Nighttime.
On the third floor, two women and three men walked to the area beside the elevator entrance.
"Is this the last place Saiki came to before he disappeared?" Akiyuki walked over, looked at the perfectly intact elevator, and asked.
Yao Yao nodded. "Yeah, Saiki-kun left from right here yesterday. I just don't know where he went."
"This elevator has been restored."
The blue general: "The repair guy's pretty skilled. That's some fast work!"
"I don't think there was a repair guy…"
Akiyuki lowered her head and thought for a moment, then asked without letting any hint slip through, "So, Yao Yao, yesterday Saiki wanted to go to the seventh floor, right?"
Yao Yao nodded. "Yep!"
"Saiki-kun said yesterday that he wanted to go to the seventh floor. It's just that this elevator wouldn't open no matter what, and then he…"
"Oh~" Lin Fan looked at the elevator thoughtfully. "So that means Saiki disappeared because he was trying to find a way up to the seventh floor."
"If Saiki is still in this hospital, the chances of him being trapped are pretty low."
Xiao Chen's expression remained indifferent. "Then there's only one possibility left."
The blue general looked at everyone speaking their own thoughts with eyes full of "wisdom." [Possibility? What possibility? Just say it already!]
Even though he didn't know, the blue general still nodded in agreement. "Indeed!"
Akiyuki thought of something, raised her head, and said, "Then Saiki is probably on the seventh floor!"
"Oh~ That's amazing!" Yao Yao smiled, clapped her hands with eyes full of encouragement, then asked expectantly,
"So, what do we do next?"
"…"
One sentence, and the mood instantly froze.
Who would know what to do?
They had no idea. Even if Saiki really had gone up to the seventh floor, they had no way to get there.
After all, there were no stairs beyond the sixth floor. The only way was this elevator, but it wouldn't work for them. So what were they supposed to do?
Ding!
A sound rang out. The elevator to their side began to glow and shine, drawing everyone's attention.
The group warily watched the elevator. Akiyuki silently stepped back, positioning herself to shield the others in front.
Not long after, the elevator doors slowly opened. White light emanated from inside, but there was no one in it.
"This… what the heck? Speak of the devil and he appears."
Xiao Chen observed for a moment. "The elevator ghost from before is gone!"
"What do we do? Should we go in?"
"It opened so suddenly. It might be a trap."
Even though some people were worried, they had originally wanted to go straight in. After hearing it might be a trap, they started hesitating.
Akiyuki said cautiously, "If something comes out after we say that, there's definitely a problem. If this elevator can still be used normally afterward, that would be fine."
"…"
In the end, they decided to first search every empty room in the entire building, then come back to see if this elevator was functioning normally.
Then the group took their holy water and searched through all the empty rooms in the building.
Time passed quickly. It was already approaching 4 a.m.
The security guard who normally worked diligently at 1 a.m.—and who had clearly been taken out yesterday—had revived in the same spot as usual, but was once again taken out by the group wielding holy water.
This time they returned to the elevator doors. The elevator was still lit up and operational. When they pressed the button, the doors opened again.
"Let's go in. Although we wasted some time earlier, it looks like this elevator is fine."
"But the elevator ghost still isn't here. We should be able to relax a bit, right!"
"Staying vigilant is good. Who's going in first?"
The group exchanged big stares with small stares.
"Uh… it's fine, I'm not scared." The blue general pulled a shotgun from his right side, slung it over his shoulder, and walked in.
"Of course we're going in. We've been here for days already—why would we be scared of this now?" Lin Fan shoved one hand in his pocket and walked into the elevator, showing no worry or fear that anything might happen.
"Let's go." Xiao Chen glanced back once, then walked in as well.
Yao Yao tugged at Akiyuki's hand. "Akiyuki-neesan, what's wrong?"
Akiyuki shook her head, thought for a moment, and finally went in with Yao Yao.
Once everyone was inside, Lin Fan reached out and pressed the button for the seventh floor. The doors slowly closed.
The group watched the floor display on the elevator rise from the third floor to the fourth.
To the fifth.
To the sixth.
When the elevator reached the sixth floor, it shook once and stopped. The doors didn't open.
"Hey hey, what's going on!"
"It couldn't be a power outage, right!"
"Don't ask stupid questions like that. Should we break open the elevator?"
Xiao Chen pulled out a chainsaw and was just about to yank the cord to start it when the lights inside the elevator began to flicker.
"Ho ho ho…"
Strange female laughter echoed inside the elevator. It sounded eerie and godlike, sending chills down everyone's spines.
Before they could react, the group felt a sinking, pulling sensation downward—as if the elevator was rapidly descending.
The display showed it was heading to the seventh floor, and the white floor button had become faintly visible and flickering.
The group steadied themselves by holding onto the sides of the elevator.
The blue general frowned and cursed, "What the hell is this now? Why is it suddenly going down!"
Xiao Chen kept his hands in his pockets. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Lin Fan. Lin Fan said nothing, but a faint ghostly glow emanated from his blood-red pupils.
With a jolt—"Creak"—the sinking sensation vanished. The elevator stopped.
They adjusted their stance. Click—the elevator doors opened. The eerie female laughter from earlier had also disappeared.
The group looked at the elevator. Above it now read "Arrived at 7th Floor." They looked at the seventh-floor area. It was quite different from the six floors below.
The walls were pitch black and dilapidated in places. There were some footprints scattered along the corridor, as if someone had stepped there not long ago.
But normal human footprints were only one set. The others were all bizarre and strange—at a glance, clearly not human.
These footprints extended forward and split into two paths. Blue light leaked in from somewhere unknown along the corridor.
The five stepped out of the elevator.
"This is the seventh floor, right?"
"It's so weird. Earlier I felt like the elevator was going down."
"These footprints on the ground look a little familiar. If Saiki were here, where would he be? Let's find the director's office first!"
Lin Fan: "The director's office… it looks like something's written up there."
"What!"
Lin Fan pointed at the wall. In especially prominent letters, an arrow read "Direction to the Director's Office Ahead."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"…"
The group quickly followed the arrow's direction and headed down the right path, walking along the long, eerily quiet corridor.
They walked for about ten minutes or so.
Akiyuki suddenly frowned and said, "Don't you guys think this corridor is way too long?"
"It does seem a bit much." Lin Fan stopped walking. His blood-red eyes stared straight ahead. After a long moment, he spoke calmly, "There's a ghost. It's making us go in circles in place."
The blue general's heart jolted. He pulled out his shotgun. "Ghost wall!"
Lin Fan reached into his pocket and extended his palm. In it were five strange-looking nails.
Clang!
"…"
In one room, Saiki held a small notebook and turned his head toward a certain direction.
[Yare yare, they're finally here.]