55 055 (7.8 Update)
◎Guarding the Empty Space◎
The glaring sunlight shone into the toilet. A person in light blue home clothes stood at the toilet door against the light, blocking most of the light.
"The milk is ready, Yueyue." The voice was eerily sweet. "Drink it."
The door was completely pushed open by that force.
My mother stood at the door against the light, holding an ordinary glass in her hand, with wisps of steam still rising from the rim of the glass.
That face was indeed the gentle outline of Zhou Shiyue's mother in his memory.
However, in the strong shadows cast by the backlight, the skin of the face appeared a lifeless bluish-gray color, covered with dark corpse spots.
The "milk" in the cup also turned a turbid yellow-green color and emitted a faint sour smell.
Zhou Shiyue's mind went blank, and the extreme fear almost suffocated her.
But under the stimulation of all this, the survival instinct and anger instantly rose above his head.
She stared at the cup, glanced across the sink, and suddenly grabbed a heavy ceramic mouthwash cup next to it.
"Get out of here!" Zhou Shiyue roared, and used all the remaining strength in his body to smash the mouthwash cup towards his "mother's" wrist holding the cup.
"Clang."
With a crisp sound, the ceramic cup hit the blue-gray wrist hard.
The huge impact force caused the cup of yellow-green viscous liquid to fly out of his hand instantly, and most of it splashed onto the floor tiles at the bathroom door, making a terrifying "sizzling" sound and emitting a pungent smell.
The terrifying figure against the light suddenly shook, and the screen of a TV with a bad signal began to distort and flicker, and the edges of the figure became a little blurry.
Finally, under Zhou Shiyue's gaze, it completely disappeared in the dazzling sunlight at the door, leaving only a faint burnt smell.
Zhou Shiyue didn't know whether she was hit in a vital spot or the ghost did it on purpose. She didn't dare to stop for a moment, and didn't even bother to confirm whether the other party had really disappeared. She crawled out of the bathroom.
This time, she easily turned the door handle and rushed down the stairs to the nearby police station without looking back.
Zhou Shiyue believed that the righteousness of the police station would definitely be able to resist those ghosts.
She didn't dare go anywhere else. She has been sitting at the door of the police station since she ran away yesterday. The police came to ask her several times if she had any difficulties and also gave her lunch boxes from the police station cafeteria.
"Host, I don't even dare go back now." Zhou Shiyue's voice was shaking, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared at the phone screen, "I always feel like they're still in there."
[Don’t be afraid, sister, the anchor is here]
[Just hearing the description gives me goosebumps]
[This is the real situation of having wolves in front and tigers behind]
[The police station entrance is good, safe]
After listening to Zhou Shiyue's narration, Jiang Chuxu seemed to be lost in thought. Xiao Hei's originally squinted eyes also opened a little, and he glanced lazily at Zhou Shiyue, who was still in shock on the screen.
"They didn't follow you."
Jiang Chuxu's voice sounded calmly: "You are temporarily safe now because you are at the entrance of the police station. There are many people and the Yang energy is strong. They dare not be too presumptuous during the day, but..."
She changed the subject, her tone calm but making Zhou Shiyue's heart jump again: "They have probably taken root in your house now. Unless you live in the police station, you will run into them sooner or later. This time it was noon, if the next time is after 9 pm, you probably won't be able to escape."
Hearing this, Zhou Shiyue's face turned even paler. She knew that she had only escaped by luck this time, so she had been staying at the door of the police station.
"Which community do you live in? Building number and unit number?" Jiang Chuxu asked directly.
Zhou Shiyue quickly gave the address.
"Charge your phone and turn on the camera." Jiang Chuxu's instructions were clear. "Now go back downstairs to your house and take a picture of your window. Don't go upstairs, just downstairs."
"Ah? Go back?" Zhou Shiyue's face turned even paler. Just thinking about that place made her legs weak. "Host, I'm scared."
"Yes." Jiang Chuxu's tone left no room for doubt. "I need to see how they are doing. You're downstairs with the sun and lots of people around. They won't dare come down. You'll be fine."
She took a few deep breaths of the righteous air at the entrance of the police station. Just then, a policeman came out from the police station behind her. He was the one who had delivered two meals to her before.
The police said, "Sister, if you have something to say, we will definitely help you."
Zhou Shiyue forced a smile at the concerned policeman next to him: "Thank you, uncle. I'm fine. My friend is here to pick me up."
She didn't dare tell the truth for fear of being considered mentally ill. Although the police were puzzled, seeing her insistence, they could only remind her to be careful.
After leaving the protection of the police station, Zhou Shiyue felt that the air around him seemed to have become several degrees colder.
The bright sunlight shone on her body, but it could not dispel the chill in her heart. She felt that behind every passerby and every passing car, there might be a pair of cold eyes hidden.
