I can rewind time to prevent death

Chapter 36 Peeking From the Crack in the Wall (Part 6)

Yan Junze checked the time, noting that 15 minutes had already passed of the remaining 36 minutes he had set for the "Rewind" deadline, leaving 21 minutes.

Listening intently, the footsteps approaching from outside seemed steady, the sound of leather shoes suggesting it was a man.

Everyone gathered behind the door of storeroom 004, Yan Junze turned to glance at the mummified corpse on the floor, ears perked, listening closely; no one spoke.

The footsteps quickly neared the door of room 004.

All four of them held their breath, hearts in their throats.

At this moment, Yan Junze was guessing whether the person outside was the security guard from the duty room.

The others unanimously believed that the individual outside was definitely one of the "strangenesses."

The footsteps stopped directly outside room 004 after passing by, followed by a knock about two seconds later.

A strange male voice came through, "Is there... anyone inside?"

"Huff..."

Hearing the voice, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, able to speak and with a quivering tone that betrayed fright; it seemed to be a human after all.

It seemed the noise from earlier, the pounding on the walls, had been too loud, drawing someone down from above.

"Who's out there?" Zhou Dali asked.

"I'm the building security guard. Who are you and what are you hiding in there for?" the man's voice was still shaking violently, "There's nothing valuable in this place, and moreover, it's haunted by strangenesses! Come out quickly!"

"We are not thieves." Since they were already discovered, Jiang Ruixin, who was closest to the door, directly opened it.

Outside stood a tall, thin man in a security guard uniform, wielding a flashlight, but he wasn't the middle-aged man watching TV series in the duty room—this guard was much younger, with distinct facial features, and indeed looked like a living person aside from being rather thin.

The young security guard clearly hadn't expected to find four people hiding in the storeroom. Upon seeing Yan Junze and the others, he was startled.

Especially upon seeing Zhou Dali's elephant-like build, he thought to himself that even three of him combined wouldn't be a match for the guy opposite him.

Before he could continue speaking, his flashlight beam swept over the twisted corpse on the floor.

The young security guard screamed in fright, "There... there's a body! This place is haunted by strangenesses, you... you guys, hurry... get... get out!

Quick!"

"We dug out the body," Yan Junze said.

"From the crack in the wall." Zhou Dali casually pointed at the hole in the wall behind him, a sense of pride welling up as if he had forgotten the scene where his own calf muscles had been trembling.

"No wonder it's been haunted by strangenesses! So there has been a... a body here!" The young security guard was trembling with fear, shining his flashlight on the mummified corpse below its stomach without pointing it at the face.

"There shouldn't be any strangenesses anymore," Yan Junze explained, "As long as we move the body out, notify the security staff to come over, or just find a place to bury it and let it rest in peace, there won't be any more strangenesses happening here."

"Okay... okay," the young security guard lowered the beam of his flashlight and swallowed hard, "Close the eyes of the corpse, otherwise it will keep staring as if it can't rest in peace, which is quite frightening."

"The body is already dried up, it might not be possible to close the eyes," Bao Jie said tremblingly.

But after the hallucinations they had just experienced, her courage had increased considerably.

"We can wrap cloth over the eyes," Zhou Dali slapped his thigh, "We should have done that earlier, otherwise we wouldn't have kept staring into its eyes."

"Where do we find cloth?"

Before Jiang Ruixin could finish speaking, Zhou Dali grabbed her sleeve and tore off a piece with a ripping sound, saying, "The clothes are mine, and it's reasonable for me to tear my own clothes, isn't it?"

Jiang Ruixin didn't say anything, her eyes widened in shock, scaring Zhou Dali to take four or five steps back.

It seems that he had already begun to be wary of Jiang Ruixin's "Bull's Eye."

However, he didn't wrap the cloth strip around the corpse's eyes himself, but instead handed it to Yan Junze, "Here, you do it."

"Whoever comes up with the idea should do it himself," Yan Junze did not take the cloth.

Zhou Dali hesitated. He looked at the security guard, then at Bao Jie, who was filming, and gritted his teeth: "If it has to be done, I'll do it. It's time to brave up."

He walked over to the mummified corpse, bent down, held his breath, and quickly wrapped a cloth strip around the corpse's eyes, then tied a knot at the back of the skull.

"That should do it."

The young security guard seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at this point and pointed with his flashlight in the direction of the corridor's bend: "Let's get out of here first. As soon as we're outside, I'll call the other colleagues over right away to clean up this place."

"No," Yan Junze shook his head, "We must take the body with us. To be honest, we are a Spirit Exploration Team, and we came specifically for this."

The young security guard was taken aback. He lowered his head as if pondering something, his cap slightly oversized, now askew on his head, ready to fall off at any moment.

Suddenly, he whirled around, his cap falling to the ground, demanding as he faced an open door across the hall: "Who's there? Who is inside?"

This door was directly opposite Storage Room 004 and had been open the whole time, but because there was no light, the interior setup couldn't be seen clearly.

As he shouted, the guard's flashlight lit up the space, but the beam seemed to get sucked into a thick morass of darkness; it was impossible to see what was inside the room.

This young guard was quite bold, not petrified by fear, and in a few steps, he charged into the room across the way.

The four people standing at the doorway of Storage Room 004 exchanged glances. Among them, Yan Junze was the bravest, but without a clear understanding of the situation, he wasn't about to recklessly rush inside!

As expected, after the guard ran into the room, there was no more sound from him.

Only the breathing of the few people outside could be heard, and the surroundings were dead silent.

This kind of waiting was torturous. Zhou Dali couldn't help but grunt, about to speak, when suddenly the room across burst into sounds of struggling and banging, getting more and more violent.

The anxious voice of the young security guard followed promptly: "Someone come help quick!"

Yan Junze and the others were stunned.

Zhou Dali exclaimed in surprise, "It's not a strangeness? Wait for grandpa to come and help you clean up!"

As a rising sun, exemplified by the school, and with his own natural strength, Zhou Dali's blood surged at this moment.

No sooner had he spoken than he dashed out of Storage Room 004 and plunged into the room across the hall.

The next second, everything went pitch black. The light from the flashlight in his hand instantly died, leaving no trace of any other light before his eyes.

Zhou Dali froze, reaching his hands out to grope around, finding nothing in front of him, which scared him so much that he quickly turned back, only to find that the door he had just entered through had also disappeared.

Logically, Yan Junze and the others were just across the hall, shining their flashlights, and standing inside this room looking at the doorway, flashlight beams should have been visible. But now, there was only darkness before him.

"Security brother, where are you?" Zhou Dali panicked, a bizarre and inexplicable fear creeping into his heart.

At this moment, his only hope was the young security guard who had just been calling for help.

He groped around while shouting.

No sooner had the words left his lips than Zhou Dali's hand touched an arm.

This arm had a sleeve, and on the sleeve there seemed to be a few buttons; it must be the security uniform.

"Security brother, why aren't you saying anything?" Zhou Dali felt he might pee himself with fright, his voice trembling as if he was screaming through a voice distorter.

The arm he was holding suddenly moved, grabbing Zhou Dali's muscular arm in return.

Zhou Dali's body stiffened, completely unable to break free. His pupils darkened rapidly, as if covered by a black cloth; his mouth slowly opened, and from his throat came a series of meaningless chuckles. These sounds, in the darkness, were especially eerie.

His cheeks quickly shriveled up and veins bulged. Then, with a thud, he collapsed, lifeless.

"Where are you guys? Why not come help out some more?"

The young security guard's voice suddenly echoed in the room once more, filled with an indescribable urgency.