Chapter 118
Chapter 118
Su Yang carefully pressed the buttons in the order Xiao Zhang had given them. Sun Jiao stood twisting her hands nervously.
Sensing her fear, Su Yang turned and gave her an encouraging look.
Sun Jiao pressed her lips together. Her throat felt dry and sore, and she swallowed.
The elevator traveled up and down with every selected floor, creaking all the while.
Each time the doors opened onto a pitch-black hallway and deathly silence, both of them tensed from head to toe.
Nothing happened. Only the elevator chime tested their nerves each time the doors opened.
At last, Su Yang pressed the fifth floor.
They stood side by side, both trembling. They dreaded what was coming but did not dare close their eyes.
Ding.
The doors opened. When Sun Jiao saw what waited outside, her breath stopped and her whole body began to shake.
She pinched her hand hard before regaining a little composure.
Outside stood Shen Xin, reeking and no longer human in shape.
Sun Jiao was almost grateful for the black hair hanging over Shen Xin’s face. If she saw the features Cheng Miao had described, she might scream.
Shen Xin slowly entered the elevator. By then, Su Yang had already pressed the button for the second floor.
The doors closed, trapping them inside with her.
Sun Jiao went rigid. She stared straight ahead, not daring to turn her head.
Her heartbeat seemed to fill the entire elevator. The female ghost stood beside them.
At least Su Yang was behind her. His presence gave Sun Jiao enormous comfort.
The elevator did not descend to the second floor. It continued upward until it reached the seventh.
The red arrow still pointed upward when the doors opened.
Holding their breath, they looked out into an apartment.
Blood covered the floor. A woman in white lay there, tortured beyond recognition.
Sun Jiao understood that they were seeing Shen Xin’s murder inside Room 703.
The longer she watched, the more excited she became. Room 703 had been made by combining two apartments. No wonder the floor plan showed only three rooms on the seventh floor.
What followed was revolting. Fighting nausea, Sun Jiao watched Xiao Zhang throw Shen Xin’s body into the deepest part of the apartment.
Starting at the original boundary between the two apartments, now Room 703’s study, he built a wall until no trace remained that the space had once been two homes.
Now Sun Jiao knew where Shen Xin’s body was hidden. Once she told everyone, they could leave tomorrow.
The elevator doors slowly closed. Before Sun Jiao could relax, she realized Shen Xin was still beside her.
“Which floor?” The hoarse, gloomy voice sounded like something from a nightmare.
Neither Sun Jiao nor Su Yang dared answer. The elevator stopped on the fifth floor. Sun Jiao released a huge breath as Shen Xin stepped out, her bangs plastered to her forehead with sweat.
Once Shen Xin left, they could press the second floor and return.
Sun Jiao’s mind wandered to Fan Tiantian’s death.
Even if she escaped, she would be alone.
Suddenly, a tremendous impact struck her back, followed by pain that sank into her bones.
She stumbled forward two steps with a cry.
A small knife protruded from her spine.
Blood gushed out. Overwhelmed by agony, Sun Jiao had no time to understand what had happened before Shen Xin, already halfway out of the elevator, whipped around.
The ghost’s pitch-black, hollow eyes fixed upon her.
“Ah! No! Help me!”
Overwhelmed by terror and despair, Sun Jiao forgot the rules and cried for help.
Long strands of foul-smelling hair wrapped around her ankles and dragged her toward the darkness outside the elevator.
She struggled to raise her head for one final effort, only to see something unbelievable.
Su Yang stood behind her. The man who had always been friendly and kind, who had spoken to her so gently, now looked like a clown tearing away his mask. Madness and delight twisted his face.
He raised his blood-covered right hand, brought it to his mouth, and licked it. Then, amid Sun Jiao’s screaming sobs, he closed the elevator doors.
In the lobby, everyone waited for Sun Jiao and Su Yang to finish the game.
They knew the rules, and unlike Plate Spirit, tonight’s game was not a death trap. It should have been easy to clear.
Yet Cheng Miao’s ominous feeling grew steadily stronger. When the elevator finally chimed, her unease reached its peak.
The doors opened. Su Yang stumbled out with blood covering half his body. Tears streamed down his face as he wailed, “Sun Jiao… Sun Jiao was taken!”
The atmosphere turned oppressive. No one spoke. No one even asked who had taken her or where.
Cheng Miao watched Old Zhao help Su Yang sit. As she studied the sobbing man, something felt wrong.
“How did Sun Jiao die?”
Su Yang looked up tearfully. “We… We reached the fifth floor, and Shen Xin’s ghost came inside. Later, Sun Jiao must’ve gotten too frightened and screamed…
“I tried. I held on to her as hard as I could… but it was useless. I could only watch the female ghost drag her away.”
Still traumatized by Plate Spirit, Old Zhao patted him sympathetically.
Cheng Miao narrowed her eyes. “If she was dragged away, where did the blood on you come from?”
Su Yang froze. His bloodstained hand trembled a moment later. “While I was fighting the ghost for her, Sun Jiao…”
He left the sentence unfinished, but everyone formed the same image.
“Forget it. It isn’t your fault. The girl was timid. Nothing could be done.” Old Zhao comforted him, glancing nervously back at the elevator.
Cheng Miao pushed aside the discordant feeling and asked something else. “What did you see? The rules said you would see another world. If my guess is right, it should have shown something related to Shen Xin’s death.”
Su Yang lowered his eyes and struck his head with one hand, sounding guilty. “I don’t know. I didn’t dare open my eyes the entire time.”
Cheng Miao frowned.
Yang Ke suddenly spoke. “Wait. If you never looked, how did you know Shen Xin dragged Sun Jiao away?”
Su Yang bowed his head awkwardly. “I opened my eyes when she screamed…”
Yang Ke gave an embarrassed laugh. “Sorry, Brother. I wasn’t interrogating you. I was only curious.”
Su Yang forced a good-natured smile. “It’s fine.”
“All right, let’s rest. Tomorrow it ends.” Old Zhao pushed himself up by his knees.
Cheng Miao noticed Gu Jian had not spoken since Su Yang emerged. He had sat there in silence the whole time.
When he saw her looking, Gu Jian exaggeratedly broke into a smile, scratched his hair, and lazily took the stairs back by himself.
What a strange person.
When they parted on the sixth floor, Cheng Miao told Qi Jiajia, “Watch Su Yang carefully tomorrow. Something is wrong with him.”