Chapter 52 The Elevator on the Fourth Basement Level (1) Night was deepening in Yokohama…
Night fell in Yokohama.
On the edge of the city, an old commercial and residential building stands in stark contrast to the buildings in the city center. It is very quiet here. The building is more than 30 years old, with outdated facilities and lax management.
The security guard on night shift, Nakamura, yawned and listlessly scrolled through his phone.
He scoffed at the rumors circulating in some residents' homes about the elevator being haunted, dismissing them as either a prank by bored people or pure psychological effects.
Until tonight, he witnessed that bizarre scene on the surveillance footage.
Around 1 a.m., Ms. Kana Muto, who lived on the 12th floor, dragged her tired body into the empty elevator number one.
As usual, she pressed the button for the twelfth floor elevator. The elevator slowly ascended, and everything seemed normal.
However, when the number jumped to eight, all the numbers on the panel instantly went out, except for one number in the center that emitted a faint red light and shouldn't have been there.
-4.
During the surveillance footage, Ms. Muto Kana's body visibly tensed up, and Nakamura sat up straight and leaned closer to the monitor screen.
Ms. Muto Kana in the elevator was also visibly stunned. She looked at the button panel in horror, then looked up at the screen displaying the floor, confirming that the eerie glowing -4 was not her hallucination. So she began frantically pressing the open button and the buttons for other floors, but all the buttons were unresponsive, as if controlled by some force.
Her tearful, intermittent cries for help could be heard over the walkie-talkie, but Nakamura could only hear static.
The elevator did not stop running when the other person pressed the open button; instead, it continued to descend at an unusually smooth speed.
The surveillance footage began to show static-like interference, and Kana Muto's figure became distorted and blurry in the flickering images.
She huddled in the corner, her hands tightly covering her ears, her body trembling violently.
Seeing that something was wrong, Nakamura grabbed the walkie-talkie to try to make contact, but only received silence.
"Damn it!" Nakamura cursed. He rushed out of the security room and ran to the elevator lobby. The red glowing "-4" on the elevator floor indicator was glaringly obvious in the darkness, and the surrounding atmosphere became exceptionally eerie.
Whether it was Nakamura's imagination or not, he felt that the temperature seemed to have dropped a lot.
He pounded on the elevator door and kept pressing the elevator buttons, calling out Kana Muto's name, but there was no response from inside.
A chill ran down his spine. Nakamura had been on duty here for many years, and he remembered that this building did not have four underground floors at all! Moreover, the architectural drawings clearly indicated that there were only two underground parking levels.
About three minutes later, the -4 floor sign suddenly went out, the button panel returned to normal, and the elevator door "dinged" and slowly opened in front of Nakamura.
There was no one inside.
A living, breathing person just vanished in the elevator!
Nakamura swallowed hard and went inside. The only things in the elevator were one of Muto Kana's high heels that had fallen to the ground and a faint scent of her perfume lingering in the air.
...
"A lone woman mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night after being found on the -4th floor of an elevator in a high-rise building!"
Similar headlines began to quietly spread in small online communities and urban legend forums.
Initially, Nakamura only mentioned it to the property management company and a few friends, but with Fyodor's subtle guidance, the news spread rapidly.
-4 floors have become a new symbol of terror.
Everyone started discussing wildly what Ms. Muto Kana saw outside the door when the elevator numbers jumped to -4.
Some say it is the entrance to the dead.
Some say it's another dimension, or a time rift.
The mysterious disappearances were shrouded in an eerie atmosphere.
Fear quickly grew and spread amidst doubt and imagination. Although the mainstream media did not report it, the legend of the -4 floor elevator had already spread like wildfire in certain circles.
...
Inside the Armed Detective Agency.
Edogawa Ranpo held a newspaper in his hand. In the corner of the social section, there was an inconspicuous report mentioning that a resident of the building had temporarily gone missing, presumably due to excessive work pressure, and that the police had launched an investigation.
"Dazai." Edogawa Ranpo suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but enough to make Dazai Osamu, who was slacking off by the window, turn his head.
"Hmm?" Dazai Osamu responded lazily.
“It seems like that has happened again recently.” Edogawa Ranpo picked up the juice on the table and took a sip.
Dazai Osamu walked to Edogawa Ranpo's side, his gaze sweeping over the report, a knowing glint in his iris-colored eyes.
He did not ask Edogawa Ranpo how he made that determination, just as Edogawa Ranpo did not inform Kunikida Doppo and others of his suspicions about Takeichi.
This is an unspoken understanding: before obtaining conclusive evidence, it is unwise to panic or alert the enemy.
"The elevator is missing..." Dazai Osamu stroked his chin: "It's not easy to cause a large-scale disturbance, but it's also a good breeding ground."
"They've learned their lesson."
“It’s not about being smarter,” Edogawa Ranpo corrected, his tone carrying a cool, insightful tone: “It’s about being more efficient. By filtering, we choose environments that are more likely to generate intense fear but are not easily detected on a large scale.”
