Chapter 58: The Boss Appears

Seeing how exhausted Cheng Cheng was, Xia Wulei warmly invited her to explore room 502 as well.

Since Cheng Cheng was essentially a walking life-insurance talisman, Xia Wulei naturally intended to bring her along whenever possible.

Xia Wulei twisted the lock of 502. As the wooden door gave a creaking groan, a wisp of faint dust swirled and drifted downward.

The layout of 502 was roughly the same as the apartment Xia Wulei and the others lived in, except that the interior was in disarray, as if it had been thoroughly ransacked. All the household furnishings had collapsed onto the floor, covered in a thin layer of dust.

Even so, it was not difficult to tell how cozy and warm this home must have once been.

"According to the information in the diary, could the gloomier people in this apartment turn into ghosts and attack us on the final day?"

Xia Wulei handed the diary to Cheng Cheng, who pondered for a moment after reading it.

"Are there any other particularly gloomy people left in our apartment building?"

Actually, Xia Wulei had also considered this question, but based solely on a few days of contact, it was truly impossible to easily judge whether the other tenants would turn into ghosts. Therefore, she had no choice but to search room 502 first.

The two of them slowly walked over to check the kitchen, bedrooms, and other areas. Judging from the daily necessities, a family of four used to live here. They were not particularly wealthy, but their life could certainly be considered moderately well-off.

"Sister Wulei, something's not right."

Hearing Cheng Cheng say this, Xia Wulei turned her head to look and found her holding several exam papers.

"Did you find something?"

"The difficulty of these papers is quite high, but all the answers written on them are completely correct. The elderly woman downstairs said earlier that the girl committed suicide because of rebellion, poor academic performance, and being bullied. That's obviously incorrect."

Xia Wulei walked over and glanced at them. Yep, she couldn't understand a thing.

"Perhaps it wasn't a suicide."

Xia Wulei guessed. At the time, the elderly woman only mentioned that the incident had been hastily brushed aside and the police did not follow up with further investigations.

What about her parents? Could they really have remained indifferent to such a matter?

However, aside from this, they found nothing else in 502.

How could a locked room yield only this much of a clue?

"Let's go, to the rooftop."

Xia Wulei intended to check the location where the jump took place. However, just as she and Cheng Cheng walked out of the bedroom and prepared to head toward the exit, they suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Xia Wulei abruptly stopped in her tracks, turned her head swiftly, and surveyed her surroundings.

No, it wasn't like this just a moment ago.

The objects in the living room were neatly arranged, and sunlight streamed in through the windows, making everything appear so quiet and peaceful.

This was precisely what was wrong!

Cheng Cheng was startled: "It was such a mess just a second ago, how can this be?!"

"Let's get out of here, fast!"

A bad premonition arose in Xia Wulei's heart, and she grabbed Cheng Cheng, running toward the exit.

However, it was already too late.

A red figure slowly materialized in the doorway, and an icy, bone-chilling cold spread along with it. Xia Wulei slammed on the brakes just in time to avoid crashing directly into her.

[Energy entity detected, energy containment index 200%.]

Xia Wulei was left speechless. Well, wasn't this practically shouting to everyone that this sister was the boss?

The female ghost wore a school uniform, her long hair obscuring her face—the standard, textbook image of a horror-movie female ghost.

The vivid red on her body was the color of spreading fresh blood. This should be the young girl from the rumors who jumped to her death.

Yet, only 200 energy? Wasn't that a bit pathetic for a boss?

Having survived encounters with the Jiuying, Xia Wulei felt somewhat unsatisfied.

She had to remember that she got ten drops of golden nutritional fluid from the Jiuying, which amounted to a full 1000% of energy...

Wait, the golden nutritional fluid!

Xia Wulei slapped her own forehead. Damn it, she had completely forgotten she still had that stuff!

The sound of her slapping her forehead was so loud that both the female ghost and Cheng Cheng couldn't help but look at her.

