Chapter 132

Chapter 132

On Qin Song’s first day back at work in Mingdu, something happened that he never saw coming.

At first, everything was perfectly normal.

When he drove into the hotel’s underground parking garage that morning, the elderly gatekeeper was standing at the entrance, hale and hearty as ever.

Ahead of Qin Song was an Audi, the hotel owner’s car. As the barrier arm rose, the gatekeeper gave the boss a crisp, standard salute.

When Qin Song drove his old Buick in, the gatekeeper smiled and waved at him.

Qin Song parked, went to the locker room to change into his security uniform, then pulled out his phone for a look.

Thank the heavens – there were no messages from Unknown Number.

At noon, the cafeteria unexpectedly served pork ribs stewed with potatoes. Ribs had always been Qin Song’s favorite, and he ate two full portions.

After lunch, he checked his phone again. On the home screen were only two parenting articles Li Juan had shared with him. Still no message from Unknown Number.

Qin Song thought about it carefully. Had he blocked it yesterday?

He rummaged through his contacts and message inbox, then confirmed he hadn’t blocked it at all. It really just hadn’t sent anything else.

It was a workday, so there weren’t many guests checked in. Everyone had it easy.

That afternoon, Huahua wandered around again with a bag of Liuliu plums. Qin Song chatted with her for a while.

Huahua lowered her voice. “Guess who came back today?”

Qin Song said, “Back?”

Huahua stood on tiptoe and glanced toward the front desk, then turned back mysteriously. “That same Old Wall Lamp from last time.”

Qin Song said, “What Old Wall Lamp?”

Huahua said, “Oh, come on, the old man! Did you forget? Last time, an old guy came in with two women, and I even made up a horror story about them.”

Qin Song thought for a moment and immediately remembered. Last time, Huahua had mentioned that the room the old man stayed in just so happened to be 302.

Qin Song said, “You have a pretty good memory for gossip.”

Huahua twisted around to look for a while longer and said, “You said it yourself – it’s gossip. Tell me, who isn’t interested in gossip?”

Qin Song asked, “Did he bring women with him again this time?”

Huahua nodded vigorously. “Yep. And still two of them.”

Qin Song asked, “The same two as last time?”

Huahua thought about it. “I can’t tell. Women with heavy makeup all look about the same to me. My guess is they come from the same club. Heehee. Oh, right, he’s staying in 302 again this time!”

Qin Song said, “Focus on your work. Stop paying so much attention to nonsense.”

Huahua replied while playing on her phone, “Are there any good movies lately? I need to find a few.”

Qin Song said, “No idea.”

Huahua pouted. “I’m on the night shift today. How am I supposed to get through the long, lonely night without movies?”

Qin Song said, “What a coincidence. I’m on the night shift too. If nothing’s going on, you can come chat with me.”

Huahua said, “Me come find you, me come find you – every single time, I’m the one coming to find you… Why don’t you ever come find me?”

Qin Song laughed. “So petty.”

The two chatted a little longer, then returned to their respective posts.

Qin Song checked his phone again. Unknown Number still hadn’t texted him.

Qin Song thought that perhaps this person had finally realized how boring their behavior was and given up on this dull game.

Or perhaps, because Qin Song hadn’t replied yesterday, it couldn’t get any feedback from him and had lost the motivation to continue.

That’s right. From now on, he should handle it exactly like this. No matter what it said, he wouldn’t respond. Maybe after entertaining itself for a while, it would finally stop.

What Qin Song didn’t expect was that all energy in this world was conserved.

The text messages had suddenly disappeared, and something even more terrifying had surfaced instead.

At around midnight, Qin Song received a call from the front desk.

Two girls were on duty at the front desk. One was Huahua, and the other was surnamed Yang. The one calling was the girl surnamed Yang.

“Hello, Brother Hai?”

Xiao Yang’s voice sounded a little shaky.

Qin Song thought the phone signal was bad, so he turned up the volume. “Yeah, Xiao Yang, go ahead.”

“The guest in 302 called the front desk and asked for security to come up. I saw that you and Brother Wu are on duty tonight.”

The number 302 stabbed straight into Qin Song’s nerves.

