Translator: Cinder Translations
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Apartment 2.
The young man, who went by the alias Banana Wolf, leaned against the wall in the living room, gripping a gleaming dagger in his hand.
His eyes scanned the surroundings warily.
All the lights in the living room were on, and he held a flashlight in his left hand. Although the battery was running low, a few taps could still make it somewhat usable.
"Sizzle—"
"Sizzle—"
As the sound reached his ears, he shivered involuntarily.
It's here.
That sound was back!
To understand this, we must go back half an hour. At that time, Banana Wolf had just arrived in his room, which was Room 404 of Apartment 2.
Unlike most people, he was quite satisfied with this room number.
Having studied abroad, he had just returned to the country and often enjoyed reading supernatural novels, so he was well aware of the significant restraining power that the number 404 held against demons and ghosts.
He had a fleeting illusion that he was safe.
After checking the room, he closed the doors to both the bedroom and the bathroom, preparing to face the night in the living room.
But just as he was about to lie down on the sofa to catch his breath, a slow knocking sound suddenly came from the door.
Not just one knock.
It was a series.
Very slow, but each knock felt like it was hammering into his heart, akin to a dull knife cutting flesh.
He immediately sat up.
When he arrived, he had observed the corridor; it was quite dilapidated, with many doors plastered with rental notices.
These notices looked very old, suggesting they had been there for quite some time.
He hadn't seen any neighbors nearby, except for Wan Yuanning, who lived in Room 409 on the same floor.
She was a girl who was not very talkative and rather dull; after nodding at him, she entered her room.
He didn't think the one knocking would be her.
He tiptoed to the door, peering through the peephole for a quick glance outside. Just as he pressed his eye to the peephole, the knocking suddenly stopped.
There was nothing outside, only the rental notice on the opposite door flapping against the doorframe in the night breeze, like a dying white butterfly.
No one.
Banana Wolf swallowed hard and immediately stepped back from the door; he wasn't foolish enough to open it to see what was outside.
The peephole had its limitations; if someone was hiding to the sides or behind the door, it would be a blind spot.
Or perhaps this guest was standing right outside the door.
It was just that his mortal eyes couldn't see them.
Overthinking would only lead to wild imaginations, so he continued to retreat.
As he passed the kitchen, he instinctively pulled out a dagger. It might not be useful against those things, but at least it could provide him some comfort.
Just as he managed to steady his breathing, that eerie knocking sound returned.
Banana Wolf's eyes narrowed to slits.
He didn't lean in to look again; instead, he mechanically turned his head to glance behind him, where the bedroom was.
The bedroom door was closed, and the knocking sound was coming from inside!
Someone was standing behind the bedroom door, knocking.
No, it wasn't knocking; it was scraping with something sharp. The sound was exceptionally piercing, as if it could puncture eardrums.
"Sizzle—"
"Sizzle—"
Just like before, slow, dragging an unsettling tail, utterly bizarre.
It was as if someone was using a rusty knife to scrape against the door, just one door away from him.
The image that flashed in his mind made his face turn pale.
The bedroom door was different from the front door; it looked fragile, and more importantly, it wasn't locked, meaning whatever was inside could come out at any moment.
Just as he realized this, the scraping sound from the bedroom suddenly ceased, and Banana Wolf clearly saw the doorknob turn.
"Click."
His body reacted before his brain could process it; he dashed to the bedroom door, grabbed the doorknob, and pulled it towards himself.
At the same time, he used the key inserted in the lock to lock the door from the inside.
After doing all this, the air seemed to freeze; he didn't even dare to blink.
Until the sounds from the bedroom finally disappeared.
Gasping for breath, he staggered back and plopped down onto the sofa.
With trembling hands, he grabbed the bottle of mineral water he had taken from the fridge, twisting the cap several times before finally getting it open.
Just as he was about to take a sip to calm his nerves, that eerie scraping sound echoed again.
Banana Wolf froze in place.
The sound was coming from under the sofa.
Slowly, he leaned forward, trembling as he looked down at his feet. A green hand emerged from beneath the sofa, its sharp nails scraping against the floor, leaving five deep scratches.
In the next moment, it grabbed his foot.
"Ah! Ah!"
"…"
After hearing someone's account, the crowd gathered in the lobby of Building 1 fell silent, sitting around a rickety wooden table.
The table had a broken leg, propped up by a few stones.
Aside from the dust, there were no other items on the table, just a solitary hand lying there.
"So…" Fatty stared at the hand, swallowing hard before looking at the visibly agitated Banana Wolf.
"At that moment, the hand suddenly reached out from under the sofa and grabbed my foot. I was so scared I couldn't react, so I just acted on impulse," Banana Wolf said, his emotions running high.
"You acted on impulse and the ghost's hand fell off?" Chu Jiu, looking like a student, asked, his voice trembling.
"Well, not exactly. In a moment of panic, I just stabbed it," Banana Wolf explained.
"And the knife?" Liu Guo, appearing more mature than the others, asked with a more comprehensive perspective.
"Oh, it's right here." Banana Wolf reached to his waist and pulled out a nearly 30-centimeter-long knife, its tip very sharp.
It seemed he was worried about injuring himself, so both sides were wrapped in cardboard and thickly taped, leaving only the handle exposed.
Jiang Cheng first glanced at the knife, then at Banana Wolf, saying, "Dude, you can fit quite a bit in your pants."
"It's not bad," Banana Wolf replied.
After passing the knife around for everyone to see, their attention returned to the severed hand, which was not a human hand, at least not a living one.
It had a cheap rubber texture.
The nails were very long, sharp at the tips like knives, covered in various patterns, with stars, moons, and other small decorations glued on.
"This looks like nail art, doesn't it?" Wei Jinting stepped forward to touch it, grinning as he looked up and said, "Hey, it's actually quite pretty."
But upon noticing the unfriendly gaze of Banana Wolf holding the knife, he quickly retracted his hand.
(End of the Chapter)
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