Blood Neon-Chapter 30

Chapter 30
The End
Amidst a sudden burst of chaos, Liu Hao no longer cared about anything else. He tumbled off the toilet in a flurry of limbs, scrambling backwards on all fours, his hands propping up his body as he retreated.
Though he was technically a minor Black Uncle boss, he wasn’t one of those underling gangsters who killed without blinking—some death-dealing demon. How could he possibly have seen something like this before? After all that had just happened, the fact that he hadn’t pissed himself was already proof that he had guts.
The ringtone still blared in the empty room, the phone’s speaker just breaking through the water’s surface, playing some DJ-style trash pop song inside the toilet with unwavering determination. The porcelain bowl's unique acoustic cavity gave the sound a ridiculous, almost comical echo, but Liu Hao couldn’t laugh at all.
Leaning his limp body against the white bathroom tiles, he sat there as time passed. Eventually, the ringtone finally stopped. Only then did his pounding heart begin to slow, and his previously erratic breathing gradually returned to a steady rhythm.
His mind was now a chaotic mess, thoughts scattered in fragments he couldn’t string together.
What the hell?
A prank prop?
Someone’s trying to take us out?
But the brothers hadn’t messed with anyone who’d really come at them with murderous intent, right?
Covering his head with both hands, fingertips pressing against his scalp, Liu Hao tried to think, but no matter how hard he racked his brain, he just couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Whether it was really just a prank, or an actual murder scene, everything before him had already surpassed his understanding. Even if some part of him still clung to the idea that the brothers were just messing with him, Liu Hao had no choice but to pull himself together and prepare for the worst.
The metallic stench of blood in the air gradually became more distinct, and that was when he realized—it had already been there when he first stepped into the bathroom, faint but present. It was just that he hadn’t noticed it clearly at the time.
Letting out a long breath, his mind finally cooled down a little.
He managed to struggle to his feet at last. After a bit of internal struggle, he furrowed his brow and made his way back to the toilet.
He needed to double-check. After all, if it really had just been a prop... Forget it.
The faint scent of blood killed any wishful thinking.
Mustering his courage, he took another look inside.
.
To his surprise, Liu Hao didn’t see that terrifying scene again. What lay inside was just a lone mobile phone.
The screen was still on, displaying a missed call notification. But there was no severed hand holding it anymore, not even a trace of blood. The water at the bottom of the toilet bowl was crystal clear—where was the blood?
This marked Liu Hao’s third time being utterly dumbfounded tonight.
For a moment, he suddenly felt the urge to reach in and retrieve the phone.
His hand began to move before the thought fully formed, slowly extending forward.
However, just as his fingers were about to pass over the toilet seat, an indescribable emotion surged into his mind.
He couldn’t help but wonder—if he went through with it, would he become just like the scene he had seen moments before the moment he picked up that phone?
A powerful sense of dread made Liu Hao yank his hand back immediately.
After calming down a little, the feeling of unease only grew stronger.
Why had he suddenly wanted to pick up Er Liu’s phone?
Staring at the now-dark screen, the phone lying quietly in the toilet, Liu Hao couldn’t help but feel that the harmless-looking toilet resembled a gaping monster, waiting patiently for its prey to deliver itself into its mouth.
He was sure… maybe he really had drunk too much and was just letting his imagination run wild.
Shaking his head to clear it, Liu Hao pulled himself together and turned toward the door.
Since calling had gotten him nowhere, he could only leave this place for now. If the two weren’t in the living room, then they must have already gone out.
In that case, he’d better head straight to the bar’s front desk and ask around. No matter what, he just wanted to be somewhere with more people—this place was far too creepy.
Right now, he desperately wanted to see even a single normal, living human being.
However, when Liu Hao grabbed the bathroom door handle and pushed, he felt no movement at all.
He pushed and pulled with all his strength, twisted the handle rapidly, even leaned his entire body against the door, feet pressing against the floor for leverage.
But the door didn’t budge an inch—it was as if it had been welded shut.
Breathing heavily, Liu Hao thought to himself that this must be some kind of nightmare.
The door was locked. When did that happen?
.
Calm down… calm down…
He repeated it to himself over and over.
Ghosts and such things were just lies meant to scare children. They didn’t exist. He just needed to calm down and think it through.
Now it all made sense—at first, it really had been his friends messing with him.
They’d spotted that girl and, wanting the first move for themselves, had set him up and tricked him into the bathroom.
