Chapter 51: All the Missing People
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
The vast expanse of the shopping mall was eerily silent as Miles’s footsteps punctuated the echoing air by walking against the polished floors.
By this hour, through the colossal windows of the mall, the twilight sky had begun its gradual descent. It draped the world outside in a soft tapestry of subdued colors, casting elongated shadows within the mall’s deserted corridors. However, this gentle illumination from the twilight would be short-lived, as the looming darkness of night threatened to envelop everything.
When the night finally took over, and the mall’s artificial lighting was turned off, the blackness would be so profound that one might find it hard to even see their own outstretched hand.
Suddenly, the calm was interrupted by River’s urgent voice through the satellite phone that hung against Miles’s chest. “Watch out, someone’s to your left,” she said, her voice laden with anxiety. The quiet static from the phone’s transmission added to the tension in the air.
Peering towards the end of the aisle, Miles spotted a middle-aged man standing eerily still. His face was pale, nearly grey, and an unpleasant, musty smell surrounded him. Despite being in plain sight, his eyes remained tightly shut, and his body held a creepy, unnatural stillness, resembling a marionette abandoned by its puppeteer.
Miles acknowledged the man with a fleeting glance and whispered, “I’ve got eyes on him.” With agile movements, he evaded the man, continuing on his path.
To Miles’s surprise, the man did not react. He remained stationary, seemingly unaware or uninterested in Miles’s presence.
River’s voice was filled with a mix of excitement and trepidation when she exclaimed, “You were right!” from her secured position in the surveillance room. “That ghost didn’t make a move towards you.”
But Miles wasn’t in a celebratory mood. “I’m starting to think that these aren’t individual ghosts,” he mused aloud. “It’s more like they’re all puppets being manipulated by one dominant entity. The true ghost, or the mastermind, might be concealed within someone. We’re running against time here. The mall’s security system can hold up to fifteen days of recordings. From what I’ve gathered, this entire supernatural debacle unfolded in just ten days, right from the first eerie incident till the mall had to be partially shut down.”
“All we have to do is trace back to where it all began,” he concluded.
River’s voice grew more confident as she responded, “Trust me, I’m on it.”
However, her newfound confidence was cut short as she exclaimed, “Wait! Someone’s behind you, inside the shop!”
Miles whirled around instantly. A young girl dressed in trendy attire stood eerily still behind the window display of a store. The dark hue of her skin suggested she had been deceased for days, perhaps even longer. A grotesque, black fluid oozed from her nostrils and eyes. As she moved slightly, clumps of her once-shiny hair began to fall out.
Despite the glass barrier, her hand slowly lifted as if attempting to touch Miles.
“Can they even breach the glass?” Miles murmured, taking calculated steps backward while never taking his eyes off her.
It seemed that not turning one’s back to these entities prevented an immediate assault. However, turning tail and running in sheer panic could potentially lead to a catastrophic end.
With his keen observational skills, Miles had identified a particular pattern in the ghost’s behavior, which made it seem less formidable to him.
Reflecting on previous insights, he thought, “Right hit the nail on the head with that lecture at school. If one can quickly recognize the attack patterns and conditions set by the ghost, even someone with no experience could potentially evade its deadly grasp.”
Yet, this principle was only applicable for ghosts of this particular strength and nature.
Facing a more potent and unpredictable entity, such as the malevolent ghost baby, these tactics wouldn’t ensure complete safety. At best, they would considerably increase the chances of evading harm.
Having already evaded two lurking apparitions, Miles quickened his stride. The echoing sound of his footsteps grew more pronounced, blending ominously with the ghostly whirr of the mall’s operational elevators.
From his past encounters, Miles knew that any direction he faced away from was a potential point for a ghost to appear. Fortunately, the ghost currently tailing him maintained a safe distance, allowing him some time before it would catch up.
However, dawdling wasn’t an option. If he took too long, he risked getting trapped between multiple ghosts, which would be a fatal mistake.
What made Miles stand out from the average individual was his ability to control his ghost eye; attempting such daring maneuvers would be fatal for anyone else present.
“Move quickly and head left to the storage room,” River’s voice urgently instructed him. “But you need to speed up. More apparitions are converging on your position, and some are spilling out of the elevator. I’m combing through the surveillance footage; we should pinpoint the ghost’s origin point soon.”
Acknowledging her, Miles shot a swift look behind him.
Just as she’d said, the elevator on the fourth floor was active. Squinting through the semi-darkness, Miles could make out two ghostly figures within it, seemingly heading to the fifth floor.
The eerie mechanical hum from elevators operating on the second and third floors further amplified his anxiety.
Catching fleeting glimpses, Miles noticed shadowy entities moving about on the lower floors.
Perturbed, he thought, “Just how many people have gone missing in this mall?” A chill ran down his spine at the thought.
By his rough estimation, at least twenty individuals had vanished, and the number seemed to be steadily climbing. Phantoms continued to manifest throughout the mall, thickening the already overwhelming aura of death.
Reflecting on the situation, he mused, “The ghost made a cunning choice. In a busy mall like this, a few people going missing over several days wouldn’t cause immediate panic. A quieter location wouldn’t present as many potential victims. And now, these trapped ghosts have become my responsibility.”
