Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"?"

Chen Ji didn't react for a moment. He stood there for two seconds before breaking free from Fei'er's grasp, goosebumps rising on his neck.

"what are you doing!"

"Why such a big reaction?"

Fei'er said calmly, then smelled her fingers, her expression as if she was remembering someone: "Do you grow tuberoses at home?"

Chen Ji quickly sniffed his clothes and could faintly smell a delicate floral fragrance.

He paused for a moment: "Tuberose?"

"It's a white flower, like an ear of wheat, with many buds. It has a very strong fragrance, like it can enter a person's dream," Fei'er said softly.

Chen Ji thought for a moment and realized that there did seem to be a vase of such flowers in his bedroom yesterday, but he couldn't quite remember.

He mumbled, "I don't know, probably not, you might have smelled it wrong."

Fei'er looked at him carefully, her face returning to its original expressionless state, but without the previous disdain.

"Maybe."

She said coldly, pushing open the door at the top of the stairs: "You get one room, I get one room. Call me if anything seems amiss, Xiao Chen."

She emphasized the last two words.

Chen Ji's eyes flickered: "Okay."

After saying that, Fei'er didn't check the corridor environment and pushed open the door of room 501 and went in.

Seeing her go inside, Chen Ji pursed his lips, a hint of helplessness on his face.

Fei'er's temper seems very strange; she acts on a whim and speaks in a cryptic manner.

Chen Ji slowly walked forward and sniffed his sleeves again, but apart from the choking smell of dust, he couldn't smell any fragrance.

Is her nose that sensitive?

He shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and looked ahead.

There are five households on this floor, with two rooms on the east and west sides, and the remaining three households facing north and south.

All five households appeared to have been occupied, with various odds and ends piled up in front of the doors, including shoe cabinets, stacked cardboard boxes, and even children's scooters, making it difficult to find a place to step.

Fei'er entered the east-facing unit, which was closest to the stairwell. Next to it, through a fire door, was room 502.

Overall, apartment 502 seems to be newer than the other apartments, with bright red couplets on the door.

Like other households, it has the same old-fashioned security door without a lock.

As soon as Chen Ji pushed open the door, a red beaded curtain hanging inside brushed against his face. He lifted the curtain and immediately felt a strong sense of unease.

The room was very dark with the curtains drawn. As soon as Chen Ji stepped inside, his shoes touched some slippery, sticky liquid.

A strong, pungent smell of blood wafted towards me...

Chen Ji did not close the outer door, but turned on all the lights, a look of seriousness appearing in his eyes.

Under the stark white light, the scene was utterly horrifying.

In the living room, which was less than 30 square meters, the tiled floor was covered with thick, sticky blood.

Even the walls and chandeliers were splattered with blood!

Several bloody handprints were left on the dining table.

It's as if a horrific murder has just occurred here...

The blood droplets extended all the way to the innermost bedroom.

On the bedroom door, there was a red double happiness character. The festive scene, combined with the bloodstains splattered on the wall, sent a chill down Chen Ji's spine.

Chen Ji took a deep breath, tiptoed around the blood on the ground, and pushed open the bedroom door.

He didn't go in immediately, but first let the living room light shine into the bedroom to make sure there were no other creatures inside.

The bedroom was small, and the quilt on the bed was crumpled into a ball. It was a pearly red wedding quilt, but it was hard to tell whether the deep red was the original color of the quilt or bloodstains.

Chen Ji flipped through the bedding on the bed and found that every layer was soaked and heavy with blood, even the mattress was in the same condition.

There were two pillows on the bed, but the blanket was only on the left side. When it was lifted, a blurry human-shaped bloodstain was revealed underneath, with a petite figure, while the right side was covered with more splattered blood.

In this room, the crimson blood was mainly distributed on the bed, while there was very little on the floor, the opposite of the living room.

Chen Ji withdrew his hand, and a scene appeared in his mind. It might have happened last night, or the day before yesterday, but it couldn't have been too long ago.

Double happiness symbols were pasted on the wall, and a deep red mandarin duck quilt covered the large black wooden bed. This was the home of a newlywed couple.

