Hearing the footsteps coming towards the toilet.
Yang Jian covered Jiang Yan's mouth, turned off the flashlight, and gently hushed her, signaling her to make no noise.
Jiang Yan was much smarter than the students at school, reacting immediately. Fearing that Yang Jian's cover was not tight enough, she covered her mouth again. Not only did she not make a sound, but she even held her breath.
When the flashlight was turned off, the entire toilet was plunged into darkness, and the surrounding silence was somewhat terrifying.
But within the darkness, the footsteps of the person approaching became extraordinarily clear.
Without a doubt, someone casually walked into the toilet.
That person did not turn on a flashlight or use a mobile phone for light, nor did they speak, just like an ordinary person using the toilet, naturally.
Yang Jian could feel the presence of that person outside.
Jiang Yan felt it too, her eyes wide open with a look of fear.
"Did the footsteps stop?"
Afterward, Yang Jian's expression shifted slightly as he heard the footsteps outside disappear, seemingly as if the person who came in had stopped.
Judging by the distance of the footsteps, he could roughly guess that the person was standing next to the first toilet stall.
"What is he trying to do? He's not really going to use the toilet, is he? Should we go out and check..." Yang Jian weighed his options.
But on further thought, he decided against it.
Because once he encountered the ghost, he would be forced to use the power of the malevolent spirit for self-defense, thus wasting an opportunity for nothing.
A loud noise suddenly echoed throughout the toilet.
It was as if the sound of a door panel breaking erupted.
The door of the first toilet stall seemed to have been violently kicked open by someone.
Jiang Yan trembled in fear, and if not for her desperately covering her mouth, she would have screamed in terror.
As the sound subsided, that person began moving again, with footsteps echoing once more in the toilet.
After a few steps, the person seemed to stop in front of the door to the second toilet stall.
Another sound of a door panel breaking thundered, the second toilet stall was violently smashed open by that thing outside, and one could faintly hear the sound of a water tank shattering and water pipes spraying.
The noise settled into silence once again.
But then the footsteps continued.
The person outside reached the front of the third stall...
Jiang Yan was shaking all over with fear, her eyes tightly closed, enveloped in terror.
She could feel that whatever was outside was definitely not human, it was unquestionably that ghost.
There were only five toilet stalls, and it wouldn't be long before she was found by the ghost.
By then, she was certain to die.
"Could that thing be targeting me only?"
Yang Jian also felt that the person outside was gradually approaching, methodically opening each stall in search of someone possibly hiding.
Yet another loud sound as the door to the fourth stall was opened.
"No choice, since that thing is after me and no one else, I'll have to fight it."
Yang Jian took a deep breath, no longer covering Jiang Yan's mouth, and he turned to watch the door to their stall.
As soon as the door was opened and he saw the ghost, he would not hesitate to use Ghost Domain.
Jiang Yan felt Yang Jian stand up, and with courage from who knows where, she quickly stood up too, hugging Yang Jian from behind, unwilling to let go.
"You, you... take me with you when you escape, I don't want to die, please, I'll agree to anything you ask, just to get out of here, I can be your girlfriend, sleep with you..."
With a voice filled with sobs and pleading, she feared Yang Jian would run away and leave her alone.
Yang Jian whispered forcefully.
Jiang Yan obediently bit her lip, making no sound at all, but her body couldn't stop shaking from fear.
At this moment, Yang Jian couldn't help but admire this woman. She was very sensitive, seemingly knowing he had the ability to protect her, clinging to him as if he were the last lifeline, willing to say anything, agree to any condition.
But he had no time to pay attention to her now.
His expression was grave as he listened for any sound from outside.
Suddenly, he felt it.
The ghost was drawing near.
Right outside the stall, separated by only a thin wooden door, the distance must have been less than two meters.
It could be said they were in extremely close proximity.
A faint stench of decay wafted in, the same smell he had encountered when he first came to the mall two days ago.
It wasn't very intense, almost imperceptible.
