The rooftop is a public place. Even if someone wants to come up, there is no need to knock on the door unless he knows in advance that there is someone on the rooftop.
I walked quickly to the door: "Who's knocking?"
"Mr. Wu, my name is Ji Liping, and I'm Miss Guan Qingyan's assistant..." Behind the rooftop gate was a woman in professional attire. Even though it was already night, she was still well-dressed and maintained her professionalism.
I let Ji Liping go to the side of the tent, and she said again: "Miss Guan asked me to come over and tell you what happened after we encountered the ghosts."
I looked at Ji Liping and said, "Didn't Guan Qingyan tell me this once?"
Ji Liping said: "With the status of a young lady, she doesn't need to do everything herself. There are many things that she is not very clear about. For example, those missing workers have come back."
I nodded and said, "Did you see it?"
"No. But we have many witnesses." Ji Liping said, "The first person to go missing was the chef on the construction site. That day, just one minute before dinner, someone saw him cooking. When dinner was served, the chef disappeared. He didn't come back until the evening, and the people on the construction site thought something had happened to him."
Ji Liping continued, "The second missing person was the foreman of the construction department. There was no sign of his disappearance either. According to witnesses, he was on the hillside near the construction site one minute ago, and when he turned around, he was gone."
"Later, the police also searched down the hillside. They said that there was no sign of anyone trampling on the grass there. In other words, the foreman disappeared on the hillside out of thin air."
I thought about it and said, "Before you started working, did you ask a master to look at it, or choose an auspicious day?"
Ji Liping shook her head and said, "If it was a project that the chairman was in charge of, he would definitely do these things. But the eldest lady never believed in these things. She just picked a random date to start the construction."
I nodded slightly and said, "Go on."
Ji Liping said: "If the first two incidents can be explained as accidents, then the third incident can only be described as horrific."
"The third incident happened on the third day after the foreman incident. Because of the two disappearances, the site managers were discussing how to appease the workers and continue the work in a temporary meeting room. As a result, all six managers disappeared in the closed meeting room."
I raised my eyebrows and said, "Tell me in detail."
Ji Liping said, "According to eyewitnesses, many workers were threatening to resign because of the disappearances, so the project director held an emergency meeting to discuss how to appease the workers. Because the meeting room was rather simple, the director simply had the curtains drawn and left a few security guards outside to prevent the workers from approaching casually."
"The security guard waited outside the conference room for about two hours before he realized something was wrong. When he pushed the door open and walked in, everyone in the room had disappeared. Not only were the people gone, but even the teacups, notebooks, and phones in the room were gone, as if no one had ever been there."
"The security guard panicked and quickly crawled out to call for help. The workers who wanted to resign were all waiting outside for the result. When they heard that everyone in the room had disappeared, they immediately ran away. Those who didn't want to resign also ran away."
"In the end, it was the security department who called the police. After the police came to understand the situation, they didn't find any clues and even suspected that the security guards were making a false alarm. Finally, a police officer called the director, but the director said he was in a meeting."
"When the police asked him where he was having the meeting, he said it was in the temporary office at the construction site. At the time, more than a dozen people were standing at the door of the office, and no one saw anyone inside. This time, even the police didn't dare to investigate and immediately led everyone to evacuate the construction site."
Ji Liping paused here, and I unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it to her: "Drink some water first."
"Thank you." Ji Liping politely took a sip of water before continuing, "The police did not give up the investigation into the missing case and contacted the young lady. The young lady went to the construction site that night, and it was from that day that strange things started to happen."
I asked in a deep voice: "What's the strange thing? Tell me in detail."
Ji Liping said: "That night, many people were at the door of the temporary meeting room. The police called the director again. On the other end of the phone, the director still claimed that he was in a meeting in the meeting room."
"The police monitored the cell phone signal at the time and finally locked the cell phone signal to the conference room. However, no one saw anyone in the conference room. At that time, the police turned on the speakerphone of the cell phone, and everyone could hear the director's voice and could confirm that the person who answered the phone was the director."
"The director was annoyed by being interrupted, and after a few words he hung up the phone. The young lady simply dialed the number herself. I still remember what she said at the time: I'm at the door of the conference room, come out and see me right away."
