Translator: Cinder Translations
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The woman in the cheongsam was certain that, judging by the girl in pajamas' timid nature, after she left, she wouldn't dare to approach the door, let alone check if it was properly closed.
But there was no time to think more; the eerie sound followed her closely, like a parasite stuck to her bones.
Just as the sound grew nearer and seemed like it would pounce on her at any moment, a light suddenly appeared in front of her.
Unlike the light she had seen before, this one was distinct and warm, like the holy light radiating from heaven.
It was also a door.
A half-open door.
A strange yet familiar face appeared behind the half-open door.
Jiang Cheng stood there, with a large round head peeking out from behind him.
The Fatty blinked at her disheveled state, then his pupils suddenly shrank, as if he had seen something horrifying.
The woman in the cheongsam realized that he must have seen whatever was chasing her.
The Fatty anxiously said something to Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng completely ignored him.
The Fatty then seemed to get frustrated and, bypassing Jiang Cheng, tried to close the door on his own.
This panicked the woman in the cheongsam as she ran toward them.
"Don't close the door!"
She screamed desperately. The door in front of her was her only hope, and she could already feel the cold, eerie breath of the thing behind her.
Fortunately, Jiang Cheng stood in front of the Fatty the whole time, delaying him.
At the last critical moment, the woman in the cheongsam squeezed through the gap in the door. Jiang Cheng stepped back just in time, and she crashed into the Fatty.
Caught off guard, the Fatty stumbled backward and fell to the ground with an "Ouch."
The next second, the woman in the cheongsam quickly turned around and slammed the door shut.
She was saved.
Strangely, the moment the door closed, all the frantic running sounds in the hallway vanished.
The night returned to its previous silence.
It was as if everything that had just happened was merely a hallucination.
Leaning against the door, the woman in the cheongsam panted heavily, her body trembling uncontrollably.
By this time, the Fatty had already stood up, rubbing his sore shoulder and stomach, his eyes filled with dissatisfaction and suspicion.
In contrast, Jiang Cheng's gaze was much calmer. He looked her up and down, seemingly waiting for her to catch her breath and explain what had just happened.
"Hoo—" The woman in the cheongsam took a deep breath and slowly calmed down. She turned around and met Jiang Cheng's gaze. "Thank you," she said, nodding, her messy hair sticking to her face, making her appear a bit bedraggled.
In reality, from the moment she had left room 407 to the time she escaped into room 404 where Jiang Cheng and the Fatty were, only a few minutes had passed. But to her, it had felt like a century.
It was a life-and-death chase.
Jiang Cheng lifted his chin. "So, tell us what happened." He paused, then added, "You're safe now, so I need you to be as detailed as possible."
Perhaps still skeptical of the woman's identity, Jiang Cheng kept a safe distance from her, which she found reasonable.
To be honest, she hadn't expected Jiang Cheng to let her in.
Although it had saved her, she couldn't help but think less of him for it.
Of course, she didn't let this disdain show on her face.
If the roles were reversed, she wouldn't have opened the door for someone being chased by a ghost. First, doing so might result in her being chased and killed by the ghost as well. Second, who could tell if this wasn't some trick of the ghost, and the one being let in wasn't the ghost itself?
The safest course would be to hold her breath, ignore everything, and pretend she hadn't heard anything.
Once she caught her breath, the woman in the cheongsam began recounting her experience, starting with the strange scraping sound that the girl in pajamas had heard in her room, then describing everything she had gone through after leaving the room: the mysterious appearance of room 407 and the thing chasing her from behind.
She didn't explicitly say the thing chasing her was a ghost, but it was undeniable.
After listening to her story, the Fatty frowned and said, "You said hearing the strange scraping sound isn't a sign of the ghost killing someone, but it's those who didn't hear it that are in danger?"
The woman in the cheongsam, recalling the recent chase, paled and nodded. "I think so."
"That's strange," Jiang Cheng mused, suddenly speaking up.
"What have you thought of?"
"I'm wondering what its goal is," Jiang Cheng explained. "Is it making the noise just to scare people?"
Jiang Cheng's question piqued the woman's curiosity. She habitually fixed her hair and then, without thinking, glanced toward the door.
In the next second, her pupils shrank in horror. A chilling sensation crawled up her spine like ice coursing through her veins.
Her blood turned cold, and it felt like her veins were filled with sharp, frozen spikes.
Yet, her mind was unnervingly clear, and the events of the past few minutes flashed through her brain like an old film reel.
In the moment before the ghost almost caught her, it was Jiang Cheng who had *pushed* the door open and saved her.
Yes!
It was the Jiang Cheng behind her who had *pushed* the door open!
But she distinctly remembered that the dorm doors on this floor had to be *pulled* open from the inside, so how could it be...
"Gulp." Her throat constricted with a loud swallow.
Something was wrong.
In the next moment, Jiang Cheng's voice drifted from behind, no longer calm but laced with a twisted, suppressed madness.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Jiang Cheng asked in a sinister tone.
The woman in the cheongsam trembled, unable to utter a single word.
The Fatty spoke too, but his voice had become strange—sharper and more distorted with each word. "Why aren't you speaking?"
"Speak! Why aren't you talking!!" By the end, the shrill voice sounded like it could pierce her eardrums.
Malice, distortion, and hatred—an overwhelming mix of negative emotions filled the air.
The voice was now clearly that of a woman, young but filled with deep resentment.
The woman in the cheongsam finally broke. In a frenzy, she tried to open the door, but it was as if it had been welded shut, not budging an inch.
As the voices behind her grew closer, she screamed and spun around, only to find that the once clean and tidy dorm room had completely changed.
The walls were decayed and peeling, a heap of dark, filthy objects piled on the bed. A broken-legged chair lay overturned in the corner, and a dusty mirror was embedded in the wardrobe.
Moonlight from outside faintly illuminated crimson stains on the floor, the entire space marked by the wear of time.
Jiang Cheng and the Fatty had disappeared.
Just as her terror began to give way to confusion, she heard an odd sound: "Clack, clack, clack!"
It was like teeth grinding—or something laughing.
From the mirror.
(End of the Chapter)
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