Count again. Still eleven people.
Zhao Daxian broke out in a cold sweat.
When? When had that thing started following them?
That wasn't even the most terrifying part. The terrifying part was that he couldn't distinguish which of the eleven was the ghost.
The members of the action group were all handpicked by Qin Yue, and Zhao Daxian knew them all. But now, his mind felt like it was shrouded in fog, muddled and sluggish. Everyone looked familiar, and he felt like he knew every single one of them.
This was bad. He was under a ghostly shroud.
Without time to overthink, Zhao Daxian immediately looked at Qin Yue and secretly made a hand signal. Although the two were still in their adjustment phase, she was highly experienced and immediately noticed something was wrong.
“Break time is over.”
Qin Yue’s gaze swept across the faces of the team members. She looked at one of them and ordered, “Attention! Form two columns, left and right. Start counting off from you!”
The team members didn't suspect a thing and immediately lined up with synchronized movements.
“One, two, three, four!”
“One, two, three, four, five!”
Eight people, divided into two columns. Where did the fifth one come from?
The group was plunged into confusion, but that voice had definitely come from within their ranks.
They counted off again, and the result was the same. There was an extra person. But no matter how they looked, they couldn't find the odd one out.
Qin Yue had a sharp memory and called them out by name one by one, yet no matter how many times she counted, there was always one extra person in the group.
What exactly was going on? Was this a supernatural phenomenon?
Everyone looked at the colleagues they knew well, but then they glanced at each other with suspicion in their eyes.
Could he or she be the ghost? Could they trust the person next to them? Could they leave their backs exposed? Would their colleague turn into a murderous ghost the moment they looked away?
Ghosts were indeed treacherous and cunning. It was hiding in the crowd to make them doubt each other.
To make matters worse, the audio in their earpieces had gone dead. Only the recording devices clipped to their chests were still blinking red, continuing to operate.
“Is there a solution?” Qin Yue whispered to Zhao Daxian, her expression darkening. “It’s hiding among our people right now. We’ve been together this whole time, so we can trust each other for now. But how do we drag this thing out?”
“This ghost is crafty. It knows we’re here to cause trouble, so it moved first to hide in the crowd and confuse our perception. It’s called a ‘ghostly shroud.’ I don’t know when we were hit, but those under the shroud will subconsciously see the ghost as a friend, relative, or colleague. You know how it is in video games—it’s like a magical attack that confuses your cognition and clouds your brain, making you lose your judgment.”
Zhao Daxian took a step forward and lowered his voice. “But there’s an easy way to break it. Ghosts don’t have physical forms; they can only weave illusions to make us think they exist in this space.”
No physical form? That made things easier.
Qin Yue nodded, then turned to the front desk to grab a marker. She instructed Zhao Daxian, “Stand at the stairwell. Follow my lead. As each person passes you, I’ll call a name, and you draw a mark on their hand. In the end, whoever doesn't have a mark is the extra one.”
“That’s a great idea!” Zhao Daxian said excitedly. “When the time comes, you guys just open fire on the extra one. We’ll hit it with Five Yin Water. I guarantee it’ll regret ever showing up.”
“This is a busy downtown area. Do not shoot unless absolutely necessary.” Qin Yue placed her hand on her waist. Only after feeling her weapon did she feel half of her unease dissipate. “Use the Five Yin Water first. If that doesn't work, we’ll reconsider.”
She gave Zhao Daxian a meaningful look and tapped her earpiece repeatedly, making a series of clicking sounds. “It’s settled then. The one without a mark on their palm is the extra one.”
The latter was momentarily stunned, but then he seemed to realize something.
Before the operation, everyone had been equipped with gear specifically designed for ghosts from a fire. Portable impact-triggered liquid fire extinguishers, compressed desiccants, and water-bomb pouches filled with Five Yin Water. Of course, the bullet tips had all been soaked in black dog blood.
