Free Web NovelChapter 6: The Stairs to the Dead
The hallway had gone silent again.
Black hair slowly retreated across the ceiling like living shadows while the child corpses crawled back toward the darkness above.
The mother entity remained partially hidden beyond the cracked concrete, her blood-red eyes fixed on Shen Yu without blinking.
"...bring him to me..."
The whisper lingered long after her face disappeared.
Then the pressure vanished.
The hallway lights flickered weakly back to life.
Everything became still.
Too still.
Shen Yu stared upward thoughtfully.
"The killer is alive."
The ghost bride folded her arms coldly.
"Obviously."
"No."
Shen Yu shook his head.
"If he were dead, the resentment would’ve already completed its cycle."
He pointed toward the ceiling.
"She’s still searching."
The bride frowned.
"...You understand resentment mechanics?"
"I understand obsession."
His voice became quieter.
"Ghosts don’t linger because they’re dead."
"They linger because something was left unfinished."
The ghost bride stared at him strangely for a moment.
This human...
Sometimes he sounded less like a player and more like an old monster pretending to be one.
Shen Yu suddenly stepped toward the stairwell.
The crimson shoes made no sound against the bloodstained floor.
The ghost bride immediately noticed.
"...You’re going upstairs?"
"That’s usually where murderers hide in horror stories."
"That’s also usually where people die."
Shen Yu glanced over his shoulder and smiled.
"I die either way."
The ghost bride’s eye twitched violently.
She hated how logical that sounded.
The stairwell door creaked open slowly.
Darkness waited beyond it.
Not ordinary darkness.
This darkness felt thick. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Heavy.
Like invisible water filling the staircase from top to bottom.
The moment Shen Yu stepped inside—
A system notification appeared.
[Entering Corrupted Zone.]
[Mental contamination risk increased.]
Another line appeared immediately after.
[Fear Detection Activated.]
The world changed.
Shen Yu stopped walking.
Thin gray mist now floated throughout the stairwell.
At first, he thought it was ordinary corruption energy.
Then he realized—
The mist moved differently around living things.
Fear.
Fear had shape.
The realization made his heartbeat quicken slightly.
Interesting.
The thicker the fear around someone, the denser the mist became.
The ghost bride beside him barely emitted any.
But the upper floors...
The mist above looked almost solid.
Shen Yu narrowed his eyes.
"Something up there is terrified."
The bride frowned.
"What?"
"Not us."
He pointed upward.
"The killer."
Silence followed.
Then the bride slowly whispered:
"You think he’s still inside the building?"
Shen Yu continued climbing calmly.
"If this floor became a suppression formation..."
"Then whoever built it wanted to trap the resentment."
His eyes sharpened.
"Meaning they knew exactly what happened here."
The staircase groaned beneath them.
Second floor.
Third floor.
The walls became increasingly stained with black water the higher they climbed.
Old family photographs hung crookedly along the stairwell walls.
Every single face had been scratched out.
Shen Yu paused briefly before one frame.
A family of four.
Father.
Mother.
Two children.
All smiling.
All faceless now.
Death Echo stirred faintly inside his mind.
Fragments surfaced.
Screaming.
Bathtub drains clogged with hair.
Children crying behind locked doors.
Then—
A man whispering repeatedly:
"It wasn’t my fault."
Shen Yu’s expression darkened.
The ghost bride noticed immediately.
"You saw something?"
"Maybe."
He touched the damaged photo frame gently.
"The father killed them."
The ghost bride stiffened.
"How do you know?"
"Because guilt leaves traces."
He looked toward the upper floor.
"And fear."
The gray mist above thickened visibly.
The killer was definitely still here.
Then suddenly—
A loud creak echoed above them.
Both Shen Yu and the bride stopped instantly.
Footsteps.
Slow footsteps.
Walking across the fourth floor.
The bride’s eyes narrowed sharply.
"...Living?"
"No."
Shen Yu listened carefully.
"Too heavy."
The footsteps dragged unnaturally.
Like someone carrying enormous weight.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The sound stopped directly above them.
Then—
Drip.
A black liquid fell from the ceiling onto Shen Yu’s cheek.
Cold.
Sticky.
Blood.
The bride immediately stepped backward.
"Move."
The ceiling bulged downward.
Something crawled inside it.
Shen Yu activated Blink instantly.
