My House of Horrors

Even when Chen Ge’s throat was raw from screaming, the white cat refused to budge. After a few more minutes of that, Chen Ge gave up. This cat is very intelligent. It wandered over on its own when it was lunch time, but the moment I started to pack, it ran outside.

Looking at tree, Chen Ge sighed helplessly. He picked up his backpack and left the park. When he arrived at Fang Hwa Apartments, the sky was already dark.

Last time I was here, I forgot to ask about this place from Doctor Gao. The buildings here are quite old already. I wonder if there are any weird incidents that have happened here.

Chen Ge scrolled through his phone for the information provided by the police. It stated that Patient No. 2 had once been seen here, but there was no detailed address.

This is not going to be easy. The police use code for each patient, so I don’t even know her name. Just based on a picture, it’s going to be hard.

Fang Hwa Apartments was considered quite high-end in Jiujiang. The buildings in front were six older buildings; they were smaller than the three new buildings that were built at the back. Each building was over twenty stories, and Wang Xin’s family was staying in one of the newer buildings.

I should start by asking the security guards.

The main reason Chen Ge was there was to complete the Tape Ghost’s wish so that he could hire him as an employee. That was his main mission, but since he was there, Chen Ge would not mind finding out about Patient 2 as well.

He walked over to the security room and turned his phone to show them the picture that had been given to him by Captain Yan. I’m sorry, but have you seen this woman before?

The individual aspects of Patient 2’s face was flawless, but when put together, there was just this incorrect feeling to it. The security guard not only did not answer Chen Ge’s question. He looked at Chen Ge with alarm like he was someone suspicious. “You’re not a tenant here, are you?”

“I’m not,” Chen Ge answered honestly.

“Then I don’t need to answer your question.” The man walked out from the room. “If this lady is our tenant, we will not reveal any information about her, and if she’s not, I won’t know anything about her.”

Chen Ge was baffled by the security guard. He did not expect such hostility.

“Xiao Gu, don’t be such a spoilsport.” There was another guard inside the room. He was much older than the one who talked to Chen Ge. He was about sixty and was just removing his guard outfit to change into his casual clothes. He walked out of the room, chuckling. “Forgive him. He was scolded this morning for something that wasn’t his fault, and he’s not feeling so good.”

“My feeling is perfectly well. Ol’ Wong, quickly go home. Your family is waiting for you. Leave this to me,” the young security guard said impatiently.

“If I leave this to you, you’ll end up getting lectured again tomorrow. You never learn. Would it kill you to be a little nicer to our guests?” Ol’ Wong sighed, shaking his head. “How many times have I told you? We’re just the security; move your limbs more than your lips. Whether it is right or wrong, it is not our place to judge.”

“It’s alright, I quite admire his attitude, straightforward and not pretentious,” Chen Ge said. He instinctively felt this young security was quite an interesting character. “And how may I refer to you?”

“Gu Feiyu, you can call him Xiao Gu. He’s our night guard, very brace and is a kind person. However, there’s no filter on the words that leave his lips.” It was obvious that Ol’ Wong was very protective of Gu Feiyu.

“Night guard? Do you need to patrol this place at night?” Chen Ge’s focus was not Gu Feiyu. He slowly moved the topic of conversation away.

“We have to ensure the safety of our tenants every hour of the day.” Ol’ Wong patted the dust on his trousers. “By the way, you’re looking for someone, right? Tell me the name, I’ve been here for a decade already, so I practically know everyone.”

“I don’t know her name, but I have her picture.” Chen Ge clicked onto the picture and passed his phone to the kind gentleman.

“It’ll be easier with a picture.” Ol’ Wong accepted the phone and lowered his head to look. When his eyes feel on the screen, the blood drained from his face, and Chen Ge’s phone almost fell from his fingers.

“You know her?” Chen Ge moved one step forward. Ol’ Wong pushed the phone back to Chen Ge like it was some kind of dangerous object.

“This woman is very important. She’s involved in many cases.” Chen Ge was considering flashing Captain Yan’s name.

“This woman again? The police already asked about her yesterday.” Gu Feiyu was a straight shooter.

“Then what did you tell the police?” Chen Ge was even more intrigued.

Ol’ Wong reached out to stop Gu Feiyu. With a complicated gaze, he said, “This woman is mad. That’s what I told the police yesterday.”

“Mad?” Chen Ge stood before Ol’ Wong. “Your reaction was not exactly subtle earlier, so it looks like you have a deep impression of this woman.”

“It’s nothing.” Ol’ Wong was more experienced in dealing with people, and he only revealed half of the information. “The woman in the picture has the surname Bai, but I suspect that is fake. The woman in the picture is totally different from what she looks like in person.”

There was a trace of fear at the bottom of Ol’ Wong’s eyes. “The reason I remember her so clearly is because two or three years ago, when she first moved into Fang Hwa Apartments, her neighbors kept complaining about her, saying there was a weird smell coming from her room, and there would be intense arguments at night.”

“That’s all?”

“Initially, it was fine. The landowner visited the woman, and after some communication, the woman admitted her mistake. She not only apologized but also volunteered to pay monetary reimbursement.”

“That doesn’t make her mad, does it?” Chen Ge was arranging the information internally. The woman had moved out from the Third Sick Hall four years ago. She moved to Fang Hwa Apartments three years ago and disappeared from this place two years ago.

“Two to three months after that, there came this rumor that her building was haunted. Someone said that there would be a white shadow in the corridor at midnight.

“Some tenants even said that they heard scratching outside their doors at midnight and a soft woman’s voice asking, ‘Is anyone home? If no one’s home, I’m coming in.’

“This was worse than a prank, so the security team was tasked with standing guard in her building. But weirdly enough, whenever we were on duty, the white shadow and the woman’s voice would not appear. It was like she was playing hide-and-seek with us.

“We are not made of steel. After we kept up the stake-out for two weeks, many gave up. For the whole month after that, both the white shadow and the woman’s voice didn’t appear, and we thought things were over. However, we still ordered two security guards to patrol the building every night.

“On the second month, our colleague who was supposed to patrol the building with me took an emergency leave, and I didn’t dare patrol the place alone. Unfortunately, I received a call from one of the tenants saying that the voice had returned. I grabbed my baton and took the elevator to that tenant’s floor.

“The moment the door opened, I saw, not far away, a white shadow lying against one of the doors, its lips mumbling, ‘Is anyone home? If no one’s home, I’m coming in.'”

The wrinkles on Ol’ Wong’s face was squeezed together. Even now, when he thought about that particular memory, he would still feel fear.

“That white shadow is the mad woman?” Chen Ge could imagine how Ol’ Wong must have felt then.