Chapter 5 (Revised)

On the other side, inside Hongqiang Consulting.

After confirming that the conference room was no longer safe, Xu Ming did not hesitate and quickly evacuated with Qiu Yufei.

Just after walking out, they heard a series of "dong dong dong" sounds, and the sound became more and more urgent.

"What's that sound?" Xu Ming looked up vigilantly. Qiu Yufei was standing outside, so she could see more clearly.

"It's the clock! The clock on the wall is ringing! It's half past eleven--"

After that, there was another series of buzzing sounds, and the computers in the entire workstation area suddenly lit up.

...It can actually be turned on?

Xu Ming was stunned-she remembered that before going to check the conference room, she had tried the computer specifically, and it couldn't be turned on at all.

But now is not the time to think about these things. Noticing the words on the screen, she hurried over and soon blinked her eyes with difficulty: "What's going on? It's so blurry, I can't see clearly."

Qiu Yufei could see it clearly and said quickly: "This is an emergency notice! It says that it is time for the manager to inspect the department. The department to be inspected this time is the art department. Please return to your workstation in time, otherwise you will bear the consequences - oops."

She hurriedly looked at her work badge. Her department is the copywriting department, which is the same as in reality.

Xu Ming is in the art department.

Xu Ming also remembered this quickly, his eyes changed slightly, and he waved vigorously at Qiu Yufei.

"Go to the tea room and hide, and observe the situation on my side!" She said quickly - now that the conference room has lost its safe zone function, then by comparison, the tea room with a shelter and retreat is safer.

Qiu Yufei: "Aren't you going? What if this notice has bad intentions..."

"There's nothing we can do about it. The more high-profile the rules are, the greater the risk of violation..." Xu Ming said, "Well, I can't explain it for now, anyway, you go first!" "

Remember, no matter what you see, don't shout, and anything that doesn't attack is considered an illusion! Come back to me after things return to normal here, and ask me three questions before you get close. If my answers are wrong, just slap me - if it doesn't work, slap me a few more times!"

"Okay!" Qiu Yufei didn't hesitate at all this time, "Slap, right? Remember that!"

After that, she turned around and went to the tea room.

Xu Ming was the only one left, and he scanned the workstations again, biting his lip anxiously.

It was even more worrying -

the notice required employees to return to "their" workstations, which would inevitably involve a process of finding a location. The specific location was most likely related to the work number or name on the work badge. However, they had not found any relevant information before, and there were no signs on the workstations.

On the other hand, although she could not see the words on the screen clearly, she could still see that the glaring red words were flashing faster and faster - there was no doubt that this indicated that her available time was decreasing...

It was too late!

Seeing the red words on the screen jumping more and more crazily, Xu Ming made up her mind and simply sat down in the seat in front of her - and the moment she sat down, accompanied by a beep, all the computer screens went black again!

Then there was another burst of soft music, and the normal boot process started. Soon, all the screens were occupied by the ancient blue sky and green grass pictures.

There were only a few icons on the desktop, and the mouse was in a state of circling and buffering, temporarily unusable.

He knew that this should mean that the "preparation stage" had been completed, and the "manager" was about to appear. Xu Ming's heartbeat became faster and faster, and he habitually scanned the contents on the desktop. When he saw the last folder in the row, he suddenly choked.

The name of the folder was: SC0012

... The format was the same as Xu Ming's work number. In other words, this computer should belong to an employee with the work number "SC0012".

He almost vomited blood.

Isn't this a scam?

The logo can only be seen after turning on the computer, and the employee can only know whether he is sitting in the right seat after sitting down. Unless there are other ways to get hints, this is just a deliberate trick...

But there's nothing we can do.

Xu Ming took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Since the rules have been violated, there's no point in being anxious. The most important thing is to quickly assess the consequences of the violation and then think about countermeasures.

First of all, it must be clear. Although the rules are binding on both humans and ghost stories, the main body of the rules is constructed by ghost stories, and ghost stories must design everything based on their own needs.

So what does this ghost story need?

Employees, love, and dedication. At least from the information we have received so far, that's the case.

In other words, this ghost story is probably not the type that likes to kill people directly, but tends to influence cognition first and then hunt. On the other hand, if you want to kill people directly, there is no need to set up such a deliberate trap...

So this time, it should be based on mental attacks. Deliberately let people sit in the wrong position to magnify their fear, take the opportunity to strengthen the concept of the work number and the identity of the employee, and then carry out another wave of intimidation to continue to expand the fear gap. This should be a set of psychological attacks.

If this is the case, then I should be able to withstand it.

Thinking of this, Xu Ming calmed down a lot.

