Chapter 41 Apartment Building
At the same time, on the other side.
Old Deng, who had returned to his old profession, was investigating a strange disappearance case.
With his exceptionally strong spiritual sight, he sensed a familiar resentment.
This resentment could instill fear and unease in people from the bottom of their hearts.
Without exaggeration, a normal person would develop various illnesses and even die within three days if simply exposed to this resentment.
And Old Deng knew very well that this resentment… was exactly the same as the one in that haunted house.
“Red Gate…”
Old Deng whispered, his aged voice echoing in the abandoned neighborhood.
His hands, like withered branches, tightly gripped the talisman.
“Finally found you.”
Although he knew this journey was extremely perilous, Old Deng had no other choice. He resolutely walked into the neighborhood.
Due to changes in the urban development plan, this half-built neighborhood directly became a unfinished building II蹴球53爸齐易叁灵梦.
However, there were still some residents living in the neighborhood.
They weren’t people who weren’t afraid of death, nor were they willing to live in this place.
They were merely unfortunate people who had bought houses here but received no compensation in the end.
Due to high loan payments, they could only sit in the completely unrenovated neighborhood.
Old Deng carried the peachwood sword on his back and headed into the neighborhood with a flashlight in his hand.
Inside the neighborhood, there were traces of the abruptly halted construction everywhere.
The tiles on the ground were half-laid and then stopped.
The artificially planted trees and flower beds had all withered due to lack of care.
The doors of these apartment buildings were not installed and were just placed aside. From the outside, one could see the stairs inside, which didn’t even have handrails.
Looking up from here, there were still a few rooms with faint candlelight.
Someone was still living here.
Old Deng’s weathered face was extremely solemn at this moment.
The Red Gate had arrived at this place.
But what exactly did it want to do?
Old Deng was unaware. To uncover the truth, he could only hold his flashlight and venture into the deeper darkness.
Upon entering the apartment building, Old Deng also discovered.
Besides the terrifying resentment of the Red Gate, there seemed to be other resentments here as well?
Had someone died in the apartment building?
Old Deng frowned and prepared to go upstairs to check the situation with his flashlight.
However, as soon as he stepped onto the second floor, a strange missing person notice was pasted on the adjacent wall.
Besides this one, Old Deng also saw… that this strange missing person notice was pasted on most of the cement walls on the second floor.
These missing person notices were constantly torn down but also constantly put up again, making the second floor look like it was covered in strange talismans. Under the light, just looking at the traces left by the paper and glue made people’s hair stand on end.
Even more baffling was… the address filled in on this missing person notice.
It was precisely this apartment building.
There was no contact information left, as if it was just posted here for people to see.
Old Deng leaned closer, and with the flashlight’s illumination, he quickly saw what was written on it.
“Xu Meixue, female, 29 years old, 161cm tall, 50kg weight, round face…”
Old Deng also saw the photo left on the missing person notice.
It was an A4 paper printout, so the photo was black and white, but the writing on the paper was all crooked handwritten text.
Due to it being a printout, the photos had long faded under the onslaught of rain and humid weather.
Large patches of gray marks covered the photos, making the woman’s face blurred and indistinct.
This bizarre and terrifying scene made Old Deng feel extremely uneasy.
But Old Deng still decided to go upstairs to check the situation.
He went all the way up the stairs without handrails and soon saw someone.
To be precise, it was a ragged and slovenly homeless man.
He held stacks of incredibly old A4 papers in his hand, and in front of him was a simple wooden door.
The homeless man knocked on the room’s door with a halting rhythm.
“Knock… knock… knock…”
Soon, there was a response from inside the room.
A grumpy, fat woman came out and started cursing loudly.
“I haven’t seen the woman in your hand! Get lost!”
However, the homeless man seemed unable to understand human language and said in a slow tone.
“Have you seen my wife…”
“No! Get lost!”
