Chapter 8: A Coffin in One's Mouth (Part 2)

  If you just look at this room, it's indeed strange, but combined with the previous one, my back started to feel a chill, which is not strange, but eerie.

  Pushing open the door and entering, standing in front of me was a huge screen, a pure black screen so large that it blocked all light from shining through from behind. Passing by the screen, in front was a wall, on the left side of which was placed a sofa, with several stacks of paper piled up in front of it, but my eyes were immediately drawn to the wall.

  That was a wall full of colors, just like an abstract painting that nobody could understand. I had known about the existence of such a wall for a long time, but I never thought it would appear here. Everything I saw should have appeared inside, on the legendary ninth floor.

  I stared at the wall, wondering if I could also see a little boy from inside with a split-mouth smile facing me, but I didn't see anything. I looked up at the ceiling and there was no "dada" sound. I thought for a moment, now it's just past 3 pm, it won't make any noise until midnight.

  I know why Er Lang said "it's not fake but true" now, as long as you stand in this place, you will have such a feeling, everything is so real, it seems that you are standing on the ninth floor instead of the seventh floor.

  Lao Chu is a mentally ill patient, did I imagine everything that happened? This thought flashed in my mind, but I quickly rejected it. Lao Chu had dealings with the police before, if he had mental illness, he would have told me and wouldn't have given me this case. What interests me most now is who wrote that letter, not the cause of Lao Chu's death.

  I walked towards the sofa, my foot unknowingly stepping on something, almost slipping and falling over. Luckily, I managed to grab hold of the sofa in time. When I looked down, I only then discovered a bunch of white candles scattered all over the floor. I gently kicked the candles aside with my foot, then picked up the thing that my right hand had touched when I grabbed onto the sofa earlier.

  This is a doll, typical of a little Chinese girl, wearing a black nightgown, with a head of long black hair falling down to cover her cheeks. The texture of the hair is so realistic that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought it was real human hair.

  I carefully parted the doll's long hair, revealing an exceptionally pale face. Those eyes stared at me, and the corners of its mouth faintly curled up into a smile. Its teeth were clearly blood-red. Although I knew it was just a doll, I still got scared and my hand shook, causing one of the doll's glass eyeballs to fall out and land on the floor with a "clink" sound.

  I didn't find anything special in Old Chu's room, everything can be found in that letter. I can determine that Old Chu is not a mentally ill person, unless the letter was written by him himself, otherwise it is impossible for others to imagine what a mentally ill person would see and think, let alone the timing is also wrong. Who wrote that letter, my curiosity is getting more and more restless, Er Liang said those two letters came from the same place, maybe I should go take a look.

  I'm about to close the door of Old Chu's house, a strange room with things that can be seen in other people's homes too - a broken doll, a wall scribbled on by children, and a pile of waste paper in the living room. What an ordinary scene, yet I feel inexplicably frightened standing here, always worried that suddenly there will be a "thud" sound coming from upstairs.

  Mentioning the "da da" sound, I suddenly remembered a question: The doll's teeth were also blood red, which was not recorded in the second letter, and Erliang had never told me about it.

  "What if this isn't a lie, but the truth?"

  The words of Er Lang echoed in my ears again, and now I couldn't take everything that had happened as it was. Suddenly, I wanted to go to Wang Qiang's room to see if there was anything I needed.

  But what do I really need? I myself can't say, at this moment I feel that the game is no longer important, I just inexplicably feel a sense of fear, I didn't hear the "dada" sound, I didn't see the little boy, I didn't see the migrant worker, but I always feel like someone is watching me, someone is urging me to investigate all this.

  I flew down the stairs like I was flying, not daring to stop my footsteps. As soon as I stopped, it seemed like someone was quietly watching me from behind. I couldn't see his or her face, but I knew this person must be watching me.

  "Be careful yourself." Erliang's words echoed again.

  Could it be that he also had an experience similar to mine? That's why he reminded me, that's why he gave me these two cases, and that's why he let me come here to take a look. From start to finish, he believed this wasn't just a coincidence, but the truth. But why did he want me to participate as well? I absolutely don't believe it's just because I happened to participate in the Tianya competition and happened to ask him for cases as material. When too many coincidences come together, coincidence is no longer just a coincidence.

