Qin Jian, outside the door, sensed something. His dying voice disappeared. His voice became sharper and more twisted, “Why aren’t you opening the door? Why?” Eventually, the voice threatened to pierce the travellers’ eardrums. Hatred and venom mixed with many different negative emotions.
This was a female voice. She sounded young, but she was very resentful.
The smacking on the door became louder. More fresh handprints stuck to the door. This weak door couldn’t hold on for much longer. However, Zuo Qing didn’t look fearful. This was because she had seen through the ghost’s ploy. Based on the rules, the ghosts couldn’t barge into their rooms unless someone inside opened the door for her.
Shi Liaozhi was about to do that. Chen Qiang and Zuo Qing hid behind the door silently. Slowly, the shadow on the door changed. It went from one to two. The new shadow was flimsier than the one before. It was of average height, but it was abnormally large. It stood just slightly to the side of the first figure.
The first shadow was definitely Qin Jian. However, he was already dead. The thing standing outside was his corpse. The other figure was the ghost. The ghost was indeed a female.
A scary thought appeared in Chen Qiang and Zuo Qing’s minds at the same time. The bloated ghost dragged Qin Jian’s corpse out of the lake and propped him in front of the door. Then, she stood behind the body and pretended to be him. She wanted to trick them to open the door for her.
“Is he here for you?!”
“What is going on?” Jiang Cheng glanced at Fatty. He held a leaf in his hand. The leaf was larger than his palm. The surface of the leaf was sticky with some residue. He asked again, “Is this some kind of code between the two of you?”
Fatty didn’t know how to explain it to the Doctor.
About ten minutes ago, Fatty, who was soundly asleep, was woken up by a series of knockings. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Even though it was dark, he noticed that both the Doctor and Xia Meng’s beds were empty. That woke him up instantly. He tried to control the fear in his heart. He closed his mouth and trembled to get out of bed. He wanted to crawl under the bed.
Before he could do that, a memory surfaced in his mind. It was his first time meeting the Doctor. The ghost came out from under the bed. When they found Xie Yu, he had been horribly murdered. Fatty froze. He was worried that he’d meet a ghost under the bed.
The next second, just as Fatty wondered what had happened, a hand reached out from under the bed. Before Fatty could react, the hand covered his mouth. Fatty was about to scream when he saw the Doctor. Then, Xia Meng also crawled out from under his bed. It was the Doctor who covered his mouth.
The tapping continued. It wasn’t loud, but it was clear on the silent night. Fatty frowned. The tapping was rhythmic as if someone were sending a code. Fatty felt a pinch on his face. He looked where the Doctor was pointing. He was so scared that he sucked in a cold breath.
A round thing was reflected on the window. Someone was standing outside. It was a person… no, a ghost.
Then, the shadow suddenly disappeared. It was followed by quick running footsteps. Fatty blinked with confusion. Did the ghost think someone would chase after it?
After a while, Jiang Cheng moved to the window. He looked out through the gap and saw nothing. He carefully opened the window. The moment the window opened, something squeezed between the gap fell out. It was… a piece of paper.
After picking it up, he realised the paper was squeezed with a large leaf. It was the leaf Jiang Cheng was currently holding.
Fatty thought about it and realised the leaf was the one he picked that morning and placed under the bun. He gifted it to the little beggar.
After she heard Fatty’s explanation, Xia Meng glared at him. Clearly, she was annoyed that he lied to him. Fatty glanced back at her.
Jiang Cheng opened the wrinkled paper. It contained a rough drawing. In the middle of the drawing was a small boat. On the boat were three small characters. The characters in the front and back of the boat looked like they were rowing. The one in the middle looked more serene. He stood there quietly. He appeared to be of a higher social standing.
A small arrow extended out of the feet of the character in the middle. It was connected to the word Huang.
“Is he trying to say that Young Master Huang is taking a boat?” Fatty whispered, “But why is he surrounded by two people? Are they supposed to be ghosts?”
Xia Meng leaned in closer and pointed at a spot, “What is that?”
There was a blot about the Huang caricature. It felt like someone wrote something wrong and then crossed it out.
“It’s…” Fatty narrowed his eyes. “Hmm?” He suddenly gasped, “The word that has been crossed out appears to be another Huang.”
“He crossed out one Huang and wrote another Huang,” Xia Meng tapped her chin, “Why?”
“Could it be because he also couldn’t tell if the person on the boat was Young Master Huang or not?” Fatty guessed.
That was a question that they couldn’t answer… unless they managed to catch the little beggar and interrogate him.
The drawing was recently completed. Jiang Cheng touched it with his fingers. They came back with stains.