Five nails infused with black aura were driven into the wall and floor.
Clang
Lin Fan swung his hammer, slamming it heavily onto the nail in the floor. The ground shook for a moment but quickly returned to calm.
Seeing this, Lin Fan swung the hammer again, but no matter how he attacked afterward, the ground only trembled.
Lin Fan caught his breath and put away the hammer and nails.
"How'd it go?"
"No use!"
Xiao Chen spoke calmly. "Where's the ghost?"
Lin Fan broke out in a cold sweat and said, "There's only one ghost, but it's the entire corridor."
"Got it."
Xiao Chen pulled a yellow-wrapped solid from his pocket and smashed it onto the floor ahead where the ghost was. He himself quickly retreated.
Boom!
A burst of yellow gas and an overwhelming stench spread out. Everyone covered their noses and backed away.
Lin Fan inwardly cursed, "I give up. Durian soil again."
"Mmph～ ah～"
A round, plump ghost stumbled out from the smoke on the corridor, foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back, convulsing nonstop on the ground. After a while, it could no longer get up.
"Even though the side effects are pretty bad and it stinks like hell, at least it works. Let's go."
Everyone covered their noses. They had just turned a corner and exited that corridor.
The first thing that met their eyes was a wide panoramic view. Ahead, a massive horde of ghosts and monsters was charging straight toward them.
"Holy crap, what the hell? So many?"
The scene was comparable to a hundred ghosts parading at night—an absolute high-energy spectacle. It was their first time seeing so many ghosts suddenly rush out all at once, and they still hadn't recovered from the previous scene.
Lin Fan gripped his hammer tightly. "Too many ghosts. Xiao Chen, do you have any more durian soil?"
Click-clack-clack…
Xiao Chen pulled the cord to start his chainsaw, then looked up and said, "All out. That was the last one."
The blue general held dual pistols and sized up the monsters with a playful grin. "Alright then, time to fight. My turn to perform…"
"Move aside, I've got some." Akiyuki suddenly stepped forward, interrupting the blue general. She pulled ten durian soils from her pocket and hurled them all forward with force, then took out a spray can and sprayed it ahead.
Boom
Akiyuki swiftly pulled out a gas mask from her pocket and put it on at top speed.
Ahead, yellowish-brown smoke spread out, carrying an unbearably foul odor.
Even Xiao Chen and the others were unavoidably caught in the gas cloud. Although they held their breath when they saw the smoke, they still instinctively inhaled a little.
"Mmph～ ah～"
Late at night! While many people were still sound asleep, an extremely foul stench suddenly spread.
Even those on nearby floors caught the odor and muttered curses under their breath.
"Damn it, who's trying to stop us from leaving peacefully tomorrow? Who the hell wants to take us down with them?"
"Holy crap, is someone eating shit in the bathroom?!"
"Hiss hiss~ That's the smell! Lao Ba paid a fortune for the secret recipe!"
...
On the seventh-floor corridor, the yellowish-brown smoke had thinned out considerably and spread everywhere.
Yao Yao and the blue general lay on the ground, expressions full of misery.
Xiao Chen and Lin Fan leaned against the wall with one hand, faces turning green.
"Alright, they should be dead for sure now." Akiyuki, speaking muffled through the mask, said.
"You guys okay?"
"Okay… okay my ass!"
"What were you thinking? You even used that Ganges spray that multiplies the stench by ten times!"
"This… sorry. I was worried the ghosts wouldn't die, so I increased the dose a bit."
Akiyuki looked embarrassed and gave an awkward smile. She knew she had overdone it earlier, but this was her trump card for self-defense. Since she knew her companions were nearby, she had only used half of what she carried.
"You were worried they wouldn't die? Looks more like you were worried we wouldn't die!"
"I already apologized."
Akiyuki huffed cutely and turned her head away. In her heart she grumbled, [I was just being cautious. What did I do wrong? I didn't do anything wrong, hmph!]
After recovering for a bit, they continued forward, stepping over the corpses of the fallen ghosts.
But from a door on the right, a deformed male ghost emerged.
Clearly, judging by its build, this was a boss-level one—at least far stronger than the ghosts from earlier. Whether it arrived late or something, it had just shown up and escaped the earlier attack.
The deformed male ghost had narrow, slit-like eyes. It looked down from above at Akiyuki standing at the front. Alarm lights flashed and intertwined, shadows twisting across its face like indescribable living things.
