The silver elevator doors opened on both sides.

Jiang Jun gently pressed Li Xiu’s back, lowering his head to ask with a smile: “Hey, what’s wrong? Are you afraid of taking the elevator?”

Li Xiu swallowed, looking down to conceal the haunted look in his eyes.

In fact, if he hadn’t seen Wang Rongfa, Li Xiu would have given up on the elevator and taken the stairs. But now, Wang Rongfa’s face peeking around the corner kept popping up in his mind.

The direction where Wang Rongfa had leaned out was next to the stairwell.

Was that person still there now?

Why had he used that strange posture, stretching his neck out to stare at him?

Even just thinking about it gave Li Xiu an indescribable chill.

“I-I’m okay.”

The warmth of Jiang Jun’s body next to him transferred over. After being dazed for a short while, Li Xiu managed to cope with it and followed Jiang Jun into the elevator.

Teacher Xu had said that as long as people didn’t believe in these kinds of things, they wouldn’t be scared by them.

All he really needed to do as a student was study hard.

All the things he had seen were created to scare him…..

After entering the elevator, Li Xiu kept his head down and continuously repeated what Teacher Xu had said to him before. And he prayed wildly that the elevator would quickly reach the first floor, so that he could leave this building that had left a serious psychological shadow on him.

However, the heavens didn’t answer his prayers, and the elevator stopped just as it descended one floor.

Ding-dong—

The door opening prompt sounded.

However, no one came in from outside the elevator.

This situation was rather common. When someone pressed the elevator button and the elevator didn’t come for a long time, they would either change elevators or go directly to the stairwell.

Thus, when the elevator reached that floor and the doors opened, that person would have already left.

Li Xiu wasn’t bothered at first. He just subconsciously looked up at the empty elevator doors, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw something swaying slightly at the other end of the corridor.

Jiang Jun happened to pass him at this time and press the door button.

The silver metal doors closed. 

The elevator slowly descended again.

However…..

It stopped again at the next floor.

Ding-dong—

Accompanied by the familiar electronic sound, the doors opened again. And this time, there was still no one outside the elevator.

No, strictly speaking, it wasn’t entirely empty…..

Li Xiu’s whole body tensed, and his hair stood on end.

He stared straight at the end of the corridor. When he saw the figure crawling on the floor, he was unable to move for a moment. 

It was Wang Rongfa.

Li Xiu was a little surprised that he could recognize the boy — that person no longer had even the basic appearance of a “human.”

The previously strong and robust boy was now hunched over. Like a forcefully stuffed courier box, his body was folded and distorted in a way that defied description. Li Xiu could no longer identify where his original torso was. Arms, legs, spine…..under pale skin were bright red muscles and gray-white bones. Next to Wang Rongfa’s head were the soles of his feet, and his arms were propped up at the very back of his body, scraping the ground little by little to push the “monster” forward.

[“Wait…..hehe…..wait a minute…..”]

[“I want…..to go out…..”]

A dry, hoarse moan came out of Wang Rongfa’s bulging chest.

But as he squirmed forward, Li Xiu’s vision was blocked as the elevator doors closed.

“Going down—”

An electronic chime sounded in the small elevator car.

Li Xiu took a sudden step back and hit the wall.

“A-Xiu? What’s wrong?” Jiang Jun looked at Li Xiu in surprise.

And Li Xiu grabbed his hand with a complete lack of control.

“Did, did you see it?” Li Xiu panted, his voice shaking.

Jiang Jun frowned slightly, looking confused: “Ah? See what?”

At this moment, Li Xiu felt the subtle inertia of the elevator stopping.

Yes, the elevator once again stopped at the next floor.

Ding-dong—

“D-don’t, don’t open the door…..”

Disregarding everything else, Li Xiu rushed to the door and pressed the “close” button. But no matter how much he pressed the gleaming silver metal button, the elevator doors still opened again.

This time, there was still no one outside the door.

At least, no living person.

[“Wait for me…..wait for me…..”]

Wang Rongfa was still squirming toward the elevator step by step from the other end of the corridor.

At this distance, Li Xiu could even look into his cloudy gray-white eyes.

He could also see that his belly had begun to swell.

