Chapter 1: Haunted House
“Sir, the dirty things in this house are not to be trifled with. Are you really, truly, absolutely sure about buying this house?”
The speaker was an old man over fifty, with a hint of doubt in his eyes.
He was worried that the man before him, who looked only about twenty-five, would be scared to death again by the dirty things inside the haunted house.
Of course, the old man wasn’t genuinely concerned about the man in front of him. He was just worried that the man would go insane from fear and then come to him for compensation.
Facing the old man’s words, the man silently lit a cigarette, putting on a very weathered and mature appearance, and said.
“I’ll take this one.”
“If something happens, don’t blame me.”
The old man took out the contract, which was densely packed with many clauses.
Calling it a contract was, in fact, more like a waiver of liability.
“Ten thousand… no, five thousand, it’s yours.”
A three-story mansion sold for five thousand yuan couldn’t even be described as a bargain.
But precisely because it was so affordable, any normal person would have to consider whether the rumors about the haunted house were true.
However, it was clear that the man in front of the old man was not a normal person.
He counted out fifty “Grandpas Mao” and handed them to the old man, then left the sales office with the contract.
The process had been simplified to the extreme; the old man probably feared that the man would go back on his word.
After leaving the sales office, the man checked his luggage and various documents.
On the documents, the man’s name was listed.
“Liu Haoyu.”
Just a simple, ordinary name.
Following the address indicated in the contract, Liu Haoyu quickly arrived in front of the so-called “haunted house.”
“No wonder it’s only worth five thousand…”
Looking at the haunted house before him, Liu Haoyu was speechless.
It was called a mansion, but it was clearly a house from the last century. It was not only dilapidated but also looked extremely run-down.
One could even see many holes in the roof.
Coupled with its secluded location, fifteen kilometers away from the city center.
Liu Haoyu found it difficult to say whether the five thousand yuan was worth it.
“Never mind, as long as I have a place to stay.”
Saying this, he fearlessly walked into the house.
As soon as he entered, a cold, musty scent hit him.
Although it was over thirty degrees Celsius outside, as soon as he stepped inside, it felt like the temperature had dropped by more than ten degrees, making him shiver.
Even Liu Haoyu couldn’t help but remark.
“It’s also a good place to escape the heat.”
This showed that he truly didn’t seem to fear death.
The sun was already setting, and the already dim interior of the house had become even darker.
The creaky wooden staircase made “squeak” sounds with every step, as if it could break at any moment.
After Liu Haoyu went up to the second floor, the chilling feeling intensified, and he could occasionally hear the sound of something walking on the wooden floorboards.
“Thump… thump…”
The sound was somewhat like someone walking in the corridor, and the source of the sound was just around the corner ahead.
When Liu Haoyu reached the corner, the sound also disappeared.
What greeted him was a deep, dark corridor.
Even though he couldn’t see anything, for some reason, Liu Haoyu felt as if a face filled with malevolent hatred was staring at him from the darkness.
He looked back, and the stairs behind him had vanished, leaving only an endless corridor.
“A bit of trickery.”
Liu Haoyu randomly picked a room. Although it was just a random choice, he realized after entering that it seemed to be a girl’s boudoir.
The room was full of dust and cobwebs, but it was relatively intact, with no major holes, so it was still a livable place.
After tidying up the place a bit, Liu Haoyu lay down on the bed and slowly closed his eyes.
His consciousness gradually faded. Exhausted from a day of travel, Liu Haoyu drifted off to sleep.
Midnight, perhaps a dream, perhaps reality.
In the quiet environment, a very ill-timed knocking sound suddenly came.
“Knock… knock… knock…”
The rhythm of the knocking was very steady, yet it penetrated deep into one’s heart, as if it could pierce through a person.
Liu Haoyu opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the door.
There was no one, only the knocking.
Soon, the knocking stopped.
Just as Liu Haoyu was about to go back to sleep, in the blink of an eye, he found a young girl standing at the door.
The girl was wearing a bright red wedding dress and a pair of red embroidered shoes.
Her pupils were almost entirely the terrifying whites of her eyes; just making eye contact with her sent shivers down one’s spine.
Even more terrifying was that her slender fingers were constantly dripping bright red blood.
“Drip… drip…”
The blood fell onto the floor, and the girl took faltering steps, slowly approaching Liu Haoyu.
Just as she was about to reach the head of the bed, Liu Haoyu was startled awake.
The man sat up in bed.
He instinctively touched his neck.
Before waking up, he clearly felt something cold and icy pinch his neck.
It felt like a hand.
So, Liu Haoyu looked into the mirror, and sure enough, there were two blood-stained handprints on his neck.
Moreover, the terrifying sensation of being watched still lingered.
It was as if a fierce ghost outside the door could rush in at any moment and strangle him.
Even more terrifying was that every time Liu Haoyu closed his eyes, this fiercest ghost outside the door would step into the room, slowly approaching him.
But when he opened his eyes, the fierce ghost would instantly disappear.
No matter what Liu Haoyu did, he couldn’t escape this nightmare-like feeling.
After careful consideration, the man decided to open the room door himself to see what was outside.
The room was not large, but every step Liu Haoyu took felt like he was walking towards hell.
When he stood in front of the door, he took a deep breath and slowly opened the door.
Outside the room, there was nothing.
The occasional knocking sound also stopped abruptly.
The girl in the red wedding dress, who had been lingering in Liu Haoyu’s mind, also disappeared.
It was as if it had all been a dream, as if nothing had happened.
Except for… the pair of red embroidered shoes that were so out of place outside the room.
And these were the very shoes worn by the girl he had dreamed of.
Liu Haoyu looked at the scene before him, as if he had been startled, and stood frozen for a full five seconds.
After five seconds, he silently picked up the embroidered shoes from the ground and walked back into the house.
Then, inside the room, he created an altar and placed the pair of embroidered shoes within it.
After placing a few sticks of incense and lighting a few candles.
Liu Haoyu clasped his hands together, as if thanking heaven for its bestowal, closed his eyes, and said.
“Thank you for the hospitality.”
And the gazes that had been fixed on him seemed to be stunned when they heard this.