"At that time, everyone present was frightened by the eldest lady. The director is usually most afraid of the eldest lady. If she was really in the meeting room, she would definitely come out."
"As soon as the young lady finished her words, the door of the conference room opened. None of us saw anyone come out, but everyone felt that there seemed to be a lot more people nearby. Those people seemed to be standing near us, but we just couldn't see where they were."
"We were all scared and urged Miss to leave quickly, but she didn't insist. But when we were going down the mountain, we always felt that someone was following us. To be more precise, someone was seeing us off."
"I just felt a buzzing in my ears, as if someone was talking, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. We didn't walk far when I felt someone rushing past me and got ahead of my team."
"At that time, I don't know who said, 'Why do I feel like there's someone in front of me?' We all dared not move. I saw with my own eyes that the grass on both sides of the mountain path fell backwards as if someone was pushing it..."
Ji Liping said fearfully, "At that time, I suddenly remembered the first time I accompanied the young lady to inspect the mountain. At that time, there was still a lot of grass on the side of the mountain path. The director walked in front and led people to help us weed."
"They are still clearing grass for us, but we can't see anyone in front of us. The mountain path is still the same as before, but it looks like a road to the underworld. We can't see the end of the path from the top of the mountain to the bottom, as if we can't turn back once we step on it."
Ji Liping stopped here, holding the water bottle tightly in both hands, as if she had not yet recovered from the fear she had at that time.
I waited for a while before saying, "Then how did you get down there?"
Ji Liping said: "We didn't dare to move forward, but we didn't dare to move back either. We all stood there waiting for the young lady to speak. At that time, the young lady was the only one who supported us."
"The young lady took off a large coin with a red string from her neck and held it in her hand, telling us not to be afraid and just follow her. We felt much more at ease when we saw the young lady walking in front of us with the large coin in her hand, and followed her down the mountain step by step."
"I didn't know how I walked down the mountain. My heart was still pounding until I got into the car. When I finally came to my senses, I urged the driver to drive. When we were almost at the company, the eldest lady's phone rang. It was the director calling."
"The policeman in the car motioned for Miss to answer the phone. After she picked up the phone, the director on the other end told Miss not to worry, he would definitely find all the workers and ensure that the project would be completed on schedule. He also said that he would let Miss come over for inspection."
"The director said a lot of things at the time, all about the project. If he hadn't disappeared at the time, we would be very happy to hear those words, after all, everyone likes subordinates who are conscientious and responsible. But when we heard these words, we felt cold all over. The director disappeared, the workers also ran away, and he still said that he wanted to complete the project. What project did he want to complete?"
"The young lady's face turned pale at the time. She agreed to the call without thinking and hung up. The police also comforted the young lady and left. But something strange happened not long after."
"The police came to see Miss every few days, and each time they told her that the workers on the construction site had disappeared en masse. Sometimes three to five workers were missing, sometimes more than ten. Before they disappeared, they had received notices from the company asking them to go back to work, and the person who signed the notice was Miss herself. Only when all the workers on the construction site were gone did the disappearance case come to an end."
"The police suspected that they had returned to the construction site and organized two large-scale searches of the mountain, but they didn't find a single person. However, many people saw the workers go into the mountain. After they went into the mountain, they seemed to have disappeared and could not be found again."
Ji Liping trembled and said, "This is not the most terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing is that after the workers disappeared, our company's engineers, technical supervisors, and engineering inspectors disappeared one after another."
"According to the company's regulations, every time a project reaches a certain stage, dedicated personnel must be sent to conduct inspections and acceptance. Those people disappeared in the order in which the project progressed."
"I always have a feeling that the director and the workers are all dead, but they are still building houses on the mountain. Every time they finish a section, they will come back to find someone to check the progress. The people who went up will never come back."
Ji Liping suddenly started crying: "According to the construction schedule, the main building should be nearing completion now, and I will be taken away soon... According to the regulations, I am also one of the inspectors..."
I waited until the other person calmed down a bit before asking, "What's going on when you said that a missing person came back?" (To be continued)