Tang Baishan panicked.
He went down so many floors, how could he still be there!
His heart was beating so fast that he almost ran downstairs in panic.
As he climbed up each floor, his breathing became heavier. Sometimes he would stumble and fall in a hurry, scraping his hands. The light of his cell phone flashed across the corridor, and the sign of "19th floor" lingered. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open the staircase door.
19th floor19th floor19th floor…
Why is it still on the 19th floor?!
He stumbled down another level, his lungs almost bursting and the taste of blood rolling in his throat.
He barely stopped and took a deep breath.
call-
Tang Baishan calmed down a little, leaned against the wall, turned on his cell phone, and dialed a number with trembling hands.
You must, must connect it!
Cheerful music sounded in my ears, and after a few seconds, a familiar female voice came: "Hello?"
"Sister Li!" Tang Baishan almost shouted, "Where are you! I saw a ghost in the company!"
"I haven't gone home yet, where are you?" The other person's tone immediately became serious.
"19th floor! I'm trapped in the stairs on the 19th floor! I'm stuck in a maze!"
"I'll be right there, you stay where you are." The sound of high heels came, "Don't hang up the phone."
Tang Baishan leaned against the wall and swallowed. His hands were shaking so much that his phone was covered in sweat. The lights swayed in the narrow space like ghosts, and his heartbeat was like a drum.
His hands were digging into the wall so tightly that there was dust between his nails.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe two minutes, maybe twenty minutes, when I heard the crisp sound of high heels outside the stairs.
Tang Baishan immediately shouted loudly: "I'm here! I'm here!!"
The high heels stopped at the stairs.
Two seconds later, the door was thrown open and light poured in.
The young woman with a high ponytail walked in quickly, holding several pieces of talisman paper, her high heels making a clattering sound. She grabbed Tang Baishan and said, "Hurry up."
Tang Baishan's legs went weak and he could barely follow her steps.
They walked all the way to the elevator, and the damaged elevator was operating normally. As soon as the door opened, Tang Baishan rushed in and pressed the first floor button desperately.
The elevator door slowly closed.
Sister Li asked, "How long have you been in there?"
“… I don’t know.” Tang Baishan was still in shock.
“It’s very strange.” The woman curled her hair. “We have set up many layers of barriers here. It’s hard to imagine that ghosts can get in. We have to investigate it carefully later.”
Tang Baishan just shook his head, ripped off his tie and gasped for breath.
When he raised his eyes by chance, he suddenly stopped.
Sister Li dressed up beautifully today. She sprayed some perfume, styled her hair, wore shiny crane earrings, and had green fingers. On top of her head, there was a number -
19.
The elevator didn't go down at all.
"Sister Lilili." His voice was shaking violently, "The elevator is not moving."
"Really?" Sister Li looked up, "Oh, maybe the ghost is still there."
“Where?”
"I don't know. I need to find a way to find out."
"Then you want to!"
"But wouldn't it be nice if the two of us stayed on the 19th floor forever?"
"… ah?"
The woman's body did not change, but her head twisted 180 degrees, her eyes turned white, and she smiled: "I quite like this number."
…
Lu Yingjiu brought the cow cat to the office.
When Milk arrived in the new environment, he lay lazily on the windowsill. Suddenly, he looked up and meowed towards the outside.
Lu Yingjiu looked over and saw Ye Feng's small Honda. He was trying to park the car, and he stopped several times before getting in, and he almost hit the chassis.
Ye Feng got out of the car and disappeared at the stairs.
A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.
Lu Yingjiu went over to open the door and said, "Ye Feng, you really bought your driver's license, right?"
"Fuck!" Ye Feng cursed, "You're just going to get over this, aren't you? Let me in, I have something to tell you."
Ye Feng entered the room, sat on the sofa, drank a large glass of water, and then continued: "Something happened with Tang Baishan."
"What's up?"
"He encountered a ghost." Ye Feng pointed to his shoulder, "Right here, the ghost bit off a small piece of flesh on his shoulder, it looks painful. He has had nightmares since then, and several people from the Qingdeng Society have gone there but failed to solve the problem."
Lu Yingjiu also took a glass of ice water and took a sip.
The ice cubes floated up and down, and small water droplets formed on the cup. He gently stroked a few of them with his slender fingers, and the coolness penetrated his fingertips.
He said: "The building has many barriers set up, and ordinary ghosts can never get in. Tang Baishan was only slightly injured... It's too easy for a ghost with that kind of power to kill people directly."
