Don't Believe Anyone

All sounds that shouldn't have been there ceased with that blow. Yu Xing's chest heaved violently, a dizzying sensation spreading from his head, his vision blackening in waves.

His stamina was already worse than average, and being terrified repeatedly had left his limbs feeling weak. Holding the camera and the wooden stick was already a struggle.

"Lu..." The Female Ghost's eyes widened, water filling her mouth. She seemed unable to believe the treatment she had just received.

He took advantage of the Female Ghost's daze to lean against the door for a moment's rest. He hadn't expected the door to open as soon as he leaned on it, nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall flat on his butt.

"We can go?" he rejoiced, shaking his dizzy head. He steadied himself, tossed the wooden stick, and ran out.

Behind him, he heard the sound of a trash can overturning. Yu Xing looked back to see the Female Ghost angrily squeezing an arm out, propping herself up on the tiled surface, a large section suddenly appearing.

"Sister, I was wrong!" he apologized in a panic. He raised his eyes and saw Zhao Yijiu, who had smashed the dusty mirror with his hand by the sink, turning his face as well.

"This way!" Yu Xing didn't know what Zhao Yijiu had encountered while he was trapped, but there was a bloody gash on his cheek, his mask torn off, revealing a sharp, handsome face with deep features. He called out to Yu Xing briefly before rushing out, "Stay away from the mirror, run!"

Stay away from the mirror?

How many ghosts were in this place?

Yu Xing had no time to think. He instinctively followed Zhao Yijiu's retreating back. Midway, he glanced at the shattered mirror.

The mirror was covered in dust from being left untouched for too long, and he was too far away to see clearly. Yet, Yu Xing, with his excellent vision, could vaguely make out an eye peeking out...

As the sound of the iron gate leading to the narrow corridor being opened echoed, the eye in the mirror blinked.

"Blind, blind, didn't see anything." He regretted his curiosity. Panting heavily, he had just exited the toilet area when a strong arm covered his mouth, pulling him into the Exhibition Room, the door of which had opened at some unknown time.

"Mmph!" His pupils constricted, and he struggled for a moment. His peripheral vision, however, caught sight of familiar fabric.

Zhao Yijiu gently closed the door with his other hand. Seeing that Yu Xing had stopped struggling and making muffled noises, he released him and whispered, "Crouch."

Yu Xing crouched down with him, bewildered. Seeing Zhao Yijiu pressing his ear against the door to listen for sounds outside, he couldn't help but ask, "Why aren't you running out?"

He hadn't seen Zhao Yijiu after leaving the toilet, and the iron gate had clearly opened earlier. He thought the other person had run too fast and escaped, even marveling at how prescient it was to use a wooden board to prevent the iron gate from closing.

He hadn't expected Zhao Yijiu to return after opening the iron gate and hide in the room closest to the toilet. How bold was that?

He controlled his voice well. Apart from Zhao Yijiu, who was close by, anyone further away would have mistaken it for the wind. Zhao Yijiu didn't tell him to shut up, but instead replied concisely, "They'll catch up to us sooner or later. Might as well use the line of sight... They're here."

Yu Xing immediately fell silent, frozen in place like a stone statue.

The ones chasing them should be the Female Ghost. It would take her some time to emerge from the toilet stall, which gave them a chance to choose.

By normal logic, she would assume they had used this time to run from the corridor towards the hall and would chase after them directly.

But... what if the ghost's logic wasn't normal?

Yu Xing slowly turned his head. He remembered the door of the exhibition hall had two uncovered glass windows.

"Giggle giggle..."

Ten seconds later, the Female Ghost passed by the door with her laughter. From the sound, she was walking decisively, not sparing a glance at the Exhibition Room so close by.

Only when the laughter faded and was completely inaudible did Yu Xing breathe a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to speak, Zhao Yijiu quickly covered his mouth again.

Almost simultaneously, a sound came from outside the exhibition room window. A shadow pressed against it, the sound of teeth clacking particularly noticeable in the silence.

