Those Years When I Was an Exorcist - Chapter 2

That night, there were three of us on the night shift, including myself.

By coincidence, I had met both of the other two before: Iron Sand Palm, the big guy, and Iron Head, the burly man.

When we met, we introduced ourselves. Iron Sand Palm’s name was Meng Wei, and he worked at the iron mine. Everyone at the mine called him Brother Wei.

According to him, he had developed his Iron Sand Palm technique by repeatedly thrusting his right hand into freshly forged, red-hot iron ingots every day. He had pierced the ingots so many times they looked like honeycomb briquettes.

As for the Iron Head, his name was Ding Qi, and people in the underworld called him Seventh Brother.

Seventh Brother claimed he had trained his iron head by headbutting trees five hundred times a day. The locust trees lining the road outside his house had suffered internal injuries from his relentless headbutting, blooming profusely but never bearing fruit.

When it was my turn to introduce myself, I couldn’t let them look down on me, so I said I had been a pig farmer in the army, earning the nickname “Pig Brother”…

Enough idle chatter. That very night, the beautiful Xiao Chen assigned us our duties.

She instructed us to stay in the first-floor duty room when not patrolling and monitor the surveillance cameras for our assigned floors.

We were required to take turns patrolling every hour throughout the night.

If you encounter any issues you can’t handle yourself, report them immediately.

This job was surprisingly simple, yet the pay was excellent. Who wouldn’t want to perform well and secure a permanent position?

As soon as Xiao Chen gave us the instructions, the three of us eagerly agreed.

I even snapped to attention in a perfect military stance, saluted sharply, and declared loudly, “Mission assured!”

Xiao Chen adjusted her glasses, smiled faintly, and replied in her usual icy tone, “I hope you’ll still want to stay after tonight.”

With that, she tossed her long hair and strode away without looking back.

Throughout the entire exchange, Xiao Chen’s voice remained utterly monotone, chillingly cold. Her smile seemed forced, like a mask. Her entire demeanor radiated an icy aura that made her unapproachable.

But that wasn’t all. I also noticed that her clothes were completely wrinkle-free.

How was that even possible? Even the most meticulously ironed clothes would still crease at the elbows and knees. Yet her outfit showed no such wrinkles, not even in those areas.

It was as if her professional suit was brand new, recently purchased.

While I was lost in thought, her elegant figure had already disappeared at the end of the corridor.

First, Brother Wei closed his eyes in a blissful trance, vigorously twitching his nostrils to inhale the lingering scent she had left behind. “Smells so good!”

“It smells good, but something feels off about it!” Seventh Brother countered.

I deeply agreed with Seventh Brother’s words. “Didn’t you notice her makeup was too vivid, like a dead person’s face? Too pale, too red—who wears makeup like that?”

My words snapped them out of their reverie.

“Now that you mention it, you’re right! Only the dead wear makeup like that—unnaturally pale and vividly red. It’s unnatural.”

Seventh Brother’s words sent a chill down my spine.

“Cut it out! You’re ruining a perfectly good beauty with your nonsense. It’s just sour grapes because you can’t have her!” Brother Wei scoffed dismissively.

With that, the conversation ended. The three of us returned to the duty room and began discussing who would take the first shift that night.

In truth, I had observed other details I hadn’t shared with them.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Xiao Chen’s gait looked particularly awkward from behind.

I’d felt something was off about her all day, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

It wasn’t until just now that I finally understood: Xiao Chen’s legs, though long, seemed to never bend when she walked.

She moved like a wooden puppet.

The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt. But then I reasoned with myself: After all, she’s a living, breathing beauty standing right in front of you. How could she possibly be a puppet?

Still, the last thing she said before leaving kept nagging at me. I couldn’t quite grasp its meaning.

It wasn’t until the events that unfolded later that night that I fully understood—but by then, it was already too late.

Back in the duty room, the three of us began discussing how to divide the shifts.

We agreed to take hourly patrols, starting from the second basement level and working our way up to the seventh-floor rooftop.

There was no way to skip this duty; the company required video recordings, which meant we couldn’t slack off.

Meng Wei volunteered to take the first shift, followed by Ding Qi, and then me.

With the schedule set, Brother Wei began his patrol, starting from the second basement level and working his way up.

Seventh Brother and I, with nothing else to do, stayed in the duty room, each engrossed in our phones.

He played mahjong on his phone while I played Fight the Landlord.

After a few rounds, my luck was terrible all night. Either I had no bombs in my hand, or when I finally managed to get one, I accidentally dropped it into a bomb nest, getting blown to smithereens.

Frustrated, I lost interest in playing and decided to check the security cameras. What I saw made my bl00d run cold: “Where’s Brother Wei?”

Only then did I realize an hour had passed. Even if he’d taken eight trips from the basement to the seventh floor, he should have been back by now.

Seventh Brother, hearing this, quickly put down his phone and joined me to review the surveillance footage.

