“The delivery is here? Right at the moment the guards have taken the red dress away?” Han Fei stared at the door in the dark. Through the door, he could imagine what was happening on the other side. A deliveryman covered in blood, carrying a giant box with a dead body leaning against the anti-theft door. ‘The lights suddenly went out, that proves that there is something else other than the red dress inside the room with me. Should I open the door to let the deliveryman in?’
Han Fei also encountered the deliveryman inside Zhuang Ren’s game but different from that game, in the cryptic world, Han Fei was not totally defenseless. He was already level 12. ‘Hmm, I better not. After all, I’m Bai Sinian, an extremely cowardly new security guard who is afraid of ghost stories.’ The deliveryman came to knock on the door after the red dress had been taken away, that proved a lot of things. The scariest thing inside Room 1044 should be the red dress, that was why he only dared to come knocking when it was not around.
“Is anyone home? Is anyone home? Is anyone home!” The horrifying demands continued. The doorknob of the room wiggled and then sounds of nail scratching against the door followed. Han Fei slowly retreated and hid behind the cupboard. He put on the anti-stabbing vest and shoved the flashlight into his pocket. He was as prepared as he could be. The doorknob shook harder and harder but about 10 seconds later, all the noises outside the room suddenly stopped.
‘It left?’ Han Fei’s heart slowly relaxed. Just as Han Fei was about to come out from behind the cupboard, he saw the living room door slowly open. “If no one’s home… then I’ll just come in and drop off the delivery!” The smell of decomposition permeated the room as a bloody arm reached into the room, sticking close to the wall. It was holding an open empty cake box. It wanted to enter the room when the sound of water came from the toilet like the shower had been turned on. Hearing the sound, the bloody arm slowly distorted. It was so dim that even with Han Fei’s eyesight, he couldn’t see that clearly. The anti-theft door continued to swing open. There was no one outside but a giant bleeding box. ‘That box is the deliveryman?’
Han Fei believed he saw something crawl out from the box. It slithered on the ground rapidly like a snake and into the bedroom. After the delivery was made, the bloody arm dropped the cake box to the ground and slowly closed the door. It was like nothing had happened.
‘If the owner is not home, the deliveryman will still drop off the delivery? But what was it? It appears to have gone hiding inside the bedroom.’ The gushing of water was still ongoing and now something new had occupied the bedroom. If the red dress returned later, Han Fei worried that he might not even survive 1 night here. His brain spun quickly to come up with a solution, to see if he had missed anything. At that moment, the moisture in the air suddenly increased. A light stench entered his nostrils, his fingers touched the cupboard and it was wet.
He lifted his head and saw that something was protruding out from the white ceiling, it looked like a crying face. The room was still the same, the furniture hadn’t been moved but the place felt different. Everything inside the room had small but sinister changes to them. The fur on the couch appeared to grow longer; an eye slowly opened on the water inside the teacup; the food inside the boxed lunch was decomposing; the broken television screen came alive with flickering caricatures. There were many similar changes. The room in the dark and in the light was 2 completely different places. The ground was rustling noisily like fingers were scratching underneath it. Han Fei heard it correctly, it was not the downstairs neighbour, it was something sealed inside the floor. Shielding his hands before him, Han Fei could feel something awakening in the dark, all these strange changes were the harbinger of its arrival.
The window was suddenly blown open and the curtain fluttered in the dark. At the edge of night, a human figure slowly appeared. Her hands were placed in such a manner that it looked like she was trying to strangle Han Fei’s neck. Her eyes were bulging and her mouth was screaming soundlessly. Her vocal cords appeared to be severed, her throat was covered with specks of blood. The curtain quieted down and the human figure disappeared. But everything reflective inside the room, like the window glass, the television screen, the mirror, the glass mug, they all had the reflection of a human-like face. Han Fei switched on the flashlight but it had malfunctioned. With no other choice, Han Fei gripped the rubber baton and headed towards the window. The window was cracked but the woman’s face had disappeared. He approached cautiously. As he tried to close the window, a force pushed him from behind!
