Chapter 4 (Revised)

On the other side.

"Hongqiang Consulting" · In the right office area.

Xu Ming and Qiu Yufei are in a conference room, carefully checking every corner.

- Although the "Employee Code of Conduct" mentions the requirements of the job, they still have too little information. For the sake of safety, it is better to search first.

It was also her idea to start from the conference room:

although Hongqiang's office area is large, the layout is very neat. In the center is a large area of ​​workstations connected by long tables. There are computers and keyboards at each position. At a glance, there are at least more than ten rows of seats; on the left is the reception room and tea room, and to the left there are several corridors. It is not clear where they lead.

On the right are clustered conference rooms and offices. After thinking about it, Xu Ming decided to use this place as the starting point for exploration. The reason was simple:

first, the space was relatively spacious, so if something went wrong, there would be more room for trouble; second, the rooms here all had transparent glass walls, so she could see the workstations outside by turning her head, which gave her a wider field of vision and made her observation more efficient.

Third, there were extension cords in the conference rooms, so she could charge her phone at the same time. Finally, and most importantly,

she had seen that there were three conference rooms in total, all of which were vacant.

There was an adjustable sign on the door of the conference room, with "Occupied" on one side and "Vacant" on the other; at the door there was a small table with a "Application for Use" and a pen.

Xu Ming and the others did not plan to stay in there for a long time, which meant that they could hang an "occupied" sign on the conference room in the name of a meeting without applying for a permit. In other words, if the rules of the "Employee Code of Conduct" were effective, the conference room could become their temporary safe zone.

Judging from the results, this was indeed the case. During their search, they did not encounter any strange things... at least not in the conference room.

Of course, this was not guaranteed outside.

Qiu Yufei did not realize this until she raised her head inadvertently during her search.

——But she saw that the glass wall that was empty just now was already full of people without knowing when.

With a pale and expressionless face, wearing a uniform work uniform and a uniform work badge, they just stood quietly outside the glass wall, looking at her silently.

Then, when their eyes met Qiu Yufei's, they all raised their mouth corners at the same time and smiled in unison.

Qiu Yufei: "..."

How to say it, it's just like when taking a group photo, they are obviously very stiff, but still trying to show their happy selves.

Qiu Yufei didn't know why they were laughing, anyway, she couldn't laugh at all at this moment.

And just as she slowly raised her hand, trying to quickly call Xu Ming to come over to rescue her, everything outside the wall disappeared again.

The strange thing is that Xu Ming and she were obviously heading in the same direction, but she seemed to see nothing.

"...Why is it so?" Qiu Yufei sniffed and flipped through the dusty cabinet in front of her unhappily, "How can ghosts bully people? They just choose to scare me."

"Not necessarily you, maybe you just happen to catch that point." Xu Ming said, "Have you ever seen a horror movie? Isn't it like this in it, an illusion appears from time to time - jump scare, understand?"

Qiu Yufei: "..." Thank you, I don't really want to understand.

"In short, you just have to remember that many of the illusions in the ghost story area are of this kind, and the purpose is to magnify your fear. So next time you see these, as long as they don't really attack you, don't pay attention to them, just think of them as atmosphere sets and special effects." Xu Ming gave another considerate supplement.

Qiu Yufei: ...

Although I can feel that you are really trying to teach me, don't you think this requirement is a bit high?

Not knowing how to respond for a moment, she could only turn her attention back to the cabinet in front of her. Curiously, "By the way, Mingming, do you often encounter this kind of thing?"

Xu Ming: "Not really. It happened more in junior high school and high school, and it seems that I have never encountered it since I became an adult."

To be precise, it has not happened since I graduated from high school - so when she found that something was wrong today, she was really panicked.

"And, how should I put it... This kind of strange talk under such conditions is actually the first time I have encountered it." Xu Ming subconsciously glanced around and lowered his voice, "To be honest, I am still adapting."

Qiu Yufei: "..."

...? !

"What do you mean by 'this condition'?" She panicked, her heart in her throat again, "Does it mean it's very big? Or very dangerous--"

"Clean, tidy, spacious, and modern."

Before she finished speaking, she heard Xu Ming speak again, his tone even carrying a bit of emotion:

"It's well-decorated, well-equipped, and has stable lighting. At a glance, there is no blood or other dirt visible to the naked eye, and there is no obvious pungent smell in the air. The garbage is also properly packed in the trash can... There are no monsters that kill directly, and no suspicious sounds are made right away..."

"Not to mention the free water and electricity. I just checked, there are sofas and massage chairs in the tea room. The air conditioning is also working, although there is a hair clip inside... Oh yeah, and the toilet is also very clean, and it can even flush automatically!"

Facing Qiu Yufei's incomprehensible gaze, Xu Ming exhaled deeply and finally gave the final conclusion:

"As a place for human activities, it can only be considered average, but as a ghost story area, it can be said to be very good. Just for this stable lighting, I can give it five stars!"

As soon as the voice fell, the ceiling light in the conference room flashed out of respect.

Xu Ming: ...

Xu Ming: Very good, now it's only four stars.

Qiu Yufei fell into silence.

To be honest, what exactly did your teenagers experience, Teacher Mingming?