With every ounce of caution fueling his steps, he dashed towards the indicated storage room, where a chilling sight awaited him at the entrance – a ghostly man with a complexion as pale as moonlight stood motionless. Bizarrely, while the head belonged to a man appearing in his thirties, the body was distinctly feminine, dressed in a lengthy skirt paired with brown high heels.
It was a dreadful indication that the head had been swapped.
The man outside the storage room relentlessly hammered on the door. Each impact was reminiscent of a powerful sledgehammer, echoing through the confined space and making it seem as though the door would shatter into pieces at any moment.
Horrifyingly, the arm he used bore a hideous sight. Large chunks of flesh were missing, exposing the bone underneath in a nightmarish vision of human anatomy.
Yet, as sturdy as the human will might be, the physical resilience of a body couldn’t compete with the strength of a reinforced door.
However, this ghastly vision seemed only to fuel the man’s resolve, as his determination to gain entry did not waver.
Within the storage room, the occupants could only look on in mounting terror, watching as the door shook and quaked under the relentless barrage. Their hearts pounded loudly in their ears, and their bodies quivered with fear.
“Ethan, think fast! We need a solution!” Mall Manager Li cried out, his voice laced with pure dread. “That thing is back. The door won’t hold for long. It’s still out there, waiting!”
Mr. Calm, who was usually very thrifty, now let go of his financial restraints, pleading, “I’ll pay you five million if you get us out of here safely.”
Indeed, while wealth has its merits, the value of life is unparalleled.
Ethan’s face was etched with grim determination. Looking down, he noticed his hands, drenched in blood, now leaking through his gloves in a relentless flow.
Beneath him, a growing puddle of blood indicated his waning strength, refusing to be fully reabsorbed.
“If I use this ability again, it might be the death of me,” he muttered, taking a ragged breath.
His attempt to seal the door with his blood had stopped the moment he retracted his hand.
Suddenly, another series of deafening bangs echoed, causing the door frame to vibrate and dust to drift from the ceiling.
The force from outside grew stronger, pushing the occupants to draw nearer to each other in mutual fear.
In a corner that had previously escaped attention, Sister Pear, who had been silent and unflinchingly stoic since their ordeal began, slowly got up.
Her face, as pale as a ghost, showed no hint of emotion. Strangely, she adopted a specific stance, her arms extended towards the group.
But then, a shattering noise echoed from outside as if something was thrown and broken.
From beyond the door, Miles’s voice reached them: “Is anyone still breathing in there? If you’re not dead yet, let me in. I can guide you to safety.”
Ethan was startled, “People outside? How?”
Considering the countless ghosts in the mall, the thought of a living person being around was almost beyond belief.
Mr. Calm, with a sharp memory, quickly chimed in, “That sounds like the young security guard. We should check if he really can help us escape.”
But Mall Manager Li, his voice trembling with anxiety, warned, “Wait! We can’t be certain if it’s a human or another ghost trick. We shouldn’t open the door.”
Hearing this, Ethan felt an icy grip of fear and his face took on an even more solemn expression.
The skepticism about the security guard’s true nature was palpable. There was no tangible proof to support the mall manager’s claim that he was genuinely human.
Was this all a sinister ruse?
Just a few seconds ago, Miles had successfully tossed the man who was banging relentlessly on the storage room door off the fifth floor. While the fall hadn’t been fatal, it had incapacitated the corpse, at least for a while, granting those inside a brief respite.
Overhearing the apprehensive chatter within the storage room, Miles’s tone grew graver. “If you prefer to remain in there, so be it. I’ve combed through the surveillance videos. Among you, Sister Pear is not what she seems. She’s one of them – a ghost. I can’t tell if she’s shown her true form yet, but if she does, your chances of survival diminish drastically. Decide quickly.”
His startling revelation sent shivers down the spines of everyone inside.
“Sister Pear, a ghost?”
Almost reflexively, the group’s gaze snapped towards her.
The sight that greeted them was petrifying. Sister Pear, who had till now been seemingly innocuous, was now eerily headless.
And sure enough, a collective scream of pure horror erupted from the group.
From outside the room, Miles cringed and reflexively covered his ears. Their ear-piercing shrieks could probably shatter glass.
In the ensuing panic, the door to the storage room was thrown open with a violent jerk. A horde of terrified individuals burst forth, faces streaked with tears and mucus, and a few with suspiciously dark patches on their clothing.
“Get out, get out!”
“I don’t want to die! Somebody help!”
Miles swiftly interjected, “Cry if it gives you solace, but don’t just bolt aimlessly. There are other ghosts out here. If you sprint carelessly, it could lead you straight into their grasp.”
Mr. Calm, Mall Manager Li, and Master Catch, along with their respective parties, hadn’t gotten far before the sheer dread paralyzed them, causing their legs to give way beneath them.
Little did they realize that they were no longer alone. The fifth-floor corridors were teeming with eerie figures.
Every conceivable direction was choked with these ghostly entities.
They were ghostly pale, eyes tightly shut, emitting a nauseating stench of decay. They moved with an uncanny, robotic gait, inching closer, effectively cutting off all potential escape paths.
It was a haunting reunion. Every individual who had mysteriously disappeared within the mall was now back, but not as the living.