ATFBETIBM Chapter 542

Bai Lixin stood at the school gate, finally deciding to go see the place where Xiao Hua used to live.

Xiao Hua disappeared at the age of 20, a flowery age.

When he looked at Xiao Hua’s case file, he saw a photo of Xiao Hua. She had long straight black hair with neat bangs, delicate features, and looked very youthful.

Xiao Hua had good grades and was admitted to the local R University at the age of 19. For some reason, she didn’t live in the dormitory like other students but rented an apartment outside.

The address of that apartment was in the file, and investigators had also visited the apartment, but they didn’t find any useful clues.

Because it was close to the university, Xiao Hua’s place wasn’t far from R University; it took only about ten minutes to walk.

The place she rented was in an old rundown neighborhood. There was no property management, many of the facilities were dilapidated and old.

However, because it was in a school district, house prices and rental prices were still high.

The street lights on the green passage of the community flickered, and the light bulbs made a “zzt, zzt” sound from time to time.

The road here has been in disrepair for a long time, and the street lights only come on every few dozen meters. When walking here at night, residents usually bring their own flashlights.

A couple was walking in the community, holding flashlights.

From a distance, they saw another flashlight coming from the opposite side.

The road was very narrow, only wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

The two couples skillfully squeezed to the side, leaving a gap for the person opposite to pass through.

However, the flashlight on the opposite side suddenly went out, leaving the couple momentarily unfocused.

They glanced at each other, and continued walking forward in confusion. But even when they reached the location where the flashlight was just now, they didn’t see anyone.

The wife was a little puzzled: “Where did that person go?”

The husband: “They probably took another route.”

Wife: “But there’s only one road here.”

Husband: “Maybe he turned and went back.”

Wife: “But we didn’t hear any footsteps either.”

Husband: “Do you expect them to make noise?”

Wife: “Ohh…”

She looked back at the place where the flashlight was lit just now, and asked with some fear, “Husband, do you think… what we saw just now was a Guihuo?”

“Even if it was a ghost, it would be a Ghost Lantern, not a Guihuo.” The husband patted his wife’s shoulder, “Alright, don’t scare yourself. Let’s go, I’ll buy you ice cream.”

Wife:” Okay.”

*Guihuo is basically the Will-o’-the-wisp. 1 don’t know why but I just felt it’d be weird to directly put “Will-o’-the-wisp”.

When they walked away, Bai Lixin resumed walking forward, but this time without turning on the flashlight.

His unstable form was really inconvenient; sometimes he was human, sometimes he was a ghost, and sometimes neither human nor ghost.

The passage was narrow, and the wall paint was peeling off, revealing the black-blue cement underneath.

There were many miscellaneous items piled up at the corner of the already narrow staircase, giving the impression that many people lived here. However, upon closer inspection, you could see that these items were covered in dust. It was more accurate to say that it had become messy due to lack of cleaning.

Bai Lixin stopped on the second floor and walked inside along the dilapidated stairs.

The motion sensor lights above his head turned on and off as he moved. The lighting, which would have looked odd elsewhere, looked very reasonable in this long-neglected place.

Xiao Hua rented room 207.

He reached 207 and found that the door was closed and there was a pair of men’s shoes placed outside the door.

The police dog’s professional habit kicked in, and it started sniffing at the men’s shoes.

After sniffing for three or four seconds, it suddenly turned around and ran towards another direction, even turning back to bark at Bai Lixin twice.

Bai Lixin followed the police dog and saw it stop in front of a door five doors away and diagonally opposite.

There was a shoe rack in front of this door. The police dog sniffed at it, then excitedly wagged its tail at Bai Lixin.

Bai Lixin squatted down, looked at the shoes on the rack, and then at the men’s shoes next to 207, and noticed that both pairs had similar signs of wear.

The police dog stopped there, probably trying to tell him that the owner of those shoes was the owner of this shoe rack.

He lost his sense of smell when he became a spirit, but this police dog seemed to still retain its most proud sense of smell.

S419M: [Is this a bloody soap opera at 8 o’clock? One man has two homes?]

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps and conversation between a man and a woman could be heard from the staircase.

Bai Lixin straightened up and stood against the wall. Before long, two people appeared at the staircase on the second floor.

The two stopped at the staircase landing on the second floor.

The woman looked about forty years old. She was holding two supermarket plastic bags filled with fruits and vegetables.

The man looked to be in his forties, holding only a few bags of instant noodles.

“Old Li,” the woman said to the man, “I’m planning to terminate the lease next month.”

The man’s voice was accompanied by a cough, “I heard your son became the city’s science champion and got into college. I understand. Your son has a bright future. I’ll waive your rent for a month.”

“Thank you so much,” the woman said humbly, but there was undisguised pride on her face, “You’ve been taking care of me and my son during this time.”

