Chapter 78: South Street Apartment

Li Feng naturally carried a cold, hard demeanor, so the viewers didn’t notice anything strange. Seeing him actively invite Li Zhi to team up, they were even pleased—two reliable players teaming up meant better exploration, more engaging content to watch.

The four of them headed up to the third floor. Compared to the dusty lower floors, this one was noticeably cleaner, probably because more people lived here, and someone regularly cleaned the shared areas. Li Feng and Qiao Junyuan lived in 302, right next door to Qu Rong, the girl Li Zhi had met earlier that morning in 304.

At this time of day, all the doors on the third floor were locked. It was unclear whether the tenants were at work or just sleeping in. One particular door caught their attention—it was decorated with red cloth draped from the doorframe instead of the usual red lanterns like the other apartments. In this dimly lit hallway, that vibrant red looked sinister, drenched in the aura of death.

Li Zhi hadn’t examined the couplets posted on the doors of the second floor before, but now she stepped closer to read the lines:

“Spring’s breeze echoes across the heavens,
The resolve of ice and snow remains on earth.”

Red paper with black ink, usually symbols of peace and prosperity—yet here, they exuded nothing but chilling gloom.

Brother and sister exchanged glances.

“This isn’t a celebratory couplet,” Li Zhi murmured.

Li Feng nodded. “Funerary couplets.”

Meng Yuhan clung tightly to Li Zhi’s arm, her face pale. “Did… someone in this family pass away?”

Funerals with red fabric? Celebrating death with festive colors? What kind of twisted reasoning was this?

Li Feng suggested, “Let’s check the second floor.”

Descending together, they found even more doorways adorned the same way—funerary couplets, red lanterns, swaying faintly in the dim hallway. The entire corridor was equipped with sound-activated lights, which flickered weakly as Li Feng stamped his foot to activate them.

Door by door, they checked.

“All of them,” Li Feng said grimly. “Funeral couplets.”

It was broad daylight, yet Meng Yuhan felt icy chills crawling up her spine. Was this building inhabited by the living—or by the dead?

“Let’s check upstairs,” Li Zhi decided.

They ascended to the fourth floor, finding two more rooms bearing the same ominous symbols. The fifth floor was the same. Oddly, the sixth floor had none. Perhaps because it was the top floor, it was brighter, catching more sunlight through narrow, diamond-shaped openings cut into the concrete walls.

Li Feng walked to the stairwell railing. “This is where those two fell.”

Old-fashioned stairwells like this were wide open with minimal safety features, and the railings were low. It was dangerous, yes—but not impossible to avoid falling. Measuring the railing’s height with his hand, Li Feng frowned. “It’s not easy to accidentally fall.”

Li Zhi clearly agreed. “Unless… they didn’t fall. They jumped.”

Why would someone ignore the stairs and jump over a railing into a dark, deadly shaft?

“They must’ve been terrified,” Li Zhi reasoned, her voice low. “Panic makes people irrational. They must’ve been so desperate to escape that they chose to take the fastest route—straight down.”

So what had they seen on the sixth floor that night?

The sixth floor was indeed more spacious, with a small communal area at the end of the corridor. Diamond-shaped cutouts in the wall allowed beams of sunlight to stream inside, scattering across the floor in uneven patches. A communal kitchen, perhaps. An old stove sat in the corner, water boiling on top.

As they examined the area, a door creaked open. A middle-aged woman with a perm and a red sweater stepped out, carrying a basin. Spotting them, she hurried over with suspicion in her voice. “Hey, hey—what are you all doing here?”

Li Zhi turned with a practiced, sweet smile, polite and ingratiating. “Auntie, we just moved in—205. Thought we’d introduce ourselves to the new neighbors.”

The auntie’s guarded look eased a little as she poured the boiling water into the basin, eyeing them with the smug satisfaction of someone about to share forbidden gossip. “Young folks these days, gutsy—renting a place in this building.”

Li Zhi blinked innocently. “Why wouldn’t we? Something happen here?”