It stood nearly four meters tall. Its right arm was twisted and swollen, skinless, with scarlet muscle tissue exposed. Sharp teeth grew from the gaps in the muscles—an obvious mutated combat organ.
Akiyuki frowned and reached toward her pockets with both hands.
Lin Fan and Xiao Chen saw this, their faces darkened instantly, and they grabbed Akiyuki's hands right away. "No more durian soil. We'll handle it."
The blue general spoke urgently and quickly, "Yeah, big sis, please don't use that again."
Yao Yao mumbled with trembling lips, then looked up pitifully and said, "Akiyuki-neesan, please don't use it anymore. Otherwise I'm really going to die."
Right now Yao Yao looked the most miserable—face green, bloodshot lines across her skin. The necklace she gripped glowed green, slowly nourishing her body.
Akiyuki: ...
As they spoke, the deformed ghost impatiently raised its arm and smashed it toward them.
But they were already prepared and scattered. The blue general pulled out his shotgun and fired two shots at the deformed ghost.
Bang!
Flesh splattered. The deformed ghost staggered back two steps. Xiao Chen swung his chainsaw toward the deformed ghost's arm.
The chainsaw bit into the deformed ghost's arm. The trigger was pulled, and the chainsaw revved backward against the deformed ghost.
"Roar!" Feeling the pain, the deformed ghost roared and extended its right hand to smash toward Xiao Chen.
But Lin Fan, eyes already red, didn't give it the chance. The five nails in his hand fused into one massive nail, which he drove straight into the deformed ghost's head.
He raised the hammer with both hands and smashed it lightning-fast onto the deformed ghost's head. The deformed ghost, in excruciating pain, stumbled, then swung both arms with massive force to fling Lin Fan and Xiao Chen away.
Seeing the monster still not down, the blue general aimed the barrel at the deformed ghost and fired two more shots.
Bang!
Two huge holes were blasted in the deformed ghost's legs. It knelt to the ground.
Pain, so much pain!
But it still wasn't fully dead. The three coordinated perfectly and stepped forward to finish it off.
The entire sequence flowed smoothly, as if they had been partners for years.
Lin Fan grinned ferociously. "Feels good. Beating up ghosts is so satisfying."
Xiao Chen retracted his chainsaw, crossed his arms, and said coolly, "Not bad."
"Easy peasy!" The blue general smugly blew on the still-smoking barrel.
Akiyuki watched this scene somewhat surprised. Although she had known these three had some skills, she hadn't expected their coordination to be this strong—and they hadn't even used holy water.
That ghost clearly looked much stronger than the security guard downstairs. She didn't know the three had deliberately held back on the holy water to vent their earlier frustration.
The three exchanged glances and nodded. At that moment, another huge noise came from outside.
Boom!!!
"More ghosts."
"Perfect, I'm not done yet."
"Let's go."
The three grabbed their weapons and rushed toward the source of the sound. The two women behind them hurried to follow.
They soon arrived at a door labeled "Office," but thick smoke was now pouring out from the gap under the door.
They formed up. Akiyuki and Yao Yao stood at the very back. The blue general, holding dual pistols, aimed the barrels at the door.
Xiao Chen with his axe and Lin Fan with holy water and hammer exchanged a glance. Slowly, they pushed the door open. Everyone's nerves were taut, ready to strike.
But the door creaked and opened inward. Lin Fan and Xiao Chen quickly pulled their outstretched hands back.
After the door opened, a figure slowly emerged from the thick smoke. The blue general couldn't hold back and fired first.
Bang!!
Pop pop pop
[Yare yare, are you trying to kill me?]
"Saiki!!"
Hearing Saiki's voice, their tense nerves relaxed somewhat—especially the blue general. Realizing he had just fired, cold sweat broke out uncontrollably on his face.
The smoke cleared, and Saiki's figure fully appeared.
The blue general lowered his guns and said urgently, "Saiki, you okay? My hand slipped earlier and I fired…"
[Hand slipped? Next time please look carefully before shooting. Good thing I'm fine.]
Saiki walked out holding the notebook in his left hand. With his right hand open, he dropped the bullets he had caught earlier onto the ground and said casually,
[That was pretty dangerous just now. If it had hit me, I'd probably be seeing red by now.]
Hearing such an unreasonable statement, the blue general's face darkened. He inwardly cursed, [This guy is way scarier than the ghosts outside. He's not even pretending anymore.]
"Saiki, after you disappeared alone yesterday, did you come up to the seventh floor early?"
