The cafeteria was crowded, mostly with warehouse employees, though there were also quite a few delivery suppliers.
The food in the cafeteria tasted fairly good, and the prices were cheap, so many delivery suppliers chose to eat here.
Of course, plenty of restaurants had opened outside the Logistics Park as well, and their business was just as booming.
Back when he had come to work here two years ago, Preferred had only recently moved in. The place had been utterly deserted; let alone restaurants, there had barely been any convenience stores nearby.
Nowadays, the street behind them was lined wall to wall with restaurants.
And near Gates 1, 2, and 3 of the Logistics Park, there were large numbers of mobile vendors.
It could be said that this one Preferred central warehouse had fed who knew how many people.
After Mu Rufeng and Uncle Liu got their meals, they found an empty table and began eating.
Mu Rufeng was so hungry that his limbs had gone weak, so he ate quickly.
In just seven or eight minutes, he had finished an entire large tray of food.
Uncle Liu across from him had only eaten about a third of his.
Mu Rufeng stood up, intending to get another bowl of winter melon soup, when his heart suddenly jolted.
What did he see? An umbrella—a black long-handled umbrella—right by his feet, less than half a meter away.
"Uncle Liu, l-look and see if there's something by my feet," Mu Rufeng said tremulously.
"What's wrong? A rat? A cockroach? I don't see anything. Did you step on some dropped food? Is it all sticky?"
Uncle Liu lowered his head for a look and spoke.
"Brother, can you see anything by my feet?" Mu Rufeng asked a young man eating beside him.
Hearing this, the young man looked at Mu Rufeng, then glanced down. "There's nothing there. What's wrong?"
The scorching weather, the noisy cafeteria, and the packed crowd gave Mu Rufeng not the slightest warmth.
At that moment, all he felt was an icy chill shooting from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head. He was so cold.
"N-nothing. It's nothing. Uncle Liu, take your time eating. I'll head over first."
After saying that, Mu Rufeng turned and quickly walked toward the cafeteria exit.
After leaving the cafeteria, Mu Rufeng looked around but did not spot the black umbrella. Did he feel relieved?
No, he did not.
Mu Rufeng immediately took out his phone and pressed the three digits 110.
When in trouble, find the police.
But would calling the police help? Mu Rufeng was torn with indecision. Should he make the call or not?
It seemed that only he could see that umbrella; no one else could.
Mu Rufeng decided to call.
"Waa-woo, waa-woo, waa-woo~~!"
Suddenly, the sound of police sirens came from afar.
Mu Rufeng focused his eyes and saw four or five police cars entering through Gate 1 of the Logistics Park.
Behind the police cars was a Mercedes MPV, followed farther back by two ambulances.
"What's going on?" Mu Rufeng instinctively wanted to go over and see.
There was no need for him to call the police anymore. There were officers right over there.
"Holy shit, hurry and check the group chat. There's some huge gossip."
"Hurry up, it'll definitely get deleted later."
"Fuck, is this real? Someone died again?"
"Damn, it's real. That's disgusting. No, I can't look at this stuff."
"What the hell? Who is this? What happened?"
Outside the cafeteria, scattered groups of employees had gathered together, shooting the breeze, smoking cigarettes, and chewing betel nut.
Then, one by one, they took out their phones, and their expressions changed.
Mu Rufeng immediately took out his phone as well.
As a full-time Preferred employee, he was also in quite a few work group chats.
The group was flooded with messages, completely scrolling at a frantic pace.
Mu Rufeng watched carefully, quickly swiping through the earlier chat logs.
After swiping for a minute or two, Mu Rufeng finally found a video.
The moment Mu Rufeng opened it, his gaze froze and his scalp tingled.
A balding middle-aged man was slumped over his desk. Judging by his posture, he seemed to have been sleeping.
A steel bar had pierced directly down from above, through the back of the middle-aged man's head.
There was also a huge gash on the back of his head, with blood pouring out in great quantities, though no pale brain matter could be seen.
Mu Rufeng did not know this man.
He looked at the messages below again and soon learned that the supervisor who had handled the deaths of the two Drivers was this balding uncle, Wang Kun.
After learning this, Mu Rufeng unconsciously swallowed, and panic rose even higher in his heart.
He faintly suspected that these dead people might all have been connected to the black umbrella.
And now that he had seen the black umbrella too, was it going to be his turn next?
Mu Rufeng stopped hesitating and strode toward the offices.
Those police cars were parked over there. If something happened, finding the police could not possibly be wrong.
But after only a few steps, a familiar black shadow appeared in Mu Rufeng's line of sight again.
Clack!
Mu Rufeng's right foot had already stepped onto the black umbrella.
The umbrella had appeared so abruptly that Mu Rufeng had not been given any time to react.
The instant Mu Rufeng stepped on the umbrella, it transformed into a wisp of black smoke and spread upward along his right foot.
By the time Mu Rufeng came to his senses, the umbrella had eerily appeared in his hand.
Moreover, his right hand was gripping the umbrella handle, with his thumb pressed against the switch.
"Fuck!" Mu Rufeng wanted to let go of the umbrella.
But he discovered that his hand was no longer obeying him. It was as though he had lost control over his own palm.
No, he had not lost all control. His thumb could still move.
What did it mean that his thumb could move? Was it telling him to press the switch and open the umbrella?
Mu Rufeng wanted to run to the police, but his feet could not move either.
The only things he could move were his head and that thumb.
"What do I do? What do I do?" Mu Rufeng gulped down great breaths of air, forcing himself to calm down.
Just then, a figure suddenly passed straight through his chest.
She was a petite girl wearing a warehouse vest, and she looked rather cute.
The key was not that she was cute, but that she had passed through Mu Rufeng's body.
What did that represent? Did it mean that, like the black umbrella, he could no longer be touched by other people?
Mu Rufeng tentatively shouted several times in all directions, only to discover that despite so many people nearby, not a single one responded to him.
"Press it? Or don't press it?"
Mu Rufeng already had his answer.
He had no choice left.
Clack! A crisp sound rang out.
The black umbrella opened directly.
The moment the umbrella opened, a mass of black mist surged forth and enveloped Mu Rufeng.
Mu Rufeng instantly lost consciousness.
Entering Instance: Scarlet Preferred Instance Type: Solo ...
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