【I have a haunted house】Chapter 16: Do Not Stay Here Overnight

"The landlord is highly suspicious, but I can't rule out other possibilities," Nick muttered, scratching his head. "It would be helpful if I could speak with a tenant."

Since entering the building, he had encountered four people: the woman hiding behind the door, Wang Qi, who was posting missing persons notices, the irritable landlord, and the elderly man in the wheelchair.

"The old man and the landlord live together, so I won't consider them for now. The woman on the first floor gives me a strange vibe, but Wang Qi seems the most normal. He probably knows something about the building," Nick thought, placing the thermos inside his room and locking the door before heading down to the first floor.

As he reached the first floor, the motion-sensor lights flickered on. He saw Wang Qi walking down the hallway, holding a stack of missing persons notices, slipping them into the cracks of doors, not caring whether anyone lived there or not.

This odd behavior caught Nick's attention. Most people would post notices in busy areas, but Wang Qi was deliberately slipping them into vacant rooms.

Nick quietly followed him, waiting until Wang Qi had posted the last notice before speaking up. "Brother, I understand the feeling of having a family member go missing, but you should try to be stronger. Stop torturing yourself with these pointless actions."

Wang Qi slowly turned around at the sound of his voice. His cloudy eyes seemed unfocused, as though they had never fully settled on anything. "Understand? You wouldn't understand. I don't expect you to," he murmured.

Nick didn't waste words. He took out his phone and showed Wang Qi a missing persons report he had filed at the police station a few months ago. "I'm not lying to you. My parents disappeared six months ago. At first, I was shattered, lost... I couldn't accept it."

Wang Qi stared at the photos on Nick's phone, silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke in a quiet tone, "I sympathize with your situation, but our cases are different. My fiancée will return. I can feel it. She's not far away."

"Can you tell me more about your situation? Perhaps, as fellow sufferers, I might be able to help you," Nick said earnestly, his words coming from the heart.

Wang Qi hesitated. Perhaps remembering how Nick had previously helped him with the missing persons notices, his gaze softened slightly. "You can't help me. But you seem like a good guy, so listen to me: leave. Don’t stay here overnight."

"I’ve already paid, and you want me to leave? You need to give me a reason," Nick replied. He had come here to complete a trial task, and leaving now would be tantamount to abandoning it, ensuring that the midnight slasher horror scenario would remain forever locked.

"What's more important, money or life?" Wang Qi glanced around to ensure no one was near, then whispered, "This building was the site of a mass murder. The locals all know about it."

"I’ve heard rumors about this place being cursed, but I couldn’t find anything online," Nick remarked, voicing his doubts.

"This building used to be called 'Fu'an Apartments.' After the incident, they changed the name to 'Ping'an Apartments.' The case caused quite a stir, and the killer was never caught. The spirits of those who died wrongfully still linger here, and every night they appear in the old building," Wang Qi said, his expression grave, speaking with the certainty of someone who had lived through it.

"Do you still believe in this superstitious nonsense in this day and age?" Nick asked, his smile stiff with disbelief. In reality, he was more shaken than anyone, haunted by the mirror monster and the vengeful spirit, and he wanted nothing more to do with more ghosts.

"I didn't believe at first either, until my fiancée mysteriously disappeared around here," Wang Qi said, his hand pulling at his hair in anguish. The fatigue was evident in his face.

"Why would your fiancée come to this place?" Nick's curiosity was piqued, especially as Wang Qi’s fiancée's disappearance seemed oddly similar to the fate of his own parents.

"I don’t know. I never heard of this building before. It was the police who told me about it. They said all the leads ended here," Wang Qi explained, releasing his hand and revealing a few strands of hair tangled between his fingers. "I had no choice but to come here to search for her."

"Have you discovered anything?" Nick asked eagerly.

Wang Qi opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then hesitated, not daring to speak. Instead, he pulled out his phone and typed a line of text on the screen.

"My fiancée seems to have been kidnapped by someone in this building."

Nick stared at the text, surprised. The situation was unfolding in a way he hadn't expected. "Brother, missing persons and kidnappings are two very different things."

Wang Qi motioned for Nick to lower his voice, blocking the hallway with his back. He opened his email inbox and showed Nick the message.

At first, Nick glanced at the screen casually, but when he saw the contents of the email, his eyes widened in shock.

There was a message in Wang Qi's inbox from his fiancée!

The text contained only two words—"Save me"—and what was even stranger, the message had been sent at around 2 AM yesterday.

"A missing person sending a distress message at night?" After the initial shock, Nick quickly regained his composure. "If you received the message, why didn’t you call the police? Your fiancée is clearly still alive."

"You might not believe me, but I get a text from her every night after midnight, always the same two words. And the most bizarre thing is, every time I wake up, the message disappears, as though it never existed at all," Wang Qi said, bloodshot eyes betraying his sleepless state. "I haven't slept for twenty-four hours to preserve this message."

"Every time you fall asleep, the message disappears?" Nick had never heard of anything like this.

"I know you probably think I’m crazy, but I swear everything I’ve told you is the truth," Wang Qi said, leaning against the wall, his phone now tucked away. "Even stranger things happen around me. Sometimes my fiancée's belongings will mysteriously appear in my room, without any warning. It’s like she’s constantly reminding me to go find her."

At these last words, Nick's eyelids twitched.

From what he had experienced over the past few days, it seemed that Wang Qi's fiancée wasn’t missing—she was likely dead, transformed into a ghost, and now haunting him. This was the only explanation that made sense, assuming Wang Qi wasn’t lying.

"My fiancée went missing in this building. My life changed because of this building. This is a haunted place, filled with the vengeful spirits of the wronged. Anyone who dares to approach will bring misfortune. You should leave, now." Wang Qi’s face was pale, perhaps from having spoken so much after keeping it all bottled up.