Chapter 58 Ominous Steps 05
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Around midnight, Chen Yang and the owner headed towards the elevator. The area outside the elevator was cordoned off with caution signs, prohibiting its use. Chen Yang removed the caution tape and entered. The owner hesitated for a moment before following.
Chen Yang pressed the ’11’ button. The elevator slightly moved before ascending. As the numbers slowly lit up, for some unknown reason, the owner felt nervous. He approached Chen Yang to ask, “M-Master, will the vengeful spirit hiding in the elevator really appear tonight?”
“Probably.”
Owner: “Ah? You’re not sure?”
“It might appear, or it might change its mind and not come out.”
At that moment, a ‘ding’ sound rang out, and the elevator doors opened. It stopped on the fourth floor, facing an empty corridor. The owner, swallowing nervously, inquired, “You didn’t press for the fourth floor, did you?”
“No.” Chen Yang calmly stared at the empty corridor, with the harsh white light making the atmosphere eerily quiet. A deathly silence spread quietly, causing an inexplicable unease.
The owner’s throat seemed to be gripped by something, wanting to scream but unable to. Like a duck choked at its neck, he asked, “Who pressed the fourth floor? I-is th-that vengeful spirit here now? It pressed it, it died on the fourth floor before—”
Chen Yang threatened him, “Bringing up the cause of death in front of a vengeful spirit, aren’t you afraid it might anger and target you as a substitute?” The owner, indeed frightened, tightly sealed his lips, afraid to speak further. Seeing him silent, Chen Yang pressed the elevator door close button, and the doors slowly shut.
Suddenly, a rhythmic and loud ‘deng, deng, deng…’ echoed in the corridor. Chen Yang swiftly extended his hand to stop the elevator doors. Upon contact with an object, the doors opened again. As Chen Yang stepped out, the owner, legs trembling from fear, grabbed Chen Yang and stammered, “M-Master Chen, I… I can’t walk.”
Chen Yang handed him a Five Thunders talisman. “When you encounter a malevolent ghost, stick the talisman on it, shout for help loudly, and run while shouting.” After the instructions, he quickly ran out of the elevator towards the source of the rhythmic sound.
Meanwhile, the owner, supporting his weak legs, attempted to exit the elevator. However, when he looked up, he discovered the elevator doors closing. The elevator buttons flickered frantically, jumping from the first floor to the top floor, alternating between the ’11’ and ‘4’ buttons.
Terrified, the owner pounded on the elevator doors, shouting, “Help! Master, save me! I’m f*cking cursed!!” The elevator trembled, then rapidly ascended, causing the owner to lose balance and fall to the ground.
As the elevator reached the eleventh floor, it suddenly halted. Recalling the video he had seen earlier of the office lady who became a substitute, the owner hastily pressed the close door button. Any floor button would do. After the doors closed, the elevator descended slowly, and the owner sighed in relief, slumping into a corner.
When he caught his breath, he noticed the elevator had come to a stop. Glancing at the buttons, it indicated the fourth floor. He breathed a sigh of relief, thinking Chen Yang was on the fourth floor, and he would be safe once he found him. Unfortunately, before he could open the doors, a loud ‘bang’ echoed from above, causing the entire elevator cabin to sway and descend for a moment.
The owner struggled to swallow saliva, his face contorted in mourning. “Th-this can’t be that evil thing, right?” After the elevator cabin’s lights flickered twice, they extinguished. In the darkness, the owner heard the sound of dripping water, a sound he recognized. Sometimes, when the elevator’s air conditioning was faulty, water would drip. Yet, he knew the elevator’s air conditioning was fine. It hadn’t malfunctioned.
So there was another possibility. A droplet landed on the owner’s nose, smeared a bit on the tip, carrying a strong scent of blood. Thick and putrid, it dripped downward. The continuous sound of ‘drip, drip’ persisted and gradually approached him.
The owner took out his phone, secretly aimed the camera upward — pitch black, nothing visible. Hesitating for a moment, he turned on the flashlight, courageously raising his head. The elevator cabin ceiling was empty, devoid of anything. Not seeing the horrifying vengeful spirit, the owner breathed a sigh of relief. However, the dripping water sound continued, and he couldn’t quite discern its direction.
