Blood Neon-Chapter 29

Chapter 29
Knife Revealed
Ever since his father had passed away, perhaps due to feeling a bit lonely, his mother had grown increasingly concerned about him.
For example, when he came home late at night, she would call like this to make sure he was safe.
It was a bit helpless—truly, there was a sense of helplessness. After all, he was already a grown man. It did get a little annoying at times, but over the years, after enough times, he gradually got used to it.
If doing this could make the elderly woman feel a bit more at ease, then so be it.
Shaking his head and refocusing his mental capacity back to his lower body, he pushed open the door.
"Ah, finally back. Sorry to keep you all waiting."
Though he firmly believed his buddies wouldn't start the main event without their host, he still felt a bit anxious—after all, the little prey this time, both in terms of looks and aura, was of exceptionally high quality. And with men, well, it was perfectly normal to lose control the moment their blood started surging.
With such a rare beauty, if possible, of course he wanted to be the first.
A little anxious, he quickly turned the corner and returned to the private suite’s main hall—only to freeze in place.
The scene he expected never appeared. What greeted him was an entirely empty room.
The unexpected sight left him stunned.
On the wall-mounted TV, the large screen continued looping one cheesy pop song after another. The volume hadn’t been lowered, and the noisy, grating modern music still echoed through the empty room. The cheap, outdated, low-definition music videos were still flashing aggressively with glaring light, casting chaotic flashes of color throughout the room, but no one remained to enjoy them.
On the table, opened snack bags and half-drunk cups of water were still in place. Upon closer look, there were even impressions on the sofa where someone had been lying—matching the shape of a girl. All these traces reminded him he hadn’t entered the wrong room.
Liu Hao had originally thought he would walk in to see the girl stripped bare, laid out on the sofa for display, while his pair of sleazy buddies stood beside her grinning with drool on their faces, snapping photos from different angles and waving him over to join the fun.
Or maybe the two couldn’t hold it in and had already started the main act.
But what he never expected was to return and find no one in the room.
Where had they gone?
Perhaps the alcohol had affected him a bit—he quickly slapped his own forehead, wondering if he had drunk too much.
—
“Splash, splash… splash, splash…”
The sound of running water from nearby snapped his thoughts back to focus.
Ah, right!
He clapped his fist into his palm. Now he got it.
Those two guys must’ve taken the little girl to the bathroom.
They were hanging out in a luxury VIP suite, after all—and it not only had a restroom, but also came with a wet-and-dry separated shower room, fully equipped to meet all the guests’ needs.
He was a little amused and exasperated—what had gotten into those two? Were they trying to take a couple’s bath or something?
What kind of weird kink was that?
Still, if they wanted to play like that next time, couldn’t they at least give him a heads-up? He’d only stepped out to take a call, and came back to find the entire room empty. Creepy as hell.
He was starting to feel a bit irritated.
Of course, Liu Hao would never admit that the bizarre scene from earlier had actually startled him. That’d be too embarrassing to say out loud.
So, after adjusting his mood and shoving his hands into his pockets, he briskly crossed the living room and headed toward the bathroom on the other end of the suite. The way he marched over carried a clear air of “coming to hold someone accountable.”
Outside the bathroom door, he didn’t bother waiting long. He raised his hand and knocked directly.
"Hey, are you two in there?"
Through the door, he could hear the sound of running water.
However, the expected response never came.
From within the bathroom, there was only the sound of water—no voices at all.
—
What the hell, they’re ignoring me?
The only reasonable explanation now was that the two of them had already drunk too much. After stepping into the shower, the hot water must’ve hit them, made them dizzy, and they just collapsed on the floor.
But then again, he clearly remembered that they hadn’t drunk that much.
The few of them were supposed to be holding the scene down tonight, so of course they weren’t going to get themselves wasted. The whole time, they'd only been drinking beer, or even just fruit beer. So, strictly speaking, the three of them combined probably hadn’t had as much as that little girl—after all, she had polished off half a bottle of foreign liquor by herself.
On that point, Liu Hao was confident—he knew his two friends’ alcohol tolerance very well.
Could something have actually gone wrong?
