Key Lock? Then Get Out of the Way.

The blood was thick, clearly not yet dry, as if it had just been applied.

"...What the hell."

Did they actually use prop blood for the horror atmosphere? It's prop blood, right!?

Yu Xing's heart skipped a beat, and he almost threw his camera. The others were drawn by his commotion and looked over.

"What's wrong?" the brown-haired guy peeked over. Seeing Yu Xing's deathly pale face, he chuckled, "You're scared before we've even started?"

"There's blood... blood..." Yu Xing held up his camera to show the brown-haired guy. Of course, the latter couldn't see anything in the pitch darkness.

The delicate-looking man, however, reacted quickly. He felt his camera and sniffed his palm, "My camera has it too."

"Me too!" the short-haired girl exclaimed softly, "Is it ketchup?"

Only then did they notice that the cameras they'd received were all stained with a red liquid that gave off a faint, fishy smell, clearly not ketchup.

"It might be fake blood, the kind they use for filming. Isn't this supposed to be a haunted house experience for us today? I bet there's more than just fake blood; they might have set up other things in the factory!" the long curly-haired girl giggled slyly, offering a guess. When everyone heard this, they thought it made sense and relaxed.

Yu Xing let out a long breath. He had actually thought the same thing. After all, Assistant Hao had given them the cameras, so only Assistant Hao could have set this up. And the assistant's intention was obvious: to give them the experience of a "haunted house" night tour and test their potential as streamers...

But seeing it suddenly still made him instinctively jump!

I just wanted a job with a decent salary, why do I have to suffer like this... whimper.

The cold touch of the camera reminded him of the corpses in the cold storage. He sighed quietly, raised the camera to his eyes, and used Night Vision Mode to observe his surroundings.

They had entered through the main door and were in a large hall. The hall's exit should connect to offices, changing rooms, raw material storage rooms, and other areas, but they couldn't see them now.

The hall could be summarized in one word: dilapidated.

Any usable machinery had long been removed, leaving only a few damaged pieces of equipment standing on the open floor. The ground was covered in dust, tattered cloth bags, and broken wooden planks.

If the batteries were buried in the piles of miscellaneous items in the corner, it would take considerable effort to find them. Eight batteries meant each battery would only last about half an hour, so they needed to hurry.

"Um, shouldn't we introduce ourselves first?" the short-haired girl asked with a helpless smile after everyone had familiarized themselves with the camera operation. Why hadn't anyone brought this up?

"Oh, right! I was too excited and forgot," the long curly-haired girl responded enthusiastically. Her voice, like her personality, was a bit flamboyant and very outgoing. "My name is Zhang Shuya. I absolutely love horror movies and have been to countless haunted houses all over the country. I'm very familiar with all sorts of tricks~"

"My name is Tang Li, and this is my Younger Sister, Tang Yuan," the delicate-looking man nodded politely. Yu Xing looked up in surprise, not expecting this man and the short-haired girl to be siblings.

"Fang Rui, just graduated this year." The brown-haired guy, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, seemed a bit out of place. Anyone would exclaim, "This kid really isn't afraid of the cold!"

Yu Xing turned off Night Vision Mode to save power and introduced himself properly: "Yu Xing. Yu from Yu Ji, Xing from Xingyun (lucky)."

"Zhao Yijiu." This was the first time the masked youth had spoken. The eyes visible were sharp, with a hint of hidden gloom.

His voice had a cold quality that instantly chilled the atmosphere, which had just begun to warm up.

"Uh..." Fang Rui's eye twitched, and he immediately suggested, "Shouldn't we look for the batteries first? For efficiency, how about we pair up?"

"Okay, I want to be in a group with my brother," Tang Yuan naturally moved closer to Tang Li. It was only natural for siblings to stick together, and no one could object.

"Pairing up sounds good!" Zhang Shuya said with a smile, glancing at Yu Xing. "I'm a total sucker for good looks, you know? Hmm... Yu Xing, right? Let's be a group. That way, I can protect you?"

A beautiful woman actively showing interest, how enviable! Is it really all about looks these days? Fang Rui marveled inwardly, then heard Yu Xing, the "Gospel of Good Looks," hesitantly say:

"Um... maybe not. I'm not very good at interacting with girls, and I don't know how to take care of them."

Fang Rui: Brother, you're amazing. Thank you, family.

Zhang Shuya was a little unhappy about being rejected, but she was proud. Hearing the words "take care of" made her realize the other person didn't think highly of her abilities. She didn't want to fight for it anymore. Between Fang Rui and the icy Zhao Yijiu, she didn't need to think for long.

Her emotional intelligence was quite high. She immediately put on a regretful expression: "Fang Rui, if the handsome young man doesn't want me, will you take me in?"

"Of course." Fang Rui secretly gave Yu Xing a thumbs-up, not caring if Yu Xing could see it, and happily completed the pairings.

Yu Xing was naturally paired with the silent Zhao Yijiu.

Afterward, the three temporary groups designated their search areas. Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu were assigned the leftmost third of the factory floor. There was no large hall, but more rooms, making the route a bit complicated.

Time was precious. After a few token words of encouragement, they dispersed and headed toward their respective search areas.

The two youths walked in silence. Zhao Yijiu seemed to be naturally quiet, while Yu Xing didn't know what to say.

After the main group dispersed, the vast, dilapidated factory felt even more eerie. Any slightly loud voice would echo, and combined with the sound of rain outside, it created the illusion that footsteps other than their own were following them.

The right side led to the hall exit, a narrow corridor just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. Yu Xing held a flashlight in one hand and his camera in the other, walking half a step behind Zhao Yijiu.

