Chapter 281: Chapter 242: Very Simple
The development of the situation was almost identical to what Yang Xiao had experienced before: the man repeatedly thanked Fu Changxue for finding and returning his document bag.
Through their conversation, Fu Changxue learned that the man’s surname was Jin and that he lived in Dongzhou Apartment room 5019, claiming to be a stockbroker.
Fu Changxue and the man were having an animated chat when, all of a sudden, the topic changed, "Brother Jin, do you know who the administrator of this apartment is? I have an urgent matter to discuss with them."
The man looked somewhat troubled, "Brother Fu, to be honest with you, I’ve also just moved in not long ago, and I haven’t met the administrator. I only know that there are two administrators for Dongzhou Apartment, a married couple. The man is surnamed An, and everyone calls him Big Brother An; I’m not sure about the woman."
After a pause, the man seemed to remember something else, "Right, I heard from a neighbor that one night he rushed back home and happened to run into this female administrator. She was dressed in a white lab coat and wore a cotton mask. I think... I think she might be a doctor."
"Where did he run into her?" Fu Changxue pressed for details.
"Uhm... let me think." The man pondered for a moment, then his face lit up, "I remember now, he said it was in the elevator, they were both taking the elevator!"
"This female administrator seems not to like going out much; very few people in the apartment have seen her," the man added.
An elevator, a white lab coat, a female administrator... Everyone could now be certain that the surgeon ghost was none other than the female administrator of the apartment.
Correspondingly, the Ball-slapping Ghost was the male administrator, Big Brother An.
Excluding the enormous Shadow Origin Ghost, these two ghosts were the most dangerous ones in the apartment, frightening the ghost tenants to the point where they dared not venture out at night. Everyone suspected these two ghosts must be related to the Origin Ghost.
"Do you know which room this couple lives in?"
Fu Xuechang, not giving up, wanted to try his luck again, but the man shook his head regretfully, "I don’t know."
After speaking, the man glanced at his wristwatch, said goodbye, and hurried off, seemingly in a rush.
But before he had taken two steps, someone grabbed his document bag from behind. As the man turned around, he was met with Fu Changxue’s smiling, yet not quite smiling face.
"Brother Jin, it seems like... you’ve forgotten something?"
"What?" The man was taken aback by the question.
Seeing the man playing dumb, Fu Changxue felt a wave of speechlessness and decided to be straightforward, "Brother Jin, look, I helped you find your document bag, shouldn’t you show a little appreciation?"
"I did show appreciation, didn’t I give you 10 yuan?" The man furrowed his brows, becoming a bit displeased, "Brother Fu, you seem like an honest person, but one shouldn’t be too greedy."
Fu Changxue was dumbfounded, "When did you give me money?"
The man opened the document bag, rummaged through it to find a wallet, and after unfolding it to reveal its emptiness, spoke displeased, "Earlier, there was 10 yuan in my wallet, now it’s gone. You were the only one who had my document bag, if not you, then who could it be?"
"Impossible!" Fu Changxue couldn’t let this money slip away, he still needed those 10 yuan to save his life at a critical moment, but he didn’t dare to push too hard either, so he softened his tone and even pleaded, "Brother Jin, think again, could you have remembered it wrong? I really need that 10 yuan."
But the man still stared at him intently, and the two remained in a deadlock. Slowly, the man moved; he reached out with his other hand, gently scratching his head while muttering, "Could it really be that I remembered it wrong? Well, I will think hard, as you asked me to..."
Moments later, everyone was shocked, and Fu Changxue was terrified, his face drained of color, as the man scratched harder and harder, eventually breaking his scalp open to reveal the ghastly white skull underneath. A large piece of his scalp, along with his ear, hung down, draped over his shoulder, the blood spurting out.
Yet, the man seemed unaware of his condition, continuing to scratch his head in thought, until Fu Changxue, coming back to his senses, reluctantly admitted it was he who had remembered incorrectly.
"Big Brother Fu, to realize one’s mistake and correct it is the greatest virtue, don’t do it again, and besides, I never lie." The man left these words, one by one, then staggered away, step by step, until he entered the elevator and disappeared from sight.
After sending the plague-like figure away, Fu Changxue turned around with a look in his eyes that combined darkness and rage, "Who stole my money? Stand up now!"
Yang Xiao wasn’t surprised by Fu Changxue’s reaction; he believed that the man surnamed Jin hadn’t lied—the money clip had indeed contained money, which had now vanished into thin air.
Clearly, someone had taken advantage of Fu Changxue’s inattentiveness to steal the money, and Yang Xiao had to admit, whoever it was had guts; Mo Daidai was his first suspect.
The conclusion of the matter was much as Yang Xiao had expected; after all, Fu Changxue had no proof and the money wasn’t marked with anyone’s name. The briefcase was an object left behind by a ghost, and he dared not carry it with him all the time, so, in theory, anyone could have accessed it to steal the money.
After venting his anger, Fu Changxue could only swallow his pride, his eyes red with anger, as he had indeed suffered a loss, unable to openly offend everyone.
When Yang Xiao turned around, he saw Li Qingxuan sneaking glances at him with a strange and skeptical look. Yang Xiao was taken aback, then glared back fiercely, starting to doubt himself—had he really given such an impression to his fellow actors?
After the storm had passed and everyone dispersed to rest, Yang Xiao returned to the security room to linger for a moment, cementing the image of the manager and his wife together in his mind.
Heading upstairs alone through the fire exit stairwell, just as he pushed open the door to the fourth floor, a shadow suddenly appeared behind it, "Teacher Yang."
Yang Xiao instinctively turned to run, but after he recognized the familiar voice, he stopped and looked closely—it could be none other than Li Qingxuan.
"You trying to scare me to death?" Yang Xiao couldn’t speak loudly, so he expressed his displeasure with his tone, this guy really knew how to pick a hiding spot, giving him the door-opening fright.
Hehe, only in the Nightmare World; in reality, he might have already emptied a magazine, decreasing the number of actors by one.
Without wasting any words, Li Qingxuan took out a crumpled 10 yuan Great Unity from his pocket and handed it over to Yang Xiao with a stealthy voice, "Teacher Yang, let me repay you these 10 yuan first."
Yang Xiao was stunned for a moment and then his expression towards Li Qingxuan changed instantly, "Damn, it was you, kid?!"
Li Qingxuan pressed his palm downward, hurriedly reminding, "It was me, you... don’t make a scene, Teacher Yang I can’t take your money, yours is also for emergencies, let me repay this first, I’ll repay the rest when I’ve made money."
"How did you do it?" Yang Xiao asked.
"First, I sneaked into the security room when no one was there; second, I opened the briefcase, took out the wallet, and removed the money; third, I put the wallet back and left," Li Qingxuan explained in a whisper, "Simple."
