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Ziya and Qin Nannan found the situation with the aunt increasingly dull as she fell silent. They decided to leave, but just then, a light, quick footstep echoed from the doorway. An instinct told them that whoever was coming would definitely enter the room. They had no time to hide. Looking at the aunt, she seemed completely unfazed, casually sitting on a stool by the window, indifferent to their panic.
"Auntie, aren't you going to hide?" Ziya whispered to her. It was supposed to be work hours; it was quite inappropriate for someone on the job to be slacking off like this! However, the aunt acted as if she hadn't heard, completely oblivious to Ziya's kind warning.
"Forget it, let's just go out! There's nowhere to hide here," Qin Nannan said helplessly.
The two of them waited for an opportunity, hoping that whoever was coming would just pass through without entering, which would mean they had worried for nothing. Just then, the door swung open, and the person who entered called out in surprise upon seeing them. "Ah..."
"What are you doing here?" The newcomer was a woman slightly older than the previous aunt, likely in her forties or fifties. Her loud voice suggested she came from a rural background. Wearing a mask and holding a brand-new broom, her forehead glistened with sweat from labor as she looked at Ziya and Qin Nannan, removing her mask while casually asking.
"We... we came in and met this auntie, so we..." Ziya stammered, unsure how to explain their presence to this straightforward woman. But when she turned around to point out the aunt, she found that the woman had vanished.
Not only were Ziya and Qin Nannan startled by this sudden disappearance, but even the woman who had just asked them questions was taken aback as she placed her new broom aside into a storage cabinet.
"This is the Storage Room where we Cleaners keep our cleaning supplies. What did you say about an auntie?" The woman looked around in confusion, her expression bewildered as she turned to Ziya and Qin Nannan.
"Just like you, an auntie who works here. She was resting here earlier but probably saw you come in and quietly left!" Ziya felt that this explanation was somewhat lacking; after all, they had all been blocking the doorway—how could a living person have slipped past them unnoticed?
"We only have four Cleaners here; one Cleaner manages four floors. You must be talking about Cui Er, the new girl I brought in yesterday. Sigh! The conditions here are decent enough, but people are reluctant to come; they say this place is haunted. But in our poor rural area, who wouldn't be tempted by such high wages? Hehe!" The woman continued happily without noticing Ziya's changing expression as cold sweat began to bead on her forehead.
Qin Nannan realized they had just spoken at length with a female ghost and could only feel a wave of panic wash over her. Meanwhile, Ziya was confused by everything happening around them—it all felt so surreal!
"No, that auntie you mentioned isn’t someone you brought; she said she's been working here for several years..." Before Ziya could finish her sentence, she saw the woman drop a feather duster from the storage cabinet; her expression shifted dramatically.
"Don't... just stop talking and hurry up! Amitabha... Amitabha..." The old woman urged Ziya and Qin Nannan to leave quickly, picking up the feather duster and other cleaning supplies from the storage cabinet as she retreated toward the door.
Seeing the old woman in such a fluster, Ziya felt a wave of panic. What was going on? Suddenly, she had an idea and hurriedly took the cleaning supplies from the old woman's hands. Qin Nannan followed suit, grabbing something to help. The old woman glanced around, nodded with a hint of a smile, and led them to another area.
"Grandma, are all the cleaners scattered around here?" Ziya asked tentatively.
"Yes! Each cleaner has a designated break room. I wanted to take a short break earlier, but after what you said, I decided to go to Cui Er's place instead."
"Besides you and Cui Er, who else is here?"
"There's one more from the suburbs who hasn't come back since taking leave. So it's just the three of us handling this building. The boss said he would give us extra pay. I think it’s going to be tough; we started working at four in the morning. Usually, we finish our cleaning in two hours, but with two extra floors added, it feels like there's so much more work. Just look at us starting early without even having a moment to rest. My sweat has dried up; I'm so tired my old bones feel like they're falling apart."
The three of them reached the 13th floor via the stairs and arrived at a door marked "Storage Room." The slightly ajar door was pushed open by the old woman. Inside, a woman in her thirties was wiping her sweat. Upon seeing a boy among the newcomers, she blushed and quickly set her towel aside, not turning around immediately but quietly fastening her clothing buttons.
"Liu, you... should have called out when you came in! I..." The woman murmured shyly, her face flushed. She had a full figure and still retained some charm, exuding a blend of shyness and straightforwardness typical of a rural housewife.
"Heh heh, why be shy around young folks? Come on now! Cui Er, your husband passed away early; let the young lad have a look at your fair skin—it’s not bad..." The old woman spoke bluntly without any hesitation, causing both women's faces to turn crimson.
Ziya felt her earlier tension dissipate with the old woman's antics. Under Cui Er's warm invitation, she and Qin Nannan quietly sat down inside the room. Once Cui Er closed the door securely, she urged the old woman to sit down as well. The four of them exchanged glances.
"Cui Er, sigh! I'm giving you my territory; that person upstairs is still holed up in that room—what do you think we should do?" Liu said with a troubled tone.
"Did you see them?" Cui Er asked nervously.
"Uh! I don't know, just some lady who loves to talk and then disappears," Ziya said, feeling a bit puzzled. However, she still held onto a sense of hope; weren't they three Cleaners? There was still one unaccounted for, and perhaps the person she had just seen was her.
"Don't you have another lady? You could call her over for us to see," Qin Nannan voiced Ziya's thoughts, which left someone momentarily stunned. This sense of unspoken understanding made her inadvertently think of another person.
"Okay! I'll call her right now," Cui Er said as she took out her phone and dialed the number.
"What are you doing? Oh... come over here to rest, Liu is also here... uh!" Cui Er tucked her phone away with a smile and said, "She'll be here soon."
Just as they were speaking, footsteps echoed from the entrance. Ziya and Qin Nannan turned their heads, their eyes fixed on the movement at the door.
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