Chapter 14

Strange Talk Demolition Office.

——When Xu Ming showed this name, he was actually a little excited.

But unfortunately, for this name, others did not seem to like it as much as Xu Ming.

Some were worried that this term was not useful, and some were inspired by Xu Ming and began to look for other company names - but unfortunately, after searching for a while, it seemed that the only one that could be used was still this one.

Yuan Jiayi and the others searched all the items with company names printed on them, including but not limited to mobile phones, snack bags, napkins... However, after a careful look, they found that the manufacturing companies on these things had all become "Hongqiang Consulting" at some point.

The only one that survived was the "Strange Talk Demolition Office" in Xu Ming's poster.

"But...can I tell you? This makes people even more uneasy." Xiao Wang said nervously, "Other company names are blurred, but this one isn't. Doesn't that mean it can't be considered a unit name at all?"

"Why not?" Xu Ming argued, "It's not like only those recognized by it are formal units. Who is it to issue business licenses? It's none of its business."

"But isn't it too provocative?" The otter was still worried, "We are in a ghost story area, and we still use such a name..." Xu

Ming persuaded, "Think about it on the bright side. Even if we can't get out, at least we can annoy it. It's a lot of money."

Otter: "..."

Still, it seems to make sense?

In any case, apart from this, they have no other choice. Although they were skeptical, everyone unanimously decided to use this as the unit name for the new work badge.

The work badge also needed a photo, which was even simpler. The memory card of Shuiyou's camera contained a group photo of employees taken a while ago, so they just needed to take a screenshot of a few people's heads; as for the work number, everyone agreed to make it up, since the unit was made up anyway; as for the specific production, Qiu Yufei confidently took charge of it.

"I know, I know!" She raised her hand excitedly, "I learned this in my office class in college!"

"The problem is that the ID card needs to be issued from a designated computer... This is stipulated in the Employee Code of Conduct." Yuan Jiayi frowned worriedly, "I still have no idea about that computer?"

"Let's look for it together with the printer." Otter sighed, "Once you find it, use it to edit and print, it should be fine."

But this brings us back to the crucial question. Where is the printer?

"Oh yeah, speaking of this, I may have a clue."

Xu Ming suddenly remembered something and took out his mobile phone again: "Didn't I experience a manager inspection before? I took some photos at that time. I remember taking special photos of the printer..."

It's just that I can't see it clearly.

Not only that, in those photos, for some reason, there were large clumps of drooping hair. But Xu Ming felt that the words should have been captured.

Thinking of this, she retrieved the photo from memory and placed it on the conference table. The next second, she heard a burst of shouting beside the table -

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell is this!"

"Take it away, take it away!"

"Help -"

Xu Ming: "..."

"You guys, why are you reacting so strongly?" When she said this, she paused, and then she realized that she might have captured more than just the hair. Sure

enough, right after that, Xiao Wang shouted in despair:

"No, Teacher Xu, next time you take out such supernatural photos, can you give us a heads up? Suddenly showing such a clear ghost face photo, and it's right in the face..." Are you afraid that they won't be scared to death?

Xu Ming: ...

"Sorry, my pot." She apologized sincerely and pushed the phone forward, "So, can you see the words?"

"..."

There was another silence, a deafening silence.

After a while, Qiu Yufei stepped forward despite her fear, looked through it for a while, and after flipping through two photos, she actually found the name of the printer that could be connected -

[hq1428]

"...This format is very similar to the work number."

After studying the characters for a while, Yuan Jiayi said, "Could it be hidden in the work area?"

"That's not the end!" Xiao Wang gasped, "The equipment in the work area can only be turned on when the manager inspects!"

"Don't rush to draw conclusions..." Xu Ming looked thoughtful, and suddenly seemed to notice something, and turned his eyes to the side: "Hei Zai? Did you think of something?"

The person who was named was stunned, obviously not expecting to be noticed so quickly. After hesitating for a while, he said, "1428, this number, I have seen it."

"You must have seen it." Qiu Yufei was puzzled, "This is the time when the fire drill ends."

"No." Hei Zai looked at her unhappily, "It's not the time. I'm sure I've seen this string of numbers somewhere before, when Lao Li and I went out to look for clues...wait."

He paused suddenly, then looked up:

"I remember - it's the archive room!"

*

The archive room, a room Xu Ming had never been to before.

Its location is also very hidden. It is in the corridor behind the tea room, but you have to go across a room to get there.

The room is very small, and there is a packed metal cabinet when you enter, with a small table next to it, and on the table is an ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

"This room has special rules." When Hei Zai led them in, he also specifically instructed, "The cigarette butts in the ashtray will sometimes light sparks. Once you see them, you must put them out immediately. If not, the temperature in the room will rise, and then..."

He took a breath, as if recalling some horrible memories: "Something very scary will appear here."

Everyone nodded in understanding. Yuan Jiayi suddenly remembered something and whispered, "By the way, then your previous conflict with Lao Li..."

