Chapter 21: The Truth of the Matter
The moment that ancient voice resonated, all the red filters obscuring her vision vanished in a blink. Zhao Mingyue realized that stepping onto the thirteenth step had transported her to another realm. The ghosts and spirit flames she’d seen were mere manifestations of the female ghost’s lingering spirit and resentment.
Under the ghost’s influence, the fabric of reality and the world of grudges intertwined—a spectacle visible only to them. The arrival of that person from outside shattered the ghost’s grip, bringing her back to reality.
Or perhaps the female ghost was just scared of that newcomer and willingly withdrew her power.
But none of that mattered as much as the identity of this newcomer—someone who could provoke such a colossal reaction from the ghost.
Zhao Mingyue was pretty sure that an ordinary person stepping straight onto the fifth floor wouldn’t cause such a ruckus. They’d probably end up in dire trouble instead of affecting a ghost.
“It’s the landlord…” Zhao Mingyue turned around.
She recognized that voice—it was definitely the landlord from downstairs!
Honestly, she was not surprised by this outcome. Only the landlord had access to the fifth-floor keys and could stealthily sneak upstairs. The white plaster in the stairwell leading to the fourth and fifth floors had also been painted by the landlord.
But one thing confused her: why was the landlord doing all this?
That female ghost had been dead for years; her corpse hadn’t been buried and was trapped here. If only they could bury her, then even if her vengeful spirit lingered, her resentment might lighten a bit.
Not even the dead could find peace here; her remains were chained up and sealed with muck, apparently separated from her two children. Anyone would harbor a boatload of resentment in her shoes!
Many people had died in this building; every face on those exterior walls represented a life lost here. Those wrongfully dead folks, just like her, remained trapped.
Their deaths must have a huge connection with the landlord!
The landlord surely knew that the woman’s vengeful spirit hadn’t moved on and that the ghost posed a grave danger. Yet he still rented out the fourth and fifth floors. To call him an accomplice wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
One hand knotted about Miss Rabbit, the other gripping her magic wand, Zhao Mingyue yanked open the bathroom door.
At that moment, she wasn’t even sure how she felt. Maybe scared, because of that landlord who knew faces but not hearts. Or maybe angry, considering the countless innocent lives lost in this building. And puzzled—she just couldn’t grasp what benefits the landlord reaped from his actions.
What she wanted most was to confront him head-on and uncover the whole unvarnished truth.
Emerging from the darkness, Zhao Mingyue stepped into the living room, where the flashlight illuminated her—striking surprise in the eyes of the person within. “Xiao Zhao, it’s you?”
The landlord was ancient, over seventy, with hair gone snowy white. He limped, his frame thin, yet his spirit appeared intact—upright and with a glint in his eyes, though his face lacked the benevolence one expects from an old man; instead, it was twisted in a fearsome glare.
Clad in a gray button-up shirt, propping himself with a cane and holding the flashlight, the beam cast an eerie shadow over the landlord’s face, creating a different kind of horror than the ghost.
It was akin to standing at a crime scene, knowing who the murderer is, only to turn around and find the culprit staring back at you from the darkness.
“It’s me. Surprised?” she shot back.
“Who let you in? Who is this person?” the landlord frowned, his face scrunching into an even more daunting expression.
“I’m already in this room. Do you still think you can deceive me?” Seeing him still putting on an act at such a moment stirred a wave of frustration within her.
As her words hung in the air, the atmosphere thickened—long moments passed as the landlord leaned on his cane, merely staring at Zhao Mingyue.
“You know everything, don’t you?”
In dramas, whenever the villain utters this line, it usually signals a life-or-d*ath situation. Zhao Mingyue gripped her magic wand tightly, instinctively taking a half-step back.
“Yes, I know everything. You’ve trapped the ghost and are using it to harm people!”
She said that, but inwardly, she called out for Bai Yu’s name instead.
Even if he was in his seventies, Zhao Mingyue’s heart wasn’t steady. It felt safer just to summon Bai Yu.
As if responding to her unspoken plea, the landlord stepped closer, casually flipping the room lights on. The power was back, illuminating the place suddenly, but the overhead bulbs weren’t energy-efficient; they were the old-school kind.
The dark yellow light brightened the room, but it felt far from warm.
The burnt smell disappeared, replaced by a strong scent of disinfectant—an odor that seemed to seep into the walls. The overpowering scent of disinfectant emanated mostly from the landlord himself.
