Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Qiao Yu fell silent as he reached the entrance of the small shop. He raised his hand to close the Live Stream Room and peered inside.
The Landlord Uncle was still dressed in that set of worn-out loungewear, reclining in the lounge chair behind the counter. The old chair creaked as if it were on its last legs, gasping for breath. The Landlord’s eyes were closed as if he had fallen asleep.
Qiao Yu stepped inside quietly. The swaying sound of the lounge chair came to an abrupt halt, and the Landlord’s tightly shut eyes snapped open.
Qiao Yu jumped. He could have sworn he hadn’t made a sound.
“Oh, it’s you,” the Landlord said. A smile spread across his expressionless face-a tight-lipped, kindly smile that instantly dissolved the eerie atmosphere.
Qiao Yu’s tense nerves relaxed, and he nodded with a smile. “You weren’t asleep, Uncle?”
“Asleep?” The Landlord leaned back into the chair, his heavy eyelids drooping as he spoke slowly. “I can’t sleep…”
“True, it’s still morning.” Qiao Yu placed the bottle opener on the counter and said apologetically, “Sorry about that. You weren’t here when I came down yesterday, so I borrowed your bottle opener. Thanks for the help, Uncle.”
“It’s fine. Use it whenever you need to.” The Landlord Uncle waved his hand dismissively while rocking in his chair.
Qiao Yu thanked him and turned to leave, but he immediately caught sight of Hou Yuanyuan peeking in from outside the shop door.
The girl was so small she wasn’t even as tall as the doorknob.
Qiao Yu stood where he was and waved at Hou Yuanyuan. The little girl blinked, and when she smiled, she revealed a comical black gap where two front teeth were missing.
“You’re all going to die! You’re all going to die!”
She stared at Qiao Yu without blinking, her mouth full of curses. It was a complete reversal of her well-behaved, silent demeanor from yesterday, as if something had triggered her.
Qiao Yu paused for a moment, then chuckled. “Whoa, Little Face. You’ve got two different masks, don’t you?”
Hou Yuanyuan: “…”
Qiao Yu watched the little girl’s back as she ran away in a huff, feeling quite perplexed.
Why did she run? He didn’t think he’d offended the child, did he?
“Don’t mind her. That child is incredibly mischievous. Seven or eight years old is exactly the age when they’re most annoying.”
Qiao Yu turned to look at the Landlord Uncle, only to see him still leaning back calmly in the lounge chair, eyes closed peacefully.
Fine, everyone in this apartment was eccentric; he had already mentally prepared himself for that.
Qiao Yu turned and left. When he reached the fourth floor, he ran into Brother Crocodile, who had dark circles under his eyes. Qiao Yu was stunned. “Did you run into a fox spirit last night? Why do you look so drained?”
Man-Eating Crocodile looked utterly listless. “Spirits aren’t allowed to manifest after the founding of the PRC, thanks.”
Qiao Yu clicked his tongue. “Well, that’s something. At least you didn’t say ghosts aren’t allowed to manifest. Socialism really is great.”
“Whose side are you on, exactly?” Brother Crocodile leaned in closer to Qiao Yu, his face practically screaming his displeasure.
Qiao Yu blinked guiltily, his long eyelashes casting silhouettes in the sunlight. His skin was so pale he seemed to glow.
Man-Eating Crocodile froze. His heavy, tired eyelids were forced wide open. Before Qiao Yu could explain, he blurted out, “Damn, how do you maintain your skin? You don’t even have visible pores!”
Qiao Yu instinctively raised a hand to touch his cheek and began talking nonsense with a straight face. “We gay guys are very meticulous about our appearance, okay?”
This face was at least fifty percent similar to his original one. Even Qiao Yu himself often forgot that he was someone who had already died once.
Furthermore, he knew absolutely nothing about the original owner’s past. Who knew if the person was born with it or if it was the result of skincare?
