Chapter 263: Chapter 224: Letter for Help
Cheng Ya was stunned; she had never expected such a ploy. She hesitated, glanced at the others but found she just couldn’t bring herself to do the same, "You guys wouldn’t also..."
Before she could finish, Li Qingxuan next to her scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and smeared it on his clothing, then proceeded to mess up his hair, rolled up one pant leg, and became the second person to walk into the small restaurant. He happened to collide with the owner, who was rushing out of the kitchen with a bowl of fragrant white rice. The owner’s wife followed closely with two dishes of food, offering Yang Xiao words of comfort, "Young brother, eat slowly, there’s more if it’s not enough."
Just as Yang Xiao picked up his chopsticks, he saw Li Qingxuan push open the door, limping his way in. As their eyes met, Yang Xiao was taken aback, while Li Qingxuan seemed on the verge of tears, "Brother, is that you? I’ve finally found you!!"
Yang Xiao: "Brother!!"
Li Qingxuan: "Big brother!!"
The restaurant owner and his wife were taken aback, but they quickly came to their senses, promptly served Li Qingxuan a large bowl of rice, and added another dish. "Eat slowly, take your time... don’t rush, there’s more if this isn’t enough."
While the owner and his wife were attending to other customers, Li Qingxuan, his mouth greasy from food, leaned in and lowered his voice, "Teacher Yang, it had to be your idea, I am completely in awe of you. I just can’t understand, with all your talents, how can you be living such a rough life in reality?"
"Because I have principles." Yang Xiao shoved a big piece of braised meat into his mouth.
Li Qingxuan burst out laughing, "Stop kidding, Teacher Yang, I’ve known you for a long time, and that’s just not you."
"Are you eating or not? If not, get out."
"I’m eating, I’m eating, Teacher Yang, don’t snatch food from my plate."
After filling up, Yang Xiao grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth, while Li Qingxuan’s belly had swollen up, and he was still burping nonstop.
"Remember, no one is allowed to speak of this, especially not rambling about it in the actors’ group chat. Not even jokingly, or else..." Yang Xiao sneered and made a throat-slitting gesture.
Li Qingxuan shivered. He knew Yang Xiao cared about his reputation, "Understood, I get it, Teacher Yang. If it gets out, it’s just one word, snap! Off with the head."
After Yang Xiao and Li Qingxuan left the restaurant, the owner and his wife ran out after them, insisting they take some bread and milk with them.
The bread was of the old-fashioned kind, nothing fancy, just wrapped in newspaper, and the milk was the cheapest kind of bagged milk.
Yang Xiao thanked the owners profusely. He roughly estimated that the food would be enough for him to eat for three days.
But considering Li Qingxuan, it would only last for one day.
It’s true, this guy had a big appetite and could eat twice as much as Yang Xiao at a meal.
Thanks to Yang Xiao’s guidance, the others had also managed to blend into different small restaurants, and without exception, they all ate their fill. Many of them left holding food given to them by the owners. Some of the luckier ones even had fruit and fried chicken cutlets.
At this moment, the sky gradually became overcast, as if it might rain soon, and a thin fog had somehow enveloped the area.
Recalling the rules stated in the Dongzhou Apartment tenant’s notice, everyone hurried back with their food. Just as they passed through the gap in the broken wall, they were halted by the sight before them. The metal shack that had been blown over by the wind the night before was standing back in its place, with a large demolition mark spray-painted on one of its metal walls.
When they looked back, the market street had vanished, along with the nearby buildings and the row of restaurants, all shrouded in a wave of mist.
Seconds later, the mist began to churn tumultuously. Who knows who was first to run towards the metal shack, but it triggered a chain reaction, and soon everyone rushed into the shack.
Inside, it was just as dark and damp as the day before. Under the assault of wind and rain, the flimsy metal shack swayed precariously.
At this moment, vague figures began to emerge from the mist, one after another, reenacting the scene from the previous night.
Equally, after their pursuit, the frightened crowd scattered in panic, some even running in the opposite direction, back into the mist as though they had seen a ghost.
But Yang Xiao and his group knew very clearly that these newcomers who emerged from the mist were the real ghosts. These were likely the victims of the Dongzhou Apartment tragedy. For years their souls hadn’t dispersed, still lingering inside the apartment. Old Lady Wu from room 6037 and Old Man Lü from room 3001 were both ghosts.
In this apartment, there were only nine living people.
Back at the apartment, they unexpectedly encountered a familiar face, a young woman in a printed dress, standing outside the security room.
The woman had her right foot in a black high heel while her bare left was muddied. She was holding a blue cartoon backpack, though no child was to be seen.
"Who wrote this Lost and Found note?" Upon seeing the group approach, the woman pointed to the note on the wall and asked.
"That was me." Yang Xiao stepped forward.
"Thank you, thank you so much." The young woman thanked Yang Xiao repeatedly, then she picked up her lost shoe and put it on, "I’m so sorry for the rush earlier, I thought you were... never mind, thank you again."