At this moment, he heard a "hehe" sound in his mind, and the ethereal voice rang again:

"Yeah. It's okay."

"But out of kindness, I will remind you two more words:

"First, hoping to get tamed food does not mean that you won't pick out the disobedient ones and eat them first. Second, leaders can tolerate unintentional mistakes, but if they know they are wrong but still don't correct them, that's very annoying.

"So kid, change back before the 'manager' sees you."

"......?"

Xu Ming was stunned, and subconsciously asked back: "Change? Change to what?"

"......?" Not wanting to hear her ask that, the voice seemed to be stunned as well.

"Change to the right seat. There are only a few empty seats now, and the computers are all turned on. It's better for you to gamble than to sit here."

Xu Ming was even more confused: "What do you mean by 'only a few empty seats'? Aren't there empty seats everywhere?"

The voice seemed to be more confused than her: "What do you mean by 'empty seats everywhere'? It's almost full...wait."

It seemed to understand something, and its tone finally fluctuated a little: "You, can't you see?"

...So what exactly are you going to see?

Xu Ming frowned, and he felt a rare sense of genuine panic. Almost at the same time, Qiu Yufei, who quietly poked her head out of the tea room, widened her eyes in surprise.

From her perspective, the workstation area was already gloomy -

in front of almost all the workstations, there was a stiff and gray figure sitting. Only a few computers were still empty.

And Xu Ming was obviously the only one among all the "people" who sat in the wrong seat - next to her, a woman in work clothes but drenched in gray was staring at her with resentment.

But this is not the point.

The point is that behind Xu Ming, another figure was slowly walking towards her.

The woman was also wearing work clothes, but her body was much taller than the other figures. Even in such a spacious space, she had to hunch over, with her arms hanging down and her fingertips almost touching the ground. The knife in her hand dragged along the ground with her footsteps, making a harsh sound.

She walked over step by step, swaying, until she stopped behind Xu Ming. After a moment of careful observation, it seemed to have confirmed something, and suddenly grinned and laughed exaggeratedly.

Then, he aimed at Xu Ming's head and raised the sharp knife in his hand high——

"Ha ha ha, finally came to my favorite part!"

In another room far away, the man looked at Xu Ming who was about to be stabbed, and couldn't help laughing: "No wonder he is called an idiot, the empty position has been clearly indicated, just move to the right position before that guy gets close... Ha ha ha, what did I say, she is the first to die!" As

he said, he opened his mouth happily, grabbed a ball of blood-red stuff from somewhere and stuffed it into his mouth, laughing while stuffing it in - before he finished laughing, on the screen, the tall woman's knife had already chopped down.

The blade chopped heavily into Xu Ming's skull.

...But it seemed to chop into a ball of air.

White knife in, white knife out. Xu Ming sat there unaware, unharmed and unaware of anything - she didn't even turn around, as if she was completely unaware of the huge ghost standing behind her.

"..."

The man who was happily preparing to eat was stunned.

Qiu Yufei, who was about to rush out to save people, was also stunned.

... The voice in Xu Ming's mind was not stunned.

After a brief silence, it went through a six in Xu Ming's mind.

After a pause, it added: "So that's how it is, you should have told me you are an idiot, you scared me."

"......?!" Xu Ming, who was inexplicably scolded, was also stunned.

No one would be happy to be suddenly called an "idiot". She instinctively replied, "You are an idiot", and then looked around again, still not seeing any clues.

Xu Ming slowly typed out a question mark.

At this moment, the long mouse circle finally ended, and the desktop entered an operational state.

Based on the principle of "since I'm here", Xu Ming simply slid the mouse and began to study the documents on the table one by one - although he didn't know what the situation was, since nothing happened, he shouldn't waste the opportunity to investigate.

She had no idea that behind her, a skinny and gray figure was constantly turning his head, looking at her with a puzzled look on his face.

... In order to understand the situation, the figure even lowered his head with difficulty, and his overly long body was almost folded 180 degrees. His long and dry hair fell like a waterfall, almost touching the tip of Xu Ming's nose.

Xu Ming still turned a blind eye and just focused on looking at the computer. After a moment, he couldn't help but blink hard.

I can't see clearly - I really can't see clearly. For some reason, the texts on the computers were getting blurrier and blurrier. The icons on the desktop were okay, just a little blurry, and could be distinguished with some effort; but once you clicked into the specific interface, it was so blurry that it was even more annoying.

Especially the documents with large amounts of text, which made Xu Ming's head swell. It took a lot of effort to guess a part of it.

"Work requirements... complete the designated document... submit it... it will be considered completed..."

"Submission method... email or... transfer to the printer?"

