The flashlight swept across, and Lu Ban could still see a hint of bright red. He hurriedly turned the flashlight back, and when he shone it on the door to the safe passage again, there was no sign of anyone.

He tried to recall the person's appearance and clothing, but could only vaguely make out that it was a woman, and the clothes she was wearing were not in line with today's fashion.

Lu Ban took the crowbar and walked towards the door of the safe passage.

The control room is just above the safety passage. The mannequins are still looking into the theater hall. Lu Ban comes here and sees a newspaper on the ground.

Poking the paper with the crowbar, he hooked it over.

Picking up the newspaper, Lu Ban confirmed that it was a normal Jiangcheng Evening News.

However, this Jiangcheng Evening News is from more than 20 years ago.

Lu Ban used a flashlight as a light source and stood up to read the newspaper.

"…At the time of the fire, Jiangcheng Grand Theater was rehearsing for its annual performance, with performers including Du Danping and theater-related personnel present. It is understood that the fire originated from a backstage device that short-circuited and caused the fire, but the possibility of arson cannot be ruled out."

The above is an investigative report on the Jiangcheng Grand Theater fire. In that era, the Internet was not well developed, and there were no online police reports like today. Investigative reports on many incidents were released by newspapers.

Of course, these reports are not necessarily true and detailed. For example, the one in Lu Ban's hand seems to be somewhat vague and speculative.

Turning the page, "Jiangcheng Evening News" became "Jiangcheng Weekly", which was an entertainment-oriented weekly magazine in Jiangcheng. It went bankrupt a few years ago. Lu Ban also caught a glimpse of the name of this magazine when he was looking up information in the library.

"...According to insiders, Du Danping and Song Yunyan, the daughter of the chairman of Jiangcheng Industry, were rumored to be having an affair. This fire may have hidden secrets. According to information provided by relevant personnel, the relationship between Du Danping and Song Yunyan was opposed by the Song family. The two tried to elope but were stopped..."

This weekly report has a lot of celebrity gossip in it, and it even insinuates that Du Danping and Song Yunyan faked their deaths and started the fire because they wanted to elope. They almost pointed the finger at the late Du Danping and said he was the one who did it.

"…This accident caused five deaths and sixteen injuries. The musician Du Danping unfortunately died in this accident…"

The newspaper turned another page and turned into a black and white accident investigation report from the Jiangcheng Daily.

Lu Ban read the last line and continued to flip forward.

At this time, he saw that the words on the newspaper became denser.

No, that wasn't reporting at all, that was a curse.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"

Vicious, dark words, like those written in congealed blood, were all over the newspaper.

Moreover, when Lu Ban looked carefully, the words seemed to be still wriggling, crawling towards the outside of the newspaper like ants, and seemed to be about to crawl into Lu Ban's hands.

When these words come into contact with the skin, they seem to be engraved on it, penetrating into the pores and leaving a permanent mark.

No one knows if these words will occupy the entire body if they continue to climb!

Feeling itchy, Lu Ban immediately dropped the newspaper in his hand.

Snap——

The newspaper fell to the ground and quickly turned into a pile of ash and dissipated.

Lu Ban checked his hand. The words that were clinging to it just now seemed like an illusion and he could not find any trace. He subconsciously checked the condition of the newspaper.

But I found that at the door, there was a pair of women's feet wearing red high heels!

"!"

Lu Ban raised the flashlight and saw that the safe passage was completely empty. There was no one there and he didn't know where the person came from.

"...It seems that the ghost here wants me to investigate the truth of that year?"

He pondered.

Maybe this red-dressed ghost is Song Yunyan? She was killed by Du Danping and suffered injustice, so she hopes someone can reveal the truth?

The other party provided me with clues and showed no signs of harming me, so it seemed that the danger level was not that high.

Lu Ban secretly summarized the clues.

"The problem occurred in the backend equipment due to a short circuit, but people can also make arrangements in advance to cause similar situations."

"Du Danping and Song Yunyan do seem to have a good relationship. The woman who appeared in the video is actually called Song Yunyan?"

"The report said that the two men had failed in their previous elopement, so they wanted to start a fire and fake their own death to get away. But they went too far and their fake death became real death?"

"The performer could be Du Danping, and his ghost is also bound here, playing music every night?"

Lu Ban thought a lot and decided to go backstage to take a look.

It's already past eight o'clock, and apart from the strange model doll, Lu Ban has not found any trace of the performer. Perhaps some means are needed to trigger it.

Thinking of the disasters that would occur once a box was opened in those horror movies, Lu Ban smiled self-deprecatingly.

"It's not my style to take the initiative to die like this."

He stepped onto the stage again and headed backstage.

Da da da——

The sound of footsteps echoed in the theater lobby. As Lu Ban walked, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

It seems like there are more than one person's footsteps!

He stopped immediately.

Da da da——

However, the footsteps did not stop.

Lu Ban looked back, but there was nothing.

It was as if there was someone in leather shoes that Lu Ban couldn't see following him.

After two seconds, the footsteps stopped abruptly.

He continued forward and came to the dilapidated backstage, where the fire occurred and the most serious damage was done. The wooden structure was reduced to charcoal and the cement behind it was stained black.

The entire backstage was filled with a lingering smell of burnt and rottenness, which even made Lu Ban wonder whether the smell was real or just some kind of supernatural illusion.

Where the flashlight shines, you can see some model dolls. These dolls have melted due to the high temperature and have merged with the ground and walls, which looks quite strange.

Perhaps, these are not puppets?

"Impossible. The police must have cleaned up the scene by then. There would be no body left."

Lu Ban dispelled those groundless imaginations. The further he walked inside, the hotter he felt around him.

It should have been a cool night, but Lu Ban was so hot that he was sweating.

It's like... being surrounded by flames.

Relying on the architectural design drawings he had written down and the descriptions in related reports, Lu Ban came to the equipment where the problem occurred in the background.

He saw that the device was an old-fashioned switch for controlling the light switches. This type of switch was not very safe and if it aged severely after being used for a long time, accidents could easily occur.

Since the theater was built many years ago and has been in use ever since, the circuit equipment has not yet been replaced with the latest one.

"It should be that the fuse failed to blow in time after the switch short-circuited, and then the electric spark ignited the props nearby. By the time they discovered it, the fire was already very big?"

Lu Ban recalled the investigation report in the newspaper and swept the flashlight down along the line.

Then he saw a tilted model doll, most of its body had melted, only the upper half still retained its human shape, lying on the circuit.

However, the face of the model doll was not flat like the others, but the facial features could be clearly distinguished!