《Urban Legends of Nameless City》 C-01 It''s that smell again. A constant companion on my walk to the bus stop every night. The smell is not pungent, not fragrant, faint, but noticeable enough. It is everywhere though. On this dark road I usually too, public places, my office, in front of my room. The locals ignored it, so I did too. Though some didn¡¯t get the memo. There¡¯s a man and someone some distance in front of me. Can¡¯t see the other person. This road is long overdue to repair the street light. But the man must be new in town. He goes on and on speaking to the other person and never shut up, not that I bother to listen to his rambling. I Kept some distance till the bus stop. Soon a bus can be seen in the distance. Never ride the first bus that arrives after midnight. As contemplating whether to help him or not is troublesome. So i wind up some dice roller on my phone. Will help if it is an even number. A button pressed and a dice rolled.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. 4 My favorite number. ¡°You dropped something¡± I tap his shoulder just before he gets on the bus while the other gets on. ¡°Dropped what?¡± The man turns around. Definitely not local, and definitely new in town. ¡°Sorry, my mistake¡± He cursed as he turned around again. Looking left and right for the bus while I sit down. ¡°Dude! Where¡¯s the bus!?¡± ¡°What bus?¡± ¡°The one me and this chick supposed to get on¡± ¡°What chick?¡± That makes him think. He starts cursing then I ignore him. Hopefully he catches on with the rules quickly. Another bus arrived soon after. The clearly frustrated man jumps in first with me getting on soon after. I nod to the driver, who heaves a sigh of relief and wipes his sweat. C-02 Another smell. This time inside the office. Odd. It''s still 8. They usually come quite late. Took off my headphones only to hear a group of female co-workers sharing some ghost stories. No wonder they come here early. Got up and went to the restroom. Rook my keys and lock every stall. Then I exit. ¡°Have locked the men¡¯s room.¡± I said as I passed this floor janitor. There are three floors with one janitor each. ¡°Eyy, thanks for that boyo. Done with the ladies room too. Why so early tho?¡± ¡°Ghost stories¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Again? Them still in high school or somethin?¡± ¡°I believe we have a new customer service. Not from here. The usual stories¡± ¡°I see. Hope she listens to the story damn well then.¡± ¡°Make some space for me if it comes tonight¡± He nodded, then we went back to our own work. The ladies finished their shift at 9. Other than the smell that arrived early, my work continued as usual. As the last to finish shift, I am required to make sure everything is turned off. All is well till all that¡¯s left is to exit the building. Lo and behold, It is already there. Just beyond the glass door that separates this building and outside.While it sounds stupid, the city mandated a see through glass door on all public buildings. You need to know what¡¯s waiting just outside. Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock It knocks the glass door. Hmmm. Fuck. C-03 ¡°Here¡¯s your sleeping bag, just pick a corner when you want to sleep.¡± The old janitor handed me a cup of tea and a sleeping bag. ¡°Thank you¡± Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock It knocked and another janitor laughed. He¡¯s from the third floor. He waited some time before he peeked from the janitor door window to the front door. Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock He then laughed again. ¡°Would you stop that! And stop staring at them!¡± Yelled another janitor. She¡¯s from the second floor. ¡°Relax. We all know the rule. We can stare at it as long as we want and it can¡¯t come in as long as we don¡¯t open the door. And don¡¯t blame me, the boss didn¡¯t share the wifi password with us, so I¡¯m bored.¡± That¡¯s rough buddy. ¡°Anyway,¡± Second floor tries to divert the attention. ¡°You still have not call our names¡± She asked meThis story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°I¡¯m bad with names¡± ¡°Do you at least try to remember them?¡± ¡°No¡± ¡°You need therapy¡± ¡°No¡± ¡°Ehem¡± The old janitor clears his throat. ¡°Things started to appear more frequently. Be careful to not open doors carelessly.¡± He tried to change the topic ¡°Isn¡¯t that the usual rule?¡± Third floor asked before peeking to the front door again Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock ¡°Just a fair warning. But things are getting more and more active lately. Nothin confirmed yet, or the city council refuse to acknowledge it. Y¡¯know the festival coming soon too¡± ¡°Ain¡¯t that bad news? Oh, a racoon!