She's Watching You!

The flashlight beam swept past, and a vivid streak of red still lingered in Lu Ban's vision. He hurriedly swung the flashlight back, but when he shone it at the safety exit door again, there was no one in sight.

He tried to recall the person's appearance and clothing. He could only vaguely tell that she was a woman, and the clothes she wore seemed out of step with current fashion.

Holding the crowbar, Lu Ban walked toward the safety exit door.

The control room was directly above the safety exit. The mannequin figures were still looking toward the theater lobby. When Lu Ban arrived, he saw a newspaper lying on the floor.

He poked the newspaper with the crowbar and hooked it over.

After picking it up, Lu Ban confirmed that it was an ordinary copy of the Jiangcheng Evening News.

Only, this issue of the Jiangcheng Evening News was more than twenty years old.

Using the flashlight as a light source, Lu Ban stood there and began reading the newspaper.

"During the fire, Jiangcheng Grand Theater was rehearsing its annual performance. Performers including Du Danping and other theater personnel were present. According to reports, the fire originated from equipment backstage. A short circuit in the equipment caused the fire, though the possibility of arson had not been ruled out."

It was an investigative report on the Jiangcheng Grand Theater fire. In that era, the internet had not yet developed, and there were no online police notices like there were now. Investigative reports on many incidents were released through newspapers.

Of course, such reports were not necessarily accurate or detailed. The article in Lu Ban's hands, for instance, seemed to contain quite a bit of vagueness and speculation.

When he turned the page, "Jiangcheng Evening News" became "Jiangcheng Weekly." It was an entertainment-oriented weekly from Jiangcheng that had gone out of business several years ago. Lu Ban had happened to glimpse the name of the weekly while looking up materials in the library.

"According to sources familiar with the matter, Du Danping has been rumored to be involved with Song Yunyan, the daughter of the chairman of Jiangcheng Industries. The fire may have concealed a hidden truth. According to information provided by relevant personnel, Du Danping and Song Yunyan's relationship had been opposed by Song's family. The two had once attempted to elope, but were stopped."

This weekly's report had a strong celebrity-gossip flavor. It even made insinuating guesses that Du Danping and Song Yunyan had wanted to elope and had caused the fire to fake their deaths, nearly pointing straight at the deceased Du Danping and accusing him of starting it.

"The accident resulted in five deaths and sixteen injuries. Musician Du Danping tragically died in the accident."

Another page turned, and the newspaper became a black-and-white accident investigation report from the "Jiangcheng Daily."

After reading the final line, Lu Ban continued turning the pages.

That was when he saw the writing on the newspaper become densely packed.

No, it was not a report at all. It was a curse.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"

The vicious, pitch-black words, seemingly written in congealed blood, covered the newspaper.

Moreover, when Lu Ban looked closely, the words seemed to be writhing nonstop, crawling outward from the newspaper like ants. It seemed they would soon crawl onto his hand.

Once the words touched skin, they seemed capable of imprinting themselves upon it, burrowing into the pores and leaving behind permanent brands.

No one knew whether, if the words continued climbing, they would eventually occupy the entire body!

Feeling a bout of itching, Lu Ban immediately threw away the newspaper.

Smack—

The newspaper hit the ground and rapidly turned into a mass of ashes that scattered away.

Lu Ban inspected his hand. The words that had clung to it just now seemed to have been an illusion; he could not find a trace of them. He then instinctively checked the newspaper again.

Only to discover that, at the doorway, there was a woman's pair of feet wearing red high heels!

"!"

Lu Ban raised the flashlight. The safety exit was completely empty. There was no sign of anyone.

"So, it looks like the ghost here wants me to investigate the truth from back then?"

he wondered.

Could this red-clothed female ghost be Song Yunyan? Had she been killed by Du Danping back then and wrongfully accused, so she hoped someone would expose the truth?

The other party had provided him with clues and showed no signs of wanting to harm him. It seemed her danger level was not particularly high.

Lu Ban silently summarized the clues.

"The place where the incident occurred was the equipment backstage. The cause was a short circuit, but someone could have made preparations in advance to create a similar situation."

"Du Danping and Song Yunyan did seem to have a very close relationship. Was the woman who appeared in the recording actually named Song Yunyan?"

"The report says the two of them failed to elope before, so they wanted to cause a fire this time and fake their deaths to escape. But things got out of hand, and their fake deaths became real deaths?"

"The performer might have been Du Danping. His ghost was also bound here, playing music every night?"

Lu Ban thought over many things and decided to take a look backstage.

It was already past eight. Aside from those eerie mannequin figures, Lu Ban had not found any trace of the performer. Perhaps he needed to use some method to trigger it.

Thinking of the disasters in horror movies that would be unleashed the moment someone opened a certain box, Lu Ban gave a self-mocking laugh.

"Being that proactive about courting death isn't my style."

He stepped onto the stage again and headed backstage.

Tap, tap, tap—

The footsteps echoed through the theater lobby. As he walked, Lu Ban suddenly felt that something was wrong.

There seemed to be more than one set of footsteps!

He immediately stopped.

Tap, tap, tap—

Yet the footsteps did not stop.

Lu Ban looked back, but there was nothing there.

It was as if someone he could not see was wearing leather shoes and following right behind him.

Only after two seconds did the footsteps abruptly cease.

He continued forward and arrived at the dilapidated backstage area. This was where the fire had occurred and where the damage was most severe. The wooden structures had been reduced to charcoal, while even the concrete behind them was stained black.

The entire backstage was filled with an intense, lingering smell of char and decay. It even made Lu Ban wonder whether the odors truly existed or were some kind of supernatural illusion.

Wherever the flashlight shone, he could see several mannequin figures. Melted by the high temperature, these mannequins had fused with the floor and walls, looking quite eerie.

Could these not be mannequins?

"Impossible. The police must have cleared the scene back then. They wouldn't have left any corpses behind."

Lu Ban dispelled those baseless imaginings. The farther in he went, the more he felt the surroundings heating up.

It should have been a slightly cool night, yet Lu Ban was so hot that he was about to break into a sweat.

It was as if he were surrounded by flames.

Relying on the architectural plans he had memorized and the descriptions in the relevant reports, Lu Ban reached the equipment where the incident had occurred backstage.

He saw that the equipment was an old-fashioned electrical switch controlling the lights. This type of switch was not very safe, and if it had aged badly from prolonged use, accidents could easily occur.

The theater had been built many years ago and had remained in use ever since, so its electrical equipment had not yet been replaced with the latest models.

"After the switch short-circuited, the fuse must have failed to blow in time. Then the sparks ignited the props beside it. By the time anyone noticed, the fire had already grown large?"

Lu Ban recalled the investigation report in the newspaper as his flashlight swept down along the wiring.

Then he saw a fallen mannequin. Most of its body had melted away, leaving only the upper half in a vaguely human shape as it sprawled across the electrical wiring.

Only, unlike the other mannequins, its face was not flat. Its facial features could be clearly distinguished!

*

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