People who had endured a hard day's work carried bottles of alcohol, arms slung around each other, laughing and talking loudly in the drizzle.

On both sides, gloomy old men silently burned joss paper.

A black Bentley slowly drove over from the other side of the street, forming a silent standoff with the drunken crowd.

“Stop the car right here, I’ll walk over myself.”

A woman’s anxious voice came from inside the car, and soon after, the door was opened.

The Bentley was an extremely luxurious car, exuding an air of arrogance that clashed with the dirty, chaotic street.

But the girl who stepped out of the car actually looked somewhat in keeping with the street’s atmosphere.

She wore finely tailored clothes and a pair of simple black ankle boots that were clearly expensive at a glance.

Whether it was her delicate features or her slender, graceful figure, she had a presence that made people’s eyes light up.

However, her clothes were now stained with mud, and even her face had a smudge on it, with traces of a hasty but incomplete wipe. A few stubborn burdock seeds clung to her black pant legs, and her eyes were moist, as if she had been crying.

“Aren’t you going to walk her over?”

The voice from inside the car sounded a bit surprised, asking with concern.

“No, no, you should go back. I’ll walk the rest of the way myself. Don’t let anyone see.”

The girl waved her hand, urging the Bentley to leave quickly.

She herself quickly wiped her eyes and jogged toward the other end of Central Avenue.

……

……

Evelyn Young was troubled, irritable, sad, aggrieved, and angry.

She had only gone home yesterday to celebrate her father’s birthday. This morning, she’d even told Sister Lucky that she’d be back by noon to report in and have lunch at the station. Who would have thought that, on a journey of just over a hundred kilometers, her car would first get a flat tire, then her phone would lose signal, and while changing the tire, a lug nut rolled into a hole. She dug at it for ages and almost got bitten by a hibernating snake.

In the end, she walked seven or eight kilometers on foot and found a gas station, only to discover it was closed.

She waited miserably for two hours, then caught a ride on a truck carrying pigs to a service station halfway. When she tried to thank the driver, she realized she’d lost her wallet somewhere. In the end, she could only call her dad in tears...

What had she done to deserve this? Every month, there were always a few days like this.

Now, the lunch she’d arranged was impossible. It was already dark, and she hadn’t eaten a thing.

All she could do now was hurry to the station and check in with the captain, since she’d only taken leave for yesterday.

She hadn’t shown up all day today—did that count as absenteeism?

Thinking this, she walked faster and faster, almost running in the light rain.

Then, she suddenly stopped, her peripheral vision catching something that made her heart skip a beat.

At this moment, she had just passed the lively part of the street and entered a patch of shadow and dim light.

Beside her was a three-story building, very ordinary and old.

A tattered warning tape was stuck at the entrance, shivering in the cold wind and rain.

It seemed to have been forgotten by the bustling street, standing alone in the shadows. Around it, both vehicles and raincoat-clad pedestrians hurried past, as if afraid of being tainted by something ominous.

During her usual patrols, she often passed this building, always quickening her pace as she did.

But this time, Evelyn Young suddenly stopped, stiffly turned her head, and her pupils dilated slightly.

A chill surged into her mind, making her feet go cold.

Inside that pitch-black old building, a light had come on—on the third floor.

How could anyone be there?

This old building was the scene of the major murder case that shocked the whole city three years ago, the most infamous haunted house in Scrap Iron City.

That case had caused a huge stir three years ago, with endless news reports.

The sixteen-year-old boy who committed the murders became a nightmare in everyone’s hearts. Countless people wanted to dig up his secrets, to know why he came, and how he managed to kill an entire family of six with just a rusty sickle.

But now, three years later, many secrets about the case remained unknown.

The murderer had already been executed by firing squad—dead men owe no debts.

But the building had never been reclaimed, and the other residents had long since moved out. It had been abandoned for three years.

Countless ghost stories had spread from here, unnerving people’s nerves and senses.

But now, a light was on in that abandoned old building, and judging by the location, it was room 302.

The scene of the crime three years ago.

“How could this be?”

Evelyn Young felt her scalp tingle in shock. “Who broke in there?”

“……”

Though she was a thousand times unwilling, out of a sense of duty, she forced herself to turn around.

Why would there be a light in a haunted house abandoned for three years?

She hadn’t heard of the building being auctioned off, nor of anyone moving in.