I quickly caught up with Lin Sihan: "Wait for me! I have something to say..."

"What do you want now?" Lin Sihan said impatiently, "Don't you think your behavior is childish? I'm not a kindergarten teacher, and you don't need to try to get my attention. I need to register, please don't waste my time."

I was about to use my ghost eye to get Lin Sihan away when I heard someone shout from the director's office on the second floor: "Who's outside?"

Lin Sihan turned her head, pushed the door, and walked in: "Hello, I'm Lin Sihan, here to register."

When I entered, Lin Sihan was already sitting on the sofa. My gaze went directly to the person in the gray suit behind the desk.

Most of the other person's hair was white, and they looked to be at least sixty years old. At that age, they should have retired. Why were they still working in the archives?

The other person seemed to see through my thoughts: "You must be Zhang Qiang? Sit down! My name is Wang Bo, and I'm a retired archivist rehired by the museum. The director is out, so I'm responsible for receiving you."

As Old Wang spoke, he picked up a cigarette without a filter. When I looked at his cigarette case, he clenched it in his hand and put it in his pocket: "My cigarettes aren't good, so I won't offer you one."

I took out my cigarettes: "I haven't seen these kinds of cigarettes in years. How about we trade?"

Old Wang handed me the cigarette in his hand before lighting mine. I inconspicuously put that cigarette into my pocket.

Old Wang took a puff of his cigarette and said mysteriously, "This archive was converted from the old military governor's mansion. A lot of people died here back then!"

"Remember, never work overtime past midnight. Before midnight, hurry back to the duty room and lock the door. Don't open the door no matter what you hear. If something happens to you here, we'll have to report a work-related death, which is a lot of trouble!"

I listened expressionlessly, but Lin Sihan, the girl who registered with me, turned pale with fright.

Seeing that I had no reaction, Old Wang continued, "Xiao Zhang, don't you believe it."

"This archive is really strange! Several people have died here before. Listen carefully! After midnight, don't wander around the building, understand?"

"Got it! Got it!" I replied, my eyes fixed on the cigarette in Old Wang's mouth.

The way people smoke is different from the way ghosts smoke. When people smoke, they inhale, and the tip of the cigarette burns down quickly. People with strong nicotine addictions can smoke a cigarette in a minute or two.

When ghosts smoke, they let the cigarette burn on its own, like a ghost squatting next to an incense burner, smelling the incense. The tip of the cigarette doesn't change much.

The tip of the cigarette in Old Wang's mouth was burning backwards, but I felt like something was off.

This old man is probably a little strange!

A sorcerer can't be impatient in business, especially when fighting against evil spirits that have become powerful.

People who rush in without rhyme or reason, slapping spirit talismans on everything, are either not sorcerers or fools who think they're second to none.

I haven't figured out how deep the water is in this archive, so acting rashly will only alert the snake.

Besides, Old Wang seems to be deliberately trying to tell me something, so why should I be in a hurry?

Seeing that I believed him, Old Wang stood up: "I'll take you around to familiarize you with the archive!"

Old Wang took the two of us for a walk around the archive. Lin Sihan became dizzy from the walk, but my expression turned grim.

This archive really has something to it.

The archive has four doors in the front and back, but eight corridors inside. There are more than a dozen intersections where the corridors cross.

"Crossroads divide yin and yang." According to the path of术, crossroads are where the world of the living and the world of the dead intersect. At midnight, ghosts are sure to turn from the crossroads to the world of the dead.

The archive has eight corridors but only four doors, which means that if someone dies in the archive, there's a 50% chance they won't be able to get out. Once a ghost misses its time to enter the world of the dead, it has to stay in the mortal world.

If the archive only had this one strange thing about it, I might not have taken it seriously. What's even stranger is the staircase in the archive.

Normal staircases should lead all the way to the top floor, but in the archive, the staircase on each floor is in a different location.

After following Old Wang back from the first floor of the archive, I didn't continue upstairs. Instead, he led us around most of the second floor before we found another set of stairs.

Old Wang pointed to the stairs and said, "There are three staircases from the second floor to the third floor, but only this one leads to the third floor. Remember that, so you don't waste your time."

"One of those two staircases was only built halfway, and the other one runs into a wall, so you can't get up no matter what. Don't go the wrong way."

My brow furrowed again: the location of this staircase is in the northeast corner of the archive. According to the layout of the archive, this location is the ghost gate. This staircase isn't for people!

At that moment, Lin Sihan couldn't help but ask, "Can't you put up a sign at the staircase? Or draw a landmark on the ground? How is anyone supposed to remember this!"

Old Wang glanced at Lin Sihan and muttered to himself, "If we draw those things, wouldn't anyone be able to get out?"