Pollution throughout the territory

"what?"

Xia Ren kept walking and stopped in place.

That paragraph of text was like ripples on the water, and then slowly disappeared.

"My hallucinations are getting worse."

He subconsciously thought that it was the tumor in his brain that was causing trouble again. After all, as far as he knew, there was no scientific phenomenon that could explain the problem just now.

That text that suddenly appeared couldn't possibly be another creature communicating with him, right?

The mobile phone is still in his pocket. In addition to the key that Zhao Mingyue gave him, there is another set of keys in his pocket. This extra set of keys should be from his home whose location he cannot remember.

He took out his mobile phone and found that he could not unlock the interlocking screen password, so he had to give up for now.

"There are no signs of complete recovery of memory. I can only go to a nearby hospital or police station tomorrow to find a solution."

Xia Ren fumbled to turn on the light in the living room, and the room suddenly became bright.

This is a very standard house type, even a bit cliched. You can tell what the rooms inside are used for at a glance.

As far as the eye can see, there is a wooden shoe cabinet at the entrance, which contains several pairs of delicate women's shoes and plush slippers. According to Zhao Mingyue, she once lived here, so these shoes should be hers.

etc……

Xia Ren looked in the direction of the bedroom. The fact that the shoes were still there meant that the clothes were still there.

This house, for some people, is simply a treasure house...

He shook his head to drive away the messy thoughts and looked at the room again.

Past the entrance is a kitchen. On the wall further forward, there is an emerald green oil painting hanging. The painting shows a dense forest. Between the tree trunks, a wooden cabin is looming. The frame of the painting is old, and I don’t know what kind of paint the painter used, but those green leaves looked as if they were real. If the other colors hadn’t faded, Xia Ren would have thought they were taken with a camera.

What’s also strange is that there is a layer of sealed glass covering the outside of the frame, probably to protect the painting.

The temperature inside the room was extremely low, but fortunately there were no fleeting black shadows, and there was no sound of marbles rolling on the ceiling.

After closing the door, Xia Ren wanted to go to the balcony and open the curtains to get some air, but when he walked to the living room, he tripped over something.

Looking down, I saw that it was a dog bowl with a bone pattern printed in the middle.

"She also has a dog?"

Xia Ren bent down and picked up the rice bowl, only to find that it was still brand new, and the product labels on the side had not been removed.

After walking to the balcony and opening the curtains, he found another birdcage hanging by the window, which was also unused.

"I always feel like this room is filled with a weird atmosphere."

He returned to the house, stretched out his fingers and wiped it on the coffee table. It was clean, but why was there so much dust on the door handle outside? It looked like no one had touched it. Zhao Mingyue also said that no one had lived here for a long time. After all, Who is cleaning?

Frowning, Xia Ren raised his head and looked around the ceiling. In an instant, his eyes widened.

His guess was right, there was one hanging there.

air conditioner!

"The air conditioner is still there."

Xia Ren breathed a sigh of relief.

Of course, it would be nice if the air conditioner was on now, otherwise there is no way to explain why the room is so cool!

"Should we leave before it gets completely dark?"

Having been influenced by modern cultural knowledge for more than 20 years, Xia Ren has kept in mind the 24-character core values ​​of socialism. He really doesn't believe in supernatural events. This idea only disappeared after turning around in his head.

There are no ghosts in the world, and all phenomena can be explained reasonably. However, sometimes our knowledge level has not reached a certain level, so we make unnecessary guesses about many things.

The temperature in the room did not bring any discomfort to Xia Ren. On the contrary, after entering the room, the headache that had been bothering him disappeared, and his body seemed to be liberated all of a sudden. This kind of relaxing experience had not been experienced in two years.

After rubbing his hands, Xia Ren pushed open the door of the master bedroom. The first thing he saw was a large bed with a thicker light blue quilt on it. It looked like it was covered in winter. There was only one pillow, so Zhao Mingyue probably lived alone.

On one side of the room was a wardrobe, and on the other side there was a desk and a dressing table. However, there were not many cosmetics on the dressing table. I remember that when I saw Zhao Mingyue, she seemed to be without makeup.

Opening the wardrobe, there was a neat row of clothes hanging inside, ranging from light long skirts to down jackets. Xia Ren's heart moved and he opened a small drawer on the lower left. Sure enough, most of the drawer's underwear was stacked inside.

"It's not like my sister throwing it around."

As this idea emerged, Xia Ren scratched his head in confusion.

"I have a sister?"

This question also has no answer.

Zhao Mingyue lived a very delicate life and liked to clean. The quilt on the bed was as soft as if it had just been exposed to the sun. When you put your hand in it, there was still a faint warmth inside, as if the owner had just gone out temporarily.

