Chapter 71
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Maintaining an especially pleased mood because he could annoy Fu Xuezhou, at exactly nine o’clock in the evening, Lou Yan arrived downstairs at the company.
The company was completely empty, and the tall building was pitch-black, without a trace of light.
Lou Yan entered the company through the back door, turned on the flashlight in his hand, and the strong light dispersed the darkness, with the coolness of the company rushing towards him.
There was nothing in the corridor, Lou Yan went upstairs through the emergency exit, without stopping on other floors, and went straight to the clothing department.
Throughout the company, only Lou Yan’s footsteps and echoes could be heard. The vast space was empty and eerie in the dead of night. Lou Yan remained calm and quickly reached his destination.
After work, the employees of the clothing department placed the plastic mannequins in the studio outside the door. When the flashlight shone, Lou Yan saw the densely packed plastic mannequins crowded together.
In the darkness, the pale plastic mannequins twisted, without facial features, and their limbs had a heavy plastic texture. The reflection of the flashlight on their skin made them look particularly eerie.
Lou Yan’s sense of danger did not warn him of any danger nearby, indicating that there were no lurking abnormalities among these plastic mannequins.
Lou Yan frowned, pondered for a moment, and simply imitated the way Song Yuran encountered the anomaly last night and entered the bathroom, standing in front of the sink, washing his hands with his head lowered.
He put the flashlight aside, and the light shone in the mirror, illuminating the surroundings brightly through the mirror. The sound of running water was extremely loud in the quiet night. Lou Yan seemed to casually look through the mirror towards the bathroom door frame but didn’t see any plastic mannequins appear.
Just as he was puzzled, there was a sudden sound from the women’s restroom.
Lou Yan immediately picked up the flashlight and walked over, sweeping through each cubicle in the restroom, and soon saw a black shadow cast under one of the cubicle’s bottoms. Judging from the shadow, it clearly looked like two legs.
“Who?”
Lou Yan’s hand reached for the spinal whip at his nape, questioning coldly.
“It’s me…”
The door creaked open, and Song Yuran, holding a phone with a camera hanging around her neck, awkwardly smiled as she walked out of the cubicle, feeling at a loss under the flashlight’s beam. “Um, Chief Lou, good evening, haha…”
Lou Yan immediately frowned, not expecting, “What are you doing here?”
He specifically instructed Assistant Qin to watch over Song Yuran, and Assistant Qin had clearly told him that Song Yuran had left the company long ago and hadn’t returned.
For even such a small matter to be mishandled, Qin Feng won’t be getting his bonus.
“I, I just…” Song Yuran looked down at the camera hanging around her neck, unable to come up with a reason.
Lou Yan sneered coldly, his momentum fierce, “Didn’t I tell you not to worry about this matter anymore? Isn’t there a company rule that prohibits employees from staying in the company after six o’clock? It seems that my words are useless in Miss Song’s mind. Since that’s the case, Miss Song doesn’t need to come to my company to work tomorrow.”
“Chief Lou?!”
Song Yuran gasped coldly, looking up suddenly, eager to speak up for herself. However, as soon as she met Lou Yan’s gaze, she was silenced by the severity in his eyes, stuttering for a moment, her whole person wilted, lowering her head and speaking in a despondent tone, “I’m sorry, Chief Lou. I just wanted to know what that moving plastic mannequin was…”
Lou Yan remained unmoved, “Answer my question. Why are you here?”
Song Yuran despondently replied, “After I left your office today, Assistant Qin came to watch over me. I pretended to be persuaded by Assistant Qin’s words, made an excuse to go to the hospital to check my brain half an hour earlier, and left work. After work, I rushed home to get my equipment, and sneaked back into the company while people were leaving. I knew that people weren’t allowed to stay in the company, so I hid in the women’s restroom until now.”
Hiding in the restroom alone, until now?
… This girl is bold enough.
Lou Yan felt a headache coming on. He didn’t expect Song Yuran to be so stubborn, but at this point, he didn’t want to dwell on Song Yuran sneaking into the company. Lou Yan simply said, “Follow me,” and walked out of the women’s restroom.
Song Yuran hurriedly followed, understanding that Chief Lou meant for her to join him in his actions. She held her phone, feeling much relieved from the nervousness and fear she had felt when hiding alone just now, couldn’t help but ask eagerly, “Chief Lou, when I heard the sound of water just now, I thought it was the plastic mannequin turning on the tap. I didn’t expect it to be you. Did you come alone? Does Chief Lou also believe what I said, so you specifically came to check on the plastic mannequins at night? Why didn’t Chief Lou bring more bodyguards? Oh, Chief Lou, can I livestream later? If I don’t livestream, I’m afraid no one will believe it! “
Song Yuran’s mouth was as talkative as Lu Haoyou’s. Lou Yan pressed his temple, “Shut up.”
Sensing the unfriendliness in his tone, Song Yuran immediately closed her mouth. However, when they walked out of the restroom and saw the group of mannequins gathered together, Song Yuran swallowed nervously, her face showing a fearful expression, and couldn’t help breaking the anomaly silence, “Chief Lou, did you just see the moving mannequin?”
“No.”
Lou Yan walked up directly and began counting the number of mannequins one by one.
During the day, he had asked the clothing department, and there were a total of thirty-seven mannequins in the entire department. After counting them, Lou Yan found that the number of mannequins was exactly thirty-seven.
Not one more, not one less.
He didn’t find any traces of abnormal existence among these thirty-seven mannequins, and he was sure that these mannequins hadn’t changed their poses since he arrived here.
Could it be that Song Yuran really had a hallucination?
Lou Yan looked at Song Yuran, “There’s nothing wrong with these mannequins.”
