Chapter 96

Perhaps because of the distance, Xu Ming did not hear the noise downstairs.

She just followed the agreement and climbed up to the fifth floor as fast as possible, collecting two small flashlights along the way. When she arrived outside 502, not only was her small bag bulging, but her pockets were also full.

Xu Ming did not care and stopped outside Yang Duyi's room. She tried to call twice, but there was no response from inside the room. Xu Ming frowned slightly and took two steps back, only then did she realize that the cold breath lingering on the door had disappeared without a trace.

Looking at the room opposite, the warm light was still flowing, like a dream. There was no change.

This contrast made her frown even tighter. After thinking about it, she decided to finish what she had promised to others. She took out the dried dogwood from her bag and hung it on the door very carefully.

This dogwood had obviously been there for a long time, and even the fragrance had almost dissipated. The original body looked even more lifeless. Xu Ming tried hard to arrange the dry branches to look better. After arranging them, he thought for a moment, put his hands together, and bowed seriously to the closed door.

After arranging them, he turned around and was about to leave, but he saw that the dogwood on the door suddenly shook and fell to the ground.

Xu Ming was startled by the scene and subconsciously picked up the things quickly. After a brief hesitation, she hung the dogwood back, but within a few seconds, the dogwood fell to the ground again.

Xu Ming's face changed instantly - but not because of the dogwood, but because of her feeling. She

didn't notice it very much the first time, but this time, the feeling was very obvious - the dogwood fell not because she didn't hang it firmly, but because the place was shaking!

The ground under her feet and the walls around her were all shaking just now!

And as if to confirm her thoughts, as soon as this thought came up, the whole building shook again!

This time the shaking was even more obvious, so obvious that the half-closed door of Room 501 began to shake. Xu Ming couldn't figure out the situation at this moment, so he could only calm down by force. He took out another work badge from his bag, tied the dogwood to the door handle with the rope on the badge, and then turned around and walked downstairs quickly.

Because of the vibration just now, the lamps on the fifth and fourth floors were basically in chaos. Some of them seemed to have been bumped, causing the scattered light to be dim and unstable. Xu Ming's heart sank when he noticed this, fearing that Xu Ling was doing something rebellious again, and he quickly quickened his pace. When he rushed to the third floor, his steps suddenly stopped.

The platform on the third floor was also in a mess, and Xu Ling, who should have been trapped by the light, was now nowhere to be seen.

There was only one obvious dragging mark, which extended from the third floor platform to the end of the downward stairs.

"..." Xu Ming's breathing stagnated slightly, and he picked up a flashlight for self-defense. He approached carefully and found that there were not only dragging marks left in the corridor - there were also some footprints.

Or claw marks. At least it didn't look like the marks that humans could leave.

There were two claw marks in total. Judging from the direction, they should have come up from the downstairs first, and then went down from the third floor...

201.

Xu Ming finally understood. It was 201.

Whether it was the one who caused the shaking and the abnormal existence that came up and dragged Xu Ling away, it was most likely from 201 downstairs.

I just don't know why it did this, and what condition Xu Ling is in now...Xu Ming pursed his lips, turned around and was about to rush down. Just at this moment, he heard a shrill scream from below, and heard her footsteps again.

It was Xu Ling's voice. It sounded full of fear. The voice was sharp and short, and it disappeared in a flash.

Xu Ming closed his eyes lightly. Very good, it seems that I don't need to investigate the second problem myself.

Having said that, I still have to go to the second floor. Xu Ming carefully bypassed the lamps on the first floor, and found, not surprisingly, that many of the lamps on this floor had been stepped on and broken; when he came to the second floor, he saw that Room 201, which had been tightly closed before, finally opened a crack.

Whether it was the traces of dragging or the strange claw marks, they all disappeared behind the crack of the door.

Xu Ming stopped outside the door, raised his hand tentatively, and knocked on the door panel with his fingers.

Still no response.

But when he got closer, he could clearly hear a strange buzzing sound circling inside.

It was the kind of uncomfortable buzzing that reminded people of a lathe in operation, but if you listen carefully, you seem to hear a faint, untuneable tone.

