On the other side, after Qin Liu entered the house, she began curiously looking over the room.
She was very timid, so if she had not been following Liu Haoyu, she would never have dared stay in this haunted place.
There was another reason, too: the resentment emanating from this house bore some resemblance to the resentment in her own home.
It was precisely that resemblance that gave Qin Liu a bit of courage.
She watched Liu Haoyu argue with the other two and did not disturb them. Instead, she searched through the living room for a while, trying to find some interesting books or something fun to play with.
Since she could only stay at home every day, Qin Liu now liked all kinds of books.
After all, she had no way to use a phone. Even if Liu Haoyu burned one for her, a phone from the spirit world could not connect to the Internet in the human world.
So all she could do was read to pass the time.
Besides, there was no telling how long Liu Haoyu would argue with those two. She might as well read something to kill time.
Thus, Qin Liu rummaged through the drawers in the living room.
She did not find any books, but there were quite a few old, tattered elementary-school textbooks.
They should have belonged to the older brother who lived in this house.
Qin Liu flipped through the textbooks. But as soon as she picked them up, a thin exercise book slipped out from inside.
Although the exercise book was also very old, it had been kept remarkably flat. It seemed that its original owner had treasured it.
Holding the exercise book, Qin Liu looked back into the drawer. All that remained inside was a school uniform. Judging by its size, it was probably for a first- or second-grade student, and it was a girl's uniform.
It seemed that it had belonged to his younger sister.
The clothing was a little dirty, but it too had been folded very neatly.
"This older brother seems to have treasured his sister."
Qin Liu muttered to herself before opening the exercise book.
She had thought it contained nothing but boring elementary-school homework. But when she opened it, she discovered that it was actually a... diary.
Using an exercise book as a diary showed just how poor this family really was.
Perhaps because he was a boy, the handwriting in the diary was crooked and uneven, as if a chicken claw had scratched across the pages.
Still, she could barely make out what had been written.
Qin Liu began turning the pages from the beginning.
There was not much on the first page. It contained only a short passage.
July 21, cloudy
"The teacher said that if I write more diary entries, I'll be able to remember things from when I was little after I grow up. I want to grow up quickly and protect Mom from Dad..."
Although writing diaries was something many elementary-school students had experienced, few people could stick with it.
This older brother, however, was completely different from ordinary people.
He seemed to be driven by some kind of obsession, writing down everything that happened each day.
Most of it consisted of trivial daily matters, such as what he had eaten or what he had done that day.
But he had also recorded every time Zhu Xingxue beat his family, in great clarity and detail.
He even remembered exactly what had been used to hit them, when it had happened, whom he had beaten, and how badly they had been injured.
Rather than a diary, it was... more like a little notebook for keeping track of grudges.
Just looking at the trembling handwriting and the hatred between the lines made Qin Liu feel a chill.
"How much of a beast is Zhu Xingxue?"
Judging from the diary, Zhu Xingxue committed domestic violence every few days. Not only his wife, but even his son and daughter, could not escape his abuse.
When Qin Liu was nearly finished flipping through the notebook, she finally saw something different.
October 14
"My sister got sick. Mom wanted Dad to take her to the doctor... and got beaten."
October 25
"My sister keeps cou... coughing so badly. I saw her cough up blood, but Dad still won't let her see a doctor. He says we have no money and can't afford treatment."
November 2
"I secretly brought the village doctor over without Dad knowing. The doctor said it was tuberculosis? He said it would take a lot, a lot of money to treat."
November 3
"Dad found out. He was going to hit me, but Mom hugged me. The rolling pin hit Mom instead. It hurt, it hurt so much."
November 7
"My sister is missing. Dad says she died a long time ago, but I fed her porridge this morning. She was obviously still alive... still alive."
"She must still be alive..."
The later diary entries were extremely disordered. Reading them, Qin Liu felt an unpleasant chill while also growing furious.
She truly had not expected that there could be such a beast of a father in this world.
But the child was pitiful too. He had kept writing this diary for so long, so there should probably be more.
Qin Liu searched through the drawer.
Sure enough, she found another diary.
For some reason, however, this diary was speckled with bloodstains. It looked rather creepy.
Even so, Qin Liu opened it.
Compared with the previous diary, this one was relatively new.
May 2
"I don't know what happened, but that man came home covered in blood. It smells awful, awful."
May 7
"My sister is missing, and Mom has gone crazy too. I searched for a long time, but I couldn't find my sister. The Taoist priest in the village said that the Ouija Ghost knows everything. I want to ask the Ouija Ghost."
From this point on, the diary became extremely strange. Creepy doodles and little figures were drawn everywhere, their mouths stretched into grins as if they were smiling at Qin Liu.
Just looking at the little figures drawn in colored pencil made Qin Liu secretly swallow.
September 31
"The Ouija Ghost came out. The Ouija Ghost came out. I finally know where my sister is... She was in the house all along."
By the end of the diary, the little boy's mental state had clearly become abnormal.
Moreover... was there even a September 31?
Qin Liu felt a chill run through her. Her slender little hands clenched into fists.
"January has thirty-one, February is short... August has thirty-one, September has thirty... September has thirty?"
September only had thirty days, so why did the diary say the date was the thirty-first?
Had the child written it incorrectly, or was it...
The more Qin Liu read the diary, the stranger it became.
Especially the fresh-looking handwriting, which seemed to have just been written. It made everything even more terrifying to contemplate.
"Gulp..."
Qin Liu secretly swallowed and turned another page. Then she froze.
The page she had turned to was also dated September 31.
And there was only one line written on it, in bright red.
"Dead, dead, hahaha! Finally dead! He's finally dead!"
Like a cheer, the handwriting seemed to writhe, as if it were about to leap off the page.
No, the words really were moving!
In the cold darkness, another line silently emerged beneath them.
"Oh, right... I died too. Why am I still writing a diary?"
"Big Sister, who are you?"
When she read this, Qin Liu threw the diary in her hand away.
Only then, after recovering from her terror, did she realize—
Where was Liu Haoyu?
Liu Haoyu, where were you?!
Before you continue