Chapter 1087 - Does It Not Look Like a Black Sea? 2 in 1 (2/2)

“I will not go with any of you.” To Chen Ge’s surprise, Wu You denied him outright.

“Why? Haven’t you been meaning to see your mother and father?” Chen Ge was curious. The reason that he used to convince the boy to follow him was to bring him to find his parents; he did not think that the boy would reject him so easily and firmly without giving it much thought.

“On the day my parents left, the last thing that they told me was, no matter what, I am not to leave this house. They will soon return. Whenever a person comes to get me with the offer that they will take me to my parents, that person has to be lying to me.” Wu You lifted his head. “You are lying to me, right?”

Chen Ge was stumped. From Wu You’s words, he discerned a deeper layer of meaning. When Wu You’s parents were dragged out of their house, they probably knew that they would die. That was the only reason they would say something like that. After all, no one would be able to help Wu You find them anymore, so anyone who came to claim so had to be a liar. That was solid logic.

“There’s plenty of food on the tenth floor, and this apartment is now a lot safer. If you run into any trouble, go and find the old man that lives on the first floor.” Chen Ge ruffled Wu You’s head. This boy was clever beyond his years. “Your parents are not wrong. They will return. Before they do, you have to take good care of yourself.”

Chen Ge turned to leave. Just as he was about to reach the second floor, Wu You’s voice came from above them. “Hey!”

“What?”

“I want to tell you something.” Wu You was leaning against the door. His eyes were locked on Wen Qing. “Xiang Nuan is lost. He also appears to be waiting for his family to come find him.”

“What?”

The door of Room 301 that had never closed was shut by Wu You, and the corridor sank into silence.

“Does the boy know something that he has not told us?” Wen Qing was quite agitated.

“Perhaps he is friends with Xiang Nuan.” Xiao Sun, who was carrying Jia Fu, started to go into detective mode as per his habit.

“Give me a moment while I go and deal with this.” Chen Ge carried his backpack and returned to the third floor.

“What are you planning to do‽”

“I will just ask him in person! Why is a boy of six or seven years old playing guess that question with me? I hate people who finish half of their stories the most in this world.”

“He is just a child!”

Wu You was surprised to see Chen Ge again within ten seconds since their last meeting. After some repeated questioning, Chen Ge finally got the information he wanted. The electrician was the first to discover the landlord’s secret. The reason behind that was because Xiang Nuan had stuffed a video tape that he stole from the landlord’s home into his pigeonhole. Xiang Nuan left the building that night. But before he left, Wu You chanced a glance at Xiang Nuan taking a trip to the rooftop.

After giving thanks to Xiang Nuan, Chen Ge carried the backpack and called after Wen Qing. The two of them rushed to the rooftop. “This is it.”

The iron door on the tenth floor that led to the rooftop was locked. Chen Ge took some time looking through the ring of keys before he managed to locate the correct one.

“Stay far away from me. Once the door is open, the black fog from outside might rush in, and there are monsters hiding in that black fog.”

After Wen Qing stepped back, Chen Ge pushed open the iron door ever so slightly. The black fog outside was not as thick as he imagined, but the stench was as horrible as he remembered. Taking out the hammer, Chen Ge slowly pushed the iron door open. When he saw the whole world that opened before him, his eyes slowly widened.

Jin Hwa Apartment Block A was the tallest building in this neighborhood. So, standing on the rooftop, he could see the entire residential area. The black fog that stretched all the way to the horizon enveloped the twisted buildings. This was like a sea of blackness, and Jin Hwa Apartment and Jiu Hong Apartment were like lone islands that were abandoned in the middle of this black sea. Giant shadows slithered through the fog. Chen Ge gulped. His hands that gripped the hammer were slick with sweat.

“So, this is the real world behind Xiang Nuan’s door.”

Xiang Nuan’s door was completely different from any of the doors that Chen Ge had been to before. It was not covered in red mist but this black fog. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge could capture the flickering shadows that moved in the darkness. He was suddenly reminded of what happened when he conducted the nightmare mission at Jiang Yuan Apartments. When he reached on the rooftop blindfolded, he heard his own voice from twenty years ago. When he was about to be killed by the door, the younger version of Chen Ge said, ‘”If I am really forgotten in my nightmare one day, I will paint a window on that black sea and open all the doors in the red city so that all the eyes that have gotten used to the darkness will get a chance to see the light.”

“I know what the red city is. Could the black sea refer to this endless wave of black fog?”

Looking at the dark sky, compared to the giant shadow in the fog, Chen Ge felt so miniscule. “When Xiang Nuan left, he came to the rooftop. If I assume that Wu You is not purposely trying to trick me, there should be clues left behind by Xiang Nuan here.”

Chen Ge knew about the scary monsters hidden in the black fog. The memory of the sleazy middle-aged man being chomped by one of them was still fresh on Chen Ge’s mind.

“I cannot miss any clues. Since I have already entered this door, I will eventually have to interact with the black fog…”

Taking a deep breath, Chen Ge carried his backpack, took out his hammer, and stepped carefully into the fog. Using his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge started to search around the rooftop. It did not take long for him to find a heavily broken mud statuette.

The statuette was poorly made, and it looked similar to the other mud statuettes that Chen Ge had encountered in real life, but unlike the others, this statuette had been beheaded. From the breaking point, it did not appear that the head had broken accidentally but was forcibly yanked off by someone or something.

Chen Ge’s eyes wandered to the statuette’s chest. Two words were carved there—Xiang Nuan.

“This is Xiang Nuan’s mud statuette? Why would his own statuette appear behind his door? Was he the one who broke the statuette?”

Many questions bubbled up in his mind. Before he could give them much thought, harrowing wails drifted into his ears.

“A monster from the fog?”

Not daring to test his luck, Chen Ge grabbed the mud statuette, turned, and ran.