The phone’s flashlight, in the owner’s hand, circled around the elevator, still revealing nothing. When the owner looked up, he failed to notice a blurry shadow on the interior wall of the elevator, hanging upside-down behind him. Blood-red eyes and contorted limbs, with a pungent odor of blood dripping from her body. As the owner circled, that thing followed him, gradually closing in.
Suddenly, the owner felt a viscous droplet hitting the back of his neck, slowly sliding down. His expression gradually stiffened, his facial muscles trembling uncontrollably. Mechanically turning his head, he met the gaze of a head covered in brain matter and blood. His eyes, slowly moving upward, met the sight of a contorted body of a woman hanging upside down on the elevator cabin ceiling, one foot clad in a high heel, the other folded behind in a eerie angle.
The owner, unsure where the courage came from, pushed the vengeful spirit away, screaming as he leaned against the elevator door. With weak legs, he pressed the open button while shouting for help. However, as his palm hit the elevator door, he felt something burst in his hand — it turned out to be the vengeful spirit’s eyeball, already flattened.
The vengeful spirit fell to the ground, making a ‘peng’ sound. With one leg folded behind and the other in a high heel, it emitted a deep ‘deng’ without taking a step. The vengeful spirit pulled out its intestines, looping them around the owner’s neck, then pressed the ’11’ button. At this moment, the elevator doors opened, still on the fourth floor.
But the vengeful spirit pressed the close button. Seeing the elevator doors about to close, the owner frantically pulled out the Five Thunders talisman given by Chen Yang and slapped it onto the vengeful spirit’s forehead. The vengeful spirit, upon contact with the Yang energy of the Five Thunders talisman, screamed abruptly, quickly retreating. The owner quickly tore off the intestines from his neck, pried open the elevator doors, and swiftly ran out.
Outside, he found the corridor empty, with harsh white lighting and the lingering sound of ‘dong, dong, dong.’ The owner was at a loss. “Isn’t this too cursed? I’m out of the elevator, Master Chen? Master Chen!”
The sound of ‘dong, dong, dong’ grew closer, and the owner, helpless, had no choice but to turn to the stairs, pushing open the heavy safety door and climbing upstairs. When he reached the sixth floor, the ‘dong, dong, dong’ sound became increasingly imminent, more urgent, and clearer.
The owner, overwhelmed with fear, realized the sound was coming from the stairs. Could it be that the vengeful spirit from the elevator had followed him up the stairs?!
He pushed open the safety door, entering the sixth floor. The apartments on the sixth floor were all converted into a gym and entertainment area. At this moment, all lights inside were off, pitch black, with only faint glimpses of equipment behind the glass. Luckily, the owner, succumbing to the temptation of a beautiful woman before, had purchased a gym membership and happened to have it with him today.
The owner used the gym membership card to swipe open the gym door and hid inside. Remembering that the vengeful spirit in the elevator liked to hang upside-down and follow people from behind, he found a locker to hide in. The locker was narrow, almost only suitable for lying down. He lay inside andclosed the cabinet door. Luckily, there were grid-like openings on the door, allowing him to see the surroundings within a meter.
The gym was eerily quiet. Suddenly, the glass door made a loud ‘bang,’ exceptionally loud in the silent environment. The loud noise hit the owner’s anxious heart, making it beat faster and more restlessly.
‘Dong!’
The vengeful spirit from the elevator entered, making ‘dong, thud’ sounds with each step. From a distance, it stopped next to the locker where the owner was hiding, remaining motionless for a long time. The owner, nervous to the point of holding his breath, only heard the gradually receding ‘dong, dong’ after the vengeful spirit finally moved away. He breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly, a ‘dong’ sounded by his ear, and he met the gaze of a woman’s severed head.
The woman’s head slammed, causing brain matter to splatter, with blood and brain tissue covering her face. One eyeball bulged out violently, while the other hung on her face. Her face was so disfigured from the fall that it no longer resembled a human. The vengeful spirit was very close, almost face to face, if not for the locker providing an extra barrier.
