“Clatter—”

The roller shutter of Warehouse No. 44 was pulled down.

Inside the warehouse, it was pitch-dark as the lights were off.

He Gu entered through the side door of the inner storage area, rushed to Warehouse No. 44, which hadn’t opened today, and then closed the door behind him, all in less than half a minute.

Standing behind the door to catch his breath, He Gu took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and illuminated a small area.

The darkness of the warehouse was silent, giving off a creepy vibe.

He Gu stood in front of a table, using the light from his flashlight to take out a vacuum test tube from his pocket. To prevent the crow’s blood inside from coagulating due to air exposure, He Gu didn’t open the stopper. Instead, he used a syringe to extract a bit of the crow’s blood.

Afterward, He Gu smeared the small amount of crow’s blood on the back of his neck and took out a crow feather, not minding the disgust as he put it directly into his mouth.

Having done all this, He Gu quickly walked to the loading dock, took a deep breath, climbed onto the conveyor belt, and, with his butt facing inwards and head outwards, crawled backward into it.

Entering the delivery port, He Gu still felt a bit nervous and didn’t dare to look back, just stubbornly retreating.

As his legs entered the passage, He Gu distinctly felt the temperature inside was lower than outside, a chill instantly striking him, causing him to shiver.

In this way, He Gu slowly backed into the delivery passage, until his head was inside.

The moment his head entered the delivery port, He Gu felt as if he had plunged underwater.

All around was silent, as if the delivery passage had completely cut off contact with the outside world.

Maintaining his prone position, He Gu tried to prop up his upper body as much as possible. It was pitch-black and somewhat cold.

Taking out his phone to turn on the flashlight, He Gu was about to survey his surroundings.

As the flashlight came on, several lines of blood-red text appeared before He Gu’s eyes.

The sudden sight of the bloody script startled He Gu, but upon closer inspection, he saw it was a few sentences written on the left wall of the passage:

【Rule Eight】

1. No matter what noise you hear in the passage, never look back; (instant death)

2. You can trust the words of the shadow, but never agree to any of its requests other than cooperation; (instant death)

……

Hidden message: In the place you dare not look, in tune with the channel you dare not listen to, lies the truth;

……

After reading these rules, a chill ran down He Gu’s spine, followed by a wave of relief.

Don’t look back in the passage!

If He Gu had turned on his flashlight any later to see these rules, he might have died without knowing how!

Interestingly, under the effect of The Eye of Truth, He Gu knew that both these rules were instant death rules.

Meaning, both rules were true!

But what did the second rule mean by “shadow”?

You can trust the words of the shadow… Surely it couldn’t mean his own shadow could speak?

Could it be referring to something that had escaped from the box into the passage?

He Gu scrutinized the two rules carefully, then focused his attention on the hidden message that only he could see.

The place you dare not look… the channel you dare not listen to…

The hidden message of Rule Three was: 【In the place you dare not look, the truth may be watching you】.

Now He Gu was certain, this “place you dare not look” referred to this delivery passage!

Then the channel you dare not listen to…

The fourth channel on the radio!

A surge of excitement filled He Gu’s heart, and he quickly crawled out of the passage, went to the table by the warehouse door, and found the portable radio the size of half a brick.

This radio had played a key role when He Gu negotiated with the thing in the box, and to prevent being killed by 449, he even took it to his office for safekeeping for two days.

Unexpectedly, at the crucial moment, it turned out to be a key prop!

He Gu picked up the radio, turned it on, and tuned it to the fourth channel, where an unknown tune immediately began to play.

Letting the radio play the tune, He Gu adjusted the volume to a suitable level and then put it in his pocket.

After all this, He Gu once again entered the delivery passage, head outwards.

As He Gu entered the delivery passage, the music from the radio abruptly stopped.

“Shh…zzz…”

A series of static noises followed.

He Gu stood still for a while, waiting. The radio, as if it had lost its signal, didn’t broadcast any other sounds for some time.

After a moment of thought, He Gu didn’t delay any longer and, using his hands and feet, crawled backward into the passage.

The entire passage was pitch-black, and even with the flashlight on his phone, He Gu could only see a small area in front of him.

Because he couldn’t look back and was crawling backward, He Gu moved very slowly, and he always had the eerie feeling that something was watching him from behind.