WHOOSH.
Red light flashed.
A massive body crashed through the ceiling one second later.
Concrete exploded everywhere.
The creature landed upside down on the staircase wall.
Its limbs bent backward like broken spider legs.
And unlike the mother entity—
This one wore a security guard uniform.
Or what remained of one.
The flesh around its stomach had been ripped open violently.
Dozens of apartment keys dangled from exposed ribs.
Its face...
Its face had no skin.
Only muscle and teeth remained.
The thing twitched violently.
Then its head snapped toward Shen Yu.
"...tenant..."
The voice sounded wet.
"...rent overdue..."
The ghost bride cursed.
"A building guardian?"
The skinned creature suddenly lunged.
FAST.
Shen Yu dodged sideways instinctively.
The monster smashed through the stair railing effortlessly.
Concrete shattered beneath its claws.
Its raw strength far exceeded the earlier child corpses.
The guardian twisted unnaturally and attacked again.
This time Shen Yu activated Death Echo.
The moment the creature swung—
He saw it.
A faint afterimage of the attack path appeared in his mind.
One second into the future.
Shen Yu’s body moved automatically.
WHOOSH.
The claws missed his throat by centimeters.
His eyes widened.
Death Echo wasn’t just memory retention.
It improved predictive instincts.
That was absurdly powerful.
The guardian froze briefly.
As if confused its attack had failed.
Then it shrieked violently.
"RENT!!"
The apartment keys suddenly flew outward like bullets.
Shen Yu barely had time to react.
Blink.
Red light flashed again.
Several keys embedded into the wall where his head had been.
The ghost bride attacked simultaneously.
Black hair wrapped around the guardian’s neck tightly.
The monster smashed directly into the wall under the force.
BOOM.
The staircase trembled violently.
But the guardian immediately grabbed the bride’s hair and ripped chunks out brutally.
The ghost bride hissed in pain and retreated.
Shen Yu noticed something important.
The guardian wasn’t corrupted like the mother entity.
It felt controlled.
Programmed.
Like part of the suppression formation itself.
A warden.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Then Fear Detection reacted suddenly.
The gray mist around the guardian intensified dramatically.
Not rage.
Fear.
This thing was scared too.
Shen Yu’s eyes sharpened immediately.
"You’re afraid of her."
The guardian froze.
"...tenant..."
"You’re not protecting the building."
He stepped forward slowly.
"You’re protecting yourself."
The guardian screamed and attacked wildly.
Which confirmed it.
Shen Yu smiled.
"Got it."
The bride looked at him incredulously.
"How are you talking calmly during this?!"
"Because now I know the hierarchy." free𝑤ebnovel.com
He pointed upward.
"The mother entity is the strongest."
"Everything else here fears her."
The guardian roared again and slammed both claws downward.
This time Shen Yu didn’t dodge.
The bride’s eyes widened.
"Idiot!"
CRASH.
The claws crushed straight through Shen Yu’s chest.
Blood exploded across the stairwell.
Pain flooded his body instantly.
But Shen Yu grabbed the guardian’s arm while dying.
Death Echo activated at maximum intensity.
Memories surged violently into his mind.
A basement.
A crying woman.
The skinned guardian kneeling before a man.
Then—
Children stuffed into water tanks.
Shen Yu’s pupils contracted.
What the hell—
The final memory surfaced.
A voice whispering in terror:
"Seal it."
"Don’t let her out."
Then darkness consumed him.
[Death Confirmed.]
[Insight Synchronization Increased.]
Shen Yu revived instantly at the lower stair landing.
His breathing became uneven for the first time since entering the dungeon.
The bride noticed immediately.
"What did you see?"
Shen Yu remained silent several seconds.
Then quietly:
"This building wasn’t haunted first."
The bride frowned.
"What does that mean?"
He looked upward slowly.
"It was turned into a prison after the murders."
The bride’s expression changed.
"The Alliance..."
"Maybe."
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
"Or something older."
Above them—
The guardian suddenly began screaming in panic.
Not attacking.
Screaming.
The gray fear mist thickened everywhere.
Then the mother entity’s whisper echoed through the building again.
Soft.
Gentle.
And infinitely horrifying.
"...I found you..."
The guardian started trying to run.
Shen Yu’s heartbeat quickened.
Because for the first time—
The hunter and prey inside this dungeon had changed.
