Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Time ticked away steadily until it reached midnight. In the silent corridor, a familiar nursery rhyme began to play.
“Weave, weave, weave a flower basket, weave a flower basket to take to South Mountain. South Mountain is covered in blooming red peonies…”
Qiao Yu opened his eyes groggily. Perhaps because he had already heard it once in the Basement, he wasn’t immediately jolted awake by the eerie nursery rhyme. Instead, he hummed along for a couple of lines before closing his eyes and drifting back into a deep sleep.
“Weave, weave, weave a funeral wreath, weave a funeral wreath to take to the Western Paradise. The Western Paradise is covered in blooming white peonies…”
Hearing the desolate, terrifying nursery rhyme in his ear, Man-Eating Crocodile let out a whimper and covered his ears, burying his head like an ostrich in the sand.
In the pitch-black room, the human skin sofa lay quietly on the floor. Dark red blood seeped from it, emitting a heavy, foul stench.
Man-Eating Crocodile was curled up entirely under his blanket and didn’t see this scene. The ceiling fan whirred incessantly, dispersing the pungent smell in the air. As if it were alive, the human skin sofa rubbed against the floor twice in frustration.
The thin, small boy with his ears plugged heard nothing. Before long, silence returned to the room.
Wulong Tea lived in Room 4002. Aside from the room being somewhat cold and clammy, nothing strange had happened.
However, as someone who had survived four Instances, Wulong Tea knew that passive hiding was useless except for delaying one’s death by a day or two. Thus, he wasn’t sleeping. Instead, he pressed himself tensely against the cold security door, observing the dark corridor through the peephole. In his hand, he clutched a Jade Guanyin that emitted a soft, gentle glow.
Suddenly, Wulong Tea’s steady breathing hitched. Cold sweat instantly broke out on the back of his neck.
He saw that the dark corridor was somehow filled with ‘people.’ He gasped, his sharp intake of breath sounding particularly jarring in the silent apartment.
Crap!
Wulong Tea’s heart skipped a beat. When he looked again, he saw the swaying figures in the corridor pause. Then, everyone turned their heads in unison, staring toward Room 4002 where he was located.
What should he do?
He swallowed hard and, with a split-second decision, pressed the Jade Guanyin against the peephole.
Almost instantly, a pair of numb, eerie black pupils pressed against the other side of the peephole. In the next second, a scream pierced the darkness, and the shadows outside the door receded from Room 4002 like a ebbing tide.
It was a long time before Wulong Tea dared to hang the Jade Guanyin back around his neck. He closed the peephole cover and returned to his bed in silence, not daring to peer outside again.
The night passed in a state of both calm and unease.
It wasn’t until the hour hand sluggishly passed the number seven that the streamers who had struggled to survive in the apartment finally dared to relax and fall into a deep sleep.
In contrast, Qiao Yu, driven by the biological clock he had while he was alive, opened his eyes promptly at seven o’clock.
Sunlight passed through the thin window, spilling warmth across the bed, yet it could not warm the youth’s exceptionally pale hands. His knuckles were thin, though they felt soft to the touch.
The phone that had been playing Journey to the West all night had surprisingly only consumed one bar of battery. Qiao Yu turned off the old-fashioned phone with peace of mind and stretched comfortably.
After getting up, he opened the window and took a deep breath.
Sigh, it feels so good to be alive~
After his lament, Qiao Yu patted his hungry stomach, planning to head out for food. Once he was dressed, he casually grabbed a tissue from the bedside table and tossed it out the window.
In the next second, the tissue was sliced apart as if by countless white silk threads, instantly disintegrating into fine powder.
Qiao Yu: “…”
Forget it, he might as well just go down to the first floor and buy a pack of instant noodles to make.
Qiao Yu quickly shut the window, his mood souring along with the view.
Just then, another scream from Li Xiaoqin echoed from outside. Hearing the sound, Qiao Yu pulled open his door. Unexpectedly, what he saw wasn’t a scene of Li Xiaoqin being beaten.
On the contrary, Li Xiaoqin was wearing her favorite red dress and had even applied light makeup, which made her features look even more beautiful.
Fresh vegetables were scattered all over the hallway floor, while Li Xiaoqin herself looked panicked-or perhaps terrified was a better word.
“What are you screaming about so early in the morning? Looking for death?”
Li Xiaoqin’s husband stood at the doorway of Room 4004, his exhausted face showing a hint of impatience.
“What are you standing there for? You’re back this late, are you trying to starve me to death? You have half an hour to get the food ready, or I’ll beat you to death!”
The door slammed shut with a bang, but Li Xiaoqin remained standing where she was, unmoving.
Qiao Yu couldn’t quite describe the expression on her face; it was complex, and she looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.
“Can you even finish all those groceries?” Qiao Yu squeezed through the crack of his door and gave an awkward laugh.
Li Xiaoqin slowly turned her head, her eyes instantly welling up with tears.
Qiao Yu was most afraid of women crying. He immediately took a step back, pressing his back against his door, and explained in a panic, “Uh… I didn’t mean anything by it. How about I buy some from you? I’m too lazy to go out and shop myself. Of course, if your family doesn’t have enough to eat, just pretend I didn’t say anything.”
Li Xiaoqin looked away and raised a hand to rub her face. Her delicate makeup was smeared into a mess, and the smudged lipstick looked like a trail of blood winding across her pale cheek, brutally ruining her fragile, southern-belle beauty.
“Forget it, just pretend I didn’t-”
“Take what you want. Just leave me two items. No need for money,” Li Xiaoqin said sluggishly, her voice raspy and carrying a sob.
Qiao Yu stood there and thought about it. Ultimately, his desire to avoid instant noodles won out. He crouched down, picked up a tomato and two eggs from the floor, and helped Li Xiaoqin gather the rest of the scattered fruits and vegetables.
“Thanks. Next time I go shopping, I’ll share some with you.”
Qiao Yu meant those words sincerely, provided he could actually walk out of this apartment building in one piece.
“Don’t mention it.” Li Xiaoqin reached out to take the bag of vegetables and went into her home.
Qiao Yu shrugged and headed downstairs.
He had no choice; he had to return the bottle opener to the Landlord first.
-Is this guy even human? Stealing yesterday, and now robbing his neighbor. This is too much.
-Li Xiaoqin is already so miserable, and you’re still snatching the groceries she bought!
-Exactly, this is way too much!!!
The bullet chats for other streamers were full of eerie, terrifying curses, but when it came to Qiao Yu, the style shifted completely into a collective of contrarians who were all nitpicking and criticizing him.
After all, Qiao Yu’s train of thought was a bit different. Words couldn’t scare him at all; on the contrary, personal attacks were quite effective-at least they could make Qiao Yu feel genuinely annoyed.
Yes, that was it! They just couldn’t stand how calmly Qiao Yu was clearing this Instance. Did he think this was his backyard? Who was he trying to impress with that leisurely attitude?
“I didn’t snatch them. Li Xiaoqin gave them to me, and I even said I’d share with her next time I go shopping.”
“Who’s stealing? Aren’t I going to return the bottle opener to the Landlord?”
“What’s the matter? Strict with others but lenient with yourselves? You guys are the ones who are too much!”