Xu Ming pursed her lips, and with her many years of experience in word operation, she blindly clicked the print button in the document. The relevant printing interface popped up immediately, and she blindly clicked on the printer list.

In the drop-down list, there was only one print option. In other words, there was only one printer that this computer could connect to.

The problem is, I have just checked the conference room and the work area, but I didn't see any printers at all... Is it placed in another office?

Then again, why do we need to print?

And what is the name of this printer...

Xu Ming was puzzled in his heart, but he couldn't find the answer for a while.

The strange voice in his mind has been silent again since it scolded her for being an idiot. Xu Ming wanted to talk to it, but it ignored him, as if it was dead.

Xu Ming didn't count on it anymore. After thinking for a while, he quietly took out his fully charged mobile phone, and took a few photos of the screen while there was nothing strange around.

Who would have thought that when he saw the photos, he was dumbfounded again.

"Strange." She muttered in her heart, and flipped through a few photos. "Why is there only hair in this shot?" Just as

she was confused, the bell rang again, and all the computer cases made loud buzzing sounds in coordination, followed by the sound of shutdowns one after another.

Including the one in front of Xu Ming. With a buzzing sound, the entire screen suddenly went dark -

in the dark display screen, only Xu Ming's stunned reflection was left in a blink of an eye.

"... Damn, no way."

She murmured in disbelief, quickly reached out, and frantically pressed the power button of the computer again.

However, the computer did not respond at all. It was as if it was dead.

...

At the same time.

In the tea room not far away, Qiu Yufei walked out carefully.

Her heart was still beating wildly - the scene of the thin woman stabbing Xu Ming was too real. Although she knew Xu Ming was fine, she was still scared.

Not to mention, the woman was still...

Looking at the ghost still standing behind Xu Ming, Qiu Yufei couldn't help swallowing.

But, it shouldn't be a big deal, right? The computers were turned off, and the other figures at the workstations had disappeared. Should this mean that the so-called "inspection" was over?

Moreover, it hadn't caused any real harm to Xu Ming just now...According to Xu Ming, this was probably just an illusion, an illusion used to create fear...

Qiu Yufei comforted herself in her heart, but out of caution, she still didn't get too close to the workstation area. After observing for a while, she lowered her voice and spoke nervously:

"Teacher Mingming, can you hear me? I'm going to ask you a question now."

Seeing Xu Mingchong making an OK sign to himself from a distance, she hurriedly said: "First question, what is your full name?"

Xu Ming cooperated and answered honestly on the spot: "Gu Ming."

Qiu Yufei followed up with the second question: "How many points did you get in the second-level office exam?"

"...Failed." Xu Ming choked.

"Correct, then the third one..." Qiu Yufei said, and secretly glanced at the thin woman again. The other party seemed to have finally decided to give up following Xu Ming at this moment. The huge body moved and slowly turned to another direction.

Qiu Yufei felt relieved and threw out the third question without thinking.

"You told me before, what is the ability you have had since childhood?"

"Damn it." Xu Ming was still thinking about the information he missed in the computer, and answered with little interest. Hearing Qiu Yufei's affirmative answer from behind, he let out a breath, picked up his bag, and stood up.

The influence of the ghost story area is sometimes subtle. Many times, your thoughts may have been controlled, but you are unaware of it - this is why she insisted on answering Qiu Yufei's three questions before she was willing to stand up.

Of course, this method is not 100% safe. But no matter what, it's always right to be more cautious.

Thinking so, Xu Ming turned his head to meet Qiu Yufei's gaze, but was stunned again.

"What's wrong?" Noticing the other person's eyes widened again, she was instantly alert, "Why are you looking at me like that? Did I answer wrong?"

Seeing Qiu Yufei shaking her head, she quickly scanned the surroundings: "Or did you see something again? A new hallucination?"

"Uh..." Qiu Yufei opened her mouth, her tone a little hesitant, "I'm not sure..."

She didn't know how to say it. Because she really wasn't sure what she saw was -

but she was sure that she saw it, absolutely saw it.

Just now, when Xu Ming blurted out the word "hell", the slender woman who had already walked far away and whose body was already translucent, obviously paused.

Then she turned around and walked back to Xu Ming's side, hesitantly raised her clumsy fingers, and shook them in front of her eyes, and then shook them again.

...Then, it disappeared completely.

With a look as if he had seen a ghost.

*

On the other side, behind the monitoring computer.

The man was still in a strong daze, and the woman who had been watching couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh, so that's what you mean. No wonder Mr. Eyes saw the word 'idiot' in her...

"After all, this kind of physique is indeed worthy of the name 'idiot'."