chapter 4
When Cheng Miao went outside, she found Er Gou holding an old-fashioned radio he had dug up from somewhere.
Somehow, even after all this time, it could still pick up music.
Cheng Miao took the radio and tried several stations. All the others produced nothing but static.
This station kept playing a mournful song hummed by a woman. It offered no information whatsoever, only terror.
For peace of mind, Cheng Miao simply removed the batteries.
She could not afford any more delays. Cheng Miao had planned to take the NPCs upstairs with her. Whether or not they served as triggers, there was courage in numbers.
Unfortunately, the skeletons had badly frightened the children, and the song on the radio had rattled them all over again.
All their grand ambitions of punishing evil, upholding justice, and investigating the missing children had evaporated. When they realized Cheng Miao still meant to go upstairs, they shook their heads furiously and insisted on going home.
The moment Cheng Miao looked away, they shot outside.
She chased them into the courtyard, only to discover that the gate, which had been standing wide open, had somehow shut tight…
It was as if an invisible hand had closed the iron gate. It was plainly unlocked, yet the three children strained until their faces turned red and still could not push it open.
Cheng Miao tried as well. It did not budge in the slightest. Apparently, until the Game ended, not even the NPCs could leave.
When the children looked ready to cry again, Cheng Miao developed a headache. It took a mixture of coaxing and threats to quiet them down.
Only after she promised that she would definitely get them out did they crowd around her like chicks huddling beneath their mother hen.
Cheng Miao fell silent. This really isn’t necessary.
While she was consoling the children, a sound arose in the courtyard, which until now had been as still and silent as an old photograph. It seemed to have suddenly come alive.
Swish… swish… swish…
With her back to the courtyard, Cheng Miao felt every hair on her body stand upright. The sound behind her was…
A child jumping rope!
The rope hissed through the air, small feet landed with dull thumps, and beneath it all came the barely audible giggle of a little girl.
Cold sweat soaked Cheng Miao’s back. Internally, she cursed the fact that this really was a supernatural instance. Outwardly solemn, she turned her head to look.
There was nothing behind her…
The instant she turned, even the mysterious sounds vanished. All that remained were several marks scored through the rotten leaves on the ground.
Cheng Miao’s heart sank. They had been made by a jump rope scraping across the earth.
“Sister Miaomiao… what’s wrong?” Seeing Cheng Miao braced as if she were facing a mortal enemy, Hu Zi peered curiously behind her.
“None of you heard anything?” Cheng Miao raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Heard what…? Waaah, don’t scare us!” Er Gou looked ready to cry again. Helplessly, Cheng Miao told him she must have misheard. Only then did His Highness settle down.
Either the danger in this instance targeted players alone, or it had not yet grown severe enough for NPCs to perceive. Whichever it was, neither possibility favored Cheng Miao.
Now that escape was impossible, the children had no choice but to stay, no matter how unwilling they were.
Yet no amount of coaxing could persuade them to go upstairs. They declared that they would wait for Cheng Miao in the clinic.
Do none of you think the clinic is even scarier?
After exhausting every argument to no avail, Cheng Miao realized this might be required by the plot. From here on, the player would have to proceed alone.
As she climbed the gloomy stairwell, Cheng Miao considered the girl named Liu Xue. Sure enough, Liu Xue was probably the key. She was the only child in the photographs holding a jump rope, so Cheng Miao would need to focus on Apartment 402.
Both security doors on the third floor were locked tight, while an iron gate blocked everything above the fourth. The clues should be confined to the second and fourth floors.
It really was beginner-level difficulty. The Game might as well have laid every clue-bearing location out in the open for the player to search.
Given Liu Xue’s importance, Cheng Miao opened the door to Apartment 402 first.
It was a warm, carefully kept home. Though the furniture was old, every piece had been covered to protect it. A vase stood on the coffee table, holding several flowers that had rotted beyond recognition.
The walls were covered with a child’s crafts. Most of the drawings depicted the same family of three: a man and a woman with a little girl between them, her hair in twin ponytails, a jump rope in her hand, and a red dress on her body.
Beside the withered flowers on the dining table sat a photograph of Liu Xue’s parents holding her happily.
At last, Cheng Miao could see Liu Xue’s face clearly. She was indeed a lovely little girl. She held two fingers up like bunny ears and grinned at the camera.
In Liu Xue’s small bedroom, Cheng Miao found the most useful clue so far: a diary.
After making sure she had overlooked nothing else, Cheng Miao sat on the couch and began to read.
“April 8: Brother Qiqi downstairs went missing. His mommy and daddy are very worried and cried for a long time. I hope Brother Qiqi comes bak soon.”
“June 14: Brother Qiqi’s mommy and daddy called Aunt Li a kidnapper. Aunt Li was very sad, so I gave her a piece of candy.”
“July 2: Some uncles took Aunt Li away. I don’t know when she’ll come back.”
“July 30: Aunt Li came back.”
“August 15: Sister Wenwen went missing too.”
“September 4: Mommy and Daddy said Aunt Li is an old maid and old maids are bad people. They won’t let me play with Aunt Li anymore. I’m not happy.”
“October 23: My tummy herts today. Daddy took me to Brother Xu for medicine. Brother Xu gave me some and said I was pretty.”
“January 22: Brother Xu gave me candy again. I like him.”
“March 9: Today’s my birthday. Mommy bought me a red dres. I like it a lot. Mommy and Daddy went to work. Aunt Li asked me to play with her, but I promised to visit Brother Xu first.”
The diary ended there. Cheng Miao gazed at the crooked handwriting and fell into thought. Apparently, the other key figure was Aunt Li in Apartment 401.
Back then, the residents of Minsheng Lane had already suspected Aunt Li of being connected to the children’s disappearances. The men Liu Xue saw taking her away on July 2 were probably police officers. Since Aunt Li later returned, either she was not the culprit or there had not been enough evidence to hold her.
Cheng Miao took the diary with her. She was about to investigate Apartment 401 when a faint rustling came from the bedroom, which had been empty moments ago.
“Xue’er… where are you?”
A woman sobbed in utter despair. A man sighed heavily and paced back and forth, the sounds echoing through the sparsely furnished room.
Clutching the diary, Cheng Miao crept to the bedroom door and poked her head inside.
The room, dusty only moments before, now looked as it had when people still lived there.
A haggard, careworn woman sat beside the bed, hugging a stuffed doll and weeping her heart out. A graying man sat beside her, trying softly to comfort her.
After a while, the woman picked up a stack of missing-person notices and tried to leave. The man stopped her, and a furious argument broke out. It ended when the woman slammed the bedroom door.
Watching the man cover his face and cry, Cheng Miao felt more sympathy than fear. “Hello…”
He did not react. Cheng Miao stepped a little closer and tried again. “Did any strangers appear nearby before Liu Xue disappeared?”
Strangely, the man continued sobbing as though he could not hear her.
Cheng Miao narrowed her eyes and reached toward him.