Volume One: The Ghost Building Chapter Eight: The Crisis Arrives

Without a word, Cheng Fan took immediate action. His eyes swept across the room before he finally ducked behind the desk at the far end. It was not that he particularly wanted to hide there, but the office space was limited, and there were precious few places to take cover.

Seeing Cheng Fan’s anxious demeanor as he took the lead, the blond youth and Zhao Linxuan were also thrown into a panic. Looking around frantically, the blond youth scrambled into the filing cabinet on the right side of the room, while Zhao Linxuan crawled under the steel-frame bed on the left. In an effort to conceal herself as much as possible, she tucked herself deep into the shadows beneath the bed frame.

The room fell into absolute silence. Regardless of who they were, all three held their breath, leaving only the pervasive sense of dread—the gnawing anxiety over whether they would live or die.

Whether by coincidence or not, only seconds after they had hidden themselves, a hissing sound drifted in from outside the door.

*Hiss... Hiss...*

The chilling sound, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, echoed incessantly in the corridor. As the sound drew closer, a head suddenly pierced through the door, ignoring the physical barrier, and drifted effortlessly into the room. It was attached to an impossibly long neck; there was truly no body, only the neck!

Peering through a gap in the cabinet, the blond youth saw the entire scene. Even though he had been pursued by a female ghost before, witnessing her horrifying appearance now left him shattered. Terror surged through him, and the urge to urinate flooded his bladder.

Crouched beneath the bed, Zhao Linxuan’s eyes widened in horror. Within the shadows, her body trembled violently. Even Cheng Fan, hidden behind the desk, saw the scene reflected in a wall mirror mounted at an angle. Seeing that the ghost had indeed tracked them down, beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

Dragging her pale, elongated neck, the ghost’s head began its search. Upon entering, the head swayed like a venomous snake, peering to the left and right, occasionally tilting upward to scan the ceiling, inspecting every corner of the room.

If that were all, it might have been bearable, but for some reason, after surveying the room, the head did not leave. It lingered, hovering in the middle of the room, its crimson eyes scanning repeatedly. None of them, including Cheng Fan, knew why it remained, but the longer it stayed, the more the pressure mounted, weighing on them like a mountain.

Then, the head began to move again. Without warning, it drifted forward, floating directly toward the desk where Cheng Fan was hiding. Through the mirror's reflection, Cheng Fan’s expression shifted in terror.

A wave of intense cold washed over him, and he was struck by a desperate impulse to bolt. Yet, despite his extreme fear, he held his ground, maintaining his composure. As a rational man, he knew that running now would only expose him immediately, offering no benefit whatsoever. He suppressed his breathing and forced himself to remain motionless, even as the ghost drifted closer.

Cheng Fan was gambling—gambling that the ghost had not yet discovered him.

Moments later, a uniquely terrifying scene unfolded: whether the previous movement had been random or the ghost had simply found nothing, the head stopped just as it reached the edge of the desk—right beside Cheng Fan.

At that moment, only a thin wooden panel separated Cheng Fan from the ghost.

Outside the panel, the ghost remained expressionless, her blood-red eyes darting wildly. Inside, Cheng Fan gritted his teeth, cold sweat streaming down his forehead, his heart drumming against his ribs so violently he felt it might leap out of his throat.

After a brief pause, the ghost finally retracted her head, pulling back from the desk.

But it was not over. Even after retreating, the search continued. The moment her head pulled back, her gaze shifted, and she slowly drifted toward the steel-frame bed on the left.

Cheng Fan felt a surge of alarm. Unlike the desk, which was small and easily overlooked, the bed was large, and the space beneath it was a classic hiding spot. If the ghost focused on the area under the bed, Zhao Linxuan would be in grave danger.

Cheng Fan’s intuition proved correct; the ghost headed straight for the bed. If nothing changed, Zhao Linxuan was doomed.

*I am sorry, Linxuan,* Cheng Fan thought, a wave of helpless resentment rising within him. If he could, he would have saved her, but he was powerless. Before a supernatural entity, there was nothing he, a mortal, could do.

Sure enough, through the corner mirror, Cheng Fan witnessed the ghost slip beneath the steel-frame bed.

But then...

*Hmm?*

A bizarre turn of events occurred, one so baffling that it left Cheng Fan utterly bewildered. Even though the ghost’s head had entered the space beneath the bed—even appearing to catch a glimpse of Zhao Linxuan huddled in the shadows—the ghost suddenly changed direction. She pulled back from the bed and drifted straight toward the filing cabinet on the right!

*What... what is happening?*

Seeing the ghost inexplicably abandon Zhao Linxuan, Cheng Fan was stunned. Why? Why would she let her go? If he had been lucky to avoid detection at the desk, this was entirely beyond his understanding.

While Cheng Fan was still reeling, the ghost, dragging her long neck, slipped into the filing cabinet where the blond youth was hiding.

Then...

"Aaaaah!"

A shrill, blood-curdling scream erupted from the cabinet, echoing through the entire room. There was no doubt; the blond youth had been found. His fate was sealed the moment the ghost entered the cabinet, but in that very instant, both Cheng Fan and Zhao Linxuan realized they had a window to escape.

Without wasting a second, Cheng Fan scrambled up and bolted for the door. Zhao Linxuan crawled out from under the bed and sprinted toward the exit at the same time.

Once in the corridor, they saw the ghost’s body. At the far end of the hall, the female form in the red dress hung suspended in mid-air, motionless, her neck stretched to an astonishing length, trailing all the way from the edge of the corridor into the office in the center.

The sight was horrific, but for the two fleeing for their lives, it was secondary. As soon as they burst out of the room, Cheng Fan took the lead, heading for the left side of the corridor. It seemed as though they were about to break free, but—

*Whoosh!*

Before they had run even a few meters, the ghost’s body, which had been stationary, suddenly lunged forward as if it had discovered new prey. With terrifying speed, it floated directly toward them!