Chapter 16 Silicone

Zhao Hao, having just finished vomiting, was utterly shattered by the scene before him.

He had always considered himself rather depraved—watching adult films daily and relying on his own hands to satisfy his desires.

Yet, he never imagined that Brother Xiu, with his righteous and dignified appearance, could be even more audacious.

Daring to take advantage of a specter?

However, recalling what Fang Xiu had said earlier, Zhao Hao quickly grasped the purpose behind this madness.

Perhaps he had been shocked one too many times, or maybe Fang Xiu's composure lent him some courage. Or it could be that deep within every ordinary person slumbers a yearning for the extraordinary. A whirlwind of complex emotions surged within him, and in a moment of reckless resolve, he gritted his teeth and stepped forward toward the female doctor.

Fang Xiu, seeing him approach, immediately slid his hand aside, making room for Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao stared at the long, pale, slender legs before him, reaching out with trembling hands as if grasping for a venomous serpent.

"To hell with it! Here goes nothing!"

"Holy sh*t! It's freezing!"

He gasped sharply but did not withdraw his hand.

The two of them continued their bizarre experiment, yet no discernible change occurred.

At that moment, Zhao Hao suddenly spoke up, "Never in my life did I think that the first time I'd touch a woman's thigh, it would belong to a ghost. But I've got to admit, these legs are ridiculously long—almost longer than my lifespan."

Fang Xiu shot him a glance, not because of the joke but because he saw potential in Zhao Hao.

Though terrified at first, Zhao Hao adapted quickly—quickly enough to start cracking jokes.

Even if humor was his way of masking fear, not everyone had the nerve to jest in such a dire situation.

"One minute's up. Thirty more seconds, then we leave. We need enough time to escape." Fang Xiu spoke decisively.

Zhao Hao nodded.

Time slipped away, and in the blink of an eye, thirty seconds had passed.

"Go!"

Fang Xiu turned and fled without hesitation, Zhao Hao right on his heels.

Fang Xiu wouldn't have taken such a gamble unless he had some degree of certainty. After all, he had previously "entered" Qingshan Asylum. Though he hadn't explored the entire facility, he had memorized its general layout and a few routes.

Thus, he was confident he could use the terrain to create distance from the female doctor.

However, just as the two of them reached the corridor's end and turned the corner—disaster struck.

A few strands of black hair suddenly drifted down before Fang Xiu's eyes.

He looked up—straight into the ghostly pale pupils of the female doctor.

Impossible!

His heart clenched. Had he miscalculated the entity's killing pattern? According to his estimation, they should have had at least two more minutes to flee—so why had she caught up so quickly?

His gaze snapped toward Li Feifei's corpse.

And his pupils shrank.

Her body had been completely devoured, reduced to a pool of blood. Floating within that crimson puddle—several chunks of silicone.

Silicone.

Fake.

Fang Xiu's mind reeled. He had never expected to fail due to such an oversight. It was his own inexperience—his naive assumption that all women were "real."

Yet in this world, deception was rampant.

Shing!

A flash of silver.

His vision spun as his severed head soared into the air before crashing heavily onto the floor.

May there be no silicone in heaven.

—

Cold.

Smooth.

The peculiar texture pressed against his palm.

As Fang Xiu awoke, he was stunned to find himself not in his wife's embrace, but once again groping the female doctor's thigh.

Beside him, Zhao Hao had also reached out.

Fang Xiu swiftly pulled out his phone, checking the time.

Death had reset him—right to the moment they were touching her thigh.

A thought surfaced.

Could it be that... his death resets weren't time-based, but event-based?

Like checkpoints in a game—the first stage being the area near the rental apartment, the second being Qingshan Asylum.

Since he had cleared the first stage, his respawn point had automatically moved to the second.

There was no time to dwell on the theory. His previous death had been caused by silicone—this time, he would not repeat the same mistake.

"Let's go."

Zhao Hao hesitated. "Brother Xiu, we just started… This is my first—"

Before he could finish, Fang Xiu turned and left.

Zhao Hao dared not stay alone and hurried after him.

Then, from ahead, Fang Xiu's voice drifted back, eerily calm.

"Both front and back—silicone. The flesh content isn't enough to buy us much time."

Zhao Hao froze.

Then his eyes widened in shock. "Silicone?! No wonder they were so—"

The two sprinted down the corridor.

At the end, there was only one right turn. Without hesitation, they took it.

A staircase emerged before them.

"Down." Fang Xiu commanded, and they raced down the stairs.

The dim light grew fainter.

Darkness, thick like dust motes, floated through the air.

They ran.

One floor.

Two floors.

Three—

Then—footsteps.

A chaotic clamor echoed from ahead, followed by panicked screams.

"A ghost! A ghost is catching up!"

Fang Xiu recognized the voice—it was one of his colleagues.

He sped up, leaping down the stairs. As he neared, he confirmed his suspicions—

It was Wang Zitong and his group.

Relief flickered across their faces.

Clearly, they had mistaken Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao for something far worse.

"It's just Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao! D*mn, you nearly scared me to death!" one of them gasped.

Zhao Hao, puzzled, asked, "Why are you guys so slow?"

"Slow?! We've run down at least twenty floors! How the hell did you two catch up so fast?"

"Twenty floors?!" Zhao Hao paled. "That's impossible! Brother Xiu and I only descended three floors before running into you."

"What?!"

"Zhao Hao, this is no time for jokes."

Fang Xiu remained silent, lost in thought.

Then, realization dawned on Wang Zitong. His expression twisted in horror.

"A ghost wall!" he gasped. "It has to be a ghost wall! My cousin told me before—specters can create illusions, trapping people in endless loops!"

"Once you're caught in one, you'll keep going in circles forever—never escaping!"

"That's why Fang Xiu and Zhao Hao caught up to us so fast. We've been running in circles!"

His words sent panic rippling through the group.

"If anyone has anything extra on them, drop it on the ground as a marker," Fang Xiu's steady voice cut through the chaos.

Understanding his intent, Wang Zitong hastily pulled a condom from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor.

The others followed suit, dropping bills, cigarettes, whatever they had.

Then they ran again.

Down the stairs.

Half a floor—

Then a turn.

And there, scattered across the steps, lay the very items they had just discarded.

"This… This is my lighter…"

"And my money!"

"We're doomed! It really is a ghost wall! We'll never get out!"