Translator: CinderTL
After leaving, the woman instinctively headed towards the elevator but was stopped by Jiang Cheng. "Let's take the stairs," he said. "It's good for your health."
The woman gave Jiang Cheng a strange look but ultimately said nothing.
Once they left, the atmosphere in the room became much more relaxed. Everyone began busily searching for clues, specifically the manuscripts left by Lin Chen.
Qiao Yu's brother naturally stepped forward to offer his help. Before Hua Luo could refuse, Wan Yuanning spoke up first. "Could you please keep watch for us?" she said with a gentle nod. "Thank you for your hard work."
Though her words were soft, there was no room for Qiao Yu's brother to refuse. She then turned away to focus on her own tasks.
Qiao Yu's brother couldn't help but feel a bit awkward. At that moment, Hua Luo turned to Chu Jiu and gave her a meaningful look. Chu Jiu immediately understood the situation.
Hua Luo went to search around the woman's desk, while Wan Yuanning headed to the bookshelf. Chu Jiu didn't stray too far, keeping part of her attention on Qiao Yu's brother.
Qiao Yu's brother felt somewhat frustrated, but he knew he was under their roof. Moreover, he was aware that staying with these people might be his only chance to uncover the truth behind his brother's death.
He obediently sat on the sofa, guarding the door, and behaved very cooperatively.
On the table lay the photocopies of the manuscripts the woman had provided earlier. Curious, the man picked them up one by one to examine them. Before long, his face turned pale, especially when he saw the urban legend depicting a shadow that was too horrifying to look at directly.
The background of that drawing looked eerily similar to his own café.
The other drawings were equally terrifying, and they gave off a sense of being alive. Even through the screen, one could feel the deep, chilling dread emanating from them.
It was a kind of realism that words could not fully capture.
Just as he was about to pick up the paper that was face down on the table, Chu Jiu's voice rang out. "Don't touch anything," she warned.
"Oh, okay, okay," the man replied, putting the paper back down.
His attention was then drawn to the kraft paper bag lying on the sofa, right next to where the woman had been sitting. It seemed inconspicuous.
But the man felt as if he was being called to it. He reached out and picked up the bag, frowning slightly as he did so.
The weight felt off, and when he pinched it with two fingers, he could feel something thick inside.
Out of curiosity, he shook the bag open and turned it upside down. Several sheets of paper fell out.
"Huh?"
Chu Jiu immediately noticed the anomaly and quickly stepped forward, snatching the papers from the man's hand. "Are these from the bag?" she asked, not immediately looking at them but first confirming with the man.
"Yes, yes," the man replied, scratching his head and stretching his neck, his eyes darting towards the papers, clearly curious about their contents.
At that moment, almost simultaneously, two voices exclaimed, "Found it!"
Hua Luo walked over quickly, holding a kraft paper bag. The bag had Lin Chen's name on it and was mailed from Room 808, Building 3 of Peace Apartment. The address matched.
Wan Yuanning was more direct. She held a stack of papers, about a dozen or so, which were also Lin Chen's manuscripts.
Finding so many at once was unexpected for everyone.
Everyone gathered around to look at the painting in Wan Yuanning's hands. To everyone's surprise, it depicted a brand-new urban legend.
Its name was "Cocoon."
It told of a storage room in an underground shopping mall where people often found long strands of hair on the floor, seemingly from a woman.
What puzzled everyone was that the place was rarely visited, and all the employees were men. How could there be so much long hair?
Though puzzled, the storage room's user didn't pay much attention to it, as there were no other issues besides this.
Until one day, he started hearing about people searching for their lost pet dogs nearby. The night shift security guard also reported hearing strange, intermittent sounds after everyone had left for the day.
He used a fitting analogy, saying it sounded like someone sipping bubble tea through a straw, especially when it was almost finished, producing those intermittent noises.
Finally, one day, someone went missing.
It was the security guard who had reported the strange sounds.
But the mall owner told everyone that the guard had been bribed by a competitor to spread rumors and then disappeared on purpose.
He urged everyone not to panic, promising that he would find the guard in a few days and show everyone the truth.
Moreover, he assured everyone that he would personally stay overnight that night to dispel the rumors, emphasizing the importance of believing in science.
Seeing the owner's confident demeanor and the burly, sunglasses-wearing bodyguard by his side, everyone regained their composure.
Night fell quickly. The storage room user, who had been sleeping at home, suddenly received a call from a client about a big deal.
After much hesitation, he couldn't resist the client's persuasion and agreed to go to the storage room immediately to check the remaining inventory.
When he drove to the mall, he noticed the light in the security guard's room was on, but no one was inside. The owner and his bodyguard, who were supposed to be on night duty, were nowhere to be found.
Could they be patrolling?
He went downstairs, turned on his phone's flashlight, and walked alone toward his storage room, which was located further inside to save on costs.
After walking for a while, he suddenly felt an ominous premonition, but seeing his storage room just ahead, he couldn't bear to give up on the deal.
The client was a long-time customer, and maintaining the relationship was important.
He tightened his coat and continued walking. Just as he turned a corner, he heard a strange sound.
It was exactly as the security guard had described!
Intermittent, making one's heart race.
And most importantly, the sound was coming from his storage room.
As he approached, he found the door to his storage room open, with a faint light emanating from inside.
"Is anyone there?" the man called out as he moved closer to the door. He saw someone inside, shining a flashlight directly at him.
The man was blinded by the light but could still make out the figure through his fingers. It was the mall owner, wearing his signature outfit: leather shoes and lead-gray trousers.
This was his standard attire.
The man couldn't help but feel angry. Without his permission, the owner had opened his storage room in the middle of the night. What the hell was he trying to do? Steal?
The man walked toward the light, questioning the owner while asking him to turn off the flashlight, as the glare was making him dizzy.
But the owner seemed to ignore his words. It wasn't until the man reached him and snatched the flashlight from his hand that he stopped.
But the next second, the man froze because he saw that the boss's feet were almost suspended in the air, with only the very tips of his shoes barely touching the ground, twitching incessantly.
With trembling hands, he used the stolen flashlight to slowly move upward along the boss's lower body. Then, he witnessed the most horrifying scene of his life.
The boss's eyes were gone.
His eye sockets, nose, ears, and mouth were all filled with hair, and this hair seemed alive, slowly wriggling while making a sound like slurping liquid.
The boss's body was visibly withering at a rapid pace, his limbs twitching and contorting irregularly, as if dancing.
He immediately pointed the flashlight upward, and there, pressed against the warehouse ceiling, was a massive cocoon. From it, countless black hairs radiated outward in all directions.
Around the large cocoon were several smaller ones, all tightly fixed to the warehouse ceiling. A withered arm protruded from one of them.
Judging by the armband, it was the first missing security guard.
As for the even smaller ones, they were likely the previously missing cats and dogs.
The warehouse dome was high, and the long chandeliers cast dim light, which was why no one had noticed the terrifying scene hidden in the pitch-black ceiling.
Gradually, the largest cocoon in the center began to wriggle slowly. Then, a head emerged from it, and as it opened its mouth, a dense mass of hair surged toward the man.
"What... what is this?" Chu Jiu stared at the head emerging from the cocoon, her face turning deathly pale.
"It's Yu Lan!"
(End of the Chapter)
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