Chapter 1613 - 9: Lights Out for Bed

Da’ao City.

The bustling city is enveloped by the Black Night, the noisy urban life gradually returning to silence.

The number of vehicles on the road decreases, and the lights in the buildings go out one by one, as if an invisible hand is rhythmically controlling everything.

Midnight, twelve o’clock.

The window of a residential building is brightly lit, and a girl named Qin Yao, an eighteen-year-old, is currently lying in bed, excitedly playing with her phone, chatting online about a recent trending topic.

“Hey, have you seen the recent newspaper? It’s completely absurd, saying there are ghosts in this world.”

“I saw that newspaper, and now a lot of people are talking about it. I also think it’s ridiculous. There’s no such thing as ghosts; it’s just people causing trouble. It’s definitely a publicity stunt to incite panic for some ulterior motive.”

“My parents are too much, they even set up a shrine at home. Now every time I come home, it feels eerie, and I don’t want to stay there.”

“…”

At that moment, Qin Yao’s father’s voice came from outside her room: “How many times have I told you, turn off the lights when you sleep at night.”

“Dad, but playing on my phone in the dark hurts my eyes, besides, isn’t it nice to sleep with the lights on? That way, the room is brighter, and I wouldn’t bump my head like last time when I get up to use the bathroom.” Qin Yao retorted.

“Smart aleck, sleeping with the lights on is taboo, you know that? Your room is so bright at night with the lights on, everyone else having their lights off makes it easy for whatever’s outside to see us. If something has nowhere to go and comes to our house to stay, what will you do then?” Her father’s voice echoed again from outside.

“What could be outside? We’re on the twenty-eighth floor,” Qin Yao replied defiantly.

Her father said from outside: “This is a rule passed down from your grandfather. He said a building is like a candle, and when the room light is on, it’s like lighting the candle, attracting unclean things wandering around the city. So, you must turn off the lights when you sleep, especially your room, facing south with the window, the light can be seen from outside, so turn off the lights and go to sleep, don’t make me tell you again. I have to work tomorrow.”

“Alright, alright, stop with the mumbo jumbo, I’ll turn off the light, okay?” Qin Yao, having no choice, turned off the room lights.

However, just as she switched off the lights.

Bam!

A faint knock echoed from the window, shocking Qin Yao.

She looked in the direction of the sound but saw nothing outside the window, only the city lights afar illuminating the room.

“Could it be a bird hitting the glass?”

Qin Yao wondered, curiously going closer to the window to check.

As she got closer, Qin Yao saw an imprint of a face on the glass. The face imprint was clear, clearly an elderly person’s image, with eyes closed, surrounded by deep wrinkles, looking serene as if freshly deceased.

Qin Yao reached out to wipe it, trying to erase the pattern, but quickly pulled back her hand as if electrocuted.

The facial imprint wasn’t on the inner side of the glass but on the outside.

“How could this be, this is the twenty-eighth floor, and there’s never been… “

Anxiety filled Qin Yao’s heart. She had sat by this window doing homework, practicing piano, and memorizing lessons since childhood. She had looked out countless times.

She was very sure, the window was always clean before, there had never been such a face imprint.

“Dad, come and see, what’s this on the window… “

Feeling flustered, Qin Yao slowly backed away from the window, calling out.

But there was nothing but silence from outside the room, no sound at all.

Qin Yao called out several more times; her father still didn’t respond, and the surrounding was eerily quiet. She felt isolated, abandoned, a fear creeping over her.

Outside the window.

As a distant light flashed by, the facial imprint became even clearer, and as the light slowly moved away, whether due to a play of light or her imagination, Qin Yao vaguely felt the face seemed to turn fierce, with the previous serenity gone.

“Dad, Dad, come quickly.”

Qin Yao’s voice was trembling with sobs, frightened. She turned to switch the light on, thinking maybe if the room was brightened, the weird things would disappear.

But when she flipped the switch, the room remained dim as the light inside seemed broken, showing no signs of lighting up.

This terrified Qin Yao even more.

Her fragile mental state collapsed; she called for her dad as she fled her bedroom, seeking her family’s protection.

Yet the door which usually opened easily couldn’t be budged now, as if some force was holding it shut, no matter how she pushed or pulled.

Qin Yao’s hands trembled, pulling desperately at the doorknob.

Perhaps from panic, the door was slightly secured, so it wouldn’t open; or perhaps some inexplicable unknown force was at work.

As Qin Yao’s fear peaked.

Suddenly.

“Bang!”

