Ultimate Evolution I Became the Master of the World
Chapter 49 The Truth of the Mall

"The surveillance room can keep footage for fifteen days. I'll pull up the last week's recordings now," Nico said, fiddling with the system. "By the way, why are you checking out the old footage?" Michael replied, "I'm looking for a few people to see what they've been up to lately."

"That's weird. Who's that? She doesn't look like she's from the company, and the mall's been closed. How'd she get in?" Nico suddenly said.

A middle-aged woman in a dress popped up on the screen.

"You don't recognize her?" Michael asked Nico, a bit cautiously.

Nico shook his head. "No, but she looks familiar. I just can't place her."

Michael didn't know the woman either; he'd only been around for two days.

"Keep an eye on her and see what she's doing in the mall," Michael said, feeling a bit uneasy. He had a hunch the woman might be a ghost. But the evidence pointed to Nico, who was right next to him, as the ghost.

If this ghost could change identities, it would all make sense. But guessing wasn't enough; he needed the footage as proof.

They kept watching.

The woman's movements were odd. She took the elevator to the second floor and then just stood at the stairway for ages, like a puppet. "Fast forward," Michael said.

The footage sped up.

The woman stood there for a good half-hour before suddenly moving.

She headed to the second floor.

Just then, the cashier, Emily, showed up by a cash register on the second floor.

She looked tired and stood up to stretch.

The woman slowly walked towards Emily.

Emily had her back to the woman, doing some stretches, totally unaware someone was behind her.

Until the woman silently came up behind her.

"Slow it down," Michael said again.

The footage went back to normal speed.

The woman stood behind Emily for a couple of seconds before suddenly grabbing Emily's head.

Emily didn't know what hit her; her body just trembled a bit.

Then, in a shocking twist, the woman pulled Emily's head off like it was a doll's.

No scream, no blood, everything was eerily calm.

Emily's headless body just stood there, lifeless.

"How is this possible?" Nico said, stunned.

Jane, who had been secretly watching, was also freaked out but covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Michael's face stayed serious as he kept watching.

The woman, after taking off Emily's head, removed her own head and put Emily's head on her body.

At that moment, the woman became Emily. After a bit, Emily moved.

She casually carried the woman's head and her own body away from the second floor.

The ease with which she carried the bodies was something no ordinary person could do.

"Five days ago, Emily became a ghost," Michael said, his face tense.

Now it all made sense why Emily's head was so decomposed. If she had been replaced by a ghost five days ago, the timeline fit perfectly. "Keep an eye on this Emily," Michael reminded.

"Okay, okay," Nico said, clearly nervous.

The footage kept rolling, and Nico quickly pulled up more clips of Emily.

In the footage from four days ago, Emily went to work like normal. She looked just like any other person, chatting and laughing with her colleagues.

But in the afternoon, Leila, feeling bored, invited a few female colleagues, including Emily, to try on clothes.

The four of them headed to a clothing store on the fifth floor.

Since the mall was closed, the store was empty, and all the clothes were just hanging there for them to try on.

Leila was holding a dress in front of a mirror, checking herself out.

At that moment, Emily's movements got weird. She slowly walked up behind Leila and reached for her head.

But just then, Leila turned around, holding the dress and saying something to Emily.

There was no sound in the footage, but it didn't matter.

Michael saw Emily's movements stop.

Because Leila had turned around and faced Emily.

Leila had no clue that Emily was now a ghost and still treated her like a regular colleague.

Soon, Leila grabbed another dress and kept checking herself out in the mirror.

At that moment, Emily moved again.

Just like the unknown woman had done to her, Emily reached out from behind and grabbed Leila's head. Leila's body trembled slightly. The creepy scene repeated itself.

Leila's head was removed.

"This can't be right. If Leila's head was removed, she shouldn't have appeared in front of me," Michael frowned.

There could only be one ghost. It couldn't be both Emily and Leila.

But the next scene made him even more confused.

In the footage, after removing Leila's head, Emily took off her own head.

They swapped heads.

After standing still for a moment, they both went back to normal, trying on clothes like nothing had happened.

Michael realized things were way more complicated than he thought. He quickly scanned the surveillance screens and searched the mall.

He searched the mall quickly.

Finally, he saw someone standing at the door of a storage room on the fifth floor.

This person had their back to the camera, so he couldn't see their face.

"Pull up the footage from this camera," Michael said.

Nico pulled up the footage from that camera.

Ten minutes ago, Mr. Wagner, Mr. Rossi, Lucas, and Leila, led by Ethan, had hidden in the storage room.

At the same time, at the elevator entrance, the emergency exit, and in front of various stores, slow-moving people appeared, surrounding Ethan and the others.

After they hid, the people surrounding them blocked the storage room door. After a while, for some unknown reason, those people gradually dispersed and disappeared somewhere on the fifth floor. Seeing this, Michael took a deep breath.

There wasn't just one ghost; there was a whole group of them.

Everyone who had their head swapped was a ghost or controlled by a ghost.

Just then, he noticed a thin red line around Nico's neck.

He was one of them..