Song Yuran was shocked, “How is that possible?!”
She hurriedly ran forward and checked the mannequins one by one like Lou Yan did, but she didn’t find anything wrong either. Song Yuran couldn’t believe it, repeatedly saying “impossible.” She even repeated the actions of last night, washing her hands several times, but she didn’t see the mannequin that had approached her last night.
After a round of searching, Song Yuran couldn’t help but feel a hint of doubt about herself.
Could it be that she really saw it wrong?
Lou Yan didn’t end tonight’s inspection here. He took Song Yuran and walked through every floor of the company, but Lou Yan’s sense of danger didn’t trigger even once.
By now, it was already past ten o’clock when Song Yuran left work last night. Lou Yan was already sure that there was nothing unusual in his company.
Lou Yan left the company with Song Yuran. After locking the back door, Song Yuran bowed apologetically to Lou Yan, “I’m sorry, Chief Lou, I was being willful. I think Assistant Qin may have been right. There are no supernatural events in this world. What I saw last night should have been my mistake.”
Her face was pale, her voice weak, unable to say whether it was disappointment or relief, “I’m sorry, Chief Lou, I’ve caused you trouble, and I’ve caused trouble for the company.”
Lou Yan accepted her apology with a glance, saying lightly, “Exploring the unknown is not wrong, nor is wanting to prove oneself. But breaking company rules is wrong, and risking oneself is also wrong. If you really encountered that moving mannequin tonight, do you think you would be lucky enough to escape again?”
Song Yuran tried to imagine herself facing the mannequin alone, shivering, sweat dripping down her face. She shook her head vigorously, scared, “Chief Lou, I won’t be so reckless in the future.”
After saying that, she couldn’t help but feel moved by Lou Yan’s kind advice, her eyes watery as she looked at Lou Yan, “Chief Lou, thank you for caring about my safety…”
Lou Yan rolled his eyes, coldly mocking, “If you die in my company, who will compensate for the losses?”
Song Yuran quickly retracted her tears, awkwardly smiling. Inside, she couldn’t help but scream silently: Capitalists! Such typical capitalist thinking!
Knowing that Song Yuran hadn’t driven herself, Lou Yan decided to give her a ride home.
As the car was about to leave the company, Lou Yan suddenly felt a faint sense of scrutiny from behind. He turned sharply, but the tall and majestic building was dark, engulfed in the night, with only rows of glass reflecting dim moonlight.
“Chief Lou, what’s wrong?” Song Yuran, sitting in the passenger seat, asked.
Lou Yan frowned slightly, shook his head, and stepped on the gas, driving away.
The night passed quickly.
Early the next morning, Lou Yan was awakened by his phone ringing.
Annoyed, he opened his eyes and checked his phone. The words “Wen Yian” were flashing frantically.
He answered the call, and Wen Yian’s voice came through, trembling with disbelief, “Lou Yan, Dong Shu is dead!”
Lou Yan raised an eyebrow, all remnants of sleepiness gone with this good news. He sat up, leaning on his elevated pillow, a lazy smile playing on his lips as he replied, “Congratulations, another leader of your cultists is dead.”
Wen Yian covered her mouth, her face pale. Her fear and apprehension towards Lou Yan deepened. “How did you do it?” she asked, her voice shaking.
In just three days, how did Lou Yan silently kill a strong leader among the cultists?
Dong Shu was not inferior to Wen Yian in strength, and his death was exceptionally strange. He died suddenly, right in front of everyone.
But Wen Yian knew Dong Shu was healthy, with no illnesses. His sudden death made no sense.
Dong Shu’s example taught Wen Yian a lesson, making her realize the true extent of Lou Yan’s terror. All her hidden thoughts were suppressed by Dong Shu’s corpse. When a person’s power reaches a certain level, all calculations and resistance become futile.
That’s why Lou Yan deliberately used the Seize Life Phone in front of Wen Yian to call Dong Shu.
Lou Yan had anticipated Dong Shu’s death. The only person in the world who could escape the Seize Life Phone’s pursuit was Fu Xuezhou. Who was this Dong Shu he hadn’t even seen or heard of?
Lou Yan’s smile deepened. He said slowly, “Some questions are better left unasked. This is not something you need to know, Wen Yian.”
Wen Yian was a smart woman. She sensed his warning and threat from just one sentence. She fell silent for a few seconds before solemnly saying, “Lou Yan, I never wanted to be your opponent from the beginning. I deeply regret what happened to Mr. Li. If there’s anything I can do to compensate, I will do my best. Please don’t use such methods on me and my brother.”
“You’re already one of us. Why would I let you die?” Lou Yan chuckled, his voice still husky from just waking up. He ran his hand through his tousled hair. “As for your brother… Wen Yian, I met him yesterday. His attitude towards me was very unpleasant.”
Wen Yian gripped the phone tightly. She decided quickly, “I understand. Rest assured, I will not let him appear in front of you again.”
After glimpsing a fraction of Lou Yan’s power, she understood that if her reckless brother targeted Lou Yan, it wouldn’t be Lou Yan who suffered, but her own brother.
“Very well. In consideration of you, I won’t hold last night against him,” Lou Yan said with a smile. “Oh, by the way, is there any news about the Chengjiang City Library among the cultists?”
“Did you also receive the invitation from the amusement park? Do you intend to accept it?” Wen Yian asked complicatedly. “Yes, there is. The cultists receive anomaly favor, so there are some internal news that outsiders don’t know. Lord Shadow Reaper has hinted to us about the content of the entertainment venue, but only in four simple words. Lord Shadow told us that this is a—”
“A Great Escape Murder game.”
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