A terrifying story that took place in an abandoned apartment

Chapter 16

“An accident? But in any case, I have been to deserted villages, so I am also an ‘outsider’.”

"Are you worried about your own safety?" Ye Xiao paused for a moment. "No, you'll be fine."

"Who knows? Ye Xiao, can you help me investigate the past of the abandoned village apartment again? I believe many things must have happened here."

"Okay, I promise you. But you also have to promise me that you'll get out of that awful place as soon as possible."

"I will leave as soon as I discover that secret."

Faced with my stubbornness, Ye Xiao had nothing more to say, and we ended the call.

Leaving the window, the overhead light shone on my pale face. I recited the names of those college students—Huo Qiang, Han Xiaofeng, Su Tianping, and Chunyu. Now, two of them are dead, one has gone mad, and the fate of the remaining one is unknown. When they first came to me on the first day of this story, proposing their plan to explore the deserted village, I never dreamed it would end like this.

What exactly did they do to offend the deserted village?

Exhausted, I collapsed onto the bed, completely drained of energy. The air in the house made me drowsy. But having worked up a lot of sweat cleaning the house today, I struggled to get up and groped my way down the dark hallway to turn on the bathroom light.

The dim light illuminated the mirror, and then I poured a lot of dish soap into the bathtub, spending more than half an hour washing it clean. Luckily, it was hot, so I connected a showerhead and rinsed myself with cold water.

I returned to my room soaking wet, turned off the lights, and collapsed onto the folding bed.

In this dark room, the scent of ivy continued to linger around my nostrils, filling my body like a tide, making me slowly sink, sinking into the depths of the night.

I don't know how much time passed, but I awoke from the deep darkness, vaguely feeling a slight tremor beneath the folding bed. Suddenly, I opened my eyes, slowly rising in the pitch black. I felt my way to the doorway, held my breath, and listened intently—

"Tap...tap...tap..."

Yes, I heard that sound, ghostly footsteps in the darkness, seemingly treading on the floor of the ground floor lobby, drifting leisurely throughout the old house. I gently covered my mouth to keep myself from screaming.

But the sound continued, seemingly with some strange rhythm. My lips trembled slightly as I murmured, "Has the ball begun?"

A moment later, the footsteps seemed to float back up the stairs, and the sound seemed to spin again with the stairs. I stood in the dark corridor, unable to see anything—

Suddenly, a white shadow flashed past my eyes.

"who?"

I yelled and ran forward as fast as I could, but the shadow seemed to retreat further down the stairs. I couldn't see clearly in the dark stairwell, so I could only follow the sound of its footsteps as I ran down the spiral staircase.

There was no time to turn on the lights. By the faint moonlight streaming through the window, I gradually made out the slender figure in the ground floor lobby. I was almost able to catch up with the shadow when it suddenly disappeared into a room next to the lobby. I continued chasing it in and finally reached out and grabbed it.

I felt myself grabbing a young woman's arm.

"Let me go!"

Was that Xiaoqian's voice? I was stunned for a moment, but I couldn't see her face in the darkness, I could only hold her hand tightly.

When I turned on the light switch on the wall, I finally saw Xiaoqian's eyes. Her eyes were filled with such fear and pity, like a little doe captured by a hunter.

Looking into her eyes, I didn't say a word, just kept holding her tightly. She gradually calmed down, staring straight into my eyes, as if confronting me.

Finally, I spoke in her ear: "Xiaoqian, what are you doing here?"

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” She let out a long sigh. “Just now, I thought it was a ghost chasing me, but it turns out it was you.”

"Ghosts? Do you think there are really ghosts in this house?" I looked up at the large room, where a large fireplace was embedded in the wall, the very place where the Ouyang family took their family photo years ago.

"I don't know, I hope not."

I took her hand and led her out of the room: "Let's go upstairs."

Xiaoqian was wearing a white dress, and when she walked through the hall, she looked like a white shadow dancing gracefully.

As we climbed the spiral staircase, I led her to my room. She exclaimed in surprise, "You've moved in here?"

"Yes, I only have ten days. I must uncover the secrets of the deserted village before this house is demolished."