But there was nothing he could do. Every hotel had a 302, and every guest staying in 302 had the right to use the hotel’s security services. Since Qin Song had run into it, he could only grit his teeth and handle it.

“That’s right, it’s me and Wu Lin. What does the guest need?”

As Qin Song spoke, his mind raced through what the Old Wall Lamp in 302 could possibly want. Had those two women set him up in some kind of honey trap?

Xiao Yang described the situation rapidly. “The guest said someone outside the door keeps making this shh-shh-shh sound. The first time he opened the door to look, there was nothing there, but not long after he closed it, the shh-shh sound started again. The second time, he looked out through the peephole, and he said…”

Xiao Yang seemed unable to continue.

Qin Song’s scalp prickled. He hurriedly asked, “Said what?”

Xiao Yang said, “He said… he saw a woman standing in the hallway through the peephole. She was carrying a torn bag, her hair was a mess, and there was blood on her face. The guest was terrified and immediately contacted the front desk to call security. You and Brother Wu should hurry up and take a look!”

Qin Song froze.

Wu Lin, the security guard on duty with Qin Song, patted him on the shoulder. “Wang Hai, what did the front desk say?”

Qin Song snapped back to his senses. “Oh. She said we should go check 302.”

Wu Lin asked as he walked toward the elevator, “What happened?”

Qin Song’s brain froze again. He gave Wu Lin a perfunctory answer. “Let’s talk after we get up there.”
Wu Lin gave him a baffled look and pressed the elevator button.

Qin Song’s legs were trembling. He wanted nothing more than to bolt.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the seventh night after Huang Yuanrui’s death – the first night he had spent in Mingdu. Back then, he had heard that same swish, swish, swish in the corridor, and through the peephole, he had seen Huang Yuanrui.

And that pile of dirt outside his door. He would never forget it for the rest of his life.

Now, when he had finally managed to bury it all beneath a brand-new life, that terrifying experience had clawed its way back out of the grave like the living dead.

He pinched himself hard. This wasn’t a dream. Xiao Yang at the front desk and Lao Wu from security were both here. This definitely wasn’t some hallucination, some one-man show playing out in his head.

When they reached the third floor, the two of them hurried toward 302 and knocked on the door.

The door opened a crack, and the guest squeezed his bald head into the gap.

Qin Song took one look. Sure enough, it was the old man Huahua had mentioned.

“Hello, sir. May I ask-”

The old man launched into a furious tirade in Mingdu dialect. “What the hell are you bastards doing? Is this hotel haunted or what? Do you know what I just saw?”

Qin Song froze a little. The old man was speaking too fast, and Qin Song couldn’t fully understand Mingdu dialect to begin with.

Wu Lin reacted quickly. “Sir, we guarantee that the accommodations we provide are absolutely safe. Please don’t be frightened. Tell us exactly what happened, and we’ll resolve it for you right away!”

The old man looked left and right, then opened the door a little wider. Qin Song glanced inside and saw two scantily dressed women sitting on the sofa, playing on their phones.

The old man said angrily, “I saw a woman through the peephole! Hair all over her face, blood on her face, carrying some busted sack in her hand! I kept hearing swish, swish, swish outside, and it turns out she was dragging that damn sack back and forth…”

Wu Lin responded patiently, “Sir, that lady may also be a guest here. Please don’t worry. There is no such thing as haunting in our hotel. We’ll check the surveillance footage right now and see whether any guest has been behaving uncivilly and disturbing others in the middle of the night. We’ll deal with it immediately and give you a proper explanation.”

The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I’m a regular here. You’d better make this right.”

Wu Lin nodded at once. “Of course. Absolutely.”

Qin Song had not said a word the entire time. His eyes were fixed straight on the floor.

The old man refused to let it go and turned his gaze on Qin Song. “And you. Why aren’t you saying anything? The hotel sent two security guards, but only one of you is here to solve my problem?”

As if he hadn’t heard him, Qin Song kept staring blankly at the floor.

Wu Lin gave Qin Song a shove and smiled at the old man. “Please don’t take it personally. We’ll go find out what’s going on right now. You get some rest first!”

The old man shot Qin Song a disdainful look and slammed the door shut.