Holding onto the ledge tightly, Han Fei turned around, swinging the rubber baton as he went. He didn’t hit anything but he was sure something pushed him earlier, trying to throw him out the window!
Han Fei edged away from the window and returned to his hiding spot behind the cupboard. Just as he wondered if he should run into the bedroom and deal with the other ghost, running footsteps came from the outside corridor. The lock jiggled and the anti-theft door opened again. Brother Hwa and Xiao Fang rushed into the room still catching their breaths. When the two opened the door, the lights came on and all the strangeness disappeared. Standing in the living room, Han Fei’s bandaged wounds started to bleed again. His face was frighteningly pale like he had just woken up from a nightmare.
‘Everything’s back to normal?’ This strange development naturally caught Han Fei’s attention but he didn’t say anything.
“What happened to you? You look so pale.” Even though Xiao Fang was still gasping for air, when he saw the state Han Fei was in, he asked with concern.
“After you left, the deliveryman came to knock on the door. He shouldn’t have the key but he managed to open the door. The empty cake box on the ground was the thing he delivered.” Han Fei leaned against the couch, he looked like he had lost his soul from the fright.
“And then? What else did he do?” Brother Hwa reacted more intensely than Xiao Fang, his pupils were shaking.
“I couldn’t see clearly but when the deliveryman opened the door, another black shadow crawled into the bedroom.”
“Are you sure?” Brother Hwa switched on the flashlight and dragged Xiao Fang into the bedroom. They checked for a long time but found nothing. “Are you sure you didn’t imagine things? Don’t try to scare us! We still have to sleep here tonight!”
“It’s all real.” Han Fei didn’t fixate on this problem. “How did it go with you guys? Was it successful?”
“When we arrived, the door to Room 1004 was open so I tossed the red dress inside and closed the door.” Xiao Fang placed his hand over his heart. “I really couldn’t bring myself to cut that dress.”
“Hopefully that will stop the red dress from ever returning.” Brother Hwa glanced at his watch. “It’s now 1 am, we better take some rest, we have another patrol at 3 am.”
“You’re leaving again at 3 am?” Han Fei couldn’t believe it, these people were just courting death.
“There are tenants at this building who rely on us. If we, the guards, are afraid too, then who are going to protect them?”
“They can move away if they’re that worried.” Han Fei offered. He had to persuade Brother Hwa because if he didn’t go on the patrol with them, he would be left alone inside Room 1044; if he followed them on the patrol, he probably wouldn’t return alive.
“That’s not what a responsible guard would say but I’ll let it slide because you’re new.” Brother Hwa was tired. “I’ll stay up to be on the lookout. You and Xiao Fang should go into the bedroom to take a quick sleep or else you might not be able to be awake for the patrol.”
“Big brother, how do you expect me to sleep inside there? The red dress might be coming back tonight, I think we should stay together.” Han Fei shuffled to the bedroom door and closed it. “It’s better for us to stay in the living room.”
“Okay.” Brother Hwa took out the mattresses from the bedroom and laid them on the living room floor. He waved for Xiao Fang to join him. “You should lay down and sleep because you’re injured. We’ll wake you if there’s anything.” Brother Hwa looked reliable but Han Fei hadn’t fully trusted him.
Han Fei laid down on the couch but he didn’t dare to sleep. Until now he hadn’t even completed a mission yet, if he died, he would die in real life. His brain was stuffed with questions. Han Fei didn’t focus on what to do next but instead parsed through all the known info about Ziggurat. The surroundings slowly quieted down. Fatigue lapped at Han Fei like waves. His head was spinning and the wounds drained his stamina. He could feel his eyes drooping. He bit on the edge of his tongue to use pain to maintain his consciousness. Half an hour passed like that. Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped, he subconsciously reached for a cover but when he turned around, he saw something bleeding hanging inside the toilet.
‘The red dress?!’
