Chapter 22: Danger!
Chen Ge clenched his teeth, struggling to keep himself from making a sound. The moment he spotted the corpse, he immediately sent a message to He Shan: "Call the police, call the police now!"
The light was too dim, and with a door between them, the livestream viewers had no idea what was happening. At that moment, Chen Ge couldn't spare them a thought. He pressed close to the crack in the door, not daring to blink.
"A body hidden in the wall—so this is what they were digging for." Chen Ge crouched behind the wall, not daring to make a single move. This was the most dangerous and tense moment. The tenants were just a few steps away from him; if they turned and entered this room, they would find him.
"Stop dawdling, dig!" the landlord muttered, carrying his tools over. He spread a sack on the ground and began clearing the cement around the female corpse.
Perhaps afraid of waking the residents downstairs, they moved quietly, making little noise.
The wall was chiseled open, chunks of cement falling away. The group was sweating profusely, whether from heat or fear, no one could tell.
They divided the work, but since it was their first time doing something like this, they were terrified themselves. Flustered and slow, their progress was sluggish.
After more than ten minutes, they finally pried the female corpse from the wall and stuffed it into the sack.
"Fatty, you stay and clean up the wall. The rest of you, come with me to the back mountain. We'll find a place to bury her." The landlord, holding a crowbar, directed from the side.
"I'm coming with you!" the short, stout man blurted out without a second thought. After digging up the corpse, he was on the verge of collapse; there was no way he'd stay here alone.
"Look at you, no spine! Juan, you stay with him and clean up. We'll meet at the usual spot on the back mountain." The landlord gave a few instructions to the only woman, then he and the tattooed man carried the sack downstairs.
He walked with a limp, his footsteps uneven—one light, one heavy. As he passed the room where Chen Ge was hiding, he suddenly paused.
"Why's there so much fluff on the ground?"
Hearing the landlord's voice, Chen Ge's heart leaped into his throat. The cloth doll had torn, leaving bits of fluff and shredded paper on the floor. The motion-activated light had come on, and when he realized someone was approaching, he had no time to pick them up.
"Forget about that for now. This thing's dead heavy—let's just get it buried." The tattooed man urged from behind. The landlord didn't dwell on it, and the two passed by the door where Chen Ge was hiding, seemingly moving away.
"Fatty, don't just stand there. Get to work." The woman and the short, stout man began cleaning up the mess, wiping bloodstains off the tools. A few minutes later, they picked up a large bag and headed downstairs.
The footsteps faded into the distance. Only when the third floor fell silent again did Chen Ge dare to breathe deeply. Cautiously, he peered through the crack in the door.
The hallway was pitch black. The tenants had all left.
"Damn! That scared me to death."
He waited another three minutes. Still no sign of anything unusual outside. Only then did Chen Ge slowly push the door open and slip out, crouching low.
To avoid being discovered, he didn't turn on his phone's flashlight. One hand against the wall, he moved forward slowly.
"From their conversation, these people aren't good guys, but the female corpse in the wall really has nothing to do with them." To be fair, they were pretty unlucky. After taking over the old man's apartment, who would have thought they'd find a body in the wall on the top floor? A normal person's first reaction to finding a corpse would be to call the police. But these people had their own dirty secrets—on one hand, they were afraid the police would dig up their criminal records; on the other, living in the same building as a corpse gave them the creeps. With no other choice, they decided to cover for the real killer and bury the body themselves.
"No wonder the landlord kept insisting I not go out after midnight." Chen Ge's eyes had adjusted to the dark. He quickened his pace, determined to leave the apartment building as soon as possible.
Moving quietly and carefully, Chen Ge abandoned any thought of retrieving his backpack and headed straight for the first floor.
"Damn it." The security door of the apartment building was locked. He was trapped inside.
"Those people went to bury the body and still remembered to lock the door?" A sense of unease crept over Chen Ge. "The first-floor hallway windows have防盗网, and the third-floor windows are boarded up. The only way out of this building now is through the second-floor room's window."
The atmosphere in the apartment was eerie. Chen Ge didn't want to linger. He grabbed his tool hammer and headed back to the second floor.
The dark hallway stretched out long and deep, like the open maw of a beast—once you entered, you'd be crushed to pieces.
"So quiet." Chen Ge's room was at the far left of the hallway, right next to the landlord's. On high alert, he feared that one of the room doors might suddenly swing open.
Slowing his pace, controlling his breathing, it took him over a minute to reach his own door.
"Good, no surprises. I'll tie the bedsheet to the window frame and climb down from the second floor—that should work." Chen Ge pulled out his key, using the faint glow of his phone screen to find the keyhole. Just as he was about to insert the key, his arm froze mid-air.
"The half strand of hair I left in the keyhole—it's gone!"
His hair stood on end. Fear surged in like a tide from all directions, leaving Chen Ge's hands and feet ice-cold.
"Someone's been in my room! They know I'm not in there!"
His breathing grew ragged, his lungs feeling like they were stuffed with ice.
"When did they go in? After digging up the body? Or when they noticed the fluff on the floor?" In truth, dwelling on it now was pointless. Chen Ge stepped back, staring at the room he had once occupied, and quickly calmed down: "I can't go back. Those people might be in my room right now! They could be hiding behind the door with crowbars!"
His strong mental fortitude allowed Chen Ge to quickly regain his composure. He had to escape in the shortest time possible; the longer he delayed, the more dangerous it became.
Step by step, he retreated without making a sound. He knew clearly that the only way out of the apartment building now was through the second-floor window. All other routes were blocked.
In the pitch-black, silent hallway, Chen Ge moved noiselessly, slipping back to the far right end of the corridor—the spot farthest from his room on the second floor.
"Those tenants are more dangerous than I thought. Whether I make it out alive tonight depends on this one move!" Chen Ge gritted his teeth, raised the tool hammer, and slammed it hard against the lock of the room at the far right.
"Bang!"
The silence that had shrouded the Peaceful Apartment was shattered. Chen Ge hammered at the lock like a madman. With each loud crash, the thing he dreaded most came to pass.
At the far left of the hallway, the door to Room 208, which Chen Ge had rented, swung open! Hearing the commotion, the tattooed man and the landlord, armed with a crowbar and a cleaver, charged out with twisted faces!
"Open up!"
"Crash!"
After a series of blows, the lock finally fell off. Without a second thought, Chen Ge kicked the door open!