Screams rose from underground. Even though every floor of the haunted house had excellent soundproofing, Da Gui and Old
"Little Gui!" Da Gui slammed the elevator buttons frantically, but the elevator sat stuck on the fourth basement level, refusing to move.
It wasn't until the screaming stopped that the elevator began to ascend.
"I heard those two students screaming just now too. It didn't sound like they were faking it?" Old Zhou's tone carried a mixture of worry and fear. "Could we have misunderstood them?"
"Enough. Those two were probably luring us here on purpose." Da Gui was in misery — Ghost Girl had vanished, Little Gui was in trouble, and of the trio, he was now the only one left. "Once the elevator gets here, if those three aren't inside, we're going down together! This place isn't that complex — with Little Gui in tow, they couldn't have gotten far!"
"I think we should just forget about Little Gui. Did any of you notice something just now?" Bai Buhui pointed at the display screen outside the elevator shaft. "When the elevator went down just now, it stopped on every single floor. Those two students are quite calculating — they were obviously trying to bait us into exploring every floor."
The elevator climbed up floor by floor. While Bai Buhui was making his case, the silver-gray elevator doors slowly slid open — but the three visitors who had been inside were nowhere to be seen.
"Don't go in. The elevator is completely enclosed — the last thing you want in a haunted house is to enter a space like that." Bai Buhui warned again, but Da Gui stubbornly stepped inside.
"Anyone who wants to come with me, come. If no one's down there, I'll go by myself."
Hearing this, Bai Buhui shook his head and stayed put.
Old Zhou and
"Fine… we'll go with you. There's safety in numbers." After a long moment of hesitation, Old Zhou finally made his decision, and he and Duan Yue stepped into the elevator as well.
"Thanks." Da Gui nodded at Old Zhou and gave him a grateful look.
"You three are out of your minds." Bai Buhui pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his expression cold and detached. "I'll wait here. Good luck."
The elevator doors slowly closed. Da Gui stared at the numbers on the display, his expression grave.
"Don't worry — we're just touring a haunted house. Little Gui and Ghost Girl won't come to any harm." Old Zhou was kind-hearted and wanted to comfort Da Gui.
"It's no use trying to explain it to you." Da Gui turned to look at Old Zhou and Duan Yue, and his gaze was somewhat unsettling. He pointed to his own ear. "Let me tell you an urban legend. If you don't believe it, just treat it as a story."
"When I was nine, I was in a car accident. While I was unconscious, there was a voice lingering by my ear the whole time — it sounded like someone was apologizing."
"I didn't think much of it at the time. After I was revived, the driver's family came seeking my forgiveness."
"They were in a terrible situation. The driver had died in the accident, and with the breadwinner gone, the mother and daughter could barely sustain themselves."
"I forgave them. Later, when the police released the phone recording from the driver, I was shocked to discover — his voice was the same one I'd heard while I was unconscious."
"From that point on, I could occasionally hear sounds that no one else could hear. They were faint, but they were definitely real."
"It's exactly because of this ability that I dared to take Little Gui and Ghost Girl to graveyards, crematoriums, and other places to test ourselves. Because I knew those places were actually mostly safe."
The elevator arrived at the second floor. Da Gui stared into the pitch-black corridor, his expression growing even more solemn.
"What you're saying is giving me chills. What does your story have to do with the haunted house we're visiting?" Old Zhou was thoroughly confused.
"Ever since I entered this scenario, there have been countless voices in my ears. I don't know if I've lost my mind, or if this place is hiding untold numbers of foul things." Da Gui gazed down the long, dark corridor of the lab building. He took a deep breath and pulled out his phone to check the time. "I have a really bad feeling about this."