In a dream.

A secluded village, an ancient house cloaked in black...

Yue Shan tried to stop running, but he couldn't control his body. He dashed past the imposing ancestral hall, through the courtyard with its ancient charm, and into the bedroom.

Streams of red blood trickled from beneath the doors and through the cracks.

Inside was a nightmare of a scene...

It was almost as if— at the Evil God's dining table!

"Ah!"

Yue Shan suddenly woke up, his forehead dripping with cold sweat.

Now a full-time employee, he was grateful that he and his sister, Yue Qin, had separate living quarters; he wouldn't scare her.

Their parents had died when they were young. The official investigation concluded it was a burglary-homicide, yet the murderer was never found.

But Yue Shan vividly remembered the shadow he had seen in the ancient house that day...

He and his sister were convinced that it must have been some kind of paranormal phenomenon, a creature of sorts that killed their parents.

Sadly, no matter how they explored the old house thereafter, they found nothing amiss.

Perhaps the creature had left for good.

Growing up, the siblings supported each other in their chase of mystery and the paranormal, all driven by a belief in revenge.

This belief also propelled them to come to City D, to this damned company!

Yue Shan sighed and glanced at the alarm clock; it was 6 AM.

He got up, washed up, stepped outside, and headed for the cafeteria for breakfast.

Just then, the door of the room next to him opened, and a somewhat haggard Yue Qin walked out: "Brother... did you have that nightmare too?"

"Xiao Qin, you too?" Yue Shan took a deep breath, feeling it was too much of a coincidence.

"Yeah, but it's okay. Whatever happens, we'll face it together... and besides, we've already started to come into contact with that kind of power..."

Yue Qin seemed quite calm about it.

"Let's go eat, you really like the shrimp shaomai and double-skin milk over there..."

Yue Shan walked with his sister into the cafeteria.

Because it was still early, there weren't many people there. He chose some food he felt like eating, poured a glass of milk, and sat down with his sister, ready to start their meal.

Ding ding!

At that moment, a message notification sounded.

Yue Shan and Yue Qin both jolted.

As company employees, they, like most people, had developed a certain degree of fear towards such message tones.

"It's work... looks like we're in this together this time."

Yue Qin took a deep breath.

Yue Shan nodded and opened the message:

[Team Building Task·Autumn Trip!]

[Task Date: October 28. Deliver the package to the Yue Family's old residence in Black Water Town, J City, and stay for one night!]

[Once the task is complete, you may leave!]

...

"Black Water Town, the Yue Family's old house!"

Yue Qin screamed, "It's our old home. Has that thing come back?!"

Yue Shan's expression contorted, as memories of the nightmare surfaced: "No... it may have never left!"

"This time, we might be able to find out the truth!"

The siblings' expressions were solemn. Just then, another group of people entered the cafeteria.

"The team building task has been released."

Chu He took a deep breath, "Let's have our meal and a meeting at the same time..."

Yue Shan quickly scanned and noticed that Chu He, Murong Hong, Han Bingjie, Wu Qi...

Essentially, all the veteran employees were there.

They were all woken by the text message, and then, unable to go back to sleep, they gathered in the dining room.

After getting their meals, they formed a circle.

Yue Shan also noticed a girl with a cold expression standing to one side—it was that Su Nuan!

With her arms folded, a faint sneer lingered on her face as she watched everyone present with an uncomfortably sharp gaze.

"Well, it seems everyone has pretty much arrived…"

Chu He began, "The difficulty of this team-building task is well beyond ordinary work. I won't go into the past horrors... I've checked, and it takes about half a day to reach Black Water Town from here. We must head out early. Besides that, we need to gather information, prepare supplies, and most importantly, spiritual artifacts... This time, we can allocate a budget of one million! Han Bingjie!"

Everyone's eyes turned to Han Bingjie.

Han Bingjie had become much more composed, pondered for a moment, and then replied, "I'll talk to Brother Gui, hope he can give us a discount…"

"If there's no discount, it's fine, but we need at least five spiritual artifacts!" Chu He slammed his hand onto the table.

The creation of spiritual artifacts was entirely at the whim of Zhong Shenxiu.

Sometimes, even money couldn't buy them—after all, once it was proven those items could prevent an attack from a deceitful entity, their price within the company had skyrocketed!

Numerous second-hand and third-hand dealers had sprung up, often inflating the price of a single item to over five hundred thousand!

Even other floors were broadly mobilizing funds to hoard these spiritual artifacts.

For the people on the 13th floor, this compounded their difficulties, making their cash flow even tighter.

Fortunately, they had Han Bingjie, a relatively stable channel.

"Five spiritual artifacts, my sister and I need one each!"

Yue Shan spoke in a deep voice.

"Why should you? It's everyone's money that was pooled together!"

Wu Qi immediately challenged.

Holding a spiritual artifact could mean the difference between life and death when it counted, and personal relationships mattered little.

And this time, it was an especially dangerous team-building task.

Five spiritual artifacts might not even be enough to save their lives—it was highly likely there would be fatalities!

"Because the mission location is my home!"

Yue Shan took a deep breath and revealed this secret.

"What?"

Han Bingjie's mouth dropped open. "Your... your home? Brother... how have you survived in Deceit Mansion until now?"

"I can provide you with a lot of information and intelligence, so I need two," Yue Shan replied.

He truly wished to leverage the strength of his colleagues to uncover the truth about the old mansion.

"I have no objections!"

Chu He nodded, "Although the number of spiritual artifacts hasn't been finalized, I can assure you, even if I give up my share to you, you two will have the means to protect yourselves."

"Alright then, I suspect this mission is related to a terrifying incident I encountered as a child…"

Yue Shan's face grew grim as he began to delve into those deeply buried, traumatic memories.

Yue Qin turned her face away, her eyes rimming slightly with redness.

…

On the first floor of the building.

Several people from other floors sat restlessly, their gazes locked on the closed door of the security room.

Seeing Han Bingjie come down, their expressions quickly soured, "Does the 13th floor have a mission?"

"Yes…" Han Bingjie answered gravely, "So this time the right of first purchase belongs to us. We've exchanged our commitment not to hoard spiritual artifacts for this pledge; you must abide by it, or it won't be good for either side…"

"But our 6th floor also has a mission."

A sultry woman gave Han Bingjie a seductive look, "Little brother, how many do you need this time?"

"Five! At least five! There's no room for negotiation!"

Han Bingjie's expression was serious, "This time, it's a team-building mission... and I'm one of the participants!"

No matter how sweet the coating was, when faced with a matter of life and death, he wasn't foolish enough to take risks.

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