"Just now?" Yang Xiao keenly picked up on the key word.
"Yes, just now. After all, I was with my child, and... and you all seemed unfamiliar to me." The woman shook the mud water off her shoes, smiling apologetically.
A terrible conjecture slowly emerged in Yang Xiao’s mind: these ghosts were trapped in Dongzhou Apartment just like them, but their plight was even worse—they were trapped in the cycle of the same day, likely the very night they died, repeating it over and over.
"Right, I can’t just let you help me for free. This is a little token of my appreciation. You must take it." The young woman didn’t wait for Yang Xiao to accept or refuse, she simply thrust the money at him.
A crumpled 5 yuan bill, which made the others green with envy.
"Which room do you live in?" Having taken the money, Yang Xiao tried to gather more information about the tenants of the apartment if possible.
The woman was taken aback but replied, "My name is Yan Huiru, I live in room 7034 on the 7th floor, and... I also have a son."
Yang Xiao smiled, "I know. He’s a very cute boy."
The woman nodded politely and then took the elevator back.
From his encounter with Yan Huiru, Yang Xiao at least figured out three things: first, the ghosts were endlessly repeating the experiences of the day before they died.
Second, these ghosts had no memory of the moment of their death.
Third, the words of the people outside the apartment were not nonsense—they really could extract information from the ghosts, but it required skill and creating opportunities.
"Ah!!"
A sudden scream disrupted Yang Xiao’s thoughts. He quickly rushed over to see the door of the security room open, Xu Xinyi standing in the corner looking panicked, with Cheng Ya and Qu Yi also present.
Their gazes were all fixated on the long wooden table in the security room where there lay an envelope with a bloody handprint.
There had been nothing on the table when they left in the morning.
Fu Changxue walked over, tore open the envelope, and the content was quite unexpected: a plea for help. It stated that around 1 a.m., the elevator on the 3rd floor would mysteriously start moving and make strange noises. The person who wrote the letter hoped that the person who received it could go check it out.
After searching through the entire letter, there was no name of the person asking for help, but when they turned the envelope upside down, several bills fell out.
Everyone was shocked to see that inside were three old 5 yuan notes and an old green two yuan bill, totaling exactly 17 yuan.
On the back of the letter, the sender also plainly stated that the money was just a down payment. If the truth about the elevator’s strange noises was uncovered, there would be a substantial reward.
Seventeen yuan might not look like much, but considering that even after obtaining the total fee for the tasks from Old Lady Wu, plus an additional 2 yuan reward, Yang Xiao had only 12 yuan, while the down payment for this plea for help alone was 17 yuan. If the task was successfully completed, the total reward would be at least double.
Checking out an old elevator making weird noises at one o’clock in the morning by oneself didn’t sound like an easy task—it was practically asking for a ghostly encounter.
Fu Changxue turned his head and shoved the letter into the confused Cheng Ya’s hands, "Miss Cheng, this task is yours now."
Even if Cheng Ya was slow on the uptake, she understood that this task would be extremely challenging, "No, no, I won’t go, I..."
She didn’t dare to continue because she noticed that the looks from the people around her were turning cold. Tong Han sneered, "Cheng Ya, we all agreed before that the next task would be yours. Are you thinking of breaking your promise?"
"Yeah, big sister Cheng Ya, you shouldn’t refuse the toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit," Xu Xinyi rarely sided with Tong Han. At that moment, Xu Xinyi’s lips curled up uncontrollably, her pleasure at another’s misfortune nearly made Yang Xiao want to vomit.
The letter may have been given to Cheng Ya, but not the money. Fu Changxue held onto the money, clearly having no intention of giving it to Cheng Ya. It seemed he was aware that it would be a waste, as she likely wouldn’t live to spend it.
"Big Brother Fu, don’t think about sharing the risk with Cheng Ya. That’s the down payment; you should understand what that means. If something goes wrong with the task, that money might well have to be returned," Yang Xiao said in a joking tone.
These words were a face-saving gesture for Fu Changxue, and he caught on immediately. That money wasn’t so easily kept. Cheng Ya’s odds weren’t good, and if those ghostly things didn’t find the money on her, and then came to him asking for it, it would be an unjust death for him.
Chu spoke up, "That’s right, I was confused, Cheng Yi. Here’s the money, brother can’t help you now." Fu Changxue immediately returned the money to Cheng Yi, and fearing she wouldn’t take it, he even stuffed it directly into her pocket.
This scene was quite humiliating, and Mo Daidai couldn’t help but snicker, causing Fu Changxue’s face to lose face.
Yang Xiao took a deep breath, knowing the night would likely be a difficult one. Not to mention the two who were on patrol, each of the three tasks seemed like a death wish.
Li Qingxuan was to visit and comfort the emotionally barren young woman with the surname Su, Xu Xinyi had to continue treating Old Lady Wu’s deceased son, and Cheng Yi had the most bitter fate of all, investigating an old elevator that mysteriously started on its own and made strange noises at one in the morning.
Things were getting lively...
