Chapter 27

Chapter 27

This was prime time for residents of the neighborhood to be out for their evening strolls. The old neighborhood had a high occupancy rate, and people were constantly passing by on the street.

The four of them walked around a bit before finally finding Building 9 tucked away in the far west corner.

Maybe because the streetlight in front of Building 9 was busted, hardly any residents passed by. The unit's entrance door was wide open, with a single incandescent bulb hanging above it, barely lighting up the area around it.

The four of them filed in one by one. Luckily, the hallway's motion-sensor lights were bright enough that they could spot Unit 101 right away.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

Yan He was holding a metal compass about half the size of his palm. The compass's three needles were pointing steadily due north. He'd had the compass out since they entered the neighborhood, and it hadn't budged the whole walk.

If any ghosts or spirits were causing trouble, the yin energy around them would spike, and the compass needle would get thrown off, pointing toward wherever the yin energy was thickest.

"Guess we'll have to knock and see what's up," Yan He said.

He motioned for the other three to back up, put away his compass, and stepped up to the door, knocking with a "thud thud thud."

Someone answered from inside almost right away. The door creaked open a crack, and a middle-aged woman poked her head out, looking Yan He and the others up and down: "Who are you looking for?"

Yan He put on a smile, doing his best to look friendly: "Excuse me, is this He Jiaqi's place? We're her classmates. She hasn't been to school in a while, and we were worried, so we came by to check on her and see if there's anything we can do."

"Oh, you're her classmates."

The middle-aged woman kept a straight face and called back: "Old He, it's Jiaqi's classmates, here to see her."

After yelling that, she turned back and said, "She's fine. It's her little brother who's sick. Her dad and I can't handle everything, so we let her take time off from school."

Just then, a middle-aged man with a broad, square face poked his head out from behind the woman—probably He Jiaqi's dad—and waved his hand, speaking in a thick regional accent: "She's in the room watching her brother. She doesn't have time. Don't worry, just head on back."

With that, he started to close the door.

Having come all this way without even seeing the person they came for, they obviously weren't about to leave that easily.

Xu Muchan reacted fast, sticking his hand out to stop the door: "Uncle, Auntie, hold on a sec."

"What else?" He's dad was clearly getting impatient.

Xu Muchan said, "He Jiaqi hasn't been to school for a week. She asked me earlier to bring her homework and notes. Could you call her out real quick? I want to hand them to her."

Xu Muchan had a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and it happened to have today's homework and test papers in it, so he wouldn't get caught even if she came out.

Old He frowned, gave him a once-over, and reluctantly gave in. He opened the door all the way and said to his wife, "Go call her out."

With the door wide open, you could see almost the whole place.

The Xu family's apartment looked small—the living room connected to the dining area was only about thirty square meters, with a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout. To the left of the entrance, going in, were the kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom, and past that was the living-dining area and balcony. The other bedroom was to the right of the entrance, door shut, so you couldn't see inside.

He Jiaqi was probably in the back bedroom. Xu Muchan watched as her mom pushed the door open and went in.

A moment later, He Jiaqi came out.

She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and black school uniform pants, looking a bit worn out. At first glance, nothing seemed off about her.

It wasn't until she walked up to Xu Muchan and asked, "So where's the homework and notes?"

At that, aside from Yan He, the other three all had their expressions shift. He Jiaqi had never asked Xu Muchan to bring her any homework or notes—after all, Xu Muchan used to be blind, and even now that he could barely see, he relied mostly on voice input for taking notes and doing homework. In fact, the teacher had even given him a special pass on turning in homework.

This was clearly an excuse he'd just made up on the spot.

Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao quietly sucked in a breath, pressing themselves against the hallway wall like they were trying to merge with it.

Xu Muchan, though, stayed perfectly calm, not a trace of anything off on his face. He pulled his notebook and test papers out of his messenger bag and handed them to her: "Here, it's all in here."

He Jiaqi took them without flipping through, said thanks, and turned to head back to her room.

