Building 4, Room 404 (1)
Not all the residential areas in the city center are newly built. At first glance, the buildings appear neat, clean and bright. However, there are also some old residential areas that have not been demolished for many years, standing out among them, clearly distinguished from the surrounding environment.
Walking through the wide street where not a single tile is missing, standing in front of the dilapidated and rusty iron gate that seems like it will collapse at any second, one can't help but feel like he is about to enter a different dimension.
Most of the surrounding buildings were old-style five-story buildings - which were rare in the city center where every inch of land was valuable - but the building in front of Ji Yunding, where the strange story had descended, was a four-story building.
When a ghost story comes, the barrier between the alien plane and the main world plane in this area becomes blurred, and the surrounding environment will also change to varying degrees.
“Is this the place?” Ji Yunding, carrying a backpack and dragging a suitcase, looked at the empty, low, old building and sighed, “This area is so expensive… No one lives here because it’s so weird.”
Otherwise, buy a house here after solving the problem?
Ji Yunding thought about it, and felt that it was inconvenient to invite friends to play - after all, not everyone was as uninhibited as she was - so she gave up the idea.
"But this is the city center. If the housing prices plummet, there will always be people who will buy it. After all, being poor is scarier than being a ghost..." Ji Yunding kept muttering these very realistic things while pushing open the door and walking in.
The first thing I saw was a doormat that said "Safe Stay". There was a smell of rotten wood around, probably from the lack of maintenance on the stair railings.
Looking around again, you can immediately find a notice posted on the bulletin board on the wall.
【Welcome to this apartment building, please abide by the following regulations
1. If you don't belong here, please stay in Room 404.
2. Please do not leave the room after 10 pm.
3. When you hear a "dong dong" sound, please make sure you are at a height of more than one meter above the floor.
4. Please try to maintain good relationships with other residents.
5. Don't jump down from a high place.
6. Each time you enter this apartment building, you must stay for 24 hours before leaving between 8 am and 9 pm the next day. 】
No wonder the information said that the situation this time was a bit strange. Can this strange story be solved on one's own?
Ji Yunding read the sixth rule several times, but did not notice anything unusual.
Is it because if you can escape, you can extend your existence in the real world? But even if it is so, there will be no ordinary people entering again, so there is no point in extending the time.
In this era, acts like "testing courage" in horror movies are completely banned. And when a ghost story happens, relevant personnel will come to block the area immediately, so it is difficult for someone to get in even if they want to die.
Looking back again, Ji Yunding discovered that the door had rarely disappeared, as if the ghost story also hoped that she would turn around and leave.
I feel like there is performance to be gained.
Ji Yunding hummed a song as he took the key to Room 404 from the bulletin board, walked up the stairs to the second floor, and found an old man standing at the corner of the stairs.
There were no windows in the corridor and the lights were dim. The dying old man lowered his head and looked up at Ji Yunding with a ghostly look.
"Hello, I will be staying in Room 404 starting today. Please take care of me."
Ji Yunding smiled and greeted him. Seeing that the other party did not respond, he tilted his head in confusion.
"Excuse me, do you need help?"
"...I want to go to the third floor, but my legs and feet are not very good."
As the old man spoke, he just looked straight at Ji Yunding.
“Eh? Although I can carry you up, but if you come down later…” Ji Yunding thought for a while in distress, opened his backpack and flipped through it, “Portable trekking pole, portable trekking pole… Got it!”
This was the first time that Ji Yunding brought the item bag prepared by the logistics team to perform a ghost story, and he didn't expect to use it so soon.
Ji Yunding assembled several parts and handed them to the old man: "You can use this."
The old man took the trekking pole and nodded, but saw Ji Yunding turned around and squatted down, and asked in confusion: "What are you... still doing here?"
"Since I'm here this time, I'll help you up first. When I'm not around, you have to be careful when you go downstairs and walk slowly."
Ji Yunding was just a little worried that the old man might not be able to come down after going up the stairs, so he took out his trekking pole.
The old man looked at Ji Yunding silently and shook his head: "No need, you should be careful."
"careful?"
“Don’t leave.”
After saying that, the old man turned around and walked back into the room and closed the door. Ji Yunding heard bursts of coughing coming from inside the door.
Ji Yunding silently remembered what the old man said, turned around and continued to go upstairs.
Today, Ji Yunding is no longer a person who has to drag a suitcase up the stairs. He can walk briskly up the stairs carrying a very heavy suitcase with one hand.
Walking to the door of Room 404 and opening it, Ji Yunding saw a dead body on the ground with a knife stuck in the chest, looking at Ji Yunding with a ferocious look on his face.
This person must be my roommate.
"Hello." Ji Yunding waved his hand and showed a friendly smile. "I want to stay here for a few days. Thank you for your help."
After Ji Yunding greeted them, he saw no response from the other side, so he closed the door and hummed a song while unpacking the box next to the corpse.
"Canned food, water, timekeeping talisman paper...put this in the backpack, and put this in the suitcase..."
Ji Yunding counted the supplies as if he was going on a picnic, putting the things he thought he would need most at any time into his backpack, and then putting the rest of the things where he could reach them, and stuffing the things he probably wouldn't need into the suitcase.
Ji Yunding, who had never experienced spring or autumn outings, was inexplicably excited at the moment and even wanted to take out his cell phone to take a picture and send it to his friends.
But it’s not possible. Most communication devices in the strange talk will be affected. Long before entering the strange talk, Ji Yunding turned on the compulsory strange talk mode of his mobile phone. Within five days, no operation can be used to cancel the strange talk mode of the mobile phone.
Ji Yunding checked the time on his mobile phone against the time he entered the ghost story and the timing paper to confirm.
