Absolute Gate

Chapter 2: Encountering an Evil Spirit?
Huaxu, Xunyang City, Jiangxi Province, Yiheyuan Residential Area.

This run-down neighborhood has a great name; it's basically a low-rent housing complex.

The building has three apartments per floor, and Wu lives on the 20th floor, which means he has to wait a long time to take the elevator every morning when he goes to work.

He was even late because of it, and he was really annoyed by it.

"Ding-dong." The elevator has finally arrived.

Wu Zhong scratched his half-long hair wearily and went inside.

There's already a well-dressed man living upstairs; I see him almost every day around this time.

I think his surname is Li, but I'm not very familiar with him.

The two exchanged a glance and then nodded perfunctorily.

Wu leaned against the corner of the elevator, and with nothing to do, he instinctively took out his phone again, pretending to be busy, but actually just aimlessly scrolling through the screen to check the time.

"Tsk, why can't this door close?" The man in the well-tailored shirt pressed the elevator close button repeatedly, making a loud clattering sound, growing increasingly agitated.

But the elevator doors just wouldn't cooperate and remained open.

If the door isn't closed, the elevator naturally won't go down.

"Oh no? Is this bad? I'm not supposed to walk down all twenty floors by myself, am I?" The man in the shirt was covered in sweat.

"Brother Li, let me try..." Wu Zhong leaned forward and started poking wildly. Just then, the elevator doors finally closed.

"A bit slow," Wu Zhong said, then shrank back into the corner.

Brother Li shook his head: "This old elevator is really old. I don't know if it's ever been inspected in all these years. I don't know what the property management is doing."

"Yeah..." Wu Zhong played with his phone, making a sound as if he was agreeing.

The elevator stopped on the 18th floor, and another resident wanted to get in, but the elevator doors didn't open again.

The people inside and outside were stunned by the elevator doors. Brother Li started frantically pressing the open button again: "Damn it, this broken elevator is bound to cause an accident sooner or later."

Wu Zhong finally frowned; these were all ominous signs.

The elevator doors are so difficult to open and close, it's terrifying! I hope I won't get trapped in the elevator today.
He has an emergency and needs to get to the hospital quickly.

Wu Zhong suddenly became a little anxious and went up to press the door open button repeatedly.

The silver elevator doors slowly opened, and a middle-aged couple entered.

The woman immediately complained, "What are you doing in there? Holding down the door and not letting anyone in? Did you install the elevator?"

Brother Li glared at him: "We're inside opening the door for you, don't you understand what's going on?"

"If you don't press the button, will the elevator door not open?" the woman said, getting more and more excited.

Wu Zhong couldn't help but say, "Once we arrive, the elevator doors will open automatically. Whatever we do inside won't bother it. The only question is when it will close after it opens."

"Uh, for example right now... it won't turn off again."

Everyone saw that the elevator doors were wide open and not closed.

Brother Li shouted, "Oh yeah, this elevator is incredibly slow, how can you blame it on me?"

The woman was stunned. She ran over and pressed the close button, but the elevator door did not respond.

Her husband even tried to pry open the door with his hands and tap the door frame with his fingers, as if that would trigger some kind of sensor to close it automatically.

Brother Li sneered, and this time he didn't furiously press the buttons. Instead, he stood there with his hands in his pockets and said, "I told you it's unresponsive..."

"I painstakingly pressed it open for you before, and my hands were all worn raw."

"Hehe, press it yourself, put some pressure on it!"

Wu Zhong looked down at his phone, waiting silently. He and Brother Li both thought the elevator doors would close soon.

Two minutes passed, but the elevator doors showed no sign of closing.

The middle-aged man was terrified and grabbed his wife, saying, "Don't press the button, it's creepy. There's something wrong with this elevator, let's take the stairs."

The woman frowned: "The eighteenth floor!"

"Let's go, let's go, what if we fall?" The middle-aged man grabbed his wife and rushed out of the elevator, moving so fast that they seemed afraid of being crushed by the door frame.

Brother Li frowned and said, "It's over, it's completely ruined."

He glanced at Wu Zhong, and seeing that the latter didn't respond, he also rushed out of the elevator.

The three of them went up the stairs, leaving only Wu Zhong behind.

