Mannequins

"Bro, what have you been up to these days? Did you forget about me? Why haven't you called? I'm so bored. Can I come over to your place? How about we go to Da Bao Jian tonight?"

Inside the shopping mall, Yang Jian received a call from Zhang Wei.

"Better not come to my house, my dad might be there. I ran into him last night, and he almost killed me. Now I'm working outside."

Yang Jian was changing into his security uniform in the locker room as he spoke.

"Didn't I hear you say your dad had passed away?"

"Yes, he did. That's why I found a job that provides meals and accommodation. I didn't dare stay at home all the time."

"Wow, so there really are ghosts at your house."

"It's haunted, but that thing is not as scary as the money-worshipping grandpa. It can be dealt with."

"What's up? Did you need something?"

"Nothing, just feeling a bit suffocated at home these days, wanted to hang out with you."

Zhang Wei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, glad he had made the call first: "By the way, where are you working?"

"A shopping mall."

Zhang Wei said: "Are you guys hiring? I could join you. I'm on leave from school anyway, got nothing to do."

"Better not. This place might also be haunted. As soon as I entered, I smelled a stench, heard that someone went missing in this mall, the police even set up a caution line, but the case has not been solved. It's estimated that the missing person in the mall has already decomposed, but the body can't be found."

"..."

"Why don't you find a normal place to work? If you really have nowhere to live, you can stay at my house. My bed is big and warm, and I provide meals."

Yang Jian said: "Recently, Wang Shanshan has been a bit abnormal, always saying something is following her, might have been targeted by that ghost baby from the school. Her dad called me today, you should also be careful recently, I can't be sure if that ghost baby will target other people, if you have time, notify in the group chat."

"Bro, stop, I just bought a computer today, come to my house and play games with me, let's just rot in the house like this for a lifetime, with anime and games, there's no need to work hard, I'll support you if it comes to it."

What's wrong with this world, why are those things everywhere?

It seems that the only way is to hold on tightly to the thigh of a good buddy.

"That won't work, I have things to do, okay, just be careful."

Yang Jian hung up the phone.

He changed into his security uniform and walked out of the locker room.

"Why are you so slow?"

A young man outside said, his name is Liu Qiang, a college graduate this year, also recently started working in this mall.

"According to regulations, we need to patrol the entire mall five times a day, once in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, and twice at night. It's four o'clock in the afternoon now, let's start early."

Yang Jian followed him and said: "Just the two of us are guarding the whole mall?"

"Yes, just the two of us. There used to be one more, but he also went missing, and then no one could be recruited, so I took over the shift."

Yang Jian said: "Missing? There are so many missing cases in this mall, why don't you resign, and still dare to work here?"

"I'm from out of town, it's not easy to find a job that provides meals and accommodation, and the salary is okay, so let's do it first. Are you a high school student? Isn't it still in school now, the college entrance examination is coming up soon."

"I'm on leave from school, probably won't participate in the college entrance examination."

Liu Qiang didn't ask any further, but said: "Generally speaking, I patrol from the fifth floor down, after a round in the underground parking lot, the task is completed, the mall is powered off, the elevator can't work, we can only go up on foot."

"Have you not felt that there is something wrong with this mall after working here for so long?"

"Something wrong?"

Liu Qiang was stunned for a moment: "Nothing is wrong."

"For example, have you smelled any strange odors in the mall?"

"I have smelled it occasionally, it should be some frozen food in the freezer that has gone bad, it will definitely be cleaned up before business."

Yang Jian said: "I mean, do you think there is a possibility that this mall is haunted?"

Haunted?

Liu Qiang laughed immediately: "You are also a high school student, why do you believe in this, if it is really haunted, how come I have been patrolling here for so many days and haven't encountered it once? But the boss believes in this, went to find some master, a master came here a while ago, but it didn't have any effect, the boss felt that the master's skill was not good, and went to a place far away to invite a very famous master."

"If it's not haunted, how do you explain the missing people? People disappear in the mall, the mall is so big, and they can't be found, where can they go?"

"It's not necessarily that they really disappeared in the mall, it's just that the police investigated the last video of the missing person in the mall, maybe someone was kidnapped, robbed, etc., but after the mall closed, the missing cases almost rarely happened again."

"Wait a minute." Suddenly, Yang Jian's face changed and he stopped.

"What's up, bro?"

Yang Jian pointed ahead and said: "Didn't you say it was just the two of us patrolling the whole mall? What is that?"

A figure, a figure standing still in the dark, like a wooden man, standing there.

Liu Qiang shone his flashlight and it turned out to be a mannequin.

"It's just a mannequin, no need to make a fuss."

He walked over, picked up the mannequin, and put it into a nearby shop.

Inside the dark shop, there were more than a dozen human-shaped mannequins, all of them were missing arms and legs, none of them were perfect, and they were placed quite messy, obviously no one had been taken care of for a long time.

"It's okay, let's go, patrol the floor below."

Yang Jian asked: "Why is the mannequin placed in the middle of the road, didn't you see it when you patrolled before?"

"I didn't see it when I patrolled at noon, and I saw it for the first time just now, maybe it was Sister Li who took the mannequin to try on clothes, it's not the first time."

"Is that so..."

I don't know if it's an illusion, the smell of corpses he smelled upstairs seems to be more intense.

Just as the two of them left.

At the entrance of the shop that had been patrolled before.

In the dark, a mannequin stood there again, motionless, its head seemed to be facing the direction where Yang Jian and Liu Qiang disappeared.

After Yang Jian and Liu Qiang circled around the mall, indeed nothing happened.

Perhaps he guessed wrong, here is just a common criminal case, there is no involvement in supernatural events.

It's not easy to earn the one million from the mall owner.

Yang Jian pondered, he thought to stay here for the three-day probation period, if there is no gain, just resign, can't always waste time here.

Just as he finished the patrol and went back to the security room to rest, his satellite positioning mobile phone rang.

It was Wang Shanshan's father, Wang Bin.