Chapter 201: Haunted House Extra (II)

Chapter List

Original Translations: Crafted with Care, No Unauthorized Reposting Allowed.

Xiao Lan walks into the rain with her umbrella.

The best thing about this flat is that it is very close to my office.

Although it was raining, it took only ten minutes to get to the office.

Xiao Lan struggled to get into the lift during the morning rush hour and entered his company.

He first handed over the information he had brought to the receptionist, who then led him to the HR office for an induction.

Finally, he was taken by his leader to familiarise himself with the working environment and to have a superficially friendly exchange of smiles with his future colleagues.

By going through this process, he will have evolved from a free student to a reserve social animal.

If he is converted, he will be a complete social animal.

Afterwards, Xiao Lan was moved to the office near the pantry.

This is the worst place to fish, so the old staff don't want to sit here, so it's a good place for newcomers who don't know their way around.

There is no door to the pantry, so there is no soundproofing, and from time to time people from all departments come here to have a chat.

Since they are here to fish, they don't just drink water, so chatting becomes a regular part of their leisure time.

Sometimes it's just a couple of people gossiping, and sometimes more than one person joins in when the conversation gets exciting.

Xiao Lan sat here and was forced to receive a lot of gossip from the company.

What with the boss changing wives again, shareholders running off to some clubhouse for the indescribable, and the manager and HR director fighting until their trousers split ...... Xiao Lan was so stressed out that she felt like she was going to be silenced in a minute.

So the seniors who look so serious are so gossipy in private?

The rookie in the workplace feels that he still knows too little about the world.

At that moment, a Brother Xiao with glasses chatted with the pretty Sister Xiao at the front desk.

"You know, a new female intern jumped off a building last week."

"Huh? ...... No, I haven't heard anything about it at all."

"It is said that she was working late into the night alone in the office, and as a result, somehow, she was found jumping off the building the next day, wearing a pair of red high heels on her feet at the time of her death."

"Welp, you don't have to say it ...... sounds weirdly scary."

"I heard her death had something to do with someone high up in the company, only the news was hushed up."

"So how do you know?"

"One of my brother's girlfriend's Sister Xiao's cousin is from the Secretariat, she told us not to tell anyone, and I'm only telling you, so don't tell anyone else."

Xiao Lan, who was forced to listen to the whole thing: "......"

It probably won't be long before the whole company knows about this, will it?

People come and go in the pantry, the sound of various leather shoes interspersed with the sound of high heels.

Xiao Lan is forced to gossip as she attends to the task at hand.

On his first day at work, Xiao Lan was completely unfamiliar with the task at hand and stumbled over it, failing to solve it by the end of the day.

In order to finish his work, he had to eat an overtime meal and join the army of overtime dogs.

He looked out of the window at the glittering city, which was so big, but unfortunately he was just an outsider who didn't fit in.

As the years passed, he had fewer and fewer comrades left.

At last, Xiao Lan had managed to finish the task at hand.

When he came back from his work, the time had already reached eleven fifty-four minutes.

Looking around, he was the only one left in the large office.

The original lively environment suddenly drew away from the people in it, and suddenly there was a bit of a chill.

Every shadowy corner looked like it was hiding some kind of prying eye.

It was getting late, so Xiao Lan packed up his things and left the office, turning off the lights in the process.

I don't know if it was bad luck, but there was a maintenance sign in front of the lift, so obviously he couldn't take it downstairs.

Xiao Lan had to turn to the stairs.

He was still a little unfamiliar with the interior of the company and it took him a while to find out where the stairs were.

Luckily, the stairs were not blocked up.

However, the office is located on the 14th floor of the building and it is a long walk down.

Xiao Lan moves monotonously in the lift, 14, 13, 12, 11 ......

"Ta-"

"Ta-"

"Ta-da-"

As he walked, he suddenly heard the sound of high heels, which sounded unhurried above Xiao Lan.

Could it be that there were people from other companies working overtime? Even if it was a different company, the work was still not easy.

Xiao Lan did not care and continued to walk forward.

The sound of high heels was getting closer and closer to him, almost on the upper floor.

Xiao Lan stops and looks upwards to see who it is.

Behind him on the stairs he saw no one, but noticed that the sound of high heels had stopped.

The person walking on the stairs in high heels seemed to be in sync with him, standing still at the same moment.

Xiao Lan couldn't help but frown, but he felt that he was being paranoid. Maybe she wasn't trying to go down the stairs, but was going to a certain floor.

Xiao Lan turned his head and continued walking.

He had not taken more than a few steps when the sound of his heels sounded once more, as if it had been waiting for Xiao Lan to make a move.

He turned back again, but the stairs were still empty.

Xiao Lan felt furtive inside and couldn't help but quicken his pace, but as he did so, the sound of high heels grew faster.

And ...... was getting a little closer.

Xiao Lan realised that something was wrong.

Whether the one behind him was an unscientific being, or a pervert.

