Strange Events in Room 202

Chapter 16

Two days before their trip, Gu Xing and Yang Mian arrived at the apartment. Yang Mian remembered that he needed to ask his father for money for the trip, so he dialed his father's number.

"Hello, Dad, this is Yang Mian."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Here's the thing, I'm thinking of going on a trip with my classmates during the May Day holiday. Could you send me some more money?"

"What?" someone on the other end of the phone exclaimed. "You're always thinking about having fun and you keep asking me for money. Do you know that some college students don't need their families' money at all and work to support themselves? But you, after only a few days, are asking me for money."

"Dad, give me some, my sister is going too, you can ask her if you don't believe me." Yang Mian brought up Yang Yi as well, and Yang Yi quickly waved her hands vigorously in front of Yang Mian.

"I don't want to ask anymore. I'll give you a few thousand dollars tomorrow, do you want it?"

"What? This is all the money you have? It won't even be salty enough to buy salt."

"It's up to you whether you want it or not, that's settled." The other end of the line hung up immediately after saying that.

Yang Mian reluctantly put down the microphone and looked at Gu Xing. Gu Xing shook his head: "We don't need any more money. We're going to the countryside for fun, so we don't need much money at all."

Yang Mian didn't say anything and sat back down on the sofa. At this moment, Xu Chen came out of Yang Yi's room, which startled Yang Mian and Gu Xing.

"You... how did you get here?" Yang Mian pointed at Xu Chen, utterly astonished.

“The dorms at school aren’t as comfortable as yours, so of course I moved here.”

Yang Yi also came out of the kitchen: "Yes, Sister Xu Chen lives with me."

"No way?" Yang Mian exclaimed.

Xu Chen smiled and brought up a topic that Yang Mian was interested in: "How many people are going to Zhang Da's house the day after tomorrow?"

When Yang Mian heard the topic of travel, he couldn't help but answer happily, "There are eleven of us, including Xiao Hui, Fang Yi, you, Feng An, and my sister."

"It's ten, brother. Can you even count?" Yang Mian corrected him after hearing Yang Mian's words.

"Is it ten? How could I have counted to eleven?" Yang Mian asked, puzzled.

Gu Xing then looked at Yang Mian and said, "I'm a little worried about Xu Chen going too."

"Why?" Xu Chen pouted in dissatisfaction.

Gu Xing didn't look at her, but lit a cigarette and said, "Who knows what you'll do to scare us then."

“No, it’ll be more lively if Sister Xu Chen comes along, brother, don’t you think?” Yang Yi said, glancing at Yang Mian. Yang Mian was still counting on his fingers, muttering, “One, two…wait, how did I end up with eleven?”

Seeing Yang Mian's unusual behavior, Gu Xing naturally thought of Xu Chen and glanced at her. Xu Chen was quietly watching television, ignoring everyone else.

The day finally arrived. Yang Mian and the others loaded their luggage into the train car piece by piece. Xu Chen and Yang Yi chatted the whole time, while Gu Xing kept glancing at her. What exactly would happen? Thinking of this, Gu Xing felt a surge of excitement.

"Alright!" Yang Mian shouted happily, "Let's go, everyone get on the bus!"

Everyone boarded the bus one after another. Yang Mian counted the number of people beside the bus, "One, two... nine, ten, eleven, okay, that's enough, let's go."

Yang Mian was the last to board the bus, but he found that only a few college students were on board. Yang Mian immediately felt as if they had chartered the entire bus, and he was very proud of himself. He and Xiao Hui sat in the front, and at this moment he noticed the driver, who was expressionless and seemed like a lost soul.

After Gu Xing sat down, Xu Chen came over and sat with him. Yang Yi sat nervously behind them. Zhang Da sat alone in the back row with a book. Feng An and Li Xu sat behind Da Kai and Fang Yi. Da Kai kept turning around and cursing, "You two bitches."

The car started moving. According to Zhang Da, the journey would take a day. Xu Chen sat next to Gu Xing and chatted incessantly with Yang Yi, making it difficult for Gu Xing to fall asleep. Gu Xing kept staring at Xu Chen, who seemed to understand what he meant and made a face at Gu Xing.