The passage was silent, with only He Gu’s own breathing and the faint sounds of movement, along with the “shh” of static from the radio in his pocket.

In such an environment, He Gu felt as if he was the only person left in the world, with negative emotions like oppression and anxiety enveloping him.

Time ticked by, and He Gu glanced at his phone, realizing he had been crawling for over twenty minutes, sweating profusely.

He had no idea how far he had crawled or where he was.

At that moment, a man’s voice suddenly came from the radio in He Gu’s pocket:

“424…shh…424, do you copy? Respond!”

……

After a few seconds of silence, He Gu heard a familiar voice: “Who’s there! Who is that!”

……

It was 424’s voice!

He Gu froze, beads of sweat falling from his forehead, unsure if it was from exhaustion or shock.

According to previous recordings, wasn’t 424 killed in the warehouse after counterattacking the supervisor?

How could it be…

As He Gu pondered, 424’s voice came through the radio again: “Damn it, what is that!”

……

“Shh…”

……

After a long silence, 424’s voice rang out again: “Keep going, my friend, the truth lies ahead.”

“I’m glad you brought the radio; it will help you understand this place more directly.”

……

Hearing this, He Gu shuddered.

Why did it feel like this sentence… wasn’t a recording, but was being said to him in real-time?

Could it be that 424 hadn’t died and had been watching him all along?

“Where are you?”

He Gu tentatively asked.

The only response was the “shh” of static electricity.

He Gu called out a few more times, but received no reply.

Maybe he was overthinking it?

He Gu took a deep breath, preparing to continue on.

But just then, He Gu suddenly felt as if he had bumped into something behind him.

How could there be something on the delivery passage?

Had he reached the end?

Before He Gu could think further, he suddenly felt that the thing behind him moved…

In the pitch-black passage, He Gu had bumped into something that moved…

Considering that Old Ma, 414, and others had entered this passage, He Gu’s hair stood on end in an instant.

At that moment, He Gu felt as if his heartbeat had stopped.

And yet, due to the rules, He Gu couldn’t turn back to look!

Just as He Gu’s nerves were on edge, a voice suddenly whispered in his ear: “You’ve finally arrived…”

The voice was sharp and unpleasant, like nails scraping on a tile, making one extremely uncomfortable.

Upon hearing this voice, He Gu actually breathed a sigh of relief.

He recognized the voice.

It was the same entity from the box that had reached an understanding with He Gu and helped him counter-kill 411.

It had mentioned before that it would wait inside for He Gu to come in and had spoken of cooperation.

Regaining his composure, He Gu tentatively asked, “Were you waiting for me?”

The sharp, unpleasant voice rang out again: “Of course… unless you died outside, then we would be the best of partners…”

As it spoke, He Gu felt something crawling on his back, as if a giant worm had climbed onto him.

He Gu frowned: “What exactly… are you?”

The voice let out a strange laugh: “Me?… They call us shadows.”

Hearing this, He Gu understood.

Just as he had guessed, the “shadow” mentioned in the rule referred to the entity from the box.

The shadow continued: “Since you’re here, your goal must be clear.”

“Let’s cooperate.”

He Gu thought for a moment and then asked, “How do you propose we cooperate?”

The shadow continued with its strange laugh, the unpleasant voice making He Gu’s teeth ache.

“You want to get in, but without me guiding you, you might just get trapped and die in there.”

“The terms of cooperation are simple: I guide you, and you take me with you.”

He Gu sharply caught the implication: “Can’t you get in by yourself?”

The shadow confessed: “We shadows, once we escape the box, can only hide in these dark passages. We can only enter deeper places by attaching ourselves to someone else.”

He Gu fell silent, pondering.

After a moment, remembering the rule that said you can trust the words of the shadow, He Gu nodded in agreement: “Alright, I’ll cooperate with you.”

The shadow, upon hearing this, let out a heh heh laugh: “That’s more like it!”

As the voice fell, He Gu suddenly felt a cold, slimy sensation on his back, as if a fish had slipped into his clothes and was crawling up his spine.

Then, He Gu felt something latch onto his back and touch the back of his neck.

But in the next moment, as if electrocuted, the thing retracted sharply.

