Mannequin

"Bro, what have you been up to these past two days? Did you forget about me? Why haven't you called? I'm so bored. Want to come over to my place? I'll treat you to a massage tonight?"

Inside the mall, Yang Jian received a call from Zhang Wei.

"It's better if you don't come to my place. My dad might be there. I ran into him last night and he almost killed me. I'm working somewhere else now."

Yang Jian said as he changed into his security uniform in the fitting room.

"Didn't you say your dad passed away before?" Zhang Wei asked, confused.

Yang Jian replied, "He did, which is why I found a job that provides room and board. I didn't dare to stay home all the time."

"Holy crap, so your house is haunted." Zhang Wei was startled.

"It is haunted, but that thing isn't as scary as Qian Wanhao's grandpa. I can barely handle it," Yang Jian said. "What's up? Did you need something?"

"No, I was just bored at home these past two days and wanted to hang out," Zhang Wei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Good thing I called first. "By the way, where are you working?"

"A mall," Yang Jian replied.

Zhang Wei said, "Are they hiring? I could come over. I'm on a break from school and have nothing to do."

"It's best not to. This place might be haunted too. I smelled a corpse when I came in. I heard someone went missing in this mall, and the police even set up a cordon. The case has never been solved. I guess the missing person has rotted away, but they can't find the body," Yang Jian said.

"."

"Can't you find a more normal place to work? If you really have nowhere to stay, you can stay at my place. My bed is big and warm, and I'll provide food," Zhang Wei said.

Yang Jian replied, "Wang Shanshan has been acting strange lately. She keeps saying something is following her. She might have been targeted by that ghost infant. Her dad called me today. You should be careful too. I'm not sure if the ghost infant will target others. If you have time, notify everyone in the group chat."

"Bro, stop talking. I just bought a computer today. Let's play PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds at my place. Let's just be lazy shut-ins for the rest of our lives. Anime and games are enough. Why bother working? I'll support you if needed," Zhang Wei said, on the verge of tears.

What's wrong with this world? Why are those things everywhere?

It seems the only way is to cling tightly to my good buddy's leg.

"That won't work, I still have things to do. Alright, that's all. Be careful," Yang Jian hung up the phone.

He finished changing into his security uniform and walked out of the fitting room.

"Why are you so slow?"

Another young man said from outside. His name was Liu Qiang, a recent college graduate who had also started working at the mall recently.

"According to regulations, we have to patrol the entire mall five times a day: once in the morning, once at noon, once in the afternoon, and twice at night. It's 4 PM now, let's get started," Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian followed him, "Are we the only two security guards in the entire mall?"

"Yeah, just the two of us. There was one before, but he also went missing. We haven't been able to hire anyone since, so I've been covering the shifts." Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian asked, "Missing? There are so many disappearances in this mall. Why haven't you quit? How can you still work here?"

"I'm from out of town. It's not easy to find a job that provides room and board with decent pay after graduation, so I'm just doing this for now. Are you a high school student? Aren't you still in school? The college entrance exam is coming up soon," Liu Qiang asked.

"I'm on a leave of absence. I probably won't be taking the college entrance exam," Yang Jian replied.

Liu Qiang didn't ask further and said, "Usually, I patrol from the fifth floor down. After finishing a round in the underground parking lot, the task is complete. The mall is out of power, and the elevators aren't working, so we have to take the stairs."

"Have you worked here for a while? Haven't you felt anything strange about this mall?" Yang Jian turned on his flashlight, illuminating the surroundings, and asked.

"Strange?"

Liu Qiang paused. "No, nothing strange."

"For example, have you smelled any weird odors in the mall?" Yang Jian asked.

"I've smelled it occasionally. It's probably just some frozen food in the freezers that's gone bad. They'll definitely clean it up before opening," Liu Qiang replied.

Yang Jian said, "I mean, do you think this mall might be haunted?"

Haunted?

Liu Qiang immediately laughed. "You're a high school student too, why do you believe in this stuff? If it were really haunted, why haven't I encountered anything in all my days patrolling here? The boss, however, believes in it. He even hired a master a while ago, but it didn't help. The boss thought the master wasn't skilled enough, so he went to another city to find a very famous master."

"If it's not haunted, then how do you explain the missing people? People disappear in the mall, the mall is this big, and they can't be found. Where would they go?" Yang Jian asked.

"They might not have actually disappeared in the mall. It's just that the police's last recorded footage of the missing person was inside the mall. Maybe it was a kidnapping or robbery. However, after the mall closed, disappearances became very rare," Liu Qiang said.

"Wait." Suddenly, Yang Jian's expression changed, and he stopped.

"Bro, what's wrong?"

Yang Jian pointed ahead. "Didn't you say there were only two of us patrolling the mall? What is that?"

A figure, a figure standing motionless in the darkness, like a wooden doll, stood there.

Liu Qiang shone his flashlight on it. It was a mannequin.

"It's just a mannequin, don't make a fuss,"

He walked over, picked up the mannequin, and placed it inside a nearby shop.

Inside the dark shop, more than a dozen mannequins were displayed. They were all missing limbs, and none of them were intact. They were placed quite haphazardly, clearly having been neglected for a long time.

"It's fine now, let's go. We'll patrol the next floor," Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian asked, "Why was that mannequin placed in the middle of the walkway? Didn't you see it during your previous patrols?"

"I didn't see it during my noon patrol. This is the first time I've seen it just now. Maybe Sister Li and the others were trying on clothes with the mannequins. It's not the first time," Liu Qiang said.

"That's right."

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the smell of decay he'd detected upstairs seemed to have intensified.

Just as the two of them were leaving.

Outside the shops they had patrolled earlier.

In the darkness, a mannequin stood there again, motionless, its head seemingly turned in the direction Yang Jian and Liu Qiang had disappeared.

After Yang Jian and Liu Qiang had circled the mall, nothing had indeed happened.

Perhaps he had guessed wrong; this was just an ordinary criminal case, not involving any supernatural events.

This million dollars from the mall owner wasn't easy money.

Yang Jian fell into thought. He decided to stay for the three-day trial period first. If he gained nothing, he would resign. He couldn't keep wasting time here indefinitely.

Just as he finished his patrol and returned to the security room to rest, his satellite positioning phone rang.

It was Wang Shanshan's father, Wang Bin, calling.

This chapter is from yesterday.

Typos will be corrected daily.