Yang Mian and Xiao Hui were chatting happily in the front row when Xiao Hui looked back and said to Yang Mian, "Your sister seems to like Gu Xing, but Gu Xing doesn't seem to be interested in her."

"She's still young, why say such things?" Yang Mian said, then looked back, and suddenly felt an impulse, so he counted the number of people: "One, two... eleven."

Xiao Hui also looked back and asked Yang Mian, "What are you counting?"

"Number of people? I keep counting, but there are only eleven people."

Xiao Hui silently counted them and said, "Ten people, how can there be eleven people?"

"Forget it, let's not worry about it." Yang Mian and Xiao Hui sat down to continue their conversation.

The car had been traveling for about ten hours, and it was already dark when it stopped by the side of the mountain road. The driver stood up and said, "Alright, we've arrived at the terminal. You can get off now."

Da Kai woke up Fang Yi, Feng An, and the others. Gu Xing also woke up Yang Yi. Seeing that Xu Chen was also sleeping quietly beside him, Gu Xing helplessly nudged her. Upon closer inspection, Xu Chen was indeed very beautiful and charming. He couldn't bear to wake her up for a moment, but stared at her for a long time. Yang Yi saw this and angrily nudged Gu Xing, saying, "Get off the bus and wake up Sister Xu Chen."

Gu Xing gave a wry smile, woke Xu Chen, then stood up and saw Zhang Da was still asleep. He went over and nudged him, finding him drowsy and disoriented. Just then, the driver angrily urged them to get off the bus. Left with no other option, Gu Xing and Feng An helped Zhang Da off the bus. Once everyone had their luggage, the bus drove off in a flash.

He cursed loudly for a few minutes, then walked over and slapped Zhang Da's face. Only then did Zhang Da come to his senses. He looked around and saw that the roadside was full of mountains, with only a small path leading to some unknown place.

"Where am I?" Zhang Da asked, looking completely bewildered.

"What? I thought it was your rural hometown." Gu Xing stared at him with wide eyes, and everyone immediately deflated and sat down on the ground.

"Where are we now?" Zhang Da asked again.

He roared, "I was about to ask you that too!"

Xu Chen glanced at the path beside the highway, then turned around and said, "There's a road here, it looks like a driveway."

Gu Xing also walked over and took a look. He saw that this path was wider than the usual mountain path, and there were traces of vehicles passing by.

“It looks like we’ll have to spend the night here. There might be a village in there. Let’s go in and see if we can find a place to stay for the night.” Gu Xing picked up his luggage, but Xu Chen stood in front of him, handing him the luggage and looking at him with wide eyes. Gu Xing reluctantly took the luggage and led everyone forward into the depths of the path.

After walking for a while, they noticed a fence in the nearby orchard and some discarded household items by the roadside, proving that people did indeed live there. As Gu Xing and his companions were chatting and laughing happily, a man approached from a distance. Judging from the distance, he appeared to be over seventy years old.

Who will negotiate with that person? Gu Xing looked at Xu Chen, Yang Mian, Da Kai, and Li Xu were also looking at her.

"Why me? Why make a girl do it? Aren't you ashamed?" Xu Chen saw Gu Xing and the others looking at her and guessed that they wanted her to negotiate with the old man.

“Miss Xu is absolutely right,” Feng An stepped forward and said. “I am not very talented, but I am willing to use my silver tongue…”

"Okay, okay. Go ahead, go ahead." Gu Xing and the others saw that Feng An had volunteered, so they pushed him forward before he could finish speaking.

Feng An took a few steps forward and stopped, straightened his clothes, and then, with great annoyance, urged, "Hurry up, what are you dawdling for?"

Feng An politely turned around and looked at Da Kai, gave a wry smile, shook his head, and walked towards the old man. Gradually, Feng An could see the old man's appearance clearly. He had a full head of white hair, and the wrinkles on his face were all wrinkled together, making it almost impossible to see his face clearly. Feng An bowed to him and said, "Old man, I pay my respects."

"What did you say?" The old man didn't know what Feng An was talking about, and just stood there looking at him strangely.

“Old man, we are passing through your esteemed place and have nowhere to stay. Could we please ask to stay the night? We will continue our journey tomorrow morning.”

