Chapter 21: One Person? Several People?
The shabby, cramped room reeked of a strong musty odor. The top floor seemed to leak when it rained, leaving the space damp and sealed tight, making it extremely uncomfortable. All the windows were boarded up with wooden planks. Chen Ge inspected them and found the wood was new, only recently installed.
"This is just an ordinary guest room." The burned furniture had long been discarded, leaving the room empty and bare, with nothing of value to be found.
"Right, five years have passed. Even if there was evidence, it probably couldn't have been preserved intact."
He stepped out of the room and wandered down the pitch-black hallway. Most of the guest rooms had been cleared out, with clutter and household trash mixed together, leaving no room to even set foot.
"Household trash usually reflects a person's lifestyle and personality. Maybe I can find something in there." Changing his focus, Chen Ge endured the stench and searched carefully. Over an hour later, he actually stumbled upon some strange items.
"Why are there so many plush toys in this apartment building? There are no kids in the building—whose toys are these?" He spent nearly two hours rummaging through all the trash, finding a total of four plush toys. Compared to the clutter lining the hallway, these toys were inconspicuous. If Chen Ge hadn't majored in toy design and been sensitive to such items, he might have overlooked them.
The four toys had been lying there for who knows how long, their surfaces stained and some spots moldy. A light touch would send a clump of fuzz falling off.
Chen Ge examined them repeatedly, and more questions arose. The toys were different in shape but came from the same manufacturer.
"Could they have been left by tenants who stayed here after the Ping An Apartment was renovated?" He quickly shook off that idea. "First, what are the odds of someone bringing a child to live in a haunted apartment? Even if they did, it's unlikely they'd bring four plush toys at once. These toys are from the same manufacturer, and judging by the craftsmanship and style, they're probably several years old."
The toy market evolved rapidly. Before taking over the haunted house, he had worked at a toy company and knew the industry well.
"Not left by tenants, yet preserved in a crime scene—this stuff might have originally belonged to the apartment." He made a bold guess: "The original owner of the apartment building had two daughters. If I'm right, these toys were probably theirs."
Thinking this, another question surfaced: "Fire is ruthless—the house and furniture were all burned. How did these four toys survive?"
"Coincidence? Or... did someone deliberately put them in a safe place?" Chen Ge felt he had grabbed onto a crucial clue. "Only one person could have moved items during the fire: the killer himself! But why would he risk danger to save four toys? Were they that important to him?"
The zippers on the back of the plush toys were rusted and broken. Chen Ge tore them open and found a card inside the foul, decayed stuffing. It was palm-sized, filled with affectionate words that gave Chen Ge goosebumps: "Slipping a love letter into a plush toy? Isn't that too subtle a way to confess?"
He began to imagine the killer's personality: a shy, introverted man who couldn't say it face-to-face, so he gave the toy, hoping the recipient would open it at home.
Curious, Chen Ge tore open two more toys, each containing a card with similar content.
But when he ripped open the fourth toy, a chill crept up his spine.
The last toy didn't hold a confession card. Instead, the moldy stuffing was packed with shredded paper strips, each bearing only three words—"Go to hell!"
Intense love had inexplicably turned into the most vicious curse. What had happened in between, Chen Ge had no way of knowing.
"The writing on these strips must be the killer's—this is key evidence." He picked out a few strips and put them in his pocket. Just as he was about to venture deeper, the motion-sensor light at the stairwell corner suddenly flicked on!
"Someone's coming!" Chen Ge panicked. He quickly turned off his phone's flashlight, clutched the plush toys, and ducked into a nearby guest room.
Holding his breath, he hid behind the door, peering through the crack at the hallway.
Footsteps echoed, and voices of a man and a woman drifted through the dark corridor.
"We need to get that thing out of here, no more delays."
"That new tenant went up to the third floor earlier. He got to the stairwell and suddenly went back down—he almost caught me."
"I know. More and more outsiders are coming to the apartment. We have to deal with this quickly."
"Yeah."
"Call the others. Let's dig it out tonight and bury it in the back mountain."
The newcomers carried an old-fashioned miner's lamp. By its light, Chen Ge could see clearly. The two speaking in the hallway were the landlord and the woman from the first floor.
"Why aren't they sleeping and coming up to the third floor in the dead of night?" Chen Ge adjusted his angle, ensuring he wouldn't be spotted, and pressed himself against the door.
Soon, the tattooed man and the fat man he'd seen in the apartment building came up as well. They were not only wrapped up tightly but also carried tools like crowbars, sacks, and cleavers.
"What are they planning?"
The group stood in the hallway, seemingly arguing.
The short, stout man at the back looked upset: "Do we really have to do this? Once we dig it out, our fingerprints will be all over the place. Then we won't be able to explain anything."
"You think we can explain things now?" The landlord glared at the fat man. "Stop stalling and come help."
"I think we should just call the police," the stout man said, rooted to the spot.
Hearing this, the tattooed man strode over and grabbed him by the collar: "Are you crazy? Walking right into the trap? The cops will investigate us first thing. Then your drunk driving, hit-and-run, and our scheme to take over the old man's apartment will all come out!"
"Honey, calm down." The woman from the first floor, who lived across from the tattooed man, stepped in. "We're all in this together. No one's getting out clean. Let's just get to work."
"None of us are clean. We barely found a place to hole up. If anyone dares to have second thoughts, don't blame me for turning on them." The landlord shoved the crowbar into the stout man's hands. "You make the first move."
"Me?" Sweat immediately poured down the fat man's forehead. His face went pale and then flushed as he gripped the crowbar and shuffled forward.
Watching their bizarre behavior, Chen Ge grew more uneasy. "What exactly are they planning to dig up?"
The stout man walked to the far end of the hallway, pushing aside the clutter. Under the gaze of the other tenants, he tremblingly lifted the curtain behind the pile of junk.
It was a reinforced concrete wall. Embedded inside it was a female corpse, its back turned to everyone.