Too quiet.

It was too quiet around them.

The elevator had reached the first-floor lobby, a place usually bustling with people waiting for the elevator. After all the noise they had made, how could there be no response from outside?

It was as if... everyone was dead.

This was definitely not normal.

Slowly, everyone seemed to realize this, and the atmosphere began to swing to the next extreme.

"The phone... I can't get through." A young voice sounded, a girl. "There's no signal here."

The elevator's alarm button didn't work either; it seemed to have been broken for a long time.

Darkness, silence, weighed heavily on everyone's heart.

Finally, someone couldn't bear it any longer and turned on the flashlight on their phone. They didn't point it at anyone, but directed the light downwards, towards the floor.

That amount of light was enough.

Everyone analyzed the current situation. Jiang Cheng was thinking alone, not interrupting. He vaguely felt that something was wrong.

It was as if... something was missing.

His gaze began to sweep around the elevator. Everyone was scattered. Soon, Jiang Cheng realized what was missing: the janitor... was gone.

This discovery made a chill run down his spine.

In the dim and noisy environment, no one had realized this yet. After confirming Lin Wan'er's safety, Jiang Cheng took her hand and slowly retreated to a corner, the corner farthest from where the janitor had disappeared.

Then, he shielded Lin Wan'er with his body.

Just then, the elevator shook.

Then, it slowly began to rise.

This feeling of rising was different from before. It didn't feel like the smooth sensation produced by machinery, but rather like some strange force was pulling them upwards, inch by inch.

The speed was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and no one dared to make a sound.

Especially the college-aged girl, her eyes were terrified, and her teeth were chattering.

The small screen inside the elevator was still displaying the floors.

The numbers on it were bright red, like blood, in the dim environment.

5th floor.

10th floor.

15th floor...

The elevator began to slow down, and they could even hear the noise of the steel cables rubbing against each other. The scene was incredibly eerie.

Finally, the elevator stopped at the 17th floor.

The moment they saw this number, Weiwei and Du Feng turned pale.

Jiang Cheng was slightly better. After realizing the elevator was going up, he had a premonition.

The elevator was probably taking them back to the 17th floor.

Not the current 17th floor.

But... the 17th floor where Nan Huaili had disappeared.

"Creak—"

A scraping sound, hard to describe, rang out.

The elevator doors opened.

Everyone subconsciously retreated, wanting to get as far away from the doors as possible.

It was as if a monster would burst in once the elevator doors opened.

"How... how could this be?" Weiwei exclaimed.

The scene outside the doors had changed.

It was completely different from what they had seen before.

The corridors on both sides had disappeared, and the office space separated by frosted glass that had been directly in front of them was also gone.

Now, all that lay before them was a corridor as deep and dark as a tunnel.

It was directly opposite the elevator doors.

The depths of the corridor were very dark, without a single trace of light, making one wonder if it even had an end.

Just staring into the depths of the corridor sent shivers down one's spine.

"What the hell is this place?" A woman in her forties asked. It was clear that even though she was terrified, she didn't dare to shout.

She was afraid of attracting something from the darkness.

"Everyone... everyone, don't go out." A younger man stared at the darkness in front of him, his throat bobbing as he said, "Let's just wait in the elevator."

"And then follow the elevator..."

As if in response to what he said, the elevator suddenly shook violently. The woman in her forties lost her balance and fell in the elevator.

After falling, her face was facing the back of the group.

Immediately afterward, a piercing scream shattered the silence. Not knowing what she had seen, the woman scrambled out of the elevator with both hands and feet.

She ran headlong into the darkness.

Soon, her figure was swallowed by the darkness, and all that could be heard from the depths of the corridor were the sounds of stumbling footsteps.

This completely ignited everyone's emotions.

It was dangerous outside, but the elevator wasn't safe either.

Moreover... with the shaking just now, strange scraping sounds were constantly coming from above the elevator, giving everyone the feeling that the elevator could fall at any moment.

Falling from the 17th floor—the consequences were unimaginable.

Without anyone organizing them, everyone quickly left the elevator.

And as soon as everyone had left the elevator, the elevator doors closed eerily. Then, the elevator slowly descended.

There was nothing else to do, so everyone had to grit their teeth and grope their way into the depths of the corridor.

Fortunately, their phones could still be used as flashlights.

The woman's voice from before was gone. As they went deeper and deeper, everyone discovered more and more strangeness.

This corridor seemed to be quite old.

At least it wasn't built within the last 20 years.

The lower parts of the walls on both sides were painted with dark green waterproof paint. The walls were covered with mottled marks, and some places were cracked.

Large patches of black mold spread along the cracks.

In the light of the flashlights, tiny particles of dust floated in the air. It seemed that this place had been sealed for a long time, and they were the first people to come here recently.

With each breath, their nostrils were filled with a stale smell.

Scanning his surroundings, Jiang Cheng took out his phone. While everyone else was staring ahead, he was more concerned with what was above him and behind him.

He could now be sure that this was a Nightmare.

Or rather, a world similar to a Nightmare.

He just didn't know why the rules had changed. Could it really be as the middle-aged man had said, that this world was being eroded by the Nightmare?

He had a similar feeling not long ago.

That taxi that shouldn't have existed.

And that missing driver.

He had actually appeared alive in front of him and Fatty.

Even more terrifying was that he had actually gotten in.

He had a theory that if he hadn't reacted at the time and had let the taxi driver keep driving,

would he have been taken to a place like this in the end?

After thinking about it, he felt it was very possible.

Lin Wan'er stayed by his side. He had Lin Wan'er walk in the middle of the group, while he stayed on the far right, next to the wall.

The visibility was relatively better in this position.

There were no obstructions in front or behind him.

"What do you see?" After turning a corner, the delivery boy walking in front pointed ahead and said. The corridor had finally come to an end.

It was a door.

But not the black iron door that Jiang Cheng had imagined.

It was an ordinary double iron door painted with light blue paint.

Jiang Cheng found the style and color scheme of this door familiar.

But he couldn't remember where he had seen it for a moment.

The group walked closer and closer with trepidation. Behind the door, there were faint sounds.

They were human voices.

The voices weren't loud, but they were very chaotic and sounded intense.