The old man waved his hand and said, "I don't understand what you're saying."

After hearing what the old man had said, Feng An patiently repeated, "My name is Feng An, courtesy name Shunfu. I am traveling here with a friend..."

Da Kai couldn't hold back any longer. He rushed over, pulled Feng An aside, and said to the old man, "Uncle, we are college students. We got on the wrong bus and ended up here. We don't know if there is a hotel here."

"Oh, I see. There are no hotels here, but my house is very big, so you can stay there."

"Thank you so much!" Da Kai said happily, then turned around and gestured for Gu Xing and the others to follow. He then walked up the mountain with the old man.

Along the way, Gu Xing and the others kept chatting with the old man and learned that his wife had died ten years ago and he only had a daughter living with him. However, his daughter had disappeared a year ago and had not returned yet. After hearing this, Gu Xing and the others felt sorry for the old man and comforted him for a while.

The group walked higher and higher, and when they reached the halfway point of the mountain, they saw several lights at the foot of the mountain. The old man said that it was the village at the foot of the mountain, but the villagers were all barbarians and very unfriendly. He told Gu Xing and his group not to provoke the villagers at the foot of the mountain.

After walking for a few more minutes, a large villa stood before us. The house was entirely in the European style, with eight floors, magnificent and spectacular. Moss grew on the walls around the house, indicating that it had a certain history.

When Gu Xing and the others saw the Western-style house, they all exclaimed "Wow!" in unison.

Gu Xing, Da Kai, and Fang Yi followed the old man into the house, while the others stayed outside, looking around for a long time before finally entering. As soon as Yang Yi entered, she saw a photo frame on the table. The photo showed a woman, but a stain obscured her features, making it impossible for her to make out what she looked like. Gu Xing then pulled her aside and secretly told her that before Yang Yi and the others entered, the old man had told him that the woman in the photo was his daughter. Hearing this, Yang Yi stopped looking at the photo, feeling a pang of pity for the old man.

An hour later, the old man led Gu Xing and the others from the living room to the dining room. The table was already set with food. The old man warmly invited them to sit down and said with some emotion, "For the past year, since my daughter went missing, I have been eating here alone. It is rare to have so many people come to keep me company. I am so happy."

Seeing the old man's excitement, Gu Xing stood up again and helped him sit down. Then, everyone happily began to eat. Yang Mian asked the old man's name, and it turned out that his name was Chen Shou. Gu Xing and the others also exchanged names. After eating for a while, Chen Shou stared at Yang Yi in a daze. He stared so intently that Yang Yi felt embarrassed, and then Chen Shou said, "You look so much like my daughter."

Gu Xing thought that the old man was longing for his daughter and that his eyesight was failing, so he must have seen wrong. He deliberately started talking to Chen Shou to distract him, but Chen Shou's eyes kept glancing at Yang Yi.

After finishing their meal, Chen Shou arranged rooms for Gu Xing and the others. Yang Yi was the last one to be assigned a room. Chen Shou led her to the deepest room on the second floor. Before going to bed, Chen Shou called everyone over and instructed them not to wander around at night.

Upon hearing this, Da Kai thought: What do they take us for? We're not thieves. After Chen Shou finished speaking, Da Kai went back to his room and fell asleep immediately.

Yang Mian waited in the room for a while, then went to Gu Xing's room. Gu Xing asked him curiously, "What are you doing? Why aren't you asleep?"

"This house is so big, it might hold some secrets. Why don't we go explore it?"

"You're still young, go to sleep. You need to catch the bus early tomorrow morning."

Seeing that Gu Xing didn't want to go, Yang Mian left his room somewhat disappointed. Turning around, he saw Xu Chen standing behind him, which startled him. Xu Chen smiled and said, "Didn't you just want to go on an adventure? I'll go with you." Yang Mian nodded happily and walked with Xu Chen into the dark room.

The two looked around for a long time, having seen all eight floors, but found nothing interesting or strange. Disappointed, Yang Mian and Xu Chen returned to the first floor, where they saw some candlelight in the living room. They secretly went over to look and saw Chen Shou constantly wiping the photo frame, getting more and more enthusiastic as he did so. Yang Mian and Xu Chen looked for a long time but didn't see anything unusual. At this moment, Xu Chen tugged at Yang Mian's sleeve. When Yang Mian looked at her, he saw her looking at him sleepily and saying, "I'm sleepy."

