Mysterious Awakening

Chapter 45: River

“First, I need to ensure my own safety. Dealing with ghosts can wait. As long as I don’t use the power of the evil spirit within me, it won’t be a loss. Moreover, this man named Ethan is intriguing. I’m curious about what makes this ghost tamer special and if there is anything worth learning from him,” Miles muses.

Observing the fleeing crowd, Miles remains unruffled and unmoving.

If he had chosen to use his ghost domain, he could have instantly transported these people out of this place. But this would have been a self-damaging act with no benefit.

Such an action was out of the question for Miles.

He would only intervene at the moments of utmost despair and fear.

Gaining maximum benefit with the least cost.

After all, people often don’t cherish things that come too easily. That’s why he didn’t even bother to negotiate a price.

Let the boss, Mr. Calm, experience it first, and then he would make his move.

Besides, there was also Ethan, who wanted to take his business.

If this ghost proved to be a tough opponent, Miles wouldn’t mind leaving Ethan to deal with it. After all, that man came for the ghost.

It wasn’t something worth fighting over. Using the evil spirit’s power too much could even hasten his own death.

With these thoughts in mind, Miles casually heads towards the restroom, flashlight in hand.

As he relieves himself, the flashlight illuminates a corner of the bathroom. To his surprise, he spots a foot sticking out of the last stall adorned with black stockings. Clearly, it was a woman’s foot.

“A woman in the men’s bathroom? Is it some sort of pervert, or could it be another corpse?” he wonders.

Startled, Miles approaches the stall with his flashlight and cautiously opens the door to take a look.

Inside, he finds a woman huddled up, dressed in a white blouse and skirt, likely a mall employee. However, she looks pale, eyes closed. It’s unclear whether she’s alive or dead.

Miles reaches out to check her breathing.

She’s alive, not dead.

This comes as a surprise to Miles. If she was a corpse, it wouldn’t shock him. But the fact that she’s alive was strange.

He had seen all the employees in the mall over the past few days at work. Even if he didn’t know everyone, he recognized some faces. But he was certain he hadn’t seen this woman before.

Why? Because this woman was quite attractive.

Most of the female employees at the mall weren’t very appealing, barely leaving an impression.

“Wake up, ma’am, wake up,” Miles gently pushes her.

Soon, the woman slowly regains consciousness. But upon opening her eyes and seeing Miles, she appears horrified and recoils as if she’s seen a ghost. She seems about to scream, but Miles swiftly covers her mouth.

“Ma’am, please don’t scream. If you call the ghost over, you’ll be the one who dies,” Miles hurriedly covers her mouth.

Ah, women always seem to be troublesome.

I’d better get going.

Seeing her regain some semblance of calm, Miles decides to leave and find a new place to stay.

“Wait, wait,” the woman urgently grabs Miles’s hand, raising her head to look at him with a mixture of fear and anxiety, “You’re human, right?”

“Of course I’m human. How else would I be standing here talking to you?” Miles replies, “Are you a mall employee?”

“I’m the mall’s accountant, my name is River. Who are you and why are you here, dressed like that?” the woman named River tightly holds onto Miles’s hand and asks.

Miles chuckles, “I’m a new security guard. I came here to use the restroom. How else would I be here? As for you, why is a woman hiding in the men’s bathroom? When I saw your foot sticking out, you gave me quite the fright. I thought you were a corpse.”

“There’s… there’s a ghost outside, I’m too scared to leave. I’ve been hiding here for four days, surviving only on a pack of biscuits and tap water. I’m starving, do you have any food?” River speaks weakly.

So her pale complexion was due to hunger.

“Wait here, let me see if I have anything to eat,” Miles checks his pockets and says, “Well, I don’t have any food either. But there’s food outside, shall we go get something?”

“But there’s… there’s a ghost outside,” fear spreads across River’s face.

“So you know about the ghost outside. Does that mean you’ve seen it?” Miles suddenly realizes and urgently asks, “What does the ghost look like? Where is it?”

If River had indeed seen the ghost, it would save him a lot of trouble.

A known ghost was less terrifying since one could take precautions.josei

It’s the unseen ghosts that are truly frightening.

River nods.

“Then you need to tell me right away. There’s a ghost causing havoc outside, and Mr. Calm has hired a fraud to deal with it. If this problem isn’t solved soon, I’m going to lose my money,” says Miles.

River hesitates before saying, “If you get me some food, I’ll tell you. I’m starving.”

“I didn’t expect you to bargain,” Miles looks at her strangely, “But you look so pitiful, I’ll get you some food.”

He promptly leaves the restroom.

The ground floor of the mall was deserted, but there’s some commotion upstairs. It seems Mr. Calm and his group haven’t left the mall yet.

Miles grabbed some biscuits, snacks, and water from a closed snack shop, then returned to the restroom.

Upon seeing the food, River’s eyes lit up, and she eagerly started tearing open the packaging to eat.

In no time, all the food was gone.

“Do you have any more?” River looked at Miles with anticipation.

Miles says, “That’s all. There’s a piece of sausage left, do you want it?”

“Where is it? Give it to me quickly,” River eagerly demanded.

“You tell me where,” Miles looked down and asked.

River gives him a suggestive look, “If you can get me out of this place, we can discuss anything.”

Miles’s eyelids twitched as he took a good look at her.

Even though River seemed a bit worn, she’s quite attractive – a solid 7 out of 10. She might not be tall, but she had a great figure.

Wait a minute.

What was he focusing on? Miles snapped back to reality.

“Let’s not talk about that now. You said earlier you’ve seen this ghost. So, can you tell me what it looks like now, or what kind of presence it is?”

Seemingly reminded of a terrifying memory, River’s complexion shifts, fear lining her words, “It was four days ago. Like usual, I was working at the mall. On that day, when I was using the restroom, I ran into the cashier, Blush. As I was preparing to leave the restroom, I saw her outside, shaking her head in front of a mirror. I found it strange and was about to ask her what she was doing when I saw her remove her own head.”

“Yes, just like a doll. She just lifted her head right off with both hands. I was petrified. It wasn’t until after she’d put her head back on that I managed to run out of the restroom.”

River illustrated with her hands, her emotions somewhat heightened.

“But the moment I got out of the restroom, Blush turned to look at me. I got so scared that I accidentally ran into the men’s restroom and have been hiding here since. I thought about leaving several times, but each time, I saw Blush sitting nearby. She’s waiting for me, waiting outside the restroom. If I step out, she’ll surely kill me. They say ghosts don’t dare to enter the men’s restroom, so I’m safe here.”

Blush?

Miles immediately says, “That’s impossible. She can’t possibly be a ghost.”

“I’m not lying, it really was her. I saw it with my own eyes,” River insists, “You have to believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I trust my own eyes more. Because Blush is already dead,” Miles says seriously.

The severed head he’d seen rolling around the mall before belonged to Blush.

If she were a ghost, how could she be headless?

Do ghosts commit suicide?

“It’s true, she really did remove her own head. I saw it very clearly,” River reiterates.

“Shush, wait, someone’s coming,” suddenly, Miles covers her mouth and switches off the flashlight.

In the darkness, footsteps head in the direction of the restroom.

The footfalls are steady, neither rushed nor slow, just like a normal person’s stride.

“Something’s off,” Miles’s expression hardened.

The reason was there was no one on the mall’s ground floor anymore, even if there were, in the pitch-black surroundings, the footsteps couldn’t possibly sound so calm.

Could it be Blush?

He recalls the decaying, foul-smelling head left in the mall.

“If Blush really is a ghost, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible.”