"That's why." Hei Zai shook his head. "At that time, Lao Li and I agreed to take turns watching the ashtray. When it was Lao Li's turn, he suddenly lost the chain. The cigarette butt was not put out, causing the room to become... very scary. As soon as he saw the trouble, he ran out and locked the door. I had to work hard to force my way out..."

When he pushed the door open, he saw Lao Li who was knocked to the ground with a chair in his hand. He was so angry that he thought Lao Li was deliberately trying to trick him. Now think about it carefully...

"Wait." In connection with Lao Li's identity as a dead man, Heizi suddenly reacted, "He's not really going to trick me, is he?"

Xu Ming was looking through the things in the cabinet. He glanced at him and put a file bag on the table: "It looks like it."

"..." Heizi lowered his eyes and saw that Lao Li's name was written on the file bag.

"His file is not in the same place as ours." Xu Ming pointed to the cabinet behind him, "The files of several of us are all in the cabinet at the end, the one with 1159. Only Lao Li's is placed in cabinet 1200."

- The metal cabinet for storing files is neatly divided into nine grids. The number in the upper left corner is the smallest, 1159, and the number in the lower right corner is the largest, 1428.

It is worth noting that, except for cabinet 1159, the numbers of the remaining cabinets seem to have no order, but the values ​​are all between 1200 and 1428.

"I understand! 1159 represents the living, and those after 1200 are all dead. I guess Lao Li discovered this, and was afraid that you would also discover it, so he wanted to silence you..." Qiu Yufei suddenly realized, and then frowned again, "Wait a minute, but if this is regarded as time, 12 o'clock to 2:30 pm is exactly the time for escape drills..."

"More than two hours." The otter said lightly, but his voice was a little tense, "I have seen strange stories related to Hongqiang. It is said that the fire at that time lasted for more than two hours."

...

Everyone was silent for a while, and their backs suddenly felt a little cold.

It was Xu Ming who first perked up and asked everyone to study grid No. 1428 together. The file bags inside were the most filled, and everyone looked at them slowly at first, but then they all lost their patience and started to move the files out in piles.

Xu Ming had the least strength, so he simply ignored the excitement and quietly squatted outside, putting away the file bags that others had moved out. He accidentally knocked over a pile, turned around to help, but when he saw the name on the bag in front of him, he paused.

——Gu Yunshu.

A very elegant name.

Xu Ming stared at it for a moment, and somehow opened the file bag. He was surprised to find that the files inside were surprisingly normal.

At least the photos were not as shady as the ones on the work badge. It was just a pure black and white photo. It showed a delicate girl who looked very thin and quiet, with a gentle smile on her lips.

The content of the file was also normal, with personal resume and address filled in - of course, all the nouns that could be counted as "units" were changed to Hongqiang Consulting. As for the address, it was not known whether it was real, but it was quite close to Xu Ming's current residence.

Further down was her time of employment, which was three years earlier than when Xu Ming joined. As for her current status, it said "resigned".

... Xu Ming didn't know if this "resigned" was a face-saving expression of "escaped", just like she didn't know if this "Gu Yunshu" was the "Sister Yun" written in the diary. Out of some subtle sadness, she still put her hands together and bowed silently to the photo in front of her.

After the worship, he put the file away. Just as he put it away, he heard the screams of others behind him.

Xu Ming turned his head in surprise, and saw the black man who was blocking the cabinet moved to the side, revealing something hidden deep in the cabinet - a computer and a printer connected to it.

The computer has no host, only a monitor and a keyboard. Naturally, there is no power, but the screen is on, revealing an operating interface that is no different from that of an ordinary computer.

The printer is flat and pressed under the monitor. The indicator light on the body is still on. The paper outlet is blocked by a pile of printed work cards and papers with "I love Hongqiang" written on them.

"This... is the designated computer?" Xiao Wang whispered, reaching out tentatively, "This cabinet is so deep... Do we have to move it out first?"

"Wait, don't move it yet!" Xu Ming said quickly, and gestured to everyone, and then he leaned in to take a look.

The size of the cabinet was just right for accommodating the two machines, and there was not much space for operation. Xu Ming took great effort and finally turned the monitor a little bit. When she saw the small hole for the USB flash drive on the side, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and tried to plug her own USB flash drive in. She found that at least it could be read normally, and she felt more at ease.

She tried to turn the computer over a little bit, and when she saw the connection cable on the back of the machine, her expression changed slightly.

——I saw that what connected the computer and the printer was not a data cable.

It was a blood vessel.

The blood vessels were as thick as wrists, and the surface was covered with swollen meridians, which were expanding and contracting at a steady rhythm, reminding people of sleeping beasts.

After a moment of silence, Xu Ming carefully pulled out the USB drive and walked out carefully.

"This is not something that can be used rashly."

Facing the questioning eyes of others, she took a deep breath: "It can be used. But if we make too big a move now, it will only alarm the enemy."

"Everything, let's wait until tomorrow.

*

That being said, sometimes, waiting is the most difficult thing to endure.

That night, Xu Ming didn’t know about the others, but at least she herself didn’t sleep well again - on the one hand, it was because of the uncontrollable nervousness, and on the other hand, it was because from time to time in the conference room, someone would get up and say in a daze that they were going to work overtime.

