All I could hear in the stairwell was the sound of Mu Ai and me walking.
When we reached the third floor, I pushed the door open. It was still quiet inside.
This wasn't the emergency stairwell connected to the underground parking garage, but an ordinary staircase. Beyond the door was another long hallway, but offices lined both sides.
The office doors were wooden, without frosted glass, so I couldn't see inside.
I could tell there were no ghosts in the rooms, but I couldn't see through the walls well enough to tell whether anyone was inside.
The office doors were locked, but that was no problem for me.
I simply erased the doors, turned on the lights, and looked inside the two offices.
Both were archive rooms. The filing cabinets were stuffed with courier waybills. One room held waybills for ordinary private customers; the other contained a huge number of corporate orders.
Finding a clue among them would have been too difficult, so I gave up.
We continued onward. I still heard nothing and saw no one.
But then I spotted one of those large offices.
The half-frosted glass couldn't block my view.
The lights were off inside, and the computer on the desk was dark. The printer and other machines weren't making any strange noises.
The fluorescent lights in the hallway seemed a little harsh.
I passed the office, and before I'd even reached the end of the hallway, I saw a figure.
Half a body toppled out from behind the wall at the corner, revealing a pale face.
The light overhead flickered twice, then dimmed.
Mu Ai clung tightly to me, following close behind and holding her breath.
"It's okay." I reassured her, then walked forward to get a better look.
The person's neck was broken, but