Chapter 1088 - White Rice, Chopsticks, Paper Dolls, Red Candle 2 in 1 (1/2)

“I am right here. Behind you. Save me.”

“Bring me with you. Bring me away from this place. Help me…”

Underneath the constant crying was the sound of a woman. Chen Ge felt that the voice of this woman sounded quite familiar. “I believe I heard this voice in Li Wan City.”

In any case, it was not the time to meet some old friends. Chen Ge swore not to turn his head around. He had no idea what was hiding inside the black fog, and the best way to face the unknown was first to find a safe place to observe it from a far and not walk right into it while putting one’s life on the line.

The voice came closer and closer, and Chen Ge walked faster and faster. However, the quicker Chen Ge moved, the more desperate and urgent the voice became. Just as he was about to reach the iron door, the woman’s voice changed. All the words turned into screams, and they shot at Chen Ge’s body like sharp arrows shooting through the black fog.

“Get out of the way!” Chen Ge threw caution to the wind and ran as fast as he could. The moment he stepped into the building, the scary voice disappeared without a trace. Chen Ge turned back to look. Everything had returned to normal inside the black fog; it was as if he had imagined everything that had happened to him earlier.

“Wen Qing, did you hear the voice of a woman when you were standing inside the building?”

“I do not think so.” Wen Qing shook her head. “I merely saw your body disappear into the black fog. Your movement became very difficult to follow. However, there appeared to be something following behind you that was standing on their toes. I shouted very loudly to warn you, but you did not react at all.”

“This black fog appears to be more dangerous than the red city. The city will cause one to go insane with despair, but this sea of blackness can make one lose oneself fully and completely.”

Looking at the shadows lurking in the darkness, Chen Ge held his hand over his heart. For some reason, he felt like he had experienced this some time ago. This was not his first encounter with the black sea.

“Makes one lose oneself? Is that what happened to Xiang Nuan? He has lost his way in this black fog?” Wen Qing’s eyes were overflowing with worry.

“As long as he still has not left this residential area, we have a chance of finding him.” Chen Ge shut the door that led to the roof and shoved the headless mud statuette into his coat pocket. “It’s time for us to leave.”

Returning to the first floor, Chen Ge had just reached the door to Uncle Huang’s room when the front door opened on its own. Uncle Huang, who had a serious hunchback, was standing at the door. It felt like he had been standing behind the door for some time already, waiting for Chen Ge to come.

“Did you know I will return to you?”

Uncle Huang did not answer. Instead, he turned and walked into the room. When he passed the dining table, he picked up the cleaver that was placed on top of it. The old man, who was thin as a stick, grabbed the cleaver and started to hack at the wall next to the bedroom. The blade cut into the wall, and the wall started to bleed. Strangely enough, as more cuts were left on the wall, more cuts also appeared on Uncle Huang’s body.

As the old man continued to work, the wall was cleaved open, and the old man’s body was also covered in ghastly wounds. The twig-like hand no longer had the energy to even hold the cleaver anymore. In the end, Uncle Huang collapsed to the ground.

“What in the world is going on‽” Xiao Sun put down Jia Fu and ran over to help Uncle Huang, but the latter appeared like he was at the end of his line already.

“To protect another person’s secret, he has to suffer the torment of his conscience. You can say that the wall is practically made from his own flesh and blood.” Chen Ge walked into the room while carrying the backpack. “Now that the murderers have all been exposed, Uncle Huang has no reason or excuse to help them protect the secrets.”

Stopping beside the main bedroom, Chen Ge halted for several seconds before he continued moving forward. There were two bedrooms in this house. One was Uncle Huang’s bedroom, and the other bedroom was blocked off by flesh and blood. This second bedroom was stuffed with dead bodies.

“Initially, the room was only occupied by the landlord’s family members. The landlord did not wish to be separated from them, so he would occasionally come to visit them. But I did not expect the landlord to bring more and more ‘people’ to come and stay with his family.” Using his literal last breath, Uncle Huang revealed the truth. “Perhaps from the very beginning, I should not have promised to help him guard this secret.”

The scene inside the bedroom was straight out of hell. This was the location where all the sin at Jin Hwa Apartments Block A started. It was also the first secret that manifested there. Pushing away Xiao Sun, who was stunned beyond words, Chen Ge entered the bedroom and squeezed into the ‘crowd’.

“I can tell that you believe the landlord is a good person, but have you considered the alternative? What if his family did not die from an accident?” Chen Ge managed to find the dead bodies of the landlord’s family, but unfortunately, he failed to find anything useful on them. These carcasses were not the source of that horrible stench. “Just what exactly is the thing that has been radiating this stench that has troubled me for so long?”

Standing alone amid the ‘crowd’, what Chen Ge did next shocked the people around him.

He trained his focus by closing his eyes. Chen Ge used the talent gifted to him by the black phone, Spirit Sniff, and followed his instinct to start to search inside the bedroom. Slowly but surely, he followed the trail that would lead him to the source of the stench in this building. When he opened his eyes, Chen Ge saw the arm of a rag doll. The rag doll’s arm was covered in blood and other dirty stains. Chen Ge had a feeling that the arm of this doll was not stuffed with a common material like cotton but probably trash and the carcasses of small animals.

“What is this?” Chen Ge was about to pick up the doll’s arm when an extremely sense of danger arose from his mind. Then there was something like a shake, and the whole building shook underneath him. It felt like the trembling of an earthquake.

“Is this rag doll’s broken arm the source of the horrible smell?”

Before Chen Ge could understand the importance behind it, he heard rapid knocking coming from outside.

Dong, dong, dong.

It was the apartment’s front door. Someone was knocking against it from outside. Chen Ge stood up and stayed away from the broken arm. Instantly, the knocking on the door and the tremors disappeared.

“This thing is able to affect the entire residential area. When I was about to pick it up, something in my mind warned me of an imminent danger. This does not belong to Xiang Nuan. It probably belongs to the ghost fetus.”

This situation had not happened in any of the other doors that Chen Ge had entered, so he could not afford to be too careful.

“Back when I was in Li Wan City, the shadow used this method to cut open Xiao Bu’s body and kept them hidden in different buildings, making use of Xiao Bu’s power to complete his own conspiracy. This is too similar to be a coincidence. This rag doll’s severed arm is probably the same as what happened to Xiao Bu. The ghost fetus cut it up and placed different parts in different building as a foundation to steady this residential area.”

Chen Ge memorized the location of the broken arm. He decided to leave immediately to go and look at the other buildings.

Walking out from the ‘crowd’, the stench lingered on Chen Ge’s body. The smell would probably follow him until he left the door.

“Moments earlier, there was someone knocking on the front door. Have they noticed the change that has happened inside the building?”

“We will know for sure when we go out.” Chen Ge turned to look at Xiao Sun. “Are you going to follow me and leave this place in search of the truth, or are you going to stay to wait for the other tenants from the other buildings to come find you?”