Li Xiu actually didn’t know why Fang Qian’an was telling him this.

The youth stood there and looked at Fang Qian’an for a few seconds, then bit the bullet and replied: “I still can’t tell by looking at you.”

Li Xiu said this very earnestly. After all, judging by Fang Qian’an’s current physique, this guy seemed to be able to kill ten cows with one punch. It was really difficult to imagine that just over ten years ago, this behemoth named Fang Qian’an was a critically ill patient who needed a kidney transplant.

Seeing Li Xiu’s bewildered look, Fang Qian’an shook himself and came to his senses.

Damn, what was wrong with him…..

Fang Qian’an rarely mentioned his private details to outsiders. Not even his best friend (if he actually had such a thing) would know what he went through when he was young. Fang Qian’an secretly felt that it was shameful to talk about such an old event everywhere, but at present, he couldn’t help but tell Li Xiu all about his past.

No wonder Li Xiu was wearing an “I don’t know what expression to use with you” look on his face.

Fang Qian’an experienced extreme regret for a moment, before Li Xiu’s somewhat clumsy response reached his ears.

“You look very healthy now, and you don’t seem to have any side effects. That’s great.”

Fang Qian’an licked his lips and started to become uncontrollably chatty. “En, isn’t that right? Every time I’ve gone to the hospital for a checkup over the years, people look at me and exclaim that I’m a medical miracle…..”

As they spoke, a wall appeared before their eyes.

When he saw the wall that separated the Xiao Family Haunted House from Qiming Secondary School, Fang Qian’an’s voice cut off abruptly.

It was currently still class time, so the campus was extremely quiet.

The workers responsible for installing the barbed wire fence were not there at this time. The iron door was unlocked and slightly open, and the footpath led directly into the depths of the lush trees — and the Xiao Family Haunted House.

Li Xiu didn’t know if Fang Qian’an had used any special means to send away the workers responsible for blocking the back door, and didn’t ask.

Pursing his lips, he walked forward with Fang Qian’an in silence. A few minutes later, the two of them stood directly before the Xiao Family Haunted House.

Under the midday sun, this nationally famous haunted house looked like any other abandoned villa.

…..But that strange, dark and eerie atmosphere could not be imitated by any other.

When the two of them saw the Xiao Family Haunted House, they paused for a minute.

The door of the villa was open. The porch was a bit of a mess, and the flower beds had been trampled into disarray. These should be the traces left when the police led people to carry Song Cheng’s body out in the morning.

Babump—

Li Xiu bit his lip, feeling his heart beat a little faster.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn’t nervous, he thought as he glanced to the side.

Fang Qian’an was normally very afraid of ghosts, but now he didn’t seem to have any expression on his face. Li Xiu even felt that the other boy might be calmer than himself.

There seemed to be a voice whispering in Li Xiu’s mind.

I must be crazy to go into a haunted house with this guy.

Then Fang Qian’an held his hand again.

It was only then that the 1.9 meter tall man next to Li Xiu turned his head little by little. His face would always look a little sinister and cold when he was expressionless, but now it was embedded with a pair of eyes filled with tears and terror.

“I…..I’ll bring you in so you don’t get scared,” Fang Qian’an stammered.

Li Xiu: ……

The youth’s forehead twitched slightly, but Li Xiu ultimately didn’t let go of Fang Qian’an’s hand.

Just like that, they both took in a deep breath and quickly rushed onto the porch.

It was strange. The sun was clearly shining brightly outside, but once they entered the house, they couldn’t help but feel that it was very dark.

Although there were floor-to-ceiling windows everywhere, Li Xiu felt that the light seemed to be intercepted by something the human eye couldn’t glimpse, unable to penetrate into the house.

An abandoned house in disrepair seemed much colder than a normal house.

As soon as he entered, Li Xiu couldn’t help but shiver.

He also unconsciously clenched Fang Qian’an’s hand. 

Li Xiu’s pulse was very fast due to the tension, and Fang Qian’an’s was equally rapid.

“Are you cold? How about you wear my school uniform?”

Because they were holding hands, Fang Qian’an immediately noticed Li Xiu’s trembling and asked this at once. Li Xiu shook his head, frowning as he looked toward the other end of the corridor.

“No need. Let’s go check out that room first.”

Following the messy footsteps left by the visitors during the day, Fang Qian’an and Li Xiu arrived at a familiar room — the place where Li Xiu was dragged to be bullied that day.

There was a heavy layer of dust on the floor, and shoe prints were superimposed upon one another, giving it a disorderly look.

In the center of the room, dark red marks could be faintly seen.

When he saw those red marks, Li Xiu couldn’t help but stop and lean into Fang Qian’an’s side.

If his guess was correct, Song Cheng’s body…..was lying there during the day…..

No matter how calmly he usually behaved, an uncontrollable chill came over Li Xiu at this moment.

“This…..this is it, right?”

Li Xiu’s throat was a little dry.

“It’s right here.”

Fang Qian’an’s voice was also shaking.

“After we came here, we started…..running into…..”

He couldn’t even say the word.

With great difficulty, Li Xiu twisted his neck to look at the wall from his memory.

In his mind, he could almost imagine what that wall looked like now — it should be just like in that nightmare, filthy, turbid and disgusting mildew stains all over, densely covered in talismans that seemed to be dripping blood, with a small scarlet door embedded in the wall.

And if you listened carefully, you should hear scratching sounds coming from behind that red door.

But when he worked up the courage to look over, what he saw was a wall painted white.

“Huh?”

Li Xiu couldn’t help but stare blankly.

Breathing heavily as he stood beside him, Fang Qina’an spoke stammeringly after a long moment: “The school must have done this.”

Indeed, the wall was newly painted, and upon closer inspection, there were messy, crude paint stains on the floor.

