608 The Elevator
The actors flipped through the patrol diary.
“January 1st, midnight, I’m curious why this abandoned building still needs guards? I heard that the guards here either went crazy or died, I wondered if it was true or not.
“January 4th, midnight, guarding this place is more boring than I thought. I am stuck here alone with no friends and a horrible internet connection. I can’t even watch my virtual idol without lagging. I have no idea how much longer I can do this.
“January 31st, midnight, the first month was ending. I just received the boss’ call. I would get quadruple my monthly salary. I was born for this job.
“February 4th, night, I had a new colleague even though I didn’t hear from the admin about that. As long as my salary is not affected, I don’t mind.
“February 9th, night, the new colleague is strange. He mumbles to himself and never slacks off. He patrols five times per night. Is he trying to show me up?
“February 14th, night, I have a feeling the new colleague has been staring behind me. There are other strange occurrences. There are strange voices coming from deep inside the hospital.
“February 14th, 2 am, the new colleague didn’t come back after his fourth patrol. I can’t reach the boss. The signal is down. I’ll investigate it. If I don’t return, I hope those who see this dairy will enter the room next to the security room. I’ve hidden some of the info I’ve found there.
“February 24th, 4 am, I found the new colleague who had injured his leg inside the elevator. He said he encountered someone who took the elevator, which should be out of service. The person had no shadow, and lights would go out wherever they went. Damn, I was not scared until now!
“February 28th, 8 am, finally another month is over! I wish to quit, but the salary is so high!
“March 1st. The boss not only gave me quadruple my salary but also a big bonus. However, something about the boss’ tone made me feel uncomfortable.
“March 29th, the month is ending. I need to quit!
“March 29th, 6 pm. A storm was brewing as the sky darkened. Four men and four women came to the hospital to avoid the rain. They look like celebrities. However, two of the women look identical. Are they twins?
“March 29th, 6.30 pm. I’m panicking! The rain is pouring. Before the signal went out, I got a message from the boss. He said it was too dangerous for me to stay at the hospital alone, so he decided to hire another guard to join me. The man is coming tonight, and the boss hopes for me to go fetch him. If this is the new guard, then who is the guard who has already accompanied me for a month? Where did he come from?
“March 29th, 7 pm. The fake guard is gone! The power source in the security room is cut off too. Is this his doing?
“March 29th, 7.30 pm. Something is wrong with the eight who came in to hide from the rain! They…” The last few pages were torn away.
“This man is such a rambler.” Xiao Chen turned to Han Fei as if waiting for his reaction.
“The show is called April 4th Mystery Case Files, but the diary says that four men and four women came here to hide from the rain on March 29th. It means that we might have been here last month.” Han Fei asked the others. “Did your script mention that?”
“No, this is our first outing together.”
“So, it means we have indeed forgotten something. We were here last month. The eighth girl was still alive, but now she is dead. Her face is blurred out after someone rubbed it away.” Han Fei pointed to the other actors, “Based on the conventional plot, it’s very likely that we’ve killed her. Everyone has participated. You might have killed her, and he dismembered her.”
“Please, can you not make it sound so scary?” Xiao Chen heard the chill in Han Fei’s voice.
“If you’re right, why did we return after committing the murder?” Li Feng agreed with Han Fei, and her impression of him improved.
“I know! Perhaps because we did something too cruel to No. 8 and we were traumatized, and some of our memories were affected.” Wu Li suggested.
“I believe No. 8 became a ghost. She used supernatural power to gather us here and wipe away our memory because she plans to kill us!” A-Lin’s voice turned sharp. She didn’t expect her first variety show appearance to be so exciting.
“Both of you have a point, but there is another possibility.” Han Fei said with a wicked smile. “We came to this hospital on March 29th. This show is called April 4th Mystery Case Files.”
“What does that prove?” Bai Cha frowned. He didn’t like Han Fei, but he couldn’t do anything because the hidden cameras were rolling.
“The distance between the two dates is seven days or Tou Qi. Tou Qi is the day when the spirit of the dead returns.” Han Fei touched the pages where they had been torn off. “The other possibility is that No. 8 is still alive, and the seven of us are dead.”
“That is ridiculous. If we’re all ghosts, what’s the point of shooting this show?”
“Did you forget how the short guard reacted when he saw Xia Yilan?” Han Fei stood the furthest from Xia Yilan.
“You’re right! The short guard ran immediately, as if he had seen a ghost!” Wu Li thought back.
“Perhaps he had seen Xia Yilan’s body, or perhaps he killed Xia Yilan. Perhaps he ran away to check on Xia Yilan’s dead body.” Han Fei’s analysis was reasonable, but the others slowly moved away from him.
“Why are you guys moving away from me?” Han Fei was confused. “We’re all humans or ghosts. We’re in the same boat.” Han Fei picked up the diary. “The guard wrote on February 24th that if he didn’t return, those who discovered the diary should look for clues in the room next to the security room. So, I think we should go there first. And then we’ll go check out the haunted elevator.”
The creepy environment, the eerie atmosphere, and the calm Han Fei were perfect matches for each other.
