Chapter 35: Entity of Sinister Laughter

At Gao Tian's command, the two thugs, Crocodile and Gray Wolf, paled. They might not be well-educated, but they weren't idiots. They knew damn well the boss was using them as guinea pigs to see what dangers lurked upstairs.

Neither of them believed Fierce Ghosts existed, but they knew whatever was giggling up there couldn't be anything good. Still, terrified of "Zhao Qiang" and his notorious temper, they didn't dare refuse outright. They hedged and dragged their feet, lingering at the bottom of the stairs, doing everything but climbing them.

Gao Tian saw right through them and said mildly, "We're in the underworld. Every one of you puts your life on the line every single day. You aren't afraid of people, yet you're scared of ghosts? If you're that terrified, why don't you ask the bullets in your guns if they're scared.

"Whoever heads up first—whether you find a pot of gold or not—gets fifty thousand wired to them on the spot. Any cowards who don't want the cash can fuck off to the side and stand quietly."

He had inherited almost all of Zhao Qiang's memories, meaning he knew the man's bank account numbers and net worth inside out. Given Zhao Qiang's fortune, a hundred thousand for the two of them was pocket change. The moment Crocodile took the stairs, the money would hit his account.

A heavy reward always rouses a brave man. Hardened street thugs like Crocodile were too thick-skinned to actually let a woman's laughter scare them off; they had just been holding out to squeeze their boss for a better price. If they still dragged their feet with this much cash on the table, they'd be a laughingstock in the underworld.

Skinny Monkey scoffed.

"Look at that, boys, an easy fifty grand. Just take a stroll upstairs and the cash is yours. If you two don't want to make a quick buck, then your brother Monkey here is going to help himself."

The eerie, echoing giggles were still ringing in their ears. Crocodile steeled his nerves, clicked off the safety of his handgun, and sneered.

"Fuck it. I've been running the streets since I was twelve, what haven't I seen? If you ignore the freakish, it loses its power. Let's see what the hell is playing pretend upstairs. Even if ghosts are real, put two bullets in one and let's see if it keeps laughing."

Spurred on by the money, he took point and stepped onto the stairs. His heavy frame made the old wooden floorboards groan. Seeing this, Gray Wolf wiped a streak of blood from his mouth and cautiously trailed after him.

In their line of work, face was everything. If word got out that he had passed up an easy fifty grand tonight because he was scared of ghosts, he'd be too ashamed to ever show his face on the streets again. Lucrative gigs like bouncing at clubs would never fall to him again.

Gao Tian and the rest of the thugs waited at the bottom, letting the two of them sweep the area to see if they triggered any Killing Rule.

About three minutes later, the strange giggling gradually died down, replaced by the thud of two sets of footsteps upstairs. Another two minutes passed before Gray Wolf and Crocodile slowly reappeared at the top of the stairs. They had holstered their guns and looked completely unharmed, though their faces were clouded with confusion.

"Brother Qiang, we checked it out like you asked.

"There isn't a single living soul up there, not even the shadow of a ghost. It's just a bunch of junk and a busted, leaking toilet. We couldn't find the source of that giggling."

The ghost wasn't on the second floor?

Gao Tian didn't say a word. Keeping his end of the bargain, he swiftly wired fifty thousand to each of them. Seeing "Brother Zhao Qiang" act so generously, the remaining thugs took mental note.

"Let's go. We're heading up."

At Gao Tian's command, Crocodile and Gray Wolf stayed behind to guard the first floor—securing their escape route in case something unexpected blocked the exit—while the other five filed up the stairs toward the second floor.

The layout of the second floor was practically identical to the first, carrying the same stale stench of long-term abandonment. Murky water seeped from the bathroom area, leaving deep, yellowish stains seared into the tiles that would likely never wash out.

Before the group could even begin to search the area, that eerie giggling started up again, grating on their nerves like buzzing flies. But this time, everyone knew what to expect. They traced the source instantly—it was coming from the Third Floor.

A chill ran through Gao Tian's heart.

The freakish thing making that sound had moved up to the Third Floor?

No wonder Crocodile hadn't found it on the second.

He shot a glance at San Hu and Skinny Monkey. The two immediately realized this golden payday had just fallen into their laps. Without another word, they raised their handguns and cautiously crept up toward the Third Floor, inching closer to the relentless giggling.

Meanwhile, waiting on the second floor, Gao Tian was doing the math.

When the giggling thing was on the second floor, it had room to retreat up to the Third Floor. But there was nothing past the Third Floor except a small attic. It had nowhere left to hide.

Crocodile and Gray Wolf had gotten lucky. San Hu and Skinny Monkey, however, wouldn't be so fortunate. Once they reached the top of the stairs, they were bound to run head-on into whatever foul thing was laughing up there.

After the two men made it upstairs, the grating giggles faded away once again into total silence. The three thugs waiting on the second floor breathed a little easier, assuming Skinny Monkey and San Hu would be coming back down shortly.

They were even feeling a little jealous of Skinny Monkey and San Hu. Making a breezy fifty grand just for climbing a flight of stairs—where else would you find a deal like that? They worked their asses off, and barely made a fraction of that in a month.