Xu Ming pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and finally did not go in directly - instead, he walked to the second floor staircase first, glanced downstairs, and after confirming that everyone downstairs had left, he turned back, released the little dog from the rule book, and whispered some instructions.

Then she took a deep breath, slowly pushed the door open, and walked in lightly.

She had originally thought about whether she should start another dream simulation right after entering the room, after all, this would be safer; however, for some reason, the moment she stepped into the room, her mind suddenly became dazed. The puppy's uneasy humming came from the bag, and Xu Ming came back to her senses at once. She hurriedly stroked its head soothingly, perked up again, and looked around carefully.

...Then she saw it.

There was no figure in the empty living room. The traces of dragging and claw marks appeared again, winding on the bumpy floor of the living room, and finally disappeared behind a door.

The door was right in front of Xu Ming, a place where there shouldn't be a door. It looked like an ordinary bedroom door. The door was half-open, and behind the door was a bottomless darkness.

Xu Ming's expression became more and more tense. She quickly raised her hand, trying to simulate a dream.

However, when she touched something, she found nothing - the bracelet that was worn on her wrist was suddenly out of reach.

She could see it, but couldn't touch it. Her fingers pressed on the bracelet, as if they were pressing on a ball of air, and it just poked through.

Her heart skipped a beat, and before she could be surprised, another sign instantly attracted Xu Ming's attention -

she felt heat on her waist.

It was the kind of heat that was separated by a layer, as if there was a hot cell phone in her pocket. Of course, Xu Ming didn't have a cell phone with her at the moment -

she only had a rule book.

Xu Ming found the truth with just a simple check. The thing that was getting hot in her bag was the rule book.

The rule book still contained the brain mushroom she had picked, which looked swollen. Xu Ming couldn't figure out why the brain mushroom hadn't been absorbed yet, so he had to take it out first. When his fingers touched the paper of the rule book, he felt that every page was burning, as if it would burn directly in the next second.

- What was even more weird was that these papers were not only hot, but also shaking.

The violent tremor permeated almost every texture, and the tremor from inside could be felt through the cover. The tremor was getting more and more intense, so strong that Xu Ming could hardly take it out. She gritted her teeth and tried hard to open the book in front of her. What caught her eyes was not the familiar rules and instructions, but a bunch of strange, twisting words -

[Don't come near, don't come near, don't come near! ] [

Run away, run away, run away ]

[It's here, it's not here, don't let it see you, don't let it hear you! ]

[Are you going to come in? Are you going to come in? ]

[You you you are you going to come in? ]

[Don't come in, don't come in! Run, run away] -

the twisted words were like trembling tadpoles. They kept turning around like eyeballs, as if there was something scary around them, approaching little by little.

Xu Ming just stared at it for a while, and then she felt dizzy; as if she realized something, she raised her head again, and her eyes fell back on the open door.

There was still nothing to see behind the door. There was only darkness, pitch black.

...I don’t know if it was Xu Ming’s illusion, the moment she looked at the door again, the rule book in her hand seemed to be burned even more severely. There were even sharp auditory hallucinations in her ears, as if the words were screaming.

Xu Ming instinctively covered her ears, and the little dog in the bag also began to stir restlessly. Xu Ming casually patted the bag, signaling the dog to be patient, and her eyes fell on the half-open door again. She wanted to move, but her legs seemed to be fixed and could not move. Her heart was slightly shocked, and she immediately planned to pat the shoulder bag -

this was the signal she had agreed with Landor through the dog. At this moment, Landor was guarding her original body. As long as he got the signal, he would shake her body and pull Xu Ming back directly.

However, before Xu Ming could move, he heard a creaking sound.

The door seemed to be controlled and began to close inwards by itself.

The door was closing, but her legs were still unable to move, and the rule book was also continuing to heat up and go crazy. Xu Ming's hand that was about to fall on the bag paused, and in a flash, she suddenly came up with an idea that even she herself could not understand.

She turned her wrist, and her hand didn't hit the bag, but reached into the bag.

There happened to be the last ready-made work card in the bag.

Xu Ming took out the work card as quickly as possible, and quickly found a pen. After quickly writing a few words on it, he wrapped it around a small flashlight and threw it forward with all his strength!

The small flashlight wrapped around the work card passed steadily through the shrinking gap and fell silently into the darkness behind the door.