“No wonder he is a horror movie actor. People like us who focus on romance and drama can’t get used to this setting as fast as he can.” Xiao Chen and Wu Li followed behind Han Fei. They searched for a long time before they found the security room. It had some everyday items. They moved next door and discovered a locked, old ward. “The door is locked, so we need to find the key first.” Wu Li walked back into the security room. “We probably missed the clues…”
BANG!
Just as Wu Li said that the actors heard a loud crash, they looked in shock as Han Fei kicked down the door. “Sorry, a force of habit.” Han Fei entered the room. He was hit by a decaying smell. He looked up and saw seven colored pictures hanging on the wall.
“Why are our pictures here? And we’re in graduation gowns.”
“These pictures are so scary. They look soulless. How did they manage that?”
“Look! There are items placed under each picture. Bai Cha has a small iron cage, Xiao Chen has clothes, Xia Yilan has… a human face?!” The six actors stopped before Xia Yilan’s picture. They saw the face skinned off a model and then turned towards Xia Yilan. Xia Yilan was in a very bad state. She kept shivering.
“Are you sick?” Wu Li removed his jacket and passed it to her. However, Xia Yilan slapped the jacket away like she was triggered. “I never wear other people’s clothes.” Then, realizing the rudeness of her action, Xia Yilan picked up the jacket and forced a smile, “Sorry, that was part of the lines. That is my persona.”
“Understood.” Wu Li was just a C-list horror actor. No matter what Xia Yilan said, he would go along with it.
“Han Fei, what are the things placed under the pictures?” Li Feng started to follow Han Fei’s train of thought. “Are they the reason for our death? Bai Cha once trapped No. 8 inside a cage, and Xia Yilan stole her face?”
“What nonsense!” Bai Cha said anxiously.
The other celebrities rambled among themselves, but Han Fei studied the seven pictures. The other six people’s faces had the sentence written in red, return my face to me. However, Han Fei’s picture was crossed off with red paint. ‘Is this the job of the painter? But how could he be here?’
The most mysterious Pure Hatred at the hospital was the painter. Even Doctor Yan didn’t know about the man. Han Fei only knew the painter used his oil painting to trap the injured Ten Fingers at the white orphanage.
‘The painter is not as strong as the Butterfly. But I fought the Butterfly on the Night of Resurrection. Half of Butterfly’s body was in a nightmare, and the other half was in the cryptic world. The Singer suppressed it, and we were lucky enough to kill it.’ Luck played a huge role in the destruction of Butterfly. The Butterfly Han Fei faced probably had 50 percent of his usual power. ‘No matter how weak the painter is, he will be stronger than half of the Butterfly. This man will be troublesome to deal with.’ Han Fei didn’t want to face the painter so soon. After Xu Yin became a Pure Hatred, Han Fei had a new plan. He planned to bring the white shoes’ kindness and the two Pure Hatreds to the ‘neutral ground’ of the Midnight Mall for a negotiation with the white shoes. If the negotiation were successful, they would enter the theme park together. If the negotiation were not successful, then they would surround the white shoes.
“Han Fei? Han Fei!” A-Lin patted Han Fei’s shoulder. “We found another one of the diary pages.” Han Fei turned around. A-Lin picked up some paper pieces from the floor and pieced them together to reveal the sentence—there is a ghost among the eight of them!
“You guessed it right. The other pages should be the guard’s prediction about the ghost’s identity.” Wu Li searched the room, but he couldn’t find anything else. “We’re stuck again.”
“Come, let’s go investigate the elevator.” Han Fei put away the paper pieces. “The guard said that his colleague saw a shadowless person use the elevator. Perhaps only ghosts can use that elevator.”
“We’re going there now?” Xiao Chen couldn’t sustain his sunny image anymore. “I knew Tang Yi’s show is always out there, but this is too much.” Han Fei didn’t respond to the man’s complaint and walked down the corridor. The building had many hidden cameras. Han Fei wondered if they had captured the painter. The seven entered the corridor and returned to the side building. The place was darker. Only the light near the elevator was on.
“The building has been abandoned for years. Can the elevator still run?” A-Lin was worried.
“You can trust Tang Yi to take care of the safety precaution. They have checked all the props at least five times.” Wu Li said and called for the elevator.
The old elevator doors opened. A rotting smell came from the booth. A broken leg was dumped there.
“That, that should be a prop.” Wu Li forced himself to enter the booth. The cracked elevator screen suddenly glowed green. “The broken leg is carved with words. If you want to enter the elevator, you need to feed it things! For humans, you need to feed the elevator body parts; for the dead…”
Before Wu Li finished, the booth trembled, and the door slowly closed. Wu Li immediately ran out. “What kind of device was that?” Wu Li shivered. “Thankfully, I’m a quick runner.”
“It is as I expected. We can use the elevator to verify our identity. We need to find body parts hidden around the building, and the elevator will open for the living.” Han Fei walked to the elevator. As he got close, the light near the elevator went out.
The eight celebrities were caught by surprise. Han Fei was startled. He remembered the guard diary saying his colleague saw the shadowless ghost. Whenever the ghost was near, the lights would go out. ‘Am I the ghost? Or is the ghost coming?’