Wu Lin poked Qin Song again. “Hey, Wang Hai, are you sleepwalking? The guest was talking to you. Why didn’t you answer him?”

Qin Song looked at Wu Lin in a daze. “Oh.”

Wu Lin said, “Come on. Let’s check the surveillance footage.”

Qin Song pointed at the carpet in front of the door. “I… My eyes might be playing tricks on me. What do you see on the floor?”

Wu Lin looked at the carpet, then at Qin Song, and slowly crouched down.

At that very moment, Qin Song suddenly heard a faint rustling sound from the stairwell.

His eyes snapped up, and something boomed inside his head-

Huang Yuanrui was standing quietly at the stairwell, watching him.

She was still wearing the same pajamas she had died in, and she was holding a woven sack in her hand.

Blood trickled down her forehead and dripped onto her clothes. Her face was expressionless as she stared steadily at Qin Song.

Wu Lin wiped a hand over the carpet and muttered, “What the hell? Why is there so much dirt by the door? Who did this…”

Before he could finish, Qin Song collapsed heavily in front of him.

Wu Lin cried out and reached out to support him. “Wang Hai! What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Qin Song’s face was ashen. His lips trembled, but he couldn’t force out a single word. He raised one finger and pointed shakily toward the stairwell.

Puzzled, Wu Lin turned to look at the stairwell, but Huang Yuanrui’s figure had already vanished. The stairwell was empty.

Wu Lin helped Qin Song up. “Don’t scare me. What did you see?”

Qin Song shook his head and muttered to himself, “She crawled out of the dirt… She crawled out of the dirt…”

Wu Lin had Qin Song lean against the wall, then headed toward the stairwell.

The moment Wu Lin left, Qin Song grew even more terrified. Like a child who had lost the company of an adult, he stood helplessly in the empty corridor, trembling all over.

Just then, he vaguely heard the voices of the old man and the two women coming from inside 302.

Woman A: “Baby, are you okay? You were so scared you’re covered in sweat!”

This woman’s voice was very sweet.

Woman B: “Look how frightened you are. Here, drink some water and rest for a bit.”

This woman’s voice was slightly husky, with a bit of a northern accent.

The old man: “Forget the water. I need a smoke to calm down.”

Woman A: “Here, use this ashtray I gave you.”

Woman B: “All right, I’ll get your cigarettes for you.”

Qin Song heard the old man click the lighter and light a cigarette.

Woman B: “Baby, if you stay out all night with me like this, won’t your wife get suspicious?”

The old man: “At our age, she can’t be bothered to care.”

Woman B: “Haha, that’s good. Saves me from worrying about you all the time.”
The old man sighed. “You’re the thoughtful one. So sensible.”

Woman A said reproachfully, “What about me?”

The old man said nothing. Woman B said nothing either. It was as if neither of them paid Woman A any mind.

Woman B spoke again. “Let’s go to sleep after you finish that one. I don’t think there’ll be any problem. We’ve been to this hotel so many times.”

The old man said, “Mm. I’m not smoking anymore after this. Been coughing a lot lately. Half a cigarette is enough! Get me a paper cup and pour me some water.”

Woman B said, “Sure thing.”

Woman A spoke again. “You’re so annoying. Why won’t you use my ashtray? I already got it out for you!”

The old man didn’t answer.

Qin Song braced himself against the wall and pressed his ear to it.

Woman B said, “Here, throw it in this.”

Woman A said, “Damn it, there’s an ashtray right there and you don’t use it, but you’ll use the cheap paper cup this tramp got for you? You dog of a man, you don’t know what’s good for you.”

The old man said, “Get in bed and sleep! Goddamn it, can’t a man have a date in peace?”

Woman B said, “Relax. Since we’re already here, we might as well enjoy it. I treasure every minute I get to spend with you.”

The old man chuckled. “At my age, to have a beauty like you by my side is the luck of a lifetime.”

Woman B laughed too. “Just rest. Tonight it’s only the two of us here. No one can disturb our time alone.”

Qin Song’s eyes slowly widened. Could it be that neither of them could see Woman A at all, or hear her speak?!