Kunikida Doppo was working on next week's schedule a short distance away when he overheard their conversation. He looked up and asked, "What case are you discussing?"
"Ah, it's nothing, Kunikida-kun." Dazai Osamu immediately put on a relaxed smile, picked up a copy of "The Complete Suicide Manual" and waved it around: "We were just discussing a new kind of... well, psychological suggestion phenomenon that may exist in enclosed spaces, and whether it is possible to commit suicide in an enclosed space. It's nothing to make a fuss about."
Kunikida Doppo frowned, puzzled by the seemingly disjointed connection between the two statements. However, seeing that Dazai had no intention of continuing the discussion, he didn't press the matter further. After all, this was Dazai's usual style. So Kunikida Doppo continued to bury himself in his plans.
Dazai Osamu and Edogawa Ranpo exchanged a glance; the investigation needed to be conducted in secret.
The incident at the building did not subside with the disappearance of Kana Muto.
Despite the property management company increasing patrols and even hiring so-called "masters" to perform rituals, the strange rumors about the elevator are growing stronger.
Some residents who returned home late claimed to have heard a woman crying in the elevator, and some noticed that their reflection in the elevator mirror would move a second later.
Some people even claimed to have seen an empty elevator running on its own late at night, stopping at a floor that didn't exist at all.
Fear, like an invisible plague, spread in the hearts of residents in the building and even the surrounding area.
Many people would rather take the elevator than risk being stuck in traffic late at night.
All of this fear energy is transformed into ghost story value, and at the same time, the probability of triggering ghost stories seems to be quietly increasing, and the scope of influence may no longer be limited to the initial few elevators.
It's time.
Zhu Yi observed the uneasy crowd coming and going below the building. He planned to make a slight adjustment to the rules of the ghost stories, adding some unpredictability and spreadability. For example, he would give those who were pulled into the ghost story experience a certain probability that they would have some inexplicable terrifying memories or marks on their bodies after returning, so that they could spread more widely and create more panic through word of mouth.
However, just as he was about to issue the command, the system issued a piercing warning.
[Edogawa Ranpo and Dazai Osamu have been detected entering the building area.]
Zhu Yi paused, his pupils slightly narrowed as he looked to the other side, and sure enough, he saw two familiar figures approaching from not far away.
Takeichi adjusted his mask and hat brim, avoiding the route they were taking. Just as Takeichi disappeared into the shadows and left, Dazai Osamu caught a glimpse of the vanishing hem of clothing in a fleeting glance.
Dazai Osamu's gaze lingered on the hem of clothing that disappeared into the shadows around the corner for less than half a second before casually looking away, as if he were just casually glancing at the scenery.
His face still wore the same expression as always, and he continued walking with Edogawa Ranpo toward the main entrance of the building without the slightest hesitation.
Edogawa Ranpo also seemed to have sensed something. The two of them tacitly refrained from revealing the name. Their primary objective on this trip was to confirm the anomaly, and they couldn't let the person hiding behind the scenes discover them until they had more evidence.
Upon entering the building, the security guard on duty at the front desk had been replaced. He was staring nervously at the horrifying screen, and immediately stood up alertly when he saw Dazai Osamu and Edogawa Ranpo enter.
“We are from the Armed Detective Agency.” Dazai Osamu showed his identification with a friendly smile. “We’ve been asked to come and investigate some…rumors about the elevator.”
The security guard had obviously heard of the Armed Detective Agency, and his expression softened somewhat, but the fear and unease in his eyes did not disappear: "You're here for that -4 floor too?"
“You could say that.” Edogawa Ranpo walked directly to the elevator lobby, examining the several elevators that looked rather old. “I heard someone disappeared here?”
The security guard nodded hurriedly and recounted Nakamura's previous experiences and various recent strange tales, embellishing them with exaggerated words and obvious lingering fear.
"Nobody dares to take the elevator at night anymore, and that affects other elevators too...sigh."
Dazai Osamu walked to the elevator and reached out to touch the cold door frame.
Edogawa Ranpo stood in front of the elevator button panel, bending slightly to examine it carefully, even bringing it close to his nose to smell it: "Hmm..."
"Would you like to experience it for yourself, Mr. Ranpo?" Dazai Osamu suggested, his tone carrying a hint of adventurous anticipation.
Edogawa Ranpo immediately shook his head, his tone disgusted: "No way—! A famous detective doesn't want to go to such a dark and scary place!"
"And...it seems to be very good at choosing its prey. People with secrets or guilt are more likely to be targeted, Dazai, are you sure you're okay?" Edogawa paused, a rare seriousness in his eyes.
Dazai Osamu's smile froze for a moment, then returned to normal. He shrugged and said, "Oh dear, I've been seen through? But it's alright, I'm still very confident in my luck."
"Who knows, maybe No Longer Human will bring us some surprises?"
Ultimately, for safety reasons, they did not immediately take the risk.
Dazai Osamu contacted the Special Abilities Division and obtained detailed recent operation records of the elevator and clearer surveillance footage.
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