Translator: CinderTL
After her death, Yu Lan became a new urban legend.
A unique kind of fear spread through everyone's hearts. Soon, they discovered the urban legends of the others: Lu Huaxu, Liu Guo, and Chen Yi.
The appearance of three familiar faces in these legends was a shock that words could not describe.
In this scenario, being killed by a Ghost wasn't the most terrifying part. The most horrifying thing was that the deceased would turn into new urban legends.
It was like a virus.
They would be forever trapped, transformed into mindless Ghosts that only knew how to kill.
"Why isn't there an urban legend about Wei Jinting?" Wan Yuanning flipped through the legends in her hands but indeed found none belonging to him.
Hua Luo frowned. Except for Wei Jinting, the urban legends of all those who had died or gone missing were here. "Could it be that he's not dead?"
Even as he said it, he didn't believe it himself.
Upon seeing Chen Yi's urban legend, Chu Jiu's eyes immediately reddened. The last glimmer of hope in her heart shattered—Sister Chen Yi was truly dead, transformed into a new urban legend.
Suppressing her grief, she looked up, "I have another urban legend here; it should be Wei Jinting's." She quickly added, "It's in the paper bag that woman brought earlier."
Taking the urban legend, Hua Luo immediately opened it.
The first impression this legend gave was extremely oppressive, with rough brushstrokes. The background seemed to be in a narrow space.
The composition was also peculiar, with no extra objects around. At the lower part of the drawing, there were lines that resembled borders.
"It's a staircase," Qiao Yu's brother suddenly spoke, frowning.
This immediately reminded everyone of the Ghost that had made the video call earlier; that Ghost had been in a staircase.
Quickly flipping through, Qiao Yu's brother's guess was confirmed. It was indeed a staircase, and in the following drawings, the staircase was filled with smoke, as if a fire had broken out.
Suddenly, on the right side, a few panicked people appeared behind a safety door. For some reason, the safety door could only open a gap the size of two fists, trapping several people inside.
Seeing someone approach, these people desperately banged on the door, their mouths wide open, undoubtedly shouting for help.
The next drawing shifted the perspective to outside the safety door. The person who arrived didn't just stand by; after a long time, they finally managed to open the safety door.
The people inside rushed out in a panic, scrambling to escape downward, but the rescuer seemed to have exhausted their strength, slowing down more and more.
Those running behind began to grow impatient, and finally, someone pushed the rescuer hard, causing them to fall forward and tumble down many steps.
With the obstacle gone, the people behind began to flee madly. The rescuer kept calling for help, but as the others ran past, they didn't even glance at him.
With all his strength, he reached out, hoping to grab the hem of the last person's pants, but the last person stepped hard on his hand.
In the final perspective of the drawing, the rescuer was alone, engulfed in the thick smoke.
And then, everyone could see the despair in his eyes and his face.
It wasn't Wei Jinting, as they had originally thought, but a woman.
It was Li Zumei, who had just greeted them!
Hua Luo's hand holding the manuscript trembled.
Realizing what had happened, Wan Yuanning immediately headed out. Although she knew it was too late, they were still lives that couldn't just be abandoned.
Just as she was about to pull open the door, it was pushed open from the outside, and a security guard stood at the entrance.
"Who are you?" The guard was clearly startled. "Who allowed you to come in?"
Hua Luo stepped forward, showing his police badge, and while the guard's eyes scanned him, he explained that he was on a special mission.
Wan Yuanning also adopted a very professional demeanor, coldly looking at the guard and saying, "You must know why we're here, right?"
Hearing this, the guard's eyes paused for a moment, and then he put on an expression that said he understood everything and wouldn't cause any trouble for the police.
It seemed the guard was aware of the strange occurrences here.
Noticing that Wan Yuanning was about to leave immediately, Chu Jiu stepped forward and tugged at her sleeve. "Sister," Chu Jiu said, "let's ask clearly before we go together."
Looking around and seeing no one, Hua Luo pulled the guard inside and asked him about Li Zumei.
Sure enough, the guard confirmed that Li Zumei had died, and this office was hers.
After her death, the room had been locked and no one had come since.
He had only pushed the door open because he saw the lock was undone.
"How did she die?" Qiao Yu's brother hurriedly asked.
Hearing this, a barely noticeable emotion flickered in Wan Yuanning's eyes. She glanced at Qiao Yu's brother and then looked away.
This guard must have been dumbed down. As police officers who could come here to investigate, how could they not know how the deceased had died?
But what made Hua Luo both helpless and relieved was that the guard didn't catch the flaw and instead became very enthusiastic.
"She was burned to death," the guard replied. "When they were carrying the body out, I saw it. Under the white cloth, the arms were sticking out like charcoal. It was terrifying."
"Burned to death?" Hua Luo frowned, remembering that in the painting, there were no flammable materials in the stairwell. He had thought Li Zumei had died of suffocation.
Seeing that no one was around, the guard lowered his voice and said, "It's similar to what you're investigating. There's something strange about this. The body was badly burned, but the clothes on the body were completely untouched. It was as if the fire only burned her."
"No, it was like the fire started from her body. Later, they said they investigated the source of the fire, but nothing came of it."
After saying this, the guard nervously added, "I only dare to say this because you're here. If the boss found out, I'd definitely be fired."
"Did anything strange happen in the company afterward?" Wan Yuanning pressed.
"Yes, yes," the guard nodded repeatedly. "Sometimes the fire sprinklers in the stairwell would suddenly turn on for no reason. They fixed it several times, but it didn't work."
"Some employees also reported smelling a strong burnt odor in the stairwell."
Hua Luo looked at the guard, whose expression had changed slightly, and questioned, "Since you know all this, why haven't you considered changing jobs?"
Wan Yuanning and Chu Jiu also looked at the guard differently. Who knew if this guard would be the next urban legend?
"But after the company sealed off the left stairwell, these incidents stopped. Since then, nothing else has happened in the company."
"Is it sealed?" Hua Luo pointed in a direction, seemingly making a final confirmation, "The stairwell over there?"
"Yes," the security guard nodded.
"That can't be," Qiao Yu's brother said with confusion, "We came up from that stairwell when we arrived. It was passable."
(End of the Chapter)
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