AHHH!!
The next day, in a specific room on the third floor of the abandoned building, Naib, who was sleeping peacefully, was suddenly awakened by a shrill shout that originated from outside.
A familiar voice of a woman, now carrying an agonizing sorrow, instantly shook Naib out of his deep slumber, unfolding the prominent red veins in his eyes that were a product of his lack of sleep.
"What is it this time?"
Despite the cry of the woman still reverberating throughout the building, Naib's first action was to look at his phone, checking the time, which told him that it's currently 3 in the morning, before standing up from his bed.
Although he still badly wanted to sleep since his work usually starts around 8, he knew that the woman's voice, or rather, that couple wouldn't stop fighting till 6; hence, he had no choice but to wake up already.
Looking at the still pitch-black sky outside and toward the lamp post that only offers a dim light, before shifting toward the ever-present dark smoke that's more active at this hour — the remnant from the great darkness — Naib heaves a deep sigh.
"Sigh, those two are fighting again. It's been the second time this week. Do they not get tired at all? Tsk, if they focused their energy on working, their life might be better by now..."
Knock! Knock!
While Naib was muttering to himself, about to utter a curse to those two, hoping that the Lord would take them early, a sudden knock on the door interrupted him.
"Naib, quick, open the door. Something big happened."
"This... Jerome, what happened?"
In an instant, upon opening the door, the anxious Jerome immediately greeted his eyes.
Just glancing at the man's messy hair and how he was gasping for breath, a testament that he probably rushed to his location as soon as possible, Naib couldn't help but feel unease.
Sure enough, just as he expected, after Jerome saw that the door of his room opened, the man heaved a sigh of relief, immediately entering the room before shutting the door closed with a loud boom.
"Jerome, can you tell me what happened? Why are you in a rush?"
Looking outside through the window of the room, only to see complete pitch darkness, whereas the only source of light was the bulb near the staircase (a thing that all residents of the building contributed through various means, just to ensure that they wouldn't be helpless when nighttime arrives), Naib then faces Jerome with confusion reflected within his eyes.
"Tha-that thug was dead. Ms. Hazel found that thug's body near the shrine!"
Remembering the fearful cry earlier, Naib immediately connected the dots... Not expecting that his wish would come true soon.
However, staring at the shaken Jerome, clearly stuttering due to fright, Naib's face inexplicably turned gloomy. It's not because of the sudden death of the thug, but instead, it's because of how shaken Jerome was.
It could be said that, surviving the great darkness, the two of them naturally had encountered countless corpses; hence, a dead body shouldn't have shaken Jerome this badly.
With this, he can easily assume that the man's death was gruesome beyond doubt.
"Did Ms. Hazel finally snap out and kill that thug?'
"I... I don't know, but that thug's death... Humans can't possibly be that cruel and perverse."
Remembering the thug's corpse, Jerome suddenly bent down before vomiting on the floor, throwing out all of his dinner as the unpleasant scent swiftly filled the room.
Seeing this, Naib didn't immediately help the latter; instead, he became curious about the cause of death of the thug.
Without further ado, curiosity eating him up, Naib opened the closed door, telling Jerome to stay in the place before heading toward the shrine outside the building.
"This..."
Arriving at the first floor, Naib, despite still being far away from the location, can already see ten humans encircling the place.
Just from the number alone, Naib can tell that other than those who have night shifts and children probably sleeping right now, most of the residents of the building were here.
Moreover...
Other than those residents, Naib also noticed a thin, sickly woman crying out loud on the ground. Without surprise, it's Ms. Hazel, whom they were talking about earlier.
"This... What the — what kind of abomination would do this!?'
In an instant, upon arriving near the shrine and landing his gaze toward the corpse, Naib's eyes instantly constricted, his back drenched in sweat, and liquid unknowingly began climbing from his stomach toward his esophagus.
In the ground, a mashed corpse, missing its head, lay upon the dead ground. Its sticky, crimson blood formed a small pond, fusing with the wet land while the corpse's innards scattered around.
Moreover, not far away, the detached pale head with eyes wide open can be seen gazing at the crowds with pure horror; clearly, the corpse had seen something horrible before he died.
Although the head was extremely pale and chunks of flesh were missing from its cheeks, Naib could easily identify it as the thug whom he had been cursing earlier inside his mind.
Gulped~
Forcefully gulping the juices in his throat, Naib carefully approached one of the crowds, asking about the specifics of the event.
"Tsk, we also don't know. We all just heard shouts from Ms. Hazel earlier, and then when we arrived here, this is all the scene that greeted us."
"Did somebody already call the police?" Getting nothing from the man that he had just asked, Naib asked another question.
However, before the man beside him could reply, another person, a man that Naib was familiar with, answered with a troubled look.
"We tried, but there's no response... Even after calling a couple of times, no one was answering the call."
Looking toward the origin of the voice, Naib immediately spotted a tall man wearing bifocal glasses who was intently staring at the phone in his hand with distress and helplessness, his hands moving across the screen in a swift manner, again attempting to call another authority only to get the same response.
"It's still the same. Why not go out to seek help?"