping from crying would be an accomplishment.
If Su Cheng were to flee in terror now, Genta would surely turn into a vengeful spirit and trigger the deadly trap. He had no choice but to continue the game.
"Your turn, big brother," Genta said expectantly.
Su Cheng thought for a moment, then opened the wardrobe and drawers of the guest room.
This room seemed to belong to several girls from the photography club; inside hung a few pretty dresses.
No way he’d wear women’s clothes—not in this lifetime.
He selected a tacky headscarf and two ballpoint pens.

Then, Su Cheng tied the headscarf around his head, stuck the ballpoint pens into his nostrils, and jutted out his jaw, mimicking the classic comic image of a pig-nosed fool.
Genta paused, then burst into laughter, clutching his stomach and rolling on the floor.
Watching Genta laugh so hard he could hardly breathe, Su Cheng calmly pulled out the pens, sighing inwardly. Thank goodness no one saw him make that face—otherwise, his aloof, godlike persona would be utterly ruined.
"Thank you, big brother. Genta had so much fun."
A satisfied smile appeared on Genta’s face. His figure gradually became translucent, a sacred light shining from within his spirit as he vanished before Su Cheng’s eyes.
It seemed Genta’s soul had found peace.
But there were no clues to the story here. Could he have guessed wrong?
Just then, Su Cheng noticed a black wallet lying where Genta had disappeared.
He bent to pick it up. Inside were a stack of yen bills, a bunch of keys, a few credit cards, and other odds and ends.
Searching the wallet thoroughly, Su Cheng found a photograph.
It depicted a radiant young woman, looking about twenty-five, very beautiful.
"This wallet’s design is for men; could she be the owner’s girlfriend?" Su Cheng could find no further clues, so he put the wallet away.
As he left the guest room, a strange sound suddenly arose from across the hall.
"Help, help!"
The cry for help echoed in the room; Ji Ze seemed to have encountered something unimaginably terrifying, his screams particularly wretched.
"What happened?"
When Su Cheng opened the door, he saw Natsumi’s corpse had come alive, like a wild horse galloping across the plains, straddling Ji Ze and moving up and down.
This corpse, like the one Su Cheng had encountered in the bathroom—Tomoko Matsumura—had become a zombie.
Su Cheng was about to help, when his eye caught an indescribable puddle of DNA on the floor, causing him to ponder.
He’d only been gone for less than three minutes.
Could Ji Ze really be so quick?
But to face such a terrifying and disgusting female corpse and still manage to do that—what kind of taste did he have?
"Save me!" Ji Ze’s neck was gripped by the corpse, his face turning purple, about to be strangled to death.
A black hand reached from behind the zombie, grabbing her throat.
Then Su Cheng roughly pulled the female corpse off Ji Ze and slammed her against the door with a loud bang.
Now the corpse’s expression grew even more ferocious and terrifying. Like a bloodthirsty ghoul, she bared her fangs and lunged at him with a low growl.
Su Cheng, however, stood his ground; as casually as swatting a mosquito, he smacked the corpse and sent her flying.
Her body shot out of the room like a meteor, crashing hard into the corridor wall.
But when Su Cheng chased after, the female corpse had vanished.
Escaped?
Su Cheng’s heart sank. He felt invisible hands manipulating everything from behind the scenes. Perhaps the murderer was only a puppet.
What puzzled him was, what did the mastermind hope to achieve by controlling Natsumi’s corpse?
*Cough, cough,* Ji Ze finally caught his breath after two violent coughs, but his face was ghastly pale, his eyes filled with deep terror.
If Su Cheng hadn’t driven off the zombie just in time, Ji Ze would either have been strangled or scared insane.

"I see you two were having a good time—did I interrupt?" Su Cheng joked.
Ji Ze blushed awkwardly. "Uh, don’t misunderstand—that was vomit from the corpse. She sprayed it all over me just now."
It turned out that the puddle resembling DNA was milk Natsumi had drunk that evening.
The terrifying atmosphere eased a bit, and Ji Ze regained his composure.
The two searched the landlady’s room for a spare key, but found nothing, so they went downstairs to the living room.
Back in the living room, Su Cheng ran into Saya Kaori, who looked extremely anxious. Something urgent must have happened while he was gone.
"Bad news! Akito Yamada had a huge fight with Oshima just now, then stole the fruit knife and ran out. Oshima is already chasing him," Saya Kaori fretted like an ant on a hot pan.
At that moment, Su Cheng remembered something and handed Saya Kaori the photograph he’d found in the wallet. "Do you know who this girl is?"
Saya Kaori examined the photo closely, surprise filling her face. "Oh, that’s Senior Yui."
"She’s also a member of the photography club, right? Why didn’t she come with you this time?"
"Senior Yui was in a car accident a few months ago. Her face was disfigured in the crash," Saya Kaori’s eyes showed a hint of sorrow. "Afterward, unable to bear it, she jumped from the hospital window when the nurse wasn’t looking. Fortunately, the hospital wasn’t very tall, and she was rescued. She’s still in the hospital, undergoing rehabilitation."
"A car accident? Do you know the details?"
Saya Kaori shook her head. "I wasn’t in the car, but Tomoko told me it was caused by Yamada driving while exhausted. The car crashed into a wall, and broken glass cut Senior Yui’s face."
"Yamada was there? Who else was in the car?"
"It was a club outing. Senior Yui’s car had four people: Tomoko, Yamada, and Natsumi."
A spark flashed through Su Cheng’s mind. The two girls who sat in the car with Senior Yui had both died. Was it only coincidence?
If the killer’s motive was revenge for Senior Yui, then the next target would be the one responsible for the car accident—Akito Yamada.
"Does Senior Yui have a boyfriend?"
Saya Kaori thought carefully. "I heard Oshima tried to pursue her, but she turned him down."
"Do you think the car accident is related to these murders?" Ji Ze noticed Su Cheng’s expression shift and asked curiously.
"There’s no time to explain. The killer’s next target is probably Yamada."
The murderer was finally about to appear.
Dark ink spread across the night; a cold midnight breeze rippled the pond, creating rings on its surface.
Akito Yamada, who had fled from the living room, appeared in the courtyard. Before him stood a woman, her back turned.
"Natsumi, I didn’t kill anyone. You must believe me."
The woman turned, throwing herself into Yamada’s arms, her hands clasped around his back.
Yamada held the cold body, his eyes glazed with confusion and longing.
The next moment, the woman took the fruit knife from his hand and, pointing its sharp blade at his back, plunged it in.
Squish.
The sound of steel piercing flesh rang out.
Blood spouted from Yamada’s back.
The biting night wind swept past, carrying a ghostly, chilling voice to his ear.
"Yamada, come to hell with me."