The Return of the Ghost Story

"You said this apartment was dangerous, but isn't it just an ordinary home?" Gao Ming looked as though he was determined to get himself killed, making the investigator even more anxious.

"The original resident of 2507 committed suicide. Please don't live here just because the rent is cheap." The investigator's face was disfigured, making his expression impossible to read, but the urgency in his voice made it clear that something was seriously wrong with apartment 2507.

"Why? Was Brother Zhao's death not an accident, but murder?"

"Don't ask why!" Sweat slid down his scars as the investigator pointed at his own horrifying face. "If you don't want to end up like me, move out right now!"

The investigator clearly knew something, which only made Gao Ming more curious. "You have to give us a reason, don't you?"

Anyone would have been reluctant to move out when told to do so without warning.

"It's not just you two. Until we identify the source of the anomaly, everyone on this floor needs to move out temporarily." The disfigured investigator had met Gao Ming the night before and knew he wouldn't be easy to fool. "You subdued the Rainy Night Killer. I admit you're brave, but some dangers are invisible! Those things are the real reason behind the string of murders in the Old City Harbor District!"

"By those things, you mean..." Gao Ming narrowed his eyes. Most people would have been frightened by the investigator's face, but he found the man fascinating.

"The more you know, the easier it is for them to latch onto you. Everything I've said and done has been for your own good, to protect you. I hope you'll trust me." The investigator pleaded earnestly, but Gao Ming and Xuan Wen remained unmoved. "You really won't learn until it's too late!"

Gao Ming slowly lowered his head. He wasn't sure whether the sight of a coffin would make him cry, but Xuan Wen would probably treat one like a capsule hotel. She certainly wouldn't shed a tear.

"If you absolutely refuse to move out, then you must remember what I'm about to tell you." Unable to persuade them to leave, the investigator could only offer some warnings. "Replace everything in the apartment that the deceased used as soon as possible. Whether it's day or night, never imitate anything he did while he was alive, and above all, never let yourself experience the same emotions he did."

"I understand replacing his belongings, but what do you mean by not imitating him?" Gao Ming was puzzled. "If we experience the same emotions in the place where he died, will he come back?"

The investigator neither answered nor denied it. Once he finished speaking, he headed upstairs, apparently to investigate something there.

"This investigator from Xinhu seems to know a lot." Xuan Wen quietly walked behind Gao Ming, her gaze dangerous and alluring. "Now there's no one left to interrupt us."

She closed the security door and gently moved closer to Gao Ming, her lips stirring slightly. "You can think of the games you created as the overlap between two worlds, and yourself as the key that activates them ahead of time. What we need to do is simple: in the haunted home where the deceased lived, repeat his old life, experience his emotions, and become him completely. Then the obsessions, malice, pain, and regrets he left between the two worlds will find their own way back, forcing the ghost story to begin with you at its center."

"That sounds awfully familiar." The investigator's warnings were still ringing in Gao Ming's ears. "Lady, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Xuan Wen faltered briefly at what Gao Ming called her, but she still explained patiently. "Ghost story games are the most terrifying of all. Once one takes full shape, fear will take root in everyone who has heard the story and eat away at their hearts. We have no way to deal with that. So there's only one path open to us: trigger it early and kill it in its cradle. I know this is dangerous, and people might die. But if we do nothing, ten times—even a hundred times—as many people will die later!"

Xuan Wen had a point. At this stage, even the warped versions of a few little family games and dating games were already terrifying. Once those ghost story games fully merged with the city, Gao Ming would face something far more dangerous.

"Some things can't be avoided."

"All right. I'll give it a try."

Under Xuan Wen's guidance, Gao Ming sat before the living room mirror, holding a blank memorial portrait.

All the lights in the apartment were switched off, and four white candles were lit in the room's four corners.

Flames flickered in the darkness. Rain fell, thunder roared, and occasional flashes of lightning streaked across the sky.

Steadying his breathing, Gao Ming closed his eyes and recalled everything he knew about the deceased.

Brother Zhao's full name was Zhao Xi. He had been an abandoned baby whom the old woman on the third floor had found beside a rubbish heap. He had never attended school and had worn tattered clothes throughout his childhood. The children in the courtyard and the old woman's second son had often bullied him, but he had never fought back.

After growing up, Zhao Xi had worked as a porter in the harbor district to pay his younger brother's and sister's school fees. He had worked tirelessly without complaint, supporting the whole family.

Though life was exhausting, Zhao Xi had always been cheerful and greeted everyone he met. Even the children who had bullied him in the courtyard now called him Brother Zhao with respect.

As the days passed, Zhao Xi had become the kindest person in Lijing Apartments. He had never married or started a family of his own, but whenever a neighbor had trouble, he would lend a hand if he could. Later, when his younger brother broke the law and went to prison, Zhao Xi had also stayed home to look after his Adoptive Mother and pregnant sister-in-law.

By all accounts, such an optimistic, resilient man would never have chosen suicide. The neighbors had all found it unbelievable. Only Gao Ming had noticed some warning signs beforehand.

Years of heavy manual labor had left Zhao Xi in poor health. After he injured his leg the previous year, the factory had fired him.

Uneducated, with a disabled leg and poor health, Zhao Xi had struggled to find work. Yet staying home had only earned him cold looks and criticism from his sister-in-law and Adoptive Mother.

Zhao Xi had known he was a foundling. More than anyone, he had wanted acceptance and longed for a real family. But no one respected him, and he had no real outlet for his emotions. He could only cling to his phone. Perhaps, to him, even his phone understood him better than his family did.

All the optimism, resilience, and warmth he showed others had largely been a disguise he forced upon himself. He hadn't wanted to be "abandoned" again.

But the more he thought that way, the more he suffered inside.

He could see no hope, had no power to change anything, and had become a burden—until, in the end, he began to loathe himself.

The temperature began to drop slowly, and all kinds of negative emotions welled up.

Sitting in the living room, Gao Ming felt as though he had returned to the night Zhao Xi killed himself.

The lights were off, and the oppressive clouds let through not a glimmer of light. There was no rope around his neck, yet breathing grew harder and harder. He touched his neck with both hands as an uncontrollable disgust rose from deep within him.

Neither the windows nor the door offered a way out. He seemed trapped in a corner everyone had forgotten, with no one there but himself—a helpless self.

His head hurt, his heart raced, and his brain seemed broken. He couldn't sleep. All he wanted was to keep his eyes open and tear at his memories.

The world in the mirror began to distort. Shadows flooded the room like a rising tide, and regrets and obsessions seeped deep into his soul.

A familiar chill crawled up his spine. Gao Ming opened his eyes. Every candle in the living room had gone out, and shadows engulfed all of apartment 2507!

He raised his head to look at the mirror, his pupils constricting. The full-length mirror reflected a twisted world turned upside down.

Bang!

Before Gao Ming could react, a tremendous crash came from downstairs. He hurried onto the balcony to look.

In the courtyard of Lijing Apartments, beside the stairwell entrance to Building Two, lay a corpse with twisted limbs and a broken neck. It was staring straight at the balcony of 2507.

(End of chapter)