Five hours before the college girls were burned, Chicago, the capital of Illinois, was waking up from the darkness of the night about 300 miles from the town, ready for another crisp morning.

In the Harrods Building, located in the heart of the city, the current Mr. Harold is sitting in his office on the top floor, waiting for someone to arrive. He was ready to mock the visitor, but at the same time, he couldn't help but have a slight concern about what he was about to hear.

At the same time, at an intersection a few streets away, a man and a woman were stepping on the sidewalk in the direction of the building.

The man looked to be in his twenties. He had an angular face, slightly curly blonde hair, and blue eyes. He seemed to be quite proud of his frivolous demeanor, and even the way he walked exuded a full bohemianism.

The woman walking on the side is a few years older. She had short reddish-brown hair, and the disdain on her face contrasted sharply with the man's expression.

"You may not believe it, Lanny," the man said, raising an eyebrow, "two women, in the same dining room, and each brought back to the same apartment. Neither of them knew of the other's existence until the next morning. Of course, if they are lucky, they can still accept each other's existence. Ah, that night is always fresh in my memory...... If, you understand what I'm talking about. ”

"You say you're a bastard who plays with women." The woman who was called Lannie responded, "Isn't that scolding based on my gender?" ”

The man turned his head sideways and deliberately looked at Lanny with exaggerated eyes. "It's not me saying, dear, whether you are a male or a female, in fact, it needs to be verified. Half the time, you're acting like a gentleman, and the other half you're acting like a gentleman who has nowhere to put out a fire. ”

Lannie lifted a hand and made a grasping motion.

"Think," the man said, with a puzzled expression, "to express what?" ”

"Based on the results of the last longitudinal test," Lannie said, "I can twist any part of your body in a circle, even from here." ”

"Yo! Want to touch that thing of mine?! The man raised his tone and leaned his upper body back, "Why didn't you say it sooner, dear." Don't be reserved, it's down there. ”

Lanny shook her head expressionlessly and walked briskly into the main entrance of Harold Tower, leaving the man behind.

"Sixty-five floors, make no mistake." The man shouted at Lanny's back, "When the time comes, don't be too ruthless." ”

The frivolous man's name was Steven Taka, and he was currently only a supernumerary member of the Guild.

A few minutes later, Steven pushed open the door to his office on the top floor of the building, walked straight to his desk, dragged a chair over his hand, and sat down unceremoniously across from Mr. Harold.

Harold frowned slightly. "After all, it was the one who was introduced by the councillor," he said, "and I thought you would be more ......."

"Bald?" Steven said in a hurry.

Harold looked dissatisfied. "More ......"

"Kidney deficit?!" Steven said, "In my experience, it's best not to judge that kind of thing by appearances. ”

"Well-dressed."

"Oh my god," Steven immediately lowered his head, "oh, I thought I wasn't wearing pants again." He reached out and tugged his trouser leg a few times to the sides, "Seriously, this one is so clean that even I was surprised." ”

Harold leaned back and leaned back in his chair. "If you don't mind, close the door." He whispered.

"Leave it alone." Steven replied casually, "I'll close it later." He put his hands on the table and leaned forward, closing the distance between him and Harold, "Let's get straight to the point." About those, the stuff that wanders in this edifice. ”

Harold changed to a more comfortable sitting position. "Let me guess," he said dismissively, "and then you'll focus on the details of those ghosts, and then go to great lengths to explain to me why only you can see them." ”

"Strictly speaking, they're not 'ghosts.'" Steven muttered.

Harold held out a finger and pointed it at Steven's face, "Listen, I know that Councillor is a devout Christian, and a little nervous from time to time, but to me, he's a big man of great stature and a lot of weight. I don't understand how someone like you could coax him, but I'm definitely not going to take this trick. I promised to see you so that if the MP asked, I could look him in the eye and say, 'Yes, I've met him, thank you for the introduction.'" Now, you can go, or, I'd be happy to have someone ask you out. ”

Da, da, da......

A string of dull footsteps rang from the roof of the office. The sound traveled down the ceiling, to the wall where the door was, and abruptly disappeared when it touched the door frame.

