"Meow~"
A cat's meow with a hint of masculine aura sounded from outside the window, followed by some rustling noises.
"Meow?"
Outside the window, Second Brother, who was about to climb up the windowsill, lowered his voice to mimic a couple of meows.
This was their team's way of communicating, to let the one ahead know that the one behind is coming in as well.
The dead silent conference room did not have any sound at all, making Second Brother feel a bit creeped out.
He tiptoed slightly to peek inside, only able to see pitch-black darkness and nothing else.
Seeing Eldest Brother's gaze becoming more and more impatient, Second Brother gritted his teeth. With both hands pushing forcefully against the windowsill, his entire body nimbly leaped into the room.
Thud!
The muffled landing sound was especially jarring in this dark room. As soon as Second Brother landed, he called out in a low voice, "Sixth Brother?"
No one in the silent conference room responded to Second Brother, making his eyelids twitch anxiously.
Second Brother did not continue walking forward. He once again lowered his voice to let out a couple of soft, masculine meows: "Meow~"
Not long after, a burly man climbed in from the balcony outside.
Thud!
Unlike Sixth Brother and Second Brother earlier, when Eldest Brother came down, he did not bother hiding the sound of his landing at all.
"Where's Sixth Brother?"
Eldest Brother's fierce gaze swept across the conference room. Other than Second Brother by his side, he did not see a single shadow.
Second Brother said in a low voice, "I don't know. When I came in, I didn't see him either."
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a cold draft blew from the ground of the dark conference room. Creak—
The conference room door opened.
Eldest Brother walked towards the door. Second Brother followed behind, lowering his head to look at the floor.
The next moment, Second Brother immediately reached out to stop Eldest Brother. His voice was low yet urgent, still carrying some tremble due to nervousness. "Boss, Sixth Brother probably didn't walk out that door."
Eldest Brother frowned and turned back. Second Brother's entire body shook as he pointed at the floor. "Boss, look at the floor..."
Eldest Brother lowered his head. He saw the floor was covered in dust, but other than his and Second Brother's shoe prints, there was a trail of tiny footprints.
Eldest Brother looked at Second Brother dissatisfiedly and said coldly, "What, you got spooked by this little rascal too?"
Second Brother stammered, "B-Boss, there's no footprint from Sixth Brother..."
Upon hearing this, Eldest Brother was first stunned, then immediately squatted down to examine the footprints closely. Not a speck of dust was on the small footprints, proving they were freshly made.
And indeed, besides these tiny footprints, Sixth Brother's footprints were nowhere to be found!
Just now, they had clearly seen Sixth Brother crawl in through that window with their own eyes!
Where could someone so huge disappear to?
As Eldest Brother pondered this, he looked up to see Second Brother craning his neck to stare at the ceiling.
Buzz—
In that instant, a chill went down Eldest Brother's spine.
Seeing the person jump in yet vanish without a trace or leave any footprints, it seemed the only possibility was he went up.
At this moment, the image of Sixth Brother hanging from the ceiling with iron hooks pierced through his shoulder blades appeared in Eldest Brother's mind.
However, when he also stood up and looked up, he did not see anything on that pitch-black ceiling.
"Phew—"
A cold draft blew through the conference room. Eldest Brother and Second Brother's breathing sounded together.
Slap!!
Eldest Brother slapped Second Brother hard on his head and scolded in a low voice, "What the f*ck are you craning your neck and staring at the ceiling for like a goddamn dog?!"
Second Brother rubbed his head aggrievedly and said, "Boss, I was just observing the environment..."
"Observing your mom's environment! Scaring the shit outta me! Signal the guys outside to come in!"
"Meow~"
Hearing the masculine cat sound from Second Brother's mouth, Eldest Brother nearly slapped him again...
In the middle of the conference room was a long conference table. After Second Brother signaled the guys outside, suddenly he noticed something crawling on the floor at the far end of the table.
Second Brother turned to look at Eldest Brother, only to see he had already walked towards that direction.
Just as he was about to follow, at that moment, Second Brother saw a small blob slowly creeping along the floor at the other far corner of the conference room.
Second Brother hesitated briefly before deciding not to approach it. Instead, he turned to catch up with Eldest Brother.
After taking a few steps, Second Brother discovered Eldest Brother had inexplicably come to a halt. He tapped Eldest Brother's shoulder and asked, "Boss, what's wrong?"
"Phew—"
Another cold gust of wind blew in from the wide open conference room door, giving Second Brother goosebumps all over his body.
The Eldest Brother in front of him stood still like a statue without saying a word, seemingly frozen stiff.
Just as Second Brother felt something was increasingly off, suddenly—
"Second Brother..."
Eldest Brother's voice sounded from behind Second Brother.
Second Brother dared not turn back. He firmly believed the one in front of him was the real Eldest Brother.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Second Brother's forehead.
"Boss, there's something behind us. It just called my name..."
The Eldest Brother in front did not move an inch, while behind Second Brother, Eldest Brother's voice floated over once more. "Second Brother, slowly back away, be careful, don't startle it..."
Thump thump—
Second Brother felt his pounding heart was about to leap out from his body.
The next second, Second Brother glanced sideways at the row of windows along the conference room wall. He decided, no matter which Eldest Brother was real, he wanted no part in this.
Swish—
Like a rabbit, Second Brother charged towards the window on the side. In the pitch-black conference room, that window within reach seemed to be the only lifeline Second Brother could grab onto!
As the window grew closer and closer, Second Brother's heart practically jumped to his throat!
Bang!
A soft knock sounded. Second Brother's whole body froze stiff in place.
He saw two sickly pale little hands appear on the windowsill!
The moment he saw those tender little hands, Second Brother immediately thought of the small footprints on the floor!
In the next instant, Second Brother ran towards the inner side of the conference room at an even faster speed than before!
Bang!
In his panic, Second Brother crashed into someone.
The tremendous reactive force knocked Second Brother right onto his butt!
He looked up in fright to see...torn crotch...
It was Sixth Brother.
Just as Second Brother was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the next moment, he felt his entire body crawling with ants, as if all at once.
This Sixth Brother was a bit special.
In looks, build, and clothing, he was still that Sixth Brother, only now, this Sixth Brother was a giant-sized humanoid doll.
Another bead of cold sweat rolled down his forehead. Second Brother wanted to wipe the sweat, but when he raised his hand, he saw his arms, his limbs, his entire body had become a humanoid doll as well.
"No!!!"
Second Brother let out an extremely shrill shriek, but he had just opened his mouth without making any sound.
At the same time, Second Brother watched the world in front of his eyes enlarge rapidly—enlarge, enlarge, and enlarge.
Or rather, it was Second Brother himself who was shrinking swiftly—shrink, shrink, and shrink...