Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

Eight fifteen.

Fifth floor, elevator lobby.

Wu Zhonghai slowly opened his eyes, feeling a dull pain in the back of his head.

How did I end up... lying on the ground?

He scrambled to his feet, hearing the bones in his back creaking.

He squinted and groped around on the ground for a while before finding his glasses, putting them on, and looking around.

The elevator lobby was small and empty. The two elevator doors in front of him were tightly closed, and the surroundings were very quiet. Only Wu Zhonghai's own breathing could be heard.

what happened?

Didn't I go to get the bedding myself?

Wu Zhonghai felt a little dizzy. Just a few minutes earlier, he had moved some blankets from room 502 and was about to go downstairs when suddenly everything went black.

The next second, he lost all consciousness.

When he woke up again, he was lying on the ground, his head throbbing from being hit by the hard terrazzo floor.

"Ugh......"

Wu Zhonghai sighed, rubbed his shoulder, and didn't seem too surprised.

Such a sudden fainting spell is not uncommon at his age; there are many possible reasons.

He was in his forties and had many underlying health conditions due to his years of teaching experience; his lumbar and cervical spine were not in good condition.

"I'm getting old, and now this is exactly what I'm going to happen to."

Wu Zhonghai shook his head, a trace of sadness flashing through his mind, wondering how long his body could last in the domain.

He stretched his body and suddenly realized something:

Where's the quilt?

When he fainted, the blanket should have been thrown to the side, right?

But now, there is nothing beside him.

Did the other people come up and take the blankets away?

Wu Zhonghai felt uneasy, sensing that something was wrong. It didn't make sense that the others would only take the blanket away without waking him up.

He took a few steps forward. At the end of the elevator lobby was the stairwell. He needed to go down to the 4th floor to rejoin everyone.

The door to the stairwell was tightly closed. Wu Zhonghai tried to turn the handle several times, but the door wouldn't budge.

The door was locked.

"what happened?"

Wu Zhonghai's unease grew stronger, and his heart rate gradually increased.

He didn't dare go back to the stairwell on the 5th floor. In this eerie situation, the 502 room where the murder had occurred seemed even more terrifying.

Thankfully, there's still an elevator.

Wu Zhonghai pressed the button to go downstairs, a bead of sweat glistening on his forehead.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Time ticked by, but the elevator didn't come up.

From the beginning, the display screen next to the elevator was broken, so Wu Zhonghai had no way of knowing which floor the elevator was currently stopped on.

He paced back and forth in the cramped elevator, his forehead now covered in cold sweat.

I'm trapped on the fifth floor!

We need to find a way to get out...

Wu Zhonghai glanced around the elevator lobby and suddenly his eyes lit up. In the corner, near the fire equipment, there was a toolbox.

He opened the box, which contained screwdrivers, a hammer, a crowbar, and other items, likely left behind by an elevator repairman.

He scattered the equipment on the ground for later use, making a clinking sound, when suddenly his ears twitched.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

Several dull knocking sounds came from inside the elevator.

The elevator... has it been stuck on this floor?

More importantly, who is inside?

Wu Zhonghai suddenly turned his head, pressed his ear against the elevator door, and spoke nervously:

Is anyone inside?

A faint static noise came from inside the elevator, followed by a very indistinct voice replying through the heavy iron door:

"help me!"

This voice sounds very familiar.

Wu Zhonghai was startled and quickly asked:

"who are you?"

"what happens?"

The sound was so muffled that it was hard to hear clearly. After a series of indistinct mutterings, Wu Zhonghai could only hear the words, "Help... the elevator is broken..."

He suddenly realized that the elevator wasn't failing to come up, but rather that it was malfunctioning.

The disappearance of the blanket beside him was instantly explained.

There were five or six large cotton quilts. Wu Zhonghai took them in several trips. The person who found him couldn't possibly take them all at once, so he had to take the quilts down first and then come back up to pick him up.

But no one expected that the elevator would break down at this moment.

There might be a power outage in the elevator shaft.

The voice in the elevator was male; it could be Xiao Chen, Teacher Zuo, or Zhuang Rui, whom he hadn't spoken to much.

"Don't panic, I'm coming to save you!"

Wu Zhonghai quickly called out to the elevator, feeling a sense of relief.

Fortunately, there were tools available. Wu Zhonghai grabbed a screwdriver, gripped it tightly in his hand, and forcefully inserted it into the gap between the elevator doors.

Those inside knew they had been rescued and stopped speaking.

"Huh, huh."

"This door is strangely heavy."

Wu Zhonghai was panting heavily when he finally managed to pry open a hole about the thickness of a finger.

It was pitch black inside; the power was indeed out.

"Don't worry, it'll be ready soon."

Wu Zhonghai comforted those inside, then picked up a crowbar from the ground and inserted it into the narrow gap.

He leaned back, using leverage to gradually apply force.

Crack—Squeak—

The elevator door emitted a tooth-grinding scraping sound, and although it was very slow, the gap was gradually widening.

Until it started as thick as an arm, it gradually grew to be able to fit more than half a person inside.

Immediately afterwards, he encountered resistance on both sides of the door, preventing him from prying it open any further.

"Let's leave it like this for now, and see if you can get out."

Wu Zhonghai was so tired that his legs felt weak and his back bones ached in waves.

He wiped his sweat, a smile appearing on his face, genuinely happy that he had managed to rescue the person.

"Ok?"

There was not a sound in the elevator.

"Are you ok?"

Wu Zhonghai was taken aback, and tentatively called out into the room.

A hint of anxiety flashed in his eyes. Had the person inside already fainted due to lack of oxygen?

The crevice was pitch black, and he couldn't see what was inside.

Wu Zhonghai was so anxious that he struggled for a long time before he finally managed to stick his head into the opening and peer inside, but it was too dark and he couldn't see anything.

Suddenly, he was startled.

"Boom boom boom..."

A heavy sound came from afar.

The next second, Wu Zhonghai heard...

A clear, crisp sound came from downstairs in the distance.

"Ding-dong."

"First floor, we've arrived."

The elevator doors opened on the first floor.

But not this one.

and many more.

Isn't there only one elevator that can be used?

Is the other one broken and you can't even get in?

That's right, but...

Which one was the bad one again?

Countless thoughts flashed through Wu Zhonghai's mind in an instant.

The sound came from the right...

In an instant, the repairman's words from yesterday morning echoed in Wu Zhonghai's ears.

"...Only the freight elevator on the left is broken..."

Wu Zhonghai pried open the elevator on the left.

The distress call came from the elevator on the left.

No one can use the elevator on the left.

Wu Zhonghai's blood froze in an instant.

There was no power outage...

It's so dark inside because it wasn't originally an elevator car.

Instead, it's the elevator shaft...

"Hehehe, haha, hahahaha..."

A chilling chuckle came from above Wu Zhonghai's head, above the elevator shaft.

No more than five centimeters away from him.

Something...something weird is clinging to the wall of the elevator shaft!

Wu Zhonghai trembled all over. He tried to back up as hard as he could, wriggling like an earthworm, in an attempt to get his head out of the elevator shaft!

Crack—Squeak—

The elevator doors made another teeth-grinding scraping sound.

Wu Zhonghai's eyes widened suddenly!

The door is being slowly pushed open!

next second.

Bang.

The elevator doors were completely closed.