Because the corridor was enclosed and had no windows, it was almost pitch black. Only the beams of light in their hands provided a sense of security.

"Are you afraid of ghosts?" The cold voice was like a basin of ice-cold water poured into a refrigerator, instantly freezing into an ice pop. Yu Xing was startled before realizing Zhao Yijiu was initiating a conversation.

He supposed his performance wasn't exactly proactive, bold, or calm, but Zhao Yijiu's tone didn't seem to carry any disdain.

"There shouldn't be ghosts in the world, right? I'm afraid of visual and auditory jump scares, as well as deeply unsettling implications. It's a natural physiological and psychological reaction." He forced an explanation, trying to appear less like a weakling.

"Is that so?" Zhao Yijiu's face was unclear in the darkness. He seemed to glance back at Yu Xing, then blinked at Yu Xing's innocent and sincere expression before falling silent again.

"..."

This conversation was going nowhere.

The corridor wasn't long. Zhao Yijiu looked straight ahead, his aura heavy. Yu Xing continuously shifted the flashlight's beam. Sure enough, after a few steps, he spotted a small, cylindrical metal object lying in a mouse hole the size of a fist in the wall.

"A battery!" His mood lifted. Under Zhao Yijiu's silent gaze, he stepped forward, bent down, and reached out to pick it up.

But just then, his heart inexplicably skipped a beat, and a bad premonition washed over him.

He thought, I hope nothing goes wrong... Hesitating, he continued to reach for it.

However, reality proved that a man's sixth sense was also quite powerful.

As his slender fingers grasped the battery, before he could even stand up, Yu Xing watched helplessly as a pale blue hue mixed with faint purple appeared in the hole.

It was a hand!

A man's hand squeezed out from a hole that must have been gnawed by mice or insects. As if it had eyes, it clamped down tightly on Yu Xing's wrist!

Cold, limp, and feeling like a dead person's hand.

The moment this hand touched Yu Xing's skin, he felt a chill shoot straight up to the crown of his head. It froze him solid.

"Ghost!" Yu Xing screamed, immediately backing away. A pulling force came from his wrist, as if trying to drag his entire body into the small hole.

Zhao Yijiu saw that Yu Xing was struggling, so he grabbed the back of Yu Xing's collar. The moment he touched Yu Xing, the hand in the mouse hole loosened its grip.

The hand retracted and disappeared without a trace. Yu Xing was still shaken, his wrist throbbing painfully, likely to be bruised soon.

"What is this?" he asked, a little panicked.

Was it a prop arranged by Assistant Hao? Or a "haunted house actor" hiding on the other side of the wall?

Zhao Yijiu squatted down and shone his flashlight into the mouse hole, even boldly poking it a couple of times. "It's just the normal wall, and that thing is gone."

The two exchanged glances, understanding what the other was thinking:

According to Zhang Shuya, this could be somewhat explained. But whether it was a deliberately placed prop or a hidden person, could it just disappear on its own?

That didn't seem logical.

"That hand just now, it didn't feel fake," Yu Xing frowned, sensing something was wrong. He touched the skin on his wrist, rubbing away a circle of goosebumps and muttering, "I'm familiar with corpses. It felt like one that had undergone autolysis but hadn't started to rot yet..."

"You're familiar with corpses?" Zhao Yijiu glanced at him, slightly surprised.

"...Just saying," Yu Xing chuckled, then spread his hands. He had managed to get the battery after all.

Zhao Yijiu scoffed but didn't probe further. After a moment of silence, as if thinking, he looked at Yu Xing and finally said, "...Tonight is a bit strange."

"How so?"

"Actually, I was the first one to enter the factory. Before coming in, I saw a shadow moving inside through the window. I thought someone else had arrived, but I didn't see anyone after coming in," Zhao Yijiu's bangs partially covered his eyebrows, his eyes full of suspicion.

"Then you all came in one by one, and I never figured out who that initial shadow belonged to."

"Oh, come on, telling ghost stories at a time like this? I'm going to start believing you," Yu Xing said, taking a tentative step back. His nervous expression successfully amused Zhao Yijiu.

"I'm serious. So I'm wondering if this test tonight is just a simple company recruitment, or if there's something else being hidden. Heh, if you're an atheist, then forget I said anything."

Yu Xing's face turned pale. "An atheist... Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. Usually not before exam results are announced or when drawing cards in a game. Other times, I am."

Zhao Yijiu: That's too real.

"So, basically, if you told me there were real ghosts here, I could accept it," Yu Xing's voice trembled amidst his forced composure. He glanced back; the factory gate was far behind him. "Can I leave now? Like, never come back kind of leave."

"Since you're already here," Zhao Yijiu said expressionlessly, uttering a line extremely common among Chinese people, "What if I'm overthinking it, and you get eliminated by the company?"

He pointed ahead. "There's a door over there."

This door was at the end of the corridor, blocking their path. Zhao Yijiu clearly intended to continue forward.

Yu Xing struggled internally. Before he could be sure if he would encounter a real ghost, the allure of a salary won out. He suppressed the urge to run all the way home and watched Zhao Yijiu step forward to push the door. "...It's locked."

Can't figure it out. Why would you lock it if it's abandoned? Yu Xing asked, "What kind of lock?"

Zhao Yijiu, who was about to kick the door down, replied casually, "A regular key lock."

The Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory had a rough finish, so the door locks wouldn't be anything like combination or electronic locks.

"Then step aside, let me open it."

Yu Xing placed his camera on the ground, took a piece of wire from his work pants pocket, and approached the lock.

Zhao Yijiu:?

Friend, your skill points allocation is quite novel.