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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 56 Old Li (2)
Hearing Mr. Zhu scream in terror, I was immediately startled and knew he must have seen something horrifying. He pointed towards the direction above my head, trembling as he shouted, "Sir! You... you... you have... have something above your head! A ghost... there's a ghost!"
Once I understood what Mr. Zhu was saying, my hair stood on end because he claimed there was a ghost above my head. How could I not be shocked? I had been searching for ghosts, but the ghost was right above me looking down. What a bizarre feeling that must be!
In any case, I shivered violently and quickly shone my flashlight upwards. To my astonishment, I saw a person floating directly above me; from below, I could only see their feet!
Seeing a pair of feet above my head made me break out in a cold sweat. I hurriedly darted back to the doorway and shone the flashlight at that spot again, only to be even more horrified when my eyes nearly popped out of my head. The figure above me was not a ghost but a person—more precisely, a corpse.
We recognized this person; it was the security guard with the last name Li who had just given us the keys!
There he was, hanging in the room, his eyes bulging from lack of oxygen, his face as white as paper, and his tongue protruding from his mouth—a terrifying sight of someone who had hanged themselves.
I felt an intense chill run through my body and shivered uncontrollably. How could I believe what I was seeing?
Mr. Zhu also froze for a moment, pointing at Li Bao'an hanging in mid-air, unable to utter a single word, his lips turning pale with fear!
I wasn't much better off; not only was I scared but also completely stunned. It took me a while to react before I shouted that this was truly unbelievable!
Indeed, wasn't this unbelievable? Just moments ago, we had clearly heard a female ghost crying in the room. We had just seen Old Li deliver the keys to us. But why was it that when we opened the storage room door, the crying female ghost had vanished, yet Old Li, who should have been in the lobby on the first floor, appeared here instead?
How did Old Li get into the storage room? When did he come in? We had clearly seen him take the elevator down just moments ago—how could he possibly appear in the storage room in an instant? And to be found hanging here!
A multitude of questions left us bewildered.
Mr. Zhu finally regained his composure; he pointed at Old Li in front of us and then gestured towards the elevator behind us but couldn't form a complete sentence.
I understood what he meant; he must be as puzzled as I was. After thinking for a moment, I said to Mr. Zhu that the Old Li who just delivered the keys to us might not be a person but rather his ghost.
Mr. Zhu shivered and replied, "Are you saying that Old Li has been hanging here for a long time?"
I nodded. What else could explain everything in front of us? Moreover, I had always wondered how Old Li, as the security guard here, could dare to take the elevator. The reason he was able to take the elevator when delivering the keys was that he was a ghost, so he dared to use it.
Mr. Zhu, still unable to believe what he had heard, incredulously asked if that meant we had seen ghosts when we encountered them in the lobby during the day and at night.
I didn't answer Mr. Zhu immediately; his question truly caught me off guard. So, I hurriedly reached out to touch Old Li's corpse hanging in front of me and found that it was still soft, meaning he hadn't been dead for long.
I then told Mr. Zhu that perhaps while we were checking other floors, the ghost had lured Old Li here, leading him to hang himself.
At this point, Mr. Zhu fell silent for a moment before suddenly asking me, "What about the other security guard? The one with the surname Zhang? He hasn't gotten into trouble too, has he?"
This question startled me as well. Yes, what about the other security guard? Was he safe? Had he also died? After all, they often worked together. Now that this security guard with the surname Li had hanged himself here, the other one with the surname Zhang was indeed in grave danger.
Seeing that I didn't respond, Mr. Zhu pointed toward the elevator at the end of the corridor and said softly, "That Old Li seemed to have taken that little girl down to the first floor... The security guard with the surname Zhang is still on the first floor..."
Upon hearing this, I was shocked. Yes, Old Li had taken that little girl who was playing hide-and-seek down to the first-floor lobby. If the other security guard with the surname Zhang was still alive, wouldn't he now be in danger from Old Li?
At that moment, I couldn't help but glance at the elevator and saw that it displayed negative one floor!
Suddenly, I felt a tightness in my chest and an ominous premonition washed over me. Just moments ago, the elevator had stopped on the first floor, but now it showed negative one floor. This meant that during the time we had entered the storage room, someone had gone down from the first floor to negative one...
Who could it be? Did Old Li and the little girl go down? Or did Old Zhang go down? Or perhaps all three of them went down together?
Just as Mr. Zhu and I stared at each other in shock, suddenly there was a "ding" sound that startled us both; it turned out to be Mr. Zhu's phone ringing. In such a strange and tense atmosphere, any sudden noise was enough to cause panic.