He was very tired, really tired, and didn't want to climb the stairs.

Wu Zhong casually pressed the close button twice, deciding to wait a little longer.

Unexpectedly, pressing the button closed the elevator doors, and the elevator continued its descent.

Wu was a little stunned.

He raised his finger to examine it, secretly chuckling to himself: It has to be me again.

The elevator then stopped on the sixteenth floor again, and just like before, the doors did not open automatically.

Wu pressed a button casually, and the elevator doors opened smoothly without any delay.

An old lady walked in and asked, "Why are you staying on the 18th floor for so long?"

Wu Zhong blinked: "This elevator is malfunctioning, it's slow to respond..."

"But sometimes it is possible."

The old lady didn't say much. The two of them descended, stopping intermittently on several floors.

This time, Wu stood near the buttons and pressed them each time, and the elevator doors opened smoothly.

He tried to deliberately be a step slower, but the door never opened automatically; he always had to press it.

"This..." Wu Zhong felt something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

A sense of unease lingered in his heart, but his long, monotonous life had numbed him, and he didn't think much of it.

Because the car had been parked for too long, there were quite a few people waiting downstairs.

More and more people gradually squeezed in.

Finally, on the fifth floor, two burly men in vests forced their way past Wu Zhong.

Wu instinctively stepped back, making way for the elevator buttons.

He had a bad feeling, and sure enough, the elevator stopped moving when it reached the second floor.

Clearly, someone outside must have been careless and pressed the button for the elevator on the second floor, but the door didn't open automatically, causing the elevator to remain stuck.

The burly man was somewhat agitated, banging on the door open button until it rattled loudly.

"What kind of broken elevator is this?"

"Press the emergency call button."

"Don't crowd, don't crowd!"

The weather was hot in August, and the elevator's ventilation was always bad. With so many people crammed inside, it was very stuffy and had a mix of smells.

Everyone became irritable, but Wu was the calmest one.

"Won't the elevator open automatically if I press a button?" Wu Zhong thought to himself.

However, such an idea was absurd, and with him squeezed to the back, separated by two burly men in front of him, and surrounded by chattering people, Wu Zhong remained motionless.

The burly man quickly contacted security via the alarm, and the property management quickly said they would send someone to handle the situation.

Everyone waited in the elevator. At first, some people were quite curious and took out their phones to take pictures. Wu Zhong was one of them.

However, as time went on, it became increasingly depressing, since although everyone lived in the same building, they were actually not familiar with each other.

A construction worker wearing a hard hat pulled out half a pack of Double Happiness cigarettes, but was glared at by the young man in the suit and awkwardly stuffed it back.

The oppressive atmosphere continued to build, and everyone moved around very awkwardly.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Wu slowly reached for the button.

"Oh my god!" an older woman shouted first, then kicked Wu Zhong wildly to the side.

Wu Zhong, who was about to sneakily reach for the door open button, was so startled that he withdrew his hand.

It turned out that the woman was only targeting the burly men in front of her, telling them not to move.

But after the older woman spoke up, Wu Zhong dared not make any rash moves.

Time passed second by second, and everyone had been trapped for more than five minutes.

It may not sound like a long time, but it feels especially difficult to endure in a closed environment.

"What kind of property management is this? It's so damn slow!" someone started cursing.

Then the burly man reached out and started knocking on the elevator door: "Come on, give me a hand, just pry it open!"

Some people were afraid: "No, let's just wait for the master to solve it."

"What are you afraid of! This is only the second floor. You're not going to fall to your death!" The burly man said nonchalantly, his vest completely soaked with sweat.

However, no matter how hard he tried, the elevator doors remained completely still.

After a while, someone called out from outside, followed by the sound of someone trying to pry open the door.

But it was no use; the door remained closed.

"Call the fire department!"

"They're coming right away, everyone please be patient."

The maintenance workers hired by the property management couldn't open the elevator, and the fire department arrived quickly.

Two firefighters tried to pry and fiddle with the silver door panel for a long time, but it wouldn't budge, as if it were welded shut.

They discussed it with the technician and ruled out common wiring faults. "It's not a wiring problem."

"Is something blocking the door?"

"It might be a forced demolition."

