Very inconveniently, the voice-activated light in the corridor outside went out just as Yan Junze opened the door.
After opening the door, a cold draft seeped in, coupled with Ke’er, the "mobile air conditioner," lying on Yan Junze’s back.
Even though he was wearing a thick sweater, he couldn’t help but shiver.
Peering closely, a petite figure was standing at the door, probably only about 1.5 ters tall. In the moonlight, it was apparent that the person knocking was indeed an old woman, with neatly cut shoulder-length hair, wearing a dark blue thin cotton coat, black trousers, and a pair of brown cotton shoes.
However, it was pitch black outside the corridor, and no sound was emitted. The voice-activated light did not turn on either.
Yan Junze dared not make a sound, and the old woman in front of him was silent too, her facial contours blurry, seemingly staring straight at him.
Yan Junze cleared his throat and was about to speak in a low voice when the old woman suddenly turned around, facing the corridor. Her body grew slightly taller in that instant as she walked toward the other end of the corridor.
With his words stuck in his throat, Yan Junze forcefully swallowed them down. It seed that after opening the door, the old woman intended for him to follow her.
Without a word, Yan Junze stepped out of the door and gently closed it behind him.
As the old woman moved and the faint sound of the door closing was heard, the voice-activated light ca on again. This ti, Yan Junze finally got a clear view of the old woman’s back. However, upon seeing it clearly, the hairs on his back stood on end instantaneously.
The old woman walking in front was tiptoeing, which explained why her body seed taller when walking and also why her footsteps were so fragnted.
After a clear view, Yan Junze involuntarily paused for a mont.
But the old woman did not stop. She went straight to the staircase and began ascending.
Yan Junze took a deep breath, rembering he was still recording, and whispered softly, "This old woman’s surna is Ren, seems to live right above my place. I don’t know what she wants, but I’m prepared to follow and see."
He had underestimated Granny Ren’s speed in going upstairs. It turned out that the old woman on tiptoes climbed the stairs faster. In just the ti it took to utter that sentence, she had disappeared around the corner of the staircase.
Yan Junze hurried to follow and quickly climbed the stairs. As he turned the corner, he couldn’t help but glance over at the neighboring Building 5.
Wondering if the Back-faced Woman was standing sowhere quietly inside Building 5 right now.
There was no ti for further thought; Yan Junze ascended to the fifth floor.
His own ho was on the fourth floor, while Granny Ren lived on the fifth. According to the latest mission hint from the Spaceti Atlas, Granny Ren resided in Room 503.
When Yan Junze entered the corridor, he caught just a glimpse of Granny Ren, on tiptoes, disappearing into a doorway.
He jogged a few steps and while passing Rooms 501 and 502, he took special note of these two households’ conditions. Noticing that dust had accumulated in front of their doors, and that his own footsteps left clear prints, it was obvious that nobody had lived there for so ti.
One could imagine, being so close to Room 503, if Granny Ren ca knocking every night at two o’clock without fail, it’s understandable why no one would want to stay here.
As a result, after those two families moved away, Granny Ren shifted her nightly door-knocking to the floor below, that is, to Yan Junze’s ho.
Quickening his pace once more, he arrived at the door Granny Ren had walked through.
The door was open, with the number 503 on the adjacent doorplate. He hadn’t gone to the wrong place, but there was no light inside the apartnt. It was only possible to make out the vague outline of the furniture through the moonlight streaming in from outside.
Yan Junze stood in front of the door, straining his eyes but still unable to see where Granny Ren had gone.
anwhile, Ke’er had been lying on his back up to this point, and even after seeing Granny Ren, she showed no intention of leaving Yan Junze—the complete opposite behavior to when they encountered the Possession Spirit the last ti.
At this mont, she was motionless as if asleep.
"You know, every ti I wash my hair, you get to watch," Yan Junze said as if talking to himself, "If anything unexpected happens later, you better help out. The worst-case scenario, next ti I wash my hair I’ll do it for ten extra minutes, so you can get your fill all at once."
As he finished speaking, he reached out to the wall near the entrance inside the room, searching for the light switch. He quickly found it but there was no response when he pressed it.
After several attempts, it seed the house had been disconnected from the power supply.
Yan Junze had an unwelco suspicion. Based on the mission prompt, Granny Ren was supposed to live here alone, and she might have long since died in the room.
For so reason, her family had never contacted her, perhaps they didn’t even know the old woman had been dead for a long ti.
After bracing himself at the door, Yan Junze turned on the flashlight of his cell phone. Not only could he see, but it would also facilitate the filming. Although the image quality would definitely be poor, there was no other choice.
With the flashlight on, he stepped into Room 503, just in ti to see Granny Ren’s figure walking from the living room into the bedroom inside, her hunched body still on tiptoes.
In this unfamiliar environnt, the scene exuded a chilling sense that crept into one’s marrow.
"I’ve been in here for so long, and you’re still standing there, as if I don’t know to check the bedroom," he muttered to himself.
Yan Junze froze in the living room, not following her imdiately.
With the help of the flashlight, he first looked around to familiarize himself with the living room.
The ho of a solitary elderly person, previously neat and clean, was now covered with a layer of fine dust everywhere—on the TV stand, the coffee table, the sofa, and the floor.
Though dusty, everything remained neatly arranged.
After getting a clear view of the living room, Yan Junze located the bathroom, kitchen, and another smaller bedroom, and then walked to the doorway of the master bedroom.
He observed the layout of the master bedroom using the light.
A bed, a desk, a chair, two wardrobes, that was all.
Not seeing Granny Ren who had just entered, Yan Junze looked around the doorway and even peeked carefully through the slightly open door to ensure that Granny Ren wouldn’t act so considerately as to close the door behind him when he entered later.
He then saw a pair of brown cotton shoes by the bed, a familiar sight to him. They were placed neatly, so that the person in bed could slip into them with ease when getting up.
His gaze then swept to the bed in the room, and as he focused, he saw what seed to be a person lying under the covers.
It was understandable. Granny Ren wasn’t tall, so if the bedding was a bit thick, one might indeed have trouble noticing her lying there without looking closely.
At that mont, Yan Junze dared to be certain that the body on the bed was definitely Granny Ren’s corpse.
It appeared Granny Ren had not died from a fall at ho, nor from any other accident, but most likely had passed away in her sleep.
Stepping into the master bedroom and approaching the bed with caution, Yan Junze realized that Granny Ren was not lying flat, but was in a side position, facing inward, her back turned to him.
Strangely, he couldn’t sll a hint of decay.
Theoretically, Granny Ren had been dead for so long there was no way her body wouldn’t decompose, nor that it wouldn’t emit a foul odor.
Unable to make sense of this, Yan Junze decided not to ponder it further and tried to speak, "Granny Ren, I think I know what your unfulfilled wish is. You want to see your family. I’ll try to notify them."
After a pause, recalling the mission background, he added, "Especially your grandson, Yu Xiaochang, I will definitely bring your family here to see you one last ti."
[The Old Woman Knocking at Mid-Night has triggered a new branch mission.]
As soon as he finished speaking, a prompt suddenly appeared from the Spaceti Atlas in his mind.
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