Wan Jie Hospice Care Company

bedroom

"Click, click, click."

Xiang Yu and An Ling sat side by side on the edge of the bed, like two statues nailed to the spot, all their attention fixed on the puppy alarm clock on the desk.

An Ling stared intently, her eyes bloodshot, clearly unwilling to blink, as if something terrible would happen if she closed her eyes.

Xiang Yu said to An Ling, "Why don't you take a nap? I'll keep an eye on things."

An Ling shook her head: "Brother Xiang, I'm... not sleepy at all right now. Even though I'm very tired, I'm still too nervous to fall asleep."

"Sigh, indeed, it would be amazing if I could fall asleep right now." Xiang Yu shook his head. "Then I'll take a nap."

"???"

An Ling suddenly shuddered. Oh no, now she had to face the terrifying and eerie thing in the room alone...

"Oh, I was just kidding. Look how scared you are." Xiang Yu tilted his head, counting the ticking second hand. "Even if you fall asleep, I can't fall asleep. I still want to see how it tries to steal time right under our noses."

"Haha..." An Ling also breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiang Yu said to An Ling, "By the way, An Ling, could you keep an eye on this for me while I look at my diary?"

"good!"

Anling propped her eyelids up with her hands, puffed out her cheeks, and stared at the puppy alarm clock on the table like a little frog.

"This girl is quite cute," Xiang Yu thought to himself.

Xiang Yu lowered his eyes. If everything followed the order of that diary, then the next sentence would be this one—

The windows on the west side creaked and groaned, as if someone was scratching at them. I was terrified and spent the night in fear, unable to sleep a wink.

The diary really does seem to have foreseen everything... Given the current situation of the two of them, it's likely they won't get a sleepless night.

"Crunch, crunch..."

The sound rang out precisely on time from the study on the west side of the house.

The sound was plaintive and mournful, like a thief trying to pry open a window, or like a strong wind rattling the window, making everyone who heard it feel uneasy.

However, Xiang Yu was already mentally prepared and did not panic, having anticipated everything.

He knew that as long as he remained still, the voice wouldn't do anything to him.

Sure enough, after a series of scratching sounds, everything returned to normal, with only the sound of the northwest wind in winter remaining.

"It's now certain that following the methods described in the diary will at least guarantee survival."

Xiang Yu deduced in this way.

And the clock on the wall was slowly climbing toward midnight.

According to the pattern of a diary, a new page should appear on the page the instant the clock strikes midnight.

What could it be?

11: 59: 57

11: 59: 58

11: 59: 59

0: 00: 00

Just then, the mechanical clock on the wall rang out, signaling the arrival of the next day.

Starting from 9:30, the two of them stared at the alarm clock for a full two and a half hours.

Time passed normally, without speeding up or jumping around. In fact, the two of them felt that those two hours were incredibly long because staring at the second hand was so agonizing.

Even so, the long duration was a good thing, because it meant that, under the watchful eyes of their four eyes, the thing hadn't managed to steal a single second.

So staring at a clock is useful?

Xiangyu couldn't make any guarantees, after all...

Just as he was about to look through the diary, there was another loud knocking on the door!

"Thump thump thump thump!!!"

An Ling jumped out of bed. She was already on edge, and the knocking almost made her lose her composure.

At this moment, Xiang Yu did not hesitate and looked directly at the diary entry for December 14th!

No!

My diary entry for December 14th is completely empty!

Xiang Yu frowned. The diary entry for December 13th was still clearly visible to the side, but the page for December 14th was blank.

"Thump thump thump thump!!!"

"Police! We have identification, please open the door!"

The loud knocking on the door started again, and Xiang Yu stood up and said to An Ling beside him, "Keep an eye on the time, I'll go check the door."

An Ling had wrapped herself in the blanket at some point, with only her small head sticking out, like a snail. She shrank her neck and nodded timidly.

Xiang Yu walked to his front door, lifted the peephole and looked outside. He found two people in police uniforms standing at the door, their faces filled with anxiety.

The two men in police uniforms were one tall and one short, and their appearances were not particularly special; they looked like ordinary police officers.

"...Real police?"

After thinking for a moment, Xiang Yu said towards the door, "Could you show me the search warrant? I want to see it through the peephole."

The two policemen outside the door casually reached out and showed their identification to the peephole.

"Li Yiheng, has a police badge number... and belongs to a branch office..."

"Ji Zhuo... also has a police badge number and a police station."

It doesn't seem like a big problem.

If they were real police officers, they might arouse suspicion if they didn't open the door, and there was even a possibility that the door would be forcibly broken down.

If it's eerie...

Xiang Yu glanced at his stored energy.

[Current stored heat: 34100 kJ]

They have enough fighting power, provided they can deal with people.

After much deliberation, Xiang Yu decided to try to get things cleared up through the door first.

Anling, who was standing nearby, whispered, "There's a small wired phone at the entrance that can be used to make outbound calls. The property management installed it a year ago... You can use that."

This is truly a timely help.

After searching for a while, Xiang Yu found a white phone. After pressing "call outbound," Xiang Yu said:

"What's wrong, officers? It's past midnight, and we're a little scared to see you here..."

When Xiang Yu didn't open the door, the police officer said, "Who are you? We've found that the resident of this house is surnamed An. Are you the owner?"

"I am not."

"Oh? I knew you weren't you. Your voice sounds too young. So who are you? Open the door."

"So what exactly happened? We're really scared in the middle of the night... and with all the rumors about ghosts around here, we're even more frightened."

"Alright, do you know about the murder that happened at the house next door?" one of them, "Ji Zhuo," said.

"A murder case?"

"Yes, it was discovered at night. A resident noticed a strong stench coming from the next room and called the police." Ji Zhuo suddenly frowned. "Later, we broke down the door and found two bodies inside, the bodies of the next-door resident... Didn't you know?"

"..."

After thinking for a moment, Xiang Yu chose to open the door.

"Click".

As soon as the door opened, two policemen walked in, their eyes scanning every corner of the room.

"You can't smell anything in your house?"

"No, why don't you smell it?" Xiang Yu shook his head.

"That's weird." Li Yiheng looked around, then sniffed hard, and there really wasn't a strange smell at all. He smacked his lips and said, "Hey, this is really fucking weird."

"We may need to search this place, please cooperate with our work," Ji Zhuo said slowly.

Xiang Yu nodded and gestured for him to proceed.

Li Yiheng also noticed An Ling, who was cowering there. He sized An Ling up, then looked at Xiang Yu, and asked, "What's your relationship with the two of you, and what's your relationship with the homeowner?"