She walked almost with her hands and feet together, and every step was based on her tense nerves.
The road leading to my building usually only takes a few minutes to walk, but now it feels extremely long.
The closer she got to home, the more frightened she felt. Even the shadows of the trees on the ground seemed to be distorted and turned into the outlines of the two ghosts in the house.
Finally, she saw the familiar residential building.
She stopped downstairs and stood a few steps away from the unit door, just where the sunlight could reach. There were a few old people playing cards under the shade of a tree next to her.
The noise of the crowd calmed her down a little. She raised her cell phone tremblingly and pointed the camera at the window of her home on the third floor.
The windows were covered tightly with beige curtains.
"Anchor, I'm here." Her voice was shaking so much that it was almost inaudible.
In the live broadcast room, there were fewer comments, and it seemed that the audience was holding their breath, waiting for something.
"Yeah." Jiang Chuxu's voice came through the speaker, still calm. "Point the camera at the window, don't move."
Jiang Chuxu could clearly see someone standing behind the curtains.
Zhou Shiyue tried hard to steady his shaking arms and stared at the tightly closed curtains on the phone screen.
The sunlight was bright and the screen was somewhat reflective, causing her eyes to sore.
Just then.
The tightly closed beige curtains were lifted to the sides without any warning.
It wasn't blown open by the wind, but rather it was pulled hard by something from the inside at an extremely fast speed.
Zhou Shiyue gasped in shock, nearly dropping her phone. She covered her mouth tightly, stifling her scream. The elderly men playing cards seemed oblivious.
In the camera, there seemed to be something in the gap between the curtains that were opened.
Suddenly, a hand stretched out, with five fingers spread out, tightly grasping the window frame.
"Ah!" Zhou Shiyue couldn't hold back any longer and let out a short scream. His body took a step back uncontrollably and hit the tree trunk behind him.
The hand was clinging to the window frame and stopped, without any further movement, but the malicious gaze seemed to penetrate the glass and firmly locked onto her who was holding the mobile phone downstairs.
Zhou Shiyue gritted her teeth and dared not move at all. She even felt that she could smell a faint smell of blood.
[Oh my god! My hand!]
[This seems like a zombie]
If I encounter this, I probably won’t be able to wait to connect with the anchor.
[The girl is quite brave. I was scared even through the window.]
"Host, it's looking at me." Zhou Shiyue's teeth chattered.
"Yes, there is another one behind the curtain."
Zhou Shiyue's head buzzed, and she tilted the camera a little to the right. Sure enough, the thick beige curtains bulged slightly to reveal a strange human-shaped outline, pressed against the glass, as if it would break through the curtains in the next second.
"They can't get down now. Take a deep breath, stand up straight, and don't tremble. They just want to see you scared. The more scared you are, the more aggressive they will be. Even if you're not afraid, they won't dare to attack you."
Zhou Shiyue straightened his body almost reflexively, forcing himself not to retreat, but his hand holding the phone was still shaking violently.
That's what she said, but she really couldn't help but be afraid.
"Xiao Hei." Jiang Chuxu called out.
The little black cat in her arms raised its head lazily, its eyes casually scanning the phone screen, and its gaze fell on the location of the two ghosts.
Just when Xiao Hei's eyes were focused, "Bang!" a dull impact sound was faintly heard through the phone.
The blue-gray ghost hand clinging to the window frame trembled, as if hit hard by an invisible hammer. The knuckles made a teeth-grinding "crack" sound and twisted and deformed in an instant.
It shrank back as if it had been electrocuted and disappeared into the gap in the curtain.
Almost at the same time, the bulging human figure behind the curtain also shook, as if it was pushed backward by a huge force, and the curtain swayed, making a rustling sound.
Zhou Shiyue downstairs was stunned and even forgot to be afraid.
She only saw the host's cat take a look, and then the two ghosts were defeated? This is too... too unreasonable, right?
【Xiao Hei seems to be even more powerful】
[Why call him Xiao Hei? Call him Black Cat God of War]
[It’s too childish to say, so Xiao Hei comes up with it easily.]
"Quiet." Jiang Chuxu's voice was calm, as if he had just asked Xiao Hei to shoo away two flies. "Now, tell me about your mother."
Zhou Shiyue hadn't recovered from the shock of the moment. When she heard someone ask her mother, she felt a surge of sadness and bewilderment. "My mom passed away three years ago from illness. She was very peaceful when she died. She was a very gentle person, but very timid. She wouldn't even watch horror movies."
She didn't understand why two such horrible things would pretend to be her gentle mother.
"How did she leave?" Jiang Chuxu asked, his fingers unconsciously stroking the smooth fur of Xiao Hei in his arms.
"The illness was acute. She passed away within a few days of being admitted to the hospital. The doctor said it was a heart problem." Zhou Shiyue tried to recall, her voice choking. "When I received the call and rushed to the hospital, she was already gone."