Yang Mian went to check on Chen Shou again. He was still wiping things down, and there was nothing unusual. So he said to Xu Chen, "Me too. Anyway, there's nothing strange going on. Let's go." After saying that, the two of them went back to their rooms.

In the morning, Gu Xing woke up and opened the door. Chen Shou was standing there with wide eyes. Gu Xing was still a little sleepy after waking up, but Chen Shou startled him awake. He was a little angry, but he still forced a smile and said to Chen Shou, "Ah, Uncle Chen, is there something you need?"

"Have you seen my daughter?" Chen Shou's face remained expressionless.

"No, didn't you say she was missing?"

"She's back."

Gu Xing was a little scared after hearing this and didn't know what to say. Chen Shou slowly walked away, and Gu Xing, worried that something might happen, followed behind.

Chen Shou went to the living room and saw Yang Mian and Xiao Hui again. He asked the same question again, but Yang Mian and Xiao Hui did not answer. They looked at him strangely. Chen Shou was stunned for a while, then walked outside the house. Gu Xing walked up to Yang Mian and Xiao Hui and bumped into Xu Chen and Fang Yi coming out of the house. Gu Xing said to everyone, "Let's go out and see. It seems like something is wrong with Uncle Chen."

Gu Xing and the others went outside. Feng An and Li Xu were looking at the scenery on the mountain when Chen Shou walked over. This time, he was a little excited and said to them, "You...you've seen my daughter?"

"No, Uncle Chen, didn't your daughter go missing?"

"No!" Chen Shou suddenly roared, "She's back again."

Chen Shou suddenly grabbed Li Xu: "Tell me, tell me quickly, where is my daughter? Where did you hide her?"

Chen Shou's voice was loud and clear, unlike that of a man in his sixties or seventies. Li Xu was startled by the sudden turn of events and didn't know what to do. Feng An quickly said from the side, "Old man, please calm down and don't hurt anyone."

Gu Xing and Yang Mian saw this and rushed over to help pull Chen Shou away. At this moment, Chen Shou seemed to have superhuman strength, shaking off Gu Xing and the others, and walked in front of Fang Yi. Fang Yi was so frightened that she quickly stepped back. Chen Shou approached step by step, repeatedly asking, "My daughter, my daughter."

After asking around for a while, Chen Shou turned to Xu Chen and asked again, "Have you seen my daughter?"

“I saw it,” Xu Chen said without changing his expression, then pointed upwards: “She went up to the roof.”

"Really?" Chen Shou became excited and opened his mouth, revealing only a few teeth, some black and some yellow.

Xu Chen nodded, and Chen Shou let out a howl and rushed towards the wall of the house. In an instant, he climbed up the wall, spread his limbs, and climbed upwards like a spider. Although there was moss, he climbed very fast, calling out as he climbed: "Daughter..."

Chen Shou climbed very nimbly and quickly, reaching the top of the eight-story building in just over ten seconds, leaving only some shallow footprints. Gu Xing and the others stood there dumbfounded, speechless.

"How long do you want to watch? Hurry up and pack your things and leave."

Xu Chen's words reminded everyone. They all went back to their rooms to pack their things and notified Da Kai, Zhang Da, Yang Yi, and others. After they finished packing and came out of their rooms, they were about to leave when they saw Xu Chen standing in the living room, looking at the things on the table. Gu Xing went over and said, "Are you leaving or not? If that old man comes down from the roof, I'll leave you here."

Xu Chen smiled and pointed to the photo on the table, saying, "How interesting."

Gu Xing looked in the direction she was pointing and was immediately stunned.

Yang Mian and Da Kai, along with the others, saw Gu Xing freeze in place after seeing the photo on the table. Curious, they all went over to look at the photo as well. They found that the stains on the photo frame were gone, and the girl in the photo was Yang Yi! In fact, she looked exactly like Yang Yi.

As they stared blankly at the photos, Xu Chen had already taken his luggage to the door and turned back to Gu Xing and the others, saying, "Are you leaving or not? If that old man comes down from the roof, I'll leave you here."