The next second, the door slammed shut, and there was a loud bang.

"Look, I said it would close." Steven said.

Harold clapped his hands a few times. "It's really hard work." He said, "Let me guess again, when you come in, you put a thin line on the doorknob and work with three other people, one to pull the line, one to bang on the wall, and one to stomp your feet upstairs." ”

"This is the top floor." Steven stood up and waved his hand casually.

The floor-to-ceiling curtains behind Harold suddenly closed, and the lights in his office went out in an instant.

A ray of morning light shone through the gap between the curtains, becoming the only light source in the office at this time.

"It seems, as always, that a more concrete demonstration is needed." Steven walked around his desk and walked over to Harold, "We're talking about something called 'spirit,' Mr. Harold." He lowered his voice and said, "Don't worry, the spirits here won't hurt you easily. However, your overconfident attitude is possible. ”

Harold turned his head in surprise and looked at the closed curtains.

"Positive emotions hurt the spirit." Steven continued, "That's why they attack humans. However, as long as you have negative emotions because of fear, there is no reason for them to continue to hurt you. Except for those, the ...... who take pleasure in it"

Harold glanced at the curtains a few more times, then slowly turned his chair to face Steven.

"You can imagine for yourself what it means." Steven stretched out a hand upward, "It's like someone likes to kick stray cats and dogs just because they can do that, right?" So, if you come across spirits like that, you need to have someone professional to deal with them—with this kind of thing. ”

A fist-sized orb glowing blue appeared above Steven's palm.

"Well......" said Harold hesitantly, "it should be, some kind of holographic projection, right?" As for the curtains and lights just now......"

"Come on, Mr. Harold." Steven stretched his outstretched hand forward a little more and interrupted Harold, "No need to guess. If you don't believe it, you can just touch it yourself. ”

With a long distance between Harold and Steven, the former, who decided to touch the ball of light, had to straighten his arm and lean out slightly.

Harold's hand touched the ball of light, and his fingertips stabbed into the sphere without resistance.

Other than that, nothing happened.

"Sure enough," said Harold, "it's nothing more than a hologram." He tilted his head slightly and looked at Steven's wrist, "The bracelet you're wearing should be a projection device." ”

Steven raised the corners of his mouth. "It's really unimaginative. Perhaps, you need to look a little more clearly. "He took a big step towards Harold.

In order to maintain the distance between himself and the ball of light, Harold instinctively retracted his body that had leaned out. However, as he sat back upright, a pitch-black mass appeared in the afterglow to his right.

Since Harold's eyes were all focused on the ball of light, he was caught off guard by what appeared in his peripheral vision. He subconsciously glanced to the right. It was because of this glance that his mind had created a terrifying picture of a woman's head, hovering over his right shoulder, clinging to his face. The woman's eyes were hollow, the corners of her mouth were raised sharply, and she was smiling at him with a strange expression.

Harold screamed, reflexively hitting the woman in the face. His upper body dodged to the left at the same time, causing him to hit the desk solidly.

"It's a little bit more interesting than Mr. Councillor's reaction." Steven smiled and said, "Hey, calm down, don't worry, I made it." But in general, spirits like to do similar things. He turned his head to look at the floor-to-ceiling curtains.

The curtains were drawn to both sides.

The morning light shone into the room, causing the ball of light to disappear into the light along with the suspended head.

Outside the window, a metal antenna tower towering over the roof of the opposite building is becoming more and more blurred.

"Brain, brain, what?" Harold sat up straight, looking around him alertly.

