Actually, Gu Mian wanted to investigate something.
If two Sadakos climbed out of two different TVs, what interesting things would happen if you pressed the screens of those TVs together?
Unfortunately, he didn't have two TVs at home.
Since there was no way to investigate, Gu Mian opened the popcorn and started eating as he watched the movie.
But the disc hadn't been playing for long when the TV suddenly froze, just as the face of the first extra to be scared to death filled the screen.
Gu Mian choked, staring back at the terrifying face.
Just then, a slow knock came from the front door.
Gu Mian's place was extremely run-down, in a dilapidated apartment building.
There were hardly any tenants upstairs. Including him and the landlord, there were only five households.
The hallway was filthy, and several motion-activated lights had broken and never been repaired. Nobody cleaned, and a huge hole gaped in the window, letting the wind whistle inside.
Nobody ever wandered the hallway at night, let alone knocked on his door in such a measured rhythm for no reason.
Gu Mian set down the popcorn and went to the door.
The door was old-fashioned too, with paper pasted over it. The lock didn't look sturdy; it seemed like one kick would knock the door open.
There was also a transom above the door. It could be opened and was transparent, but it was covered with thin paper. If someone outside leaned over it, they could just barely see inside.
The knocking continued.
There was a peephole about a person's height up the door. Gu Mian leaned toward it.
The instant he put his eye to the peephole, the sound stopped.
There was nothing outside, only half of a good-luck character that had fallen from the opposite door, flapping against it in the night wind.
The motion-activated light hanging on the wall had long been broken. He could only see outside by moonlight, but after looking for a while, he still couldn't make out a single person.
"Strange. Guess I'll have to find a flashlight..." Gu Mian muttered as he went back to the TV.
The image was still frozen on that terrifying face, but something about it seemed different from before. Its gaze appeared to have shifted.
Gu Mian didn't care where its eyes were looking. He reached out and smacked the top of the TV.
Back at the orphanage, whenever the TV froze, that was what he did.
He smacked it twice, but the picture remained frozen.
"Why won't you behave?"
Gu Mian looked at the screen and raised his hand again. This time, he hit it with all his strength, making the table beneath it rattle.
The disc skipped for a moment, then the picture finally began moving again.
Satisfied, Gu Mian sat back down on the sofa and picked up the popcorn.
"My teammates haven't called me yet," he said to himself as he watched the screen. "Looks like it'll be a peaceful night."
But just after he popped some popcorn into his mouth, that eerie knocking sounded again.
It was the same rhythm as before, slow and drawn-out, each knock lingering in the darkness. It was deeply unsettling.
Gu Mian went to the door again and put his eye to the peephole.
The moment his eye touched it, the noise outside stopped.
There was still nothing out there.
The howling night wind swept through the stairwell, making a strange sound that echoed down the hallway and set him on edge.
He turned around, intending to leave the door.
But then the eerie knocking sounded behind him again.
This time Gu Mian was ready. He whipped around and flung the door open. A cool night breeze rushed into the living room, but there was nothing else.
The good-luck character on the opposite door was still flapping against it. Gu Mian looked to either side, but there wasn't a soul in sight.
There was only darkness and cold wind outside.
He shut the door again.
Perhaps because Gu Mian had opened it so abruptly, the knocking fell silent for quite a while.
For a long time, the only sounds in the hallway were the wind and the good-luck character slapping against the door.
But the silence didn't last. The eerie knocking sounded again.
"Knock—"
"Knock—"
"Knock—"
The long, drawn-out sound echoed through the dark hallway.
But before it could knock a fourth time, a beam of white light shattered the eerie atmosphere.
A sinister face suddenly eased into view above the door, a flashlight in its hand.
Standing on a stool, Gu Mian peered outside, half his face washed ghostly white by the beam.
"I'd like to see which bastard keeps knocking like an idiot!"
At the same time, Yuwen Hao sat tensely on his bed.
He had a blanket pulled over most of his body and kept turning his neck to look around.
The bedroom door stood wide open. He had turned off the living room light, leaving the space outside pitch-black.
He was getting anxious.
For some reason, he kept feeling that someone was watching him.
The gaze seemed to come from beside the bed, from the shadows beneath the desk, or from the dark living room.
Yuwen Hao looked out through the bedroom doorway.
In the darkness of the living room, it seemed as if someone was standing there, staring straight at him.
He shuddered, then stiffly looked out at the living room again.
There was no one there, only darkness.
Yuwen Hao stared at the bedroom doorway and wrestled with himself for a long time before he dared to pull his legs out from under the blanket.
He slipped on his slippers, hurried to the door, and shut it.
"Phew..." Only after closing it did he let out a long breath. "That's much better."
Just then, a sudden sound nearly scared him to death.
"Ring, ring, ring—"
"Ring, ring, ring—"
It was the phone on his bedside table. The caller ID showed Lin Yue'er.
Yuwen Hao hurried back to the bed and answered, pulling the blanket back over most of his body.
"Hello? Yue'er?" He gripped the receiver tightly.
The other end was quiet for a long while. Then came the sound of labored breathing. After several breaths, Lin Yue'er's faint voice finally came through the receiver.
"Yuwen Hao... I... I'm a little scared right now. I don't dare speak loudly..."
Yuwen Hao frowned, lowering his own voice as well. "What's wrong?"
"It's like... it's like someone's under my bed..."
"I didn't dare turn off the light tonight... I've just been lying in bed with the blanket over me, and then... then I heard something under the bed..."
"That scraping sound... like clothes rubbing against the floor. At first I thought I'd imagined it... but then it happened again..."
"It was right behind me, the sound coming from under the bed... almost right beside my ear..."
Lin Yue'er fell silent again.
Yuwen Hao waited a long time before her voice came back. "It just happened again!"
"Don't be afraid," Yuwen Hao reassured her softly. "Where are you now? Still in bed?"
"Mm... I don't dare move. I was going to get out just now, but I saw a hand pull back under the bed... Ugh, I'm scared it'll drag me underneath if I get down. I can only use the phone on my bedside table to call you..."
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