"That café belongs to Qiao Yu's older brother. They're real brothers. He usually hangs out there and helps out, and he stays at the café at night."

"You've already been there?" Jiang Cheng asked, looking at him.

Liu Guo's face twitched unnaturally, as if recalling something unpleasant, but he nodded. "That's right. We found the café and met his brother."

"The brothers were very close. Ever since Qiao Yu died, his brother has been traumatized and doesn't care much about business anymore. The café is almost bankrupt now, and a large part of the downstairs is rented out to other businesses."

"When he learned that we wanted to investigate the real cause of Qiao Yu's death, he was very cooperative. You could tell that he also suspected that Qiao Yu's death was suspicious."

"Because in the days before Qiao Yu died, he clearly felt that something was wrong with his younger brother. When he was sleeping at home at night, he would often receive calls from his brother at the café, and every time it was about the same thing. He would ask if he had secretly returned to the café without telling him."

"But how could that be?" Liu Guo shook his head. "It was already late at night. Who would have the time to play with him in the middle of the night? But from Qiao Yu's tone, he didn't seem to believe his brother's words."

"At first, he didn't take it seriously, thinking that his brother was drunk and talking nonsense. Qiao Yu had a habit of drinking. But later, this situation became more and more frequent. Sometimes he would even receive five or six calls from Qiao Yu in one night."

"His girlfriend argued with him a lot about this."

"Later, he inquired and found that Qiao Yu not only called him, but also called all the employees working at the café, asking the same question: whether they had secretly run back to the café at night without telling him."

"This time, he realized that something was wrong, so he found Qiao Yu and asked him what was going on. At first, Qiao Yu refused to say, and looked at him with strange eyes, as if they were all colluding to deceive him."

"Then, looking at his brother's haggard appearance, Qiao Yu seemed to waver a little. He made a strange face and asked in a low voice: 'The footsteps downstairs at night... it's really not you?'"

"Of course not! His brother had never been there, and neither had the other employees!"

Hearing this, Hua Luo's expression became strange, and he looked at Liu Guo and asked, "Are you saying that Qiao Yu heard footsteps?"

Liu Guo sighed deeply and nodded to Hua Luo. "According to the man's recollection, Qiao Yu said that he had been busy organizing and editing videos he had filmed recently, usually until late at night. The footsteps also appeared late at night."

"It was like someone was walking back and forth downstairs."

At this point, Wei Jinting, who had been silent for a while, interjected, "But that's basically impossible. According to the man, he considered soundproofing when he renovated, so even if it's quiet at night, you wouldn't be able to hear normal walking downstairs."

"Moreover, according to the man's statistics, nothing was missing from his café, so it didn't seem like a thief had broken in."

"What happened next?" Jiao Tai Lang frowned, obviously a little anxious.

"Although the man didn't believe that such a thing could happen, seeing that his brother was really scared, he agreed to stay with him that day to see what the footsteps were all about."

"The man was quite cautious." Liu Guo introduced, "He had a good idea and called a strong employee to stay with them as well."

"And so, the three of them stayed up until late at night. Later, Qiao Yu woke him up when he was already dozing off."

"At that time, Qiao Yu's face was pale with fright, his lips were trembling, and he grabbed the man's arm and said in a trembling voice: 'It's here...'"

"Hearing this, the man and the strong employee who had been left with him immediately perked up, but after holding their breath and listening for a long time, they didn't hear any footsteps."

"But Qiao Yu said that the footsteps were always there. Later, the man asked Qiao Yu to stay in the room, and he took the strong employee downstairs to check, but Qiao Yu didn't dare to stay alone, so he begged to be taken with them."

"The man had never seen his younger brother beg anyone before. He had been rebellious since he was a child and would never admit defeat, no matter how much he was beaten."

"At that moment, the man was actually a little flustered, but he didn't show it. The three of them, with the strong employee carrying a baseball bat and the man himself holding a folding chair, squeezed together and went downstairs."

"The café downstairs was very large. They turned on all the lights and searched inside and out several times, but they couldn't find a single person, let alone a ghost."

"Then they checked the doors and windows and found that they were locked tightly, with no signs of anyone entering."

"The strong employee glanced at Qiao Yu, not saying anything, but from his eyes, he definitely thought that Qiao Yu was sick, either delusional or had damaged his brain from drinking."

"He should go to the hospital."

"Qiao Yu drooped his head and returned upstairs, but just as they closed the door and sat down, before they had time to speak, Qiao Yu's body suddenly began to tremble uncontrollably. He suddenly raised his head and looked outside the door."

"Brother," Qiao Yu grinned, as if he was about to cry in the next second.

"It's followed us upstairs..."

The fatty, who was listening attentively, shivered, looking scared by the story.

"Continue," Jiang Cheng said.

Liu Guo glanced at everyone and found that their faces were similar to his when he first heard the story. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

"But as before, no one except Qiao Yu heard footsteps. To be precise, no one heard any sound."

"No one outside the door either?" the fatty asked cautiously.

Liu Guo shook his head, giving him a helpless look. "I don't know. The man and the strong employee were also scared at the time. The three of them huddled in the room all night, and no one dared to open the door to take a look until the next day when an employee came to work."

This reaction was quite realistic. Jiang Cheng nodded, thinking that he would probably do the same.

He even wondered if the man had opened the door that night, would he still be alive to tell them the whole story.

"Later, the man planned to send his brother Qiao Yu to the hospital for a check-up, but Qiao Yu refused, shouting that he wasn't sick, that there were just footsteps and that the café was haunted!"

"As soon as these words came out, they completely angered the man, who depended on the café to make a living. If this spread, how would he do business?"

"So, in a fit of anger, he told Qiao Yu to get out, scolding him for being a lunatic and damaging his brain from drinking. Unexpectedly, from that day on, Qiao Yu really disappeared, and his phone couldn't be reached."

"Later, the police came to the door and told him that his brother Qiao Yu was dead."