But Xu Muchan called out to stop her.

"Wait, I just remembered—that math problem we talked about before, I never figured it out. Didn't you say you knew how to do it? Mind explaining it to me while you're at it?"

Xu Muchan pulled out his phone, opened up the practice problems saved on it, and brought up a big math question he'd worked on that afternoon, holding it out for He Jiaqi to see.

He Jiaqi, who'd already turned to the side, turned back around and stared at Xu Muchan's phone.

The faint glow of the phone screen cast a pale, ghostly light on her face. She stayed frozen like that, staring at the screen without moving for a full five minutes.

Anyone could tell something was off. Yan He's hand had already started quietly reaching for his Coin Sword, while Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang behind him went pale, starting to glance around and plan their escape routes.

Xu Muchan asked her, "You know how to solve it?"

He Jiaqi looked up, her face slowly twisting into something fierce and distorted, her skin taking on an unnatural, deathly pale color.

"Not good—fall back!"

Yan He grabbed his Coin Sword, shoved Xu Muchan back with one hand, and stepped forward, sword raised: "You guys go first!"

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang turned and bolted, sprinting out at full speed.

Xu Muchan was a step slower and glanced back one last time, just in time to see He Jiaqi's mouth split open all the way to her ears as she lunged forward and bit down on Yan He's Coin Sword.

Yan He held the sword out horizontally with one hand, facing her off, while his other hand fumbled in his bag for talismans...

Xu Muchan didn't look any more and turned to chase after Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang.

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang ran another dozen or so meters after getting out of Building 9 before stopping, standing on their tiptoes and peering back at the building from a distance. When they saw Xu Muchan approaching, they quickly asked, "Did Taoist Master Yan He make it out yet?"

Xu Muchan shook his head: "When I left, he was in the middle of fighting He Jiaqi."

"Do we wait here, or should we head out first?" Even though this was his second time going through something this bizarre, Wen Dajiang's legs still felt like jelly.

Wei Yao said, "Why don't we wait at the neighborhood gate? If we stay here and Taoist Master Yan can't hold out and ends up bringing He Jiaqi out with him, what do we do? Better not be dead weight here."

Wen Dajiang thought that made sense, and the two grabbed Xu Muchan to head out first.

But Xu Muchan stood his ground, his expression turning serious: "Haven't you guys noticed?"

The two stopped and stared at him blankly: "Notice what?"

Xu Muchan met their four innocent eyes, paused for a moment, then walked toward the building behind them and pointed for Wei Yao to look: "Check what building number's on this one."

It was already dark, and the neighborhood's lighting wasn't great. With Xu Muchan's eyesight, he couldn't make it out at all.

Wei Yao squinted hard to see: "Holy crap!"

"Why's it say Building 9?"

He looked back, sure he'd just run out of the building across from them. So why was this one in front of him also Building 9?

Xu Muchan said, "When we entered Building 9 earlier, I noticed a few small ads stuck on the entry door. Their positions and colors are exactly the same as the ones on this door."

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang were both stunned.

"So what does this mean? Does this place have two Building 9s?" Wen Dajiang's legs had already started trembling. He slapped his thigh hard, willing his traitorous legs to stop shaking.

Wei Yao clung to a faint hope and said, "Maybe Building 9 has two entrances?"

Xu Muchan made the call: "Let's go in and check. He Jiaqi's door had those ads too—we'll know once we take a look."

Wei Yao turned back with a pale face and said, "Why don't we wait until Taoist Master Yan comes out before going in?"

He was genuinely terrified that once they went in, Xu Muchan would say again, "This is He Jiaqi's home," and he'd literally piss himself in fear.

Seeing that they weren't moving, Xu Muchan headed for the entry door on his own.

Once inside, he went straight down the hallway and turned right—there was 101.

Xu Muchan looked at the ads on the entry door and frowned. Sure enough, they were in exactly the same positions as the ads on He Jiaqi's door.

