One hour later, the middle-aged man carried the young man from Room 302 back to Hai Ming Apartments.
The young man's head was bandaged, and his eyes were still dazed.
"You're finally back." Chen Ge walked out from Room 304 with the mallet in his hand. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I just want to ask you a few questions."
The young man's eyes darted around, and he opened his door helplessly. "Come in, both of you."
A thick stench permeated Room 302, and even the middle-aged man covered his nose and mouth. "How long has it been since you last cleaned this place? Is there something that stinks? "
Chen Ge thought that was weird as well. The room looked clean, and the young man was dressed neatly. He did not look like the kind of person who was unkempt.
"Everything that happened to me in the past two months is like a dream." The young man walked to the bed with his hands over his head. He took out several black plastic bags from underneath the bed. They were filled with small animal carcasses. "It's true, it's a nightmare that I can't wake up from."
Chen Ge glanced inside the bag before turning his gaze back to the young man. "Now that the nightmare is over, you can tell me everything without worry."
The young man tossed the bag aside, and there was an apologetic look on his face. "Three months ago, when I first moved into this room, the landlord told me that if I'm not used to it, or if I run into something strange, I can leave the room. But the first night I moved in, I had a nightmare. I dreamed that the window wouldn't close no matter how hard I tried. In the dream, when I went to close the window, I saw a man standing in the room next to me.
"Initially, I didn't think much of it, but after a few days of this dream, I suddenly realized that the man who was supposed to be standing in the room next to me had run into my home.
"I tried to resist in the dream, but I couldn't. But the man did not hurt me. He only told me that he wanted me to do him a favor.
"After I woke up from the dream, I spent the whole day in a daze. In the end, I decided to hide at a friend's place for the night. But the man seemed to be haunting me. I dreamed about him again, and this time, he appeared directly next to my bed.
"The man told me that I wouldn't be able to escape. He said that if I helped him, he wouldn't bother me anymore. I believed him, so I followed his request and tied up some live animals and threw them into Room 303. "
"The animals were still alive when they were first thrown in, but after one night, when we went to check on them the next day, they were all dead."
"I can't find any wounds on their bodies. I don't know how the animals died." The more the young man spoke, the more afraid he became. "I wanted to get rid of the man in my dream, but who knew his appetite would only grow. At first, he only wanted a rat or a sparrow, but one week later, he started to ask me to capture stray dogs for him. In the end, he even asked me to lure living people into Room 303 after midnight."
"I couldn't do it, so he forced me and threatened to kill me in my dreams. I almost broke down." The young man's eyes were red, and he lowered his head. "That day, I told my friends about this. A few of us gathered our courage and entered Room 303 that night, but strangely enough, nothing happened that night. After that, no one believed me. They thought I was mentally ill."
"I was at my wit's end. The man's greed was insatiable, and no matter day or night, I could feel him standing beside me." The more he spoke, the more pain he felt. His hands gripped the bandage on his head. "At the time, I just wanted to get rid of him. Even if I could trick someone into Room 303, it would be too difficult."
After a long time, he adjusted his state of mind and continued, "After a few days, I accidentally saw an advertisement on the school's Tieba asking for a room-sharing apartment. You all know what happened next. Due to his own quirk, Meng Nan refused to stay in the dormitory, and his monthly allowance was not much, so I recommended Hai Ming Apartments to him. "
"So, the reason why Meng Nan moved into Room 304 was because of you?" Chen Ge did not expect there to be such a surprise.
"At the time, I did warn him, but just like me, he didn't care." After saying everything that was on his mind, he felt better.
"That's all in the past. Whether we pursue it or not, we'll have to wait until Meng Nan wakes up." Chen Ge took out the rusted key from his pocket. "I'm going to ask you a few questions now, and you have to answer them honestly. If you know, then you know. If you don't, then don't lie."
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever seen the face of the man in your dream?"
"I've seen it once." The young man hesitated for a long time before saying, "He has two faces, like two people put together, and the two of them can talk and argue."
"Other than asking you to do many things, did they say anything else?" This was the best chance to understand the other world, and Chen Ge did not want to miss it.
"The most they did was curse each other. One time, one of the faces was very angry. He said that if not for the fear of being discovered by a Red Specter, he would rather die than live with a piece of trash."
"Red Specter?" Chen Ge heard a familiar term from the young man.
He took out the black phone and clicked open the affection page. Xiaoxiao's name was Baleful Specter, and Zhang Ya's name was Red Specter.
There might have been two extra words, but Zhang Ya had her own page in the black phone.
Chen Ge fell into deep thought. The monster that Wang Haiming brought out from the Third Sick Hall knew about the existence of Red Specters, so this meant that there were probably Red Specters at the Third Sick Hall!
A baleful Specter on the same level as Zhang Ya.
Chen Ge's head hurt just thinking about it. The first mirror monster that he encountered had been toyed to death by Zhang Ya. This proved that normal lingering spirits were powerless against a Red Specter.
He sighed and signaled for the young man to continue.
"Other than the Red Specter, I've also found a few of their weaknesses. I planned to use them during the final moment." The young man sat on the edge of the bed, and he did not mind the stench coming from the black bag next to him. "The monsters rarely appear before midnight. They are afraid of strong light, noisy environments, and most importantly, they seem to be afraid of cats."
"Afraid of cats?" Chen Ge's interest was piqued.
"Yes, the man in my dream asked me to prepare many living creatures, but not stray cats, so I think they might be afraid of cats." The young man had a point, but this was just speculation; no one had tested it.
If possible, Chen Ge did not want to be the first to test it. "Should I go back to my own Haunted House to try?"
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