For thirty years, he has roamed the Northeast, his divine might overwhelming all immortals under hea

The scent was almost invisible in the sunlight, but I seemed to catch a very faint, earthy, sweet smell like last night, which vanished in an instant.

At the same time, the warmth in my fingertips receded like a tide.

Huang Dalang's voice rang out, sounding somewhat relaxed.

"Alright. The 'yin affliction' has dissipated. Let the child get some sunshine, drink some hot porridge, and rest for a few days; he'll be fine."

I felt a wave of relief wash over me, and then I realized that my back was also covered in a thin layer of sweat.

"Thirteen, is that all?"

My mother, holding the bowl of porridge, asked nervously.

"Okay, all done."

Suozhu opened his eyes at this moment, his gaze becoming much clearer. He looked at us and said softly.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

That one word, "Mother," brought tears streaming down my mother's face, and she hurriedly handed her the bowl of porridge.

"Oh, it's good that you're hungry, it's good that you're hungry, eat quickly, eat more."

My father stood at the door, looking at the bright sun outside, and let out a long sigh of relief.

After breakfast, my father went to Old Sun's house to deliver the news.

The Sun couple rushed over in a panic. They saw Suozhu drinking his second bowl of porridge perfectly fine, holding his child and crying and laughing. They thanked him profusely and insisted on giving him money.

My parents declined, but eventually they couldn't refuse and accepted the basket of eggs.

After the Sun family left with Suozhu, the courtyard quieted down.

But not long after things quieted down, a man pushed open my front door.

The man who came in was about forty years old. He was wearing a slightly worn dark blue woolen Zhongshan suit, his hair was neatly combed, and he had a smile on his face, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He looked anxious.

He was carrying a bulging black faux leather handbag.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Thirteen here?"

He spoke with a slight county accent, not too strong, but still noticeably different from the local accent in our village.

My father stood up and sized up the person who had come in.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, my surname is Zhao, Zhao Deshun, and I own a hotel called 'Limin Hotel' in the county."

The man quickly took out a cigarette with a filter and handed it to my father.

My dad waved his hand, then lit one for himself, took a deep drag, and his brows furrowed even more deeply amidst the swirling smoke.

"I apologize for bothering you, but I'm really... I've encountered some real difficulties and had to ask around to find this place."

My mother brought over a bowl of water, which Zhao Deshun took but didn't drink. He placed it on the millstone next to him, his eyes constantly glancing at me.

I had a pretty good idea of ​​what was going on; it was probably some kind of "dirty" trouble that had come knocking on my door again.

It turns out that he hadn't been in action for very long, yet his name spread very quickly.

"Boss Zhao, please have a seat."

I pointed to the low stool in the yard.

"Tell me what's wrong, take your time."

Zhao Deshun sat down and took two more deep drags on his cigarette before speaking, his voice low as if afraid of being overheard.

"Mr. Thirteen, to tell you the truth, my hotel... is haunted!"

There was a moment of silence in the courtyard after he said that.

Even the little fox that was dozing at my feet perked up its ears and rolled its shiny black eyes.

Huang Dalang's voice immediately rang in my mind, high-pitched and with a hint of amusement.

"Wow? Even cement boxes in the city are getting into this kind of thing? That's interesting!"

I ignored him and looked at Zhao Deshun.

"What exactly happened?"

Zhao Deshun wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead.

"It's been just these last two months! First, guests complained that at night, especially late at night, they could hear the sound of high heels walking in the hallway, 'click, click, click'... not too fast, not too slow. But the staff checked, and there were no female guests staying on that floor! Then, it got even weirder. Several guests said they saw a woman with long hair, wearing a red dress, wandering around in the hallway, and finally... finally she went into room 404 on the fourth floor!"

He paused, his eyes filled with genuine fear.

"I've kept room 404 locked ever since the incident; no one lives there! But everyone says that when the woman in red walked to the door, it opened by itself, she went in, and then the door closed by itself... without making a sound!"

"After the commotion broke out, business plummeted. Now, nobody dares to stay on the third floor, let alone the fourth. If this continues, my hotel is doomed to go out of business!"

Zhao Deshun became more and more excited as he spoke.

"Mr. Thirteen, I'm truly at my wit's end. I've tried to inquire through connections, and everyone says that although Li Shisan of Zhujiakan is young, he has real skills and can... can ask the spirits for favors. You must help me!"

As he spoke, he bent down, opened the black briefcase, and pulled out several stacks of banknotes bundled with rubber bands. They were all ten-yuan notes, brand new and pristine. He counted out eight stacks and pushed them in front of me.

"This is an 800 yuan deposit. I know the rules."

Zhao Deshun stared at me expectantly.

"If you can settle this matter and make my hotel quiet, I'll give you this amount afterwards."

He then held up two fingers and shook them.

two thousand.

Adding this 800, it makes 2,800.

My mind went blank for a moment.

Two thousand eight hundred yuan.

In Zhujiakan, this was an enormous sum of money that no one would have dared to even dream of.

They could build three bright brick houses, buy their parents countless new clothes, countless kilograms of meat, and provide them with fine grains for many years.

My dad toils in the fields all year round, and he might not even be able to save two hundred yuan.

My parents were also clearly stunned by the amount. They stared at the money, then at me, without saying a word.

The little fox rubbed its head against my leg and squeaked twice.

Liu Ruoyun's cool voice also rang out at this moment, directly entering my mind, carrying a hint of reminder.

"Thirteen, be careful. City areas, especially places like this where people come and go and there is a lot of noise and chaos, are filled with turbid energy, and good and evil are intertwined. Resentment hidden in such places is not easily dispersed by yang energy, and once it takes shape, it may be more troublesome than that in the countryside."

Huang Dalang sneered.