Perhaps impatient, or perhaps annoyed by the constant disturbance, the woman kicked the homeless man in a fit of rage.
Unprepared, he didn’t expect the woman to suddenly act and stumbled and fell to the ground.
The A4 papers in his hand were also scattered everywhere.
The door closed.
Old Deng came behind the homeless man and picked up the A4 papers from the ground.
These were the missing person notices he had seen on the second floor.
Furthermore, these A4 papers were quite old, covered in dust and stains, and many were stained with a strange dark red color.
Like blood.
After being kicked to the ground, the homeless man didn’t curse but struggled to get up and silently picked up the missing person notices from the ground.
He saw Old Deng at this moment and revealed his two rows of misaligned, deformed, and yellowed teeth.
He seemed to be smiling? Or crying?
The fat woman inside also seemed to see Old Deng. She opened the door again and asked suspiciously.
“Another new homeless person?”
“No,” Old Deng shook his head and said, “I’m here to find someone. He’s…”
“Don’t mind him. This man is called Pang Yang. He’s just a fool, acting crazy. I advise you to stay away from him.”
After saying that, the fat woman closed the door again.
But the homeless man kept smiling blankly at him, not saying anything.
However, Old Deng still chose to help him pick up the A4 papers from the ground one by one and put them back into his hands.
The two people brushed past each other. As Old Deng passed by the homeless man, he softly spoke two words.
“Thank you.”
The homeless man’s voice was very hoarse, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time, which was a bit uncomfortable to hear.
In response, Old Deng waved his hand and said.
“It’s a small matter, no need to be polite.”
With that, he began to go upstairs again.
There were a few more residents upstairs. Like the fat woman, they lived in unrenovated concrete rooms and used wooden boards as doors, sealing the rooms tightly.
Perhaps hearing footsteps upstairs, the wooden door of one of the units opened.
A man with a scar appeared from inside. He glanced at Old Deng, frowned, and said.
“Where did this homeless person come from?”
After saying that, he also closed the door.
Old Deng watched all this without speaking, vaguely feeling that this place was very wrong.
The aura of the Red Gate was unusually strong, but he had no idea where it was located.
Just as he was wondering, a smell like a garbage can came from behind him.
Old Deng quickly turned around and saw that the slovenly dressed homeless man had appeared behind him at some point.
He looked at Old Deng and revealed his yellowed and deformed teeth again.
麇65 爸〫 就p5罢铃⑷⊙午 ”Old sir… you’re a Taoist priest, right?”
Old Deng didn’t expect this person to recognize his identity, so he said.
“Yes, is there something you need?”
“Heh heh… I do have something I’d like to ask you to help with.”
The homeless man opened his mouth, then looked around suspiciously, and finally, after confirming no one was around, he took out a very new letter from his pocket.
This letter was very out of place with the homeless man’s disheveled appearance, as if it didn’t belong to him.
And when he opened the letter, Old Deng finally saw its contents.
It concisely wrote a single line of text.
“Fu Liang Neighborhood, Building 2, Apartment Building, it’s me! – Signed: Xu Meixue.”
This line of text was very neat and delicate, like writing done by a woman.
And the words written by the homeless man on the missing person notice were crooked, comparable to chicken claws.
And as Old Deng was wondering, the man took out another thick stack of letters from his pocket.
These letters were very well preserved, only slightly yellowed, and were vastly different from the broken A4 papers in his hands.
“Every day, my wife writes to me.”
The homeless man said chilling words.
Even Old Deng ~qi②（三# ）冷 飼⑼妻⒊肆 said, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“You mean your wife is missing? But she’s been writing to you?”
“You might not believe it… I receive these letters every day, and the most important thing is that these letters are all newly written,” the homeless man said carefully. “Although people here think I’mcrazy, I can guarantee that what I’m saying is the truth. Taoist priest, please follow me.”
Saying so, the homeless man started walking upstairs. After reaching the corridor at the end of the fourth floor, he pointed to a room covered by a cloth curtain next to him.
