Chapter 11 Chapter 11

The rolling sound of the elevator was still chattering in my ears, and the distorted mechanical sound was like a twisted whisper.

The light around me had become dim without me noticing. The top floor of the furniture store was originally a one-way glass, but now there was no sky outside the glass, only a dark fog.

One-way elevator.

There is only entry but no exit.

Xibai bent down and pinched his calf, and the numbness subsided a lot.

He regained the feeling of his limbs and tried to calm himself down.

Xibai touched his pocket.

He was in a hurry when he went out this morning and forgot to bring the amulet that Zhuang Suan gave him.

The low wall that he had built with courage in his heart became a little shaky at this moment.

Xibai took a deep breath and told himself not to worry.

"Instead of sitting and waiting for death, it is better to seize the time and act."

Xi Bai whispered to himself and took another look at the rolling one-way elevator.

How about going in the opposite direction!

Xi Bai rushed forward, and just as he raised his legs and wanted to rush into the escalator and run downstairs in the opposite direction.

Suddenly, a violent shaking came from the ground, and instinct made Xi Bai stop. He saw that the warning light of the elevator in front of him suddenly turned red, and the ground under his feet was instantly covered with spider-web-like cracks. The next

moment, the stone sank and fell, and the entire escalator fell down with it.

The space under the escalator was not the original furniture city building, but a piece of black fog that was the same as the outside of the glass dome above.

The seemingly soft mist, like a giant beast from the abyss, opened its mouth and swallowed up the fallen escalator cleanly.

There was not even a sound of it falling to the ground.

Xibai heard the difficult and heavy swallowing sound in his throat.

The overall specifications of the furniture store are hollow rings, and at this time, the space in the middle of the ring is shrouded in black mist.

The air seems to have become particularly sticky, as if someone has mixed dust and water into it. I don’t know where the light source is, but the outlines of the surrounding objects can be vaguely seen.

Xibai stood on the side of the aisle in the middle of the ring, holding the railing with his hand, but keeping a certain distance from the railing.

He didn’t want to fall.

But without support, his weak legs could hardly walk.

On the outside of the aisle, farther from the center, there were also many stores with blurred signs, and everything was shrouded in black mist.

Xibai didn't want to get close, he always felt that something would happen there.

But after he walked around the inside of the road, holding onto the railing, the countless cold sweats on his back extinguished the last bit of hope in his heart.

Not only was there no other exit downwards - Xibai himself didn't have much hope for this - even the gap left by the escalator that had just brought him up had disappeared.

In other words, Xibai was now standing on a non-existent floor, with no place leading to other directions.

Whether going up or down.

The cell phone signal was naturally blank, and there was an "×" on it, not giving even a little hope.

Xibai suddenly remembered the popular science post about elevator mezzanines that he had seen on the Internet some time ago, and his back was soaked with cold sweat again.

The post about elevator mezzanines was to warn the public, saying that someone's door opened when he was taking the elevator, and after walking out he found that he had entered a "non-existent floor" and was trapped to death inside.

But that was an architectural problem, and what he encountered now was metaphysics, which was even more difficult to deal with.

No, he could not just sit there and wait for death.

Xibai glanced at the black fog outside the railings, and he took a deep breath.

There was a faint damp and dark smog in the mist. Xibai frowned, but finally made up his mind.

He turned around.

Xibai walked towards the deep foggy area on the aisle.

Xibai crossed it horizontally, but this foggy aisle was wider than he had imagined.

Xibai walked out of the thickest fog. Although his vision was still blurry, the light gradually became stronger. He could see clearly that there was a store in front of him. There were many things placed in the store, but he couldn't see the specific appearance.

It was just that the flickering flames of two red candles faintly shining through the innermost part of the store made the slightly more sunny atmosphere instantly return to the dark side.

There was a commotion nearby, Xibai looked over and saw a figure standing at the misty store entrance.

There was someone there?

The surprise and joy of meeting a human here made Xibai instinctively chase after him, but by the time his brain caught up and he realized how small the probability of meeting someone of his kind was in this area, the other person had already stood in front of the figure.

A large, pale face suddenly appeared in front of Xibai, and he was so scared that he almost sat on the ground.

There was only a black square for the eyes on that face, two smears of red paint on the cheeks, and the lips were even more pale and colorless - this was not a human.

It was a paper man.