We switched through the camera feeds, starting from the basement and going all the way to the seventh-floor rooftop, but found no sign of him anywhere.

Where could he be?

Fortunately, he’d left his phone number, but when I called, it was turned off.

Panic set in. How could a perfectly healthy man vanish into thin air?

“Maybe he went home?” Seventh Brother suggested.

His words reminded me to check the mall entrances. I quickly switched to the cameras at the front and back doors, but both were tightly locked. There was no way anyone could have left.

“Impossible,” I said. “If he were going home, he’d at least leave a message. Besides, these doors require keys to open.”

As soon as I said that, Seventh Brother hurriedly pulled open the office cabinet drawer. The keys to both doors were right there.

The mall had two main entrances, both secured by roller shutters. There were four keys in total: two electronic keys and two regular keys.

All four keys were accounted for. Even if someone tried to pry open the shutters, there was an alarm system in place, and the noise would surely alert us.

Suddenly, I remembered something. “Wait, the elevators!”

We switched the surveillance feed to the elevators. There were two of them, but both were completely empty.

Panic began to set in.

To be blunt, I wasn’t particularly worried about Meng Wei’s safety. We weren’t close, and there were no obvious hazards in the mall.

My real concern was: could this guy be a thief?

My suspicion wasn’t unfounded. The grand opening was imminent, and many vendors had already stocked their shelves.

The first floor housed a supermarket, the second floor clothing and footwear, the third floor electronics, and the fourth floor restaurants.

We could disregard the third and fourth floors. The electronics were bulky items, and there was nothing worth stealing in the restaurants.

As for the supermarket on the first floor, risking so much for some food seemed hardly worthwhile.

The real danger lay on the second floor, with its two gold jewelry display cases.

Though the cases were made of tempered glass and equipped with alarms, they could still be smashed open with enough force.

The gold jewelry display, occupying half a floor of the exhibition hall, was worth a fortune, with the half-meter-tall golden Buddha at its center alone being priceless.

Who knew if Meng Wei was using the security guard recruitment as a cover for theft?

If he had accomplices, they might have scouted the place beforehand and planned an inside job.

The more I thought about it, the more anxious I became. I quickly alerted Seventh Brother, “Keep a close eye on the gold counters. I’m going to check things out.”

Before I could finish speaking, my phone rang. Seeing the number, my heart finally settled.

It was Meng Wei himself. I answered immediately, “What’s going on? Playing tricks? Where are you? I can’t find you anywhere! Come back now!”

Static crackled on the other end, like the sound of electromagnetic waves. After a long pause, Meng Wei’s voice finally came through, “I… I’m in the basement parking garage. I can’t find the exit…”

I was puzzled. The basement parking garage only had two exits. How could he possibly get lost?

Just as I was about to press him for more details, he hung up.

Putting down my phone, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. How could a grown man get lost?

It was just a parking garage, after all—you could see the entire space at a glance. I’d never heard of anyone getting lost in a parking garage before.

After weighing my options, I decided it was best to go check it out myself.

Just as I was about to get up, Seventh Brother stopped me. “I’ll go,” he said. “It probably isn’t anything serious, and besides, I’m on the second shift.”

His words made sense. I was likely just on edge and overthinking things. I nodded. “Alright, go ahead. Just make sure your phone stays charged!”

After Seventh Brother left, I focused my attention on the gold jewelry counter on the second floor.

This area couldn’t afford any mistakes. If anything went missing, even selling myself wouldn’t cover the losses.

Meanwhile, another monitor showed Seventh Brother walking down the long corridor, entering the elevator, and descending to the underground parking garage to search for the missing Meng Wei.

Not long after, Seventh Brother called me. “Hey, has Brother Wei returned?”

“No, I haven’t seen him. Didn’t you find him?”

“I’ve searched the entire parking garage, but Meng Wei’s nowhere to be found. I don’t have his number. Can you call him and ask where he is?”

As Seventh Brother spoke, I could hear the familiar static of electromagnetic interference crackling through the phone. Dismissing it as nothing, I quickly called Brother Wei.

His phone was switched off.

This was utterly bizarre. How could a perfectly healthy man vanish into thin air like this?

I immediately called Seventh Brother to tell him Brother Wei’s phone was off and asked if we should report this.

Seventh Brother on the other end of the line hesitated. This was no ordinary situation, and who knew what Brother Wei was up to?

After a long pause, he said, “Alright, I’ll go down to the second basement level and check if he’s there. It’s a blind spot for the security cameras, and if things escalate, it won’t be good for anyone!”

I agreed. If it was just a prank, I replied, “Okay, but the lighting’s poor down there. Watch your step!”

Before I could finish my warning, a terrified scream erupted from the phone: “Someone’s here! Ah… paper figures…”

Seventh Brother’s panicked cries sent me leaping to my feet. “Seventh Brother, what’s wrong? Did you find Brother Wei?” I demanded.

Before I could finish the question, he hung up. I immediately redialed, but Seventh Brother had already turned off his phone!