Everyone Seems Pretty Busy

The landlord was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties. He seemed very outgoing, and he never stopped talking.

"Honestly, I've really been wronged. My apartments used to be spotless, but two years ago, two young guys moved in, and things haven't been peaceful around here since."

"I heard there were originally three of them, but one didn't work around here, so he went his separate way. The other two rented a room together here."

"One was called Li Dongqiang, and the other was Wang Erwa."

"At first, they were doing fine. But before they'd even been here a month, I saw their friend come by. He was in a panic, and his face was deathly pale!"

"That friend hurriedly dragged the two young men away, like he wanted them to stay at his place for a few days."

"A few days later, they came back, laughing and chatting like nothing had happened.

"But two months after that, I noticed something was wrong with them. They looked miserable. When I asked, I found out that their friend—the one who'd come by in a panic—had died somewhere outside..."

At that, Qing Huan grew agitated. The friend the landlord was talking about might very well have been Zhao Wen!

"I heard his death was pretty strange, too." The landlord shook his head as he spoke. "After that, the two young guys started acting strange as well."

"I don't know what got into them, but they started getting paranoid. They kept saying someone was spying on them."

"They wrecked my perfectly good apartment. They nailed boards over the windows! Didn't leave a single crack!"

"They even sealed the little ventilation window above the door with newspaper. And they stuffed the peephole with toilet paper. They left... not a single gap, you understand?"

Gu Mian nodded.

"But even that wasn't enough. Wang Erwa always felt like people were watching him from every direction, no matter where he went. He even went to see a spirit medium."

"That medium was no good, either. She made him this huge paper effigy and told him to carry it on his back to ward off disaster!"

"After that, Wang Erwa stopped going out. He spent all day at home with this deathly pale paper figure on his back. It was terrifying."

"And Li Dongqiang was even worse than Wang Erwa. He thought someone was watching him, so he desperately tried to squeeze into small spaces, like a cat. You know what I mean?"

Gu Mian nodded.

"At first, he hid in the wardrobe, but it was too big, so he hid under the table. But there was too much room under there, too."

"Then he actually stuffed himself into the little cabinet on top of the table. You know those little cabinets, right? Good grief! Even a child would have trouble getting in, but this grown man, over five foot seven, somehow managed it."

"I don't know how he got himself in there. He curled up so tightly that he even shed a layer of skin!"

"But he still thought the cabinet was too big. He actually tried to squeeze into the sewer! That would've killed him!"

"We fought like hell to hold him back. He looked furious and moved out of my place, renting an apartment not far away."

"Li Dongqiang moved out, but Wang Erwa stayed here. I kept a close eye on him because I was afraid he might do something drastic one day."

"But watching him didn't help. Not long after Li Dongqiang moved out, Wang Erwa died in his bed."

"When we found his body, we saw that he'd tied himself tightly to the paper figure with a rope, as if it had grown onto his back."

"Ah..."

The landlord sighed.

Qing Huan's expression was awful.

He was smart enough to figure out who was following him without giving it a second thought—Wang Erwa.

The tall, twisted white figure behind him was Wang Erwa's paper effigy. He feared that the moment it made full contact with his back, he would die.

The thought sent a chill down Qing Huan's spine.

Gu Mian asked, "What about Li Dongqiang? Do you know which apartment he moved to?"

The landlord thought for a moment. "I think it was Hejia Apartment, not far to the east. I heard he died later, too... What a creepy business..."

The two exchanged a glance. That was the apartment building where Lin Yue'er lived.

It was 3:05, so they still had time.

They hurried to Hejia Apartment, where Lin Yue'er lived.

Yuwen Hao and the other two didn't seem to have investigated this far yet. The landlord looked a little curious when they arrived.

"Hello," Gu Mian said to the landlord. "We're friends of Lin Yue'er. She seems to have run into something supernatural here recently, and we'd like to ask you a few questions."

The landlord was a young woman who didn't seem to be married yet. The apartments here had probably been passed down through her family.

She nodded readily. "What would you like to know?"

"This was about two years ago. Do you remember a tenant called Li Dongqiang?"

At the name, the young woman reacted strongly and nodded vigorously. "Of course I remember! My dad hadn't given me the apartments yet, but I remember that man perfectly!"

"When he showed up, I could tell something was off. He looked so nervous, like a fugitive on the run."

"But his ID checked out, and we couldn't refuse him without a reason, so we took his money and let him stay."

"He paid six months' rent upfront. I thought it was strange, since our tenants usually paid month by month, but he paid for six months all at once."

"At first, I couldn't figure out why. But later, I understood."

"He was sick! He was afraid we'd kick him out when his lease ended!"

"He barely went outside. When he absolutely had to, he'd wrap himself up from head to toe and keep swiveling his head around, terrified someone might spot him."

"That wasn't even the worst of it. He had this odd habit of squeezing into small spaces. Once he got in, he'd stay there for the whole day."

"He wrecked the cabinets on the tables, the shoe cabinets, the cupboards—anything we rented out to him!"

"You know how tough it is in our line of work. If something goes wrong in one apartment, the whole building's reputation suffers."

"He was so bizarre, and honestly pretty scary. My dad was frightened of him, too, so he wanted him to move out."

"He even offered him money to cover the penalty for breaking the lease, but the guy absolutely refused to leave. He insisted on staying. My dad went over there every few days to talk him into moving."

"Then one day..."

"My dad went to see him again, but he couldn't find him anywhere in the apartment."

"At first, we thought he'd gone out. But we waited several days and still didn't see him. It was summer, so you know how bad the smell got?"

"We hadn't seen him for days, and then the apartment started to stink."

"My dad suspected he'd died inside, so he searched every place he could think of, but he couldn't find anything."

"A few more days went by, and the apartment stank worse and worse. It was absolutely unbearable, so we had no choice but to call the police."

"The police found him under the bed..."

"There was less than four inches of space under it. I don't know how he managed to squeeze himself in."

"The apartment was sealed up, and no one else had been inside. But when they found him, he was curled up all the way at the back, as if... he'd been hiding from something."