By then, Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao had finally worked up the courage to come in, and Yan He caught up too, out of breath as he asked, "What's going on?"

Xu Muchan gestured for him to look at the door, his eyes casually sweeping over the other apartments deeper in the corridor. He stopped short and said to the others, "Take a look at those other rooms over there—what are their apartment numbers?"

Wen Dajiang stomped his foot to turn on the motion-sensor light. The moment it flickered on, he let out a sharp yelp.

Wei Yao followed his gaze and felt his scalp tighten: "Damn, they're all 101."

This building had two elevators and four units per floor, with all four units lined up along the left side of the corridor, while the right side had the elevators and the fire escape.

At that moment, the blue number plates hanging above all four doors were identical: 101.

Xu Muchan's guess was confirmed. He let out a slow breath and looked at Yan He: "I think we've already entered a ghost realm."

Obviously, something like this wouldn't happen in the real world.

"I'm afraid this entire complex only has Building 9, and Building 9 only has one apartment—101."

Yan He pulled out his compass with a grave expression. At some point, the three needles on it had begun spinning wildly, jerking left and right with no rhyme or reason.

Wei Yao peeked at it and thought, that compass looks so impressive, yet it seems utterly unreliable.

"So what now?" Wei Yao asked.

"Why don't we go out and take another lap around? Maybe only this building has the problem," Wen Dajiang said, still unwilling to give up.

Yan He said, "This compass can detect yin energy and luck. The three needles spinning chaotically mean we're not just inside a ghost realm—it's an extremely dangerous one, dangerous enough to throw off my compass."

This compass was the latest model he'd bought for a hefty price!

"That female ghost is no pushover. I used two Five Thunder Talismans and barely managed to force her back. I can't handle her by myself. We should avoid running into her again. Let's head outside and see if we can find another way out, and try not to linger inside."

After all, who knows if some door might suddenly swing open and a female ghost would come crawling out.

Yan He's words made sense, and Xu Muchan didn't argue. The four of them walked out, two in front, two in back.

However, as they stepped out of the building, a faint "rustling" sound suddenly started not far away.

"What was that?"

All four of them heard it and looked around, scanning for the source. But the complex was too dark—anything beyond five steps was impossible to see.

Xu Muchan cocked his ear, listening for a moment, then suddenly said, "Everyone, get back! Run upstairs!"

With that, he turned and sprinted back inside toward the stairwell.

Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao hadn't figured out what was happening, but seeing him run, they followed on instinct, asking as they ran, "What's wrong? Why are we running all of a sudden?"

His voice was too loud, echoing down the hallway.

Yan He, at the back, clamped a hand over his mouth and whispered, "Quiet—they're coming."

Xu Muchan slowed down only after climbing about five or six floors. The "rustling" below hadn't stopped and was getting closer, but if you listened carefully, you'd hear the same sound from above too. Because it was farther away, it was covered up by the noise from below.

Xu Muchan stopped abruptly, blocking the others, and said to Yan He in a hushed whisper, "There's some up there too."

Yan He's ears weren't as sharp as his, but when he'd been the last one in, he'd glanced back and seen the grass outside crawling with a dense swarm of small children.

Those children looked about two or three years old, with pale, bluish skin, skinny bodies, and limbs moving on all fours like animals. The "rustling" sound was the sound of them crawling.

"We have no choice but to take a gamble and knock on a door to get inside," Yan He said through gritted teeth.

Xu Muchan had the same idea. Without a second thought, he raised his hand and knocked.

The "thump, thump, thump" of the knocking echoed through the corridor, mixing with the "rustling" from above and below, getting creepier and creepier.

But the door remained shut, while the "rustling" from both overhead and underfoot grew closer and louder, sending their heart rates spiking.

Wei Yao finally couldn't take it anymore. Working up his nerve, he walked to the stairwell and peered down.

The moment the motion-sensor light flickered on, he saw the stairs on the floor below packed with small children.