As the thought crossed his mind, Woman A spoke again. “You two adulterous bastards have gone too far. And you, you damned man – do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to see you? I was already buried. I clawed my way out bit by bit. I didn’t even have time to wipe off the blood, didn’t even have time to wash the dirt off my body before I started walking toward you… I walked for more than half a year!”

As she spoke, she began to wail, her voice shrill and utterly horrifying.

Qin Song’s whole body trembled. He finally recognized it. That was Huang Yuanrui’s voice!

Wu Lin returned from the stairwell and whispered, “There’s nothing there. What exactly did you see just now?”

Qin Song pointed at the door of 302 in terror. “She’s inside. She’s inside!”

Wu Lin reached out and felt Qin Song’s forehead. “Wang Hai, you’ve been acting really strange tonight. Do you have a fever?”

Qin Song shook off Wu Lin’s hand, rushed to the door of 302, and pounded on it with his fists.

Wu Lin jumped in fright. He wrapped his arms around Qin Song’s waist and dragged him back. “What are you doing? Are you insane? There are guests inside!”

The door to 302 was yanked open. The old man stood in the doorway in nothing but a pair of briefs, furious. “Goddamn it! Are you sick in the head?!”

Qin Song shoved the old man aside and barged in. The two women on the bed screamed and used the blanket to cover their bodies.

He studied both women’s faces carefully. They both looked completely unfamiliar.

Then he ran to the bathroom and looked inside. Empty.

Qin Song ran over to lift the curtains, but Wu Lin grabbed him and hauled him back.

The old man pulled out his phone. “I’m calling the cops right now and having them arrest you, you goddamn idiot-”

The two women on the bed shouted at the same time, “Don’t call the police!”

The old man tossed his phone onto the bed, then pointed at Qin Song and kept cursing. “What the hell are you doing? What are you trying to do? I know your boss very well. Tomorrow, you’re fired!”

Wu Lin pushed Qin Song out into the hallway, then turned back and bowed to the old man in apology. “Sir, we are terribly sorry. My coworker may not be in his right state today. We’re sorry, truly sorry!”

After closing the door, Wu Lin dragged Qin Song into the elevator.

“Wang Hai, could you not go so far? What the hell were you doing just now? Do you not want this job anymore?!”

Qin Song crouched down in the elevator, clutching his head. “I’m sorry. I was hallucinating just now.”

Wu Lin looked at him, his face livid. “We need to check the surveillance footage right now. And you’d better think about how you’re going to explain this to management tomorrow. That old man is definitely going to file a complaint.”

Wu Lin brought Qin Song to the front desk. Xiao Yang and Huahua were watching a movie together on an iPad.

Wu Lin knocked on the front desk. “Stop watching. Xiao Yang, print me an application form to pull the surveillance footage. We’re going to the control room to check the cameras.”

Xiao Yang hesitated, then said, “Don’t bother. You can’t check it.”

Wu Lin frowned. “What do you mean, we can’t check it?”

Huahua rubbed her eyes. “Old Li is on duty in the control room tonight. He came over to bum some tea leaves just now and said the third-floor cameras broke tonight. They’re trying to get someone to repair them.”

Wu Lin said, “Shit, could our luck be any worse? A guest on the third floor asks to check the cameras, and then the third-floor cameras just happen to break? How are we supposed to explain that to the guest?”

Xiao Yang said, “We can only wait until tomorrow. This is so annoying.”

Wu Lin’s head was about to explode. “Now we’re in trouble. That old guy in 302 is a real pain in the ass. Tomorrow he’ll definitely file a complaint and make a huge scene.”

Qin Song cut in listlessly, “You guys handle it. I’m going home first.”

Huahua looked at him in surprise. “Going home? Aren’t you on night shift tonight?”

Xiao Yang said, “Brother Hai, something this serious happened with a guest on the third floor. You’re not staying to deal with it together with Brother Wu?”

Wu Lin glanced at Qin Song, then turned to Xiao Yang and said, “He really isn’t feeling well tonight. He’s not himself.”

Then he patted Qin Song on the shoulder. “If you don’t feel well, go home first. I’ll keep an eye on things here. Nothing will go wrong.”

Qin Song nodded, turned, and walked toward the door. He didn’t even feel like changing out of his uniform.