Lin Fan asked the question everyone wanted to know.
[No, I didn't make it yesterday. I only arrived tonight—just a few hours before you guys.]
Xiao Chen: "Even though we're not as strong as you, you didn't have to ditch us like that."
"You really… suddenly leaving like that. We looked for you forever. Things got really troublesome after you left." Lin Fan couldn't help but give him a resentful glance.
The blue general nodded in agreement. "Yeah, exactly."
[Yare yare, how am I supposed to explain this? What a hassle.]
Saiki shrugged with a bitter expression, looking very helpless.
[Didn't I give you three brocade pouches?]
"Brocade pouches?"
[Yeah. When you're in a crisis and don't know what to do, just open them.]
"Really? Let me see." The blue general pulled out the blue brocade pouch from his pocket, casually opened it, and found a slip of paper inside.
He unfolded the note. It read: If you see the elevator is usable and notice no one inside, don't be afraid—just go in.
The blue general's expression at that moment was exactly like that old man staring at his phone in the subway entrance.
They really had been troubled at the elevator earlier and had even spent hours searching the whole building before returning. Thinking back now, it really felt stupid.
The blue general's mouth twitched as he looked at Saiki. "Hey Saiki, this would've been super useful earlier, but now it doesn't do much!"
[No kidding?]
Saiki gave him a speechless look and said casually,
[Do you guys have any trouble right now? Any crisis? Nothing at all. Opening it in a safe situation obviously does nothing!]
The blue general felt a bit complicated. Then, thinking of Lin Fan and Xiao Chen, he grinned and said, "I already opened mine. You guys should open yours too!"
"No way!"
"I refuse!"
"…"
Akiyuki crossed her arms, walked up to Saiki, and muttered quietly, "So you got here early. That means you also took the elevator."
[Sigh, yeah, you could say that.]
Actually, after Saiki had extinguished the light and stepped into darkness yesterday, some ghosts had come to bother him at first, but they quickly started avoiding him.
With no other choice, Saiki used his transformation ability to change into someone else. It took several hours of effort to get back to the elevator area, and sure enough, it opened.
He also spent a little time thoroughly beating up the elevator ghost inside.
"So Saiki, what was all that noise earlier? Did you find anything?"
[This.]
Saiki opened the second volume of the director's notebook in front of everyone.
Continued from the previous volume.
March 25.
Although I'm the director now, I faintly feel a sense of unease.
There's always this feeling of being watched, especially at night.
"…"
April 36. [Note: likely typo in original for April something]
Recently, some corpses in the morgue have mysteriously disappeared, and it's starting to draw attention from others.
"…"
May 28.
The morgue is too dark—way too dark.
In a couple of days, have someone install two more lights.
May 29.
Today I saw that old hag.
How is this possible? She's already…
"…"
July 1.
The hospital disappeared!
I just went to check the morgue, but I couldn't find the way back upstairs.
Something wants to come out from there… A doctor suggested going back through the morgue entrance.
But after that, he never came out again.
The door… closed. It seems to have been fed enough!
"…"
September 2.
The things coming out of the morgue have a reversed sense of up and down.
Because they come from hell?
"…"
December 10.
Their numbers are getting too high. The earliest batch of doctors has almost all been used up.
Damn it! If this continues, it'll eventually be my turn.
"…"
February 10.
As expected, as long as it's a living person, it can stop them from advancing.
I recently came up with a good idea—call it the patient agreement.
Just let their families come…
"…"
April 8.
I suddenly had an idea.
What if we use living people's organs for their surgeries?
Looks feasible. This test subject named Zhang Wei seems pretty good.
April 9.
It looks no different from a normal person.
Sure enough, the living part can restrict the dead part.
April 10.
Not enough manpower.
I found a village chief and discussed many things with him.
Heh heh.
Exactly, exactly—this is the best. Cooperation benefits everyone.
May 10.
Damn it!
After several riots, manpower is gradually running short.
I need to assemble a group.
Let's call them security guards. Look at how they're ready to face death—perfect…
May 19.
What did I see? A journalist.
What's written in the notes in his hand!
Damn it! Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Fine, since that's the case, don't blame me!
June 6.
Alright, another batch of new toys.
They think they can find the truth. Some delusional fools even want to capture me. But does it matter?
As long as time passes, I'll still return here.
They can't understand what I've done step by step to reach this point, or what I've done wrong.
Alright, time's up. Time to drive them down into the morgue…