This actor is full of tricks.

[Scene 2: You check into the Golden Rose Hotel and hear rumors about the 17th floor. The ghost stories send chills down your spine, but the thought that floors above the 16th are sealed off makes you feel a little more at ease.]

Standing by the French windows, Lin Jue listened to the plot prompts in his mind and couldn't help but chuckle. The character he was playing, Zhao Huayu, was exactly like the protagonist in a classic horror movie—the kind of stubborn guy who would watch a videotape even if you told him not to, or walk alone at night even if you told him not to.

However, it could also be because this guy is very curious and adventurous.

"Huh? What are those guys doing?"

Because of this vantage point, Lin Jue could see the construction site not far away, and he spotted several people acting suspiciously around a pit, as if they were burying something.

However, because of the height of the building and the distance, even with his excellent eyesight, he couldn't see clearly what was being buried. He took out his phone, opened the camera, and zoomed in.

"The phone is still too old." Through the magnified camera view, he could vaguely see that the group of people seemed to be burying something black, but because the phone was too old, the image quality after zooming in was very blurry, and he couldn't tell what it was.

Judging from its shape, it appears to be a bag or box, not very large, just big enough to hold a human head.

"Could they have really installed a head inside? Did they dismember and bury the body at a construction site?"

Construction sites are the perfect place to hide corpses, especially when the foundation is being laid. Once the earthwork is done and the structure is completed, who can find it? Moreover, during the most chaotic period in the construction industry, there was even the practice of driving live piles.

"It's unlikely to happen in broad daylight, right? There are too many people and too many eyes on the construction site. Even the most insane murderer wouldn't bury a body in broad daylight, would they?"

Lin Jue looked at the blurry photo on his phone. The size of the black thing in the photo seemed to be able to fit another thing inside.

Shrine.

"Is it possible that the boss was also a member of a cult, which is why the shrine appeared in the Golden Rose Hotel out of nowhere, and because the matter got out of hand, he was afraid of being exposed, so he quickly moved the shrine?" Lin Jue pondered, feeling that this was a possibility.

According to Qi Lin's description, the hotel owner was not a good person, and it was possible that he was a member of a cult.

Lin Jue noted down the location where the thing was buried, planning to sneak in that night to see what it was.

The restaurant at the Golden Rose Hotel was on the second floor, but it wasn't free. After paying for the meal, Lin Jue took a tray, got a few dishes, and found a corner seat.

There weren't many people dining at the restaurant, probably because business was already slow, and there were also many ghost stories about the hotel. Only a handful of people were eating there.

During the meal, Lin Jue noticed a man sitting at a table not far from him, looking anxiously at his phone and occasionally making calls. On the table in front of him were two servings of food, clearly indicating that the man was waiting for someone, but the person he was waiting for had not yet arrived.

After making another call that went unanswered, the man hurriedly left the restaurant.

Lin Jue glanced at him a couple more times, feeling that the man seemed to have encountered something strange. He quickly finished the last two bites of rice and left the restaurant.

At the elevator entrance, he ran into the man again. The man was still making phone calls. Lin Jue secretly glanced at the phone and saw that the contact name was "Wife".

"Why aren't you answering the phone?" The man seemed very anxious, repeatedly pressing the elevator up button while on the phone, as if that would make the elevator arrive faster.

"Brother, what happened?" Lin Jue asked with concern. The man only glanced at him without replying, and rushed inside as soon as the elevator came down.

Lin Jue quickly got on the elevator. He saw the man press the button for the 12th floor and then press the button for the 11th floor.

When the elevator reached the 11th floor, Lin Jue glanced at the man, then quietly made his way to the fire escape and walked to the stairwell on the 12th floor.

Not long after, he heard a man's urgent shouts coming from the 12th floor: "Wife! Wife!"

"Where did this perfectly fine person go, honey!"

The man's voice kept echoing from the 12th floor. He was anxiously searching for his wife, but it was obvious that she was missing.

Not long after, Lin Jue heard several hurried footsteps again, and at the same time, Qi Lin's voice rang out: "Sir, what happened?"

“My wife is missing. She was just in the room with me. We were going to go to the restaurant together for dinner, but when we were about to leave, she said she had a stomachache and needed to go to the toilet. She asked me to go downstairs and get her food.”

"I went downstairs to get food, but I waited for half an hour and still didn't see her. I called her but she didn't answer, so I rushed back upstairs, only to find that she wasn't in the room at all."

"How could someone just disappear suddenly and become unreachable?"

By the end, the man sounded like he was about to break down, his voice choked with emotion.

Qi Lin reassured the other person, "It's alright, sir. There are security cameras in the corridors of our hotel. I'll take you to check the footage right away."

Immediately afterwards, several footsteps sounded, and after the elevator doors closed, Lin Jue started walking upstairs.

In broad daylight, a living person inexplicably disappears. Considering the location, it can only mean that it's related to the seventeenth floor.

Perfect timing! He can go and see what kind of blockade the Nine Plains Inspection Bureau is referring to.

Lin Jue walked up the stairwell and stopped at the entrance to the fifteenth floor. There was no way up there; it was completely blocked by thick brick walls.

Above the brick wall was a yellow talisman, emitting a faint black aura. This was a mysterious artifact, which appeared to be the so-called "sealing" mentioned by the Jiuyuan Inspection Division.

Lin Jue stretched out his hand and felt resistance when he was about 30 centimeters away from the brick wall, as if he were putting his hand into water from the air.

This resistance might be able to stop the D-level anomalies, but the seventeenth floor is a four-star scenario, which means there are at least B-level or fourth-tier beings. Such a weak artifact can't stop those things.

Lin Jue suddenly exerted force, pressing his hand against the brick wall. He felt a rough and sticky texture on his palm. The wall was covered in a dark, sticky substance, and he had no idea what it was.

He stared at the yellow talisman, pondering whether to tear it off, when just then, a trembling voice came from down the stairs: "Who's up there!?" (End of Chapter)