The facial features were vividly painted, with a bit of exaggerated technique that could hardly be concealed by ink and color, the limbs were tied tightly and completely, and the paper clothes on his body were the wide sleeves of the ancient times, which were reflected by the faint candlelight from the store.

It looked like it was stained with blood, which was creepy.

The paper man stared at Xibai.

Xibai also stared at the paper man, ready to run away at any time.

But for a long time, both parties just stood there quietly, motionless.

Except for Xibai who had a cold sweat on his forehead.

Fortunately, it was just a paper man.

Xibai just breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly remembered: Something is wrong?

The paper man just now seemed to have turned around, right?

Xibai's throat gurgled again.

When he looked over again, he heard a series of "clicking" sounds, and saw the paper man bending down and stretching out his hand towards the blood-red room, as if inviting Xibai to come in.

Xibai:!

With a whoosh, he turned around and rushed into the thick fog again.

The paper man is alive!!!

The paper man tilted his head slightly.

However, the mist that was blown away had not yet closed again, and Xibai, who had just disappeared, turned back the same way.

The paper man's movements remained the same, and after seeing Xibai's return, he even bent his waist a little lower.

And the lips on Senbai's flat face, which were painted bright red with cinnabar, also slowly curled up at this moment.

Xibai: ...

Looking back at the thick fog behind him again, Xibai gritted his teeth and stepped forward.

And along with his steps, the paper man also floated up.

The rustling sound of paper folding and stretching mixed in the thick fog, becoming a little muffled, but it also reminded Xibai that the figure next to him was indeed a "human" made of paper.

Xibai stared at the paper man leading the way, but in his mind were the other scenes he saw after rushing into the thick fog just now.

Just now, Xibai was startled to see the paper man "come alive" and wanted to run away quickly.

But when he ran forward for a while, he saw another store.

It was exactly the same as the current store... no, it was an even more shabby store.

The various decorations in the store, the goods and even the placement of the goods have not changed, but it is covered with a thin layer of dust and there is a pungent smell of cigarettes.

At the door of the store, there was a figure with a faint flame, bending over with the arms stretched out in the same position.

Xibai didn't even dare to see it clearly, and hurriedly ran forward again.

Then in the next store, he saw another paper man that was burned even more severely, tattered and looked like a paper skeleton, and an even more pungent smell of thick gunpowder accompanied by flying paper scraps.

It was at that moment that Xibai decided to turn back.

At least he would rather see the one in front of him than the half-burned paper man behind him. As

his thoughts returned, Xibai found that he had walked deep into the store.

His fingertips touched a piece of coldness, and he turned his head abruptly. When he found that he had touched a mirror, he breathed a sigh of relief.

But before he could completely relax, he held back his breath as his heart once again rose in the air.

The mirror was tilted, but Xibai still saw himself in the mirror.

But he did not see the paper man standing one step away from him. At the same time, the door of the store in the direction he walked in was already engulfed in the thick fog.

His instinct to survive made him want to turn around and check.

But a paper arm blocked his way with a strong aura.

Xibai's eyes followed the cold white paper hand in front of him all the way up.

He saw the big cold smile on the paper man's face, and a pair of empty eyes. It looked like he

was inviting guests in.

But it had an endless murderous intent that would kill anyone who retreated.

Everywhere the residual light went was dark, and Xibai felt that there was no need to look back to confirm.

There was no way he could escape behind him.

Walking to the two burning red candles, Xibai looked down and saw many items on the incense table.

But they were not incense sticks, nor were they fruits and flowers, but several small objects of various styles made of paper.

From beds to desks, from sofas to lounge chairs... they were all furniture and things. Xibai had seen some of them on the way upstairs, in the furniture mall.

His eyes moved back and forth between the table and the paper man, and Xibai finally spoke cautiously.

"Is it... let me choose?"

The paper man's smile got a little bigger.

Xibai stared at the paper sculpture on the table.

The paper man was standing beside him. Although he had no eyeballs, he could still clearly feel the faint gaze.

Not choosing it was definitely impossible.

So Xibai pondered for a while, and finally reached out and selected a sculpture of the smallest paper recliner.

After picking it up, Xibai looked around nervously, and the environment did not change at all.

But just as he wanted to observe the subsequent reaction of the paper man, he glanced upward and saw a small piece of paper hanging with a silk thread in the hollow part of the back of the recliner. There

were words clearly written on the paper.

Xibai read it out subconsciously.

"A paper recliner."

"Price: a dirty heart."