Chapter 1 The Meaning

Lin Sihan was so frightened that she stood by the stairs, afraid to go up. Suppressing her voice, she asked me, "What does he mean?"

"What, what does he mean?" I pretended to be clueless. "He didn't say anything!"

My words made Lin Sihan's face turn pale.

I didn't wait for her to speak before following Lao Wang upstairs. Lin Sihan didn't dare stay downstairs alone, so she quickly followed.

By the time Lao Wang led us to the third floor, Lin Sihan was completely disoriented, but I felt like the third floor was smaller.

From the outside, the three floors of the archives should have been the same size, but according to the number of steps I had taken, the space on the third floor seemed to be missing a piece.

The third floor should have had a room without a main door. Or rather, a section of the area had been sealed off by someone.

Lao Wang walked around the third floor with his hands behind his back. "The commonly used files are on the lower two floors. The third floor is just a meeting room, a storage room, and things like that. There are also some files that no one looks at year-round. If you don't have anything to do, don't come up here."

Lin Sihan pointed to a door not far away. "Why are there red characters on that door? That's… that's the character for 'death'!"

Lao Wang glanced at the door. "Don't make a fuss. Those are the files of death row inmates. Nothing to worry about!"

Lin Sihan breathed a sigh of relief.

I frowned slightly and deliberately said, "Shouldn't the files of death row inmates be kept in the courts and the procuratorates? What are they doing in the archives?"

"Besides, even if you really put them here, you shouldn't write on the door in red ink. Red characters are taboo everywhere!"

Lao Wang said, "Those are the files of Republic of China death row inmates, and there are some special files in there as well. No one has looked at them for a long time. If it weren't for the curator not wanting to take responsibility, I would have burned them long ago."

Lao Wang led us back to the first floor. "The duty room is over there. Tonight, you two will be on duty together!"

"We?" Lin Sihan was clearly unwilling.

Night shifts were usually done by men, and even if women were on night shifts, there would be three or four people in a shift. Besides, there was no such thing as a man and a woman working a night shift together.

Lao Wang chuckled. "Our archives has an unwritten rule that new recruits must work the night shift on their first day, regardless of whether they are male or female."

"It's already past five o'clock, and I have to get off work. You guys finish your shift tonight, and I'll give you a day off tomorrow." Lao Wang left us in the duty room and packed up his things and left.

Outside the archives, there was nothing but roads and wasteland. There wasn't even a supermarket nearby, so we could only order takeout for dinner.

I glanced at Lin Sihan. "You go back. I'll work the night shift myself. Come earlier tomorrow morning, and I'll tell them that we worked the shift together last night!"

Lin Sihan was clearly tempted, but only slightly. "I don't want to take advantage of your favor. I don't need you to do that for me. Order your own takeout. I'll take care of the duty room myself. You go sleep in the office!"

I smiled and quietly opened my ghost eye.

Lin Sihan's face was like a mask, shrouded in a layer of gray mist. Her delicate features were twisted and deformed in the mist, looking like a person just before death.

Lin Sihan was entangled by evil spirits. If I sent her away now, I would be taking her life. Besides, with Lin Sihan's features shrouded in death energy, she might not even be affected by my ghost eye anymore.

I turned around and sat on the bed. "If you want to go, you go. I don't like sleeping on the sofa!"

"You… you're a rogue!" Lin Sihan was so angry at me that she didn't dare to go up to the second floor by herself, so she simply sat on the chair and started playing games, not even looking at me.

Lin Sihan didn't win many games, and the takeout she ordered was late, so she angrily filed a complaint.

The delivery guy then called. "Hey, I've been here for a while. Why are you filing a complaint?"

Lin Sihan angrily shouted, "Where are you? I can't see you."

The other person said, "Right in front of the Second Municipal Archives."

"I'm in front of the archives. How come I can't see you!" Lin Sihan didn't leave the duty room, but the window of the duty room had a clear view of the main entrance. We would have seen the delivery guy as soon as he arrived.

The more they argued, the more I felt that something was wrong. "Lin Sihan, ask him for the specific address."

As soon as Lin Sihan spoke, the person on the phone immediately replied, "Besides 16 Nanfeng East Road, where else could it be!"

Lin Sihan jumped up and down. "We're at 13 Xishan North Road, Xishan District. What are you doing running to Nanfeng East Road?"

Now the delivery guy was angry. "Are you crazy! There's only one Second Archives in the whole city, and it's on Nanfeng Road. Why are you going to Xishan North Road? Is that even a place where people go?"

The delivery guy immediately hung up the phone, and Lin Sihan angrily opened the electronic map. "Wait until I take a screenshot and complain about him…"

Lin Sihan's face suddenly turned pale. I glanced at her phone—sure enough, the map only showed the Second Archives on Nanfeng Road.

The phone almost fell from Lin Sihan's hand as she said, "Are we at the Second Archives? Go out and take a look… no, don't go out. Look at the surveillance, see if the surveillance can see the outside of the gate."

Lin Sihan adjusted the computer herself, aiming the camera at the signboard of the archives.