Ye Feng hesitated for a few seconds: "Are you going to help him? To be honest, I think he's a bit of a jerk, but if you help us this time, we can also propose conditions for the live broadcast. At worst, we can just stop having anything to do with him in the future."
Lu Yingjiu didn't answer him directly. He swiped his phone a few times, took out a page, and said, "This is my live broadcast application, which was rejected within two hours of submission."
"So fast," Ye Feng frowned, "It must be Tang Baishan who did it, damn, he really is a piece of shit."
"So we have to wait for that bastard to come to us." Lu Yingjiu folded his hands and smiled. "To be honest, I am very interested in that ghost, but we can't be so impatient. If Tang Baishan can't sleep every day, he will definitely not be able to hold on in a few days. Wouldn't it be better to negotiate with him then?"
Ye Feng stood in awe: "You are really ruthless."
Things were settled, he wiped the sweat off his face and wanted to find a bottle of drink.
As soon as he opened the refrigerator door, he saw milk and eggs and asked, "Why, you haven't found out who sent them yet?"
"No."
Ye Feng muttered: "This person is too careless. He even filled in the wrong address. I think you should just eat it and don't waste it."
"Wait a little longer," Lu Yingjiu said, "After all, it's something of unknown origin."
Ye Feng said: "What if it was sent by someone who has a crush on you? How sad you would be if you rejected it."
Lu Yingjiu laughed: "How can there be such a person?"
Ye Feng thought to himself, you haven’t seen the group of people in the club who have a crush on you and keep saying how handsome Chief Lu is every day.
Two days passed like this. Lu Yingjiu was not in a hurry. He just played with the cat and tidied up the office every day.
At noon on the third day, he turned on his mobile phone and saw the WeChat message sent by Tang Baishan.
Mr. Lu, I really have no other choice, so I came to you...
Lu Yingjiu turned off the screen, bent down, and put on pure white sneakers.
As you drive along, you can see the newly built office building of the "Two-Faced Buddha" from afar. It is dedicated to serving the live broadcast section. The mask icon with half of its face crying and half of its face smiling is on the top floor.
On the surface, the "Two-Faced Buddha" is a group with strong financial resources, but secretly it unites and coordinates different exorcists so that they are no longer scattered. In a sense, it is more like an informal alliance of exorcists, and the Qingdeng Society is the main force.
Lu Yingjiu looked out of the car window. Half of the building's glass reflected the sunny sky, and the other half was shining.
He covered it with his hand.
The car stopped in the parking lot. He and Ye Feng got out and found Tang Baishan.
Tang Baishan is still working these days, but his office has been moved to the first floor of the building next door.
He never dared to touch the stairs or the elevator again.
When Lu Yingjiu arrived, two exorcists were beside him.
Tang Baishan's face was covered in sweat, his eyes were as dark as a panda's, and he argued with them: "It's useless to say it! I will never go back to the 19th floor again!"
An exorcist said, "Go back again and find out why you were targeted by ghosts."
“I’ve been there twice!”
Another exorcist said: "This evil ghost is very strange. It took a really unexpected amount of time. After all, this is a newly built building, and the barriers have been strengthened."
"You have no idea at all!" Tang Baishan spoke excitedly, and suddenly he hissed again, and subconsciously covered his injured shoulder.
During the argument, Tang Baishan saw Lu Yingjiu and his eyes lit up immediately: "Mr. Lu!"
The two men's expressions changed and they looked quite embarrassed.
Lu Yingjiu glanced at them and had some impression of their faces, but couldn't remember their names.
But he was indeed confused for a few seconds.
There was a little devil with a green face and fangs lying behind Tang Baishan, but the two men didn't even see it - it was as if the little devil didn't want to get out of the way at all.
It peeked at Lu Yingjiu, and a strange expression appeared on its ugly face.
A little nervous.
But not fear.
Lu Yingjiu looked at it, and it moved its body uneasily. It carefully took out something with its sharp claws and tried to hand it to Lu Yingjiu.
A small underworld flower floats in the air, bright red.
Lu Yingjiu: “…?”
He had no idea why the kid was trying to be nice, so he didn't respond and said calmly, "What's going on now?"
One person said angrily, "Mr. Tang said that he couldn't remember who he had offended. Preliminary judgment is that it might be a ghost who jumped from a building, or it might be that he died accidentally in the elevator and had no place to vent his resentment."
"There were no murders during the construction of this building," Lu Yingjiu said. "There were no disputes."
“This used to be an urban village. It might be something that happened in the past.”