"Where is the central control unit? First, lower the elevator to the first floor; we need to cut it open directly."

The fire department spoke up, and the property management fully cooperated, so the elevator was able to operate normally up to the first floor... except for the door not opening.

The middle-aged couple and Brother Li walked out of the emergency exit and, seeing this scene, secretly rejoiced that they had taken the stairs.

They complained to the firefighters about the safety issues here, which made the property management staff sweat profusely.

The firefighter didn't say anything, only saying, "Let's start cutting."

"Zizzizi!"

Firefighters quickly began sawing through the door, cutting it high up to avoid injuring the people inside.

The piercing sound kept echoing in the enclosed space, and everyone was on edge.

"Be careful, people inside."

"Cover your ears, open your mouth, and close your eyes."

Upon hearing the message from outside, everyone in the elevator did as instructed.

Seeing this, Wu Zhong took the opportunity to squeeze forward and, with a try-it-and-see attitude, reached out to touch the door open button.

Buzz... The elevator doors opened.

The firefighter who was sawing the door paused for a moment and quickly stopped.

"OK OK……"

They held the door frame to prevent it from collapsing and rescued everyone inside.

Wu Zhong was the last to come out, looking astonished: "How did you open it?"

The firefighter actually answered him: "It must be a foreign object stuck there. We sawed the foreign object open."

"thanks, thanks……"

He verbally expressed his gratitude to the fire department, but inwardly he felt very strange.

Coincidence? It can only be a coincidence, right?
It must have been a coincidence that the fire department sawed through the foreign object blocking the door.

Surely he can't suddenly have the superpower to control elevator doors, right? That would be ridiculous.
Wu Zhong chuckled self-deprecatingly and didn't think much of it.

At this point, the fire department began discussing elevator safety with the property management. Some residents stayed behind, still cursing the property management, while others rushed off to work.

"I need to get to the hospital right away."

Wu had no time to watch the excitement, so he hurriedly followed them out and casually closed the gate of the building's access control system.

He hurriedly went to catch the bus. While waiting for the bus, he looked at the weather, which was gloomy and overcast.

The wind was strong, and the sea of ​​clouds was churning.

All the clouds and gales rushed toward Mount Lu.

Jiujiang is located at the foot of Mount Lu, and he can even see a corner of the Mount Lu mountain range with the naked eye.

Dark clouds gathered there, and flashes of lightning could be seen, indicating a heavy rainstorm.

"Oh no, the weather forecast said it wouldn't rain today? I didn't bring in the laundry."

"Never mind, I'll just wash it again later."

When the car arrived, he hurriedly took a bus to a hospital.

In the inpatient department, he went to his grandfather's bedside and asked the caregiver how he was doing.

The caregiver, also an old man, was playing on his phone and speaking in his local dialect: "Nothing's wrong, the situation is very stable, it's just a matter of eating, drinking, and using the toilet."

Wu Zhong looked at his sleeping grandfather and the leftover food by the bedside: "Why did you eat so little? You barely touched it."

The caregiver said casually, "He can't eat much; he only takes a couple of bites before saying he's full."

Wu Zhong frowned: "You should persuade him to eat more. You should feed him properly. When I feed him myself, he can eat half a bowl."

The caregiver hurriedly said, "What can I do if he won't eat? It's alright, the IV fluids are still running."

Wu remained silent. He longed to take care of his grandfather himself, but he simply didn't have the time.

These were her only relatives. Wu Zhong lost her father at a young age, and her mother took her to her maternal grandfather's house to raise her. However, her mother died of depression a few years later.

His maternal grandfather raised him, and just when he finally started working, his grandfather suffered a brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized.

The situation is stable, but it's exhausting; you have to take care of everything, from eating and drinking to using the toilet.

The caregiver pays 250 yuan a day, which is 7,500 yuan a month. Including hospital fees and his own rent, he has to work hard to earn more than 8,000 yuan a month. In addition, his grandfather's retirement pension is enough to make ends meet.

Therefore, we can't skimp on caregivers. If he takes care of the child himself, who will go to work? If there's no one else at home, and no income, things will be even worse.

For this reason, he worked overtime like crazy, and when there was no work to do, he would work part-time as a wake-up call worker. He didn't dare to rest for even a day... His job was considered one where the more he worked, the more he earned.

