“Creak.”
In the silence, there was the sound of the door being pushed open.
The young woman, with a neck massager hanging around her neck, yawned and dragged her slippers into the bedroom.
With a crisp “pa”, the light above Bai Lixin’s head turned on.
Bai Lixin took out the invisibility card from his backpack and silently concealed his figure.
The slippers paced back and forth at the door, as if looking for something. The footsteps paused, and then they headed towards the curtain where Bai Lixin was hiding.
The air gradually condensed, and just as the woman was about to reach the curtain, the abrupt sound of a phone ringing broke the tense atmosphere.
The woman answered the phone, sounding cheerful, “Hello, Xiao Li, I missed you so much.”
She didn’t leave the bedroom, but leaned back on the bed, chatting with the person on the other end of the line.
The phone was put on speaker, and Bai Lixin could clearly hear the conversation from the other end.
A woman’s voice came from the handset, “Yuan Yuan, do you live near R University?”
Woman: “Yes, I’m studying for a master’s degree at R University. Where else would I live?”
Xiao Li: “You must lock your doors and windows at night. I heard there was a murder case at R University, and the murderer hasn’t been caught yet. Aren’t you scared of living alone? Why don’t I come to accompany you, or you can move to the school recently? Or you can come to my place?”
The girl lying on the bed turned over and looked at the window, “Actually, I’ve been a little scared lately. I don’t know if I’m paranoid, but I always feel like someone is watching me. I haven’t been sleeping well these days.”
She shivered and whispered, “Let me tell you, I knew the professor who was killed. His name was Shen Shukuang. He used to teach us literature appreciation classes. He was handsome, elegant and humble, very popular at school. If he hadn’t been married, maybe I would have pursued him.”
“Now there’s a murder case at school and people are panicking. All the teachers and students have to count heads every day. We used to skip classes, but now we can’t even be late, it’s stricter than high school.”
Xiao Li: “And you still dare to live alone.”
Yuan Yuan: “Well, there’s no other way. I study until one or two in the morning every day for my doctorate. It’s not convenient to live in the student dormitory. But don’t worry too much. My landlord is very nice. He checks for safety every day, and there are many other tenants around. Everyone takes care of each other.”
“I live in a rundown place with just one bedroom so it wouldn’t be convenient for you to come. Your place is too far from school, and I’m in a rush in the morning. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
Xiao Li: “But if you’re in danger, be sure to contact me promptly. And make sure to lock the doors and windows, especially at night. Don’t open the door for anyone, not even acquaintances.”
Before the invisibility card’s time limit run out, Bai Lixin quietly emerged from behind the curtain and looked at the spot where the light had flickered earlier thoughtfully. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that it was just a metal disc on the curtain ring reflecting the moonlight.
Yuan Yuan on the bed was completely unaware of the “person” and a dog in the room.
The police dog jumped onto the bed and circled around the woman, sniffing her incessantly.
From Bai Lixin’s perspective, the dog’s long fur brushed against the woman’s face, but she remained oblivious, continuing her phone conversation: “I know. But even dogs disdain this corner of ours, so why would anyone come here.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
“Ah!” Yuan Yuan suddenly sat up on the bed, “I have to go, I have soup stewing in the kitchen!”
The woman quickly hung up the phone and hurriedly left.
The police dog followed behind Yuan Yuan until the door then stopped. Once again, only Bai Lixin and the dog were left in the room.
Before leaving, Yuan Yuan didn’t turn off the light. Under the bright illumination, Bai Lixin looked up again at the spot where the light had flickered, confirming that there was only a piece of metal there before retracting his gaze.
At this moment, the police dog was biting its tail and spinning at the door, seeming a bit agitated.
It ran to the bedside, then to the window, then lowered its head to sniff around Bai Lixin, running around the room in confusion.
Bai Lixin stared at it for a moment before realizing that it might be looking for him…
After removing the invisibility card, sure enough, the police dog that had been running around like a headless fly immediately jumped up, barking at Bai Lixin a few times before tugging at his pants leg, as if wanting to take him somewhere.
Animals have a sensitivity to external objects far beyond that of humans, especially professionally trained police dogs.
After noticing the dog’s behavior, Bai Lixin silently followed its footsteps.
As they approached the bedroom door, Bai Lixin suddenly felt like he was being watched.
He turned sharply, his gaze becoming sharp as it swept through this seemingly ordinary bedroom.
His eyes scanned slowly.
Wardrobe, bedside table, bed, window… and the TV cabinet opposite the bed.
He slowly walked to the TV cabinet, carefully examining the things on top of it.
Intersecting power strips.
Stuffed dolls.
Photo album.
Alarm clock.
Bai Lixin’s eyes shifted slightly upward to the air conditioner mounted above the TV. The air conditioner was currently off, and as Bai Lixin stood there, it turned to a certain angle, and the switch display, which should have been in a dim state, suddenly flickered with a faint light.
