Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"Who?"

"Wang Su and Wang Lijun?"

"They are siblings!"

Hu Li screamed, and everyone's faces showed intense disbelief.

Almost instantly, all the awkwardness became clear. The faces of the couple in room 502 flashed through Chen Ji's mind, and he murmured:

"No wonder Wang Weiwei married Chen Zhiyuan..."

"This is a family tradition."

"After the Wang siblings got married, they divorced and remarried after an unknown period of time, and then had Chen Zhiyuan and Wang Weiwei."

Chen Ji flipped through the marriage certificate and found a torn photo hidden in the crack.

The photo only shows the upper half, taken in the 1980s or 90s, featuring siblings Wang Su and Wang Lijun.

Both of them wore expressions of deep, unyielding sorrow.

He put the half of the photo in his pocket, forcibly suppressing his surprise, and said in a deep voice:

"There's another letter here."

The group looked at it together; the letter was short and the paper wasn't too old.

January 10, 2007

【son:

The old lady passed away a few days ago at the age of 78.

She died with a happy expression on her face. She said she was finally able to escape the cage that had trapped her for the rest of her life.

I remained silent. Sometimes, living too long is a kind of torture.

The old lady gave birth to ten children in her lifetime, but only two survived due to consanguineous marriage.

First the old lady, then me, I buried each of their little graves with handfuls of soil.

It's located in Wangjia Village, in the Jixiangyuan residential area, now the basement of Liting Apartment.

In your letter, you asked me why I did all this, why I brought you into this world, and why I continued this endless fate.

Child, it's all fate.

We are destined to never leave this land.

Like you, Mom also tried to escape, to run away to a very, very far place, hoping that she would never be caught up by our family's predetermined fate.

Useless.

Even if only one person remains in our family, this curse will never end.

You said you dreamed of a large door again, but you don't know whether that door belongs to the old house, Jixiangyuan, or Liting Apartments.

My mother also dreamed about it, one day when she was in her twenties.

You didn't tell me, but I know there are people talking inside, right?

He said that for every wanderer who has left home,

"No one can leave here. You will always go back eventually, no matter what."

Come back, child.

We are like birds with clipped wings, generation after generation, forever trapped in this century-old cage.

After reading the letter written by Wang Lijun, the room fell into a deathly silence.

Chen Ji silently put the letter back where it was, next to which was a child's spinning top.

"I don't quite understand..."

Yuanyuan spoke weakly. After reading the letter, she was completely confused. Everything was written so vaguely that it sounded like Wang Lijun's ramblings.

Chen Ji said, "This is a letter she wrote to Chen Zhiyuan."

The many fogs in his mind were illuminated as if by a beam of light; the amount of information in this letter was simply too great.

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Ji slowly spoke, "The relationship between the Wang family and Liting Apartments is deeper than we imagined."

"The letter meant that their family was cursed by this land, and that no matter where they went, they would always return."

Zuo Shiming nodded thoughtfully: "Perhaps, there is more than one curse."

“The old lady must be the ghost mother-in-law that Wu Zhonghai met. She was also a close relative.”

Murong Qing's expression was strange: "Is it possible that their mental illness stemmed from their consanguineous marriage?"

She always felt that this family was too feudal, unlike people in modern society, and they spoke in a mysterious and rambling way.

She went on to speculate: "Perhaps on the day of the murder, their mental illness flared up, and they killed each other's entire families?"

"This kind of thing is frequently seen in the news."

Chen Ji was speechless for a moment: "Have you wandered into the crime investigation channel?"

Although Yuanyuan and Huli disliked Murong Qing, they vaguely agreed with her words.

This can be explained logically, while what Wang Lijun said in her letter was too mystical and lacked any context.

Why would there be such a curse?

Even if it existed, how could it be passed down from generation to generation?

Moreover, there is absolutely no clue whatsoever to support what Wang Lijun said.

Most importantly, until now, no one knows who the murderer is, so Murong Qing's opinion is the most convincing.

Fei'er replied, "Why bother with so much?"

"This is a domain where the probability of encountering ghosts and curses is much greater than the probability of encountering mentally ill people."

Chen Ji nodded silently. He thought so too, but he felt that something was off about what Fei'er said, as if she was alluding to him.

He looked up and saw that Fei'er was staring at him calmly, her large eyes as black as the night, revealing no emotion.

"Cough cough."

Chen Ji felt a little embarrassed, pretending not to see Fei'er's gaze, and glanced down at his watch:

"Let's go back and discuss it; it's almost 11 o'clock."

They spent too much time in the basement, and before they knew it, they were almost at the end of the fourth cycle.

......

The group returned to 403 in the dark. As the number of cycles increased, the voltage in the apartment became increasingly unstable.

Since last night, there have been intermittent power outages.

Chen Ji lay on the floor, still thinking about the letter Wang Lijun had written.

A century-old... prison.

Whether her words were a metaphor or a fact, they conveyed a sense of helpless despair.

No wonder both Wang Su and Wang Lijun looked gloomy in their photos together.

Chen Ji turned over and was about to close his eyes when he suddenly turned his head sharply.

There's someone behind me!

The reflection in the lens flashed, making it difficult to see Zuo Shiming's expression clearly, but being so close, one could almost feel his breath.

"?"

Chen Ji's heart skipped a beat in fright. He stiffly shifted back, then let out a heavy sigh of relief: "What happened?"

"Shhh."

Zuo Shiming's breathing was rapid, and his voice was very tense.

"There's someone outside."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Ji's relaxed body tensed up immediately, as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water and instantly sobered up!

Everyone was inside.

How could something outside be a person?

That's a ghost!

It's that new ghost that didn't show up all day!

He immediately sat up silently and listened carefully to the sounds outside.

After a minute of silence, the sound of a door being gently pushed open came from the hallway outside.

Click.

It came from the end of the corridor.

Then, a series of almost inaudible, very faint footsteps came.

About three or four steps later, there was another sound of a door opening.

Click.

Chen Ji felt a chill rush straight to the top of his head!

That ghost was opening doors one by one!

First 405, now 404, next one...

That's room 403 where they are!

He immediately stood up and exchanged a glance with Zuo Shiming in the darkness. Neither of them could clearly see the other's face, but they both knew the same thought:

They're trapped here!

That ghost is blocking the only way to escape!

Chen Ji immediately stood up. He was going to tell the girls in the room to find a place to hide, as they knew nothing about it!

Click.

Chen Ji stopped immediately.

He froze, as if petrified, hearing faint footsteps outside the door, growing ever closer.

It stopped right at the door.

ka ka ka-

The doorknob was shaking rapidly, but it wasn't turned open.

The door is locked!

Chen Ji didn't relax. He frantically looked around, searching for a place to hide. He didn't have time to go back to his bedroom!

The door lock is no match for ghosts!

and.....

Without Chen Ji reminding them, everyone in room 403 realized something.

The ghost is coming.

Perhaps because they found they couldn't open the door, there was a moment of silence outside.

The next second, a deafening buzzing sound echoed throughout the entire apartment!

With a roar, it operated at high speed, followed by a flash of light, and the saw teeth cut directly into the door!

The ghosts outside...

Holding a chainsaw.