At the same time, the shadow’s sharp, unpleasant voice rang in his ear: “You actually smeared crow’s blood on your neck… heh heh heh… No wonder your voice sounded muffled tonight, you had a crow feather in your mouth, right?”

The shadow said, laughing strangely: “Well then, no need to hide it anymore.”

“I’ll guide you to the core area, and once it’s done, you have to give me a drop of your blood!”

Remembering the rule that said not to agree to any of the shadow’s requests other than cooperation, He Gu firmly refused: “Don’t try to be clever with me, stick to the original deal: you guide me, I take you in, nothing else!”

The shadow fell silent, seemingly contemplating.

He Gu also pondered in his heart.

It seemed that smearing crow’s blood on the back of his neck and holding a crow feather in his mouth… were preparations to guard against the shadow?

Just now, something had definitely touched his neck, and it seemed to retract after coming into contact with the crow’s blood.

What would have happened if He Gu hadn’t smeared crow’s blood on his neck?

Zhang Chao’s note had said that if He Gu didn’t make these preparations, entering the delivery passage would be a death wish…

It seemed the shadow wasn’t well-intentioned after all!

While He Gu was contemplating, the shadow, after a long silence, finally spoke again: “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

“Just keep going down this passage!”

……

The shadow’s voice remained sharp and unpleasant, but its tone had become much colder, and with that, it fell silent.

He Gu didn’t bother with small talk, checked the time on his phone.

It was 23:11, and the manager’s next patrol was at 2:57 a.m., giving him three and a half hours.

He Gu had entered the passage at 22:46. To account for the patrol, he needed to leave at least half the time for the return trip.

That left He Gu with just over an hour.

Thinking this, He Gu set an alarm for 00:15 on his phone to remind himself to return, then continued to crawl backward deeper into the passage.

Now with a shadow on him, He Gu moved forward with less hesitation and a bit faster than before.

After a while, He Gu spoke up: “Where does this passage lead?”

The shadow’s cold voice echoed in his ear: “The core of this pharmaceutical factory.”

The rule at the entrance said the shadow’s words could be trusted, meaning everything it said was true!

This was a great opportunity to extract information!

With that thought, He Gu asked again: “The people who came in before… the security guard who wanted to eat me, and 414 who came in later, have you seen them?”

The shadow replied impatiently: “Of course, if you had died outside, I might have chosen to cooperate with that security guard.”

He Gu seized the moment: “Where did they go?”

The shadow fell silent for a while, then coldly said: “Hurry up and move on, stop asking so many questions!”

He Gu smacked his lips and tentatively asked: “By the way, what do you want my blood for?”

The shadow snorted coldly, no longer responding.

He Gu thought for a moment, then asked: “Can I have some of your blood?”

The shadow went completely silent, as if it had fallen asleep.

He Gu sighed, realizing that extracting information wouldn’t be so easy.

Although the shadow’s words were trustworthy, if it chose not to speak, there was nothing He Gu could do.

He Gu shook his head, checked the time, and without further ado, continued to crawl forward.

After about half an hour more of crawling, He Gu suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet give way.

The next moment, He Gu lost his balance and fell heavily into a metallic-feeling pipe.

Before he could react, a sensation of weightlessness overcame him, and he felt as if he had been thrown into a slide, sliding down swiftly.

“Bang!”

Seconds later, He Gu landed awkwardly on a conveyor belt.

Here, the surroundings were no longer pitch-black, and the space had become much more spacious.

He Gu no longer needed to crawl; there was enough room for him to stand up.

Dim lights hung overhead, barely allowing He Gu to see his surroundings.

This was a conveyor belt about four or five times wider than the one in the passage, and it was still operating, slowly moving He Gu inward.

On both sides of the conveyor belt, there were a series of round “pipes,” and He Gu had just slid down from one marked “44.”

It seemed this was the main passage where all the delivery passages from the warehouses converged!

He Gu didn’t turn around or look directly behind him, crouching warily on the conveyor belt, letting it carry him along.

A few minutes later, He Gu passed through an exit with the conveyor belt and once again lost his balance, tumbling into a pile of cardboard boxes.

When He Gu stood up again, he found himself in what appeared to be a workshop—the end of the delivery passage.

Next to the pile of boxes where He Gu was standing, there was a figure.

The moment He Gu saw the figure, he froze.

It was Old Ma, who had entered before…