From Yu Xing's perspective, he could look up from below at a distorted white face pressed tightly against the glass, eyes wide open, eyeballs darting around, scrutinizing the scene inside the exhibition room.

Cold sweat instantly trickled down Yu Xing's forehead, chillingly sliding down his neck and into his collar, making him shiver.

His and Zhao Yijiu's position wasn't safe. If the Female Ghost moved her head slightly, she could almost see them.

Fortunately, she ultimately didn't move her head that crucial amount, as if she were just checking every room. She quickly moved to the window of Office 03, separated by a fork in the corridor, and there was another sound.

Yu Xing's eyes widened. Only when the Female Ghost let out an angry "hmph" and opened the half-ajar rusty iron gate did he use his eyes to signal Zhao Yijiu to remove his hand.

"Scared me to death." He wiped his mouth with disdain, breathing deeply. Zhao Yijiu appeared much calmer.

The two of them stood up. Yu Xing hadn't even had time to feel relieved before his vision went black, and he uncontrollably fell forward—he didn't fall face-first, as Zhao Yijiu grabbed his arm before he hit the ground, half-supporting him to stability.

"Injured?" Zhao Yijiu asked, his tone devoid of any discernible concern, still cold.

Yu Xing recovered slightly: "No, I'm just... anemic."

"..." Zhao Yijiu felt speechless. After a long pause, he let out a scoff, "Sickly."

Yu Xing: This... I really can't refute that.

Then he remembered: "How did you get that cut on your face? Is it serious?"

"After you went into the stall, I saw a battery in the sink and went to get it." Zhao Yijiu touched his wound, getting a finger's worth of blood on his hand. He wiped it carelessly with his sleeve. "A figure suddenly appeared behind me in the mirror and tried to cover my eyes with its hand. Seeing that it was bad, I smashed the mirror, but the figure's fingernails still scraped my face in the mirror, leaving a mark in reality—it's not deep, and it'll stop bleeding soon."

He recounted the encounter with the ghost so lightly that Yu Xing really wanted to exclaim, "Wow."

Before Yu Xing could ask, Zhao Yijiu continued, "Oh, and I discovered something about the pattern of ghost appearances."

"I noticed that too." Hearing Zhao Yijiu explain the cause of his injury, and combining it with previous events, Yu Xing could easily deduce a pattern. He sighed, "As long as we touch a battery, the ghosts will sense it and come looking for us."

The first time, he had taken the battery from the mouse hole, and a ghost's hand had reached out from the hole and grabbed his wrist. It was already bruised there.

The second time, Zhao Yijiu should have taken the battery from the desk, which caused him, while searching the cabinet, to perceive the glass beads as eyeballs.

The third time, he was properly using the toilet when Zhao Yijiu touched the battery in the sink, which led to both ghosts finding them simultaneously.

...Thinking about it, he felt so wronged.

Why was it that every time, regardless of who touched the battery, the ghosts came looking for him? What was the reason? Did he just happen to fit the ghosts' aesthetic?

"This doesn't feel right, hey!"

"Right. I got the third battery. It was based on this guess that I dared to enter the exhibition hall. As long as we don't touch the batteries hidden in the exhibition hall, the Ghost won't find us." Zhao Yijiu's tone clearly indicated he knew his actions had almost gotten Yu Xing killed, and his voice softened a bit.

"...So, looking for batteries was a trap all along?" Yu Xing unconsciously lowered his head, only then realizing that out of fear, his left hand had been tightly gripping the camera.

Nearly half an hour had passed since midnight, and the camera's battery level showed a dangerous red.

Assistant Hao, with ill intentions, tricked them into finding batteries, actually giving the Ghost their coordinates?

Looking at the nearly depleted battery, Yu Xing fell silent for a moment before taking out the battery he'd found in the mouse hole and replacing the camera's.

His intuition told him that while the battery might be directly related to the Ghost, running out of power in the camera would be no good either.

Zhao Yijiu also replaced his battery, then said, "Let's go. It's too dangerous here; we should leave as soon as possible."

He opened the exhibition hall door and walked out first.

