The shop owner's heart skipped a beat, and his hands trembled along with it. It was true that there were some decorative paintings on the walls of his office, but they weren't this large.

Also, the frames were made of wood, not the cold, hard metal he felt before him.

More importantly, his fingers on the frame felt a slippery sensation, this time warm, and dripping.

The air was filled with a sweet, metallic smell, which even an inexperienced person like the shop owner could identify as blood.

After a moment of stunned silence, a terrifying image flashed through the shop owner's mind: the oil painting in front of him!

The oil painting of the Rain Night Murderer!

But... how could it be?

The shop owner's pupils narrowed into slits. He was shocked and afraid, but surprisingly, his mind remained clear.

The terrifying old oil painting was in Room 19. Before Jiang Cheng and the others left, he had specifically asked them to lock the door. He remembered it clearly!

"Who... who took the painting out and hung it in his office? No, that's not right, how could anyone dare to move that painting? Did the painting come itself!" The shop owner's face turned ashen. He regretted letting those people into Room 19.

That ghostly thing... had come.

But it was too late to say anything. Before the owner could react, a pale hand reached out from the painting frame and grabbed his wrist.

Icy, stiff, and an unprecedented sense of suffocation enveloped him, as if his blood vessels were filled with ice.

"Help!" the shop owner screamed. "Let me go! Ah... ah, someone save me, someone save me!"

Only endless silence answered him.

He struggled backward, trying to break free from the cold hand, but it was all in vain.

The hand was like an iron clamp, firmly locking his wrist, pulling him bit by bit into the painting frame. His voice was shrill and desperate, his hands and feet kicking wildly, but nothing could stop it.

As his upper body disappeared into the frame, a "crack" was heard, and his legs, which were still outside, suddenly tensed before collapsing limply, as if lifeless.

The screams stopped abruptly.

But it wasn't over. His legs, twisted and deformed from the struggle, swung in the air, twitching occasionally, before being pulled into the painting by that mysterious force, disappearing completely.

About ten seconds later, the light above flickered a few times, then suddenly turned on.

The darkness in the office was dispelled, and everything returned to calm.

Only a brown leather shoe lay alone near the door, overturned on the ground.

...

"How is it?" Zhou Tong asked, staring at Jiang Cheng, who was sitting at his desk, holding the red landline phone in his hand.

Putting down the phone, Jiang Cheng shook his head.

This was the fourth time he had called the shop owner. Each time, the call went through, but no one answered. A strange atmosphere permeated the entire office.

Xia Qiang and the others sat on the sofa, their brows slightly furrowed. It was clear that everyone's mood was heavy.

None of them felt like they were being targeted, because the person being targeted wasn't them, but the owner of the escape room.

After all, the owner, like them, had entered Room 19.

Thinking of this, Jiang Cheng immediately used the landline in the office to call the shop owner. The reason he didn't use his own cell phone was because he was afraid of attracting the ghost.

"Should we go back and take a look?" Lin Muyun asked, a hint of gloom in his eyes, obviously aware of something.

"No!" Xia Qiang turned to look out the window, then retracted his gaze and said, "It's already dark. Unless necessary in a mission, never act at night."

Lin Muwan, who was next to her brother, lowered her head and thought for a moment, then picked up her notebook and quickly wrote a line of words, holding it up: "Is the shop owner in danger?"

Fatty's heart softened. He thought this girl was really nice. She had saved the doctor not long ago. It was a pity that she had so little experience. He was sure that the shop owner was already beyond danger. After all, dead people can't feel danger.

"Judging from the current situation, the shop owner's chances are slim." Xia Qiang said slowly, without much self-blame in his voice. After all, this was a mission world, not reality.

Hearing this, Lin Muwan's pen loosened slightly, and her beautiful eyes dimmed slightly.

Huai Yi said hesitantly, "Should we inform Captain Wu and the others and ask them to send someone to the escape room to take a look?"

Everyone understood what Huai Yi meant. It was unrealistic to expect Captain Wu and the others to save people. He wanted to use them to investigate the scene.

After all, they were old detectives, and they might bring them new insights, while they stayed in the office and only needed to contact them by phone, which was relatively less dangerous.

This was undoubtedly a good idea, but the premise was that they had to ignore the risks faced by Captain Wu and the others.

The scene fell silent again, and even Huai Yi, who had made the suggestion, lowered his head and stopped talking.

Suddenly, a burst of urgent ringing interrupted everyone's thoughts.

Jiang Cheng steadied his mind and answered the phone. He only listened and didn't speak. A man's voice immediately came from the other end, and he could feel the other person's urgency and panic through the phone, "Is this Captain Xia? I'm Wu Bin, something happened at the escape room... at the escape room!"

After a moment, Jiang Cheng said calmly, "Captain Wu, don't worry, tell me slowly."

Hearing that it wasn't Xia Qiang's voice, Wu Bin was obviously a little hesitant, but soon, he still told Jiang Cheng the whole story.

The other end of the phone was noisy. Wu Bin should be in a small space, and he could vaguely hear people crying around him.

"About 2 hours ago, the city bureau received a call from an employee of the escape room, saying that their boss was missing."

"The thing is, the boss told this employee that he was going to leave for a while and that he would be in charge of the business here, and he promised to give him a generous commission."

"After the boss finished speaking, he went back to his office to pack up various procedures and documents, saying that he would ask the employee to come to the office to find him in a while, and he would hand them over to him, and he also specifically mentioned that he had something to tell him."

"This employee was very excited, but he waited and waited, and waited for almost 2 hours, and it was getting dark, but the boss didn't call him."

"He felt strange, so he came to the boss's office alone, first knocking on the door, but there was no response from inside."

"After waiting for a few seconds, he subconsciously pushed the door, and unexpectedly, the door opened, unlocked, and all the lights inside were on, but he didn't see the boss."