Chapter 87: Before the Storm

After saying that, Qin Feng’s smile grew even brighter, yet there was not a trace of mirth in his eyes.

That’s bad... he really seems to be angry.

Seeing the boy before him, Ji Linmo felt that something was off.

No matter how you looked at it, hearing that the teammate sent to protect him had not only echoed the insults behind his back, but had even accepted an item meant to sever their partnership, would be enough to make anyone resentful and hurt.

So the man pinched the bridge of his nose and hurried after him.

Unexpectedly, the boy truly seemed very calm, even less reactive than before, as though it really meant nothing to him.

“You... are you angry?”

Ji Linmo asked carefully.

But Qin Feng suddenly reached out and pinched his cheek.

“Aww, how could I be? Mr. Ji, there’s no need for you to explain yourself to me. I’m not free of fault either.”

“Look, I’ve sealed this beer for you. Didn’t you want the girl Xuanxuan to reunite with the woman in red? Use this beer then; that counts as me helping you.”

Something was wrong. Was this kid planning some huge trick again?

Feeling uneasy, Ji Linmo quickly opened the sealed craft beer and took a sip.

A fiery, throat-scorching taste immediately surged from his tongue down into his belly.

The alcohol was fine.

“You...”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Ji. I respect your choice. Though I don’t agree with what you’re doing, and I don’t intend to take part, I likewise won’t interfere with what you do next.”

Qin Feng shrugged, wearing an easygoing expression.

“After all, I only want to clear the stage. I’ll head back to the convenience store first, then wait for your good news.”

With that, the boy strode away without looking back, heading toward the elevator.

Though something still felt off, Ji Linmo could not find anything amiss, so he let it go and returned to the first floor together with Qin Feng.

And the boy really did, just as he said, return quietly to the convenience store and did not interfere with any of his actions.

Had this kid really changed?

Ji Linmo rubbed his brow and decided not to dwell on it for now. He reviewed his plan once more in his mind.

Guardian Ring.

He summoned the ring again and slipped it onto his finger, then stroked it with his thumb as he made his way toward the agreed location with the woman in red.

But strangely enough, the woman in red was nowhere to be seen at the agreed spot, nor did he see her anywhere on the first floor.

Just as Ji Linmo was puzzled, hurried footsteps suddenly came from behind him.

The manager-like evil spirit shouted into the walkie-talkie in utter panic, “The other security guards, and all the evil spirits with combat ability, have gone to the second floor. I’m bringing over all the first-floor guards too. The woman in red has gone to the second floor. We have to stop her!!!”

Immediately after, the security guards behind him, fully armed with riot shields and weapons, surged into the elevator one after another.

Ji Linmo frowned tightly. The woman in red suddenly running to the second floor was something he had truly not anticipated.

And it seemed she had caused quite a commotion.

Boom—

With a deafening crash, the second-floor windows shattered.

Along with the glass, a diner’s body also fell to the ground, torn into pieces.

Bright red blood instantly stained the entire floor.

“Help! Help!”

Panicked cries for help rose from above, and amid the sound of shattering glass, yet another diner leapt from the second-floor window.

Then more and more diners, as if fleeing for their lives, jumped out of the building.

But the moment they plunged through the windows, it was as though some unseen force had sliced their bodies apart. Their flesh, cut with unnervingly smooth cross-sections, broke into several pieces and crashed to the ground.

Ding dong—

“First floor reached!”

Ji Linmo looked toward the elevator that had arrived on the first floor and quickened his pace.

But just as he was about to squeeze into the elevator with the security guards, he froze.

The instant the doors opened, blood poured out like seawater.

Inside the elevator, crammed together as they had tried to flee by riding it, the customers’ eyes were still wide open in death. Their severed body parts were tangled together, and with the opening and closing of the doors, they surged out like a heap of mixed refuse.

“First floor reached. Please exit in an orderly manner. Do not block the elevator doors.”

“Do not block the elevator doors. Do not block. Do not block...”

Along with the glitching mechanical female voice, the elevator doors kept opening and closing, only to open and shut again because they were catching on the corpses.

The evil spirit manager and the security guards present stared at the blood-soaked, grotesque scene before them, so terrified that none of them dared move a muscle.

Red-Gowned Female Ghost

Level: Special-Class Evil Spirit

Character Description: A red dress wandering the streets. Pray that you never meet her.

This was a special-class evil spirit, an existence that was almost impossible to deal with in the world of terror.

They had no order, no rules, and there was almost nothing that could restrain them.

You wouldn’t even know how they killed you before you died at her hands.

Taking in the terrified security guards of evil spirits, Ji Linmo no longer hesitated and ran straight toward the stairwell.

Wearing the original cleaner’s uniform, he could use the emergency passage to reach the second floor.

But the instant he arrived on the second floor, Ji Linmo frowned.

Under the dim red lights, corpses lay strewn everywhere, rocking in pools of blood. As the pooled blood moved under his steps, it glittered beneath the lamps.

A large number of evil spirit security guards on the second floor had been effortlessly slaughtered by the woman in red, like ants, reduced to fragments of flesh scattered across the ground.

“Only the first-floor guards are still alive?”

Looking at the woman in red standing amid mountains of corpses and seas of the dead, Ji Linmo thought for a moment and chose to hold his position for now.

At this moment, directly opposite the woman in red was the Delicious Rabbit Shop.

“Xuanxuan... my Xuanxuan...”

The woman in red stared at the signboard of the Delicious Rabbit Shop and suddenly began to murmur to herself. After standing dazed for a few seconds, she went mad and was about to charge inside.

No good, she’s going in!

Worried about Lin Bufei inside the shop, Ji Linmo hurried over at once.

All the evil spirits still alive inside the shop had retreated into the kitchen, huddling together and trembling.

“Ma’am! Ma’am... do you remember me? We have an agreement between us.”

Ji Linmo approached slowly, trying to soothe the woman in red.

But when the woman in red heard his voice, she slowly turned her head. Within her hollow eye sockets, tears of blood kept flowing.

“Xuanxuan! Give me back my Xuanxuan... the fourth floor. Why won’t you let me go to the fourth floor? Why?!”

What?

Ji Linmo’s brow tightened, and he almost thought he had misheard.

The woman in red knew that her daughter Xuanxuan was on the fourth floor?

How could that be? He hadn’t told her yet.

Could there be another player...

Ji Linmo’s eyes suddenly widened.

Aside from the people on the first floor, all the other security guards in the mall, as well as the evil spirits with combat ability, had come to the second floor.

Then, on an empty fourth floor, who would be the easiest target?