It was his first day on the job, he hadn't even been paid yet, and he didn't want to die in the line of duty like that.

Xiao Lan tried to stop once more, and sure enough the sound of high heels stopped too.

But this time, he didn't look back, he just took off and sprinted down the road as fast as he could.

After a few seconds, the sound of the heels sounded once more, this time with unmistakable urgency, as if they were running furiously behind him.

However, Xiao Lan has been nourished by his mother's loving meals and his father's Spartan upbringing since he was a child.

From his childhood up to the sports day, whenever he was in the field, the first place could not be taken by anyone else.

Throughout his school career, he was a nightmare for his opponents in all sports.

So, he runs super fast.

Xiao Lan's silhouette rushes out of the building in a flash and heads for the flat without looking back.

The sound of high heels continues behind her, but the streetlight reveals only the shadow of Xiao Lan running wildly.

The street closest to the flat was empty.

Whereas Xiao Lan thought it was quiet, now it feels like it should be called dead silence, and it's still quite creepy to walk past at night.

In order to get home quickly, he had to cross here too.

There were closed shops on both sides and no light except for the one remaining street lamp at the end of the street.

Xiao Lan listened to the sound of his footsteps echoing down the street, each one hitting him with a heavy thud.

Finally, we arrived back at the flat.

As it was late at night, most of the people had long since gone home and there was not a single occupant in sight.

There was silence all around.

Xiao Lan rushed straight over and pressed the lift.

Soon, the doors opened.

But the lights inside kept flickering and making a disturbing "zipping" sound.

Xiao Lan hesitated for a moment.

The lift was an enclosed space, and a dangerous place in horror movies, not unlike a toilet, and it looked so spooky.

"Ta-"

The sound of high heels had come a short distance behind him.

Xiao Lan looked back hastily and saw a small red horn peeking out of the corner, like the toe of a ...... pointed heel.

The entrance to the flat stairs was on the other side, and if you wanted to go there, you had to go right around the corner.

But going there at this point would be like giving away food.

The situation was like having a wolf in front of you and a tiger behind you, and neither side looked like a normal path.

Xiao Lan thought for half a second and then chose to step into the lift with a grit of his teeth.

The lift may look spooky, but chances are it's just faulty.

After all, both Zhang and Wang Taidi had talked about the ageing of the flat, and they had seen it once themselves.

But that high heel at the back had followed him all the way, so he was obviously coming from a bad place.

The doors of the lift close before the red heels fully appear.

Xiao Lan breathes a small sigh of relief and presses the seventh floor with her hand.

There was an unsettling sound of electricity in the enclosed space and the lights flashed painfully, but thankfully nothing strange happened.

The old lift rose dutifully.

"Ding--"

The lift made the sound of arrival.

Xiao Lan was about to go out when he looked up and saw that the floor was on the fourth floor.

He had pressed the seventh floor, and Xiao Lan clearly remembered that this was the only button that was lit in the lift.

So, someone was pressing the lift outside?

But as the lift doors opened, there was only an empty corridor outside, with no one in sight.

The lift remained open for a while, as it was programmed to do.

It was then that Xiao Lan heard the sound of high heels once again, and it was getting closer.

Feeling bad, Xiao Lan hurriedly pressed the door close button.

The old lift door jammed for a moment, causing Xiao Lan's heart rate to rise.

But luckily, the lift was only stuck for a moment, and the doors were still slowly closing.

The door is not quite closed.

Suddenly, a pale hand reached for the lift door from the side.

The hand was painted with bright red nail polish and the nails were so long that one got the impression that the owner of the hand probably couldn't type properly.

Not only that, but the hand was stained with sticky blood, and one of the fingers appeared to be broken and bent in a grotesque manner.

Xiao Lan couldn't help but hold her breath.

Shit yeah, this hand is simply standard to the point of being a ghost hand!

He had lived for more than 20 years, and today he finally saw a ghost, which was simply ...... too damn unlucky.

Xiao Lan presses the door button desperately, but the old-fashioned lift doesn't feel the same way and continues to close slowly and unhurriedly.

The ghost hand was getting closer and closer to the lift and was about to touch the door.

Just then, the lift finally closes completely.

With Xiao Lan's heart beating wildly, the lift continues its journey upwards, this time without pausing, reaching the seventh floor in one go.

The lift door opened and Xiao Lan listened carefully.

It was good, it was quiet outside and no more heels could be heard.

Only then does Xiao Lan go out the door.

The light bulbs in the corridor are still the same as yesterday, with several broken ones still to be repaired.

This makes the light in the corridor a little dim.

Xiao Lan's room, 712, is the innermost room and he has to walk all the way to the end.

He was going to go home, have a good shower and then go to bed, so he would wake up tomorrow as a good social animal again.

Xiao Lan was a bit bummed out when he thought that the bed had still not been made up because of the delay in working late and that he would probably have to sleep on the couch tonight.

