When Ji Li inserted the key into the lock, looking at Number 1413 facing the opposite direction, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
As he turned the key, he listened carefully for movement inside. Once the door opened a crack, faint noises drifted out.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."
Indistinct, unidentifiable sounds slipped through the crack in the door. They sounded like low murmurs, yet also like someone sobbing.
The door slowly opened. The layout inside Number 1413 was almost identical to Number 1414, only separated by a wall and facing the opposite direction.
Looking in from the entryway, it was not completely dark. Though no lights were on, a ghastly white glow covered the Living Room floor and faintly illuminated the hallway.
Leaning on his black umbrella, Ji Li saw the Living Room reflected in the white light. A figure seemed to be moving there, yet no footsteps could be heard.
Those faint sounds were coming from the dead corner of the Living Room.
Based on the layout of Number 1414, the white light in the Living Room should have come from a television that had been switched on, and the sound should have come from it as well.
This time, Ji Li did not lock the door after entering. He braced the black umbrella against the doorway, leaving himself a path of retreat.
If his guess was correct, then Number 1413 no longer contained the strangeness of Number 1414, but genuine, immediate danger.
Inside the lit Number 1413, whatever was playing on the television became perfectly clear after he entered. Faintly, an elderly voice seemed to be quietly recounting something.
It spoke as it wept, making the dim room all the more chilling.
"Dig... dig out your heart..."
"Dig... dig out your lungs..."
"Dig... dig out your eyes..."
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