Xia Wulei smiled awkwardly: "Oh, well, it's nothing, let's continue."

Female ghost: ...

The female ghost didn't waste any breath on them. With a wave of her hand, she vanished.

Cheng Cheng was bewildered: "Why..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Xia Wulei suddenly reached out and tugged her. Cheng Cheng stumbled, only to realize a man had brushed past her skin-to-skin.

Cheng Cheng gasped in shock: "When did he appear?! Is he a ghost too?"

Xia Wulei: "It's an illusion. She wants us to see something."

At that moment, the phantom of a mature woman also appeared near the door, watching tenderly as the man walked over to a three or four-year-old little boy and squatted down.

"Mom and Dad are going out now. You must be a good boy at home and listen to your sister. Protect your sister, you understand?"

The little boy nodded heavily. A female high school student walked out, handed the luggage in her hands to the man, and smiled, saying: "Dad, Mom, don't worry. It's only three days. I'll take good care of my younger brother. Have a wonderful time."

The couple left the home. The little boy felt a bit reluctant to let go, turning around to take his sister's hand.

The scene shifted abruptly. The sun outside the window quickly set, and the orange-yellow sunlight slashed across the room like a shooting star, rapidly disappearing without a trace.

In the quiet of the night, the older sister was in her bedroom doing her homework while her younger brother played with building blocks nearby. Suddenly, a knock on the door rang out.

"Xiaoya, it's me, Aunt Zhao. I accidentally left something behind when I was cleaning the other day, and since I had some free time today, I came by to pick it up. I've already cleared it with your parents."

The older sister had no inkling of suspicion and opened the door, only for two people to forcefully squeeze their way inside.

The man possessed a towering figure with a completely blurred face, his large hands reaching directly to grab the two siblings.

The scene shifted once more. Heavy rain was pouring outside the window, fat raindrops beating against the glass and making a rattling sound.

The interior was in complete chaos, with belongings overturned—just like when Xia Wulei and Cheng Cheng had first stepped inside.

Xia Wulei turned her head, searching the room for the figures of the siblings, but she couldn't find them anywhere.

Suddenly, something plummeted rapidly past the outside of the window, ending with a muffled thud—the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

Afterward, the parents unlocked the front door, only to discover the state of the home, overwhelmed by sudden terror and panic.

The mother grew increasingly emaciated by the day until she finally slit her wrists; the father became decadent and disheveled, drowning his days in alcohol.

Gradually, the surroundings returned to complete silence, and the bone-chilling cold once again crept over the bodies of both Xia Wulei and Cheng Cheng.

A piercing cry of despair suddenly rang out beside their ears, as if someone were weeping and pouring their grievances right next to their heads. Terrified, Cheng Cheng immediately hugged Xia Wulei tightly.

Only a few bloody characters slowly materialized in mid-air.

Xia Wulei squinted her eyes to read the text: "Bring... him... to the... rooftop..."

Then, the bloody characters vanished. The two of them were left standing in the dusty, empty room, still feeling somewhat dazed.

Cheng Cheng asked: "Bring what? Bring whom?"

Xia Wulei thought carefully: "What we just saw should be the course of events..."

From the few glimpses they had just witnessed, it wasn't hard to deduce: The parents were away, and the nanny colluded with outsiders to break into the home, framing the older sister's murder to look like a suicide by jumping from a building.

"The person she wants is likely either the younger brother, the father, or the intruders from that night."

Xia Wulei stated her deduction. As soon as she finished speaking, she heard the system prompt.

[Ding! Congratulations to players Xia Wulei and Cheng Cheng for discovering a clue fragment: The Weeping Girl.]

[The Weeping Girl: Parents away, nanny colludes with traffickers in an invasion, younger brother seized, girl pushed from a tall building, maligned by rumors. Only mournful weeping echoes in the room, recounting regret and injustice. What is it that she wants?]

Xia Wulei curled her lip: What else could she possibly want? All child traffickers can just drop dead!