"The time... is correct, and there is still enough timekeeping paper."
There is no misleading time at this time, and judging by the information provided by previous investigators, there does not seem to be any deliberate effort to prevent people from leaving after their time limit has expired.
Strange.
Ji Yunding scratched his head and turned to look at the corpse on the ground.
Follow Zheng Nuo’s teachings - learn to communicate.
"Excuse me, is there anything I should be aware of?"
“…”
Of course, there was no response, but one could actually read a hint of confusion in the corpse's eyes.
Ji Yunding curled his lips, walked around the room, found a broom and a mop, and started sweeping and mopping the floor.
First day of staying, cleaning!
"Um, could you please move aside? I need to mop the floor." Ji Yunding pointed at the bloodstains next to the corpse, a little distressed, "This will attract bugs."
The corpse was silent for a while, then turned over silently.
"Thanks."
Ji Yunding felt that he would probably be able to get along well with his new roommate in the next few days.
"By the way, I also brought a gift." Ji Yunding suddenly remembered something, dropped the mop, rummaged through his bag, and took out three white flowers. "In your place, 'three' is more auspicious, right?"
Having said that, Ji Yunding placed the flowers next to the corpse and continued mopping the floor.
Ji Yunding hasn't figured out how to view the weird things yet. Anyway, it's probably right to want to save them.
I don’t know if “warm” is the right word to describe this scene, but if you look at the corpse with flowers on the ground and Ji Yunding mopping the floor separately, both sides look good.
After Ji Yunding finished cleaning, he rummaged through the suitcase and took out four retractable portable height-raising mats for the bed legs. He pulled them to the appropriate height according to the instructions and placed them under the bed, ensuring that the bed board was more than one meter off the ground.
"Wire, tape...Okay, this way it won't fall apart."
It’s a pity that there is no electricity, otherwise Ji Yunding could have received some temporary welding training.
With the help of the logistics team, Ji Yunding felt that this mission was really like an outing, as if everything he needed was at hand.
There are some time-killing games on the phone in ghost story mode, but there is a line of red words hanging at the top of the screen, constantly reminding players that they are in a ghost story.
"Ordinary tasks, so boring."
After lying on the bed and playing Minesweeper for an hour, Ji Yunding sighed and immediately shook his head.
You can't have such thoughts. It's very disrespectful to other investigators.
But he couldn't train during the mission, and it would be troublesome if something unexpected happened. Ji Yunding really didn't know what else to do besides playing with his phone.
Dongdong, Dongdong...
Ji Yun now calmed down, stood up and half-knelt on the bed in a position where he could exert more strength, listening to the sounds outside the door coming closer and closer.
However, Ji Yunding later discovered that the corpse on the ground seemed to be looking at her for help.
Sometimes, the various weirdos within a story are not necessarily completely friendly to each other - especially the core weirdos and derivative weirdos.
Hearing that the sound outside seemed to be some distance away, Ji Yunding quickly got out of bed, picked up the corpse and jumped back. After only a few seconds, he heard the banging sound outside the door quickly accelerating and approaching Room 404 at a speed far beyond that of a human sprint.
The moment the door was pushed open, Ji Yunding had just brought the corpse to the bed and was ready to meet the enemy.
Dongdong, Dongdong...
It was the sound of a head hitting the ground. Ji Yunding first saw a pair of feet bent at a strange angle, and then his eyes went down - the legs, the body, the broken neck, and the head that had obviously experienced a severe impact...
It just stood far away at the door, upside down, staring in the direction of Ji Yunding.
It is obvious that death from falling would occur, so if the fifth rule is violated, it is estimated that the injury from falling would be more serious than expected.
Ji Yunding was not very nervous and still had time to make a judgment, but then, in the blink of an eye, it approached the bed.
Ji Yunding couldn't see its head, but only saw a twisted, upside-down corpse covered in blood, jumping up and down, as if trying to jump onto the bed.
"Ah... my behavior just now was considered a minor violation." Ji Yunding muttered, and then patted the shoulder of the corpse next to him who looked a little guilty, "It's okay, we are very safe."
Unless Ji Yunding insisted on standing on the ground and fighting it, this level of violation would be relatively easy - considering that generally speaking, it takes some time from hearing the sound to moving to a higher place.
It started to gnaw on the bed foot pad, but the things prepared by the logistics team were of high quality, and Ji Yunding had also wrapped it with countless circles of wire and tape to reinforce it, so it only made some teeth-grinding crunching sounds.
"Um... could you please be quiet for a moment?"
Ji Yunding rubbed her ears. Her hearing had been enhanced, so if possible, she would like to avoid this kind of noise that makes people physically uncomfortable.
"This can't be bitten open, so stop biting it, it will be easier for both of us."
It seemed to understand and started jumping around in a strange way, hitting its head on the floor again and again, making a thudding sound.
Finally, it stopped beside the dining table and just stared at Ji Yunding, motionless.
Ji Yunding took out his mobile phone, took a photo, and began to write the investigation record report.
Since the mental state of the investigator may change during the mission, it is best to write the investigation record when you have time during the investigation. Firstly, you can submit more accurate information when you return; secondly, it is also convenient for the investigator to compare before and after.
However, Ji Yunding's mental state obviously didn't change. It was just that the bed was too crowded and it was difficult to sleep, so he planned to stay up late.
"Song font, size 4, make the title one size larger and bolder, and also include footnotes..." Ji Yunding complained a few words while changing the format.
Just after he finished speaking, Ji Yunding suddenly felt something strange. He looked at the upside-down monster again, only to find that its expression seemed a little dazed, and even its ferocious look had eased a little.
Then, for some unknown reason, it just walked out the door, as if it was not going to continue to bother Ji Yunding.
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