Chapter 408: Chapter 408: She’s on the 29th Floor!
 

Huang Xiaolong looked at the hotel surveillance footage playing on the computer at the front desk.

This was a recording from about half an hour ago.

The clip was nearly 4 minutes long.

In the footage, a woman in her twenties with somewhat mixed-race features—obviously several months pregnant—was taking the elevator.

“Sir…this…this is Miss Lan Ke’er…” the receptionist’s voice trembled.

Sure enough, in the surveillance footage Lan Ke’er was seen making some inexplicable maneuvers.

For instance, in the elevator she pressed every button from the 1st to the 28th floor.

Then, whenever the elevator stopped and the doors opened, she would carefully hide in a blind spot from the elevator’s outward view.

The expression on her face was extremely peculiar, as if she was playing hide-and-seek with someone.

Until the 28th floor, Lan Ke’er ran out of the elevator, gesturing and shouting in a bizarre manner, her behavior eerily similar to a scene in a supernatural horror film, which sent chills down one’s spine.

After reaching the 28th floor, Lan Ke’er dashed towards the end of the hallway and quickly disappeared from the surveillance camera’s range.

“Sir, if…if Miss Lan Ke’er actually disappeared, it’s likely that it happened on the 28th floor…” the receptionist swallowed. “But we really can’t understand what those peculiar actions of hers mean. Plus, in the entire surveillance footage she’s the only person who is muttering to herself, there’s absolutely no second person…unless…unless…”

Hesitating for a moment, the receptionist looked at Lan Ke’er’s fiance: “I’m sorry, but does Miss Lan Ke’er have a history of mental illness? Or maybe she’d been drinking too much…”

“Shut up!” Lan Ke’er’s fiance roared furiously. “My…my fiancee…she absolutely has no history of mental illness…she never drinks…damn it! She’s carrying our child…she…she’s missing…”

At this moment, the hotel’s chief of security, heaving, came running over. “Every single room in the hotel has been searched, especially those on the 28th floor; we combed through them thoroughly, but…we found no trace of Miss Lan Ke’er…”

“What? You searched our rooms without permission?” One of Sun family’s second-generation members shouted with rage.

The rooms that Sun family had booked in this “Carnival Hotel,” were all on the 28th floor, so evidently, the hotel’s security had searched the rooms occupied by the Suns without authority, using their keys to do so.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” the receptionist quickly apologized.

At this point, the many guests watching in the lobby were also feeling somewhat uneasy.

The sudden disappearance of a very pregnant woman in the hotel, her body nowhere to be found: this was frightening. Was there a psychopathic killer hiding in the hotel?

Some guests also started whispering amongst themselves…

“Actually, I think there’s something off with this hotel. Last night, both me and my wife had nightmares; we dreamt that some people were wandering in our room. Can you explain this? My wife and me had the exact same dream! Dammit!”

“You’re not wrong, I also had a nightmare. I dreamt…I dreamt of a woman in a white dress sitting by my bed, asking me if I wanted a go…I was completely dazed.”

“I tell you, I have insider information. This same hotel…had a woman who also disappeared six months ago, she was also pregnant…this woman was six months pregnant.”

…

“Pregnant?” Huang Xiaolong mused over it for a moment.

“This … Little Long…the video we watched earlier was really strange, what was that missing pregnant woman Lan Ke’er trying to indicate? Was she attempting to relay some information through the surveillance footage?” Sun Wei gave a shudder.

“Ha, ha~~~” Huang Xiaolong chuckled meaningfully, “She was playing hide-and-seek.”

“Hide-and-seek?” Sun Wei was taken aback, but then quickly shook her head. “But Little Long, from start to finish, only Lan Ke’er is in the surveillance footage and no one else. Eventually, she got out of the elevator on the 28th floor, gesticulating and muttering to herself; I’m seriously doubting if she’s insane.”

Huang Xiaolong just chuckled, thinking to himself, ‘She’s not playing hide-and-seek with people, but…with ghosts.’

The surveillance video, to the average person, just shows Lan Ke’er behaving strangely, as if she’s putting on a manic one-woman show. However, what Huang Xiaolong saw in the footage, aside from Lan Ke’er was—

A little boy with a deathly pale face, on which the flesh was crawling!

Naturally, this little boy was not a person, but a small ghost!

On the 28th floor, the little ghost waved at Lan Ke’er, then ran towards the end of the hallway. Lan Ke’er gesturing and yelling, seemingly at the little ghost. When the ghost did not listen, she chased after him, disappearing from the surveillance footage.

Just then, the sound of police sirens blasted from outside the hotel. Several police cars had pulled up at the hotel entrance, and over a dozen officers rushed in.

“Alright, Sister Bai Hu, let’s go back to our room and sleep.” Huang Xiaole yawned.

“Yes, yes. I don’t personally know Lan Ke’er, but I hope the police can find her.” Sun Wei nodded earnestly.

“Ha, ha, they will not be able to find her. Even if all the police in Jiangnan City were gathered here, even if they were to tear down this hotel, they would still not find Lan Ke’er. Alive, she cannot be seen; dead, her body cannot be found.” Huang Xiaolong lightly chuckled and shook his head, thinking to himself, ‘Because…I know, Lan Ke’er is… on the 29th floor! A floor that common people absolutely cannot see!’

“Oh right, I believe today is the 16th in the lunar calendar…” Huang Xiaolong suddenly looked outside the hotel, the night was extremely gloomy, as though multiple dense fogs had enveloped the entire hotel.

“Ah, that’s right, Little Long, today is the 16th in the lunar calendar.” Sun Wei exclaimed. “Is there a problem?”

“The saying goes, the moon is at its fullest on the 15th and 16th, a full moon is a night of great taboo for practitioners, because on a full moon night, the spiritual power of the moon is most abundant, the Yin energy is surging, and ghosts and spirits are most likely to appear. Therefore, the 15th and 16th of each lunar month are also known as the ‘Mini Ghost Festival’ to practitioners; a night when hundreds of ghosts walk, and people’s hearts are filled with dread.” Huang Xiaolong muttered.

“Ah…Little Long what are you saying? I don’t understand.” Sun Wei was completely puzzled.

“Alright, enough about that, Sister Bai Hu, let’s go back to our room.” Huang Xiaolong, with his arm around Sun Wei’s waist, headed for the elevator.

The members of the Sun family followed Huang Xiaolong into the elevator.

The elevator buttons only went up to the 28th floor.

‘Ah~ The 29th floor, the 29th floor, what sinister secret are you concealing? Hehe~~ Possibly, tonight… I might have to go up and take a look.’

“By the way, Sister Bai Hu, you should sleep in my room tonight. I am not comfortable with you alone in a room.” Huang Xiaolong seriously told Sun Wei.

“Ahem~~~” Sun Wei coughed awkwardly.

There were other members of the Sun family in the elevator!

Everyone was glancing at Sun Wei and Huang Xiaolong with a hint of amusement.

“Aha~~~ Master Long is just worried about Weiwei after seeing that Lan Ke’er disappeared so inexplicably, that’s perfectly normal.” Sun Hu quickly jumped in to smooth things over.

Ding~~~~~

They had arrived at the 28th floor.

The elevator doors opened.

An intense wave of Yin energy rushed over!