Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Ziya woke Sun Meng, and just as they exchanged a few words, the sound of police sirens echoed outside. The two men fighting in the dark room momentarily ceased their struggle, but their eyes remained fixed on Ziya and Sun Meng, who were bound and unable to escape. Sun Meng recognized one of them as the owner of the store where she bought Western Pants. The man was filthy, his features obscured, and his erratic behavior resembled that of a deranged person on the street.
Outside, dogs barked furiously at the people emerging from the police car. Inside, the woman grabbed the man and suddenly knelt before Ziya and Sun Meng, tears streaming down her face as she hoarsely pleaded, shocking both of them.
"Please, if anyone asks outside, just say you came to play, okay? This is my husband; he’s sick..."
Ziya was taken aback; did this woman really think they were idiots? Who would come out to play in the middle of the night? "Then you need to untie us first! Let's talk this through," Ziya replied, knowing that this excuse was illogical but trying to keep the situation stable in case the woman panicked.
As the woman began to untie Ziya and Sun Meng, the man beside her foolishly laughed and tried to embrace her in a way that suggested intimacy. Outside, the dogs continued to bark wildly.
Five or six officers from the police department stepped out of the patrol car, with Zhiqing and her mother naturally following close behind. How they ended up together would be explained later.
"Do you know these people inside?" one male investigator asked Zhiqing's mother.
"I do. There are only two adults in their family. They have two houses—one across the road and this one," she replied. A faint yellow light seeped from a room on the first floor, indicating that someone inside was still awake. The group stood under the eaves, their eyes fixed intently on any movement inside.
The investigator approached the door and knocked forcefully while shouting, "Anyone inside, please open the door!"
Ziya and Sun Meng's ropes were finally untied. The woman pushed away the man's attempts to tear at her clothes and repeatedly apologized to Ziya and Sun Meng, pleading with them not to say anything reckless.
She dusted herself off and tidied her disheveled hair, looking like a prisoner about to face execution. Ziya turned to examine Sun Meng closely and noticed dried blood at the corner of her mouth. The man beside the woman watched the two frightened girls tremble while muttering lewd remarks, though one of his hands was firmly held by the woman.
The sounds of barking dogs and voices outside clearly reached Ziya and Sun Meng's ears as they timidly followed the woman out of what turned out to be a storage room piled high with rags. They found themselves standing in front of a row of single-room apartments; exiting that storage room led directly into a hallway of an apartment building.
The woman led the man forward, opening a door and stepping into a dark corridor. She pressed the switch on the wall labeled "Light," and Ziya and Sun Meng huddled closely together, following her closely. The sounds ahead grew clearer, igniting a flicker of hope in Ziya's heart, though it was quickly overshadowed by a wave of anxiety. Suddenly, the woman stopped in her tracks, her eyes glinting with a cold light.
"No, you two can't go out. Stay in another room for a while. I'll let you out once they leave," she declared. This sudden change of heart caught Ziya off guard. Looking at the woman's imposing figure and the jittery man beside her, she realized they were still quite far from the front door. What should they do? She reached for her phone, only to feel a jolt of panic—her phone was gone...
"Auntie, we won't say anything. Please let us go!" Ziya tried to plead, hoping that saying something nice would help them escape this room.
"Shut up and go inside..." The woman opened a nearby Black Room and forcefully pushed the trembling Sun Meng and the frustrated Ziya inside.
The Black Room was indeed pitch black! As Ziya and Sun Meng were shoved in, they stumbled and fell, rolling into another area and colliding painfully against something hard. Once they stopped moving, Ziya cautiously reached out and felt stairs beneath her hands. Oh no... was this a stairwell? Had they just been on the second floor or somewhere else? Ziya thought to herself as she continued to feel around for something to hold onto to help her stand up. There was no sound from Sun Meng beside her—what happened to her? Ziya's heart tightened with fear that the earlier collision had hurt her.
Sun Meng was indeed leaning against Ziya. The woman had pushed Ziya down so forcefully that she knocked Sun Meng over, causing her to roll all the way down to the bottom of the stairs. They had been running down steep stairs that were narrow and devoid of light...
The woman ushered her husband into another room before feigning calmness as she opened the door; outside, dogs continued barking wildly...
"You... have business!" Seeing the imposing police officers, the woman's facial muscles twitched slightly, and her legs felt weak... She hurriedly reached out to steady herself against the wall, asking in a dull voice.
"Yes, hello. Here are our credentials. Someone reported unusual activity at your home, and we came to check it out. This is a Search Warrant; please take a careful look," said the lead Investigator as he spoke to the woman while his sharp gaze scrutinized her facial expressions.
"Hah... what unusual activity could there be in my house? Look around; it's just me here—who could be acting unusually?" The woman retorted cunningly, still blocking the doorway as if she didn't want the Investigator to enter.
"Are you trying to obstruct our investigation?" The Investigator's authoritative tone startled her into stepping aside, allowing him and others outside to enter. Following behind were Zhiqing and her mother.
"You..." The woman stared at Zhiqing's mom, struggling to utter a single word as despair washed over her face.
"Yes, you came to my house asking for rice, saying that there was an Evil Spirit bothering you. I told you that you must have provoked something you shouldn't have, and I gave you some Talismans to burn Ghost Money at the place where you attracted the Evil Spirit for seven consecutive days to alleviate your sins. My son told me that a classmate went missing, and just now when we went to the school to check, we saw the ashes of the paper money you hadn't finished burning left under the Huangguoshu. I realized you must have done something shameful to come running to my house seeking help."
"Are you going to report me? I've given you plenty of money; why are you treating me like this?" The woman revealed a twisted expression, wailing in despair.
"Stop acting. If you hand over the person, maybe your sins can be lessened," the Investigator said firmly to her. The other personnel accompanying him searched around; they were unaware of the invisible staircase that led down to the Storage where food was piled up.
"I didn't do any of this; they are in the warehouse..." The woman's legs gave way, and she collapsed into a chair, her face filled with terror.
Comment 0 Comment Count