NOVEL NEXT Chapter 47 - The Box is Empty! Stirring in the Depths of the Goods Inlet
He Gu tread lightly towards the pile of goods, lost in thought as he eyed the wooden box that was taller than half a man.
Rule No.2 of the warehouse: Never peek through the cracks into the box!
Yet the hidden message stated: In the places you dare not look, the truth may be watching you.
This was indeed intriguing.
Under normal circumstances, He Gu would never dare to breach the rules.
But with the support of the Eyes of Delusion Breaking, He Gu could at least confirm that this rule wasn’t an instant death rule!
Perhaps, this rule was a ruse, and it was the key to passing this instance!?
With this thought, He Gu took a deep breath and approached the box.
As long as it wasn’t an instant death rule, even if violated, there was still room for maneuver…
Let’s take a gamble!
Having made up his mind, He Gu took out the intercom and held it in his hand, ready to call for help from the supervisor if anything went wrong.
After a moment of thought, He Gu found a wrench from the corner and held it in his other hand, providing him a chance to fight back in case of an emergency.
After these preparations, He Gu took a deep breath, held his breath, and got close to the box.
The box was assembled from planks of wood, with gaps in between.
The widest gap was just enough to fit a chopstick.
He Gu put his eye up to this gap, looking inside with both nervousness and anticipation.
However, it was pitch black inside, he couldn’t see anything.
He Gu bent over and looked for a few seconds, before immediately straightening up and scanning his surroundings cautiously.
The warehouse was silent, nothing happened.
He Gu sighed a little in relief. It seemed that looking through the gap into the box didn’t trigger any danger.
But it was too dark inside, he couldn’t see anything at all.
After a moment of thought, He Gu took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and held the light to the gap, illuminating the inside while he peered in again.
However, just then, He Gu saw something flash in the gap.
At the same time, his phone seemed to be hit by something and dropped to the ground.
He Gu got a fright, looking at the gap with disbelief.
There was indeed something alive inside!
But what was it?
And what relation did it have with the “truth” mentioned in the hidden message?
He Gu picked up his phone, and placed the flashlight on the gap again.
Then, He Gu put his eye to the gap, trying to see inside with the help of the light.
However, the gap was too small, and the light that could shine in was very limited. Apart from barely making out a dim silhouette of the box, He Gu couldn’t see anything clearly.
After some hesitation, He Gu simply took the wrench and wedged one end into the gap, then levered it to try and widen the gap a bit.
“Squeak——”
The grating sound of wood scraping against wood rang out, and the plank was soon loosened quite a bit by He Gu.
After a few minutes of effort, He Gu managed to pry the gap wide enough to fit his fingers in.
Then, He Gu picked up his phone again, turned on the flashlight, and even activated the video recording function. He simply shoved the upper half of the phone into the box!
If he couldn’t observe with his naked eye, he could use his phone to record!
It was important to make good use of the tools at hand!
Once the phone was inside the box, He Gu started recording while slowly adjusting the angle of the phone, trying to capture every corner of the box.
Soon, He Gu finished recording, retrieved his phone, and began to review the video.
Once the video was opened, He Gu saw clearly what was inside the box.
After stuffing the upper half of his phone into the wooden box, the lighting significantly improved. He Gu could clearly see the bottom of the box and every corner captured by his phone’s camera.
He Gu’s method was indeed feasible, and it had captured every scene inside the box.
However, after watching the video, He Gu was completely frozen.
According to the content recorded on his phone, the box was empty…
At this moment, He Gu felt a chill running down his spine.
The box was actually empty!
How was that possible!?
Before, he had seen the box shaking violently with his own eyes and heard the sound of knocking and smashing against the wooden board inside the box!
Even just now, when He Gu first shined his phone inside, something had flashed and pushed his phone away!
But now, in the video taken, there was nothing inside the box!
He Gu felt a shiver of unease, quickly stepping back and leaning against the conveyor belt at the Goods Inlet, keeping distance from the box.
Thump… rustle…
Just then, from inside the Goods Inlet behind him, a faint sound suddenly came.
Although the sound was very faint, it was exceptionally clear in the quiet warehouse.
He Gu felt a cold shiver down his spine, turned around abruptly, and looked at the Goods Inlet.
The Goods Inlet was on the wall, outside of it was a conveyor belt, which extended all the way into the wall.
The entrance in the wall was square, about one meter each side, pitch-black inside, like a bottomless tunnel.
At this moment, He Gu stood in front of the Goods Inlet, clearly hearing the noise coming from inside.
Thump… rustle… thump…
The sound… it sounded like… something was crawling on the conveyor belt, the sound of its feet landing on the belt and the friction of its body against the belt!
The worst part was, the sound seemed to be getting closer!
Something was crawling out from inside!
As soon as this thought rose, He Gu immediately felt his scalp tingling.
Just as He Gu picked up the Intercom ready to call the Supervisor, the conveyor belt in front of him suddenly started moving.
“Whirr—”
The machine at the Goods Inlet actually started automatically. As the sound of the motor rotation rose, the conveyor belt began to slowly rotate.
And as the conveyor belt moved inward, a “thud” sound came from deep inside the Goods Inlet, as if something had fallen over.
The conveyor belt ran for less than half a minute before it stopped again, as if everything that had just happened never occurred.
The warehouse once again fell into silence.
And a few seconds later.
Thump… rustle… thump…
Deep in the Goods Inlet, that bizarre sound rang out again.
However, it sounded even fainter than before, as if the source of the sound was even further away.
But not long after, the sound slowly approached again, as if it was not far from the Goods Inlet!
He Gu’s scalp tingled, and he picked up the Intercom about to call the Supervisor.
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded from behind He Gu: “What are you daydreaming about here?”
The sudden appearance of this voice nearly frightened He Gu into jumping on the spot!
At this moment, He Gu felt his adrenaline surge. He picked up a wrench and turned around, only to see a figure wearing the same uniform as him.
It was the co-worker who had eaten with him in the Canteen, whose number was 441?
441 looked at He Gu with a puzzled face: “What are you daydreaming about here?”
Just as He Gu was about to reply, the conveyor belt in front of him suddenly started moving again.
Whirr—
With the motor running, the conveyor belt seemed to move even faster this time.
He Gu pointed at the conveyor belt in front of him and said: “Look at this machine, it suddenly started moving on its own.”
441 responded with an unperturbed expression, “Ah, it’s just a Program Malfunction, a minor issue.”
“Just unplug the Power Source, and the daytime shift will plug it back in tomorrow.”
While speaking, 441 had already reached over and unplugged the power socket at hand.
In the dim light, He Gu seemed to catch a fleeting glimpse of a bizarre smile flashing across 441’s face. It held a hint of… a scheme successfully executed!
Just then, the sound from the depths of the Goods Inlet resonated once again.
Thud, thud, thud, thud…
And this time, the sound was frantic, getting closer and closer, as if it was about to reach the “tunnel entrance” in an instant!
Whatever was inside seemed to be running at full speed, and it seemed about to emerge!