Thriller！Me? The Death Knight

"Yi Bai, I have some suspicions, but to confirm them, I'll need your help," he said, his eyes gleaming as he spoke slowly.

"What do you need me to do?" Lina asked, as straightforward as ever.

"It's simple, just..." Yi Bai leaned in close, his breath brushing against her delicate earring as he whispered the instructions.

Lina shivered slightly but forced herself to ignore the strange sensation. Her pale cheeks flushed a deep red. When Yi Bai finished speaking, she let out a sigh of relief but felt an inexplicable sense of loss.

"Do you remember?" Yi Bai asked, his voice soft.

"Uh..." Lina's bright eyes blinked rapidly. "I... think I didn't quite get all of it..."

"Should I explain again?" Yi Bai asked, his tone patient. He didn't mind spending more time with Lina, especially since there was no rush.

"Sure," Lina whispered, almost inaudible.

Yi Bai's lips curled into a faint, almost mischievous smile. He leaned in again, his voice dropping to a low murmur as he repeated the instructions.

A few moments later, he asked, "Do you remember now?"

"Sorry... I think I missed a few details..." Lina mumbled, her voice small.

"It's alright. I'll explain again," Yi Bai reassured her with a gentle smile.

"Mm!" Lina nodded eagerly, leaning in closer, clearly intent on listening carefully this time.

Half an hour passed in relative silence. The two of them, one human, one ghost, moved in perfect synchronization, walking further down the corridor with a noticeable distance between them.

As they neared the morgue, Lina's figure gradually faded from view. Only Yi Bai was left, slowly advancing into the cold, desolate space.

The morgue was eerie and quiet, filled with orderly rows of body storage drawers and the cold, lifeless remains of the deceased. To those with a weak heart, even a few minutes here might be enough to drive them to madness.

Yi Bai was no exception to that. But with Lina silently watching over him from the shadows, he didn't feel quite as anxious.

"Choosing a suitable arm is one thing. But wanting to use the ghoul's hand to get rid of me—that's another matter," Yi Bai thought to himself. "The ghoul in the morgue is most likely something that He Yi deliberately allowed to appear here. In fact, it might even be one of his own doing."

"If that's the case, even if the director breaks his seclusion and becomes a bloodstained specter, the ghoul will be nothing more than a scapegoat."

"Looking at it this way, the ghoul probably doesn't know much—or maybe nothing at all."

His thoughts raced, his footsteps steady as he continued to walk through the morgue. The sight of mutilated bodies, dismembered and twisted, was enough to chill anyone's spine.

Yi Bai's keen eye caught sight of a few bodies with distinct bite marks on them—clear evidence that something had been feeding here.

Thud!

A heavy, wet sound suddenly echoed through the morgue, causing Yi Bai to freeze, his skin prickling with cold sweat.

"Is it coming?" Yi Bai's mind raced. He knew there were no watermelons or any other objects around, so the sound must've come from... a severed body part.

Grrr... grrr...

The eerie sound of a head rolling across the floor broke the stillness, reverberating throughout the quiet space. Yi Bai looked up, his pupils constricting in disbelief.

On the floor, a head—its eyes hollow, its flesh gnawed to the bone—was slowly rolling toward him, leaving a trail of blood and some kind of thick, unknown liquid.

The hollow eyes met Yi Bai's gaze, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Safety was one thing, but the terror ingrained in human nature was far more difficult to shake off.

Yi Bai scanned the room, his senses heightened. He could hear the faintest sounds of droplets falling from above, their rhythm matching the dripping, sticky fluid from the gnawed head.

"Above me!" Yi Bai's heart skipped a beat as his gaze shot upwards, locking onto a shadowy figure blending with the darkness in the ceiling.

The ghoul's attack was faster than he had expected.

It was emaciated, with no skin. Its dark red muscles were covered in black, viscous fluid. As it moved closer, a fetid stench almost overwhelmed him.

[Wanderer (No Affiliation), Nameless]

Race: Ghoul

Friendliness: Neutral

Power: Malevolent Spirit

Likes: Devouring Corpses

Weaknesses: Head, Intelligence Deficient (referred to as 'brain dead')

Current State: It seems somewhat interested in you, and it's tossing you a leftover head to see if you're willing to share a meal (Would you want to make a rather unattractive new friend?)

Squawk... squawk...

Above, a swarm of crows seemed to hover, cawing awkwardly in a manner that seemed more like a question mark than anything else.

Yi Bai felt a wave of exhaustion settle over him.

His "Death's Temptation" ability had finally kicked in, but... the ghoul was almost too friendly. Who in their right mind would want to share a meal with a ghoul? Especially not with leftovers!

"Can you come down?" Yi Bai asked, trying to remain composed, his hand subtly waving behind him to signal to Lina to stay hidden for now.

Grr...

The ghoul let out a hoarse, strange noise in response, almost as if it didn't fully understand.

"Looks like communication isn't going to happen. He Yi really does leave no room for error; even if I capture this creature, it'll know nothing, making it the perfect scapegoat," Yi Bai sighed inwardly.

Just then, the ghoul moved, its spindly limbs making a delicate landing on the floor.

Yi Bai immediately tensed. A ghoul with neutral intentions was still a threat, and he couldn't be certain it wouldn't attack. Some creatures, even without malicious intent, carried a deadly aura, or emitted substances that could kill just by proximity.

The next moment, Yi Bai's mind went blank.

The ghoul, still clutching the viscous, bloodied head, extended it toward him. The red, dripping flesh, surrounded by sticky goo, looked grotesque and unsettling. And yet, there was something almost... pleading in its gesture.

Yi Bai's mind raced. Using his "Insight" ability, he noted a change in the ghoul's behavior—it was more eager now, its friendliness level had shifted to "Friendly."

For a moment, Yi Bai felt a mix of confusion and disbelief.

Just then, Lina's voice whispered in his ear, "This ghoul is an outcast from the ghoul family. It's been rejected by its own kind, probably because of its deformities. It seems your calm demeanor has earned its favor."

Yi Bai relaxed slightly, grateful for the explanation. He had almost feared that his "Death's Temptation" might be leaning a bit too much toward the non-human side!

His focus quickly shifted back to Lina's mention of the "Ghoul Family."

Up until now, Yi Bai had thought of ghouls as mere low-level spirits, but it seemed like there was much more to the story than he had initially realized.