In a nondescript storeroom within the mall.
The light from several cellphones flickered on, and everyone inside held their breath, their faces pale and etched with terror.
They were Boss Tang, Master Luo, Manager Li, Elder Sister Li, and others,
And there was one very special person, Yan Li.
Yan Li's face was particularly ghastly right now. He stared at the door in front of him, smeared with bright red blood. The blood, congealed and unmoving, looked like it was seeping out from within the door, continuously dripping with blood.
Blood had pooled on the floor, forming a sizable stain.
"The noise has stopped; it seems that ghost can't get in for the moment."
At that moment, Yan Li breathed a huge sigh of relief. He looked at his hands covered in blood, his expression far from good.
"Master, master, we're safe now, right?" Boss Tang asked, still in shock.
Initially, their journey to the fifth floor was smooth, planning to leave through the emergency exit, but upon arriving there, they discovered that all the doors had unexpectedly been locked.
They thought of breaking the lock to escape.
However, just as they were attempting to break the lock, something eerie happened right beside them.
Someone suddenly fell to the ground behind them... headless.
The terror of that moment caused them to abandon the idea of breaking the lock. Instead, they scattered and fled. Fortunately, they encountered Yan Li, who led them into the storeroom, locked the door, and thus, narrowly escaped disaster.
But the situation did not calm down there.
Just moments before, a series of loud banging sounds had come from the other side of the door.
It seemed as if something outside was trying to smash its way into the storeroom, the locks nearly breaking under the force.
That strength... was certainly not human.
The others watched as blood flowed from Yan Li's hands. He smeared the blood onto the door, and all the noise finally ceased.
"This won't hold for long, and the ghost outside has set its sights on us—it knows we're here and will continue to attack... And I can feel it waiting out there," Yan Li said.
His current situation was exactly like the one Yang Jian had faced earlier.
Only he hadn't realized just what kind of entity the ghost was.
"So, what do we do now? Am I going to die?" Manager Li asked, frightened.
Yan Li snorted lightly, "If someone is going to die, it won't just be you. What are you afraid of? I've told you before not to trust those charlatans, not to rely on feng shui masters for fortunes and rituals. When it comes to real ghosts, they all run faster than anyone."
After speaking, he glanced towards the corner.
Master Luo, who had been all confidence and composure earlier, was now cowering there, trembling with fear, nowhere near his previous arrogant demeanor.
"Master Yan, think of something quickly. We can't just hide here forever. I'll pay any price to leave this place," Boss Tang said, sounding desperate.
He felt that the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became.
Only by leaving, by getting out of this mall, would they be safe.
"Quiet! Is it about money now?" Yan Li snapped, clearly agitated.
Because he didn't have a better idea, either.
The ghost in this mall was tougher to handle than he had anticipated, and his limits as a ghost controller were fast approaching.
While they were all at a loss,
Yang Jian was making his way upstairs nonchalantly, flashlight in hand, taking the elevator.
Jiang Yan clung to his sleeve, shrinking her neck, her eyes darting about fearfully, worried that a ghost might emerge from any dark corner.
"Of course I'm scared, but what's the use?" Yang Jian said in an indifferent tone, "Will fear stop death? The more terrified you are when facing a ghost, the easier it is to die. Your survival in the restroom for four days without being attacked was just good luck."
"But to stay alive, luck isn't enough. You need action."
"To do nothing is to embrace death."
As they spoke, they arrived at the fifth floor.
All was quiet; not a sound could be heard.
Yang Jian shone his flashlight around, finding no one else.
Only by the emergency exit door did he find a head.
Its complexion was deathly pale, eyes closed, and the neck looked as though it had been neatly severed, not a drop of blood in sight. If it weren't for the lack of a body, the severed head might have seemed to be peacefully asleep, the expression tranquil.
"This is the man from Master Luo's group," Yang Jian's expression flickered slightly. "But he was killed by a ghost."
Jiang Yan, looking at the head, covered her mouth in fright, not letting herself cry out.
Before, Yang Jian had warned her not to scream no matter what she saw.
"Where is the surveillance room?" Yang Jian asked.
"Over there..." Jiang Yan pointed ahead.
Following her direction, Yang Jian quickly arrived at the surveillance room.
At that moment, the door to the surveillance room was open, with a bunch of keys in the lock and the lights on inside, as if someone was in there.
"Wasn't the power out? How come the lights are still on inside?" Jiang Yan said in surprise and suspicion.
Yang Jian's gaze sharpened, "It's not a power outage, but someone deliberately turned off the lights in the mall. Normally, how could the mall have a power outage? If it really was an outage, I wouldn't have come to the surveillance room."
However, when he walked in, he was immediately stunned.
In front of the monitoring station, a person sat rigidly, not moving at all.
The person was wearing... a security guard uniform.
And next to the seat were some wet marks, as if his trouser legs were wet, like he had just walked out of the bathroom.
Jiang Yan had not seen the photo that Yang Jian held in his hand and instinctively called out.
The person heard the noise, immediately turned around to look, and responded.
"Yang Jian, why are you here?"
"Liu Qiang..." Yang Jian's face instantly darkened.
In his phone's photo album, there was still that photo of the security guard uniform taken in the bathroom.
And apart from Liu Qiang and himself, there was no third person wearing a security guard uniform in the entire mall.
"That's great, you know each other," Jiang Yan said with some joy, happy to have found another living person, finally feeling a bit safer.
"I am the company's accountant, Jiang Yan, nice to meet you."
She wanted to go up to greet him but was stopped by Yang Jian.
Yang Jian showed her the photo: "Take a look at this first. This one was taken earlier in the bathroom."
Jiang Yan looked at the photo.
In the dim bathroom, a person in a security guard uniform seemed to have just walked out, captured halfway through their body.
Jiang Yan glanced at the photo and then at Liu Qiang. Her beautiful eyes widened in shock, a wave of fear rising in her heart. The hand she had just slightly extended retracted as if electrocuted, and then she quickly hid behind Yang Jian, covering her mouth.
"Stand against the wall, don't move," Yang Jian commanded, pulling her toward the wall.
Jiang Yan immediately pressed herself against the wall, daring not to move.
This woman was indeed very clever, knowing what to do at what time.
"What's going on with you two?" Liu Qiang walked over, puzzled.
Yang Jian looked at him, "Nothing, the mall is haunted, some people got separated, so we came to check the surveillance room. By the way, why are you here?"
He conversed with Liu Qiang as he usually would.
But in his heart, he had already identified Liu Qiang as... a ghost.
Liu Qiang said, "Haunted? Where is it haunted? I haven't seen anything. I saw the mall had a power outage earlier, so I went to check the lines. I saw the surveillance room still had light, so I came in to check. I had been sitting for just a while when you guys arrived."
"Is that so?" Yang Jian said warily, "Did you see anyone else besides us here?"
"No, I didn't find them," Liu Qiang shook his head.
"Really? Can you help me look through the previous surveillance footage?" Yang Jian asked.
"No problem, I'm good with this stuff," Liu Qiang replied.
He then sat down and started to bring up the previous surveillance footage.
Yang Jian walked over, looked down at his wet trouser legs, "Were you in the bathroom earlier?"
"Nope, why do you ask?" Liu Qiang answered.
"Just curious," Yang Jian said.