Ding Jia momentarily forgot the dead woman she saw hours ago. It was only until she returned to her apartment when she started getting chills as soon as she entered her room.
Her eyes towards the temp stat.
Did she mistakenly set the temperature too low?
She walked over and adjusted it to a warmer temperature. However, even after half an hour, the coldness of the room didn't disappear but rather it just kept getting colder and colder.
She started to wonder if her house temp stat was broken.
But as soon as she picked up the receiver connecting to the reception downstairs, all she could hear was static.
"Hello? Hello?"
Ding Jia repeatedly pressed the button that would connect the phone downstairs.
What is this? Did her receiver break as well?
She grunted in frustration. To think the two most important technologies in her home broke down. This is unbelievable!
And so, she went to the door to go directly downstairs to do a report when she finally realized that there was truly something wrong at her home.
Ding Jia's gaze was glued on the doorknob that was weirdly covered in ice-crystals. She blinked profusely in confusion, as she grew even more nervous.
...No fudging way.
She does feel cold but… it's not supposed to be that cold right?!
They're in the middle of summer, how is it possible for her doorknob to freeze like this? It never freezes in winter too!
"...."
Does she need to open it?
After long deliberation, she reached out her trembling hand and twisted it open.
CLICK. CLOCK. CLICK.
Eh?
CLICK. CLOCK.
Ding Jia used her two hands to twist the doorknob, but strangely, the door wouldn't budge at all.
Her heart started to race anxiously as she continued to twist and turn the doorknob in panic.
Why? Why wouldn't it open?!
Then she remembered Luo Yang.
Right! He… He should be able to hear it right?
Ding Jia raised her hand to pound the door but her hand suddenly halted in the air, stopping a few millimeters away from the door.
"Heuk—" Ding Jia choked on her breath. Her eyes widened in shock as a rush of emotions rushed through her.
Her mind blanked out in an instant with the strange phenomena. She attempted to move her hand, but as if it was being held by something, she couldn't pull her hand away at all.
"W-Wha—" The words in her mouth stuck.
From behind her, a chilling wind suddenly blew behind her even blowing a few strands of her hair. This time, she felt a different weight of chill on her back. Her whole apartment was filled with deafening silence. Her labored breathing was even producing a small cloud of smoke from her mouth.
Her mind and emotions were in total chaos. Her inner mind was screaming not to turn around. But somewhere deep within her was whispering in her mind, to turn around and look behind her.
She was scared. She'd never felt this kind of fear in all her life. But strange enough, there was something tugging in her heartstrings. It was pulling her. Pulling her to turn around and to look.
Then she gave in.
She slowly turned, her eyes trembling in fear as she took in the sight of her kitchen, and then the door of the guestroom, and then….
The living room.
"Haaaah—" Her voice quivered from the scene in front of her.
Blood. A pool of blood.
It was a woman. The same woman from a week ago. And that same woman she saw today. Her blood pooled on the floor she was standing on.
She was just standing there, looking dazed as if she couldn't sense her presence.
The moment Ding Jia's gaze landed on the woman, she felt strange. She was scared, but strangely, it was as if she wasn't completely scared.
Her mind was very confused. She held her breath, scared that her breathing would be heard by the woman. She didn't want the woman to notice her presence at all.
But even if she tried her best to reduce her presence, it seems that the woman already knew all along that she could see her.
"Help me." The woman's voice echoed within her mind.
"I could only see this place. Can you help me?" The woman's voice quivered, as it pleaded to her.
This time, she turned her head slowly.
Because Ding Jia was too focused on her movements, she was looking directly at her. And so, she instantly met with the woman's eyes that were crying with blood.
"They killed me. I only—I wanted to be like them. Loved. Admired. B-but they pushed me. They pushed me!" The air suddenly changed as the woman continued to cry out.
Ding Jia felt the atmosphere turn heavy, as the temperature continuously dropped.
"They screamed at me. Cursed at me. I couldn't take it at all. I—"
Then the woman started thrashing around. Even if she was a few meters away from the bloodied woman, she felt a slap of emotions attack her.
It was very suffocating. The woman continued to cry out, and along with it, Ding Jia could feel her emotions clearer than before.
She felt the woman's frustrations, anger, regret, and helplessness. It was as if she was in her shoes.
W-Why? Why does she feel so much pain in her heart?
It was as if someone was squeezing her heart to death. The pain was making her feel as if she couldn't breathe. The weight pressing on her chest was too heavy.
Too heavy to bear, too painful to bear.
Is this her emotions?
Ding Jia raised her head with difficulty as she watched the woman cry out. She didn't know how long she knelt at her front door. But the woman finally calmed down.
She watched that bloodied woman slowly transform in front of her. The longer she released her emotion, the more the woman's appearance became better. The blood slowly disappeared, and now the woman looked like a decent living human. Her weeping toned down, and now she could clearly see the beauty hidden underneath all that blood.
The bloodied woman...wasn't bloodied anymore.