Man-Eating Crocodile stared blankly at Qiao Yu. He hadn’t expected the guy to just casually come out to him like that. For a moment, he was speechless.
After a long while, he let out a couple of awkward laughs. “That’s good, that’s good.”
“What’s good about it?”
Is it better to be high-maintenance or to be gay??
Brother Crocodile: “…”
-Streamer, that guy is way gayer than you.
-Who says he isn’t?
-It’s really hard to tell if people are straight or gay these days. Some people look super gay but are actually straight as a rail; others look tall and athletic but are as bent as a coil of incense. Oh, right, I heard that gay people have a sort of magnetic field where they can tell if someone else is one of them at a single glance. I wonder if that’s true…
-It’s true. Don’t ask me how I know…
-Upstairs… respect!
-So is the streamer a top or a bottom?
-Usually you can tell, but I really can’t tell with this streamer. His personality is like a top, but that face really doesn’t look the part.
-Whatever, who cares if he’s a top or a bottom. Since I can’t have them anyway, it’s better if they all just turn gay~
-What’s wrong with everyone? Both streamers just found out the guy in Room 4009 is dead, and you guys actually have the heart to discuss whether they’re straight or gay, top or bottom? Have you all gone mad??
Bringing the topic back to reality, just as Brother Crocodile was at a loss for words to break the awkward silence, Qiao Yu frowned and sniffed the air. “Do you smell something fishy?”
“What smell?” Man-Eating Crocodile hadn’t slept well all night. His brain was sluggish as he let out a yawn and followed behind Qiao Yu toward the end of the hallway.
The metallic, fishy scent was strongest at the very end of the corridor, right at the door of Room 4009. As if to welcome the first person to discover it, a pool of fresh blood seeped out from under the door crack just as Qiao Yu arrived.
“Ah-” Brother Crocodile was naturally timid. He immediately ducked behind Qiao Yu, tightly clutching the corner of the other man’s shirt.
“Shh!” Qiao Yu turned his head and gave him a warning glare.
Brother Crocodile quickly covered his mouth. He watched as Qiao Yu bent down to pick up a thin piece of wire from the corner.
Then, he witnessed the entire process of the other man sticking the wire into the keyhole and performing a series of extremely skillful lock-picking maneuvers.
In his shock, he even temporarily forgot about the pool of blood on the floor. With a hint of respectful inquiry in his daze, he asked, “May I ask what your previous profession was?”
Qiao Yu tossed the wire onto the floor and walked into Room 4009, saying, “Grave robbing, I guess?”
He had just crawled out of a grave and even made off with the ID card and several hundred yuan from the guy’s pocket, so it was close enough.
“No wonder you’re so brave…” After Brother Crocodile finished speaking, he hesitated for a moment before summoning the courage to offer some advice. “That’s illegal. It’s not good. You’d be better off finding a proper job.”
Qiao Yu felt that this kid was truly, painfully earnest. Holding back a laugh, he said, “Don’t worry, I’ve already washed my hands of that life.”
“That’s good, that’s good… Eh? Don’t walk so fast, I’m scared~”
Being mindful of the silly kid behind him, Qiao Yu deliberately slowed his pace. He stepped forward and pulled open the curtains that were blocking the light.
The piercing sunlight from outside instantly dispelled the darkness in the room. Qiao Yu immediately spotted a trail of bloody footprints on the floor, which he followed toward the bathroom.
Brother Crocodile remembered to keep his mouth shut tight, following behind Qiao Yu like a little tail, clearly treating the other man as his protective talisman.
Qiao Yu placed his hand on the doorknob. That cold, slimy sensation hit him again. He slowly turned his palm over and found the same blood on the handle. It seemed the streamer living in Room 4009 had likely met a grim end.
Qiao Yu pressed down on the handle again. With a crisp click, the empty bathroom was revealed to them.
On the lustrous white tiled floor, a familiar and eerie pattern was drawn-the exact same one he had seen in the Basement!