He’d heard before that people shouldn’t take hot showers after drinking—that it was bad for blood vessels and could make them faint or worse. He’d never paid much attention to it, though. After all, young people were healthy—those kinds of worries usually didn’t apply to them.
But now, thinking of his two friends inside not responding at all, he was starting to panic.
He knocked twice more. When no answer came, he decisively twisted the doorknob.
It wasn’t locked—of course it wasn’t.
As the door opened, he felt his heartbeat spiral out of control, though he couldn’t quite say what exactly he was nervous about.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open—and for the second time that day, he was completely dumbfounded:
—
The showerhead stood tall, spraying water onto the floor, splashing droplets everywhere.
A few pieces of clothing lay discarded to the side—clearly belonging to those two guys. Looked like they’d been getting ready to get down to business.
The warm-colored lighting lit up the entire bathroom clearly. Other than the shower area, which was partially enclosed by frosted glass, there wasn’t a single spot in the room where someone could be hiding.
But...
But there was not a single, goddamn person here.
No one. Not a goddamn soul.
Liu Hao was at a loss.
What the hell was going on?
Had those two planned a surprise to freak him out?
No—that didn’t make sense.
Clinging to the last sliver of hope, he slowly walked toward the semi-enclosed shower with the frosted glass door still shut.
As expected, when he pushed the door open, all he saw was the showerhead still spraying water alone.
Liu Hao felt his mind coming up short.
There was only one possibility left—after those two took off their clothes, they must have run back out to the living room, hiding behind something.
But... that didn’t make sense… the living room didn’t have anything they could hide behind.
“Hailong! Er Liu!”
He shouted their names, his voice already losing control.
“Where the hell are you two hiding?!”
His voice echoed sharply through the tiled bathroom, then faded quickly into nothingness. In the end, only the steady sound of splashing water remained, accompanied by a deathly silence.
No—something was wrong.
How could it be this quiet?
Liu Hao suddenly turned his head toward the bathroom door.
The TV outside should have still been auto-playing music—so why had the sound suddenly stopped?
So they were out there? Really just trying to scare him?
Reason told him that was the only possible explanation.
After hesitating for a moment, he turned and walked out to check the situation.
—
The large LCD screen was now off. Deprived of its main light source, the room was left in dimness—only a few faint blue ambient lights remained, glowing weakly against the walls, barely keeping the place from plunging into total darkness.
Liu Hao poked his head halfway out of the bathroom, staring at the scene with unease tightening in his chest.
He swallowed hard and called out their names again.
The sound quickly vanished into the living room, as though he were shouting into a bottomless pit.
Forget it.
Whatever they were planning, he might as well admit defeat. He could admit that he was on the verge of being scared out of his wits.
He didn’t choose to leave the bathroom. Instinctively, he preferred to stay somewhere with enough light.
Liu Hao reached into his pocket, planning to pull out his phone and just call them directly.
But instinctively, his sense of unease was growing heavier and heavier, like something unseen pressing down on him.
With a weary expression, he pulled out his phone. Feeling drained, he flipped the toilet lid open and sat down on it.
A strange thing—sitting there like that somehow made him feel a bit less anxious.
He opened his contact list, quickly found the name, and after a brief hesitation, decided to call Er Liu first.
…Now all he could do was pray they hadn’t left their phones in their clothes pile.
The short yet torturously long wait before the call connected felt like an eternity.
His hands trembled uncontrollably. He sat completely still—until the sound of a ringing phone suddenly echoed through the bathroom.
That disappointed him a little.
But before he could hang up, Liu Hao noticed something off.
The sound wasn’t coming from the pile of clothes lying not far in front of him.
The sound’s source was…
Liu Hao stiffly lowered his head.
And what he saw—he would remember for the rest of his life.
—
A bloodied hand, gripping a phone, was submerged in the toilet water.
On the brightly lit screen, his own avatar and the incoming call notification were still visible.
The phone’s continuous vibration made ripples spread across the toilet’s water surface, warping his own reflection into something twisted and grotesque.
Liu Hao felt his scalp go numb, his entire mind wiped blank.