He picked up the pillow and sniffed it gently at the tip of his nose. It was the same fragrance that he smelled on Zhao Mingyue.

She slept here not long ago.

But, how is it possible?

——Although no one has lived in it for a long time——

This sentence was said by Zhao Mingyue herself, but all the signs in the house showed that she had always lived here, even to this day.

"Did she lie, or..."

Xia Ren would rather Zhao Mingyue lied.

Because another possibility is...she doesn't exist!

Xia Ren was frightened by his sudden idea. Perhaps he was panicking, or perhaps he wanted to verify the authenticity of his idea. He went to the next room and opened the door.

Unexpectedly, this room is not a second bedroom, but a study room. There is a row of bookshelves against the wall, with various books scattered here and there. Next to the bookshelf is a desk with a desktop computer on it. Sitting on the chair, he tried it and was able to turn it on without a password.

The study room is also very clean.

When I clicked on System Update, the last check time displayed was December 1105, which was half a year ago.

winter.

"Zhao Mingyue went out in winter. After she left, for some unknown reason, time here stopped?"

Although it is a bit fanciful, if you think about it this way, everything can be explained logically. The cold wind when the door was just opened and the remaining cold air in the house now are the temperature of that winter. The reason why the room is so tidy is because time has not passed at all. These clothes were not taken away, maybe because Zhao Mingyue did not expect that he would not be able to come back.

Her skin was strangely white, she wouldn't shake his hand, and she left in a hurry after handing over the keys.

So to say,

her identity.

"No matter whether my guess is correct or not, I have to leave immediately!"

I have read many ghost stories since I was a child, and the part about water ghosts is extremely clear now. In my impression, they lure strangers over and then achieve liberation themselves.

It's almost seven o'clock now, and without realizing it, it's completely dark outside.

Darkness can always aggravate the fear in people's hearts. Xia Ren opened the door and walked out quickly as if he was running for his life.

As soon as I came out, I could feel the muggy heat of the air outside.

Because the community is relatively old, there is no elevator, so he can only climb stairs to get up and down.

It was pitch dark in the corridor, and it was almost impossible to see my fingers. The voice-activated light seemed to be broken. Xia Ren clapped his hands, but there was no response.

He could only take out his mobile phone, rely on the faint light on the screen, and hold on to the railing to go downstairs.

I don't know if they were afraid of something, but the other residents kept their doors tightly closed along the way, and there was no sound coming from inside. The entire corridor was deathly silent.

Finally arriving at the corner of the second floor, Xia Ren would be able to get out of this place immediately by going down the next floor. But at this moment, a dark wind suddenly blew through, and the broken light suddenly turned on downstairs.

At the same time, there was a sound of knocking on the door.

His heart tightened, and a bad premonition arose. Xia Ren stopped, stretched his head, and observed the scene below through the gap in the stairs.

The dim light illuminated the corridor on the first floor. A white-haired figure was standing in front of the door, raising his hand and knocking on the door again and again.

Xia Ren felt that the figure from behind seemed familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that this old lady was actually the neighbor who lived across the door whom he had met not long ago.

"But doesn't she live on the fifth floor? Are you visiting us at this time?"

Faintly feeling that something was wrong, he did not rush in and chose to continue observing.

No matter how hard the old lady knocked on the door, she got no response. Her stooped body then bent further, and her cloudy eyes were pressed against the door, looking through the peephole to see if there was anyone inside.

After failing, she slowly turned around and walked towards the other door.

No, it’s floating away!

Xia Ren's heart was pounding. He clearly saw that the old lady's legs were not moving, but her whole body was moving!

She reached another door and repeated her behavior.

No wonder all the residents didn't open the door at night. It turns out they didn't dare!

"What should I do? Rush down now?"

Xia Ren immediately rejected this plan.

There is an unknown danger upstairs, and in the final analysis, Zhao Mingyue's identity has always been his own guess, and it may not necessarily harm him, but the old lady at this moment is the real deal!

Without giving him much time to hesitate, the old lady had given up on the residents on the first floor and headed upstairs!

"You must run, you must not be caught by her!"

Xia Ren no longer hesitated, turned around and rushed upstairs.

Just when he ran to the third floor, he saw that the lights on the second floor were also on, but there was no knock on the door.

"Are you chasing me? She has noticed my presence!"

Not daring to stop for a moment, Xia Ren groped for the railing, ran to the fifth floor as fast as he could, then took out the key, opened the door and hid inside.

He slumped down in the entrance hall, gasping for air.

What he didn't notice was that in the oil painting hanging on the wall next to him, a pair of eyes appeared in the cabin hidden among the trees, quietly watching his figure from behind.