“I’m telling you, I had no intention to harm you. Yes, I buried Xiao Lian’s body here, but I never meant to let her hurt anyone.”
“I’ve investigated this place. Over the years, how many people committed s*icide in Sunshine Apartments? Can you honestly say you’re not involved?”
More than ten people had killed themselves in this building. Zhao Mingyue couldn’t believe it was all mere coincidence; those lives were likely bound to that ghost. Just this morning, the ghost had led her into a freaky game of tag!
“They… are connected to Xiao Lian,” the landlord sighed. “I can’t deny that. I tried to help them, but once they stepped into this building, their fate was out of my hands.”
“Xiao Zhao, what you see may not be the whole story. Listen to me until the end, and you’ll understand.”
“Since you’ve investigated, let me elaborate. Xiao Lian, the ghost you speak of, is my daughter. She was damaged in her childhood due to an incident and has been in a hazy state since, often lacking a sense of security around others, prone to lash out.”
“She was like this at school, often injuring classmates, leading no school to accept her. Since junior high, she’s been stuck at home. Her mother passed away early, so I was the only one caring for her.”
“Time flew by, and Xiao Lian grew day by day, but her condition only showed slight improvement. I thought to myself, one day I’ll grow old; who would take care of her when I no longer can?”
“Thus, when she turned twenty-five, I arranged for her to marry a live-in son-in-law named Lin Gui, a good-hearted and honest tenant here. I facilitated occasional meetings between them, and the two hit it off decently.”
“A few months later, I told Lin Gui about this. His parents also passed on early, so he agreed to it. By the third year, they had a pair of twins. But that same year, after Xiao Lian had her babies, her condition began to worsen.”
“Back then, it confused me; her symptoms had seemingly stabilized, so what went wrong? I ran to many hospitals, but nothing worked.”
“As her condition deteriorated, she would smash furniture, even locking herself inside the wardrobe when it was severe, claiming ‘they’ were looking for her and that she had to hide.”
“One time, she locked the twins in the wardrobe, shutting the door from the inside. Lin Gui and I had to smash the door to save them; the kids had gone a whole day without food or water.”
“Such incidents became routine. During that period, we couldn’t even have normal furniture around, and all mirrors were taken out.”
“That year, the twins turned five. That year, Xiao Lian didn’t have many episodes. But then suddenly, one day, she bound the twins and set them on fire, claiming that those things were hiding in the kids’ bodies and that burning them was the only way to drive them out.”
Zhao Mingyue couldn’t help but ask, “Why not separate the kids from their mother?”
“Of course, we attempted that. But every time Xiao Lian separated from the twins, her condition worsened considerably.”
“Going back to that matter, Lin Gui simply couldn’t take it anymore and consulted me about sending Xiao Lian to a psychiatric hospital. I agreed out of fear that she might harm the twins.”
“Once Xiao Lian was sent away, I also left, moving to the outskirts of town. Staying here caused me such pain—Xiao Lian is my flesh and bl**d.”
“Years passed, and suddenly Lin Gui told me he brought Xiao Lian back without giving a reason, just saying she wouldn’t harm the kids anymore.”
“After Xiao Lian returned, he locked her upstairs on the fifth floor with the twins.”
“At that moment, I thought Xiao Lian’s condition had improved, and suggested to Lin Gui that the kids were old enough and needed to go to school. Kids can’t stay out of school!”
“It was only after they started school that things fell apart.”
“Xiao Lian initially agreed, but when she heard the kids would attend Dongcheng No. 13 Middle School, she went berserk, insisting on bringing the kids back.”
“One night, she somehow broke loose, headed to that school, probably to pick up the kids. It was that day that a fire broke out; an entire class of students couldn’t escape and perished within.”
Zhao Mingyue’s eyes widened. “Those kids…”
“Yes, they were in that class.” The landlord sighed deeply.
“When she returned that day, Xiao Lian set the fifth floor ablaze, burning herself to d*ath.”
“Since her d*ath, her ghost has wandered the fifth floor; during that time, she killed several people. Out of desperation, I sought a master. He instructed me to bring Xiao Lian’s body back, suspend her head and limbs with chains, then bury her with the roots of a locust tree. Periodically, I was to take her burial soil and brush it on the walls to contain her spirit, making her forever wander between the fourth and fifth floors without escape.”
