CHAPTER 59

At midnight, the sound of the door being kicked open rang out precisely on time, accompanied by a heavy gurgling sound. Sheng Qing fumbled for his phone and dialed Meng Yunxi's number.

“Hello…” Sheng Qing lowered his voice.

"You're here?" Meng Yunxi's voice was clear and alert.

“Yes, let me play it for you.” Sheng Qing turned on the speaker and casually picked up the nunchucks he had bought earlier that day, heading towards the door.

Then the sound of kicking doors in the hallway abruptly disappeared, followed by a slight creaking sound of a door opening.

"Knock knock knock." Three soft knocks. "It's me, Meng Yunxi. Are you alright?"

"It's nothing." Sheng Qing hesitated, wondering whether to open the door, feeling that it was a bit inappropriate.

"No need to open the door, go to sleep first, we'll talk about it tomorrow," came Meng Yunxi's calm voice.

Phew! Could it be that we've been targeted by some criminals?

"Okay." Sheng Qing breathed a sigh of relief and climbed back into bed.

"Sheng Qing..." a muffled voice called out.

"Who?" Sheng Qing's heart leaped into her throat, her voice hoarse.

The only response she received was silence.

Sheng Qing was on tenterhooks, half-asleep until the alarm rang. As she rushed out of the apartment complex, she glanced at the bulletin board; the missing body notice was gone. Although she hadn't slept well, work was anything but easy; she was overwhelmed with work all day.

Sheng Qing only saw the friend request from Meng Yunxi on WeChat when she got on the bus home. She hesitated for a moment before clicking the accept button.

What time will you get home?

"Do you have time to talk?"

I received two messages very quickly.

Sheng Qing really wanted to refuse, but she simply didn't have the extra energy to deal with the drunkard kicking down the door anymore.

Dealing with those difficult customers is already exhausting, not to mention having to deal with colleagues who can't communicate, don't understand questions, and don't know how to cooperate.

I'm mentally exhausted.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Shall we eat and chat?"

"Oh right, I haven't eaten yet." Sheng Qing's eyes lit up as she planned to just grab a quick bite.

It's just a drunkard kicking down the door, is it really worth making such a fuss about?

"If you don't mind, you can come to my house. I've made something to eat."

If you don't focus on investigating the case, where will you find the time and energy to cook for yourself?

However, there must be a reason for such an unusual occurrence. Rather than making wild guesses, it's better to ask them directly, even though they may not reveal anything.

Sheng Qing muttered to himself, but still replied politely with his hand.

"OK."

"Thanks."

Sheng Qing, are you out of your mind? You just casually go to other people's houses for dinner?

Realizing what she had done, it was too late to back out. But as a law-abiding citizen, cooperating with the police investigation was her duty. Sheng Qing found a plausible excuse for herself and, gritting her teeth, bought some fruit and drinks before heading towards the residential area. Dinner, which should have cost only a dozen yuan, had now cost her several tens of yuan.

The security guards at the main entrance, who used to be stationed at the retirement home, were replaced by several unfamiliar young men. When Sheng Qing came in, they even smiled and greeted her.

Did the property management do something wrong? The young man's manners are indeed much better, although he still looks quite serious.

There were noticeably fewer people in the neighborhood. Usually, people who come back at this time have already finished dinner and come down for a walk to digest their food. The few people who are there seem to be in a hurry, chatting quietly in twos and threes.

Meng Yunxi suddenly appeared from around the corner, her expression calm, but she eagerly took the fruit and drinks that Sheng Qing was carrying.

"Huh?" Sheng Qing was thinking of going home to secretly pick up a couple of fruits and drinks for himself.

Unexpectedly, Meng Yunxi led Sheng Qing directly to her home, where a steaming hot meal was already laid out on the table.

Sheng Qing swallowed hard, his mouth watering, "Hurry up and get it into my mouth!"

"Eat first, the food will get cold and we'll have to reheat it." Meng Yunxi casually placed the food in her hand in the entryway and greeted them in a lukewarm manner.

Seeing that Sheng Qing had almost finished eating, Meng Yunxi took out her phone and played a recording. The phone played Sheng Qing's deliberately lowered voice, which was their phone call record from last night.

"...Let me tell you..."

Apart from the rustling sounds Sheng Qing made as he moved around, there was complete silence.

