Still at school? Gu Mian frowned but said nothing.

He turned to Guo Jimei, who indeed continued, "Gu Mian, don't you see? This is the elevator to our school's basement floor!"

Of course, Gu Mian knew nothing about any so-called basement floor. He wasn't originally part of this instance. Even if this damn school had a basement floor elevator, he wouldn't know about it.

So Gu Mian could only remain silent, pretending to be deep in thought, not answering Guo Jimei's question.

Fortunately, Guo Jimei didn't seem to be paying much attention to him, her gaze fixed on the elevator before them. "That's right, we're still in the school, and we've been sent to the basement floor!"

Gu Mian really wanted to ask Guo Jimei how she knew this was the basement floor's elevator, but rationality made him keep his mouth shut.

Judging by Guo Jimei's words and mannerisms, the 'Gu Mian' she knew was apparently familiar with this basement floor.

Guo Jimei murmured in a low voice, "The school closed off this basement floor many years ago, supposedly because of some incident..."

Gu Mian stroked his chin. He hadn't expected his thoughtful act to be so useful today—a rare thing. "Are you sure that person came this way?"

Guo Jimei was taken aback for a moment before answering, "Yes, I heard his footsteps come this way. He went in and never came back out."

Gu Mian frowned. Went in and never came back out... That idiom she used was quite chilling.

There wasn't a single soul here. The only elevator leading to other places had long been shut down. If they wanted to leave, they could only retrace their steps.

But the person Guo Jimei mentioned had vanished here—incredibly eerie. It was highly likely this was the motionless shadow Gu Mian had seen earlier in the corridor, assuming Guo Jimei was telling the truth.

There was no one else, just him and Guo Jimei. As he contemplated this, Gu Mian glanced at Guo Jimei. She was still staring intently at the elevator doors, though nothing about them seemed particularly noteworthy to him.

Gu Mian looked away. Since he couldn't find anyone else at the moment and couldn't verify Guo Jimei's identity, he'd have to think of another plan.

Since this basement floor was closed off, they probably wouldn't find an exit. Their only hope was that the ghost who'd thrown them in here would also throw them back out.

"However..." Gu Mian stroked his chin. "If the ghost threw us in here and doesn't plan to get us out, wouldn't everyone thrown in here end up dead?"

Guo Jimei shivered at his words. "Yes, that way the ghost can kill all of us directly!"

But in theory, a ghost could only kill one person per night. This applied whether the killing was active, passive, or accidental. A ghost couldn't kill a second person on the same night. Otherwise, the ghost itself would die for killing multiple people.

A ghost suffocating a group of people to death here would also count as murder, even if not by its own hand.

"Don't panic," Gu Mian reassured. "A ghost can only kill one person each night, or it will die too. If we all die here, the ghost will also perish. I don't think the ghost that moved us here intends to sacrifice itself."

Gu Mian saw Guo Jimei breathe a sigh of relief. He continued, "Besides, it's not guaranteed that we can't find an exit..."

But just as he said this, he suddenly heard a faint rustling sound from behind. If not for his excellent hearing, he might have missed it entirely.

Gu Mian immediately turned to look. Was there someone there?

Behind him was still the same pitch-black, narrow corridor, its contents obscured by darkness.

"What's wrong?" Guo Jimei asked cautiously, noticing his reaction. Apparently, she hadn't heard the sound.

Gu Mian shook his head. "Nothing. Since this way is a dead end, let's try somewhere else to find an exit."

Guo Jimei clearly didn't want to go off on her own, so she didn't hesitate to follow Gu Mian.

The two quickly exited the stairwell, arriving at the slightly larger platform where Gu Mian had stopped earlier.

Passing the pitch-black passageway again, Gu Mian peered inside but saw nothing.

This platform branched off in three directions: one led to the elevator they had just come from; another to the corridor Gu Mian had initially entered; and the last was the direction from which Xu Xingcheng's silhouette had appeared.

Gu Mian didn't hesitate and walked directly towards the corridor where Xu Xingcheng's silhouette had just appeared.

He noticed the underground corridors did indeed resemble the school's layout, though he found it hard to believe a single school building could be this expansive.

Gu Mian led the way, lamp in hand. Beside him, Guo Jimei cautiously ventured, "I heard the school's entire basement level is interconnected."

"Entirely interconnected?"

"Yes," Guo Jimei said. "Supposedly, all the academic buildings and dormitories have basements, and they're all linked by tunnels."

That was quite novel.

"I heard from seniors that the stairs and elevators in our school used to lead directly to the basement floor. However, after a certain incident, the whole area was closed off…"

As Gu Mian walked down the corridor, listening to Guo Jimei, he noted its extreme length. He suspected this was one of the 'tunnels' Guo Jimei had mentioned that connected the basement levels.

As the pair continued down the pitch-black corridor, Gu Mian spotted another figure in the distance. This time, it was Chu Changge.

Chu Changge was pushing open a door along the corridor. He peeked inside, then paused at the entrance, frowning as if deep in thought.

Gu Mian had only spotted him for a few seconds when Chu Changge seemed to sense their presence and looked over.

Good, Gu Mian thought. Now two more partners in misfortune have joined me, though I'm still not sure if they're human or ghost.

By then, Chu Changge had walked over. Guo Jimei seemed somewhat excited. "It looks like we've all been brought to this place!"

From her reaction, it seemed the more people transported here, the happier she became.

Gu Mian ignored the slightly overexcited Guo Jimei and turned to Chu Changge. "Were you also transported here as soon as it hit eight o'clock?"

Chu Changge nodded. "Yes. And I found this." As he spoke, he pulled a photograph from his pocket.

Gu Mian took it. The photograph was considerably faded, but the image was still discernible: twelve people.