They were naked, piled on top of each other, swarming upward like a swarm of ants, even crawling along the walls.

Wei Yao's scream caught in his throat. He only stopped himself from collapsing to the floor by gripping the wall with one hand. He closed his eyes, forced himself to breathe steadily, and turned back trembling. But something suddenly fell from the stairs above, landing with a "thud" right in front of him.

It was one of the kids.

Its body was already twisted and broken from the fall, but its bulging black eyes were still fixed dead on Wei Yao, and its black hole of a mouth curved into a smile, as if it were laughing.

Wei Yao felt his neck go rigid, his body no longer obeying him. His chin slowly lifted, and he saw the stair railing above packed with countless children. Their pale, bluish faces were stacked together, all staring down at once.

Row after row of gaping black mouths, like some kind of void, sucking the soul right out of him.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

A nonstop series of sounds followed. The kids above had spotted Wei Yao and were leaping down one after another, scrambling to get to him.

"What are you doing, Wei Yao? The door's open—get in here!"

After Xu Muchan's nonstop pounding, the door to 101 finally swung open. Wen Dajiang was about to step inside when he noticed Wei Yao plastered against the stairwell wall, zoning out.

He didn't hesitate. In one move, he rushed over, grabbed Wei Yao by the back of the collar, and dragged him through the door.

Yan He, on guard, slammed the door shut with a "bang."

Wei Yao collapsed onto the floor, soaked in cold sweat, and said in a weak voice, "Outside... it's full of kids out there... crawling like bugs..."

Just hearing that made Wen Dajiang's skin crawl. He sat down beside Wei Yao, exhausted, and looked up to see the He couple standing grimly in the entryway, both of them staring dead at them.

"......"

Both sides fell into a strange silence for a moment, then Mother He spoke in a sinister tone: "Who are you looking for?"

Xu Muchan said, "We're classmates of He Jiaqi. She hasn't been to school for days, and we're worried about her, so we came to see if there's anything we can help with."

Mother He's gaze was fixed: "She's fine. Her brother is sick, and she's at home taking care of him."

Xu Muchan let out an "Oh," as if he hadn't noticed the murderous looks on the couple's faces, and continued, "Since we're already here, can we go see her?"

Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao were so scared they frantically tugged at his pant legs from behind.

Damn, He Jiaqi had already turned into a female ghost, and now they were going to see her? That was practically walking straight into a death trap.

Mother He stared at them for a few more seconds, then stiffly turned around, her arm extended stiffly, pointing toward a room deeper inside and saying, "She's in her room. You can go in."

"Thanks."

Xu Muchan looked back at his two terrified buddies still sitting on the floor: "Let's go see He Jiaqi."

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang were scared to death, but seeing that Yan He had no objections either, they could only prop each other up and shuffle after Xu Muchan.

Yan He brought up the rear. He glanced back and saw Mother He still standing with her arm stretched out pointing at the bedroom, while Father He stood silently behind her. Both of them stared at the group, all four eyes unblinking.

Xu Muchan didn't knock; he pushed the door open and walked straight in.

The room wasn't big, just over ten square meters. As soon as they entered, they could see He Jiaqi sitting at the desk with her back to the door, head bowed, motionless, staring at something unknown.

After all four entered, Yan He gently closed the door, shutting out the prying eyes outside.

Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang pressed against the door, not daring to move. Yan He had intended to go check on her himself, but Xu Muchan beat him to it, so he could only stay alert, clutching the Coin Sword in his backpack, just in case.

Xu Muchan walked up to the desk.

He Jiaqi showed no reaction. She sat upright in the chair, head lowered, with a test paper in front of her and a pen in her hand, as if she were writing on the paper.

Xu Muchan vaguely felt the test paper looked familiar. He squinted to look more carefully and realized it was the one he had just given her.

It was a math test.

He squinted harder and realized that He Jiaqi wasn't actually writing on the paper at all—she was marking red X's on it, stroke by stroke.