Xu Ming was forced to fight them back over and over again. In the end, he was furious.

When it was time to start work the next day, everyone’s anxiety and uneasiness reached its peak again with the changes in the company -

Xu Ming herself didn’t feel it, but everyone else said that the temperature in the room seemed to have risen a lot. In the originally bright office area, there were a lot of burnt furniture, and charred scratches appeared on the doors and walls from time to time. Marks.

The routine manager inspection process has also undergone subtle changes. The one who was picked at 9:30 was Xiao Wang. Because of panic, he almost sat in the wrong seat. After getting through it safely, he found that his hand, which had accidentally touched the computer, had been burned red.

The one who was picked at 11:30 was the copywriting department. The two girls were very stable and did not make any mistakes. But when they came back from the work area, their faces were extremely ugly.

Qiu Yufei quietly told Xu Ming that the ghosts were different - they originally just stared at the computer motionlessly, but today they all turned their heads and looked at her and Yuan Jiayi and laughed. It was so

funny that it made people's scalps numb.

At this time, there were less than 20 minutes before twelve o'clock.

Everyone hid in the conference room, quietly waiting for twelve o'clock to arrive.

——11:40.

Shuiyu opened his laptop again, checked his work badges with Yuan Jiayi one last time, and saved three backups to a USB drive in one go.

——Eleven forty-five.

The laptops were turned off and carefully packed up. Everyone packed up their things and stared out the glass wall, as if waiting for a verdict or a turn of events.

——Twelve o'clock.

The piercing fire alarm sounded suddenly, and the lights of the entire company suddenly began to flash! Xiao Wang screamed and instinctively wanted to run out, but was stopped by someone the next second.

"Follow the plan, don't run around! Wait for me to come back!" Xu Ming hurriedly ordered, picked up his handbag, and ran out alone.

——Twelve five.

Xu Ming has not come back yet. The outside of the conference room had changed. In the flickering lights, flames and twisted and struggling figures could be seen everywhere. The howling of pain was endless. The sign on the door of the conference room began to rotate automatically, silently turning from "occupied" to "vacant".

Realizing that he could not stay here any longer, Hei Zai stood up. The otter hurried forward, reluctantly turned the sign back, and frowned at everyone.

"Are you sure you want to wait? The conference room is useless..."

"Wait a little longer." Qiu Yufei bit her lip, but her tone was firm, "Mingming will definitely come back."

As soon as the voice fell, there was a bang outside. A charred figure stood outside the conference room, staring at them expressionlessly, and his dry fingers kept knocking on the glass.

Qiu Yufei took a breath and glared back without hesitation: "What are you looking at? Is it a big deal that you can knock on the door?" Dare to come in and I will beat you!

In a blink of an eye - another ten minutes later.

Finally, Xu Ming was seen panting and running all the way back from the company gate.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" She knocked on the door of the conference room and urged everyone, "Move to the archives now, hold on tight...Qiu Yufei! If you dare to use that hard-to-pronounce code again, believe it or not, I will send you a black photo from college?!"

Qiu Yufei was indeed preparing to use the hard-to-pronounce code again: "..."

"Alright, alright, go ahead, this is guaranteed." Muttering softly, she hurriedly cooperated to push the others out of the conference room. Xiao Wang looked at her hesitantly, still looking very nervous: "No, are you sure everything is fine? The lights are still flashing."

"Of course." Qiu Yufei vowed, "Teacher Mingming said it's okay, then it must be okay."

So Xiao Wang went out in a daze. Qiu Yufei stood at the end with a sincere face, and while the others were not paying attention, she quickly grabbed Xu Ming.

"Hey!" She looked nervous, "Are you sure everything is fine?"

Xu Ming: "..."

"At least it's okay." She walked forward quickly and whispered, "The tall and thin woman who symbolizes the powerful entity has also entered the escape passage."

Qiu Yufei looked at her in shock: "Can you see it?"

Xu Ming: "...I sensed it."

By a certain howling sound in her mind.

In order to prevent the tall and thin woman from realizing something was wrong and coming back, Xu Ming deliberately locked the door of the escape passage on the ninth floor when she left - using her selfie stick.

"Ah, that one?" Qiu Yufei hissed, with a questioning look on her face, "Are you sure it works?"

"Not sure." Xu Ming was very honest.

Qiu Yufei: “…?”

“So I took out a second-hand insurance.” Xu Ming continued, “Aren’t there a lot of duplicate work badges in the filing room? I took a few of them in my bag before.”

Qiu Yufei: “Uh…?”

“And when I was checking the situation just now, I threw it down from the gap in the handrail of the stairs.” Xu Ming remained calm, “Now I just pray that the one downstairs can be smarter…”

Before he finished speaking, the two of them suddenly felt a shock under their feet. At the same time, Qiu Yufei covered her ears, as if she heard some extremely harsh sound.

Xu Ming didn’t hear anything, but she heard the voice in her mind happily say “Hey hey”.

“Great.” It said, “They really started a fight.”

Xu Ming: “…”

Okay.

It seems that the one downstairs is really smart.