Night Doll - Chapter 31
"Yes, you can just call me Xiao Mo. Your apartment is nice, and the environment is quite quiet..." Song Xiao Mo said some polite words, then added somewhat awkwardly, "However... I probably can't afford to rent such a nice apartment..."
The old lady smiled, revealing her toothless mouth: "Price is not a problem. Let's just calculate it at the price of a regular one-bedroom apartment, okay?"
Song Xiaomo was overjoyed and nodded vigorously.
"Come, let me show you the room first!" The old lady hunched over and walked forward slowly.
The entrance led to a long corridor piled with old furniture and miscellaneous items. The room was dimly lit, quiet, and somewhat chilly. The wooden floorboards made a hollow, monotonous sound underfoot, like the heavy heartbeats of the two people. For some reason, Song Xiaomo felt as if he had entered an ancient underground palace. He was slightly afraid, but the old lady's kind smile dispelled his fear.
After crossing the corridor and entering a room, the old lady reached out and felt around on the wall for a while, and then the whole room suddenly lit up.
Song Xiaomo was momentarily taken aback, blinking for a while before finally noticing a light on the ceiling. He roughly estimated the room to be about 60 or 70 square meters. The furniture was complete, including a large black sofa and a 19-inch television hanging on the wall in front of it. However, the walls were covered in dust and years of accumulated stains, and parts of the ceiling were peeling off, giving it a mottled appearance.
He walked around the room a few times and found a staircase in the right corner leading upstairs, separated by a wooden door, suggesting it might be a duplex. The bedroom was large and well-designed, providing excellent sleep. The kitchen had a gas stove and a refrigerator; he opened the refrigerator and saw it was still emitting cold air. Perhaps due to being vacant for so long, the house had a musty smell that made him feel a tightness in his chest.
"This is it!" The old lady smiled at him and explained, "This room hasn't been lived in for a long time, it's a bit dirty, but it'll be fine after a clean! How does it feel?"
"It's alright, quite spacious!"
"When are you moving in?"
"It will be soon, at the latest this afternoon!"
"OK."
"By the way, are you all alone in this villa?" Song Xiaomo felt that the old lady was quite lonely.
"No, there are six of us in total, including you!"
Song Xiaomo didn't ask anything more, chatted for a few more minutes, and then left the villa.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, An Qiqi arrived at HY University again. Park Eun-hee had just gone to class, and Song Xiaomo was tidying up her things in her room.
"This place is unbearable to live in, it's like a cage. I'm moving out today no matter what..." Song Xiaomo said as she packed up, chatting with An Qiqi about her recent experiences and feelings.
An Qiqi sat on the sofa, listening quietly. He went through the events that had happened to Song Xiaomo in his mind, but he still couldn't make sense of it. Although he repeatedly emphasized that those terrifying phenomena were all caused by Song Xiaomo's state of mind, he knew deep down that it might not be that simple. He couldn't rule out that something was secretly manipulating things. For example, Song Xiaomo said she saw Li Zhengzhen's suicide again, but then disappeared after returning. And what was the connection between Park Eun-hee's abnormal behavior last night?
After Song Xiaomo finished packing, it took the two of them quite a while to load the things into the car. Then, the Hyundai sped off towards No. 14 Muluan Avenue.
Forty minutes later, the car stopped in front of the villa.
The landlady and a middle-aged woman opened the door and came out.
"Hello, I've moved in. This is a friend of mine who came to help," Song Xiaomo introduced.
"Welcome. My surname is Zhang. You can call me Grandma Zhang from now on." The old lady nodded and then pointed to the middle-aged woman next to her, saying, "This is my family's housekeeper, Aunt Li."
Aunt Li was not tall. Her hair was tied up and pierced with a mahogany hairpin. There was a dark birthmark near the corner of her eye. Her sharp eyes were fixed on the two of them, and an unfathomable smile appeared on her lips.
"I'm sorry, I have to go buy fruit for my grandson, so I won't be able to keep you company." Grandma Zhang took a few steps with her basket, then turned back to Song Xiaomo and said, "If you need anything, you can go directly to Aunt Li. Now you can go with her to complete the formalities."
"OK, thanks!"
"Come with me!" Aunt Li led them into the villa.
The two of them followed closely behind, carrying two heavy travel bags.
Chapter 149: The Mysterious Night Doll (149)
"Please leave your luggage on the first floor. I live on the second floor. Please come to my room to complete the formalities."
"Okay." Song Xiaomo breathed a sigh of relief and said to An Qiqi, "You can wait for me here."
An Qiqi nodded in agreement.
"You don't seem to be Korean, do you?" Aunt Li asked as they walked.
“Yes, I’m Chinese!” Song Xiaomo chatted casually with Aunt Li, and before she knew it, she had climbed a spiral staircase, the iron railings covered in thick rust. After circling the staircase, she arrived at the second floor. Facing her was another long corridor, dimly lit. Aunt Li pressed a light switch on the wall, and the light came on. The sparse light dotted the dimness, but instead of dispelling the darkness, it gave a feeling of being swallowed up.
Just then, a series of crisp footsteps could be faintly heard from not far away, echoing strangely in the empty house.
"Who else lives here?" Song Xiaomo asked curiously.
"You'll see them later!" Aunt Li twisted the bolt and opened a door.
Song Xiaomo didn't ask any questions and followed Aunt Li into the room. The room was simply furnished, with only a large wooden bed, a few chairs, a rectangular table, and a large wardrobe. Song Xiaomo found a chair and sat down, watching Aunt Li bend over and rummage through the bed for a long time before taking out a yellowed register.