Initially relieved to find out it was Mr. Zhu's phone ringing, I scolded myself for being overly startled. But just as I was about to relax, Mr. Zhu suddenly exclaimed while looking at his phone: "It's Old Zhang! It's Old Zhang calling!"
Upon hearing this, I became tense again. I naturally knew that the "Old Zhang" mentioned by Mr. Zhu referred to that security guard whose fate was still uncertain. Now that the security guard surnamed Li was dead, what had happened to the one surnamed Zhang? I felt both anxious and curious, urging Mr. Zhu to answer the call quickly.
Mr. Zhu trembled as he struggled to press the answer button on his phone, and soon Old Zhang's voice came through. His tone sounded urgent, even frantic, as he asked Mr. Zhu, "Where are you, Mr. Zhu? Why can't I find you? Are you really on the B1 floor? I've searched everywhere for you, but I just can't see you."
B1 floor? Old Zhang was on the B1 floor. This left us stunned; why would he go there out of nowhere, and why was he looking for us there?
At that moment, Mr. Zhu asked him how he ended up on the B1 floor.
Old Zhang's voice on the phone sounded confused as he explained, "Old Li told me you were on the B1 floor and said the flashlight was broken, asking me to bring it down to you. So I came down to B1. But where are you now? I've searched all over B1 and still can't find you!"
At this point, both Mr. Zhu and I understood; it turned out Old Li had tricked him into coming down by saying we were on the B1 floor. Clearly, Old Li had done this intentionally, and his motives were certainly not benevolent.
I immediately urged Mr. Zhu to tell Old Zhang to return to the first floor.
Mr. Zhu was also terrified at this moment; he hurriedly told Old Zhang to come back to the first floor and warned him that Old Li was dead, that what he saw was a ghost, and not to believe any of his nonsense—he needed to get back upstairs quickly!
Old Zhang on the phone seemed either stunned or confused; after a moment of silence, he finally managed to say, "Can you say that again?"
Mr. Zhu quickly repeated himself: "We are on the Fourteenth Floor; we are not on B1 at all! Old Li is already dead; what you saw is a ghost! Hurry back to the first floor!"
This time it was clear that Old Zhang understood because we could hear him cursing Old Li's ancestors over the phone, followed by sounds of him panting and running…
At that moment, we didn't dare breathe a word; our hearts had already flown down to B1 as we anxiously stared at Mr. Zhu's phone, waiting for Old Zhang's response upon returning to the first floor. The Fourteenth Floor was very quiet; apart from Old Zhang's footsteps and heavy breathing on the phone, there were no other sounds.
After about two minutes of anxious waiting, I was sweating profusely when I leaned closer to the phone and asked Old Zhang if he hadn't made it back to the first floor yet.
To my surprise, Old Zhang suddenly replied with a sobbing tone, "I... I can't get back; I can't find the stairway!"
I was taken aback and shocked because this was exactly what I had been worried about. It seemed that it had really happened; Old Zhang had encountered the Ghost Wall on the first basement level.
Mr. Zhu hurriedly asked me what we should do.
I couldn't think too much because Old Li and the young girl were downstairs, and the female ghost who had been crying in the storage room was also missing. They might all be on the first basement level, so I couldn't afford to hesitate. I spoke directly into the phone, "Old Zhang, don't panic. Stay where you are and don't run around. I'm coming down right now!"
After saying that, I ran with Mr. Zhu toward the stairway.
Soon, we arrived at the first-floor lobby, and indeed, it was empty with no one around. At that moment, I prepared to head down to the first basement level!
But just then, Mr. Zhu grabbed me and said, "Sir, have you considered that if Old Zhang is already dead like Old Li? Could he be deliberately trying to deceive us into going down to the first basement level? If that's the case, it could be dangerous!"
I stopped in my tracks because Mr. Zhu's words were not without reason, and I felt a bit flustered inside. I replied, what if Mr. Zhang is still alive?
Mr. Zhu said, "If he is still alive, perhaps it's the ghosts below who are using him as bait to lure us down to rescue him."
To be honest, Mr. Zhu's analysis made a lot of sense. However, at that moment, I couldn't afford to think too much. I told Mr. Zhu to stay behind while I went down.
Mr. Zhu wanted to persuade me further, but I had already made up my mind. After all, I had come for the ghosts; how could I back down just because there were ghosts on the first basement level? Besides, Old Zhang might still be alive!
After saying that, I ignored Mr. Zhu and directly ran down toward the first basement level...
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