He ran past his own door without hesitation. He didn't know if the female ghost was still there or not.
His footsteps echoed sharply against the tiled floor making his heart rate increase.
After some minutes of running, Xinyi discovered something scary.
Normally, it takes 8 to 16 seconds to get to the stairs from his room, if he is walking...but he has been running for some minutes now and he still hasn't gotten close to the staircase.
The corridor stretched endlessly ahead of him, warped and distorted. The light above him flickered and the staircase loomed impossibly far away.
Unreachable.
Behind him,he could tell 'Zeren' was following him because he kept screaming. 'Where are you going? My room is safe I will protect you?!'
Against his better judgement, he turned.
For a split second, the image of 'Zeren' flickered and changed to a woman with an empty eye socket,with lips split open in bloody clothes. Then it was 'Zeren' again.
'Fuck me! It's her again!'
Xinyi turned ran harder..faster, his lungs burning.
Just as he thought he couldn't go any further, just as he thought he was going to die, he finally reached the stairs.
He run blindly downstairs hoping to leave the apartment and find somewhere safe to hide.
But, he was met with a shadow standing at the landing of the second floor. Xinyi had no choice but to enter the hallway of the third corridor.
When he got to room 303, he realized the room looked different.
He didn't really come to study the door that morning but he remembers that the door wasn't red that morning.
Deciding to take the risk, grinding his teeth, Xinyi rushed into the room.
The room was dim...The air felt oppressive.
Even though the door couldn't be locked, he realized they 'Zeren' didn't bother to enter the room.
' So the 'people' cannot enter this room or?' Xinyi thought and sighed in relief.
Before he could relax fully, the door got pushed open. Xinyi was one step from surrendering until he saw...
Xue Chen holding a bloody plastic bag.
'Is this another memory?'Xinyi thought
He watched as Xue Chen walked calmly to the center of the room and opened a section of the ceiling.
Without hesitation, he shoved it inside.
After that, Xue Chen disappeared and the place became eerily silent.
Prepping himself, Xinyi tried to see if part of the ceiling could be opened and he realized it actually could. But nothing was there.
Standing there and staring at the ceiling intently, a thought appeared in his mind that sent a chill down his spine.
'What if the body is actually in room 1205?'
Feeling creeped up but wanting to get to the bottom of this matter, Xinyi hesitantly left room 303 and headed slowly up the stairs .
When he got to the 12th floor, he realized the place was quiet and peaceful like nothing happened.
'Too quiet' he thought.
No flickering lights or distortion.
Just a normal looking corridor.
He cautiously headed to his room and opened the door.
He poked his head in first to check for any danger.When the coast was clear, he walked in and started to look around. He started to check the ceiling in every part of the room.
After a while, he found what he was looking for. A section of the ceiling in the bathroom was removable.
Opening it, he was met with the face of a skeleton, it hollow eyes staring directly at him. Xinyi was so scared that he slipped and fell with a loud thud. He hurriedly stood up and picked up his phone to call the police.
When the call connected he didn't let the officer talk and started talking in a shaky voice.
" Please I am in Yuehua Apartment room 205. Come take this body out of here please" Xinyi was on the verge of crying.
"Sir, calm down." the officer said. "What do you mean there's a body?"
"Well, if you got here, you would understand!" Xinyi screamed into the phone. He was scared out of his mind and didn't have time to be nice to the officer. "I don't know how it got here!"
The officer told him to calm down and that they were on their way.
Xinyi stood in the middle of the living room not knowing if he should stay or step out. He didn't even know where was safe anymore. But he felt that inside was more safer compared to the corridor.
Inside, he has to deal with one ghost but outside...uncountable.
Soon the police arrived and he showed them where the body is. With all the commotion going on, Zeren appeared at the entrance of Xinyi's room.
Seeing the expressionless Zeren, Xinyi sighed in relief and headed towards him. "Never thought I would be happy seeing a person's expressionless face" Xinyi said confusing Zeren.
" You alright?" Zeren asked
"I am now. A lot happened this afternoon" Xinyi said."Around what time?" Zeren asked
" ...3:03 to a few minutes ago." Xinyi replied.
"I told you 3:03 is bad luck"
Xinyi frowned,"No you didn't"
"Well, now you know"Zeren said "So what happened here? why is the police here?" he curiously asked.
" Oh I found a body in the bathroom ceiling"Xinyi said. Looking at Zeren, he realized the man wasn't surprised at all.
" You Knew about the body?' Xinyi asked suspiciously. " No, I do not" Zeren replied. To change the topic he said. "Since the body has been found here, the police will want to seal the place up for further investigation. You can stay for at my place for the means time."
Xinyi stared at Zeren suspiciously and said. " You are being weirdly nice Ming Zeren."
"What? You think I am heartless?" Zeren asked.
"No, just that...you don't look someone who will invite someone to stay at your place because they are in some kind of a problem."Xinyi said.
Zeren held his gaze.
"Well, since I am not needed here, lead the way." he continued.
"Come on then"
Zeren lead Xinyi to his room.
Upon entering the room, Xinyi started to look around. Zeren's room looked the same as his own.
Just that Zeren's room was more organized.
Neater....
And he had a shelf filled with business related books. His room was painted differently.
'Sea blue... nice'
About to turn and ask Zeren a question, Xinyi's phone ran....