Following the path illuminated by the streetlights, they soon found the entrance to the parking garage. The two barriers meant to block vehicles, along with the card reader, had been mangled beyond recognition. The voice from the card reader, repeating over and over, "Swipe too fast, please try again," added an extra layer of unsettling eeriness to the gloomy underground space.

“Do you think…” Xiaoyu was about to ask Xiaoshu if she believed the missing people were definitely inside the garage when Xiaoshu placed a finger on her lips, gesturing for silence. She then pointed ahead at a flickering, swaying shadow.

The shadow was clad in a full white lab coat, the sleeves dangling a good foot longer than its arms, waving them around like an actor in an opera as it circled one of the parking pillars. As the two approached and grabbed the person in the white coat, they realized it was just a lunatic—long, matted hair, and a face utterly filthy and black. Just as Xiaoshu sighed in relief that they had finally found a living person, only to discover he was a useless madman, the lunatic lashed out, striking Xiaoshu across the face with his long sleeve, shouting, “Who says I’m crazy? Who says I’m useless? I was merely entertaining myself, and you smear me like this! Let me tell you, I am perfectly lucid!”

Hearing this, Xiaoyu spread both hands toward Xiaoshu, offering a look of resignation. “Let’s keep looking,” he said. Thus, the pair prepared to leave the madman and continue their search through the garage.

“Heh heh, don’t go…” Before they had even moved two meters from the madman, Xiaoshu was yanked back by his voluminous, dragon-robe-like sleeve. “This tree was planted by me, this mountain was opened by me. If you want to pass this way, you must leave tribute money.” Xiaoshu assumed the lunatic was just playing games, and impatiently reached out her other hand to pull away the hand that gripped her wrist through the sleeve. Suddenly, she felt an immense strength; the lunatic’s five fingernails had dug deep into her skin, sending a throbbing pain from her wrist straight to her chest.

“Xiaoyu…” Xiaoshu called out subtly, making no mention of the fact that the madman was attacking her.

Xiaoyu turned back, surveying their strained posture. He noticed that the cuff of the long white sleeve was already saturated with a crimson stain.

It seemed avoiding a fight was no longer an option. Xiaoyu moved with blinding speed, positioning himself behind the lunatic, locking an arm around his neck, and yanking him backward with full force. The sleeve, tipped with sharp claws, instantly tore away from Xiaoshu’s wrist. Xiaoyu then spun around and executed a massive body slam, using the lunatic’s fall to pin him viciously to the ground with his legs.

Xiaoshu immediately stepped forward and flipped open the sleeve of the arm that had been gripping her wrist. Beneath it was a skeletal hand, its fingernails long enough to scoop ice cream. When they pulled the lunatic’s white coat further open, both gasped in unison.

Although the lunatic’s face suggested he was only in his early forties, beneath the cloth was a frame so emaciated and bony that it looked no different from a man of seventy or eighty.

“Who are you?” Xiaoyu stared him down with eyes so cold they could induce shivering, his voice laced with menace.

“I… I… I am Mingmei!” After stammering for what felt like an eternity, the lunatic suddenly claimed to be Mingmei. Xiaoyu responded instantly with a stinging slap across his face. Xiaoshu watched Xiaoyu with confusion, entirely unable to fathom the meaning behind his action.