Then came Meng Yunxi's voice.

"Why is that sound gone?" Sheng Qing looked up in confusion.

"You can also watch this video." Meng Yunxi seemed to see through Sheng Qing's question and handed over her phone.

A video was playing on her phone. Sheng Qing's expression was grim. It was a video filmed directly in front of her small house's door, and the time displayed in the upper right corner was midnight last night.

Nothing happened, everything was normal, perfectly normal.

"But I really heard that voice. How could that be?" Sheng Qing tried to explain, but was stopped by a look from Meng Yunxi.

Wait a minute, if nothing happened and she didn't tell the police or the building manager about it, why would they come knocking on her door?

“We believe what you say.” Meng Yunxi’s eyes had a convincing magic, as if she was weighing something, and then she paused before saying, “You may not believe what I’m about to say, but that’s okay. As long as you cooperate with our work, there won’t be any problems.”

What did he say? Sheng Qing stared intently, like a suspect awaiting a judge's verdict.

Meng Yunxi spoke in great detail and with great patience, and then quietly waited for Sheng Qing's questions.

Could she have been set up? Is this really not a prank show? Where are the cameramen? Where is the director hiding?

Sheng Qing's first reaction was to question it.

"I told you you don't have to believe me, you just need to cooperate with my work." Meng Yunxi said with an expression of surprise, standing up to tidy up the mess on the table. "Go back and rest first, then come back on time."

Watching Meng Yunxi take the cleaned dishes into the kitchen, Sheng Qing suddenly felt that this scene was familiar.

Sheng Qing felt her mind was a bit confused and returned to her small house with a lot of questions in her mind.

The alarm clock rang precisely at 11:30 p.m., fifteen minutes before her agreed meeting time with Meng Yunxi. She quickly washed her face with cold water, changed into long sleeves and pants, put on a mask, and didn't forget to bring her nunchucks.

According to Meng Yunxi, she possesses a trait that attracts strange things, which is why various bizarre events occur around her. One of these is a drunkard kicking down a door in the middle of the night, a phenomenon that cannot be recorded by electronic devices.

How did this turn into something supernatural?

Aside from the drunkard kicking down the door, there probably weren't any other strange things happening.

Is this really not a prank? She'd like to see how the director plans to handle the rest of the story. If all else fails, she'll just move.

As Sheng Qing recalled the recent events, she opened her front door and went to the house across from hers, Meng Yunxi's house, which was convenient for monitoring her.

The door opened, and a high-end-looking device was facing the entrance. Sheng Qing carefully walked around it; if she broke it, she couldn't afford to pay for it even if she sold her possessions.

The front of the device is a display screen. The upper left corner shows the image of her just entering, while the center displays a live feed of data that Sheng Qing cannot understand, along with several fluctuating curves that oscillate between yellow and green.

"This thing can detect abnormal magnetic field data. Look, the amplitude of this curve fluctuation represents the magnetic field change in the detected area. This is the area we are in." Meng Yunxi adjusted a few more sets of data, and the entire screen was continuously shrunk. Except for the alternating yellow and green in the very center, the outer perimeter was pure green, which made people feel uneasy.

Sheng Qing clicked her tongue in astonishment. Was this all the money they were willing to spend, just to deceive her? Wasn't it a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

They must be tired of the monotonous and mundane life to join this farce that any discerning person could tell is a scam.

Huh, why is it starting to turn red? Sheng Qing had only glanced away at the possible hidden cameras in the room, and when she looked back, she saw the screen recovery curve interface, with the red curve jumping really high, as if it was about to burst out of the screen and head straight for her forehead.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A violent banging sound came from the door.

This isn't a drunkard kicking down a door; it's clearly a boxing master ramming the door with all his might.

Wait, why does it feel like we bumped into Meng Yunxi's door instead of hers?

Sheng Qing followed Meng Yunxi's gaze to another, slightly smaller screen, which was playing a live feed of the corridor outside the door.

The picture couldn't be clearer; it was a peaceful scene without any disturbance.

wrong!

"Thump, thump, thump!" The impact outside the door suddenly intensified.

At the same time, the door in the monitoring interface also vibrated slightly.

Is it high-tech special effects, or is it really that mysterious?

For some reason, Sheng Qing felt a faint sense of anticipation.

"Sheng Qing..."

The curve turned a deep, liver-red color.