A broken clock on the second floor kept ticking, the sound grating against their nerves. Three minutes passed. Then five. Then almost ten. Not only had the eerie giggling ceased after Skinny Monkey headed up, but every single trace of noise from the two grown men had completely vanished along with it.

Something was wrong. The soundproofing in the White House was garbage—when Crocodile and Gray Wolf were up on the second floor, Gao Tian and the others had clearly heard their footsteps from below. Now that Skinny Monkey and San Hu were on the Third Floor, how could there be absolutely no sound at all?

Even if they had been ambushed upstairs, they were armed thugs who had fought in countless street brawls. Surely they would have put up a fight, fired off a couple of shots, or made some kind of racket.

How had they just vanished on the Third Floor? Had they dropped dead the second they reached the top of the stairs?

Fifteen minutes later, a middle-aged thug on the second floor with a neck covered in tattoos couldn't take it anymore and cursed up at the ceiling.

"Fuck your grandmas! No matter what you see up there, make a damn sound to let us know if you're alive or dead! If you two decide to sleep up there all night, am I supposed to freeze my ass off waiting for you down here?"

No matter how much he cursed, the two men upstairs seemed to have fallen into a bottomless abyss, utterly incapable of giving a response. Then, the eerie giggling echoed out once more, sounding exactly as if it were mocking the men downstairs for waiting so long, making fools of them for wasting their time.

Gao Tian knew for a fact that they had met with an accident on the Third Floor. They must have tripped some incredibly vicious Killing Rule—the kind that wiped you out on sight. He immediately spoke up.

"The three of you, all of you go up and take a look.

"When you reach the halfway point on the stairs, one person will proceed to the Third Floor. The other two will hold position on the middle landing, guns drawn, ready to provide backup at a moment's notice.

"We at least need to see clearly what the hell happened up there."

But the thugs weren't idiots; earning fifty thousand meant nothing if they weren't alive to spend it.

"Boss, give it to us straight. What is the deal with this White House?

"We've all been feeling sick to our stomachs ever since we walked in. Plus, you said earlier that we were just coming out tonight to take care of someone, and that we could head back as soon as the job was done. You never said anything about exploring an abandoned haunted house out in the middle of nowhere."

Gao Tian cut him off right there, coldly raising two fingers.

"Two hundred thousand.

"Sweep the floor and confirm if Skinny Monkey and San Hu are alive or dead. Whether they're breathing or not, once you come back down, it's two hundred grand for each of you."

Two hundred thousand. For these bottom-tier street enforcers who bled for their meager wages, how long would it take them to earn that kind of cash on their own?

With two hundred grand in their pockets, they could kick back for ages once they returned. They could cycle through endless strings of girls.

The massive payday instantly clouded the thugs' judgment. So what if there were real ghosts upstairs? They had guns. Was there a single gangster on the streets who hadn't prayed to Lord Guan? Why the hell should they be afraid of some filthy spirits?

The primal urge for money quickly overpowered their fear. The middle-aged thug had a quick huddle with the remaining two. He volunteered to take point and walk the most dangerous position at the front, on the condition that the other two covering him from behind would each kick fifty grand of their cut to him.

Taking the riskiest spot, it was only fair that he got a bigger slice of the pie.

The deal settled, the three men treated the situation like a life-or-death battlefield, exactly as "Brother Qiang" had ordered. Raising their guns and hunching their shoulders, they slowly filed up the very same stairs that had just swallowed Skinny Monkey and San Hu whole.

Giggle, giggle, giggle...

The bizarre laughter grew entirely unhinged as it sensed new prey coming up the stairs. It was as if whatever was lurking upstairs had devoured the two men and regained a burst of fresh strength.

"Whatever the fuck is playing pretend up there, drop dead!"

The middle-aged thug reached the midway point on the stairs, leveled his gun straight up at the general source of the laughter in the darkness, and pulled the trigger twice. The deafening bang, bang of the gunshots pierced the dead silence of the house, and the pungent scent of gunpowder quickly flooded the air.

He didn't feel like he had hit anything in the pitch-black darkness, but the bullets seemed to have done something. The giggling abruptly ceased once more, as if the thing had been cowed by the booming gunshots.

"Fuck you! Keep pretending for your granddaddy, see what happens."

Seeing that the handgun actually seemed to work against whatever was cackling on the Third Floor, the middle-aged thug found a scrap of courage. He signaled for the two men below to keep covering him as he sluggishly pushed on toward the Third Floor.

At that very moment, Gao Tian was still waiting on the second floor, keeping a razor-sharp eye on the stairs for any sudden movements.

In a split second, he caught sight of something white flashing past the gap between the handrails of the second and Third Floor stairs at a blistering speed.

It looked as though something like a rat was scuttling across the floorboards of the Third Floor.

Except, whatever it was had a perfectly round shape and was deathly pale. It was absolutely not a rat.

When Gao Tian finally realized exactly what had flashed past, the blood turned to ice in his veins.

"Get away from the Third Floor! Get down here now!

"Hurry! Move! Move!"