  I turned my head again, looking at the compound once more. The feeling of being stared at had disappeared. This wasn't a dream, but reality, I thought to myself as I turned my head towards the south of the city, where Wang Qiang's house was waiting for me. In that instant when I turned my head, I saw a stone tablet at the entrance of the compound, which is a common practice in many compounds, with some developers engraving their company name on it. On it was written "XX Real Estate Co., Ltd."

  I didn't call Erliang, I had already asked Wang Qiang's address from him a long time ago. Of course, maybe even if I hadn't asked him, he would have found a way to tell me anyway. This best friend of mine now feels so strange to me. What exactly made him become like this? Or is there some unspeakable secret in these two cases that makes him have an unbearable grievance? I'm determined to uncover this secret, not just because someone behind my back is urging me to do it, but also for Erliang's sake.

  Not far from the residential area is a bus station, which goes straight to the south of the city. After getting off the bus and walking for about ten minutes, I arrived at Wang Qiang's residential area. This place is as secluded as described in the letter. It was almost five o'clock in the afternoon, although the summer sun had not set yet, but dusk is always dusk, even if the sun is still hanging high, it has been shrouded in a layer of gauze, no longer so dazzling that it seems to dispel all darkness. I stood at the entrance of the residential area, hesitating whether to go in or not.

  Yes, I am a bit afraid. Too many movies and TV shows depict ghosts lurking in the dark. I chose to visit a legendary "ghost district" at dusk, fearing that I might be out of my mind. According to legend, this should be done at noon when the yang energy is strong, and evil spirits dare not appear.

  I gritted my teeth and stepped inside, believing in fate. If I was really destined to encounter something, I would have encountered it even if it wasn't here. Moreover, I had just left Old Chu's house, although there was a strange feeling surrounding me, but nothing happened to me after all. I thought this time should be the same, so I took a deep breath and walked towards Wang Qiang's residence. As soon as I stepped into the compound gate, I saw a stone monument standing in the compound, with "xx Real Estate Co., Ltd." engraved on it, which was the same as the one at Old Chu's house.

  It turned out that they were all developed by the same company, I thought to myself. The desolation in the neighborhood was just the same, and soon I found the building where Wang Qiang lived. Taking a deep breath, I stepped up onto the stairs.

  Thank goodness, this time I didn't have that feeling in the old Chu's building corridor. Otherwise, if a woman wearing red clothes kept staring at me at the staircase entrance, it would absolutely not be a happy thing.

  I arrived at the fifth floor and stood at the stairwell entrance. To my left was Wang Qiang's house, and according to the letter, to my right was where Sun Xiaohong lived. Of course, Er Liang had told me that he asked the landlord, who said that he never rented out the house to anyone else, and there wasn't even a woman named Auntie Li in the neighborhood. I thought for a moment and decided to take a look at the house on my right first.

  He easily opened the door with the same method, and inside there was nothing but dust, just an empty shell of a house that could be seen through at a glance. I turned around in the room, saw no gain, closed the door and then opened Wang Qiang's house on the left.

  The house was indeed fully furnished, but also covered in dust. I carefully observed every corner of the room, from the living room to the bedroom, and then to the kitchen, checking each place thoroughly, without finding anything unusual. If it weren't for that letter, I would never have believed that such a strange thing had happened here.

  On the kitchen wall hung a stainless steel spatula, I took out a tissue from my pocket and gently wiped off the dust on it. Wang Qiang had once seen a woman wearing a red skirt with long hair hanging down her head from here, I habitually leaned forward to see if I could also see something inside.

  The shovel's bottom surface printed out my face, slightly deformed, looking a bit comical. Suddenly, my body shook, and I hastily reached out to take the shovel down from the wall, holding it in front of me for a closer look. Indeed, on its surface were faintly engraved several words. I opened the curtains, using the last rays of sunlight to carefully make out the characters: "One coffin".