Chapter 110
After Xu Meng’s scare, none of them had much of an appetite. They gathered around the dining table and ate a few bites to fill their stomachs. During this time, Xiao Liang threw another tantrum, but Jiang Liu had no patience for him. With a stern face, she glared at him, and the child fell silent.
Although he quieted down, his little face still looked unhappy. He stuck his chopsticks into his bowl and kept stirring the noodles, occasionally glancing up at Jiang Liu before pouting and lowering his head again. The mud on his face had long been washed off by Jiang He, revealing his features. He was actually quite good-looking, but his darting eyes showed he was anything but a quiet child.
Jiang Liu had checked the wound on his back. After just a short afternoon’s rest, it had already scabbed over, leaving only a few red marks. The speed of his recovery was astonishing.
After the meal, Zhao Ziming took him to play with toys, while Jiang Liu and Xu Meng went into the kitchen.
“Are you sure she came out of here?”
Her gaze swept across the kitchen for a moment, finally settling on the cabinet above. It was an integrated wooden cabinet used to store infrequently used pots and pans. Perhaps to prevent a child from opening it, a child lock had been added to the outside. A layer of dust had settled along the edges, indicating it hadn’t been opened for a long time.
Xu Meng hesitated to follow, but she mustered her courage and nodded, her small face full of certainty. “That’s right.”
Jiang Liu stood on her toes to open the door. It was packed full, so much so that it was difficult to even reach in and search, let alone hide a person. But just as Xu Meng had said, the dust along the edges was a bit disturbed, as if something had been there for a moment—most likely that paper-like monster.
Jiang He hadn’t seen the thing, but hearing their descriptions, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Have you guys ever heard a horror story?”
Jiang Liu didn’t speak, just closed the cabinet and looked at him, clearly waiting for him to continue.
“I can’t remember it clearly either.” Jiang He sat in a chair, speaking slowly with occasional pauses, as if he was trying to recall something. When he was in high school, kids were curious about supernatural things, which led to the creation of many horror games, like the Pen Spirit Game, the Four Corners Game, and so on.
Xu Meng clearly had some impression of these things and couldn’t help but nod. But what Jiang He wanted to talk about wasn’t a game, but some strange rumors.
“I think it was called the Girl in the Crevice?” Jiang He was also a bit unsure, recalling the content and speaking slowly. “Legend has it that someone rented a house and would always hear noises in the middle of the night. One time, he got up to check and saw a disheveled woman on the cabinet opposite his bed.”
It was said that this kind of monster often appeared in the crevices of walls and cabinets. Its favorite thing to do was to play hide-and-seek with people, teasing them from time to time. If you saw her a second time, you would be taken by her to the world in the crevice.
“So what you two saw should be that girl.” Jiang He looked at the two of them with some worry, his voice gradually lowering. “After luring you two, they probably won’t appear so easily again.”
It was already late at night. Jiang He’s hushed voice echoed around them, and a cool breeze from outside blew in, making Xu Meng feel uneasy. She rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and for a moment, didn’t dare to speak. Compared to believing that the monster was Tang Ruo, she was more inclined to believe what Jiang Liu said. Perhaps the thing was using this to attract people’s attention, making them search for her more diligently.
How many crevices were there in this house? The walls, the window frames, the cabinet doors—now every place made Xu Meng’s heart skip a beat. She always felt that something strange was hiding inside, eavesdropping. “In the story you read, did it say how this thing was formed?” Jiang Liu asked, rubbing her temples thoughtfully.
If it was as Jiang He described, what connection did this girl who lived in the crevices have with Xiao Liang? Why was their mission to protect Xiao Liang? The image of the photo with the four sets of tableware flashed in Jiang Liu’s mind, refusing to go away.
Jiang He shook his head. “No.”
It was just a horror novel someone had made up. The writing focused more on creating a sense of terror and suspense and rarely explained the origins.
Jiang Liu grunted in acknowledgment and took out the phone from her pocket again. Jiang He had already organized the photo album. Up until two months ago, many of the photos showed tableware and utensils for a family of four, but after that, the pictures completely changed to a family of three. A few of them had some guesses in their minds. Jiang Liu locked the screen with a click and walked to the living room to watch the two of them play.
It was said to be playing together, but in reality, Zhao Ziming was just responsible for sitting on the carpet and staring into space. Xiao Liang, on the other hand, was quite happy by himself, smashing toys with a toy hammer and muttering something as he did so. His voice was too low for Jiang Liu to hear clearly, so she sat down beside him silently and observed him. After watching for a while, she finally spoke, “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
Xiao Liang’s movements paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about Jiang Liu’s question. Then he slowly shook his head. “No.”
His tone was sincere, but his eyes never looked at Jiang Liu. He just kept his head down and played with his toys. Jiang Liu couldn’t help but frown. She reached out and lifted his chin, forcing his gaze to meet hers, her tone stern. “Answer seriously.”
