"Give the phone." Yang Xiao took the phone, thought for a mont, and dialed directly.
They held their breath. The call went through, but it rang for a long ti until it automatically disconnected; no one answered.
As the call disconnected, Yang Xiao and Jiang Qingluan’s expressions changed. They understood that sothing must have happened. This phone was extrely important and Zhou Mingxiao would never part with it.
Either their group is trapped, or soone has died.
"What should we do now?" Jiang Qingluan was sowhat anxious.
"Don’t panic, let’s go back first." Yang Xiao made a decision.
"Where to?"
"Of course Rongjin Building. It’s simply too late to rush to Xinmin Middle School now, and even if we could get there, we definitely wouldn’t make it back before dark." Xinmin Middle School and the newly relocated village they’re currently in are at opposite ends of the city, very far apart, with inconvenient transportation.
"Hmm, I think even if sothing huge happened, their team wouldn’t be wiped out. Mr. Zhou, and that Chen Nang, are formidable guys, Liu Yang isn’t bad either." After calming down, Jiang Qingluan analyzed rationally. As long as soone survives to bring back the news, that’s the most important thing.
Without wasting any more words, the two got up and headed for the village entrance. They needed to get back to Rongjin Building.
But before they reached the village entrance, Yang Xiao’s phone suddenly vibrated. Incoming call: Zhou Mingxiao’s phone!
"Don’t answer it yet, it might be a trap!" Jiang Qingluan quickly warned.
The phone rang for a long ti until it was automatically disconnected. Yang Xiao didn’t answer, just watched it ring and then hang up.
He didn’t know what happened on the other end, but he knew the caller was likely not human.
Just half a minute later, the phone vibrated again with an incoming ssage.
Also from Zhou Mingxiao’s phone, the ssage was brief but shocking: "Chu Xi, it’s Chen Nang. Zhou Mingxiao is dead; we just found his body."
...
Half an hour ago.
In an old-fashioned shopping mall, a figure stood nervously in the first-floor lobby.
Zhou Mingxiao stared in shock at everything before him, trying his best to remain calm, but his eyes were filled with irrepressible fear.
The surroundings were silent; not a soul was present. The huge mall was completely empty, yet monts ago, it was a bustling place with hundreds of people, each face so vivid.
There were custors coming and going, stall vendors greeting people to buy things, cleaners doing housekeeping, and his two teammates beside him—Chen Nang and Liu Yang.
But in the split second he lowered his head, everyone vanished.
Only people disappeared; the mall remained, the goods on the shelves were still there, and the air still carried the sll of cheap perfu.
To say he wasn’t afraid would be a lie. Zhou Mingxiao knew clearly that the Ghost had co for him.
But why him and not Yang Xiao, Zhou Mingxiao didn’t know. Yet that wasn’t important now; what’s important is how he would survive.
He didn’t lower his head randomly earlier; he heard a "rustling" sound coming from his bag—that DV machine.
The DV machine mysteriously turned on, and he’d already picked it up, with the red indicator light signaling power on, just like last night.
The screen lit up quietly, but unlike last night, it showed signs of malfunction: only the left half was clear, while the right half was unusually blurry, like covered with a milky haze—very peculiar.
Moreover, more crucially, the screen images didn’t match the direction it was pointed at. He aid at the door, yet the screen displayed entirely different scenes and angles, resembling a cramped, enclosed space, accompanied by a "buzzing" sound.
Simultaneously, a countdown appeared at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
There are just over 12 minutes left, which suggests the full countdown was about 13 minutes, more or less.
"Creak—"
Amid the chanical grinding, Zhou Mingxiao widened his eyes as he saw on the screen a door opening to a corridor marked with a sign "1."
All at once, Zhou Mingxiao realized the screen showed an elevator; sothing had already arrived at the mall’s first floor—coming for him!
Imdiately, the countdown in the bottom-left corner beca clearer; that ti was for him to evade pursuit from the Source Ghost!
The Source Ghost had co for him!
Although he didn’t understand why, it seed like a cat-and-mouse ga complete with a countdown; nonetheless, the imdiate priority was to hide so the Ghost wouldn’t find him—otherwise, he’d et the sa fate as Moting, yesterday!
Zhou Mingxiao wasn’t one to sit and wait; even faced with dire circumstances, he’d fight with all he has.
He now understood the real use of this DV machine: it transmits the Ghost’s view for him in real-ti, allowing him to dodge in advance.
"The Ghost’s on the first floor. Can’t stay here—must escape, go upstairs!" Zhou Mingxiao decided, instantly dashing ahead toward the escalator to move up.
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