It was difficult to notice the difference in that place, it was extremely concealed.
Bai Lixin shouted in his mind: [S419M, can you scan what’s on the air conditioner?]
S419M: [Okay, Lord Host.]
A second later, S419M’s voice rang out again in his mind again: [Lord Host, it’s a hidden camera. The wiring is cleverly connected to the air conditioner’s wiring, and it’s still working.]
Bai Lixin: […]
Wall-mounted air conditioners have a characteristic feature: they are mounted high on the wall, and the sockets for the air conditioner wires are also embedded high on the wall. Generally, even if the air conditioner is not in use, people won’t unplug the socket, nor will they deliberately look up to see what’s on top of the air conditioner. Most people are accustomed to focusing their attention on things that are level with or lower than their line of sight. This makes the air conditioner in the high position a blind spot.
Judging from the aging of this air conditioner, it had been hanging here for many years.
In other words, every move made by the residents living in this room had been captured by this hidden camera!
All the privacy, secrets, and things that couldn’t be revealed to outsiders were all seen by a pair of eyes.
Who could secretly install hidden cameras like this?
The previous tenant?
Or could it be the landlord?
Bai Lixin had now returned to his spirit state.
He thoroughly inspected this single girl’s home again, ultimately finding two more identical hidden cameras in the study and living room air conditioners.
The person who did all this was on the verge of being revealed.
To verify his suspicions, Bai Lixin directly passed through the wall into the neighboring apartment.
This apartment housed a family of three. At eight in the evening, the daughter was doing her homework while her mother was helping, and the father was washing dishes.
Bai Lixin skillfully floated into the bedroom, found the air conditioner, and similarly found a hidden camera inside.
He then went to the study and living room, where he found the same air conditioners, in the same positions, with the same hidden cameras.
Bai Lixin entered several more households one after the other, and the situation remained the same.
Obviously, the person who installed these cameras was none other than the landlord.
In such a rundown neighborhood, the facilities inside were old. The decoration inside the house would not be too good either.
But in such a dilapidated decoration, there were actually three air conditioners installed in a small apartment, which was unreasonable in itself. You could say he was a responsible landlord, but he spent a lot of money on buying air conditioners, yet didn’t have the money to tidy up the lighting in the corridors and stairs.
These air conditioners were not out of the landlord’s kindness, but merely served as a fig leaf to cover up his dirty and perverted thoughts.
The police dog tugged at Bai Lixin’s pants leg again, whimpering and spinning in place with some anger.
Bai Lixin rubbed the dog’s head, “Let’s go, show me where you want to take me.”
The dog seemed to understand Bai Lixin’s words, wagging its tail vigorously before rushing out through the wall.
Fortunately, Bai Lixin was now in a complete spirit state, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the dog’s pace.
Following the dog into the dark corridor, Bai Lixin only saw the dog dart into the diagonally opposite house.
He glanced over and coincidentally, that house was the residence of the landlord he wanted to check out.
Bai Lixin followed the police dog through the wall.
There was no one in the living room, and the overhead light was dim.
The sofa and coffee table had a vintage feel, and the walls seemed to be peeling from age and lack of maintenance. There seemed to be a leak on the ceiling, with a large patch of yellow-brown mold accumulating in the corner.
A yellowed poster hung on the living room wall, depicting a chubby doll holding a red carp and wearing a red belly band.
The police dog scratched the ground with its front paws, howling at Bai Lixin and then urgently rushing into a room.
Bai Lixin followed behind it. When he was also about to go through the wall, his knee hit the wall, emitting a slight dull sound. Instead of passing through, he was bounced back.
Solidified again.
“Creak!”
Suddenly, there was the sound of wood scraping against the floor from the next room with the closed door.
Bai Lixin quickly took out the invisibility card. Just a second after it took effect, the door next to him opened with a “click”, and a slightly hunched figure walked out.
Old Li wore square black-framed glasses and was wrapped in a blanket as he walked out, not forgetting to close the door behind him.
He first circled the hall, then went to lock the door from the inside before slowly heading towards the bathroom.
Hearing the sound of flushing water, Bai Lixin gently pushed the door open and walked into the room Old Lo had just left.
As soon as he entered, Bai Lixin stopped in his tracks.
In the not-so-large study, three large screens were neatly placed on the table in the corner.
Each screen was divided into more than thirty small windows, with over a hundred windows in total neatly arranged.
Each window displayed ongoing scenes.
There were men and women changing clothes in the bedroom.
There was a couple arguing in the living room.
There were parents in the study tutoring their children with red faces.
And there were intimate figures.
Home should have been the safest and most private place.
But now, the people at home were completely unaware that their true selves were all being observed by the landlord here!