"What was the last thing you did together before the accident?"
It seems that these two ghosts have been entangled for a long time, and one of the ghosts seems to be Zhou Shiyue's mother, but no one knows how she became what she is now.
Zhou Shiyue's eyes were blank for a moment: "She came to see me the weekend before the accident, and we went boating in the wetland park."
Yes, rowing!
Not long after I came back, my mother said she was not feeling well and was admitted to the hospital.
She grasped a clue, her heart pounding. "Host, could this be related to that boating incident?"
"Yeah." Jiang Chuxu's gaze was calm, falling towards the window of Zhou Shiyue's house.
"There are two things haunting you. One is your mother's remnant. It's very weak, so it's been trapped by another thing. Now it's almost losing its consciousness. The other one is probably a water ghost."
The reason Zhou Shiyue was able to escape yesterday was probably because her mother didn’t want to hurt her daughter, so she secretly helped her.
Maybe because she consumed too much energy yesterday, her mother should be completely unconscious today.
A water ghost killed my mother?!
Huge anger instantly overwhelmed fear. Zhou Shiyue stared at the window on the third floor, his nails digging into his palms.
Zhou Shiyue's voice was hoarse and she pleaded, "Host, please save my mother."
She didn't dare to think about how much pain her mother was in, even if it was just a regret.
"Simple." Jiang Chuxu's voice remained flat.
She raised her right hand, holding the necklace in her palm. Her eyes penetrated the screen and accurately locked onto a slightly transparent outline behind the gap in the curtains.
An invisible force brushed past the thin afterimage.
The lingering regret belonging to Zhou's mother trembled violently, and the painful and twisted expression on her face quickly faded away, replaced by a relieved calmness.
In the last moment before it completely disappeared, its gaze seemed to penetrate the space and gently glanced at Zhou Shiyue who was crying downstairs.
"Mom..." Zhou Shiyue suddenly felt empty in her heart. It must be that her mother was relieved.
Almost at the same time when Zhou's mother's regret dissipated, an angry scream erupted from deep in the living room.
The ball of Yin energy that was frightened away condensed again. Losing control over Zhou Shiyue's mother made it completely crazy. The Yin energy rolled and rushed towards the window, as if trying to break through the glass and pounce on Zhou Shiyue downstairs.
Jiang Chuxu frowned. Zhou Shiyue and the audience in front of the screen didn't know how she did it, nor did they see any movements from her.
But the wildly shaking curtains suddenly became quiet, and the cloud of evil energy seen through the screen turned into thinner black smoke.
The thing didn't even have time to howl one last time.
"It's okay. The water ghost originally wanted to use your mother as a scapegoat, but for some reason it failed, and it was taken away from that place, so it got stuck with you."
Zhou Shiyue stood there blankly, her tears still on her face. She didn't even hear clearly what Jiang Chuxu said.
【Gone?】
【Efficiency! Awesome!】
Zhou Shiyue snapped back to her senses, bowed deeply to the camera, and burst into tears: "Thank you! Thank you so much, host!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the screen flashed and the connection was cut.
The Next Warrior
[Selling quick-acting heart pills in the front row]
[Anchor: Next]
The connection request is connected.
The image shook a few times before stabilizing. The background was a dim, old brick building, its walls mottled with old newspapers.
A student wearing black-framed glasses, with a pale face and dark circles under his eyes, appeared on the screen, his eyes filled with fear and confusion.
"Host, my name is Chen Mo." His voice was dry and hoarse, and while speaking he subconsciously glanced towards the dark corner next to him, as if something was squatting there.
Jiang Chuxu didn't say anything, but just used his eyes to signal him to continue.
Chen Mo took a deep breath, as if he was going to use up all his courage. "My grandmother passed away last week. According to the custom in my hometown, the body will be kept for a few days."
He lowered his voice because of sadness.
"Last night was the eve of the seventh day of the lunar calendar. It's called 'keeping the empty space'. Everyone at home needs to be alert and especially not respond to being called by anyone outside."
He paused, a look of fear rising from his face. "It was almost three in the middle of the night when I fainted and heard Grandma's voice, right outside the courtyard gate! She called me by my nickname, 'Xiao Mo, open the door, Grandma's cold!' It was so real. I was so sad and confused at the time that I just answered."
"Then what?" Jiang Chuxu leaned forward slightly.
Chen Mo shuddered violently, his voice trembling incoherently: "Then I heard the door bolt creak a few times and then it opened by itself!"
【Author’s words】
When the power went out, I found the spare flashlight in the drawer, pressed the switch, and the beam of light pierced the darkness.
I just breathed a sigh of relief when the light reflected myself in the mirror of the wardrobe opposite.
The flashlight in my hand...seems strange
Like a human arm bone
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