Chapter 34

  The sound of vendors selling zongzi echoed continuously on the streets. Hua Qizhen walked onto the balcony and gazed out at the desolate streets in the dead of night, before walking back inside.

  "Wow, I'm so hungry, let's buy some zongzi on the way back later."

  Huā Qí Zhēn said to Dù Jiā Jūn, Dù Jiā Jūn smiled and said "OK", then her gaze shifted back to the TV that was still playing a program.

  Her eyes narrowed.

  It's almost twelve o'clock.

  The sound of time passing, tick-tock. Outside the window, the night air is thick and heavy, the daytime clamor has turned to ashes and embers, disappearing without a trace in the night wind. The apricot-yellow crescent moon hangs in the sky above the city, like an oozing wound. The yellow pus dries up in the black night.

  The night was so quiet that it could swallow up all the sounds. Three girls sat in the living room, feeling every second of time passing by, and their anxiety and fear increased with each passing second. Their hearts were gradually filled to the brim. In the dead silence, no one spoke, and everyone unconsciously leaned against each other.

  Although Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen had been skeptical before, they also tensed up at this moment. Their palms and armpits were covered in sweat. Hua Qizhen's hand holding the DV camera began to tremble slightly, the lens pointing at the TV. At this time, she actually didn't want to capture Fang Yanni's ghost on camera.

  If Fang Yanmei's ghost really appeared, she would faint from fright.

  The old building shrouded in darkness became eerily quiet at midnight, with the neighbors on both sides having gone to sleep early. The corridors were dimly lit and silent, with the desolate wind swirling around the empty hallway. Du Jiajun, who came from a wealthy family, had never lived in such an old building before, and for the first time, she felt that this place was terrifying at night. So many people lived in the same building, yet it was so quiet, as if only one household remained alive.

  A tiny black shadow darted across the window. A sharp meow made the three people in the living room, who were already highly tense, jump up almost simultaneously. They saw a black cat disappear quickly from the balcony.

  "Oh. It's just a stray cat in this building." Youyou explained, and the other two let out a sigh of relief.

  "Ah, it's already midnight." Youyou said, and the atmosphere became tense again.

  The second hand skipped over the last grid.

  The TV screen suddenly flickered for a few seconds, with wavy distortions appearing on the screen. The sound from the speakers also became sharp and raspy, like a ghostly howl. Someone next to him swallowed hard. Youyou felt a surge of fear rising up in his chest, his arms and neck breaking out in goosebumps, with a fine, stinging pain on his skin.

  However, the terrifying thing in mind did not happen. The TV recovered normally after a while.

  The program on the midnight channel was not "Blood and Tears", but an old film by Chow Sing Chi. The comedy on TV and the horror atmosphere in the living room formed a sarcastic contrast. Fa Kei Chin shouted: "What's going on! There are no ghosts!"

  "You still have the nerve to sit here?! You were clearly scared to death just now!" Du Jiajun raised her hand and poked her forehead with her finger.

  "Hua Qizhen stuck out her tongue and raised her arm, retorting with a big mouth: "What's wrong, aren't you nervous at all, Jiajun? My hand is being pinched to death by you!"

  It was Yu who felt apologetic and said to the two of them with a guilty conscience: "Sorry, it's all because I'm too nervous, and you guys came for nothing."

  "It's okay. Let's just consider it an adventure."

  Du Jiajun smiled and said to Youyou. Then she turned around and said to Hua Qizhen, who was still fiddling with the DV machine: "We're going back now. What are you still doing? Didn't you say you wanted to eat zongzi?"

  "Oh yeah. Now that you mention it, I'm hungry again." Hu Qi Zhen quickly put the DV machine into her bag.

  The two of them said goodbye to Youyou.

  Although Youyou insisted on sending them downstairs, she was still rejected by Du Jiajun. Youyou watched as Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen entered the elevator at her own doorstep, then closed the door, turned off the lights, thinking that this night should be peaceful. Update 1