Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1433: Chapter 891: They’re Here

"I’m planning to check out the 18th floor. There might be some clues there. What do you guys think?" Yang Xiao stood up and turned to ask.

Visiting the site of the fire back then, even during the day, might involve unknown risks. Yang Xiao didn’t want to go alone; they were a team. freēwēbnovel.com

"I’m fine with it." Munan shrugged, looking indifferent.

"There’s always a trade-off. The 18th floor is where the fire happened, the source of everything. I want to take a look too." Chen Nang nodded seriously.

Seeing that all three agreed, Liu Yang naturally had no reason to back down. The four of them returned to the staircase, bypassing the 19th floor this time, heading directly to the 18th floor.

At the exit of the staircase, they saw the number 18 marked in red pen. Even in the dim environment, the red was glaringly bright and discomforting.

On the way down, Yang Xiao deliberately slowed his pace, staying towards the back of the group. This time Munan was leading, and she was the first to reach the door to the 18th-floor safety exit.

This was a safety door painted gray and white, looking relatively new.

Beside the door was a small wooden table and a wooden chair with a backrest, like the ones used by students at school. In the corner were two fire extinguishers.

"This door has been opened recently." Munan suddenly noted, staring at the door handle. "The handle is very clean, not a speck of dust."

Hearing this, Yang Xiao and the others leaned in, indeed finding the door handle remarkably clean, just as Munan described.

Not long ago, they had been on the 20th floor, and the door handles there had dust on them.

Munan, realizing the complexity of the situation, cautiously turned to confirm everyone was present before pressing the metal handle of the safety door. The handle moved slightly but got stuck.

"It’s locked." Munan withdrew her hand and bent down to closely examine the keyhole.

Luckily, her worst fear didn’t materialize; the keyhole wasn’t blocked.

Now it was Liu Yang’s turn. He carried a rusty wire and was quite skilled at picking locks. He had opened the locked doors on both sides of the office corridor earlier.

This time, however, he was noticeably more cautious, not rushing to pick the lock but first pressing his ear against the metal door to listen for any sounds inside.

After about half a minute, having confirmed there was no unusual noise, he proceeded to pick the lock.

The way these teammates acted confirmed Yang Xiao and Jiang Qingluan’s suspicions from the night before. This group wasn’t as inept as they seemed. While they might not be wily veterans, they certainly weren’t novices either. Everyone was putting on an act.

It took less than half a minute, and with a crisp click of the lock’s bolt, the solid-looking safety door opened.

Once the lock was opened, Liu Yang, crouching behind the door, immediately moved back, showing no intention of pushing the door open.

In his view, his job was to unlock the door. As for opening it, which seemed dangerous, that was better left to someone else. His task was complete.

Without needing any prompting, Chen Nang stepped forward, pressing down on the handle as he pushed the door open.

Inside, it was rather dark, with insufficient lighting. At the same time, Yang Xiao and the others detected a burnt smell that was almost magical, invading their nostrils and causing discomfort that lingered for quite some time.

Fortunately, Yang Xiao carried a flashlight, whose beam dispelled the darkness. The interior revealed a deep, dark corridor, littered with debris on the floor and both sides.

"We need someone to stay and guard the door," Liu Yang suggested, peeking inside from outside the doorway.

In a place like this, anything could happen. Once inside, if they couldn’t find their way back, it would be trouble. This couldn’t be treated like an ordinary floor.

"We can’t split up; we’re already short-handed," Yang Xiao immediately rejected Liu Yang’s proposal. However, he also prepared an alternative strategy. "Send a message to the other two groups, telling them we’re entering the 18th floor, and if they don’t hear from us in 30 minutes, things have gone wrong."

The phone was with Munan, an old-fashioned cell phone with mechanical buttons, a small black-and-white screen with terrible pixel quality.

"30 minutes is too long. Make it 15 minutes. If we haven’t contacted them in 15 minutes, tell them to come find us," Yang Xiao corrected after some thought.

No one present was a newbie, so no one asked the stupid question of whether or not the other teammates would come to rescue them, which eased Yang Xiao’s mind slightly.

Yang Xiao believed that even without a familiar face like Jiang Qingluan, others would definitely come to their rescue. After all, losing four veteran players at once was too great a cost that could nearly doom the mission from the start.

An important point was that the area they were exploring now was the primary scene of the disaster. To clear the level, this place couldn’t be avoided.

Even if all four of them perished, the others would definitely need to come here to investigate.

Munan quickly sent messages to the other teams, and after receiving replies, the four of them were ready to go.

However, before proceeding, they made some preparations. Liu Yang’s suggestion wasn’t wrong; this door was crucial and possibly the passage between the other world and this one.

They moved tables and chairs to prop the door open, fearing it wasn’t sufficiently weighted. They also grabbed two dry powder fire extinguisher cans, fitting them inside the wooden desk to increase the weight.

After testing the door with a shake, they found that as long as no one deliberately sabotaged them, the door shouldn’t close, and there wasn’t much wind in the stairway.

Chen Nang was the first to step inside, with Yang Xiao following him, his flashlight in hand. Liu Yang quickly slipped in to take the third spot, drawing a slight frown from Munan, who felt some distaste for him and his unscrupulous actions.