"Hey, wait a minute." Yu Xing fiddled with the camera, muttering, a flicker of doubt in his eyes.

He took advantage of the fact that the recording had only been paused for less than five minutes and flipped through the camera's footage. He discovered that besides the half-hour he had recorded, there was another video, about ten seconds long.

Zhao Yijiu hadn't heard him and had already gone outside. Seeing he had enough time, he directly played the video. Instantly, Assistant Hao's chubby face filled the entire screen.

Unlike his amiable and polite demeanor, the Assistant Hao in the video was terrified, even covered in bloodstains.

The screen shook as he seemed to be running, panting, and shouting into the camera's lens, "The Ghost is among the applicants! Don't trust anyone!!"

A black shadow appeared behind Assistant Hao. This shadow was an identical Assistant Hao, but with a standard smile on his face, carrying a bag, and holding a knife.

In the video, Assistant Hao, fleeing in terror, was caught by the "thing" behind him after only a few steps. The blood-stained knife was raised high—

Shing—

Something splattered onto the lens.

The video ended.

Yu Xing watched in silence, tilting his head.

That was the real Assistant Hao, killed by the Assistant Hao who had given them the camera...?

Wait, what was the important part?

The Ghost is among the applicants?

Don't trust anyone?

Like, Zhao Yijiu?

As if possessed, Yu Xing looked up at the doorway.

The next moment, his heart suddenly tightened. He saw Zhao Yijiu, who should have walked some distance away, standing grimly at the door, looking at him coldly.

Yu Xing: Heh, you know what? Just looking at him, this guy really looks like a Ghost! He walks without a sound, heh~

Zhao Yijiu stared into his eyes. At such close range, the bloodstains on his face were particularly conspicuous. "What were you just looking at?"

Yu Xing: Heh, you know what? I suddenly remembered I poked the Female Ghost right in the face, right? What a coincidence about the location, just not the gender...

The gloomy young man, with an aura unlike ordinary people, suddenly curved his lips, revealing a smile so faint it seemed like an illusion.

"Did you... discover something?"

The atmosphere instantly turned dangerous. In the darkness, Yu Xing's bangs were a bit messy. As he lowered his head, they covered his expression, making his entire face blurry and indistinct. No one saw the strange look that flashed across his face before he "happily" raised the camera. "Look, look, look at this! A major discovery!"

Zhao Yijiu was stunned for a moment and leaned in to look. Yu Xing replayed the video he had just watched. Instantly, the discordant murder once again became background music for this dark space.

The camera held a very direct prompt, something everyone had initially overlooked.

If they had seen it earlier, the applicants would have been more cautious, at least not foolishly believing the abnormal events were tests arranged by the company.

"..." After watching, Zhao Yijiu gave Yu Xing a look that was hard to describe. "I suddenly don't know which adjective, timid or bold, suits you better."

"Hmm?" Yu Xing looked at him in confusion.

Zhao Yijiu paused for a moment, then let out a cold laugh after a while. "Aren't you afraid I'm the Ghost? That if I knew my cover was blown, I'd kill you on the spot?"

"Of course not. I'm scared logically. Think about it, if the Ghost had to kill me because its cover was blown, doesn't that mean this slip-up was very disadvantageous to it?" Yu Xing wore a strange smile. His naturally upturned eyes instantly diluted the fear and tension lingering around his features, giving Zhao Yijiu an illusion of nonchalance. "If that's the case, I should be happy. Even Ghosts have things they fear."

"The problem now is that Assistant Hao said the Ghost is among the applicants, but the Ghost that killed him looks identical to him. This means the Assistant Hao who gave us the camera is both the Ghost and not an applicant. So, what is its position?"

"And what is the meaning of our test..."

Listening to Yu Xing's analysis, Zhao Yijiu subtly glanced at him, a hint of doubt rising in his heart.

He felt that after watching the recording, Yu Xing gave him a different impression than before, as if he had calmed down in an instant... No, Yu Xing had always been quite calm when not facing Ghosts. He should use a different adjective, but he couldn't think of one for a moment.

That's right.

It was a sense of incongruity.