"At any cost?"

“Yes, at any cost.” I repeated her words firmly. Then, I checked the time; it was four in the morning. “Xiaoqian, what about you? Why are you here in the middle of the night?”

She avoided my gaze and said, "I had a nightmare."

"Nightmare?" Hearing that word in the middle of the night sent a chill down my spine. "Who did you dream about?"

I dreamt about you.

Xiaoqian stared blankly into my eyes, which startled me so much that I took a step back and stammered, "You mean, I appeared in your nightmare?"

"That's right."

I thought to myself with a self-deprecating smile: "Then wouldn't I become a monster?"

She nodded slightly and continued, "I dreamt that you were sleepwalking in the middle of the night... walking alone on the street... walking and walking in the darkness... until you reached this ruined road of rest... you silently entered the deserted apartment building... facing a mirror..."

Suddenly, she stopped talking, and I broke out in a cold sweat. I asked urgently, "What happened next?"

"Then—I woke up." She was panting heavily, her chest heaving as she leaned against the wall. "I couldn't rest easy, and I couldn't fall back asleep, so I ran over here."

"You're incredibly brave. A young girl like you, walking around in a place like this in the middle of the night, what if you run into bad guys? Your family must be worried sick."

Xiaoqian pursed her lips and coldly replied, "I have no family."

I shook my head and smiled, saying, "Could you really be Nie Xiaoqian from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio?"

"So what if it is?"

"Don't say such hurtful things. I'll take you home."

"I have no home." Xiaoqian's tone finally softened, her voice tinged with sorrow as she murmured, "I have no home... I have no home..."

Her expression grew increasingly sleepy, and she gradually closed her eyes, saying, "I'm so tired."

But there weren't even any chairs in my room, so I could only help her sit on the folding bed. Her body suddenly went limp; I figured she must be exhausted. After all, no one can stay awake so late at night.

I laid Xiaoqian flat on the folding bed and covered her with a blanket. She seemed to fall asleep quickly, her expression returning to peace, with a few strands of hair sticking to her forehead, just like Sleeping Beauty in a fairy tale.

Goodnight—I turned off the light, quietly left the room, and closed the door behind me. Then, I went down the spiral staircase and walked out of the deserted apartment through the back door.

Although I was incredibly sleepy, a chilly night wind swept me away. I wandered around the surrounding demolition sites, eventually reaching Anxi Road. From there, I looked back at the deserted apartment building, this lonely old house shrouded in darkness—like Dracula's Castle in the Transylvanian wilderness.

It's 4:20 a.m., the eighteenth day of this story.

Part Three, Day Thirteen, Section 29, Day Eighteen (1)

In the two hours before dawn, I wandered around several streets near Anse Road. I came to the old house where I lived as a child—no, now it can only be called ruins. I stepped on the rubble and ruins, trying to find something among the broken bricks: childhood toys, forgotten old photos, or simply memories.

At six o'clock in the morning, the sunlight slanted onto me as I returned to No. 13 Anxi Road. Passing through the devastated ruins, I entered the deserted apartment building in the morning light.

I figured Xiaoqian must still be fast asleep, so I tiptoed upstairs and gently pushed open the door. But the room was empty; the blanket was already folded and placed on the bed. I froze for a few seconds, then ran out of the room and called out to Xiaoqian loudly from the stairwell, but there was no reply. It seemed she had already left the deserted apartment.

I leaned against the window and took a deep breath, feeling as if her scent still lingered in the room. Then, a wave of drowsiness washed over me, and I lay down on the folding bed, face down, eyes closed, greedily inhaling the bed's fragrance.

The lingering scent of Xiaoqian flooded my body, immediately making me feel dizzy. It was as if a hand covered my eyes, gradually plunging me into darkness.

I didn't wake up until around noon, and after washing up, I ate breakfast in my room. Then, I sat down to unpack the things I had brought, including some books, clothes, and a large suitcase.