Her grip was strong. Xiao Liang struggled for a moment but couldn’t break free. He immediately burst into tears, which flowed down his face like they were free. He started throwing a tantrum at Jiang Liu.
“I don’t know! I don’t know! I’m going to sleep!”
He shouted, and with a sudden burst of strength, he broke free from Jiang Liu and ran upstairs, hugging his toy hammer. Jiang Liu watched his reaction, a strange look flickering in her eyes.
***
Xu Meng slept fitfully. The paper-thin girl with Tang Ruo’s face clearly made her very anxious, and she would even talk in her sleep from time to time. Looking at the tear-soaked pillowcase, Jiang Liu sighed silently for a moment and pulled the blanket up to cover her more securely.
After doing all this, she turned off the flashlight and leaned against the bed, lost in thought. The time on her phone already showed 3:30 in the morning. She wasn’t suffering from insomnia, nor had she woken up naturally. Something in the dark was constantly tapping her on the back. The force was just right, neither uncomfortable nor particularly relaxing after a long day.
But the moment she opened her eyes, the invisible thing disappeared again. She searched every nook and cranny with her flashlight for a long time but found no trace of it. “Is that you?” she whispered, her gaze falling on the ring on her finger. After a long hesitation, she still didn’t contact that person. If it was Xiao Si, did this action mean she didn’t want her to go into the space in the crevice?
After checking around, she lost the desire to sleep and quietly got up and walked to the children’s room next door. A solid wood bunk bed was pressed against the wall. The top bunk was piled high with things and looked like it hadn’t been touched for a long time. Xiao Liang on the bottom bunk was sleeping soundly, still hugging his huge teddy bear. Perhaps it was Jiang Liu’s imagination, but the moment she entered the room, the teddy bear’s eyes suddenly rolled, but when she looked closely, it seemed to have been just a momentary illusion.
She lightly climbed onto the top bunk, which was covered in a thick layer of dust and cluttered with many notebooks and toys, like Xiao Liang’s childhood pastimes that the family couldn’t bear to throw away and had left in the old house. Jiang Liu had originally wanted to look for old photos like family portraits, but just as she moved, a notebook placed at the very top fell down and appeared right in front of her.
It was a very old password-locked diary. The cover had a light red pattern, but it had been maliciously scribbled over with crayons, the bright red covering all the patterns, making it impossible to tell what it originally looked like. A large cross was drawn on it, which looked particularly eerie in the dark, not like a normal child’s prank. She blew the dust off it and, with a little force, easily opened the password lock before it could serve any purpose.
On the first page was a neat signature: Qiao Pan’er. Was she Xiao Liang’s older or younger sister? Jiang Liu’s guess was instantly confirmed. She put the notebook in her pocket, quietly climbed down from the bed, and left the room.
The large floor-to-ceiling window on the first floor cast the bright moonlight fully into the room. Jiang Liu didn’t even need to turn on the light to see the steps below her clearly. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw a person walk out of the kitchen, holding a glass of water.
“Sister Jiang? You’re not up yet?”
Jiang He gulped down a large mouthful of water and then stared at Jiang Liu in surprise.
“Just came down for a walk.”
“Oh, then I’ll go back to sleep.” Jiang He was so sleepy he could barely open his eyes. He mumbled something and was about to drift towards the guest room. Jiang Liu had originally nodded without paying much attention, but the moment he turned around, she realized something, and her steps towards the sofa came to a sudden halt.
Wait…! Jiang He had just asked if she ‘wasn’t up yet’! She had clearly just come downstairs. Why wasn’t Jiang He surprised at all by her appearance, but instead seemed to assume she was already downstairs?
Jiang Liu belatedly reacted, turned around, and quickly pressed down on his shoulder. The force was so great that Jiang He couldn’t help but cry out in pain. The sleepiness in his eyes finally dissipated from the pain, and he turned around with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?”
The hand on his shoulder felt as heavy as a mountain. He finally realized that something was unusual about Jiang Liu and didn’t struggle, just scratched his head and looked at her. “Is there anything else?”
“Did you see me just now?” Jiang Liu asked word by word, her expression cautious.
A question mark appeared above Jiang He’s head. He looked at Jiang Liu hesitantly, his gaze so careful it was as if he was trying to determine if she was the real her. “Weren’t you just talking with Zhao Ziming about something?”
The two of them looked at each other in bewilderment. A moment later, Jiang Liu finally reacted, her heart almost jumping out of her throat. She pushed Jiang He away and rushed into the guest room where the two of them were staying. There was no one on the bed. Apart from the indentation of someone having slept there, the large bed was empty—
Zhao Ziming had disappeared at some point.
Jiang He appeared a half-step behind, his mind still muddled. Seeing the scene, he couldn’t help but gape. A cold wind blew past, and the two of them shivered on the spot.