The day of the memorial arrives, and resentment rises.
On this day, the ghosts who died violently often recall the pain of their death.
The more painful the process of death, the heavier the resentment.
And being burned to death can be said to be one of the most painful ways to die.
Dozens of ghosts become ferociously violent.
Just thinking about that scene is enough to make one's hair stand on end.
No wonder all these people from the mystical sects have changed their expressions.
However, since they are already here.
Who would be willing to leave without giving it a try?
The crowd gradually walked through the dark, gaping door.
The building had sixteen floors, plus a basement.
The fire mainly occurred on the fourth and fourteenth floors. In such a large space, could there really be no place to hide?
"Manager Xiao Lu, after you." Ku Deng smiled and made a gesture of invitation to Lu Fei.
"Master, please!"
Lu Fei and Jing Jian followed the crowd inside.
As soon as they entered, they felt a chill on their backs.
The building had been vacant for years and had long lost power, leaving the interior dimly lit and the air filled with a musty smell.
Fortunately, everyone was well-prepared and brought lighting tools.
Several beams of light converged, illuminating the first-floor lobby clearly.
The originally pristine floor tiles were now covered with dust, and large expanses of the walls were a vermillion red, making it look particularly eerie.
Outside, the sun was bright, but inside the building, it was dim and cold.
It seemed like two different worlds.
The group paused for a moment in the lobby before they started to move around, with many people planning to explore while it was still light, searching for relatively safe places.
Since the only requirement to join was to spend the night, there was no need to take unnecessary risks.
Lu Fei and Jing Jian also did not leave.
The elevators had long been out of service, so they climbed the dark stairs, preparing to check the upper floors.
"Manager Lu, please wait. Let's go together."
Ku Deng and Tian Yuan caught up, one after the other, with smiles on their faces.
"This building is extremely dangerous. It would be better if we acted together; there's strength in numbers."
"We assure you, we will fully cooperate with Manager Lu!"
"We're just taking a casual walk. If the two masters would like to join, of course, there's no problem." Lu Fei looked at them and did not directly refuse.
He observed that although there were quite a few people this time, more than twenty in total, they were actually divided into several small groups, each acting on their own.
The first and second floors were shops, so the space was relatively open, but the inner areas had no windows, making the air very stuffy.
Scattered everywhere were remnants of renovation debris and broken plastic mannequins. It was eerie, but there was no immediate danger.
Everyone plucked up their courage and continued to move upstairs.
They soon arrived at the fourth floor, where the fire once occurred.
The walls here had also been painted, a pale, ghastly white, covering the traces of the past burning.
On both sides of the long, eerie corridor, there were eight vermilion doors.
On one of the doors, there was a large, crooked double happiness character (囍) stuck to it.
"Isn't this the place where the wedding was held back then?"
"Hey, wasn't this floor burned in a fire? How come the double happiness character is still on the door?"
All four of them felt very strange, stepping through the thick dust in the corridor, and came to this door.
The double happiness character was old and faded, its style very outdated, with a layer of dust on the surface, indicating that it had not been put up recently.
"This double happiness character looks odd; it's better not to touch it! If this was the place where the wedding was held, then it must be the source of the fire, a place of great misfortune....."
Before Kudeng could finish speaking, the double happiness character suddenly swayed twice and fell to the ground.
The four were immediately startled and quickly tightened their grip on their ritual implements.
It's normal for something to fall off after being stuck for a long time, but why did it fall right when they arrived and not earlier or later?
Kudeng's face changed slightly, and he quickly raised his palm towards the door.
"Amitabha, I mean no offense! May all the suffering souls find liberation and ascend to paradise soon!"
After speaking, he recited a few verses of the scriptures for blessing with piety.
There were no unusual noises coming from the room.
The entire building was deathly silent.
The four of them were filled with shock and suspicion.
"Manager Lu, this place is inauspicious; we should not linger. Let's leave quickly."
Tian Yuan looked around nervously, always feeling a coldness on his back, as if there were eyes watching him.
But when he turned to look, all eight vermilion doors were tightly shut.
"Alright!"
Lu Fei nodded.
The four quickly left the fourth floor, and just as their figures disappeared down the hallway, a sudden gust of chilly wind swept through the corridor.
The double happiness character on the ground gently moved, silently floating towards the four people.
The four of them climbed up a few more floors.
Paper money began to appear sporadically on the stairs, and the mottled walls were covered with stains. Some of the stains vaguely resembled distorted human figures, quite creepy.
The stairwell was pitch dark.
The four of them were extremely cautious.
By the seventh or eighth floor, the path became difficult to traverse, as the stairwell was piled high with various old furniture, making the already narrow passage even more impassable.
Jing Jian shook his head and said, "These people really have no manners, blocking the escape route! If there's another fire, we won't be able to escape."
"You should shut your mouth, you jinx!"
Lu Fei gave him a stern look and gestured to everyone.
"Masters, we now have a basic understanding of the building's layout. Each floor is the same, and there's nothing much to see on the upper levels. We might as well go back."
Ku Deng was already panting with exhaustion, his chubby face covered in sweat, as he leaned against the wall and said with difficulty, "In this poor monk's opinion, it would be most suitable to spend the night on the first floor. We can advance or retreat from there."
"If, I mean if something happens, we can always withdraw at any time."
"That makes sense."
Lu Fei estimated that most people were thinking the same thing.
Sure enough.
After returning to the first floor, he found that almost everyone had gathered in the lobby.
Someone had brought in two cabinets from somewhere and placed them against the door, in case it suddenly closed.
Lu Fei couldn't help but smile.
It seemed everyone was being cautious.
The group split into four circles, each finding a place to rest and discussing in low voices how to safely get through the night.
"Manager Lu, this spot is quite good."
Kudeng looked around and found a relatively clean spot, then gestured for Lu Fei and Jing Jian to come over.
Everyone swept away the dust and sat down on the ground.
"Hey, Daoist Tianyuan, what's that on your foot?" Jing Jian, with sharp eyes, noticed something sticking to the bottom of Tianyuan's shoe.
A flashlight shone over.
Tianyuan couldn't help but be stunned.
It turned out to be a yellow paper money note.
"Bad luck!"
Tianyuan frowned in aversion and quickly pulled off the paper money, tossing it away.
But the paper money, in the dark, lightly spun around and actually landed back behind him.
The sky outside was gradually darkening.
In the crowd, an elderly man repeatedly tossed three copper coins, his face filled with worry, his brows knitted in a frown.
"Three divinations in a row, all showing great misfortune..."
Across from Great Xia.
Inside the café on the second floor.
The spotless glass windows reflected Xu Bei's leisurely expression.
He held a cup of coffee, savoring it slowly and calmly.
The burly, well-muscled man beside him glanced at the dim, black building across the street, a look of concern on his face.
"Brother Bei, today is the day of the red and white sha cycle. We won't have any fatalities, right?"