“Not really. I used a spell to clear away the resentment before I built the foundation.”
Another person said, "How can you be so sure? Maybe it was an oversight at the time."
Lu Yingjiu said: "It's impossible, I was the one in charge at that time."
Two exorcists: "..."
They really didn't dare to question what Lu Yingjiu had done.
So no one dared to say anything. Lu Yingjiu sat on the sofa and listened to Tang Baishan describe his nightmare.
The plot is simple: a stalled elevator, an inescapable 19th floor, and the sound of women's high heels echoing in the empty corridor.
Tang Baishan has been trapped in this dream for seven days and is on the verge of collapse. He was so scared that he deleted Sister Li's contact information. Without high heels, he would be afraid to see stilts on TV.
Lu Yingjiu said, "I'll go to the 19th floor first." He glanced at Tang Baishan and said, "You just stay here."
He didn't believe that such a little kid could break into the barrier. There must be someone behind it.
So, he still had to go and see it in person.
Tang Baishan nodded repeatedly, and Ye Feng stayed here to continue asking for more details.
Lu Yingjiu went to the corridor and pressed the elevator.
Just as the elevator door was about to close, an exorcist hurried in, blocked the door, and came in.
His face was very childish, and he looked no more than 20 years old. He said, "Brother Lu, I'll go up and take a look too. We've met before, you can just call me Xiao Li." He paused, "I was there when you came over to talk about live streaming that day."
When we got to the 19th floor, it was completely empty. They said they were getting rid of insects on this floor.
This is a common trick used by exorcists.
Every year when Ghost Festival comes, ghosts run rampant, and a lot of places in the city will inexplicably start "pest control" or "big cleaning". This floor really did the whole show, with big bags of cockroach and ant medicine piled in the corner, and all kinds of pest control equipment. Xiao Li passed by and coughed when he smelled the spray.
The road to welcome the wine started from Tang Boshan's office and went all the way to the corridor and emergency stairs.
After Xiao Li finished coughing, he followed him and asked cautiously, "Did you find anything?" He was so nervous that his voice was shaking a little, and added, "We have checked here many times, and there is no resentment."
Lu Yingjiu said very few words along the way, and even smiled at him a few times, with eyes and eyebrows that were really gentle and handsome. But he was inexplicably afraid of Lu Yingjiu, maybe because Lu Yingjiu used to be the chief, or maybe it was because Lu Yingjiu inexplicably had a sense of alienation that made people feel unapproachable.
Lu Yingjiu shook her head: "Let's go back to the elevator and take a look."
The elevator door closed and stopped because no one pressed the floor button.
Lu Yingjiu stood silently facing the elevator door.
Xiao Li didn't see that a hint of red light appeared in his eyes.
Many families of exorcists have contracts with ghosts and gods.
Divine beasts, ferocious beasts, and priests of the underworld.
For example, the Ye family formed a pact with the Li Snake and was protected by them for generations. The Chu family hooked up with the Peacock God and everything went smoothly from then on.
In all these years, the Lu family has only produced one ghost exorcist, Lu Yingjiu.
So he started from scratch, and the people he contracted with were all picked up from roadside trash cans.
Now, Lu Yingjiu summoned it.
At the top of the elevator, a furry black beast appeared out of nowhere.
It had four short horns on its head and was very small, but it was able to sink the elevator. Looking up, the dark and empty elevator shaft was reflected in its silver-gray pupils.
Xiao Li swallowed his saliva and said, "Mr. Lu, what are you doing? Why do I feel like the elevator seems to be sinking a little?"
"Really?" Lu Yingjiu said casually, "Maybe there's someone in the elevator."
At his will, the black fur ball quickly searched the surroundings.
No abnormalities were found.
Not even a hint of resentment.
This is a very special case.
Lu Yingjiu lowered his eyes slightly.
When he looked back, he found that Xiao Li was already restless and kept looking up at the elevator. He pressed the 1st floor button, and the elevator began to descend. Xiao Li was so scared that he trembled.
"Mr. Lululu," his voice was tense, "If it's a ghost, and we can't sense it now, doesn't that mean it's very powerful?"
"yes."
"Then why didn't you react..."
Lu Yingjiu stroked his chin and said, "Xiao Li, don't you think this is a bit strange?"
"W-what?"
"Tang Baishan said he had never offended anyone, but based on experience, these are usually evil spirits that have come back to seek revenge."
"yes."
"He started having nightmares seven days ago. Can you remember what happened that day?"
"That day... That day was nothing." Xiao Li tried to recall, "Didn't you just have sex with Mr. Ye once?"