Fortunately, due to Li Xiu’s frantic pressing of the button, the doors closed much more quickly than before.

“A-Xiu? Are you okay?”

Jiang Jun stepped forward and took his hand, his face full of worry.

“Sometimes people get bored and leave after pressing the elevator button. Don’t be nervous…..you must be claustrophobic, right?”

As Jiang Jun spoke, the elevator descended another level.

And, as expected, the elevator doors opened once more.

Wang Rongfa’s twisted body was getting closer to the elevator. He turned his head, meeting Li Xiu’s fearful gaze inside the elevator car.

[“I said…..wait….for me…..”]

[“You asshole…..why won’t you…..just…..listen….”]

Ding-dong—

Once again, the doors opened.

“Ah, it’s so irritating. Who was bored enough to press every level?”

The words of the boy next to him seemed to come from a faraway place.

Li Xiu was entirely unable to speak.

It felt like daytime sleep paralysis. An invisible force had taken over to suppress him.

His whole body was trembling, but he could only hold onto the bit of warmth at his side, unable to move.

He knew he should take action immediately.

He knew he needed to find a way to escape.

But Li Xiu found that he had completely lost control of his body.

A pinprick-like chill spread down his spine.

The terrifying premonition was so strong that Li Xiu almost vomited.

But he could only stand there stiffly, watching the elevator doors open and close, his eyes reflecting the figure of the twisted monster approaching on every level.

It was getting closer.

“Wang Rongfa” was getting closer and closer.

If he didn’t leave immediately, if he let the elevator continue to stop at each floor, next time….. “Wang Rongfa” would…..arrive at the elevator.

There was a voice screaming in Li Xiu’s head.

Fortunately, at this moment, Li Xiu felt the phone in his pocket buzz.

The buzzing of the phone was like magic, suddenly breaking Li Xiu’s paralysis.

Li Xiu’s hands were shaking, but he still reflexively answered the phone.

As soon as he answered, the phone blew up.

It was Fang Qian’an’s voice.

“Fuck, A-Xiu! Where are you…..zizi…..right now…..zizi…..don’t you know I’ve been calling you…..zizizizi…..”

Li Xiu pressed his lips together, trying to respond to the other party, yet unable to make a sound for a long time.

He squeezed out a sob with all his strength.

“Fang Qian’an, we’re being targeted…..”

He tried his utmost to calm himself, but his voice inevitably trembled due to his extreme tension.

“Wait, what ‘we?’ Who else is with you…..”

For some reason, Fang Qian’an’s voice through the staticky connection sounded even more panicked.

Li Xiu suppressed his fear and struggled to speak: “Jiang Jun. Only Jiang Jun is here.”

“…..A-Xiu.”

Fang Qian’an’s reply was low and deep.

“Listen to me…..zizi…..that person…..can’t be Jiang Jun…..”

“Jiang Jun is…..still attending a funeral in his hometown…..I also…..zizi…..didn’t ask anyone to find you…..”

“A-Xiu…..”

“Zizi…..quickly…..zizi…..escape…..”

Clutching the phone, Liu Xiu froze in place. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

A hand reached over and gently took the phone from Li Xiu, then pressed the ‘end call’ button. Li Xiu turned his head with great difficulty, just in time to see Jiang Jun hang his neck down to look at him.

When had Jiang Jun become…..so tall?

Li Xiu stared blankly at Jiang Jun, and even became numb to fear.

Jiang Jun’s body was stretched like a snake, and mottled blue corpse spots could be seen under white skin. He just stared at Li Xiu like that, the pupils in his eyes dark and reflecting nothing: “What’s wrong? You look so terrible.”

If he didn’t look at his face and just listened to his voice, he was still hearty and cheerful when he spoke.

Ding-dong—

At this moment, the elevator door next to Li Xiu opened again. However, this time it was truly deserted outside the door.

No people. No Wang Rongfa.

There was only darkness outside the elevator.

And when Li Xiu suddenly turned around, he found that Jiang Jun, who’d been next to him just now, had vanished.

The pale lighting brightly illuminated the elevator car, where the rigid Li Xiu stood alone.

But in the next second, Li Xiu heard a loud electronic alarm.

It was the alarm for an overloaded elevator car.

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Chapter 40 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 42