A loud noise erupted, as if the thin wooden door of the room had been struck by an immense force, almost shattering immediately.
The reverberating power nearly sent Yang Jian and Jiang Yan, behind him, staggering backward, until they finally stopped, leaning against the wall.
At that moment, the wooden door slowly opened a crack.
Through the gap, darkness still enveloped everything outside, revealing nothing.
Yang Jian could feel that the ghost was just outside.
It was only the lack of light that made it impossible to see clearly.
"It didn't come in immediately? Seems to have stopped."
Yang Jian almost instinctively wanted to use his Ghost Eye, but he restrained himself.
Because... since the ghost hadn't come in to kill, it meant that he and Jiang Yan weren't the ghost's primary targets.
This was very important.
Yang Jian stared intently into the darkness ahead, making no rash moves.
As long as the ghost outside didn't take further action, he wouldn't use his Ghost Eye.
, man and ghost were seemingly at a standoff, separated by a slightly ajar wooden door.
Yang Jian made no noise or movement, and the ghost outside remained still as well.
Everything seemed to have frozen in time.
But, out of caution, he still slowly reached out to close the slightly open wooden door.
There was still no sound from outside, indicating that the ghost was neither looking for him nor Jiang Yan.
Just when Yang Jian thought the situation would settle down .
Jiang Yan, seemingly uncomfortable from being squeezed by Yang Jian, gently turned her body halfway.
However, the next moment.
The door was violently struck again, almost bursting open.
"Not good, it's back," Yang Jian quickly blocked the door.
Jiang Yan, though frightened, was not foolish; she too threw herself at the flimsy wooden door in terror to brace it.
However, the banging on the door became even more intense, with each strike stronger than the last, several times nearly breaking open, but Yang Jian forcibly closed it back.
At that moment, he couldn't help but be tempted to use the Ghost Domain.
No, that's not right,
Why did the ghost not act before but suddenly moved when Jiang Yan turned around?
"Don't back against the door; turn around," Yang Jian commanded, grabbing Jiang Yan and turning her around.
As soon as Jiang Yan turned, the noise outside the door immediately lessened, then quickly ceased altogether.
Once again, calm was restored.
"So that's it..." At that moment, Yang Jian's eyes revealed a hint of surprise.
He had figured out the conditions for the ghost's killings.
The calm lasted a good while.
The utter lack of action from the ghost outside made Yang Jian increasingly confident in his hypothesis and conjectures.
"Since neither Jiang Yan nor I meet this ghost's killing conditions, and the ghost isn't indiscriminately attacking, it means... the danger level of this ghost is only C, restricted," he thought.
The ghost outside started moving again.
This time, it was not approaching Yang Jian's side, but instead gradually moved towards the outside of the restroom.
The footsteps grew fainter and fainter.
The ghost in the single room had given up on Yang Jian and Jiang Yan and begun to choose other targets instead.
"Is it leaving? But I must uncover the true identity of this ghost," said Yang Jian, his gaze shifting as he quickly took out his phone, opened the camera, and stretched his hand outside the room to snap a photo in the direction the footsteps were fading.
The flash went off for a moment.
"What are you doing? What if you lure that thing back?" Jiang Yan exclaimed behind him, pinching Yang Jian and speaking in a panicked voice.
"Of course I'm taking a photo. I need to determine the ghost's identity. You say Wuei Xiaohong is the ghost, but I saw her yesterday, alive and well, not looking like a ghost at all. If she is indeed the ghost, then I should be able to capture her appearance, even the slightest facial feature would be enough," Yang Jian spoke calmly. "This is my matter, you need not worry.
If the ghost hasn't burst through the door to attack us, it means we aren't its targets. If something really goes wrong, I'll take responsibility. I won't deliberately get you killed."
However, when he looked at the photo he had just taken, he was immediately stunned.
"Impossible, how could it be him?"
The photo didn't capture the entire visage of the ghost, only less than half of the body, with the rest conveniently obscured by the restroom's corner wall.
And that partial body was dressed in a security uniform identical to his own.