"Then my live broadcast application was rejected, and Tang Baishan did not help."
“Ah… ah?”
Lu Yingjiu turned around, smiling with those peach blossom eyes: "Do you still think that he didn't offend anyone?"
The elevator slowly descended.
Xiao Li looked at him blankly.
The elevator sank slightly again - and then several times, as if someone was walking on the elevator! Looking at Lu Yingjiu carefully, he had an impeccable appearance, his mouth was curled up, and there was a faint red light in his eyes!
The elevator slowly descended, and the floor numbers dropped one by one. Xiao Li didn't dare to breathe, and subconsciously took a half step back, with his back against the wall.
"What do you want to do!" he stuttered, "I have talisman paper in my hand! A bunch of talisman paper!!"
He scattered talisman paper into the air, and it flew around like snowflakes.
Lu Yingjiu was unmoved.
Xiao Li was even more frightened.
One level has been reached.
The ghost soldiers disappeared, and the elevator door opened. A man stood outside, about his age, wearing a clean white shirt. A closer look revealed that everything from his watch to his leather shoes were all big brands, like a young man with a mine at home.
There were two or three exorcists following behind him. They saw Lu Yingjiu and Xiao Li, who was huddled in the corner of the elevator and shivering, and frowned, "What's wrong with you?"
Xiao Li saw him clearly and almost cried: "Master! I tried my best! Next, it's up to you!"
Encouraged by his master, he suddenly gained courage and ran out of the elevator without leaving even a trace.
After teasing Xiao Li, Lu Yingjiu was in a good mood. She walked out of the elevator and looked at Chu Banyang.
There is a auspicious cloud collar button on the snow-white collar.
The badge of the chief of Qingdeng Society which he had just taken off not long ago.
Chu Banyang was born into a family of ghost hunters. It was said that people born into aristocratic families had a naturally intimidating temperament, and he was one of the best. When he stood here, he had a natural model face, was young and handsome, had sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, and the cold air seemed to retreat a little.
Unfortunately, he and Lu Yingjiu have always been at odds.
After all, Lu Yingjiu always outshined him in everything. If he hadn't been there from the beginning, Chu Banyang would have been the chief.
Chu Banyang asked: "What did you talk to him about?"
"I scared him a bit." Lu Yingjiu said leisurely, "Your disciple is so cute that he believed it."
Chu Banyang frowned: "Lu Yingjiu, you are still as childish as before."
Lu Yingjiu smiled at him and walked towards Tang Baishan.
Chu Banyang was half a body length behind him and felt something was wrong.
—In the past few years, Lu Yingjiu had always been ahead of him, but now his status has changed. Lu Yingjiu is under serious investigation, has no position, and has opened an office that could go bankrupt at any time, while he is the chief of the Qingdeng Society. Logically, Lu Yingjiu should follow him and seek a few good commissions.
How come in the end, it's still this scene!
Chu Banyang almost gnashed his teeth and said, "Your firm hasn't been commissioned yet, right? Do you want me to introduce..."
“No thanks.” Lu Yingjiu said, “Thank you, second place.”
Chu Banyang almost couldn't catch his breath.
Xiao Li, who had just run away, sneaked back on his own and followed Chu Banyang.
He knew that his master and this Chief Lu had a bad relationship. Now Xiao Li was extremely cautious, fearing that he would be killed by the two bosses if he was not careful - he estimated that not even ashes would be left.
But people shouldn’t escape!
Especially since he’s an excellent ghost exorcist!
Xiao Li held the mentality of "If I don't go to hell, who will?" and was extremely careful and observed people's words and expressions.
Sure enough, Chu Banyang's face was as gloomy as a dark cloud along the way, staring at Lu Yingjiu.
After so many years, all he could see was Lu Yingjiu's back.
But as he stared, his frown slowly relaxed, as if being slowly smoothed by a pair of hands.
Perhaps even Chu Banyang himself did not realize—
The corners of his mouth curled up into a very faint smile.
That smile came from the heart, as if he had seen something he had been pursuing all his life, almost... gentle?
Xiao Li opened his eyes wide, and his world collapsed. Chu Banyang turned around and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"No, no, nothing," Xiao Li stuttered, "No, nothing, nothing, it's just that I was wondering, Master, what are you laughing at?"
"I'm laughing?" Chu Banyang frowned. "What's so funny here? Can I laugh at that guy Lu Yingjiu? What nonsense are you talking about? Go back and copy the book for me immediately."
Xiao Li: