Unfortunately, while he didn't possess much of a conscience, he couldn't act like he had none at all. In the end, Ji Jue still didn't stray down that path.
He pulled out his phone one last time and looked at the blank screen.
Brother Feng still hadn't returned his call.
He wouldn't pick up the phone or answer texts, as if he had dropped off the face of the earth. Ghost only knew where he had gone. Could his old army buddies have drunk him under the table again?
Unreliable right when it mattered most, dropping the ball—can you even get anything done?
As things stood, the only person he could rely on was himself.
After one last hesitation, the arguments that persuaded him were *I'll just take a look,* *just one peek,* *I'll leave as soon as I figure out what these guys are up to,* and *if things go south, I'll bolt.*
Ji Jue took a deep breath, turned around, and walked away.
Twenty minutes later, he boldly reappeared in front of the nightclub's main entrance.
He wore mechanic's overalls and a filthy work cap, bought from a second-hand stall at a nearby night market for four hundred bucks. The cost pained Ji Jue so much he nearly spat blood.
The only free item was the toolbox strapped to the back of his scooter, which he always carried with him.
Finally, propped on his shoulder was a battered folding ladder he had borrowed from a hardware store by trading on his familiar face.
Who needed a VIP card? Who needed Federation currency?
The ultimate all-access pass of the current patch was right here!
Whenever Ji Jue was broke, he had relied on this exact outfit to sneak into places. He couldn't say he had never been caught, but the vast majority of the time, it worked like a charm.
Just like that, he sauntered past the luxury cars and bypassed the crowd waiting in line outside. With practiced ease, he nodded to the shift supervisor at the entrance and asked vaguely:
"Who called for maintenance?"
The supervisor blinked, spoke a few words into his earpiece, and waited for a reply on the other end.
Light from the lobby's opulent crystal chandeliers spilled outward, illuminating Ji Jue's face.
He held his breath, nearly unable to keep it in.
At last, a hurried figure walked out from inside. The moment the man saw him, he breathed a sigh of relief, though his expression quickly twisted into irritation. "What took you so long? The elevator's been down for quite a while... Wait, what are you doing with a ladder?"
"Huh?"
Ji Jue was momentarily taken aback, but his thoughts raced. "In... inspection, right? What if the problem is up above the elevator cabin, yeah?"
The supervisor nodded. "Where are your other tools?"
"In the vehicle. There are too many, so I figured I'd see what the problem was before hauling them all over."
Ji Jue gave a vague brush-off and followed behind him, finally slipping inside. Unfortunately, he saw none of the anticipated hot music, wild dancing, or pole routines; they headed straight into the staff corridor.
Staff bustled back and forth along the hallway. Even when they saw someone lugging such a huge ladder inside, they only spared him a glance and paid no further mind.
Flocks of young women wearing very little fabric drifted past in groups, trailing clouds of perfume that gave Ji Jue a run for his self-control. The supervisor leading the way offered a warning instead: "Don't stare around, don't wander off, and don't try chatting them up. Some of the guests are people even we can't afford to offend. Be careful, or you'll get dragged out the back door."
"Right, absolutely," Ji Jue nodded vigorously, following closely until they finally arrived in front of an elevator displaying an 'Out of Order' sign.
"All right, take a look first. If you need tools, call me from the maintenance room up ahead. Don't go wandering, got it?" the man warned one last time. "If you bump into some big shot doing things that shouldn't see the light of day, you'll be in for a world of hurt! See that up there? Security's watching!"
As he spoke, he pointed toward the surveillance camera on the ceiling across from the elevator.
"Man, you guys sure have a lot of hassle here."
Ji Jue shook his head and suddenly tapped his own temple. "Oh, right! Our company's been super strict on KPIs lately, and some of those corporate beasts are grinding like dogs, always trying to steal jobs from others. You can't call someone else to snatch my gig, okay?"
"Relax, relax. Why would we need so many people to fix an elevator? Just call my number once it's done."
The supervisor waved his hand impatiently and turned to leave.
And just like that, Ji Jue completely cut off the chance of a real technician showing up and blowing his cover.
In the hallway where people passed from time to time, Ji Jue stood alone, staring blankly at the elevator, and began pretending to disassemble the panel.
Halfway through the disassembly, making sure no one was paying attention, he lowered his head, slunk along the base of the wall, and stretched out a sneaky hand, giving the surveillance camera a direct pat.
*Hey buddy, busy?*
The camera's indicator light flashed naturally. Cooperating with him, it played back the loop of him doing repairs from a few seconds ago, and then a voice with a thick northeastern drawl rang out in Ji Jue's mind:
*Whaddya want, bro? Things are strict 'round here, no time to shoot the breeze. Watch out someone catches you slacking; a puny guy like you is gonna take a beating.*
Ji Jue asked, *Do you know what's going on in here?*
*Beats me!*
The camera's tone turned grumpy. *This goddamn dump has several separate camera loops inside and out. Ghost knows what they're doing in there... These bastards have been making a bloody mess every few days lately. Can't be up to any good. If I had hands, damn it, I'd have called the cops myself!*
With that, it transmitted the images it had captured.
Every clip showed several people with lowered heads carrying massive plastic bags or crates out of the elevator. Bloody fluids dripped from the bags, only to be promptly mopped away and cleaned up by janitors.
Ji Jue felt goosebumps all over his body.
Even thinking with his heels, it couldn't possibly be donkey dicks bought from the market to brew tonic soup for the guests, could it? Were the customers that deficient? Besides, how huge was their appetite to eat that much? Weren't they afraid their dicks would explode?
Immediately after, the face of that frenzied old ghost surfaced in his mind, along with the ravenous hunger that had nearly poured from the man's eyes...
The camera's remark reminded him.
*Right, call the police.*
Ji Jue had already uncovered this much; it was time for the noble officers to come mop up the mess.
He reflexively reached for his phone.
Right then, however, he heard the chatty camera's voice again.
*Oh, right, looks like the cops are in cahoots with them. A few girls tried to run out and were dragged right back, beaten half to death... Don't let them screw you over, bro.*
In the transmitted footage, a club manager in a private booth handed a cigarette to an officer, chatting and laughing merrily, everyone beaming and seamless, cozy as one big family.
In the manager's eyes, a familiar red light quietly flickered, like a flame of blood.
Another one?!
That was the third... No, more than that! The eager camera dumped every bizarre scene from recent days straight into his mind. Among them, there were at least eight or nine people carrying that eerie blood-red tint!
Ji Jue's heart pounded violently, and his vision went dark.
—*Holy shit, did I just accidentally stumble into these monsters' home base?!*
Was it too late to run now?
*Thanks, brother, I'm good!*
Crouched before the panel, Ji Jue followed the elevator's guidance, found the loose wiring, reconnected it, and wrapped two layers of electrical tape around it. Done.
The elevator cheered: *All set! Get out of here, quick. Don't end up like the last repairman—taken away to ghost knows where.*
"..."
Having packed up his gear and preparing to flee, Ji Jue froze on the spot. He felt an internal recording transmitted from the elevator: about a dozen minutes ago, another worker wearing a maintenance cap had followed someone into the elevator with his head bowed, descending to a floor not displayed on the control panel. The doors slid open... and he vanished.
He never came back out.
It was as if within this bustling, clamorous nightclub, an invisible black hole lay hidden. Once someone accidentally fell in, they were never seen again.
Yet what truly froze him in his tracks was a fleeting image captured on screen: the repairman's right hand, marked by a familiar scar, causing his breath to stop completely.
A chill ran through his entire body.
"Brother Feng..."
Ji Jue's eyes widened as he stood before the elevator doors.
"Hey? All fixed? If it's fixed, come down with me for the staff meal..." The supervisor, having received the alert, walked over and shoved Ji Jue's shoulder. "I'm talking to you. Speak up, don't play dead."
Ji Jue said nothing. He turned to look at him in silence.
The supervisor frowned, about to speak, but then he saw... the young man's lifted eyes, and the bloodshot threads spreading through them, so startlingly crimson.
And then, he saw the right hand Ji Jue pulled from the toolbox, along with the crowbar gripped tightly within it.
Aimed at his forehead.
Swung down!
*Wham!*
The supervisor's vision went black, and he crumpled limp to the floor, hearing only a cold, distant reply at the very end.
"Sure."
Ji Jue grabbed the back of the man's collar and hauled him into the elevator. "I'd just love to try your staff meal..."
The elevator doors slid shut, and the corridor returned to quiet emptiness once more.
Only the elevator car slowly descended.
In the brief silence, Ji Jue drew a deep breath. He tightened his grip on the crowbar, thought for a moment, and swapped it for a screwdriver. The sharp tip pressed against the supervisor's neck; with just a little force, it would punch a hole right through.
He admitted he was gambling. Such a rash move was foolish and irrational.
Yet the instant Ji Jue saw Lu Feng disappear into that subterranean level, all reason and deliberation seemed to vanish. All that remained was a terror and fury he had never imagined himself capable of.
How had he ended up here?
Was he okay?
He had even talked about buying a new computer so they could play games together.
That bastard—he had never kept a single promise!
Mother Lu had only just gotten out of the hospital, and here he was running off to a place like this—what on earth was going through his head? Couldn't he have picked up the phone and told him?
At this point, there was no other way.
In that sudden rush, the only thing Ji Jue could do was fish out the supervisor's phone, dump all the footage he had gathered onto it, upload it, and set a timed release for two hours later, tagging both Yacheng News and Voice of the Governor. While it probably wouldn't do much good, at least if he died, it wouldn't happen in utter silence.
Next, he hauled the unconscious supervisor up from the floor, holding him out front as a shield with the screwdriver pinned to his throat.
He raised his head, watching the elevator come to a halt.
And the doors slowly parted.
Emerging from that hair-raising sliver of faint light was a twisted, hideous face, lunging straight toward Ji Jue the instant the doors opened!
"Holy shit!"
Ji Jue's eyes widened. He reflexively raised the screwdriver to stab outward, but the moment he lifted his hand, he finally saw the blood across that hideous face clearly.
Along with a bullet hole.
From the forehead through to the back of the skull, it had blown open like a shattered coconut shell, red and white splattering outward.
A corpse.
The corpse that had been leaning against the elevator doors dropped into the car with a crisp thud.
And there were more.
Corpses, corpses, corpses, corpses, corpses.
It was as if he had abruptly burst into an active battlefield. The pungent reek of gunpowder forced its way into his nostrils and mucous membranes like something tangible, mingled with the thick stench of blood.
The vast underground space seemed to have turned into a slaughterhouse, swept through by a storm of devastation.
All that remained was eleven corpses.
And amidst the crimson blood, a single figure standing alone.
Stepping on a figure that still squirmed ceaselessly despite having its heart and arm blown open, the standing man raised the axe in his hand, aimed at the forehead, and brought it down with a crack!
Account settled.
Immediately after, he raised the firearm in his other hand, pointing it directly at the open elevator.
Then, just like Ji Jue, he froze on the spot...
It was Lu Feng.
"Fuck."
Chapter 9