I carefully opened the box, which was stuffed with crumpled old newspapers. I slowly reached into the paper and pulled out a disc-shaped jade artifact. Soft sunlight streamed in through the window, causing the jade to reflect a strange white light. I then pulled out a second jade artifact, which looked like an axe; a third jade artifact resembled a large pen holder; a fourth jade artifact looked like a small black ghost; and the fifth was a jade dagger.

These mysterious jade artifacts came from a deserted village. Su Tianping stole them from the underground palace beneath the Jinshi Mansion, and he entrusted them to me the day before he died.

I don't know if these things are genuine, what era they're from, or even what their purpose is. But they come from that mysterious underground palace, and they may very well have some special connection to the secrets of the deserted village. Therefore, I must find out what's going on with these jade artifacts.

Then I thought of a friend named Sun Zichu.

I put all the jade items back into the box, then carried the box out of the deserted village apartment.

An hour later, I arrived at Huo Qiang's university again. I had been to this campus several times in recent weeks and knew the way around it quite well. I quickly arrived at the history department building and found Sun Zichu's office.

Sun Zichu was a history professor at this university. He was only three years older than me, but he sported a short, black beard. Young male professors always attract the attention of female students, and when I entered his office, several young women were talking to him. However, when he suddenly noticed me standing in the doorway, he immediately resumed his serious expression, stood up, and saw the girls off.

There was no one else in the room, and his expression became exaggerated again: "Hey, it's been months! I saw your 'The Deserted Village' published in April. You have quite a few 'fans'! What have you been busy with these past few days?"

I couldn't laugh at all. I still remember the first day of this story. Huo Qiang and three other college students came to find me. I asked them how they knew my address, and Huo Qiang said a name—that name was Sun Zichu.

"The 'fans' you're talking about are Huo Qiang, right? And Han Xiaofeng, Su Tianping, and Chunyu too."

"Well—" Sun Zichu's expression suddenly turned awkward, "You didn't come to me about this, did you?"

“It’s not just this.”

He nodded helplessly: "Okay, I admit it, I gave them your address. I didn't want to tell anyone, but they kept pestering me, so I had no choice."

"Could it be that he can't withstand the test of pretty girls?"

Sun Zichu chuckled: "Don't talk nonsense. No matter what, I'm a university professor. Besides, it's a good thing that a young woman wants to visit you."

After saying that, he chuckled again. This time I really couldn't take it anymore: "Are you really unaware or just pretending? Of those four college students, two are dead, one has gone insane, and the other is missing."

He could no longer laugh, and said blankly, "You're not kidding, are you?"

"Of course not."

Then, I skipped the details of the four college students in the deserted village and only talked about the deaths of Huo Qiang and Han Xiaofeng after they returned to Shanghai. After I finished speaking, beads of sweat appeared on Sun Zichu's forehead, and he trembled as he said, "I only heard..."

A few days ago, two students died in their dorm room, and it turned out they were Huo Qiang and his classmates. They weren't even my students; they had only attended my classes, so I had no idea.

"Forget it." I shook my head and let out a sigh. "Actually, I came to see you today not for this matter, but to ask you to look at some things for me."

After I finished speaking, I opened the large box, took out the five jade artifacts from the crumpled newspaper, and carefully placed them in front of Sun Zichu.

Upon seeing these jade artifacts from the deserted village, Sun Zichu was clearly taken aback. He quickly grabbed one and examined it closely. A dozen seconds later, his expression suddenly changed, and his hand holding the jade artifact trembled uncontrollably. He hurriedly picked up a magnifying glass and carefully examined the patterns on the jade artifact, his gaze becoming increasingly strange.

Suddenly, Sun Zichu put down the jade artifacts and said quietly, "Where did these things come from?"

But I didn't want to tell him the truth, fearing that the secret of the deserted village would be known to more people. I could only answer calmly, "Don't ask any more questions. In short, they all come from underground."

Sun Zichu looked at the other jade artifacts and nodded, saying, "Do you know how old these jade artifacts are?"

I never dare to make assumptions, so I could only shake my head.

He coldly stated a number—

Five thousand years.

What? My heart skipped a beat again, and I murmured, "Five thousand years?"

I quickly shook my head and said, "Impossible, you must be mistaken. How could it be so ancient? China's history isn't even five thousand years old."