As the boss let out a sigh, a bolt of lightning flashed outside, illuminating the pitch-black sky in a blinding white.
After that fleeting, dazzling flash, a rumble of thunder followed. I vaguely saw the boss's body tilt before she crashed heavily to the ground. The old man sitting beside the table had vanished completely.
After the thunder came utter silence.
The rain outside stopped, the dark clouds scattered, and the sun came out again.
The room brightened too. Just as I had seen before, the boss was sprawled on the floor, looking dazed as she rubbed her head and body before getting back up.
The spot where the old man had been sitting was empty. He had disappeared without a trace.
Chen Zi'an practically exploded. He jumped, pointed at the empty spot, and opened and closed his mouth several times without managing to say a complete sentence.
I looked at the boss.
She still had no idea what had happened, but her fierce attitude hadn't changed one bit. She glared at us and shouted, "What are you looking at? Couldn't you give me a hand? Don't you have any sense? Any compassion at all?"
I didn't know whether she was all bark and no bite, or whether she hadn't blamed us for her fall because we were several steps away and she couldn't pin it on us.
In any case, the situation was rather strange.
The boss rubbed her head, cursing under her breath.
Chen Zi'an was the sort who went looking for trouble. He went right up to the boss and asked whether she knew the old man was a ghost.
The boss spat as she yelled, "What ghost? You're the ghost!"
She ranted for a while, and we managed to learn a little about the situation.
The