While they were in the elevator, this train of thought continued. Jiang Cheng stood a little ahead in the elevator, with Wu behind him.

He could clearly feel a gaze fixed on the back of his head.

This gaze wasn't cold, at least, not repulsive to him.

A strange thought suddenly popped into his head: could it be that the killer had given Wu a stern lesson, correcting its twisted and偏执 (pian zhi) personality?

If that were the case, it would be quite nice.

"Why did you come back?" A line of words appeared on the elevator door in front of Jiang Cheng. Unlike the previous handwriting, this time it wasn't潦草 (liao cao, scribbled); each stroke was carefully written, although it still wasn't great, at least it looked more thoughtful.

Jiang Cheng couldn't help but be taken aback, and subconsciously replied, "Because you're still here."

After saying that, he seemed to think that this sentence might cause ambiguity, so he quickly explained, "You took the initiative to stay behind, attracting the killer's attention, so the rest of us had a chance to leave. And I promised you, after I sent the others out, I would come back to find you."

No new words appeared.

The conversation ended there.

Wu was behaving too much like a normal person today, which made Jiang Cheng feel very uneasy.

He couldn't imagine what kind of outrageous things the killer had done to Wu.

And... as the elevator door opened, Jiang Cheng looked around, but didn't see the killer's shadow.

Where did the killer go?

The rain was still falling outside, which meant they were still trapped in the "Rainy Night Killer" scenario and hadn't left.

But the strange thing was, the killer in the scenario had disappeared?

Jiang Cheng stood in the elevator, not daring to go out for a moment.

Until a hand reached out, seemingly wanting to touch him, but moved away at the last moment, simply pointing straight out of the elevator.

"Are you telling me to go out?"

Jiang Cheng thought for a moment and decided to follow Wu's advice.

The main reason was that he felt even more terrified being cooped up in an elevator with Wu right now.

Although the desk lamp was off, Jiang Cheng couldn't bear to throw it away, holding it in his hand for some sense of security.

On the way from the elevator to the front door, Jiang Cheng was prepared to be attacked by the killer at any moment, but even when he stood in front of the door, the killer didn't appear.

It really disappeared...

Even if his mind wasn't clear, Jiang Cheng realized something was wrong. A strange thought suddenly floated into his mind: was there a possibility that the one who had been given a stern lesson wasn't Wu, but... the killer?

Although, based on his experience, he thought this possibility was low, he didn't know why, but as soon as he thought of this, his left eyelid twitched violently.

He decided to test Wu.

Forcing himself to remain calm, he turned his head and opened his mouth, but before he could say the first word, he saw Wu calmly reach out an arm and point towards the door.

"Okay, okay, don't rush me, I'll go right now." Jiang Cheng didn't dare to hesitate and immediately slipped out through the crack in the door.

Immediately afterward, Wu glanced at the ceiling and then its figure disappeared.

Jiang Cheng would never know that in the tenth-floor office, just a wall away from where he had heard the "窸窸窣窣 (xi xi su su)" sound before leaving, a tall male corpse had been dismembered.

Arms, legs, and the torso were pierced and nailed to the ground by exposed steel bars.

The severed head was fixed separately in a more remote location, with a wedge-shaped iron bar inserted through the left eye socket, piercing the entire skull, the other end deeply embedded in the ground below.

Even more chilling was that the dismembered limbs were still wriggling, towards the head, as if trying to reassemble into a complete body.

And the remaining right eye under the tape was still looking down at a very strange angle, as if its gaze could penetrate the layers of concrete floor and see the scene in the lobby on the first floor.

The killer wasn't dead, and his determination to hunt down Jiang Cheng and the others had never changed, it was just temporarily inconvenient.

...

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling—"

Opening his eyes again, Jiang Cheng woke up from that familiar small bed. The annoying alarm sound didn't sound so harsh to his ears this time.

He breathed a long sigh of relief, knowing that this time, they had survived again.

He wasn't in a hurry and waited until he heard voices and hurried footsteps outside before he got out of bed.

As soon as he opened the door, the disordered footsteps reached the door. Everyone's tightly held hearts were relieved the moment they saw Jiang Cheng. "Brother Jiang," Huai Yi said in surprise, "You're okay, that's great!"

Xia Qiang, resurrected from the dead, relaxed his tense face when he saw Jiang Cheng was still alive, then respectfully stepped back and bowed deeply to Jiang Cheng: "Mr. Jiang, thank you."

Feng Jie, Li Mengyao, Yuan Xiaotian, and Zhou Tong followed suit, stepping back and bowing deeply to Jiang Cheng, saying sincerely, "Mr. Jiang, thank you."

Lin Muyun, supporting the breathless Lin Muwan, also thanked Jiang Cheng. The difference was that one was sincere in words, and the other wrote it on a notebook, raising it for Jiang Cheng to see with her brother's help.

"Mr. Jiang." Lin Muyun looked at him and said very formally, "Without your help, we wouldn't have been able to get out. We will remember this kindness in our hearts. If the Lin family is needed in the future, we will not hesitate."

Xia Qiang stood up straight, clasped his fist at Jiang Cheng, "Mr. Jiang, great kindness needs no words of thanks. If you need our brothers in the future, please don't be polite."

"Of course, and the Fugui brothers, and Huai Yi brothers." Xia Qiang turned around and clasped his fist again in the direction of Fatty Huai Yi.

Seeing Jiang Cheng standing completely in front of him, Fatty couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, his face flushed, and he said quickly, "Doctor, Captain Xia and the others were just discussing with me, saying that if there was a problem on your side, and you couldn't leave in time, we would continue to vote, no matter what, we must get you out."

"Those who hold firewood for the masses should not be allowed to freeze to death in the wind and snow." Feng Jie said, "Mr. Jiang, you can do this for us. If we abandon you, how can we stand in the world."

"I said, aren't you all annoyed by being so pretentious?" Yuan Xiaotian said impatiently, "Jiang Cheng, my life was saved by you, and Qiang-ge and Mengyao's lives were saved by you. From today onwards, you are my brother. If anyone bullies you, brother, just say the word, and see if I don't go after him!" Yuan Xiaotian hadn't read many books and didn't have so many twists and turns in his heart, but he understood the principle of repaying kindness better than anyone else.

Jiang Cheng didn't expect to see such a scene as soon as he opened the door. In the past, more people scolded him behind his back. He wasn't used to being thanked in a queue like this.

As if seeing the slightly different look on Jiang Cheng's face, Xia Qiang turned around, stepped aside, and said seriously, "By the way, Mr. Jiang, take a look, we just found this in the corridor."