¡± ¡°Nothing wrong with bein prepared is all I say. Wait, a racoon? Have you thrown out the trash? Have you locked the front door!?¡± Everyone heard the sound of the automatic glass door opening. Now It stands just outside the janitor room. Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock Third floor locks the janitor room. ¡°It¡¯s locked now¡± Gone is his cheery tone. Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock It will only knock when someone sees it from the inside, Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock Or if there¡¯s a person inside the room it¡¯s knocking. Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock Great, now it will not stop knocking tonight. Then I took a corner of the office and went to sleep. ¡°This fucker can sleep with that directly outside?¡± Tock-tock-tock. Tock-tock C-04 So sleepy. Didn¡¯t get much sleep yesterday. At least it''s my day off today. As I went to my usual cafe, a convoy of ambulances sped by. Many whispers to share the news but many more ignore them. A soft chime sounds followed by a welcome from the waitress. ¡°The usual right?¡± Just a nod before sitting on my usual spot by the window. The cafe is quiet today. More than usual as patrons speaking in hushed tones. As I tried to listen in, a loud chair dragging sound broke the silence. All eyed my table before all returned to their own whispers. Then the Detective sits in front of me. ¡°I need your help¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you have other people for this?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the problem, there¡¯s three new things. Cassandra and Jeff already take care of one each¡± The red head and the alcoholic. Then my usual coffee arrived. ¡°And your last guy?¡± ¡°Bill is still recovering. You know I won¡¯t find you unless necessary¡± I took a sip and looked outside to this dreary city. ¡°Look, just do what you usually do. Find out their rules or make one for them.¡± ¡°Why three so suddenly?¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. His face twisted with me changing the topic. He always hated when the conversation took a turn. ¡°Heard from old Joe that you still refuse to name anyone. Not even yours.¡± I look back at him on his last comment. Smirking as he thought he had touched some spot. As for why, just a little bit then I can afford a second hand car. Then I can safely leave this city, no need to make attachments. ¡°Christ man, you act more like them than us!¡± He purposefully said this out loud. Drawing the attention of the entire cafe. I turn towards the cafe and they quickly return to their previous activities. Then back to looking outside. Silence fell on the table. This continues on for some time. And on And on. ¡°Allright.¡± He finally relent. Then he leans forward. ¡°I wasn¡¯t supposed to share this. The council suspects it is related to the amount of people immigrating here. You know that many locals move out of the city and sell their property cheap.¡± Of course. Who wants to live here? I will also leave, just need to save up some more. ¡°Then people start to move here from everywhere. They might have brought things with them.¡± He continued Not might, they are bound to bring something with them. ¡°So¡­ Will you help?¡± Thought about it for a while. The sooner I have the money, the sooner I left. ¡°Double¡± ¡°Done¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°That new ugly building downtown¡± ¡°All right. Tell my boss he still need to pay my shift while on this¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy. Oh, and if you could, finish this before the..¡± ¡°Festival¡± I finished his sentence Paid the coffee and left the shop. There¡¯s still time, better get some big lunch. It¡¯s going to be a long night. C-05 It¡¯s 6 p.m. Finally arrived at the location. It''s a five story building. Apparently it is a branch office of a certain IT company. However, even before entering the building, the problem already became apparent. The front door is made of wood. Coupled with the fact that the employees are mostly not local, no wonder the massacre happened. All that¡¯s left is to check inside. Performed the last check on my inventory. Salt, chalk, and marker to set boundaries. Flashlight, then various snacks and a water bottle to last the night, and lastly, a building blueprint provided by the city council. I slung my backpack as I finished and took a breather. I really, really hope this thing has a rule. Ducked under the police line and entered the building. Making sure the front door is properly closed. I am immediately greeted by a scene of carnage. At least what¡¯s left of them. There¡¯s dried blood everywhere. Looked around for a relatively clean area, but found none. The first floor was a killing zone. Then there¡¯s another problem. The doors here have no section of a small window to see the other side. Might explain the deaths in all enclosed rooms. Some survivors, thinking it¡¯s over, opened to take a peek. Hopefully that¡¯s the case. Because the other explanation will be that it can open doors.