Translator: CinderTL
The woman didn't stand on ceremony either. Seeing that Chen Yi and Fatty showed no intention of entering, she slammed the door shut with a loud "bang," almost catching Fatty, who was standing outside, off guard.
Chen Yi glanced at the door a few times, then lowered her voice and said to Fatty, "Let's go."
After returning to Room 710, Chen Yi stared at the wall clock, silently calculating the time. Fatty seemed even more nervous than Chen Yi, with sweat beginning to form on the back of his hand.
As time passed, Fatty couldn't help but ask Chen Yi, "They... won't really run into trouble, will they?" After speaking, he swallowed hard.
That room gave Fatty an overwhelming sense of unease, as if it hadn't seen sunlight in a long time, and there was an indescribable strange smell inside.
Recalling that pungent odor that had hit her earlier, Chen Yi's expression grew increasingly grim. She had once accompanied a senior from the forensic department to a crime scene.
There, she had smelled something almost identical to what she had just encountered.
Only, it hadn't been as strong.
It was the stench of a rotting corpse.
Chen Yi still remembered that scene vividly: the corpse lying face down had almost fused with the mattress, and the clothes on the body were no longer recognizable in their original color.
They couldn't be removed, so they had to be carefully peeled away using scissors and tweezers. Clusters of white maggots squirmed together, occasionally crawling in and out of the holes rotted into the corpse.
At the time, the scene had left her utterly shaken. Afterward, she crouched in a corner, feeling as though she might vomit up her stomach acid.
But seeing the worry in Fatty's eyes, Chen Yi didn't tell him any of this. "It should be fine," she reassured him. "Let's wait a bit longer."
"The room's a mess, so just sit anywhere," the woman said, inviting them in.
"Thank you," Chu Jiu replied with remarkable politeness. She had always been this way, the kind of child people around her held up as an example.
The room was darker than Jiang Cheng had expected. The spot where a window should have been was covered with thick curtains, and a small orange lamp lit up a corner.
It looked like the kind of nightlight people kept for midnight trips to the bathroom.
In the faint light, Jiang Cheng's gaze swept across the room. The layout was similar to his own room.
Only, there was more furniture, making the space feel cramped.
A sofa sat in the living room, its once-glossy leather now dull and gray. When touched, the armrests had developed creases.
To the left was the kitchen, and the bathroom was tucked into a corner. To the right was the bedroom.
The bedroom door was closed, and everything appeared calm.
After the sound of running water, the woman emerged from the kitchen holding two cups, which she placed on the coffee table in front of them.
"Have some water," the woman said hoarsely.
"Thank you," Jiang Cheng replied naturally, taking the cup and handing it to Chu Jiu beside him. Then, looking at the woman, he asked, "What did you mean when you said Room 710 isn't fit for living?"
The woman picked up her cup, gulped down several large mouthfuls of water, and then set it down. "The landlord probably didn't tell you, but a crazy woman used to live there."
"A crazy woman?" Chu Jiu stared intently at the woman.
The woman nodded. Her health seemed poor, as she began panting after speaking for a while. Despite the room not being cold, she wore a thick high-neck sweater.
The collar almost covered her chin.
"Yes, a crazy woman," the woman said, her expression gradually changing as if recalling something. "You wouldn't believe it. Every night, she'd start making a scene. At first, it was just crying, but later it escalated to crying and cursing, and the things she said were so vile."
The woman sighed. "Eventually, she started smashing things. Not just in her room—she'd throw things into the hallway and smash them there."
"You can't imagine it. A full-length mirror, taller than a person, with a large wooden frame, and she lifted it all by herself, then smashed it to pieces in the hallway. Shards flew everywhere."
Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed slightly. He had finally heard something that piqued his interest.
A mirror.
Chu Jiu, too, seemed drawn into the scene the woman described, listening intently for what came next.
"That wasn't all. She also ripped the mirror off the bathroom wall," the woman said, her expression shifting as she looked at Jiang Cheng. "She literally tore it off with her bare hands. I opened my door and peeked through the crack. Her hands were gripping the edges of the mirror, covered in blood from being cut by the glass."
"This crazy woman—she only smashed mirrors, right?" Jiang Cheng asked calmly.
The woman thought for a few seconds. "I'm not sure about that, but from what I saw, yes. The hallway lights were already dim, and with all the broken mirror fragments everywhere, it was so dangerous. What if someone got hurt?"
"What happened after that?"
"Then, suddenly, everything went quiet for a few days," the woman said, leaning back on the sofa. "After that, the police came. Not just once—they came several times, both in the morning and afternoon. Later, I heard from other neighbors that the woman had died."
"How did she die?"
"I don't know that."
"Did she die in the room?" Jiang Cheng pressed.
"No, no," the woman quickly waved her hand, licking her lips as she explained. "If that had happened, I wouldn't dare stay here either. I heard she died outside."
"How long had that woman lived here?"
"It had been a while—about half a year," the woman continued. "But she wasn't like that when she first moved in. Otherwise, we wouldn't have tolerated her causing such a scene. She only started acting like that later, and it lasted about a week before... before she was gone."
"She was originally a lovely young woman, attractive and stylish. I heard she was a model," the woman said. "She had long legs, fair and straight, and many people envied her."
Jiang Cheng took a deep breath. It seemed they had found the ghost haunting Room 710—this long-legged model who had, for some unknown reason, suddenly gone mad.
"What was her name?" Jiang Cheng asked.
The woman answered without hesitation. "Yu Youwei."
In the next moment, Jiang Cheng immediately recalled the ring Hua Luo had found, engraved with the name "Shen Aiwei."
The "Shen" likely referred to Li Maoshen, while the "Wei" was probably this model named Yu Youwei.
Now, everything connected.
There had to be some subtle, yet unknown, link between these deceased individuals.
"Were there any signs before Miss Yu went mad?" Chu Jiu asked, shrinking slightly as she spoke, her curiosity evident.
"Signs..." The woman frowned, as if the act of thinking was exhausting for her. She reached up and tugged at the neck of her sweater.
Jiang Cheng's expression changed instantly when he caught a glimpse of something, though the woman seemed oblivious as she continued. "I didn't notice any signs, but I heard from a neighbor who moved away that the police kept mentioning a place called Huaren Hospital during their questioning. I have no idea what that meant."
(End of the Chapter)
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