Feng Tian stood silently in the center of the darkened elevator car, while the floor selection panel beside the doors flashed through the illuminated indicators, cycling ceaselessly. Though he wasn't carrying his toolkit, he was still equipped with several items, but trapped inside this metal box, he couldn't immediately decide where to start. Though his back wasn't touching the wall, he felt a chilling coldness pressing against him, as if gusts of frigid air were constantly sweeping past.

Even though he had experienced scenarios like this many times before, being cooped up alone in a pitch-black elevator inevitably brought a degree of tension. Feng Tian subconsciously swallowed, and just then, the elevator, which had been descending at a steady rate, suddenly dropped as if weightless, accelerating downward. Startled, Feng Tian instinctively stabilized himself, reaching into his pocket to pull out a plastic bottle. With one hand, he flicked open the stopper and scattered its contents into the air.

Immediately, a piercing female shriek echoed inside the car, seemingly emanating from the control panel by the door. Despite being a woman’s voice, it was clearly synthesized.

Feng Tian let out a soft breath; that last move must have worked. Just as expected, the elevator juddered, shaking violently before stopping dead. The abrupt halt nearly sent him tumbling to the floor. He quickly staggered back two steps, leaning against the rear wall of the car.

Suddenly, he felt a cold, sharp pressure on the back of his neck. A pair of hands, cold as ice, had landed there with startling suddenness. Instinct told him these hands were about to close around his throat.

Not daring to hesitate, Feng Tian swung the plastic bottle still clutched in his hand backward, splashing its contents directly onto the hands behind him. A rather acrid smell instantly saturated the air, accompanied by a sizzling sound—like raw meat hitting a scorching hot pan. Those icy hands vanished instantly.

Only then did Feng Tian release the breath he had been holding, unable to help wrinkling his nose at the truly unpleasant odor of the chemical.

“Looks like I’ve been running too hot lately,” he muttered softly to himself.

Although the elevator had stopped, the doors remained sealed; he was still trapped inside.

Feng Tian frowned, shaking the small bottle in his hand. Very little remained inside; the utility of this tool was almost spent.

He straightened up and delivered a solid kick to the elevator door.

This action was meaningless in his estimation, but to his surprise, after a dull thud, the elevator doors gave a soft ding and began to slowly part.

A hazy light instantly shot in through the gap, offering much better visibility compared to the darkness within the car. He could vaguely make out illuminated areas in the distance. Although he still didn't know where he was, it was certain that he was not facing endless blackness outside.

Before the doors were fully open, Feng Tian caught a glimpse of a pale, white figure flickering just outside. Instinctively, he thought it might be Old Hou. However, the current gap between the doors wasn't wide enough for a person to squeeze through, so he forced himself to wait patiently. But whether it was his imagination or not, the opening process seemed much slower than normal.

When the gap finally widened enough for a person to pass, Feng Tian quickly moved to step out. He stopped abruptly at the threshold, finding that an iron grille gate blocked the exit, sealing off the passage. Through the bars, he could see a long, dim corridor beyond, but its style bore no resemblance to the architecture that should have been present in a school building.

“What in the hell is this place?” Feng Tian couldn't help blurting out.

He had visited Old Hou's workplace before, but he had certainly never encountered a corridor like this.

Just as he was about to lean forward to examine the exterior more closely, a face suddenly poked around the side, pressing flat against the iron bars, nearly achieving an intimate face-to-face encounter with him.

Feng Tian jumped back, instinctively recoiling several steps, putting distance between himself and the grille gate. Only then did he get a clear look: it was a face so ancient that age was indeterminable. Wrinkles layered upon wrinkles obscured any gender identification. Most of the hair was gone, leaving only a few sparse strands trailing across the otherwise completely bald crown. The nose was flattened, the mouth pursed, and it appeared no teeth remained inside.

Because the face emerged from the side of the door, it wasn't looking directly at Feng Tian inside the elevator, but was turned slightly, as if assessing him. A pair of small, dull gray eyes stared unblinkingly at him, yet Feng Tian sensed a sharp intelligence hidden within them, as if they were communicating something silently.

Before Feng Tian could react, the face suddenly withdrew. Feng Tian rushed to the door edge, craning his neck to peer out, but saw no one nearby.

While still reeling from the shock, the scene in the corridor behind the door abruptly shifted. High up at the end of the passage, a series of old, equally spaced pendant lamps flickered on, one after another, from far to near. The worn shades and dusty bulbs meant the light wasn't particularly bright, but it was sufficient to illuminate the corridor.

Only then did Feng Tian realize that the passage stretched far beyond his line of sight. Along both walls, rusted iron doors stood tightly shut, concealing whatever lay behind them.

Feng Tian suddenly felt a sense of deep familiarity, a strong déjà vu, as if he had witnessed this exact scene somewhere before.

Before he could place when or where he’d seen such an arrangement, a loud clang echoed from the corridor, immediately followed by a grating screech that made his teeth ache as one of the heavy doors slowly swung outward.

Next, he heard a faint, rhythmic creak-creak as a four-wheeled flat trolley slowly slid out from within the door. Soon, he realized that after the trolley was fully clear of the doorway, there was no one pushing it from behind—or rather, it was being moved by an unseen person.

The flat trolley curved slightly after emerging and continued its slow approach toward the elevator. It was covered by a large, stained white sheet, clearly outlining the shape of a body beneath.

It must be said that this type of flat trolley was not unfamiliar to Feng Tian; he had seen them frequently in places like morgues.

He stared blankly at the unfolding scene. The mounting familiarity churned his mind into confusion, leaving him utterly unable to formulate any countermeasures.

Moments later, the trolley reached the iron grille gate outside the elevator but showed no intention of stopping.

It only halted when it hit the grille with a heavy thud. Feng Tian saw the form beneath the white sheet shift slightly from the impact. But perhaps because of this movement, one corner of the white cloth began to drape down near the side closest to the grille, and then it started to slowly slide downward.

Once that corner had completely slipped away, a pair of bare feet was revealed. Their pallid, bluish-white complexion clearly indicated they did not belong to the living.

As the sheet continued its slow descent to the floor, the person beneath was finally fully exposed: a man lying face-up.

Feng Tian’s eyes widened involuntarily, staring blankly at the supine man. It was easy to recognize that the man was now an icy corpse, yet upon clearly seeing his features, Feng Tian couldn't suppress a shudder of horror.

He instinctively took two steps back, and at that precise moment, the male corpse suddenly twitched slightly, lifting its head a fraction. From that face, so familiar it couldn't possibly be anyone else, a stiff, frozen smile emerged. He parted his blue-black lips and slowly uttered a single sentence.

“You’ve come. Did you know? I’ve been waiting for you…”