Nightmare Apostle

They continued upstairs to the third floor of the Cultural Palace, where they were separated.

Yang Xiao and about 30 other people were led into a conference room, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on long benches according to their queue sequence.

Everyone was spirited and sat upright, with their hands flat on their knees, eyes straight ahead. Yang Xiao mimicked them, doing as the Romans do.

"Next, I’ll start calling roll. When your name is called, please step forward. The comrades from the logistics department outside will arrange accommodation registration for you." A middle-aged man in a dark blue thick canvas workwear announced before starting the roll call.

Yang Xiao already knew his own name at this moment; he was called Ma Jiefang, written under the big red flower pinned on his chest.

As the names were called one by one and people left, Yang Xiao became a bit restless because there were fewer and fewer people left in the conference room, and soon, only three were left.

Besides him, the other two were women, who seemed to be his teammates for this mission.

But in such a setting, no one dared to acknowledge each other. Yang Xiao realized it couldn’t be a coincidence; calling roll and leaving out the three of them was intentional.

Soon, his suspicion was confirmed. As the corridor outside gradually quieted down, the conference room door opened, and a team walked in quickly. With just a glance, Yang Xiao confirmed they were his teammates.

The last middle-aged man who walked in turned and closed the door, then seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, apologizing to them, "I’m sorry, we had to resort to this method due to the current situation. I apologize to everyone."

"Let me introduce myself, I’m Zhou, Zhou Zhen Shan, currently the Chief of Security at the East Tong Second Factory. I requested you be sent here from above."

Chief Zhou wore a well-fitting dark grey Zhongshan suit, khaki pants, paired with black leather shoes that had noticeable mud stains along the edges.

His hairstyle was a bit messy, with fine stubble, and he wore thin metal round-frame glasses. Beneath the lenses, his eyes were resolute, but bloodshot, indicating a lack of rest.

While observing, Yang Xiao sketched a mental portrait of the man. This was an educated person, seemingly gentle but with a resolute interior, a practical individual.

"Recently, some bizarre happenings have occurred in the factory, causing unrest. Many young workers are distracted from work, and I’ve run out of options, which is why I asked the organization to send you to assist us in the investigation."

"What do you need us to do?" asked a woman wearing glasses, adjusting them as she spoke.

"I need you to blend in as factory employees, remain hidden, and assist our security department in finding the enemy spies lurking in the factory and waiting to sabotage us!" Chief Zhou’s expression was stern, and his words were forceful.

"There are spies here?" Yang Xiao feigned surprise, acting very tense.

"Yes." Chief Zhou nodded solemnly, his eyes openly furious, "The audacious enemy agent is wreaking havoc in our factory, spreading false ghostly rumors, attempting to hinder and disrupt our country’s glorious progress. Their impact is heinous, their intentions malicious, and it’s utterly outrageous!"

Finally discussing the main subject, everyone was on edge. A young man with a crew cut pressed, "Chief Zhou, please tell us specifically what has happened in the factory during this time."

In response, Chief Zhou nodded, then sat down and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

The cigarettes were short, unfiltered. He lit one with a match, taking a deep drag.

"This issue started two weeks ago."

"That day was a Friday, and as usual, the factory held a dance in the ballroom below on the second floor."

"The deceased was named Zhang Xiujuan, 23, a worker in the third machinery repair section. She loved to dance and danced well. She attended every dance unless she was on night shift."

"She showed up that evening, presumably after dinner, around 7 o’clock, danced three songs in a row, but during the last dance, she accidently twisted her ankle."

"Then she left the ballroom and was never seen again."

"We searched the entire factory complex but couldn’t find her, anywhere she could have gone. She vanished without a trace, alive or dead." Chief Zhou lowered his voice.

"She didn’t return that night?" someone asked, "I mean, didn’t go back to her dormitory?"

"Of course, she didn’t return. Her roommates reported her missing first." Chief Zhou responded with a muffled tone.

"And in the end, was she found?" a man with slicked-back hair curiously asked.

Yang Xiao couldn’t help but frown. What a stupid question, she was obviously found, or why else would they call her deceased initially?

It seemed this touched on something Chief Zhou least wanted to recall; he took a deep breath after a few seconds and nodded, "She was found, but she was already dead. And the way she died... No, not just the way she died, everything about it was strange, it... it was terrifying! Simply unimaginable!"

"Chief Zhou, please remain calm. We are here to solve the problem. Please explain the situation in detail." A short-haired girl calmly reassured him.

"Still in the ballroom, the body was eventually found there!" Chief Zhou’s emotions were barely in check, his fists clenched, veins bulging on his hands.

"Can you imagine? Right after a dance ended, as the lights came on, your dance partner... The partner who just danced a whole number with you was... was a corpse!" Chief Zhou nearly roared in a low voice.

"!!!"

At once, the conference room fell silent, each person’s face revealing varying degrees of fear. However, Yang Xiao regained composure the fastest; such a scene wouldn’t faze him.

After all, he wasn’t the one dancing opposite a corpse, and he hoped never to be in the future.

"Chief Zhou, clarify your statement, someone... someone was dancing with a corpse?" someone pressed.

"Yes, exactly. They... that male comrade partnered with Zhang Xiujuan for an entire dance, and when the lights came on, he screamed and fainted from fright. The scene... the scene was just..." Chief Zhou’s fingers trembled with tension.

"Could we meet this person?" Yang Xiao still wished to speak directly with the person involved, as there might be a crucial overlooked clue.

Upon hearing this, Chief Zhou fell silent for a moment, then shook his head, "It’s useless. The man had a congenital heart condition, fainted from shock, and didn’t survive the rescue. He died."

"Just a corpse wouldn’t be enough, was the state of decay too advanced?" a man who hadn’t spoken until now asked, his voice calm, nearly monotone.

"No, the corpse had no signs of decay at all, very fresh, but its appearance..."

Chief Zhou stopped talking at this point, reached into his chest, and pulled out a small paper packet, handing it to the man in the front row.

The next second, with a rustle, everyone gathered around. The man carefully unfolded the packet to reveal a photograph, an old-fashioned black-and-white photo, yet even the monochrome couldn’t mask its inherent horror.

After seeing the photo, the man who questioned earlier fell silent as he fully understood why the person was scared to death.

Forget ordinary people; even people like them could potentially be scared to death upon suddenly witnessing such a scene.

The woman lay on the ground, her hands still in a dance pose, stepping in dance steps, but her face was gone, vanished, skinned entirely, revealing the terrifying, flesh-glistening skull beneath. At first glance, it was a skeletal face.

More bizarrely, the woman’s eyes seemed, from any angle in the photo, as though they were staring at someone outside the photo.

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