The first to be killed was probably the husband. The bloodstains outside were widespread, suggesting a brief struggle, but ultimately, he died.

Then came his wife, who was probably fast asleep in her room at that time.

There were no signs of resistance in the room, and the wife did not hide elsewhere. All these factors indicate that she died without any warning.

Chen Ji frowned deeply. He then went to the bathroom and study, both of which were spotless and showed no signs of intrusion.

So, where is the body?

He retreated into the living room and glanced around. The decor of the two-bedroom house had an indescribable sense of oppression.

The walls were covered with colorful decorations, including balloons, red ribbons, and many small double happiness characters, but apart from that, there wasn't a single bright color in the entire room.

The black leather sofa, the gray curtains, and even the wooden furniture were dark-colored.

The only bright spot was the red wedding quilt in the bedroom.

"Clap."

A soft door closing sound came from the hallway. Chen Ji glanced out and saw Fei'er.

"The people in apartment 501 moved out a long time ago, leaving nothing behind."

She gave a brief explanation and then walked to the door of room 502.

"Ok?"

Fei'er raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised. She lifted her skirt and walked into the room, standing next to Chen Ji.

"Did a ghost do it?"

"Not necessarily, it could also be a person," Chen Ji said, pointing to the bloody handprint on the table.

"The blood extends from the doorway to the dining table. If it were a ghost, it wouldn't have been allowed to travel this far."

"Where's the body? In the bedroom?"

Following the trail of blood, Fei'er peeked towards the bedroom.

"No."

Chen Ji opened all the doors and showed them to Fei'er: "That's the problem, the body has disappeared."

Fei'er's expression finally changed a little. She and Chen Ji opened all the places where things could be hidden, checking the wardrobe, under the bed, and even behind the curtains.

There was no sign of a corpse.

However, during the search, Chen Ji found two congratulatory letters in the shoe cabinet by the door.

【Dear Vivi】

Although you didn't invite me to your wedding, as your best friend of four years in college, I sincerely wish you a happy marriage!

I hope your life with your husband is the one you've always hoped for. In any case, you must come visit me at the beach sometime!

This is a letter from the bride's friend; the other one is from the groom.

[Brother Yuan]

[Happy Wedding! It's been a year since I last saw you, and you're already married! That's fast, I'm impressed!]

Although I know this isn't the right time to say this,

But I really didn't expect you not to marry Xiaoyue. You two were together for so many years!

You left in such a hurry, without even saying goodbye to us brothers. I hope you really had your own difficulties.

Chen Ji put the two letters back, having made some deductions in his mind, and looked at Fei'er:

"What do you think?"

"The woman's name is Weiwei, and the man's name is Yuan Ge. They just got married."

Fei'er's tone was very calm.

"no......"

Chen Ji wiped the sweat from his forehead. Fei'er was saying something very obvious: "If you look closely, it seems that they stopped contacting their friends before they got married."

"The tone of both letters was somewhat sarcastic."

Fei'er was taken aback, her round eyes widening: "Really?"

"I felt they were quite polite in their words, and they even wished the newlyweds a happy marriage."

"...?"

Chen remained silent, staring intently at Fei'er. He noticed her blinking and tilting her head slightly, showing no sign of joking.

His heart tightened, and he suddenly understood why Zuo Shiming hadn't chosen to team up with Fei'er.

"That's just how it is. You can ask others."

Chen Ji didn't know how to explain to her the concept that "saying nice things doesn't necessarily mean good intentions," so he chose to end the topic hastily.

"Oh!"

Just then, the door to the stairwell outside was pushed open forcefully.

Chen Ji immediately turned around, but Fei'er reacted even faster. Almost as soon as she spoke, she had already run to the door.

Chen Ji only felt a gust of wind rush past him.

Outside the door, hurried footsteps approached, and a figure nearly bumped into Fei'er, but she nimbly dodged it.

Wu Zhonghai was covered in sweat, nearly slipped, and sounded very flustered.

"Second floor, room 201, someone is dead! There's blood everywhere!"

Before Chen Ji could say anything, he heard the elevator doors open, and then Zuo Shiming walked out with a solemn expression.

"305 was wiped out."

"The body could not be found."