And since he’d unknowingly drunk too much, combined with the heavy atmosphere, his nerves had been on edge, and his imagination had run wild—those visions he saw were just illusions caused by his own mind.
That explained everything.
He took several deep breaths, reaching what he considered the most reasonable conclusion for the moment.
At least this way… it was nothing more than a prank that had gone a little too far.
Liu Hao wasn’t some narrow-minded guy. If his brothers wanted to be first with a woman, couldn’t they have just said so? It wasn’t like he’d ever mistreated them.
Dizzy and sluggish, he stumbled toward the sink, deciding to wash his face and clear his head before settling accounts with them later.
Lowering his head, he turned on the tap, cupped his hands to collect some cool water, and splashed it onto his face.
However, after rubbing twice, a strange sensation made him stop abruptly.
Opening his eyes, he saw—
Both his hands were smeared with a red, jelly-like, decaying substance. Crimson liquid dripped slowly between his fingers.
Liu Hao dumbly squeezed his hands, feeling that eerie texture. Then, almost reflexively, he lifted his head and looked into the mirror.
What reflected back at him—
He widened his eyes in shock.
His face—his skin, his features—looked like a mess of paste, his entire face kneaded and twisted into chaos.
His skin looked as if it had melted like resin, barely half of it still clinging to the muscle beneath. In the gaps where it had dripped away, raw red muscle was exposed directly to the air.
His eyelids were nowhere to be seen, and his two large eyeballs sat uncovered in their sockets, staring blankly back at his own gaping mouth.
"Ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"
Liu Hao went mad, charging at the tightly shut door, twisting the handle with all his strength, trying to force it open.
Throwing himself sideways without hesitation, he slammed his shoulder full-force into the wooden door.
With a loud crash, the flimsy indoor door broke at the lock, and Liu Hao stumbled forward, almost falling.
Steadying himself with a hand against the wall, he didn’t care about anything else—he bolted straight toward the living room door.
At some point, the lights in the living room had come back on halfway, enough for him to faintly see the path ahead.
He scrambled toward the main entrance, half-crawling, half-running. Pushing the door open with all his strength, he finally escaped that nightmare of a room.
Without slowing down, Liu Hao almost slammed into the wall, but he didn’t dare stop to catch his breath. He rushed headlong toward the main hall.
Once inside the hall, he finally saw other people.
Two bartenders were still behind the counter, watching over the place. It was already late at night, and most of the customers had gone. Only a few solitary drinkers remained, nursing their glasses and chatting absentmindedly.
Swallowing hard, Liu Hao no longer cared to think about what had happened. He only wanted to get out of this cursed place—as far away as possible.
Pushing open the bar’s front door, he sprinted into the street like a man running for his life, ignoring the startled glances of the few pedestrians still out at this hour. The familiar streets that he had walked countless times now felt endless, every step making him more anxious.
It wasn’t until he finally saw the familiar three-story old building that his heart began to settle down.
Slowing his pace, he entered the courtyard, fumbling with trembling hands for his keys, and unlocked the door to his first-floor home.
The living room light was still on for him. His mother had simply gone to bed, her bedroom door closed.
Quietly closing the security door behind him, Liu Hao’s composure finally cracked. His body went weak, and he slid down against the iron door, breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling as waves of relief and lingering fear washed over him.
After sitting there for a long while, he finally got up, changed his shoes, and went into the bathroom. Uneasy, he turned on the light and looked into the mirror.
The face staring back at him was perfectly normal—aside from the ghostly exhaustion in his expression. His skin was intact.
A stone that had been weighing on his heart finally dropped.
He had planned to wash his face, but just as he was about to turn on the tap, something flashed in his mind. He froze, feeling a wave of fear, then turned and left the bathroom.
In the end, he didn’t even change his clothes. He just went straight to his bedroom and collapsed onto the bed.
To his surprise, whether from the alcohol or sheer exhaustion, he fell asleep almost immediately.
.
The next day, it was his mother’s voice that woke him.
“Haohao, Haohao, wake up already, it’s time for lunch.”
Liu Hao opened his heavy eyelids.
Bright sunlight streamed through the window, painting the walls with warm, golden light. The entire room felt bright, alive, and full of warmth.
He twisted his neck a little, realizing that he must have slept in an awkward position—his neck was stiff and sore, making him grimace in pain.
“Just look at you,” his mother said, “you came back in the middle of the night again, didn’t you? You didn’t even change your clothes before sleeping. How many times have I told you, that’s bad for your health?”