It could be seen that the workers who painted the wall were not very careful. But in any case, after a coat of cheap white paint, this wall didn’t look so scary anymore.

Fang Qian’an mustered up the courage to walk around the room twice, carefully avoiding the spots where Song Cheng’s blood remained. He had spoken of coming here to gain some understanding, but when he actually entered the haunted house, Fang Qian’an didn’t find anything worth studying.

No talismans. No strange incantations. Not even ghosts.

After more than ten minutes, Li Xiu’s nerves gradually began to settle. He watched Fang Qian’an pace in circles, and said in a low voice: “What should we do next?”

Fang Qian’an swallowed and replied very softly: “I-I want to go look at other areas.”

“A-Xiu, you’ll come with me, right?”

He looked expectantly toward where Li Xiu was leaning at the door. The wet sheen in his eyes made Li Xiu feel strangely uncomfortable.

“I will,” Li Xiu said.

The two of them held hands as they carefully walked around the other areas on the first floor of the haunted house.

Just like the previous room, they didn’t find anything special.

The only things to be found were empty instant noodle cups that hadn’t been taken away, along with some cigarette butts from who knows when.

Oh, and a variety of used condoms.

The haunted house was previously used as a staff dormitory by the school, and there were still mattresses in the rooms that hadn’t been cleaned out. While Li Xiu was investigating, he almost tripped on one and fell.

Fortunately, Fang Qian’an ended up grabbing him and he didn’t fall onto the floor, but onto the mattress. For some reason, Fang Qian’an suddenly felt his strength drain, and he unknowingly slipped and fell directly toward Li Xiu. He was thankfully able to adjust his posture at the last moment and didn’t fall right onto him. His bent knees pressed against the mattress, and he placed his hands right next to Li Xiu’s ears to stabilize his body.

The mattress bounced up and down due to the impact, making creak, creaking sounds one after another.

That sound fell into Fang Qian’an’s ears, and his face suddenly felt hot.

Li Xiu was now right under his chest. This position caused Fang Qian’an to realize like never before how slender Li Xiu was. The youth’s eyes were open slightly in shock. He’d taken a deep breath when Fang Qian’an fell down just now, which actually sounded somewhat like a gasp. Fang Qian’an could help but stare at Li Xiu, who was looking back at him. Dark, smooth hair was spread over the mattress, and Li Xiu’s creamy white neck was exposed outside the collar.

Fang Qian’an smelled Li Xiu’s scent.

A sweet, warm fragrance that seemed to have its own temperature. The aroma of human skin.

Fang Qian’an’s eyes went blank for a moment.

“Fang Qian’an?”

Li Xiu gave him a strange look. “What are you doing?!”

“……”

After being stunned for a moment, Fang Qian’an realized how odd their current posture was. The young man was stimulated and suddenly raised his waist, straightening up quickly with a hint of panic.

Then he pulled Li Xiu up.

“Are you okay?” Fang Qian’an asked uncomfortably.

“I’m fine, just a little nauseous. And…..” Li Xiu didn’t notice Fang Qian’an’s moment of unnaturalness. His face looked a little green as he eyed the things on the ground, and he muttered, “I just can’t imagine people coming here to do that.”

“In a place like this…..can you really get it up?”

When thinking about this matter, Li Xiu suddenly felt that the whole haunted house wasn’t so scary.

“Cough…..”

The youth’s disbelieving whisper fell into Fang Qian’an’s ears, and the tall boy’s eyes wandered for a moment. He unconsciously let out a dry cough, then looked away.

At this moment, Fang Qian’an suddenly caught of glimpse of something—

“Huh?”

Li Xiu heard an exclamation from beside him.

“Fang Qian’an?”

“A-Xiu, look—”

Fang Qian’an abruptly stepped forward and dragged the mattress away, walking toward the corner of the room.

The room they were currently in was an independent suite next to a large kitchen — according to Fang Qian’an’s explanation, this was supposed to be the housekeeping room where the housekeeping staff did their daily work. 

And in an inconspicuous corner of that room, Fang Qian’an spied a small door. Li Xiu followed Fang Qian’an’s gesture and looked over, frowning after just a glance.

The door was only half a person tall, the gray panel almost blending into the wall.

…..Fortunately, it wasn’t the bright red color from the nightmare.

Strictly speaking, there was nothing weird or scary about the door they were looking at.

However, Li Xiu felt very ill at ease the second he saw it.

But he also didn’t understand why Fang Qian’an suddenly cared so much about this door.

“Is there a problem with this door?”

“Didn’t I say? According to my experience, this is where the housekeepers worked daily, and this door should be the utility room where they storedtheir cleaning tools. The strange thing is this right here.”

Fang Qian’an’s fingers slowly moved up from the gilded door handle to land on the iron bolt above it.

A heavy iron lock currently hung from the bolt.

“This bolt must have been added later.”

Li Xiu was still a bit puzzled: “So?”

“It’s so ugly.” Fang Qian’an’s eyes were wide open as he tried to explain, “What I mean is, this lock is too out of place. Look—”

Fang Qian’an turned and motioned for Li Xiu to look in the direction they had come from.

“Couldn’t we see it as we walked just now? Although this place is dilapidated, when it wasn’t abandoned, all of the decorations and furnishings were the most fashionable and luxurious. And there should be nothing valuable at all in this kind of storage room, so there is no need for an iron lock and bolt — and it’s even such an ugly one.”

The young man’s voice grew increasingly lower.

“It’s like they were afraid that something would escape from inside, so they added a special lock — A-Xiu?!”

Fang Qian’an couldn’t help but shout when he saw what Li Xiu was doing.

Because while he was fretfully analyzing, Li Xiu had already put his hand on the door handle and yanked it with force.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here.

Chapter 28 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 30