Fresh blood flowed down the corner of the Xu Qin’s lips. Her finger was chewed until it bled but the woman did not seem to feel the pain. Han Fei’s words stimulated a memory buried deep in her mind. Her expression turned even more unhinged than usual.
Staring closer at her face and listening to her repeat the same words, Han Fei was suddenly struck by an inspiration. The name Xu Qin bounced around in his mind. He believed he had seen it somewhere before. When Han Fei was researching the human jigsaw case, he accidentally came across another case that happened around the same time.
He tried to remember more details about it. The case got his temporary attention because it involved a staff from Immortal Pharmaceutical. The victim was the manager at Immortal Pharmaceutical who was responsible for clinical trials of new drugs. The victim’s name was Xu Qin.
The victim’s only family was her younger brother, the only family they had in life was each other. To look after her younger brother, the sister did not enter any relationship and basically married her work. All the neighbours thought the siblings had a very good relationship so everyone was surprised to find out it was the brother who had poisoned his elder sister. The case was easily solved because the killer was too clumsy. The brother slipped the poison into the food and his sister finished his cooking because she had never suspected her own brother to harbor any malintention against her. The evidence was stacked against the brother. The sister eventually died from food poisoning and the brother was given the death penalty.
A quite famous urban legend arose from this incident. It was said that if you made food delivery around the neighbourhood where the siblings once stayed, you might run into a mad woman brandishing a table knife. She would cry harrowingly while coughing blood. Then she’d proceed to consume both the food and the food deliveryman.
‘Could these two Xu Qin’s be the same person?’ Han Fei studied the woman before him. He still remembered the one statement that she gave him, Xu Qin was the name she used only recently. The tenant of Room 1052 might not be Xu Qin, she might possess many different memories. In other words, she was an amalgamation of curses come to life and Xu Qin was merely one of them.
“Big Sister, are you alright?” Han Fei did not show fear due to the woman’s loss of control. He walked voluntarily over to her. “If you don’t feel well, you should go rest for now. I’ll go lure the people from the 6th floor here.” Han Fei’s real goal that night was the non-locals on the 6th floor. But now Han Fei also wished that he could use these non-locals to stabilize Xu Qin’s emotions. The bloodied lips trembled incessantly. Xu Qin’s bloodless hands went subconsciously to cover her face. “Someone is in hiding, but I cannot remember who. I have forgotten some important things…”
Since he could quit the game any time, Han Fei became more confident and courageous. He escorted Xu Qin back to Room 1052 and then walked up to the 6th floor alone. Walking down the corridor, Han Fei’s smile gradually disappeared. He wanted to smile sincerely from within too but he had lost that ability a long time ago. He could easily muster up a smile on his face due to his acting training but none of them carried actual bliss and happiness behind them.
Sidling up the steps, this was the first time Han Fei arrived at the 6th floor. This was a new breakthrough for him. ‘The building manager used to stay at the 10th floor, there should be important clues left in his room. To get to know this place better, I need to figure out a way to get there as soon as possible.”
Compared to the other floor, the 6th floor was extremely unkempt. Various trash littered the corridor and broken flower pots were left haphazardly on the steps. ‘These non-locals sure are inconsiderate. What if someone trips on them and falls down the stairs?’ Han Fei slowed his movements. He bent over to try to move the pots away when he noticed the wilted plant in one of the pots was tied with red threads. The ends of the threads were dangling with miniature copper bells. ‘Red threads and copper bells? Aren’t these commonly used to ward against evil spirits?’
Han Fei moved the pot closer to the wall but the strange thing was no matter how hard Han Fei shook the pot, the bells refused to ring. It was as if the red threads and bells were unresponsive to living humans.
‘I’m finally on the 6th floor.’ Standing amidst the piles of trash, Han Fei studied the 4 rooms on the 6th floor. He had no idea which room was occupied so he chose the closest door of Room 1064 to knock on. “Is anyone home? I’m your downstairs neighbour.” The knocking reverberated down the corridor but no one came to open the door. ‘I know for a fact that these rooms are occupied. The only reason they won’t come to answer the door is because they’re afraid or cautious.’
Han Fei had his own solution to this problem. Unlike the other neighbour, he was not afraid of raising a ruckus and making himself a target. For the first 3 hours of each gaming instance, Han Fei was extremely careful, his situation was like walking on thin ice, but after he gained the ability to quit the game at any time, there would be a glorious transformation in his mind. To put it simply, he had nothing to fear. Unless the ghost could follow him back to real life, which none was able to, he had the backbone to provoke anyone.
“I’ll just keep on knocking if you don’t answer the door. I know you’re at home. Don’t just hide in there.” The air in the 6th floor corridor chilled. Han Fei’s insistent knocking caused something to change in the apartment, it was like something had awakened. His 6th floor neighbours were probably extremely nervous. They’d pray that Han Fei would leave them in peace but this Han Fei was recalcitrant with no concern for his own life, which was a dangerous combination.
Actually, Han Fei was quite nervous too. He paid attention to the landlord’s ring while placing his ears against the door to listen. Soon, a small voice came from inside Room 1064. That was the confirmation Han Fei needed. When Han Fei heard that voice, he was like a shark who smelt blood. He opened his mouth wide and shouted, “My dear neighbour in Room 1064, nice to meet you! I know that you are home! I can hear you! I happened to run into one of your friends and he tasked me to return something to you!
“My neighbour from Room 1064, were you the one who littered these trashes on the ground? But why were they tied with red threads and stained with blood? What is the purpose of those things?”
Han Fei specifically mentioned Room 1064 loudly and repeatedly. The tenants inside were probably feeling like frogs in a boiling pan. The other tenants of this building would remember this Room Number and they’d have no chance of keeping a low profile anymore.
“Tenants in Room 1064, can you please open the door to communicate? You wouldn’t want me to come here and knock every night, would you?” This final statement finally scared his neighbour. If this madman really came to raise a commotion outside Room 1064 every night, disaster was bound to happen. The lock sprung and the anti-theft door opened a gap. A bloodshot eye glared at Han Fei with tiredness and anger. “Are you insane?”
“Excuse me? I’m here to do you a favor. How can you treat people like that? Anyway, has one of your friends recently gone missing?” Han Fei did not carry any weapon with him and he gave off a weak presence. The tenant assumed he was a madman who yearned for death.
“No.”
“That’s impossible. Your friend specially requested me to return this thing back to the tenants on the 6th floor.” Han Fei took out the human cocoon from his pocket.