The door burst open, and a chilling draught swept in, carrying a faint scent of corpse decay.

Qin Yao didn’t stop to notice these details, dashing out of the room, yelling for her father, running towards her parents’ bedroom.

She knew the layout perfectly, even in the dim unlit living room, but the strange thing was, soon after she ran, she abruptly halted.

What was before her wasn’t her parents’ room but an old wall.

The wall was dark, damp, and covered in green moss.

“Wait, where is this?”

Qin Yao finally realized, staring around in terror; this wasn’t her home but a strange, old building, seemingly abandoned for ages, showing no signs of habitation.

And the most horrifying sight was, in the middle of the room lay a wooden bed, and on it, was not a person, but precisely, a corpse.

The corpse was wearing black cloth shoes, a blue burial suit, its face painted with a ghastly pallor. Its hands were crossed in front of its body, expression peaceful, completely still.

What was most terrifying was that the face of this corpse was exactly the same as the old man’s visage imprinted on the window outside.

Qin Yao only took one glance and screamed in fright. She froze in place instantly, feeling as if her entire body had lost sensation, unable to move at all. Although she desperately wanted to escape from this place and return to her room, her eyes couldn’t budge an inch, her gaze fixated on the old corpse in the middle of the living room.

At this moment.

For some reason, her father’s previous words resurfaced in Qin Yao’s mind.

When sleeping at night, make sure to turn off the lights, otherwise, unclean things might come into the house for a visit.

Is this the unclean thing?

A corpse that had been dead for a long time, yet not rotting?

Qin Yao felt her heart racing, extreme fear making her feel as if she were suffocating, with a sensation of breath slipping away.

Moreover, her gaze seemed locked onto something as if controlled, and no matter how her eyes moved, her view stayed on the wrinkle-covered, ghastly old corpse before her.

The deathly and eerie appearance was now deeply branded in her mind.

Just when she thought she was going to suffocate and perish.

Suddenly.

A white and icy hand grabbed her from behind.

And her body, uncontrollably, began to slowly retreat backwards.

Step by step.

“Who, who is pulling me from behind?”

Qin Yao’s heart constricted sharply, her rigid body still unable to move, not even able to turn her head to look back. But from the sensation from the hand, she could judge it was a woman’s hand, cold and smooth yet without warmth.

Sizzle!

After being pulled into the room, the lights inside suddenly flickered.

Simultaneously, the open door slammed shut with a bang.

The terrifying corpse lying in the living room was blocked by the door, vanishing from sight.

Qin Yao felt finally able to move her eyes. Instinctively, she wanted to turn her neck to look back.

To see what was behind her, to know who was pulling her.

“Don’t look back. When sleeping at night, remember to turn off the lights.” A cold yet pleasant female voice sounded from behind her.

As the voice faded away.

The lights in the room stopped flickering and suddenly brightened.

Qin Yao almost instinctively looked behind her, but there was nothing—just a few ashes floating mid-air, like the remnants after paper burned. Yet quickly, these ashes vanished.

The fear in her heart remained intense.

Qin Yao once again looked towards the window.

The eerie face that was originally imprinted outside the glass was now gone, as if everything that just happened were an illusion.

Creaaak!

At this moment, the door opened.

Qin Yao shuddered violently, her body tensed instantly.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Turn off the lights and go to sleep, don’t make me mad.” A middle-aged woman in pajamas spoke with a hint of anger.

Outside the room, everything in the living room was normal, the lights were on.

The old wall, the eerie corpse, had vanished without a trace.

As if everything that had just transpired was an illusion.

Qin Yao suddenly burst into tears, throwing herself into her mother’s embrace, trembling all over.

Meanwhile.

On the rooftop of an old building far away in Da’ao City, a strange woman stood motionless. She wore a red wedding dress that didn’t suit this era, vibrant like blood, a red veil covering her head, obscuring her features, with only her delicate, fair hands exposed.

All around her, ashen debris floated in the sky, dancing with the wind, falling into every corner of Da’ao City.

No one knew how long this woman had stood there.

As Black Night faded and the first rays of dawn began to shine on her, her figure gradually grew faint, disappearing.

Suddenly.

At that moment.

A voice emerged within the sunlight, questioning this strange woman.

“He Yuelian, one plus one equals?”

“Three.”

Almost without hesitation, an answer was given, and the strange woman along with that voice disappeared.

The silent city came alive again, with bustling traffic and people coming and going.

The terrors hidden in the darkness of night, unknown to anyone.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com

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