"Let me start at the beginning." Steven responded, "The 'guild' you heard from that councillor is an organization responsible for containing 'spirits.'" In addition to this, we try our best to ensure that each spirit is not exposed to the general public. The trouble is that guilds also have to follow the rules of the civilization system. To put it bluntly, it's money – a lot, a lot of working capital. So, once in a while, we invite people like you to join the club. What we can offer is a life in which you will never be disturbed by the Spirit. Of course, the guild will also provide some information to members who have already made a donation that will not be known to the outside world. Please think of it as a perk. ”

"I-" Harold said in a long voice, "what? ”

"On the rare occasion we will encounter people like you—old stubborns who refuse to believe in spiritual phenomena." Steven walked slowly towards the door, "Our approach is to leave directly in order to give you time to think about it. ”

As he reached the door, Steven turned back and looked at Harold again. "Send me down." He said, "I'll tell you which floors you can't go to for the time being." While the chances of you getting killed in a few days are low, I don't want to lose a potential customer due to bad luck. ”

Harold stood up stunned and hurried to Steven. "Can you explain, well, then, that head?" He said intermittently, walking into the elevator with Steven.

"Converting consciousness into light energy." Steven said endlessly, "It's a kind of indulging ability." Of course, this kind of thing is only possible for a very small number of people. Unfortunately, however, all spirits are able to do it. ”

Bite!

The elevator stopped on the sixty-fifth floor.

The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing a long, empty hallway. There are many doors evenly distributed on both sides of the hallway. On the wall between each of the two doors is a beautifully crafted wall lamp.

Harold continuously taps the buttons on the corresponding layer. The elevator did not respond.

"Is there anyone else here?" Steven asked.

Harold looked at the elevator's display panel. "There won't be. The 60th floor has just been renovated into a hotel, and it has not yet officially opened. ”

"It's a classic scene." Steven smiled and said, "You think so, too." ”

As soon as Steven finished speaking, a wall lamp at the end of the hallway suddenly exploded. The bulbs and glass shades were blown into shards of various sizes, spraying towards the opposite wall.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As if infected, the other wall lamps shattered one after the other. Within seconds, shards of glass were scattered all over the floor, and the entire corridor went dark.

Suddenly, a palm-sized piece of broken glass sprang up from the ground and flew straight towards the elevator, then grazed Harold's cheek and shattered into the inner wall of the elevator behind him.

"If I were you, Mr. Harold," Steven stepped out of the elevator and looked across the hallway, "I'm not going to stay here." ”

At the end of the hallway, where the light from the elevator barely shone through, the figure of a woman gradually emerged.

The metal lampstand that remained on the wall next to the woman was pulled down by something invisible, and then hurled at Steven with all his might.

A blue ball of light enveloped the flying light stand, slowing it down.

However, when the lampstand was still a few steps away from Steven, it suddenly slammed forward, bursting out of blue light and hitting Steven in the last part he wanted to be hit.

"It's stuck." Harold continued to tap the elevator's closing button, "Wait, all right! ”

The two elevator doors closed, only to open again the next second they made contact with each other.

"Where should I go?" Harold asked eagerly. His gaze alternated between Steven's back and the woman on the other side of the hallway.

Steven didn't respond directly, but continued to stand upright. He raised a hand and extended his index finger, pointing upwards.

"Above? Back to the office? Harold said, "Understood." Do what you have to do, get it all done, and come back to me. We're going to talk about membership today. ”

Steven retracted his index finger and raised his thumb upward.

The elevator doors closed again.

The hallway was completely dark.

An orange glow appeared on the other side of the hallway, illuminating the woman's figure. The so-called "spirit" tied the strands of hair hanging in front of him behind his ears, revealing Lannie's face.

"Am I missing?" Lanny said as she walked over to Steven, "Is it off?" ”

Steven let out a low whimper from the corner of his mouth, then covered the object between his legs with his hands, and slowly knelt down.

"Well, it doesn't seem so." Lanny nodded, "Don't bother. We're going to get to Sema City by the evening. ”

Steven leaned against the wall on one side. "Sema? For...... What the? He asked with a boo.

"We're no longer supernumerary." Lannie responded, "I don't know where Kurt got three more people, plus us, just in time to form a regular team." ”

"Both...... Who? Steven stood up against the wall.

"A nervous-looking mechanic, a young male from Asia, and, Amy."

"Amy?" Steven was surprised and said, "Amilia? That one...... Amelia? ”

"Are there any other guild members you know named Amilia?" Lanny asked rhetorically.

"With her here, we need a few more ...... Do what? Steven rubbed to the elevator with very small steps, "On the side, give her a ...... Applaud? ”