Five Yin Water was made by soaking the bark of locust, willow, elm, mulberry, and poplar trees in well water and leaving it out under the moonlight for an entire night. There is a saying that the world is composed of five elements, and ghosts can naturally be categorized by them as well. A ghost that died in a fire is a fire ghost; using the ultimate yin and water of the Five Yin Water to deal with it was perfectly appropriate.
Following the plan, one stood at the front of the line calling out names, while the other brought up the rear.
“Lyu Qing.”
“Wang Cailiang.”
“Chen Guofu.”
“Liu Ye.”
...
“Zhao Daxian.”
At the very end, another hand reached out. Zhao Daxian held up the marker and called out her name. “Qin Yue, Section Chief Qin. Now, everyone, show your hands.”
Eleven people reached out their hands in unison. Men and women, with palms of all kinds—fair, dark, rough, and smooth.
However, only one person had a circular mark on their palm.
Everyone’s gaze converged on him.
It was a young man, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with semi-long hair. His bangs hung over his eyes, obscuring half of his face. He wore clothes that looked like an old style from several years ago—tattered and torn, with one sleeve burned away to reveal a deathly pale, greenish arm.
He seemed to have suffered great pain before his death; the skin from his calves down had been charred to carbon. As the man moved, countless black flakes continuously fell from his legs.
He should have been easy to recognize at a glance, but just moments ago, everyone had been as blind as bats, failing to notice he was mixed in with the crowd.
But he had been exposed after all.
A smile played on Qin Yue’s lips. She had just used Morse code to send a signal: the one with the mark was the evil ghost.
“Throw!”
Qin Yue didn't hesitate. She crushed the water bomb filled with Five Yin Water in her hand and hurled it toward him!
In a flash, dozens of water bombs flew through the air, landing heavily on the ground and splashing everywhere.
Splat!
Splat, splat!
Splat!
“Aaaah! Aaaaaah! Aaaah!”
The water bombs burst, and the liquid inside sprayed out. The young man screamed. As if the scene were dropping frames, his entire body vanished from the spot.
It was only for an instant. The man disappeared without a trace, leaving only the faint echoes of his wails in the corridor.
“It hurts... it hurts... it hurts...”
“So hot, so hot, save me... save me...”
The wailing grew louder, going from a faint whisper to a roar right next to their ears. As 11:30 PM arrived, the smell of charred meat suddenly filled the air.
It smelled like burning leather, or like pigskin boiled in water, mixed with the stench of scorched chicken feathers. Qin Yue could tell this was the odor of burning human tissue.
But she didn't have time to distinguish it further.
Thick smoke billowed, and flames soared. Without them realizing it, they had been surrounded by a raging fire. Black toxic mist crawled up the stairs, threatening to consume them!
To make the experience more realistic, the owner of the escape room had piled up many flammable materials in the rooms. As the fire rose, orange tongues of flame licked the ceiling. The scorching heat was enough to bake them alive.
Everyone immediately threw their portable fire extinguishers, but the fire only grew more intense instead of fading.
“What’s going on? Where did the fire start?!”
“The temperature is definitely rising; this isn't fake! We need to notify the building's residents to evacuate immediately!”
“Section Chief Qin, cough cough, this fire won't go out!”
“Cough cough cough! Section Chief Qin, the communications are down!”
“Cough cough cough! Section Chief Qin! The fire escape alarms aren't working either!”
“Mission suspended! Quickly notify the building residents to evacuate! Contact the fire department and assist with the escape! Move fast!”
The thick smoke cut them off from one another. Qin Yue made a split-second decision, crushed a water bomb, and soaked a towel to cover her nose and mouth. She searched for a direction through the smoke.
“Take the stairs!”
The building seemed to descend into chaos. Countless people were panicking, unable to tell if it was the souls of the past crying for help or the living praying loudly.
“Help! Save us!”
“Help! Fire! Run!”
“He’s coming! He’s coming! He’s coming!! Run! Run, run!”
“Aaaaaah! I don’t want to die yet!”
“So hot! So hot! Mommy, I’m so hot, it hurts!”
“Waaaah, honey, I’m not coming home!”
Rate on N.U.
