“Bro, what have you been busy with these days? Did you forget about me? You haven’t called me in ages. Can I come over to your place? How about I treat you to dinner at Da Bao Jian tonight?”

Yang Jian received a call from Zhang Wei while at the mall.

“It’s best if you don’t come to my place. My dad might be there. I ran into him last night, and he almost killed me. I’m working outside now,” Yang Jian said as he changed into his security uniform in the dressing room.

“Didn’t you say your dad passed away before?” Zhang Wei asked, confused.

“He did. That’s why I got a job that includes food and lodging. I can’t stay at home all the time,” Yang Jian replied.

“Holy crap, so your house is haunted,” Zhang Wei exclaimed.

“It is, but it’s not as terrifying as the ghosts in the Wan Hao Grandpa story. I can manage it,” Yang Jian said. “Why, do you need something from me?”

“No, I’m just bored at home these days and want to hang out with you. How about you? Where are you working?” Zhang Wei asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He was relieved that he called first.

“I’m working at a mall,” Yang Jian replied.

“Do they need more people? Can I come work with you? I’m not going to school anyway, and I’m bored,” Zhang Wei said.

“You’d better not. This place might be haunted too. I smelled a corpse-like odor when I came in. Someone disappeared here, and the police have put up a cordon. But they haven’t solved the case, and the missing person might have already rotted away somewhere in the mall,” Yang Jian warned.

“…”

“Why can’t you find a normal job? If you don’t have a place to stay, you can live at my place. My bed is big and warm, and I’ll provide food,” Zhang Wei offered.

“Recently, Wang Shanshan has been acting strange. She keeps saying that something is following her. Maybe the ghost baby from school is after her. Her dad called me today, so be careful too. I can’t confirm if the ghost baby will target other people, but if you have time, let us know in the group chat,” Yang Jian said.

“Bro, forget it. I just bought a new computer today. Come over and play PUBG with me. Let’s be lazy and stay at home forever. We have anime and games. Why bother working? I’ll take care of you,” Zhang Wei said, almost crying.

“What’s wrong with this world? Why is that thing everywhere?” Yang Jian sighed.

It seemed like he had to hold onto his best friend’s thigh tightly.

“Why are you so slow?” Liu Qiang, another young man, asked Yang Jian when he stepped out of the dressing room. He was a recent college graduate who had just started working at the mall.

“According to regulations, we need to patrol the entire mall five times a day. Once in the morning, once at noon, once in the afternoon, and twice at night. It’s four in the afternoon now, so let’s start early,” Liu Qiang said.

Yang Jian followed him and asked, “Are we the only two security guards for the entire mall?”

“Yeah, it’s just us. There used to be another one, but he disappeared too. We haven’t been able to hire anyone else since then, so I’ve been covering for him,” Liu Qiang replied.

“Disappeared? There are so many missing cases in this mall. Why don’t you quit and find another job?” Yang Jian asked, concerned.”I’m from out of town and just graduated. It’s not easy to find a job that provides food and housing and has a decent salary, so I’ll take this one for now. Are you still in high school? The college entrance exam is coming up soon, isn’t it?” Liu Qiang asked.

“I took a break from school and probably won’t take the college entrance exam,” Yang Jian said.

Liu Qiang didn’t ask any further and said, “Usually, I patrol from the fifth floor down. After completing a round in the parking lot, my task is done. If there’s a power outage in the mall and the elevators can’t operate, we can only walk up.”

“You’ve been working here for so long, haven’t you felt that there’s something wrong with this mall?” Yang Jian turned on his flashlight and illuminated the surroundings.

“Something wrong?” Liu Qiang was puzzled. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“For example, have you smelled any strange odors in the mall?” Yang Jian asked.

“I’ve smelled it occasionally. It’s probably some spoiled frozen food in the freezer. They’ll definitely clean it before opening. ” Liu Qiang said.

“What I mean is, have you ever thought that this mall might be haunted?” Yang Jian asked.

“Haunted?” Liu Qiang laughed. “You’re still in high school, how can you believe that? If it’s really haunted, how come I haven’t encountered anything while patrolling here for so many days? It’s the boss who believes in this. He went to find a master. A master came over recently, but it didn’t work. The boss thought the master’s skills were not good enough, so he went to another famous master from out of town.”

“If it’s not haunted, how do you explain the missing people? If they disappear in the mall, where could they have gone?” Yang Jian asked.

“It’s not necessarily that they disappeared in the mall. It’s just that the last video of the missing person investigated by the police was in the mall. Maybe it’s kidnapping or robbery. But after the mall closed, there were hardly any missing cases.” Liu Qiang said.

“Wait a minute.” Suddenly, Yang Jian’s face changed and he stopped walking.

“Brother, what’s wrong?”

Yang Jian pointed ahead and said, “Didn’t you say that we’re the only two patrolling the entire mall? What’s that?”

A shadow, a motionless shadow standing in the darkness, like a wooden man, standing there.

Liu Qiang shone his flashlight on it, but it turned out to be a fake model.

“Just a fake model, don’t make a fuss.” He walked over and picked up the model, putting it in a nearby store.

There were more than a dozen mannequins in the dark store, all missing arms and legs, and none of them were perfect. They were placed quite messily, obviously no one had come to tidy up for a long time.

“It’s okay, let’s go patrol the next floor.” Liu Qiang said.

“How did the fake model end up in the middle of the road? Didn’t you see it when you patrolled before?” Yang Jian asked.

“I didn’t see it when I patrolled at noon. I just saw it for the first time just now. Maybe Sister Li and the others used the model to try on clothes. It’s not the first time.” Liu Qiang said.

“I see…”

Whether it was an illusion or not, the stench of corpses that he smelled upstairs seemed to be even stronger.

Just as the two of them were leaving, a fake model stood motionless in front of the store they had just patrolled.

In the darkness, its head seemed to be facing the direction where Yang Jian and Liu Qiang disappeared.After Yang Jian and Liu Qiang walked around the mall, nothing happened.

Perhaps he was wrong, this was just an ordinary criminal case, and there was no involvement with supernatural events.

It’s not easy to earn one million from this mall owner.

Yang Jian pondered, he thought he would try the probation period here for three days, and if he didn’t gain anything, he would resign. He couldn’t waste time here forever.

Just as he finished patrolling and was about to rest in the security room, his satellite positioning phone rang.

It was from Wang Bin, the father of Wan Shanshan.