Chapter 33

"Brother, what have you been up to these past few days? Have you forgotten about me? You haven't called me at all. I'm so bored, should I come over to your place? Let's go to Da Bao Jian for dinner tonight?"

Inside the mall, Yang Jian received a call from Zhang Wei.

"Better not come to my place. My dad might be there. I ran into him last night, and he almost killed me. Now I'm working outside." Yang Jian said while changing into his security uniform in the locker room.

"Didn't you say your dad passed away before?" Zhang Wei asked, puzzled.

"He did pass away, which is why I found a job that provides food and lodging. I didn't dare stay at home." Yang Jian explained.

"Damn, so your place is haunted." Zhang Wei was startled.

"It is haunted, but that thing isn't as scary as Grandpa Qianwan. I can barely handle it." Yang Jian said. "What's up, need something?"

"Nothing, just been bored at home these past few days, wanted to come over and chat." Zhang Wei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, glad he called first. "By the way, where do you work?"

"A mall." Yang Jian replied.

Zhang Wei said, "Do you need more people? I could come over. I'm on leave anyway, nothing to do."

"Better not. This place might be haunted too. I smelled a corpse as soon as I came in. I heard someone went missing in this mall, and the police set up a cordon, but the case hasn't been solved. They think the missing person has already rotted, but they can't find the body." Yang Jian said.

"..."

"Can't you find a normal job? If you really have nowhere to stay, you can stay at my place. My bed is big and warm, and I can provide food." Zhang Wei said.

Yang Jian said, "Wang Shanshan has been acting strange lately, always saying something is following her. She might be targeted by the ghost baby from school. Her dad called me today, so be careful. If you have time, let the others know in the group chat."

"Brother, stop it. I just bought a new computer, come over and play games with me. Let's just be lazy otakus for life. With anime and games, we don't need to work. I'll support you." Zhang Wei said, almost in tears.

What's wrong with this world? Why are there so many of those things everywhere?

Looks like I have to cling to my good friend tightly.

"That won't work. I have things to do. Take care of yourself." Yang Jian hung up the phone.

He finished changing into his security uniform and walked out of the locker room.

"Why are you so slow?"

Another young man outside said. His name was Liu Qiang, a recent college graduate who had just started working at the mall.

"According to the rules, we need to patrol the entire mall five times a day: once in the morning, once at noon, once in the afternoon, and twice in the evening. It's 4 PM now, let's start early." Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian followed him and asked, "Are we the only two security guards in the entire mall?"

"Yes, just the two of us. There used to be another one, but he went missing. After that, we couldn't find anyone to fill the position, so I took over." Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian said, "Missing? There are so many missing person cases in this mall. Why don't you quit and still work here?"

"I'm from out of town. It's not easy to find a job that provides food and lodging with decent pay. I'll just keep working here for now. You're a high school student, right? Aren't you still in school? The college entrance exam is coming up soon." Liu Qiang asked.

"I'm on leave and probably won't take the exam." Yang Jian said.

Liu Qiang didn't ask further and said, "Usually, I patrol from the fifth floor down. After circling the parking lot, the task is complete. The mall is out of power, so the elevators don't work. We have to walk up."

"Have you ever felt anything strange about this mall?" Yang Jian turned on his flashlight, illuminating the surroundings, and asked.

"Strange?"

Liu Qiang was taken aback, "Nothing strange."

"Have you ever smelled any strange odors in the mall?" Yang Jian asked.

"Sometimes, probably some frozen food in the refrigerators went bad. They'll clean it up before opening." Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian said, "I mean, do you think this mall might be haunted?"

Haunted?

Liu Qiang laughed, "You're a high school student, why do you believe in that? If it were really haunted, I wouldn't have encountered anything in all the days I've patrolled. The boss believes in it, though. He even hired a master, but it didn't work. He thinks the master wasn't powerful enough, so he went to another city to hire a famous one."

"If it's not haunted, how do you explain the missing people? The mall isn't that big, and they can't be found. Where could they go?" Yang Jian asked.

"It's not necessarily that they went missing in the mall. The police found the last footage of the missing people inside the mall, but it could be a kidnapping or robbery. After the mall closed, the missing cases have almost stopped." Liu Qiang said.

"Wait." Suddenly, Yang Jian's face changed, and he stopped.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Yang Jian pointed ahead, "Didn't you say we're the only two patrolling the entire mall? What's that?"

A figure, a motionless figure standing in the darkness, like a wooden statue.

Liu Qiang shone his flashlight and saw it was a mannequin.

"Just a mannequin, making a big deal out of nothing."

He walked over, picked up the mannequin, and placed it in a nearby store.

Inside the dark store, there were about a dozen mannequins, all missing limbs, none of them perfect, and placed in a messy manner, clearly neglected for a long time.

"Nothing to worry about, let's go patrol the next floor." Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian asked, "Why was the mannequin in the middle of the aisle? Didn't you see it before?"

"I didn't see it when I patrolled at noon. I just saw it now. Maybe Li Jie and the others were trying on clothes with the mannequin. It's not the first time." Liu Qiang said.

"That's how it is..."

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but the smell of decay he had noticed upstairs seemed stronger now.

As they left, at the entrance of the store they had just patrolled, in the darkness, a mannequin stood there motionless, its head seemingly facing the direction where Yang Jian and Liu Qiang had disappeared.

After patrolling the mall, nothing unusual happened.

Maybe he was wrong, and this was just a regular criminal case, not a supernatural one.

Earning a million from the mall owner won't be easy.

Yang Jian pondered. He decided to stay for a three-day trial period. If he found nothing, he would quit. He couldn't waste his time here forever.

Just as he finished patrolling and returned to the security room to rest, his satellite phone rang.

It was a call from Wang Shanshan's father, Wang Bin.