Chapter 215: The Elevator to Despair

Traces of fire were everywhere in the building. The scent of char filled their nostrils, and the lingering red glows from the embers permeated the area, thick with smoke and heatwaves.

Then, Xushan gently waved his hand.

A fresh breeze swept through, carrying away all the surrounding black smoke. The environment instantly became clear.

It was only after visiting these haunted locations with members of the Supernatural Events Department that I realized their unique capabilities. While not exactly masterful skills, they were remarkably practical.

“Ladies, how about we pour some spirit water over ourselves?” Jia Cheng suggested. “You won’t feel the heat then.”

He had already opened a bottle and was drenching himself.

“Indeed,” Mo Qingyan agreed. “Let’s use the spirit water. There’s no need to conserve it, otherwise, we might not have time to react if something unexpected happens.”

Jia Cheng retrieved more spirit water from his backpack and poured it over each of us. A refreshing coolness instantly shielded us from the intense heat, and the surrounding malevolent energy could no longer approach.

By this point, I had a clearer view of the lobby. It was filled with burnt-out motorcycles and debris. To the left were two elevator doors, and to the right, a narrow staircase. A charred corpse lay face down on the stairs, as if it had tried to escape the inferno but had died on the first floor.

“With this layout, it’s no wonder the internet café fire spread directly to the lobby and then burned through the entire building via the staircase,” Xushan lamented, surveying the scorched remains. “Just how much stuff was piled on this first floor?”

“The bottom two floors of this apartment building are for commercial use. The first floor houses an internet café and restaurants, while the second floor has a gym and tutoring centers,” Mo Qingyan explained. “These businesses all stored their clutter in the stairwell, which directly ignited when the fire from the internet café spread.”

“And there’s only one stairwell exit,” Jia Cheng added, shaking his head with a sigh. “When the fire broke out, there was nowhere to run.”

Xiao Qing and I had been quietly listening to their conversation. Suddenly, Mo Qingyan turned to us and asked, “Which way should we go next?”

‘Is she testing us? She already mentioned the taboo earlier, so we can’t use the stairs, right?’ I almost blurted it out, but then hesitated. She was asking where to go next, not where to walk on the stairs.

‘If we can’t use the stairs, should we take the elevator? But the elevator must be broken, right? And you also taught me before to avoid elevators in potentially haunted places.’

“Yes, whether it’s a disaster in reality or a supernatural situation, it’s always best to avoid elevators if possible,” Mo Qingyan said. “However, rules are rigid, but people are adaptable. Sometimes, you need to learn to think in reverse.”

“Let’s put aside the question of whether to take the elevator for a moment. First, consider this: why can’t we use the stairs?”

“Because Liang Xuezhang said so!” Xiao Qing recalled Mo Qingyan’s words perfectly. “The fire back then spread upwards along the stairwell, igniting the entire building. So, the stairwell is still the most dangerous place.”

I, however, looked towards the stairwell entrance, pointing at the charred corpse lying there. “There’s a very strong malevolent energy on that corpse, much stronger than the ghosts that jumped down earlier. I suspect that if we get close, it will attack us.”

“Exactly. Yubing observed very carefully,” Mo Qingyan praised. “Those that jumped down earlier were less ‘ghosts’ and more like memories preserved in the ghost realm from the original fire. They have no physical form; they are merely a group of specters.”

Mo Qingyan then pointed to the body on the stairs, its flesh already burned and peeled away. “Ghosts that leave behind physical remains are far more dangerous. What do you think we should do if we…

“Xushan, what do you think about this one? If it meets your requirements, we won’t need to go any further inside.”

Xushan meticulously examined the remains for a moment, then shook his head. “It’s a pity. Although its will to survive was incredibly strong, and it collapsed at the very last step, the suffering before death was too intense. There wasn’t even the despair of shattered hope; it’s no different from any other person burned to death.”

“If you’re asking for such high standards, why not lure one out from the internet café?” Bai Yue suggested. “There’s sure to be something in there that meets your requirements.”

“No, I know my limits,” Xushan replied, still shaking his head. “I can’t control the things in there, and it’s likely more than just one or two would be lured out. It’s wise to know oneself.”

“Suit yourself,” Bai Yue said. “If you don’t want it, I’ll take this ghost.”

Before she had even finished speaking, she made her move. A large swarm of Gu worms surged towards the corpse.

“Wait! Yue’er…” Mo Qingyan’s words were cut short by a piercing shriek. The Gu worms swarmed the charred corpse, biting ferociously. The body, which had shown no signs of life moments before, began to wail and struggle in agony.

But in the next instant, a scorching flame erupted from the charred corpse. It wasn’t just the corpse; the entire stairwell burst into a raging inferno, as if doused with gasoline. The stairs, which had only contained embers moments ago, instantly transformed into a sea of fire.

Thanks to Mo Qingyan’s warning, Bai Yue quickly ordered her Gu worms to retreat. Still, several low-level Gu worms perished in the blaze, and even her highly valued Dragon Gu Centipede suffered burns. Bai Yue’s heart ached at the sight, and she quickly pulled out several printed Revival Talismans to treat her Gu worms.

“This is why we can’t use the stairs,” Mo Qingyan reiterated. “I’ve told you before that the resentment of countless people trapped by flames and with nowhere to run is concentrated here, forged into the souls of the dead. You know, the despair of those on the stairs, where the escape route turned into a path to hell, creates a terrifying flame of resentment.”

“Now, the question is, conversely, why do you think we *can* take the elevator?” Mo Qingyan asked again.

I pondered for a moment, unable to come up with an answer, but Xiao Qing seemed to suddenly understand. She asked, “Is it because there’s no one in the elevator?”

“You’re mostly right. The elevator stopped working at the very beginning of the fire, so no one was burned to death inside,” Mo Qingyan explained. “Furthermore, everyone knows not to take an elevator during a fire, so not many people placed their hopes on the elevator to escape, meaning there isn’t much resentment there.”

Only then did I fully grasp it. In matters of the supernatural, many things require a different perspective, and Xiao Qing understood this better than I did.

“However, that’s only relatively speaking. The elevator still has its dangers,” Mo Qingyan added. “It’s just that this danger, compared to the certain death of the stairs, is relatively avoidable.”

“Can this elevator really still work?” I looked at the scorched elevator doors, feeling certain they must have been destroyed in the fire.

“It can indeed still work,” Mo Qingyan said, pressing the ‘up’ button for the elevator. “Because there are still some lingering spirits who want to use this elevator to send scapegoats up.”

The ‘up’ button, which had even lost its cover, lit up. Then, with a ‘ding,’ the charred doors opened, revealing a brand-new elevator inside, completely untouched by fire.

However, as soon as we all stepped in, before we even had a chance to select a floor, the elevator doors automatically closed, and the thirtieth-floor button lit up on its own.

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