I looked around the room, on the left was a desk and office chair, on the right were various devices for playing movies.

On the wall was a poster of the "Employee Code", with clearly written black words on white paper -

【1. Work when the sun rises, leave work when the sun sets. Open for business as usual on rainy days, but employees rest.】

【2. Must return to the office to sign out after work.】

【3. For each movie, there must be an employee collecting fees in front of the theater door, one person one yuan, cash only, no change given, no credit.】

【4. Once the movie starts, remember to lock the theater doors, customers are strictly prohibited from leaving midway.】

【5. Please burn the ticket money in the basement, one burn per show, not more, not less.】

【6. Before leaving the basement, make sure to extinguish all open flames to prevent fires.】

【7. In case of rainy days, the above rules are void. Customers can watch the movie for free and employees can rest well.】

【8. Always obey the boss's orders.】

I read these rules carefully, and they revealed a strange and mysterious feeling between the lines.

Why burn the ticket money for the movie?

I remember the villagers saying that the boss of this cinema is doing charity, that's why they only charge one yuan per person.

Now, witnessing the monster in the corridor along with these mysterious rules, I deduce that the boss must have a dark secret.

My father's disappearance is definitely related to the cinema.

I decided to investigate it myself.

I searched through the documents on the desk, all of them were related to movies.

After a busy half day, I found nothing. I sat down exhausted on the chair.

"Ouch!"

Someone cried out in pain.

I stood up abruptly, "Who's there?"

There was no answer.

I looked down and saw a white paper man lying on the chair.

Its eyes were painted with two bright red dots, and the mouth was drawn into a weirdly upward shape.

A horrible thought suddenly flashed in my mind: Could the paper man have been the one making noise just now? Is this thing also a monster?

I couldn't let it turn into the one in the corridor!

I grabbed the paper man and tore it into pieces.

At the moment of throwing it away, something strange happened.

The torn pieces of paper seemed to come to life, floating in the air, and eventually stuck together to form a complete paper man, with no trace of being torn visible.

It landed accurately back on the chair where it was before.

Like a living person, lying comfortably and resting.

I looked around in horror, each chair had a paper man occupying it.

The blood-red corners of their mouths seemed to be mocking my stupidity.

This was too scary.

I had to leave this place.

Outside the door was a terrifying female monster.

Inside were the indestructible white paper men.

I looked towards the dark window, the only way to escape.

I climbed onto the windowsill and jumped out without hesitation.

As my feet touched the ground, my heart finally felt at ease.

I needed to go home and call for help.

My dad went missing mysteriously, the cinema concealed monsters, it was something I couldn't face alone, I needed help.

I quickened my pace and ran towards home.

I didn't know how long I ran for, the endless night seemed like an abyss without end.

I looked up and saw two dimly lit white lanterns.

I actually ended up back at the entrance of the cinema again?!

I refused to believe it and continued running in the opposite direction.

The howling wind passed by on both sides.

I couldn't hear the barking of dogs or the chirping of insects in the village, it was eerily quiet around me.

I saw a faint light ahead.

I sped up and ran towards it.

It was still the movie theater with white lanterns hanging.

I was so exhausted, like a deflated ball, I slumped on the ground.

Since I couldn't run away, I decided to stop running.

I sat on the stone at the entrance, waiting for daybreak.