Faced with his mother’s endless nagging, Liu Hao instinctively wanted to argue back, but in the end, he didn’t say anything.
He suddenly felt that this was fine—more than fine, actually.
Yesterday’s experience felt like an unreal nightmare. Rubbing his eyes, he looked out at the familiar scenery outside the window. The view he had grown tired of seeing every day now seemed so vivid, so beautiful, that his heart filled with emotion.
The main dish for lunch was braised pork ribs with potatoes—his favorite.
His mother said it was to make up for the Mid-Autumn Festival meal from yesterday, since he’d gone out that night.
The potatoes were soft and glutinous, soaked through with savory broth. With just a light press from his chopsticks, they turned into creamy paste.
Liu Hao couldn’t help but feel his appetite surge. Accompanied by the rich flavor and his mother’s chatter, he finished two full bowls of rice before stopping.
After eating, he didn’t head out right away. Instead, in a rare move, he volunteered to wash the dishes, then sat in the living room with his mother, watching a dull local afternoon TV program.
Something about errands, something about city life—ordinary, tacky names. The show itself was nothing more than a string of trivial stories about everyday people and their petty dramas.
His mother sat on the sofa knitting a sweater, and the two of them made small comments now and then about the people and events on screen.
The afternoon passed like that. By evening, after eating a simple dinner of leftover dishes, steamed buns, and millet porridge, the TV just happened to start replaying the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala from the night before.
And so, the day slipped by peacefully, the two of them quietly spending time together in front of the television.
After washing the dishes, Liu Hao walked back into the living room. His mother looked at him and couldn’t help but remark with a smile, “Well, this is rare—what’s gotten into you, doing the dishes on your own?”
Liu Hao froze for a moment.
“Nothing, just felt like doing them,” he said.
He couldn’t quite explain why he felt that way himself.
But… it didn’t matter. He thought it was good—just like this.
Looking at his mother, who was still watching him, the thought came unbidden.
“Mom, I’m sorry,” Liu Hao said softly.
“What’s this all of a sudden? Sorry for what?” his mother asked, puzzled.
“Nothing,” he replied, “I just feel like… I shouldn’t have been fooling around outside all this time. I should’ve just come back and found a proper job.”
He spoke from his heart, saying whatever came to mind.
“Ah, never mind that,” his mother said with a small sigh and a helpless smile.
“Though I still worry about your future, as long as you live well, and don’t end up like your father—gone too soon—then I’ll be content.”
“Just don’t get into fights. Don’t hurt yourself, and that’s enough.”
Liu Hao suddenly felt a pang of sadness, though he couldn’t say why.
“It’s fine now, Mom. Actually, I don’t plan on hanging around outside anymore.”
“I’m thinking of looking for a proper job in a few days. I saw No. 3 High School nearby is hiring security guards.”
He gave a smile.
“So you don’t need to worry too much about me anymore.”
Yeah, with the rent income—even if it wasn’t much—plus the steady paycheck from a security job, he’d have no problem getting by.
His mother, however, gave a bitter smile.
“Didn’t you say the same thing last time? And then not even two weeks in, you quit and came running back.”
“That was then, this is now.”
Liu Hao scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
“Alright, alright~ Mom believes you.”
His mother leaned in with a smile and ruffled his hair.
Liu Hao couldn’t help but laugh along.
Yeah, even though it felt like he’d forgotten something, there was no reason he couldn’t just let go of all that mess from the streets and live a steady life as a security guard.
Then maybe get into a relationship, fall in love, save up some money to fix up the house, get married—on his wedding day, he’d hold his wife’s hand, go around toasts with Old Zhu and Er Liu, listening to their teasing and banter. A few years down the line, his mom would get to see the next generation come into the world. Whether it was a chubby grandson or granddaughter, she’d be overjoyed. Then the whole family could take a big group photo and hang it in the living room...
Of course, baby formula prices would probably give him a headache by then…
And this old place would definitely be too cramped. They’d have to get a new one eventually...
……
…
In an endless, boundless darkness—
There wasn’t a single trace of light. Only an indescribable mass of fragmented chaos, entangled and jumbled together.
The space itself seemed alive, rising and falling with every breath.
If one listened closely, they would hear the cracking of bones, the tearing of flesh—the cries of agony—and the faint screams of death echoing from somewhere far away.
On a lone, twisted, shattered face, only one corner of the mouth remained, curving ever so slightly upward.
As if caught in a good dream, it wore half a satisfied smile.
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