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Checked the blueprint for a good place to conduct the test and found one. There¡¯s a server room on the second floor. It has two entrances, east and west. Encircled by a corridor. Took a lift up and I made my preparations. Two lines using chalk on each side of the eastern door, then make the same lines with salt on the western door. As the server doors already have a plate signing ¡®Server Staff only¡¯, I don¡¯t need to use the marker to make ownership boundaries. As I finished my preparation, I checked the time. 7.10 p.m. There¡¯s still time, so I took the lift up to check the rest of the building. The lift opened to reveal one big room. Filled with rows and rows of cubicles. A floor for customer service staff. Some of the places are covered with blood. This floor requires renovation. It is safer in a fully enclosed room. Marginally. Took another lift up. The fourth floor consists of enclosed rooms. A room for the marketing division, a break room, and a few meeting rooms. Other than no windows, the rooms are proper. It is now 7.30 p.m. as I checked after exiting the meeting room. And then the smell arrived. C-06 I bolted to the emergency stairs as the lift is on the other side of the hallway. Besides, they often took too long to close. After making sure the door closed properly, I ran straight to the second floor As I opened the door to the second floor, I saw something beyond my wildest imagination. ¡°What the fuck are you doing here!?¡± I shouted at the absurdity of this situation, It¡¯s the guy from the bus stop. A camera flash answered me. ¡°It¡¯s you! I fucking knew it, there¡¯s some crazy cult going around here.¡± I blinked as my mind went blank for a second before reminding myself of the current situation. Closing the emergency door behind me, I immediately made a lap around the server room to check the lines I had made. And the guy followed me. ¡°What were those two lines beside the doors?¡± ¡°Is this preparation for some kind of a ritual?¡± ¡°I hear what that detective said at Lok¡¯s Cafe¡± I stopped in the middle of the hallway in front of the lift. All seems proper. ¡°You a journalist?¡± He also stopped and took a step back before assuming a defensive posture. ¡°Yeah, What you gonna do? Kill me?¡± Then he took a pepper spray from his pocket.Stolen novel; please report. Then the lift light turns on. From the fourth floor. Going down. ¡°No, but it will.¡± ¡°What will? Some cultist friend of yours upstairs?¡± I ignored him and opened the server room west door. ¡°Get in¡± ¡°Not unless you answer my question. How should I know you won¡¯t kill me in there anyway?¡± Silence follows as we both stare down. Then the sound of flickering light in front of the lift starts and his breath starts to sped up in anxiety. ¡°Suit yourself¡± ¡°Wait-wait-wait!¡± He entered before I closed the door. Now both of us are in this dim and cold server room. All that¡¯s left is to find out if this thing has a rule. ¡°Was that a demon?¡± ¡°That-that was a salt line you made tight? Whatever it is can¡¯t pass that right?¡± He asked as he continued to panic. Ding. We hold our breaths. Listening to the sound of flickering light. Then it passed the salt line. The journalist whimpered. I tap his shoulder. Signaling him to follow me to the east entrance. Then I dropped my bag, as it will hinder my speed. ¡°Drop your stuff. When that thing opens the door, you run right, I ran left. Use the emergency stairs.¡± He nodded and put down his camera and bag. We stared at the other door. And from the light shining through the door gap, the light flickered. Then died. We hugged the east door and my hand rested on the door handle. The sound of deep breaths accompanied us as we prepared for the worst. It can¡¯t open doors. I think to myself. More a hope than a certainty. Then the door handle starts twisting.