“This is where I live. Look… ⑧3令玖磷妻咎五芭零夢”
The homeless man… or Pang Yang’s hand, opened the dirty cloth curtain.
In this messy room, filled with boxes and bottles, appeared a letter identical to the one in Pang Yang’s hand.
The letter was new and out of place with the surrounding environment, even a bit eerie.
But when Pang Yang looked at this letter, his face instantly lit up with an excited and ecstatic smile.
As if afraid of it being snatched away, he rushed forward, holding the letter in his palm, and carefully tore open the envelope.
Soon, a new letter, carrying the scent of women’s perfume, was taken out by him.
“Taoist priest, look!”
Pang Yang showed the letter to Old Deng.
The content on it was exactly the same as what he had seen before.
Moreover, the handwriting had also changed, it wasn’t simply copied text.
This meant that every letter in Pang Yang’s hand, 洱揪另_邬_掺捌7（一）’③ was handwritten…
Seeing Old Deng frowning, the homeless man continued.
“And I often dream of my wife. In my dreams, she constantly reminds me that she is somewhere in this apartment building… but I’ve searched the entire building and haven’t found her anywhere.”
Pang Yang’s words made Old Deng’s eyelids twitch.
“My wife disappeared in this apartment building. I’ve been wandering here for nearly a year to find her. And for some reason, the situation here is becoming more and more bizarre and creepy, as if it’s turning into a haunted house. Taoist priest… can you help me find my wife?”
Old Deng’s mind was filled with thoughts. This situation could indeed be caused by a haunting, but the premise was that the homeless man wasn’t lying.
“Give me the letter, and I’ll help you find your wife’s whereabouts.”
Old Deng took the letter and began to recite a mantra.
To Pang Yang’s surprise, the letter really floated up.
“No, no!” Pang Yang suddenly thought of something, covered his head, and said in horror, “My wife must have been murdered by one of the residents here! Taoist priest, that murderer must have noticed your presence. You should leave quickly, it will be too late if you don’t.”
Realizing this possibility, Pang Yang became frantic, constantly urging Old Deng to leave, even showing extreme urgency.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll help you find your wife first.”
The floating letter seemed to have found something.
Old Deng glanced at the letter and said.
“Follow me.”
Because the homeless man behind him was too bizarre, Old Deng kept an eye on the man behind him as he walked.
The apartment building in the neighborhood was not tall, only six floors. When Old Deng reached the fifth floor, a tall and thin man appeared in front of him.
The man glanced at Old Deng, then at the homeless man behind him, with an unfriendly expression.
Old Deng said in a weathered voice.
“Hello.”
“Old sir…” the tall and thin man pointed to his temple and said, “The homeless man behind you… isn’t quite right in the head. I suggest you stay away from him. What he says is crazy, and you can’t believe a single word of it.”
Although the man’s expression looked unfriendly, his words were quite polite.
“Especially what he says about his wife. In this apartment building, except for the fat woman on the first floor, there are no other women.”
“So don’t listen to him, hurry up and leave.”
Old Deng, feeling the letter’s guidance, showed a kind smile.
“It’s alright, I’m just taking a stroll.”
“Okay, if you want to stay, just find any room. This is an unfinished building, no one is in charge.”
After saying that, the man turned and left the place.
Old Deng watched the man’s departing back without saying much and continued to walk upstairs.
The direction pointed by the letter was very close.
When he reached the top floor, the letter began to tremble uncontrollably.
It seemed to be wailing, or perhaps accusing.
Following the direction it pointed, Old Deng saw a large water tank.
Looking at the water tank, Old Deng frowned. He climbed onto the water tank, lifted the lid of the abandoned tank, and looked inside.
Then he saw a corpse without limbs floating in the water tank.
And when he looked up, he realized that the homeless man who had been following him was nowhere to be seen.