And almost at the moment when the flashlight disappeared behind the door, with a snap, the door closed heavily.

The world suddenly became quiet.

Whether it was the buzzing sound or the scalding of the rule book, they all disappeared completely. Xu Ming tried to open the rule book again, and the text inside had all returned to normal.

Looking ahead, where is the door?

There is just a whole wall.

Xu Ming: "..."

So what was that just now?

Is that the so-called "world behind the door"? That is the so-called "that"? Xu Ling is the key connecting the outside and the back of the door. The person living in Room 201 took it into the back of the door, so the "key" became invalid and the door closed?

What about before that? Has this door always existed? The person who stayed in Room 201 never came out of the door. Is it because of this door?

All kinds of doubts and speculations rushed out again, squeezing Xu Ming's temples to throb.

At this moment, the puppy's whining sound suddenly sounded again. Xu Ming woke up and hurriedly gave it a signal to stay calm, and then sighed in his heart.

I just had a chance, but didn't see anything. I always feel a little bit regretful...

I just don't know if the work badge I threw over has any effect. Time is urgent, and she can't leave more information on it. Apart from the necessary unit name and simple usage and requirements, she didn't write too much.

If she is lucky, someone will really pick it up and wear it. For her, it can be an additional way of observation.

In any case, I'd better retreat first - Xu Ming made up his mind. The moment he turned around, he found that both of his legs were still stiff. He swayed back unsteadily, but his back hit a solid body.

She turned her head in surprise and met the indifferent eyes of her "brother" - or Ms. Tian.

The next second, she saw the other party slowly raised his hand and made a gesture to her to keep quiet.

…After the gesture, there was another sigh.

I don’t know how long it took before it spoke again, and while speaking, it helped Xu Ming up.

“I know you promised Lao Yang something.” It said softly, looking at Xu Ming steadily. Its words were a little slurred because it had been silent for a long time, but its eyes were quite firm. “Then can you please also promise me something?”

“Something very important.”

*

Not long after.

Outside the unit building.

Fang Xueqing stood outside the door with her arms folded, looking at Ling Guang in front of her busying around with a complicated expression, her mind still in a mess.

She felt that it was not her fault. After all, from their perspective, what happened in just ten minutes was indeed quite puzzling.

First, they tried to use props to dig out some clues from the ghost story, but they saw a bunch of mysterious lights, with ISO quality inspection labels and the name of the Ghost Story Demolition Office on them, plus a crying abnormal existence. They tried to study the development of the situation inside the ghost story again, and the door of the unit building opened by itself again...

A bunch of people - I can't say a bunch of people, several figures walked out directly from inside. They

were swaggering and intact. There were four people in total, two of them wore the work badges of the Ghost Story Demolition Office, and the other two immediately asked to wear them after they came out.

The four people guarding the door were very confused.

Fortunately, even if they were confused, they still remembered the process. Ling Guang immediately went up to stop the four people and tried to find out as much as possible about the situation inside the ghost story.

It happened that there was a Qiu Yufei in the other team, who was considered an old acquaintance. With her in the middle, the others did not resist; but there was a little girl with a schoolbag on her back, who looked around anxiously while answering, and asked from time to time, "Where is the sister wearing a mask", which made Ling Guang confused.

Tian Yiliang and Miss Huangyu had no relationship with Qiu Yufei, so they could only line up behind Ling Guang; Fang Xueqing was too lazy to get involved in these things, so she simply waited at the door. When she saw Qiu Yufei was free, she quickly waved to her and jumped to her side in two or three steps.

"Hey, are you okay?" She looked at Qiu Yufei while talking. Seeing that she didn't seem to be in any serious condition except for her haggard face, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'm glad you're okay. Gu Ming came to us specially for you. She was worried when you went in alone..."

"Gu...you mean Teacher Mingming?" Qiu Yufei was stunned when she heard it, "But she is not...oh, right, that's it."

She suddenly stopped talking halfway, and then nodded in understanding: "She and I are old friends, and I don't have much experience in ghost talk, so she is inevitably worried about me. I'll let her know that I'm safe later."