Some people say auto repair is dirty and tiring, and that's true, but it's a lucrative profession. Compared to working in a factory, it's much better. In a factory, you might be busy all day long, but your pay doesn't seem to increase.

"Uncle, let's go for the check-up now. Come on, let's push the bed over there together," Wu Zhong called to the caregiver.

The caregiver was taken aback and said, "So early? The doctor hasn't even started work yet."

Wu Zhong pouted and said, "Let's go line up first, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish. I still have to go to work."

The two of them worked together to push the hospital bed to the relevant floor and waited outside the MRI room.

Wu Zhong sat by the hospital bed and dozed off; he was too tired.

They waited until after 8 o'clock before the doctor arrived. Because he was the first one to be examined at the window, there were quite a few beds waiting for him.

The check started quickly and was done in a few minutes. Wu Zhong pushed his grandfather out and saw the long line behind him. He was glad he had arrived early and gotten it done in no time. It was worth the money to have someone wake him up before seven o'clock.

Although he was extremely tired, this wouldn't delay him from going to work.

There was no other way; his monthly income and expenses were so tight that he had to squeeze every last drop of time and money from his living expenses.

"The attending physician is coming at ten o'clock. Aren't you going to wait?" the caregiver asked.

Wu Zhong yawned and said, "I'm not waiting anymore. Whatever the result is, just send it to me via Green Bubble. I'm going to work."

He hurriedly left the hospital and took a bus to get somewhere.

As soon as I got off the bus, I saw a large crowd gathered in my own Yiheyuan residential complex, seemingly watching a spectacle.

He was also curious about what had happened in his neighborhood, but he didn't have time and rushed off to work.

The place wasn't far away; he ran there in ten minutes and arrived at the repair shop.

"Xiao Wu, why are you so late?" the boss asked with a hint of worry, but he didn't mean to blame him, after all, Wu Zhong really was a workaholic.

Wu finally had to give an excuse: "Oh, the elevator is broken... I'm trapped inside..."

The boss laughed out loud: "You just spout nonsense, always making faces like that. Get back to work."

Wu remained silent, while his boss comforted him as he quickly changed into his work clothes and went to work next to his colleague Lao Wang.

"Mr. Wang, this vehicle is reporting fault code P0172..."

"I know, I'm almost done." Old Wang tapped the deformed jack with a wrench.

He then said in a low voice, "Your excuse for being late today is ridiculous."

Wu sighed softly, "I really was trapped in the elevator, I have video evidence. Sigh, I hope they won't dock my pay."

"Haha, it's okay. You're a model worker. Even if you're late a few times, the boss won't dare to deduct your performance bonus." Old Wang shrugged.

Wu Zhong sighed, "No, what if I get penalized? I can't afford the consequences."

"Get to work, the car owner will come to pick it up this morning."

He immediately immersed himself in his work.

The two men were tinkering with a Buick; there was nothing wrong with it, except that the fuel mixture concentration was too high.

After getting everything sorted out, Wu got in, drove around for a bit, and came back without any problems: "Alright, call the customer now."

He parked the car, and that was it for the time being. He and Lao Wang sat down to smoke and sunbathe.

Wu was under a lot of pressure and developed a smoking habit, but he never bought cigarettes to save money. He would just borrow cigarettes from his colleagues, boss, and even customers, which was enough for him.

Not long after, the car owner arrived. He was a middle-aged man in a gray suit and was in a hurry to drive the car away.

Wu Zhong went up to him and handed him the keys. The man in the suit unlocked the car with a beep and pulled hard on the door to get in.

However, the car door remained unmoved.

"What happened? Is the door lock broken?"

The man in the suit tried to open the door repeatedly, pressing the key lock, but to no avail; he simply couldn't open the car door.

"Didn't you say that just replacing the air filter would be enough? Why did you damage my car door during repairs? Huh?"

The car owner started shouting, the boss frowned and came over when he heard the commotion, and his colleague Lao Wang looked puzzled.

Wu Zhongze's heart skipped a beat, and a strange sense of familiarity welled up in his mind. Was the door broken again?

"Heavenly Bodhisattva! No way!"

Am I possessed?

……

　P.S.: Sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)