The old landlord seemed to speak casually, but from the expression on his face and the look in his eyes, it was clear that his heart was filled with pain, struggle, and helplessness. If he had any choice as a father, he certainly wouldn’t want to dig up his daughter’s bones and treat them this way.
It was painful enough to bury one’s own child. His daughter had lived a life of agony, and now she could not even find peace in death. Who wouldn’t feel heartbroken?
The deaths that had occurred here were indeed connected to the landlord, but the real culprit was still the female ghost, Xiao Lian.
According to the landlord, once tenants entered this building, they would fall under Xiao Lian’s influence and become unable to leave, insisting on staying here. To put it bluntly, they were being haunted by a ghost, leaving him no choice but to let them live here.
He claimed he did everything he could to control her, even seeking out a certain Master to prevent her from killing again.
It seemed to have had some effect. Xiao Lian had killed far less in recent years, and the drunkard who once lived on the fifth floor had died of natural causes.
Xiao Lian was confined to the fourth and fifth floors, and most importantly, she could no longer bewitch the tenants who stepped into this building.
However, this was all just the landlord’s side of the story. No one could say for sure what the reality was. If what he said was true, and he knew the fourth and fifth floors were still dangerous, why did he still let people live there?
Zhao Mingyue didn’t just have one tenant on those floors. There was another person on the fourth floor, and someone was also living on the fifth—the very ghost that had tried to kill her the previous night. He had lived on the fifth floor when he was alive.
Zhao Mingyue kept her guard up; she felt the situation was far more complicated than it seemed.
“After I imprisoned Xiao Lian’s remains, she truly did quiet down a lot, and it’s been that way ever since. It’s also because of her presence that the other ghostly monsters in this building don’t dare come out and harm people at will.”
After the old landlord finished speaking, Zhao Mingyue didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she silently asked Bai Yu.
“Is what he’s saying true, Bai Yu?”
“Nine parts true, one part false. He’s hiding something from you.” Bai Yu’s voice echoed in Zhao Mingyue’s mind. Because Zhao Mingyue was encountering this kind of thing for the first time, Bai Yu elaborated a little more for her.
“What he said is basically true. Whether the female ghost kills people or not has nothing to do with him, and he can’t control her. What he did did indeed serve to restrain the female ghost. But, he is finding food for her.”
“Food?”
“To put it bluntly, you are a portion of that food. Now you understand.”
With Bai Yu’s explanation, Zhao Mingyue understood. “You mean, this female ghost, though controlled, needs to be fed regularly, or there will be some kind of problem. The tenants on the fourth and fifth floors are backup food, and when the time comes, they become her meal, right?”
“Yes.”
With Bai Yu’s confirmation, a mix of emotions surged in Zhao Mingyue’s heart. Just moments ago, she had almost believed the landlord was a good man and that she had misunderstood him.
“I have one more thing to ask. Since the female ghost is confined to the fourth and fifth floors, meaning she can move around on those two floors, why are you still renting out the rooms on those floors? Wouldn’t the tenants there be in danger?”
“That…” The old landlord was truly stumped. He hesitated. “Xiao Lian no longer actively kills. If I were to seal off the fourth and fifth floors, others would definitely become suspicious, causing panic. And this old bag of bones still relies on this building to make a living.”
“I… ah, Grandpa Lin, I truly thought you were a good man.” Zhao Mingyue sighed, her tone deeply disappointed. “Since you don’t want to say it, I’ll say it for you. The tenants on the fourth and fifth floors are Xiao Lian’s food supply, aren’t they?”
At these words, the old landlord’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed instead. “So, you already knew.”
“I thought you would tell the truth.”
“Little Zhao, if I had told you the truth, what would you have thought? What would you have done?” the landlord retorted.
“I would tell everyone the truth.”
“Would that help? If you went out and told people this place is haunted, how do you think others would look at you?”
As he spoke, the old landlord’s hand had, unnoticed, slipped into his pocket. He pulled out a strand of black hair and quickly tossed it into the air.
The moment the hair appeared, red spirit fire latched onto it, trying to ignite it.
The hair only sparked a few embers, but Zhao Mingyue immediately felt a chill run through her body, and a red, ghostly light appeared in her eyes again.
Just then, a blood thread materialized out of nowhere, coiling around the strand of hair and snuffing out the embers.
Bai Yu’s figure emerged behind the old landlord. The landlord seemed to sense something, his body stiffening, his pupils contracting slightly, his expression turning extremely grave.
“Where are those two children?”
Bai Yu, having seized the old landlord’s neck from behind, narrowed her eyes.
The old fox was cunning; he wanted to summon Xiao Lian to kill Zhao Mingyue. That strand of hair was undoubtedly from one of Xiao Lian’s children.
A cold aura pierced the skin of his nape like silver needles. It wasn’t the feeling of a human hand choking him, but a hand formed purely of cold energy that gripped his neck, a bone-chilling cold an ordinary person couldn’t possibly endure.
“I, I, I don’t know…” The old landlord’s entire body trembled. He knew just how terrifying the being behind him was.
“Is that so? Then you’re of no use.”
Squelch. A hand, rigid as a blade, thrust viciously into the old landlord’s back, piercing through his chest. It brought out no flesh, blood, or visceral fragments, and there wasn’t even a visible wound on him. Yet, he let out a scream like a slaughtered pig, his body involuntarily snapping rigid.
The old landlord’s eyes were filled with disbelief. He hadn’t expected Bai Yu to be unwilling to even ask another question, nor that she would kill him outright.
In his mind, Bai Yu was acting under Zhao Mingyue’s orders. Knowing Zhao Mingyue’s personality, she would never order his death.
But he was only half right. Zhao Mingyue wouldn’t have killed him, but Bai Yu would.
Pulling her hand back, the old landlord collapsed helplessly to the ground. He strained his eyes upward to look at Bai Yu, seeing only a pair of eyes as dark as an abyss.
In that moment, he suddenly understood. No wonder a young girl like Zhao Mingyue had entered Room 506 and hadn’t been killed by Xiao Lian. She wasn’t simple either; she harbored such a powerful monster within her.
“Mingyue.” Bai Yu spoke softly.
“I’m here.” Zhao Mingyue, snapped out of her daze, immediately looked up.
“Let’s go. We’re going home.”
“Ah, right, coming.” Zhao Mingyue trotted over. At the door, she looked back at Lu Liangting. The door slammed shut the next moment. She hesitated, wanting to mention that Lu Liangting was still inside.
“That kid can’t leave right now. He’s in the female ghost’s memory. Leaving would cause serious problems. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”
Bai Yu lied with a smile, her face and heart perfectly calm. But inside the room, a strand of long black hair was slowly burning. A ghostly hand suddenly pushed open the bathroom door.
“Oh, I see. Then I’m relieved.”
“Come on, let’s go back and take a bath. You reek of blood.” Bai Yu waved her hand and submerged into Zhao Mingyue’s shadow.
Zhao Mingyue headed back, surprisingly unfazed, completely putting the matter of the female ghost out of her mind. She asked, “Bai Yu, can you even take a bath in your current state? Want to bathe together?”
“Together?”
“Yeah! I think, even as a ghost, you can be a bit more refined. After all, you’re a girl. What’s nice about being disheveled all the time? You’re so beautiful, you should dress up nicely.”
“I… I’m beautiful?”
“Mhm, incredibly beautiful. In my heart, you’re the cutest girl I’ve ever seen. So, how about bathing together?” A smile appeared on Zhao Mingyue’s face, though it had a slightly wolfish, Little Red Riding Hood-luring quality to it.
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