The elevator stopped at the basement level, and the warehouse before her was just as she remembered, excessively neat.
The masked figures surrounded Nan Yue, two in front and two behind, until they reached the very end of the warehouse.
Nan Yue immediately spotted the hidden secret door on the wall, and the masked figure behind her gave her a shove, their hand stiff and cold, lacking any warmth of a living person.
However, as that hand pushed Nan Yue inside, it pressed firmly against the center of her back.
This unusual movement made Nan Yue tilt her head slightly, catching a glimpse of a strange mask in her peripheral vision, though she could see no face through any gaps.
This thing... it's as if it has grown right onto the face.
That thought suddenly popped into Nan Yue's mind.
Furthermore, she felt that the masked person behind her had touched her like that to give her a hint.
It was Bi Danyuan.
Nan Yue resisted the urge to look back; setting aside whether she was still human, Nan Yue had no way to save her right now.
To be precise, once the secret door opened, Nan Yue no longer had the mental capacity to think about Bi Danyuan.
She was stunned by what she saw before her.
...
The time was nearing 2 AM, and since Nan Yue hadn't returned, Gu Xiang Kai rested for a bit before heading downstairs to stake out the area.
The weather was cool at this hour, and hiding in the garden wasn't too stifling despite a few insects; Gu Xiang Kai crouched in the shadows, motionless like a lurking leopard.
Nothing happened during the first hour, with only a few scattered people returning from overtime.
However, Gu Xiang Kai noticed that as 3 AM approached, fewer people returned, and the few who did were in a great hurry, not daring to lift their heads at all.
Gu Xiang Kai grumbled to himself that these people were making even him a bit nervous.
As 3 AM arrived, Gu Xiang Kai keenly noticed that even the chirping of insects in the bushes had vanished.
The surroundings fell deathly silent, and the four buildings surrounding the garden felt like a coffin; trapped within, Gu Xiang Kai felt a sudden sense of suffocation.
He even experienced a slight ringing in his ears because it was too quiet.
At the same time, Zhu Xi Ning, who couldn't sleep in her room, suddenly experienced a powerful premonition; she seemed to see a person crashing down from a great height, smashing into a pile of mud on the ground.
Then, that pile of mud twitched and began crawling in a certain direction...
It was going to find Gu Xiang Kai!
...
A dark shadow fell from the roof, and Gu Xiang Kai watched as the small black dot gradually grew larger before slamming heavily onto the ground.
He heard the sticky, strange collision of flesh meeting concrete and watched as a splash of startling red exploded nearby.
Fragmented limbs were flung far away, and for a moment, Gu Xiang Kai had the illusion that this thing wasn't human.
A human body shouldn't look like this...
Then he saw the pile of mangled meat and bone wriggle for a moment, and the twisted bones slowly began to stand; the thing... struggled to its feet.
But the flesh could no longer fully adhere to the skeleton, with some parts having shifted from their original positions.
Under the pull of gravity, chunks of meat slowly slid down the frame; the "person" stood up, looking bizarre in the moonlight, more like a deformed human toy pieced together by a child.
The "person" slowly turned around, and Gu Xiang Kai crouched low, holding his breath; he had already seen that the "person" was wearing the Sales Department uniform.
It must have an ID badge; he just needed to see the ID badge.
The "person" stood still for a moment before beginning to walk slowly toward the lobby.
This path would take it past Gu Xiang Kai, but his hiding spot was excellent; as long as he made no sound, he would definitely not be discovered.
However...
What Gu Xiang Kai hadn't expected was that as the "person" slowly walked this way, a sharp, short scream erupted from behind him.
Gu Xiang Kai's heart sank halfway, and he felt the very blood in his veins slow down.
He turned back in disbelief and found someone standing behind him.
Zhang Haojun!
How could he be here?!
Impossible!
Immediately, Gu Xiang Kai saw a piece of cloth in Zhang Haojun's trembling hand vanish.
Gu Xiang Kai understood; it was a tool.
Zhang Haojun had used a tool to hide behind him all along, also wanting to know who the jumper was.
He wasn't at ease, feeling that Gu Xiang Kai and the others might not take him along even if they found clues, and more importantly, this was related to points.
So he came himself, likely using an invisibility-type tool, but these tools had a flaw: the user could not move or make any sound.
Once that happened, the tool would fail and disappear.
Gu Xiang Kai had seen someone use such a tool in a previous mission, and the outcome hadn't been good.
In truth, such tools were quite niche.
If you were being hunted by ghosts for violating rules, an invisibility tool was useless because that usually happened in an instant.
If used for scouting like Zhang Haojun, it also put the user's abilities and psychological resilience to a massive test.
Being invisible didn't mean you wouldn't be afraid.
A thousand curses flashed through Gu Xiang Kai's mind; this Zhang Haojun was not only seeking death but dragging him down as well!
Sure enough, the "person" who hadn't noticed anyone in the bushes paused its steps upon hearing Zhang Haojun's scream, and its head turned 180 degrees.
Upon seeing the two people in the nearby bushes, the meat on its face quivered for a moment, and quite a few fragments fell off.
Gu Xiang Kai felt that it might be smiling.
Then, with its head facing backward, it began to retreat toward them at an extremely fast pace.
Gu Xiang Kai was in front and couldn't dodge; a surge of ruthlessness rose in his heart, and with a grit of his teeth, the black earring on his right ear flashed.
The next moment, his fist slammed hard into the "person's" face.
Bang!
The dull thud of fist hitting bone echoed through the garden, and Gu Xiang Kai's elbow went numb from the impact; he spat out a mouthful of blood from the recoil, his face turning deathly pale as if his vitality had been drained in an instant.
The "person's" eye socket collapsed from the punch, and it froze after stumbling back a few steps.
It worked!
Gu Xiang Kai didn't dare relax in the slightest; although he no longer had the strength to flee, he clenched his fist again, intending to drag this thing to hell with him if it came back.
Blood trickled from the corner of Gu Xiang Kai's mouth, and his face was as pale as a sheet, but his expression was full of ferocity as he bared his teeth in a savage grin.
Then, upon seeing the ID badge on the "person's" chest, his smile froze.
"...It's you?!"
Gu Xiang Kai was in disbelief, but in the next instant, the "person" lunged backward at him, its skeletal hands ready to tear him apart.
Gu Xiang Kai stepped back and braced himself in a firm stance, knowing he couldn't escape today; instead, a surge of extreme violence rose within him.
The "person's" white bones sank into Gu Xiang Kai's shoulder, blood splattered, and agonizing pain engulfed him.
Rate on N.U.
