The strange girl

At this time last night, a strange young girl had knocked on the door, saying she was looking for Li Xiumei.

Tonight, at the same time, someone knocked again.

Meng Yifan and I exchanged a glance, then went straight to the door and took turns looking through the peephole.

Sure enough, it was that same twitchy young girl.

She had actually come back!

The girl was still knocking, but she said nothing.

I told Meng Yifan she was the one who had come looking for Li Xiumei last night.

Like me, Meng Yifan hated being woken up. He sounded thoroughly annoyed. "You already told her last night that Li Xiumei doesn't live here. What's wrong with her?"

Then he actually opened the door before I could stop him.

The instant it opened, my heart leaped into my throat. I couldn't shake the feeling that opening this door would unleash something terrifying.

But apparently, I was overthinking it.

Nothing terrifying happened after the door opened.

The girl stood outside, with long, jet-black hair, an innocent face, and a tall, slender figure.

She was dressed exactly as she had been last night: a long black dress and a pair of red high heels.

Even though nothing terrifying had happened, I still felt a faint chill.

I had explained everything to her last night. Why had she come back tonight?

Meng Yifan didn't give it that much thought. "Who are you looking for?" he asked irritably.

The girl's face was expressionless, her eyes seemingly unfocused. "I'm looking for Li Xiumei. Is Li Xiumei home?"

It was exactly the same answer, word for word, as last night.

It was as though she was repeating last night.

Meng Yifan planted his hands on his hips. "Miss, you already came asking last night. The person you're looking for isn't here. What are you doing back here?"

Her response was the same as last night, too. She stopped speaking.

Meng Yifan was more impatient than I was, and he wanted to get back to sleep. "Don't come back again. The person you're looking for isn't here. Stop disturbing people when they're trying to sleep."

With that, he moved to shut the door.

But the girl suddenly reached out with her right hand and gripped the door, stopping him from closing it.

The sudden move gave me a real fright.

Meng Yifan looked at her in confusion and frowned. "What the hell do you want? Are you crazy? Keep harassing us and I'll call the police. Try me."

The girl still said nothing. Her right hand held the door while her left slowly rose.

I noticed how pale her skin was-paler than a corpse that had spent days in the morgue.

She raised her left hand and pointed toward the master bedroom.

I instinctively glanced back at it.

By the time I turned around again, Meng Yifan had already forced the door shut, swearing under his breath.

"There must be something wrong with that woman's head."

"Anyway, we're only staying here tonight. Let's go back to sleep."

I quickly caught his arm. "Why don't we sleep in another room?"

Why had that girl pointed toward the master bedroom?

And the cement footprints I had seen earlier had disappeared right outside its door.

The couple who currently owned the place also thought something was wrong with the master bedroom. That was why they had made a scene at our agency.

I didn't believe in the supernatural, but one strange incident after another was bound to make anyone uneasy.

So I wanted to sleep in another room.

"Come on, man. That couple thinks there's something wrong with the master bedroom. If we don't sleep there, what was the point of coming?"

Meng Yifan sounded exasperated with me. "If we can't prove there's nothing wrong with that room, we won't just lose the commission on this place. Our agency's reputation will take a hit, too. And you'll be out nearly ten thousand yourself, second-in-command."

Without giving me a chance to argue, he dragged me straight into the master bedroom.

The guy seemed utterly carefree. He slept every bit as well as I did, dropping off the moment he lay down.

I was too unsettled. After thinking it over, I got up and locked the master bedroom door from the inside before returning to bed.

If I had been alone that night, there was no way I would have dared to keep sleeping in that room.

But having a burly, six-foot man lying beside me offered some comfort.

Perhaps I had drunk too much earlier, because before long, I fell asleep too.

There was a strange state people sometimes slipped into while sleeping: after being woken by a full bladder, they thought they had already gone to the bathroom. They could even remember going there and peeing, when in reality they hadn't gone anywhere, and their bladder was still full.

That was exactly the state I was in.

I didn't know whether I was dreaming or awake when I suddenly heard a tap, tap, tap...

It sounded like someone walking in high heels.

But I couldn't tell whether I was dreaming or someone really was walking around the room.

My mind was lost in a haze.

Besides that sound, I heard another.

This one was even stranger, like a plasterer spreading cement over a wall with a tool. And it, too, sounded right beside my ear.

Gradually, my mind grew clearer, and I picked up another sound-one that made my hair stand on end.

It was the TV!

The TV had turned itself on again!

I jolted and sat bolt upright in fright, just as I had last night, instantly wide awake.

Then I realized I had been sleepwalking again.

The living room TV was playing a show, and the cement footprints that had disappeared were back in their original positions.

A chill rose up my back like a bitter wind in the depths of winter, pinning me to the sofa.

But I had no time to dwell on my fear. My first instinct was to get Meng Yifan to come and see it, to prove I hadn't been lying.

Then I noticed something even more horrifying.

Meng Yifan was sitting in the living room, too. I was at one end, and he was at the other.

He sat perfectly upright, his eyes tightly closed, holding the TV remote.

He was "watching" TV with his eyes closed.