She drew them small but pressed down hard, and the paper was covered edge to edge in red X's.

Good thing Xu Muchan's eyesight was so bad it took him a while to make it out. If it had been Wei Yao or Wen Dajiang, they'd have screamed like startled chickens at the sudden sight.

Xu Muchan thought for a moment, then asked softly, "He Jiaqi, what are you doing?"

He Jiaqi didn't look up, and her hand holding the pen didn't stop either. She said in a hollow voice, "Doing homework. The homework is so hard. I can't do it."

"......"

Seeing she was stuck on the math problem, Xu Muchan thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I got it wrong earlier. You already showed me how to do that problem. Here, this is the answer."

He pulled out scratch paper and a pen from his shoulder bag, quickly jotted down the problem, then wrote out the steps and the answer.

Since he couldn't see well, his writing was huge—one problem nearly filled the whole A4 sheet.

He Jiaqi finally stopped moving. She tossed the pen aside, grabbed the scratch paper, and studied it from every angle, then finally broke into a grin: "Oh, so that's how it's done."

She tucked the paper away, glanced at Xu Muchan, then turned to the three by the door, like she was seeing them for the first time. "How'd you guys end up at my place?"

Xu Muchan said, "You've been out of school for days. We got worried, so we came to check on you."

"I see."

He Jiaqi nodded, her face clouding over: "I'm fine, actually. It's my brother who's sick. He hasn't gotten any better, and my grandma's superstitious. She went around praying to every god and Buddha, and I don't know what she fed him, but in the end, my brother turned into a monster and ate her up. My parents are terrified and won't leave the house, all paranoid, so I can't go to school either."

When she said her brother turned into a monster and ate her grandma, there wasn't a hint of sadness—just pure annoyance at being stuck inside.

Wen Dajiang was totally floored.

Wei Yao, remembering the swarm of ghost kids in the stairwell, worked up the nerve to ask, "Your brother... how old is he?"

He Jiaqi frowned and said, "A little past two, I think. But he's been sick for ages, so skinny he's just skin and bones, looks like a baby." Then she switched topics and said with a grin, "Didn't you see him in the hallway on your way in? He's crawling around out there. My parents are so scared they won't even step outside."

Wei Yao said weakly, "You've only got one brother, right? But the hallway's packed with..."

He Jiaqi gave him a "are you stupid" look: "Didn't I just say that? He turned into a monster."

Yan He cut in, "Your brother's been chasing us the whole time, and now we're stuck and can't get out. Mind if we crash here for a bit?"

He Jiaqi seemed chill about it: "You can stay if you want. But my folks haven't left the house in days, and we're running low on food. You guys bring anything to eat?"

As she talked, her eyes kept darting back and forth over the four of them.

Xu Muchan shook his head: "We came straight from school. Didn't bring a thing."

At the news of no food, He Jiaqi's smile dropped. After a pause, she said, "Well, if there's nothing, then never mind."

That's what she said, but her eyes stayed glued to them, lingering, not wanting to look away.

Just as the room's atmosphere was getting more and more tense, a knock came at the door, and Mother He's voice floated in: "Time to eat."

The second food came up, He Jiaqi's face changed, and she hopped up and hurried out.

Wen Dajiang and Wei Yao, slumped by the door, didn't have time to scramble out of the way before she just stepped right over them.

The two of them: "......"

They hauled themselves up, and Wei Yao peeked out: "Should we go check it out?"

Xu Muchan nodded, and they all headed for the living room.

The He family's dining table sat next to the sofa. On the little square table were plates piled with bloody meat of unknown origin. The three He family members sat around the table, heads down, eating without looking up.

It wasn't until they got close that He Jiaqi looked up from her bowl, face dark, and said, "You guys want some too?"

Xu Muchan shook his head: "Go ahead. We already ate at school."

Hearing he didn't want any, He Jiaqi's face lit right back up, and she dove back into her bowl, eating with gusto.