"Ah, what is it?" Sheng Qing looked at Meng Yunxi with a puzzled expression, meeting the latter's equally puzzled gaze.

Ugh, another auditory hallucination.

"Should I go take a look?" With an awkward expression still on her face, Sheng Qing asked in a weak voice.

She had to see for herself whether it was a donkey or a horse. Perhaps having someone with her emboldened her.

"Who is it?" Sheng Qing asked loudly during the brief pause in the door being knocked on.

The person outside the door made a long string of unintelligible gurgling sounds, and there seemed to be the sound of swallowing saliva.

"Can you come with me?" Sheng Qing was still a little scared, so she reached out and touched Meng Yunxi. The answer she received was the sense of security from Meng Yunxi holding her hand tightly.

"Thump, thump, thump!" The sound of banging on the door was louder than before.

Sheng Qing couldn't help but wonder, could it be that no one else could hear him?

"I heard you," Sheng Qing heard Meng Yunxi whisper.

Sheng Qing opened the peephole, her heart stopped, and a dense network of red blood vessels rushed into her vision. She quickly closed the peephole, her fingernails digging into Meng Yunxi's palm in her nervousness. The latter felt no pain and instead opened the peephole again and leaned closer.

He clearly saw it too, and Sheng Qing felt the force on his hand suddenly increase.

Before Sheng Qing could say anything, Meng Yunxi suddenly pressed a button on the device and then took out an object from her person.

Sheng Qing's intuition told her that a barrier seemed to have risen around them, and the changing images on the screen confirmed this suspicion.

The door was suddenly opened, and a monstrous figure with its head lowered suddenly raised it the instant the door opened. The face that still had facial features was now filled with countless bloodshot eyes that turned at the same time as the door opened.

Sheng Qing almost cried out in surprise, but Meng Yunxi quickly covered her mouth.

Perhaps it was Meng Yunxi's special equipment that worked, because the monster lost its target for a moment. With a low growl, it rammed into the rickety door next to it again, the force of which deformed the door instantly.

"Sheng Qing..." A faint voice called out from the corridor not far away.

At the same time, the monster twisted its body and moved towards the direction from which the sound came.

It wasn't a hallucination; there really was a voice calling her name!

Perhaps it was the adrenaline that made Sheng Qing momentarily forget his fear, break free from Meng Yunxi's hand, and run towards the door.

"It's dangerous, don't go!" Meng Yunxi's words of dissuasion came too late.

A lithe figure appeared in the corridor, lightly beckoning a finger to the monster, which moved its body in a daze as if possessed.

"Danger!" Sheng Qing wanted to warn the person, but only a dry, hoarse sound came out of her throat.

The monster was getting closer and closer to the man, and just as they were about to collide, its body went limp and it suddenly wobbled and fell to the ground.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a small, piled-up mass.

Despite the commotion, the corridor lights remained silent, as if they hadn't heard anything, and Sheng Qing couldn't see the person's face clearly.

"Snap!" The person in the shadows snapped their fingers, the lights came on, and a beaming smile appeared on their face.

It was that handsome young man who was halfway through helping others, still wearing that blue work uniform.

"Sister~" the boy called out, leaving behind a meaningful smile before turning and disappearing into the stairwell.

"Stop!" Meng Yunxi's voice rang out from the side, followed by her figure leaping forward.

Sheng Qing jogged after him, but the boy was nowhere to be seen at the entrance of the building. She watched helplessly as the last trace of Meng Yunxi's clothes flashed past around the corner.

Whether or not to pursue it doesn't seem that important.

Sheng Qing calmed down, but suddenly her vision went black, her heart raced, and she began to breathe rapidly, as if all the oxygen in her chest had been sucked out. She curled up like a boiled shrimp, gasping for breath, but it didn't help. Oh no, it was the belated attack of fear.

"It's okay, it's okay." A gentle female voice said, followed by a soothing pat on the back. "Come on, breathe with my rhythm, exhale—, inhale—, good, again, exhale—, inhale—, great, keep going..."

Sheng Qing finally felt fresh air entering her body, and her face, which had turned red due to lack of oxygen, gradually faded and returned to normal.

"Thank you." A few minutes later, things finally returned to normal, the woman's voice disappeared, and the warmth lingered on her back.

But she was all alone in the empty stairwell.