The auntie’s vanity inflated at the opportunity. She waved them closer with a conspiratorial smile, lowering her voice. “Two people fell to their deaths from this building not long ago. People say this place is haunted. Scary stuff!”

Li Zhi widened her eyes in perfect mimicry of naive fear. “What? How did they fall?”

“Over there,” the auntie pointed toward the stairwell. “Tumbled right down. Ugh, their guts were splattered everywhere.”

Meng Yuhan went pale, clinging tighter to Li Zhi.

“I think I heard something about that,” Li Zhi murmured. “But I didn’t know the details. Auntie, were you there when it happened?”

“Of course I was!” The auntie dramatically plopped onto a stool, ready for her performance. “I was cooking when I heard someone shouting ‘Thief!’ It was Mr. Chu from across the hall. I didn’t even have time to set down my spatula before I ran out. And just in time—I saw the two thieves bolt from Chu’s place, screaming bloody murder as they ran.”

She slapped her chest dramatically. “Mr. Chu and I gave chase, but before we could get close, they just leapt over the railing! Right down the shaft! Damn near gave me a heart attack. By the time we got downstairs… they were already gone.”

The story matched what the man in the floral shirt had said earlier that morning.

Li Feng asked, “Did you notice anything else unusual?”

The auntie gave him a blank look. “What else? Just me, Mr. Chu, and those two thieves. That’s it.”

Li Zhi interjected smoothly, “What about Mr. Chu’s wife?”

At that, Li Zhi and Li Feng both noticed the flash of disdain in the auntie’s eyes. “Chen Meiqian? Said she fainted from fright. Can’t even handle a couple of thieves. Useless.”

Li Zhi gave a wistful little sigh. “We bumped into Mr. Chu at breakfast earlier. He really loves his wife—he wouldn’t even let her get up to cook for him. Being spoiled like that, it’s no wonder she’s delicate.”

As expected, that pushed the auntie into full venomous gossip mode. “Hmph! Must be nice. What woman in this building has it that good, huh? Marrying someone like Mr. Chu, not needing to lift a finger around the house… You know what’s wild?” She lowered her voice further, eyes gleaming with jealousy. “That woman can’t even have children, and he still doesn’t mind.”

Li Zhi played along, wide-eyed. “Really?”

The auntie nodded with gusto. “Of course! I’ve been living in this building forever. When those two moved in, they were just newlyweds, so not having a baby made sense. But it’s been three years. Still nothing. You know what Mr. Chu always says?” She imitated his gentle tone with mocking derision. “‘Meiqian doesn’t want kids yet, we’re in no rush.’”

Scoffing, she added, “I live across from them—I know Mr. Chu wants kids. It’s that Chen Meiqian who’s barren!”

Li Zhi smiled. “Wow, you can hear all that even with their door closed?”

“They fight loud, I can tell you that much,” the auntie rolled her eyes. “These walls are paper-thin.”

Li Zhi and Li Feng exchanged another glance.

Then, Li Zhi purposefully looked toward the hallway. “I’m curious about Madam Chu now. Since we’re here, let’s go say hello.”

The auntie laughed lazily, moving her stool aside with her foot. “Don’t waste your time. She won’t open the door.”

“Why not?” Meng Yuhan asked nervously.

“She’s never liked socializing. Always hiding from the neighbors like something’s chasing her. Lately, she barely even steps outside. Chu does all the chores. That’s what happens when you spoil someone rotten—turns ‘em useless.”

With that parting jab, the auntie waddled off, leaving them alone again.

They wandered the sixth floor for a bit longer but found nothing new. Standing before the door to 603, Li Zhi paused. Through that door… was Chen Meiqian in there now? Surely she’d heard everything the auntie just said. The woman wasn’t exactly whispering.

If it were anyone else, wouldn’t they have stormed out to argue by now?

But from 603… not a single sound.

Li Zhi stared at the peephole in the door.

Was someone standing silently behind it—watching them, right now?