Yufei was very curious, but she didn't dare to ask. Qiu Yufei thought about it again and again, and wisely decided to give up this topic and continue to look through the cabinet in front of her.

From the upper layer to the lower layer, she suddenly saw a wrinkled paper. She was moved and quickly pulled it out. After a moment, she showed an indescribable expression.

"Did you find something?" Xu Ming turned his head immediately, "What's written on it?" "

...Well, I guess so." Qiu Yufei handed the paper over casually, a little disgusted, "Another 'I love Hongqiang'. Useless information."

To be honest, they didn't seem to find anything useful until now -

These conference rooms look large, but they actually contain very little. Even if there are some folders placed in conspicuous places, most of the things written on them are the same - either "work hard" filled with pages, or "I love Hongqiang" repeated over and over again.

Even the one I just found is... the only difference is that it is more wrinkled.

What kind of thing is this? In real life, I am brainwashed by an inhuman boss, and in a haunted house, I am brainwashed by an inhuman boss again?

Qiu Yufei suddenly felt a little sad - she found that what Xu Ming said was actually quite right. When people are sad, the fear seems to be weakened by a little.

Turning around, he saw Xu Ming still examining the "I Love Hongqiang" paper. He was stunned: "What? Is there something wrong with the content?"

"...Not really." Xu Ming was silent for a moment, and said, "It's just that the paper itself is a little worrying..."

Qiu Yufei: "I know, it's quite wrinkled."

"Not only that." Xu Ming picked up the paper, "The paper we found before didn't seem to have this kind of cracks, right?" "

?" Qiu Yufei took a closer look and found that it was true - there were two obvious small cracks on the edge of the paper. It looked like someone had torn it off from a stapler.

Qiu Yufei: "...The problem is, even if it's a little different. But it still says 'I love Hongqiang'?" It

was still "I love Hongqiang" in pieces, which was weird.

Xu Ming thought about it, but still put the paper away.

"Not sure, let's take a look." She said, and stuffed the folded paper into her bag. The moment the paper fell, she heard a strange sound in her mind again——

"Tsk."

Xu Ming:...

"Teacher Mingming?" Qiu Yufei looked over inquiringly, "What did you find?"

"..." Xu Ming didn't say anything, just glanced at her bag as if nothing had happened.

"It's okay." She said, lifting the bag up again, her tone as calm as usual, "We have almost checked the conference room here, or should we go outside to look for it...?"

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly seemed to notice something, and her voice suddenly paused.

Qiu Yufei turned around in confusion, followed her gaze, and her expression also changed.

——On the door of the conference room, the sign that read "Occupied" was shaking slightly for some reason.

It was shaking slowly, but the amplitude was getting more and more violent. Soon, it turned over on its own in front of them -

the side facing outwards became "Idle".

"..."

Qiu Yufei's eyelids jumped, and she looked at Xu Ming beside her in horror. The latter made a soothing gesture to her, stepped forward carefully, and tried to flip the sign back.

...But just as she flipped it over, the sign started to spin again the next second.

It silently turned itself back to "Idle".

"Awkward." Xu Ming said, "This sign will rotate by itself."

Qiu Yufei: "..."

"Please stop making sneers at this time, okay?" Her heart was about to jump out, "What's going on? Doesn't it mean that it will be safe if we turn it over... Then the rules are not deceiving us? Are they deliberately tricking us in to kill us?"

"No." Xu Ming shook his head, "Not likely."

"Rules are invalid and valid. Under normal circumstances, valid rules will not lie or go back on their words."

If they go back on their words, there is only one possibility -

as if realizing something, Xu Ming suddenly raised her head and looked outside.

Almost at the same time, the ethereal voice rang in her mind again:

"Oh, bad timing."

"Your luck is really bad."

...?

Xu Ming frowned slightly, but ignored it and continued to search outside with her eyes. Not long after, she found what she was looking for -

she saw that on the small table outside the conference room, there was another piece of paper.

Maybe it was because of the distance, but Xu Ming couldn't see it clearly. Fortunately, Qiu Yufei had good eyesight and quickly conveyed to her what was written on it:

[During special periods, the conference room will be temporarily suspended. All employees are requested to leave immediately.]

[Repeat again, during special periods, the conference room will be temporarily suspended. All employees are requested to leave immediately.]

"..." As expected. Xu Ming's heart skipped a beat.

Indeed, under normal circumstances, effective rules will not be repeated. And once it starts to repeat itself, or suddenly becomes invalid, there is only one possibility -

a rule with a higher priority and stronger power has appeared.

*

The other end.

In a faraway room, the man sitting in front of the computer took a deep breath and sat up straight with excitement.

"What?" The woman next to him looked at him puzzledly, "Are you going to die?"

"Not yet, it will be soon." The man stared at the screen intently, "You didn't notice the time? The time in this weird story area is almost half past eleven!"

The woman was puzzled: "So?"

"So, interesting things are about to come--"

The man began to laugh again: "I have been to this weird story area once before. If I remember correctly, it was at this time and this place, the most appetizing part--ah, it makes me happy just thinking about it."

"You will know when you see it, it is very interesting!"