On the phone, the woman’s voice came in broken fragments, laced with hoarse, ragged breathing: “It hurts, it hurts so much…”
“Shen Yao… let me out…”
“Let me out…”
“Come…”
Beep.
The call ended—not because Shen Yao hung up, but because the strange entity on the other end disconnected. Yet Shen Yao still held the receiver, unable to put it down.
Qiao Yunxue leaned in to take a look, only to find that Shen Yao’s face had turned pale.
“Shen Yao? …Was that the Phone Ghost? Or was it Xu Jia…?”
Shen Yao took several deep breaths. What truly unnerved him during that call was the fact that the strange entity called out his name directly.
Unlike its usual pattern of random hunting, this time, he was its only target.
“It was the Phone Ghost, and also Xu Jia,” Shen Yao replied swiftly.
He unlocked his phone to check the time. It was now 11:20 PM… The timing was off.
They’d tailed Zhong Wen in the early evening, sneaked into the Comprehensive Logistics Park after nightfall, so how had it suddenly become midnight?
Was it really possible for a distortion in space and time to go this far?
Qiao Yunxue seemed affected by Shen Yao’s calm, and she too began to analyze the clues from the ghost:
“She said she was trapped in a cramped, dark place, and that she was in pain… So your deduction was right—after Xu Jia died, her body was hidden in a suitcase. But then she asked you to let her out… what does that mean?”
She glanced at the endless mountains of cargo piled around them. “Are we supposed to find the suitcase that holds her corpse?”
Shen Yao rubbed his temples. His heart was pounding fiercely.
Instead of flowing, his blood felt like it was bursting through his veins. Yet the more anxious he grew, the eerier his composure became.
“The first time, I called first, and the ghost came to find me. This time, it called me, wanting me to seek it out. The only connection between the two incidents is that their logic is exactly opposite.”
Qiao Yunxue asked, “So how long would it take us to find her in here?!”
Shen Yao shook his head. “I’m afraid it hasn’t given us much time. In both these supernatural events, while the entity’s actions seem contrary, there’s one thing that’s a constant amid the chaos.”
“What do you mean?”
“Time. Even if time and space are distorted, the ghost always gives fifteen minutes. When it hunted me, I got fifteen minutes. Now it’s my turn to hunt, I’m afraid I only have fifteen minutes as well.”
Shen Yao’s mind raced, every detail lined up in the palace of his memory.
Qiao Yunxue stared hopelessly at the endless stretch of suitcases. “Fifteen minutes… How could we possibly find it?”
Shen Yao tried to call back, but this time the call wouldn’t connect. As expected, the entity wasn’t leaving him any shortcuts.
Qiao Yunxue suddenly spun around to look at Shen Yao. “Shen Yao, I’ll try to get you out of here!”
“There’s no way out.” Shen Yao was especially calm now—so calm he seemed almost cold.
The closer he came to the edge of life and death, the sharper his mind became.
“You’ll die, Shen Yao!” Qiao Yunxue shouted. “There are thousands upon thousands of suitcases here. Even if you opened one every second, you still wouldn’t find it in time!”
She stepped forward and grabbed Shen Yao’s wrist.
“I dragged you into this, so I have the responsibility to get you out safe and sound! If you really die here, it’ll disgrace the Qiao Family, disgrace the honor of the Campbell Family!”
Shen Yao reversed his grip, pressing down on her thin shoulder.
“Qiao Yunxue, please trust me, alright? I don’t want to die, and I’ll do everything in my power to fight. Please, trust me, and I’ll trust you. In times like this, we have to give each other a hundred percent trust—no doubts, no hesitation, understand?”
Only after he felt her shoulder did he realize how frail she was, so light it seemed he could press her down with the slightest force.
Clearly a pampered heiress, yet her body was this fragile… What kind of life had she lived before this?
Qiao Yunxue stared at him in a daze. “…I, I… Okay!”
Shen Yao turned and walked toward the maze formed by countless cargo boxes.
Qiao Yunxue took a deep breath, the musty smell of mildew heavy in the air, but she followed Shen Yao without hesitation.
Shen Yao glanced back at her—she could be a mess sometimes, but at critical moments, she never let him down.
How many people would choose to face a terrifying supernatural entity with him at a time like this?
Shen Yao lifted his left hand and stared at his Watch.
Qiao Yunxue followed close behind, weaving through narrow aisles flanked by precariously stacked suitcases, each threatening to collapse and bury them at any moment.
After a while, she looked back. “Shen Yao… the path we came from… it’s gone…” Behind them, the route was blocked by piled-up boxes.
Shen Yao was unfazed. “…This Maze changes every second. If we don’t find Xu Jia’s body, we can’t leave.”
“Do you have any ideas?” Qiao Yunxue asked reflexively, realizing that Shen Yao always seemed to find a sliver of hope.
She’d given up thinking and chosen to trust his judgment.
Shen Yao pointed to the Watch on his left wrist—the one Qiao Yunxue had “borrowed” from her father’s room.
“Remember our First Ghost-Hunting Operation? The Phone Ghost disrupts the flow of time and space, but there’s only one situation when time passes normally.”
Qiao Yunxue didn’t understand. “When you answer the ghost’s questions? I remember, only when you responded did I manage to contact you—just barely.”
Shen Yao nodded. “More accurately, it’s when we follow the Rule it sets.” He pointed at the Watch’s erratic second hand.
“Now, the second hand is jerking around—meaning we’re breaking the Rule. It also means we’re moving farther away from Xu Jia’s body, so the space-time distortion is getting worse.”
Qiao Yunxue slapped her forehead. “The Compass!”
“Exactly.” Shen Yao pointed to his Watch. “This Watch is the Compass. It points to where the ghost is hiding.”
Qiao Yunxue exclaimed, “You’re a genius!”
Shen Yao said, “So there’s no need to worry about the way out. We just need to watch the speed of the second hand and keep moving forward.”
He exhaled deeply and beckoned, “Let’s go.” With that, he headed down a narrow corridor to the right.
As they went in this direction, the second hand’s erratic movements slowed, finally returning to normal.
Shen Yao stopped. His gaze fell on an unremarkable pink suitcase tucked in the corner ahead.
Qiao Yunxue pressed against Shen Yao nervously. “Is Xu Jia’s body in there?”
Shen Yao nodded. He mentally steeled himself before approaching the pink suitcase.
Moonlight poured through the high warehouse window, spilling just a little light—and only upon that pink suitcase, as if lending a touch of holiness to this eerie scene.
The sharp contradiction only made the horror feel more absurd.
It was a combination lock suitcase… but there was no password set.
Shen Yao pressed the switch, and with a click, the suitcase slowly opened. Under the moonlight, its contents gradually came into view.
He took one look, then whipped around and retched to the side.
That wasn’t Xu Jia. Or rather, it was only part of her.
Her two arms—already swollen from the Giant’s Perspective, the skin purple and splitting, dark pus oozing out—just two arms.
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