???

I’d already opened the “Delete Contact” screen, finger hovering over the button…

Clearly, she was just messing with me.

Skinned someone alive? Total nonsense.

A flicker of anger stirred in my chest.

I’d actually thought I’d met someone I clicked with—turns out she’s just a creepy prankster?

All that “peach blossom tribulation,” that “first love experience”…

Every hopeful fantasy vanished in an instant.

My phone vibrated violently again.

I hesitated, then reopened our chat.

Another voice message. Frantic pounding on a door. Ragged, panicked breathing.

“I think the prank’s gone on long enough. I’m getting bored.”

I typed bluntly. Still… she sounded *too* real. A tiny part of me almost believed her.

But anyone with half a brain reviewing her earlier messages would call it pure nonsense.

“Please… help me…”

Liu Xiaozhen kept pleading.

Then I froze.

She’d just transferred 1,000 yuan to my account.

I tapped it—confirmed. The money was there.

“Come save me! I’ll give you even more!” she messaged.

Flustered, I scratched my head.

Seriously—if this were a prank, who’d send *that* much? Nearly my whole monthly allowance…

Right then, I believed her.

Without hesitation, I called the police.

If her story was true, the guy at her door was dangerous.

No amount of cash would make me walk into that alone.

Calling the cops was the only sane move. Drug lord or not—this was already my limit.

I stood, whistling lightly as I headed toward her address.

The sky had turned gloomy.

After a few turns off the main road, I reached a narrow, quiet alley.

One-way street. Scattered vegetable vendors lined the curb. Deeper in stood a cluster of crumbling apartment buildings.

The police should be here by now…

I stared down the shadowy lane at the darkened buildings and swallowed hard.

Why did this feel straight out of a horror movie?

“I blocked the door with my desk… and the wardrobe…”

“It should hold a little longer…”

“Are you here? He’s focused on the door—you can ambush him from behind!”

“Wait,” I typed. “You said your dad… *skinned* the man outside? What actually happened?”

…

I never knew what her ellipses meant.

She always sent them before long messages.

“I don’t know… I saw it: Dad argued with him over drug money, killed him with a knife. Then his buddies said they wanted human meat… so they skinned him.”

“Wait! Stop!”

“No normal person would believe this!” I typed fast, striding deeper into the alley.

“If your dad killed him, he *can’t* be pounding your door now! Dead men don’t pound doors!”

Vendors with no customers kept staring. When I glanced back, they quickly looked away.

Their expressions—startled?

…Was I *that* good-looking?

Eh, street stares were nothing new to me.

“Oh… why though…”

“Dead people don’t move…”

“But it *is* him pounding… yet he’s dead…”

She seemed to be untangling her own logic through texts.

“Exactly. So what’s real? Did you figure it out?”

“No! It’s *him*! He’s back—for revenge!”

“Dad’s dead… so he’s taking it out on *me*!”

“He’s getting in!”

“Hurry!”

“Save me”

??

After sending those question marks, silence.

I locked my phone, slipped it away, and glanced up at the heavy clouds.

I stood midway down the street. Her building loomed ahead.

The entrance gate stood before me.

A rust-eaten iron sign barely held the words: *Wanxiang Residential Area*.

Yeah… nothing “auspicious” about this dump.

Overcast dusk made everything unnaturally dim.

Not a single lit window. *That* eco-friendly?

No one had entered or left since I arrived. Was this even a real neighborhood?

Then—siren blaring, lights flashing—a police car turned in.

It pulled up. A laid-back-looking officer stepped out, sizing me up.

“You the caller?”

I nodded silently.

The driver got out too. Just two cops.

“Miss,” the first said, adjusting his cap, “lying to police carries a fine, you know. Where’s this drug lord killing someone?”

I showed them the chat log.

“It’s the *daughter* being attacked!”

They exchanged a glance—suppressed smirks, clear disbelief.

“Well… since we’re here, might as well check,” one muttered.

I followed them inside.

Only then did I notice demolition notices plastered everywhere. Just a few stubborn holdouts remained.

“Still there…?” I messaged Liu Xiaozhen.

No reply.

Right now, I *really* hoped this was just a cruel prank.

“Actually,” one cop murmured to the other, “this area *did* have a drug den busted years ago.”

“Yeah… ancient history,” the other shrugged.

Her apartment was on the third floor of the building ahead.

Prank… or something far worse?

We’d know in seconds.