Free Web NovelChapter 1415: Chapter 885: Ritual (Part 2)
"Hurry up and pack, what time is it?" The mysterious security guard slapped the foam board hanging on the wall behind the door, becoming increasingly impatient. He called out with his eyebrows raised, "Doesn’t it say who’s on night shift? Why are you staring blankly?"
Only then did everyone notice that the foam board by the wall behind the door actually had names attached to it, and on it were strips of paper torn into small pieces.
At the top were two small pieces of paper, each with a name written on it. The first was Su Xiaomin, and the second was Chen Moting.
Then came three pieces of paper, four pieces, five pieces... These papers were arranged in a row, aligned with the first column, but unlike the top two pieces, these papers were all blank, without any names.
The most surprising thing was Jiang Qingluan and the others, who had searched this office and seen the foam board hanging on the wall behind the door, but they absolutely did not see any paper attached to the foam board, let alone names.
These all appeared together with the arrival of the building’s security guard.
Without a doubt, Su Xiaomin and Chen Moting were the ones chosen tonight; these two women had to stay in this strange and eerie building for the night.
At this moment, Su Xiaomin was not the only one who seemed terrified. Even the usually calm Chen Moting couldn’t help but change her expression.
"There’s just over twenty minutes left before the door closes, let me remind you, don’t get locked inside this building; at night... it’s not peaceful here."
The security guard seemed to scare himself as he spoke, shrugging his shoulders, lifting the fur collar of his security jacket with his right hand, while holding a flashlight in his left hand. He turned around and left, closing the door behind him.
Yang Xiao glanced down at the time on the computer screen. It was exactly 10:02 PM.
There were less than half an hour before the building was locked.
Without further hesitation, everyone decided to leave immediately. Before leaving, Yang Xiao quickly pulled aside Su Xiaomin and instructed, "Take care of yourselves, do not go out at night, whatever happens, you two must not separate. If forced to separate, when you meet again, make sure to confirm whether the other person is human or something else."
"I...I’m scared, can I leave with you guys?" Su Xiaomin looked around, almost in tears from fear, "Look, this place is full of junk, there’s nothing worth guarding; no one would come to steal anything. Didn’t you hear the security say this place... isn’t peaceful at night, no one will come."
Of course Yang Xiao knew no one would come, but whether there were those things lurking was uncertain.
"You must stay; staying offers a chance of survival. If you leave, you will surely die." Chen Nang, who usually maintained a smile, changed his expression, speaking solemnly.
"Wha...Why?" Su Xiaomin’s heart skipped a beat.
"With such silence at night, did you hear the security’s footsteps?" Munan suddenly spoke.
Upon hearing this, Su Xiaomin was taken aback, and then her gaze turned to the door, her breathing quickened, "You...you mean..."
"Listen to me, behave and stay put, don’t think too much, see you in the morning." Munan walked up, patting Su Xiaomin on the head, pulling a lollipop from his pocket and stuffing it into hers.
"No more nonsense, retreat!" Yang Xiao motioned, and everyone quickly withdrew.
The group gingerly opened the glass door, quickly peeking outside, and in the next second, Yang Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He realized what Munan had noticed; it wasn’t unusual if they hadn’t heard footsteps when the security arrived, perhaps due to their arguing. But they definitely heard clearly when the security left, and indeed, there were no footsteps.
So beyond suspecting the "identity" of the security guard, Yang Xiao was concerned that he didn’t actually leave, but was crouched in the corner outside the door.
Yet he didn’t see the security outside, but faintly heard the sound of the elevator going up and down, coming from the vicinity of the elevator shaft not far ahead.
It seemed the security took the elevator to leave.
Outside, the ground was covered with a layer of bright red carpet, printed with the words "Grand Opening." The carpet extended ten or more meters out, perhaps explaining why the security’s footsteps were silent.
While the security dared to take the elevator, Yang Xiao and his group did not dare; they had to honestly take the stairs. Though it was time-consuming and the staircase was relatively dark, they only had a flashlight with low battery.
Following the signage on the wall, the staircase was located to the right upon exiting the door, opposite the elevator shaft. Yang Xiao and his group moved quickly.
"What is that?" Suddenly, Liu Yang, who was walking at the front with the flashlight, seemed to discover something.
In a corner, there was an incense burner. In front of it were offerings like paper money, fruits, and candy. Incense sticks were inserted chaotically in the burner, releasing a faint mist as the light swept over.
Yang Xiao noticed that these incense sticks were barely burned at the top, suggesting they had been lit not too long ago, presumably by the security guard.
Who was the security guard honoring in the middle of the night?
Thinking back to the warning from the security guard, Yang Xiao deduced that someone had likely died nearby, and it was possibly in the office they had been in.
They hadn’t gotten far yet, so Yang Xiao and his group immediately returned to inform the two remaining teammates about someone outside performing a ritual.
After rounding a corner, Yang Xiao jogged to the glass door and pushed it open; to his surprise, the door easily opened, the two girls hadn’t locked it.
Though locking the door wouldn’t necessarily keep out those ghostly things, it couldn’t just be left unattended either. Yang Xiao began to doubt the reliability of the two women.
Rushing into the room, Yang Xiao and the others looked around, followed by a moment of bewilderment.
"Where are they?" Zhang Jianjun glanced around, a look of disbelief plastered on his face.
The office was silent, even the computer remained on the fashion design page, everything around was unchanged, but the people were gone.
"Some of you stay behind, the rest come with me for a search," Yang Xiao immediately decided.
Yang Xiao speculated that it was likely Chen Moting, having more experience, heard someone running toward them and took Su Xiaomin to hide ahead of time.
Pressed for time, Yang Xiao and the group acted rather rashly, taking less than 2 minutes to search all areas except the previously unexplored dark region. But they couldn’t find Su Xiaomin or Chen Moting; the two seemed to have vanished into thin air. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Though the area wasn’t vast, it wasn’t tiny either, still hiding two grown adults on such short notice without leaving a trace seemed impossible.
"They’re...really gone..." Yang Yan turned pale, having never encountered anything so bizarre before. In just a blink, two teammates had disappeared.
Everyone inevitably thought of the ritual outside and the mysterious security guard.
Speculations arose that the security returned, taking Su Xiaomin and Chen Moting.
But Yang Xiao thought otherwise; even if it was a ghost killing people, they usually did it one at a time, especially since their mission had just started.
Through simple actions and behaviors, Yang Xiao realized that Chen Moting was no ordinary person; she didn’t seem like someone easily killed. She was incredibly calm.
"Let’s leave first; we certainly won’t find them tonight."
Though the area wasn’t vast, it wasn’t tiny either, still hiding two grown adults on such short notice without leaving a trace seemed impossible.
"They’re...really gone..." Yang Yan turned pale, having never encountered anything so bizarre before. In just a blink, two teammates had disappeared.
Everyone inevitably thought of the ritual outside and the mysterious security guard.
Speculations arose that the security returned, taking Su Xiaomin and Chen Moting.
But Yang Xiao thought otherwise; even if it was a ghost killing people, they usually did it one at a time, especially since their mission had just started.
Through simple actions and behaviors, Yang Xiao realized that Chen Moting was no ordinary person; she didn’t seem like someone easily killed. She was incredibly calm.
"Let’s leave first; we certainly won’t find them tonight."