Suddenly, however, his afterimage caught sight of a flash of red.

Xiao Lan's heart instantly floated to a bad thought.

Could it be ...... no, it could also be the neighbour in the red dress right ......

He tried to glance at the source of the red.

A figure stood on the other side of the corridor.

It was a woman, her full head of black hair cascading, seemingly wet with something, and clinging to her body in locks.

And she was supposed to be wearing professional clothes, but her jacket was missing and the collar of her white shirt was torn and bloodstained.

The black sheath dress was also torn and tattered.

A large amount of blood stained her legs, and on her pale feet she was wearing a pair of high heels.

Pointy toes, thin heels and a bright, eye-catching red.

The woman's limbs were grotesquely twisted, looking as if her bones had been smashed after jumping from a building ......

It was impossible for a normal person to stand up with this level of injury.

The woman's body was so twisted that it looked as if her bones had been smashed after jumping off a building.

No wonder Xiao Lan didn't hear the sound of high heels in the lift just now, it was because she had been standing right here without moving!

When Xiao Lan noticed him, the ghost's head lifted little by little and she gave him a smile.

The ghost's eyes were wide open and her head seemed to have been deformed by the blow, which made the smile look hideous.

She lifted her foot and lunged at Xiao Lan.

Xiao Lan was not one to sit still and wait for death. When he saw the ghost, he ran before she could make a move.

In an instant, his silhouette scurried out a long way.

Xiao Lan runs wildly down the corridor, followed by a ghostly woman in hot pursuit.

The sound of the ghost's high heels echoed through the corridor, sounding unmistakably harsh.

The doors of the surrounding rooms are closed, as if no one has heard the commotion at this point.

To be honest, Xiao Lan didn't know what to do in this situation. The female ghosts had managed to chase him here, could he be safe back home?

But he was all alone in this strange city and had nowhere else to go.

If he couldn't, he would go home and read a bit of Marxism to the female ghost, hoping she would realise that the world was material.

Xiao Lan finally arrived at his door.

He flung himself at the door and in one fluid movement pulled out his key and reached into the lock hole.

And then -

The key is jammed.

A house that has not been lived in for ten years is naturally not a vain name. It is a miracle that the door locks have not been used for so many years and can still be opened, what is wrong with an occasional jam?

Xiao Lan is desperate, having lived for more than twenty years to find out that she is unlucky.

And at a time like this when it was killing him!

Not even giving him a chance to start over!

"Ta-"

"Ta-"

"Ta-da-"

The sound of high heels came to his back.

A stinging coldness arrived in tandem with the smell of blood.

The next moment, the ghost's cold hand was on Xiao Lan's shoulder.

The hand was so small, but it seemed to be as heavy as a thousand pounds, making Xiao Lan unable to move.

The ghost's body was getting closer and closer to him, and Xiao Lan could clearly feel the numbing sensation of her hair brushing against his arm.

A heavy and cold sensation covered his back, carrying the scent of death.

There was no need to think to know what it was.

It's over.

Xiao Lan thought that he was about to end his simple but miserable career as a social animal by collapsing on the way home from overtime on his first day of work.

Haven't been paid yet.

At that moment, the door beneath Xiao Lan's hand suddenly opened of its own accord.

Instantly, the warm glow of the room poured over his body, bringing a surge of warmth.

Xiao Lan felt a lightness in his body, while at the same time there seemed to be a piercing scream from behind him.

He turned his head slowly, but there was nothing behind him.

The corridor was still the same, there was no ghost in red heels, as if the moment of life and death had just been an illusion.

But his heartbeat, which had not yet subsided, was telling him that he had indeed just experienced a life-and-death scenario.

Not knowing if the ghost would come again, Xiao Lan quickly entered the house.

The house was as he had left it that morning, half cleaned up, half dusty, with the thin blanket he had covered last night on the sofa.

Except for the extra lights on .......

Xiao Lan surveyed her home with a sense of wonder.

When had the lights been turned on? He remembered clearly that he had not turned on the lights in the morning.

Moreover, he had been in the habit of turning off the lights since he was a child, and it was almost impossible for him to forget to do so.

And how did the ...... door open again?

The key had obviously stuck, but for a moment there, it was as if someone had pulled the door open from inside.

Xiao Lan was pretty sure that it wasn't the force of his own pushing on the door.

A guess emerged.

Since you've already run into a ghost yourself, ......

Xiao Lan felt his heart beat faster again.

Tentatively, he spoke into the empty room, "That ...... thing just now ...... was that you?"

The lights flickered for a moment, as if in response to him.

Xiao Lan gulped, "Thanks ......"

The light flashed again.

This time it was twice, as if to say "no thanks".

Xiao Lan suddenly realises something -

It seems that it was not today that he had his first encounter with a ghost, but yesterday.

A rookie in the workplace who has accidentally opened the door to a new world feels like the whole world is unreal.

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Published at: 08/17/2022 06:00