"Um... where are you going later? To the company or home? I'll drive you there." Fang Xueqing said, and subconsciously glanced at the door again, "By the way, didn't Gu Ming say that there was a mid-level salesperson with you this time? Where is she? If it's convenient, can we talk to her? We really want to find out how to get into this weird story..." "

..." Qiu Yufei was speechless for a moment.

Mid-level salesperson... Teacher Mingming! How many vests did you add to yourself when I was away!

Because she didn't know the specific background and personality of the so-called "mid-level salesperson" that Xu Ming had set, Qiu Yufei didn't dare to speak casually about this matter. Just as she was thinking about how to perfunctorily deal with it, she saw the door of the unit building move again -

another figure slowly walked out of the door.

The figure was somewhat vague, and it was obvious at first glance that she was not human. She was not tall, with long hair draped over her shoulders. One side of her face was as radiant as a rose, and the other side looked like a demon.

She stopped at the steps outside the unit building and did not take another step. Although she did not say a word, she inexplicably gave people a strong sense of presence. In just a few breaths, she attracted the attention of everyone present.

Fang Xueqing glanced at her chest and noticed that she was not wearing a work badge from the Strange Talk Demolition and Relocation Office on her chest, and she couldn't help but frowned. She opened her mouth to ask, but heard the other party speak softly, and the speed of speech was neither fast nor slow, but the words she said shocked everyone.

She said that there was no need to enter this ghost story - in fact, not only this ghost story, but also other ghost stories, there was no need to enter.

"I can't tell you the specific situation, but it's basically like this." Fang Xueqing listened to her slowly speaking, her tone was calm, "All ghost stories, unless there are special circumstances, will be closed from today."

"People who have not yet entered, please do not try to enter again; if there are people around you who have already entered, please try to contact them and give the address of the relevant ghost story to the Ghost Story Demolition Office. We will organize the cleanup... rescue as quickly as possible, and strive to take people out as soon as possible.

"If you have any questions, please contact our employee Gu Ming. If you need cooperation or rescue, please contact her directly. "

After saying that, she raised her eyes again, and her eyes lightly swept around, as if with a bit of nonchalance. One hand was slightly raised, and it fell on her shoulder bag again.

I don't know if it was Fang Xueqing's illusion, after her palm fell, the surface of the messenger bag seemed to move a few times, as if something was hidden inside... However, soon, her attention was drawn back to the half-faced man.

It was not because the other party said anything again - but because the other party disappeared directly.

Under everyone's noses, he disappeared without giving any signs or leaving any traces. It seemed that in just a moment, he evaporated completely on the spot.

This made the four field staff present couldn't help but exchange astonished glances in private again.

...disappearing as soon as she said it, this skill is quite explosive even for the dead.

However, soon, Miss Huangyu, who usually does clerical work, brought up another more explosive fact.

"Well, did you find that her remarks just now seemed a bit strange?"

She pushed her glasses and looked at the others uncertainly: "This tone, this wording..."

"Somewhat official." Ling Guang understood what she meant at once.

"?" Tian Yiliang rubbed his forehead and couldn't help correcting, "It should be quite official." Or an official who knows the inside story.

"Or an official who knows the inside story." Fang Xueqing couldn't help but cross her arms again, "So what is the situation now? "

Why did it suddenly develop to the point where all the ghost stories had to be closed? Of course, they didn't have any objections to this. In their opinion, this was definitely a good thing; but the question was, why was it suddenly announced to be closed? And was it announced by the Ghost Story Relocation Office?

This was obviously a question that everyone wanted to ask, but unfortunately, no one had any clue for the time being. At this moment, two old men in vests and shorts passed by and noticed a group of people here. They instinctively glanced at them, then quickly retracted their gaze and continued to immerse themselves in their conversation. Their voices drifted over faintly with the cool breeze:

"Why is the mahjong hall outside the community closed again? Now there is not even a place to play cards. It's boring..."

"Don't you know? It was closed by the relevant department. They said that some parts failed the last safety inspection and they must close the shop for rectification. If they don’t rectify, they will not be allowed to open for business...”

“...”

The old man walked away in a blink of an eye.

Only a few people were left in front of the unit building. They looked at each other in bewilderment for the nth time.

And they fell into silence collectively for the nth time.