71 Piter, Patter, Drops of Blood (2/2)

Yet, there was something else that caught her attention. Among the uniform sounds of the rain pitter-pattering. This sound was like the dropping of a thick and heavy liquid, into a pool of its own.

There was something about it that drew Xue'er to the strange sound.

Her body stepped over the puddles that had formed, slowly making her way towards the sound, which had been coming from a small store that was between the two large buildings. It was severely dilapidated, with the wooden boards that once boarded up the store rotting on the front steps and lying lifelessly in the puddles of water.

The plaque that was suppose to hang above was nowhere to be seen.

With not much effort, she had entered the small house. The floors were covered in moldy straw and mud, it seemed that it would be impossible to tell the previous color of the ground. Straight away, there was the pungent fishy smell accompanied by that of copper again.

With a whiff, Xue'er reminiscence the past so quickly. That peculiar smell that one would never be able to forget, once it came your way.

Her steps could barely count as echoes, as she looked towards the middle of the room, where she saw the outline of a person sitting on a chair.

Upon closer inspection, it was a middle aged man whose face was covered in blood. The dark crimson droplets had slipped from his eyes which were nothing but empty and hollow holes where the eyes had so ruthlessly been gouged out.

His entire body had been tied to a wooden chair with rope, and his struggles had caused the ropes to be drenched in his own blood and sweat.

His original features could no longer be seen, as his skin was swollen, filled with dark red wounds and bruises.

The clothes he had worn was in tatters, showing the severity of the wounds he had endured. His fingers no longer had its nails were clenched around the armrest of the chair seemingly frozen.

The man had been dead for a few days now, Xue'er observed, that he was no longer in a stiff position, and his muscles were no longer locked together. They had long since released themselves from the stiff position.

It had been the rainwater that had mixed with his dried blood, sliding into a puddle that was on the ground that created the unique sound of the melodic droplets.

She could not feel much for this man who had been tortured and died while he was alive. Who knows what he had done to receive such a punishment.

Her eyes scanned over the corpse once more, until something caught her eye.

What's this…?