It was a critical hit. The owner suddenly recalled that the ‘dong, dong’ sound had stopped next to him for quite some time. Considering the design angle of the locker he hid in, he couldn’t see the surroundings, but the person hiding beside him could observe his every move.
Just the thought that, while he believed he was hiding stealthily, the vengeful spirit was silently staring at him nearby, filled the owner with extreme fear. His eyes rolled back, and he fainted directly.
When he woke up again, the owner found Chen Yang standing beside him, seemingly having a conversation with a dice. The weak owner clutched at Chen Yang’s trousers, begging, “Master, please, talisman.”
Chen Yang lowered his head, patted his shoulder, and handed him a cup of water. “They won’t harm you, no need to worry. At most, they’ll just frighten you a bit.”
The owner took the cup, drank it all, and gasped for air. “Not harm me? I was scared to death!”
“I thought you were quite brave, didn’t expect you to be scared.” Chen Yang chuckled.
Seeing Chen Yang there, the owner felt considerably relieved and became less frightened. Gradually regaining strength and intelligence, he asked with confusion, “You just mentioned ‘they’?”
“Yes.” Chen Yang nodded, staring at the owner for a moment. “Didn’t you notice the two vengeful spirits chasing you had different appearances?”
The owner’s face turned green. The vengeful spirits chasing him were terrifying enough. There was no time to distinguish between their appearances. He asked, “Aren’t they all the same? Covered in the stench of blood and brain matter, dead from falling from a height. There’s no difference, right?” He couldn’t discern any distinctions.
Chen Yang tossed the dice in his hand and said, “There are two vengeful spirits. One is the elevator vengeful spirit, and the other is the one who was pushed off a tall building and died from the fall. The latter is the vengeful spirit that chased you to the sixth floor, making the ‘dong, dong, domg’ sound because she died headfirst, so she walks with her head on the ground, creating the ‘dong, dong, dong’ sound.”
Upon hearing this, the owner felt like his whole being was falling apart. He never expected that by hiding under the locker, he would come into direct contact with the vengeful spirit’s head instead of just seeing its feet. He asked, “What’s really going on? The office lady didn’t mention two vengeful spirits.”
“Of course, she wouldn’t dare to say.” Chen Yang paused his dice-throwing motion. “The elevator vengeful spirit doesn’t harm people. The apartment building where the elevator companion corpse appeared earlier was scheduled for demolition and reconstruction. She went to oversee the demolition, but unfortunately, she got possessed by the elevator companion corpse and became the substitute. Ghosts who die as substitutes for others will reenact the scene just before their death every night. Coincidentally, nearing the Ghost Festival and the day of amnesty, the Yin energy is dense. On the day of amnesty of local officials, any place where a homicide occurred will experience paranormal activities, like the vengeful spirit who followed the mother and daughter on the eleventh floor. If it were a normal day, it wouldn’t have been able to follow the young mother into the apartment.
“The elevator vengeful spirit is actually an earthbound spirit, uncontrollably repeating the scene before death. It may scare people, but it doesn’t harm or seek substitutes. Later, I’ll have to send her for salvation. As for the vengeful spirit that fell from the building, she came seeking revenge following the office lady. She got permission from Fengdu and returned for revenge on the seventh night. The office lady conspired with her lover to kill the vengeful spirit who fell from the building. That vengeful spirit was the wife of the office lady’s lover.” Chen Yang paused and questioned the owner, “You really couldn’t hear the difference? The elevator vengeful spirit wears high heels, bends one foot backward, and makes a ‘deng, deng, deng’ sound when moving, while the one who fell headfirst makes a ‘dong, dong, dong’ sound.”
The owner shook his head. “No.”
“Okay. Earthbound spirits can’t leave the place where they died, so as long as you ran out of the elevator, you’re safe. However, the vengeful spirit that fell from the building seeks revenge on that couple, but it’s not in the hospital, so it searches for vital energy. Since you were running up and down the stairs, it came after you. Seeing that you weren’t the enemy who caused its death, it didn’t harm you.”
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