"Register here." She turned to a new page and handed it to Song Xiaomo.
The register was yellowed and had a strong musty smell. Holding her breath, Song Xiaomo quickly filled out the forms under Aunt Li's guidance.
"Alright, it's all over now. Go back and tidy up your room!"
"Where are my keys?"
"Oh." She pulled out a large bunch of keys, squinted and searched for a long time before handing one of them to Song Xiaomo with unusual seriousness. "Make sure you keep it safe."
"Okay, got it!" Song Xiaomo closed the door and left the room.
The overhead light was dim, illuminating a cloud of dust that looked like a thick fog. Just as he was waving his hand to clear the fog, he suddenly heard a strange sound.
—It was the sound of panting and footsteps.
He instinctively turned around, the light and shadow in the corridor were distorted, but there was no one there.
Could it be that persistent ghost from the dormitory, hiding in the back, has followed us again? He suddenly became nervous.
"There are six people living in this building. There are rooms on both sides of the corridor. Maybe the sound is coming from inside the room. Am I being too sensitive?" Song Xiaomo wondered to herself as she carefully walked downstairs and saw An Qiqi sitting on a round stool, smoking with her head down.
"What's wrong? Why is your face so pale?"
"I feel the air in this house is a bit strange."
"Old houses usually have this strange smell, it's normal!" Song Xiaomo said nonchalantly, then sneered, "Officer An, why have you become so paranoid lately?"
"Being suspicious is a characteristic of a police officer's profession."
"If only it were that simple."
An Qiqi immediately fell silent and buried her head in Song Xiaomo's room. Turning on the dim light, a cloud of dust immediately filled the air from the piled-up furniture. It took the two of them nearly three hours to clean away the dust that had accumulated over countless years and to rearrange the furniture.
"Finally, I have a new home. I don't have to worry about those scary things in the school dormitory anymore."
"I'm so tired! I should retreat now."
"Thank you so much for today! Let me treat you to dinner."
"Forget it, I don't think you'll be able to cook today..." With that, An Qiqi dragged her tired body out of the villa and got into the car...
As darkness fell, the villa fell silent. Song Xiaomo involuntarily closed her eyes and slowly sank into the depths of the night.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he vaguely heard some noise and immediately perked up his ears.
Oh my god! More panting and footsteps...
"Tap...tap...tap..."
Ghostly footsteps echoed in the darkness, treading on the floor and drifting through the entire house.
The sound wasn't coming from next door; it was coming from his own room!
A nameless terror washed over him, and Song Xiaomo felt as if thorns were piercing his brain with each breath. He abruptly turned his head to look to the side. In the dim light of the night, he saw a person lying on the black sofa! She was wearing a white dress, lying face up, flat and straight, like a corpse. Her face was even whiter than her dress.
"Who?" Song Xiaomo asked tremblingly.
The person did not answer, but slowly rose up and hovered in mid-air, slowly moving towards Song Xiaomo.
Song Xiaomo felt her bones go limp, and slowly turned her head to stare at her, completely dumbfounded.
The stiff, lifeless figure hovered above Song Xiaomo's head, face still upward, arms at his sides, long hair hanging down, touching Song Xiaomo's face...
He smelled a dry odor.
Suddenly, her body flipped over and remained suspended in mid-air.
Song Xiaomo saw her pale face, her eyes gleaming with a greenish light, constantly glancing sideways at a spot about a foot away from Song Xiaomo's head...
Song Xiaomo suddenly opened her eyes, waking up from a nightmare.
Everything was pitch black.
He stretched out a hand and touched the air, but found nothing, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
The surroundings were completely silent, like a tomb.
Before you knew it, a girl's soft voice came from the other side of the stairs: "You're back..."
The chilling voice reached his ears through the tightly closed wooden door, as if it were urgently beckoning him.
Song Xiaomo's scalp tingled, and she sat up abruptly, her eyes wide with shock...
He stared intently at the direction of the stairs by the door, his mind racing, and suddenly realized: there was someone inside!
Chapter 150: The Night Doll (150)
The light switch was on Song Xiaomo's bedside table, with a black rope hanging down. He reached out, touched it, and gently pulled it—
"Snap!"
The light is off.
"Is there a power outage?" he asked tentatively.
However, the sound seemed to provoke the "person" inside, who immediately said again, "You're back..."
Song Xiaomo was on the verge of collapse. He groped his way in the dark, inching closer to the bed, sticking his feet out and slipping them into his shoes. Then, he tiptoed toward the door. His legs were trembling violently, and his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his mouth... He had to escape as soon as possible.
Finally, he reached the door, took a deep breath, and pulled hard. With a creak, the door opened.
But...but...she was already standing right in front of him!
A chill that penetrated to the bone instantly spread throughout his body.
"Song Xiaomo!"
A muffled voice startled him. He looked closely and saw it was Aunt Li.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Song Xiaomo, still shaken, stammered, "My...my room...there's someone in the room!"
"Impossible, right?" Aunt Li looked surprised as well.
"It's on the stairs in my room... the stairs lead to... that side!"
“Absolutely impossible, there… there can’t be anyone in there!” Aunt Li looked at her with a strange expression and a solemn look.
Song Xiaomo observed all of this and realized there was definitely something wrong. It was clearly a duplex, so why was the room leading to the second floor closed? What secret was hidden there?