The man coughed as he spoke, “Nonsense, I should thank you. Your son is the science champion, so your house has become a top scholar’s home. I could multiply the rent of your house several times over, all thanks to your son’s achievement.”

“You two must remember to visit often in the future.”

The woman smiled and agreed, “Of course, this is another home for me and my son. We won’t forget.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the woman continued walking upstairs.

The man, on the other hand, turned and entered the corridor on the second floor.

The man walked forward and eventually stopped in front of the door Bai Lixin was standing at, labeled 201.

He took out his keys from his pocket and was about to open the door when he remembered something. He turned his head and looked at room 207.

Putting away the keys, the man took out a pair of shoes from the shoe rack by the door, walked to room 207, exchanged his shoes with the ones outside the door of room 207, and then slowly walked back.

He had just taken two steps away when the tenant of room 207, probably because they heard the man’s cough, opened the door from inside. A girl in her early twenties stuck her head out, “Uncle Li.”

Old Li, who was walking back with the shoes, paused. Not showing any embarrassment on his face at being caught, he just smiled kindly at the girl, “Xiao Sun, have you had dinner? I’m just changing the shoes for you.”

The girl called “Xiao Sun” nodded, “I’ve eaten, thank you, Uncle Li.”

Old Li waved his hand, “You’re my tenant, ensuring your safety is a matter of course for me. The shoes placed at the door must be changed frequently, otherwise, they’ll wear out easily. Which man only wears the same pair of shoes for a whole month?”

Xiao Sun expressed her gratitude again, feeling lucky to have encountered a kind person while renting. After thanking him, she retreated back into her home and closed the door.

S419M: [Oh, I see now. Xiao Sun is a single girl living alone, and Old Li is the landlord. Old is worried about Xiao Sun’s safety living alone, so he intentionally placed a pair of shoes in front of her door to create the illusion that there is a man in her house.]

[I’m so small minded. I actually thought it was a cheesy drama about cheating and mistresses. I’m so ashamed.]

Escape System: [Don’t be discouraged, Brother M. At least you have a rich imagination. Master Bai Lixin, are we going in? It’s been ten years, so what clues could still be here? And this is the home of a girl who lives alone.]

S419M: [Since we’re already here, let’s go in and take a look.]

‘Say the Lord Host’s words, and the Lord Host won’t have what to say.’

[…] Bai Lixin: [S419M, since you said so, I’ll listen to you.]

S419M: [???]

‘I didn’t do anything wrong, I just helped you answer!’

Bai Lixin leaned his head toward the closed door, and put his arm directly through the door frame.

He was now in a “spirit” state.

He couldn’t touch anything, and others couldn’t see him.

Easily passing through the door frame, Bai Lixin entered Xiao Sun’s home.

It was just a sixty-square-meter two-bedroom apartment. The lights were bright in the house, and Xiao Sun’s figure was busy in the kitchen.

The police dog followed in, sniffing around the house.

The layout of the house was not much different from ten years ago, except that the furniture had all been replaced.

Bai Lixin passed through the wall and entered the room closer to the inside.

Inside, it was dark, with only a faint light coming in from the outside through the crack in the door.

This was the bedroom.

When Xiao Hua lived here, this was also the bedroom.

After looking around the bedroom, Bai Lixin walked to the wall and stared blankly at the corner of the wall.

S419M: [Lord Host, what are you staring at?]

Bai Lixin: [When I was looking at the photos of the case files from back then, I saw a photo of this room in the pictures. The color of the wall in the photo was different from other places, as if something was originally placed in the corner of the wall.]

He stretched out his hands and gestured at the corner of the wall, [What could be long and thin, and looks natural when placed in the corner?]

The Escape System exclaimed, [Ah, Master Bai Lixin, it’s a clothes rack. Isn’t a clothes rack long and thin, and looks natural when placed in the corner?]

Bai Lixin stared at the corner of the wall, [That’s right, a clothes rack. But why did it disappear? I searched through the entire case file, and there was no mention of the word “clothes rack.” Who took away that clothes rack?]

Ten years had passed, the walls had been repainted long ago, and there were no more unusual traces on the walls.

Bai Lixin subconsciously reached out to touch the wall, but when his hand touched the wall, it didn’t pass through.

Bai Lixin was stunned.

Not passing through meant that he had either become a state of neither alive nor dead, or… had become a living state that was visible to others.

The sound of the kitchen sliding door came from outside, followed by the woman humming and walking closer.

The voice grew closer, and she was walking towards the bedroom.

‘Of all times!’

Bai Lixin glanced at the bedroom door, quickly scanned the room, and hurriedly hid behind the curtain at the fastest speed.

As he pulled the curtain, something flickered.

Feeling strange, he was about to follow the light to investigate when the bedroom door made a crisp “click” sound as it opened.

Hey everyone, thank you so much for all support upto now and thanks for all the donations 💜💜.

There won’t be any updates tomorrow (I’m going to a friend’s wedding), so see you on Monday….〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