"Miss Liu, you're too cautious! No matter how difficult she is, can she outmaneuver us? Two thousand eight hundred! That's enough for our Thirteen to marry ten or eight wives and eat roast chicken every day!"

Ignoring the bickering of the spirits in my mind, my fingers unconsciously touched the eight stacks of money on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).

It was hard, with edges that pressed against my fingertips, and it felt so real it was almost burning hot.

Sunlight shone on the blue-gray banknotes, reflecting a tempting yet unsettling light.

"Boss Zhao."

I heard my own voice, which was fairly steady.

"I need to check out the location first."

Upon hearing that there was a chance, Zhao Deshun's face immediately lit up.

"Of course, of course! When is a convenient time for you? I've got a sidecar motorcycle; I'll park it at the village entrance, and it can leave right now!"

I glanced at my parents.

My father took a heavy drag on the pipe that had finally been lit, the smoke obscuring his dark face and making his expression unreadable. He only said one sentence at the end.

Be careful.

My mother clutched the corner of her apron with worry, her lips moved but she didn't say anything in the end. She turned and went into the house, and a moment later she took out my slightly worn but clean dark blue coat and handed it to me.

Go early and come back early.

She only said one sentence.

I put on my coat and nodded to Zhao Deshun.

"Let's go."

The little fox darted onto my shoulder and settled firmly.

Huang Dalang chuckled in my ear, while Liu Ruoyun fell silent again.

Sure enough, a military green Changjiang 750 sidecar motorcycle was parked at the entrance, standing out conspicuously in this dirt road village.

Zhao Deshun told me to sit in the side compartment, while he climbed into the main seat and kicked the engine.

The motorcycle roared and sputtered, emitting a puff of blue smoke, as it bumped and jolted onto the dirt road leading to the county town.

The wind whistled past my ears, and the fields and houses along the roadside rushed past.

This was my first time riding a motorcycle, and my heart couldn't help but rise and fall with the swaying of the vehicle.

The little fox on the shoulder seemed quite content, its eyes half-closed and its fluffy tail swaying in the wind.

The Limin Hotel is a four-story rectangular box-shaped building, covered with white and mosaic tiles, making it quite an eye-catching building on this street. However, the entrance was deserted at the moment, and no one had been seen entering or leaving through the glass revolving doors for a long time.

Zhao Deshun parked his motorcycle in the backyard and led me through the front gate.

Pushing open the heavy, somewhat stiff, amber-colored glass door, a certain smell immediately hits you.

It had a complex flavor.

The cheap disinfectant tried to cover everything up, but it was mixed with a more stubborn, stale smell from the carpets, curtains and walls, and a faint, cloyingly sweet scent of cheap perfume.

Beneath all these smells, like a cool underwater current, a chilly breeze swept over me, brushing against the smooth terrazzo floor, silently yet precisely slipping into my collar, raising a fine layer of goosebumps.

There was a listless female server at the front desk. When she saw Zhao Deshun, she quickly stood up.

Zhao Deshun waved his hand, indicating that we didn't need to worry about them.

The lobby was dimly lit, illuminating a set of dark red velvet sofas, which were empty.

Quiet, a heavy, lifeless quiet.

I looked up at the staircase leading upstairs.

The spiraling staircase, hidden in the dim light, resembled a silent, gaping maw waiting to devour something.

Huang Dalang's voice rang out at the right moment, his previous joking tone replaced by a serious and questioning one.

"Huh? This place... doesn't smell right. Thirteen, be careful, let's check out room 404 first."

The eerie wind swirled in the lobby and then drifted up the stairs.

The little fox on my shoulder made a low "gurgling" sound in its throat, not out of fear, but as if it had smelled something interesting.

Huang Dalang clicked his tongue near my ear.

"This suffocating atmosphere is so oppressive, it could stink for miles against the wind!"

Zhao Deshun rubbed his hands together, his face turning slightly bluish under the pale fluorescent light.

"Mr. Thirteen, what do you think... should we rest for a while first, or go straight to...?"

"Let's go take a look."

I interrupted him and started walking towards the stairs.

The terrazzo steps, wet and glistening from being mopped, made very light footsteps, which only made the surroundings seem quieter.

The higher you go, the more pronounced the smell of cheap perfume mixed with stale dust becomes, and faintly, there seems to be another scent.

It had a faint, rusty smell, or perhaps a musty, watery odor that had been sitting out for a long time.

A few lights were still on on the third floor, and there were bed sheets piled up outside one room, but the whole floor was unusually quiet.

Further up, the stairwell light on the fourth floor was broken, with only a dim light coming up from below.

The corridor stretched as far as the eye could see, with rows of dark brown doors tightly shut on both sides. The wallpaper, with its dark red pattern, looked like solidified, ominous stains in the dim light.

The carpet was dark green and absorbed all the sound.

Zhao Deshun took out his keychain, his hand trembling slightly, making a rattling sound.

"It's over there, the innermost room, 404."

He pointed to the end of the corridor.

I didn't rush over. I stood at the top of the stairs and squinted to take a look.

The temperature in the corridor was noticeably lower than downstairs; it wasn't a normal coolness, but a bone-chilling cold.

The air felt heavy and stagnant, making it difficult to breathe.

Huang Dalang fell silent, but a subtle restlessness belonging to him crept up my spine—the vigilance of a deity when sensing something.

Liu Ruoyun's cold voice rang out again, this time even more solemn than before.

"Thirteen, the resentment here has solidified and is gaining momentum. There's more than one 'person,' so be careful."

More than one? A chill ran down my spine.

The little fox jumped off my shoulder and landed silently on the carpet.

It twitched its shiny black nose and slowly walked deeper into the corridor, its fluffy tail tip slightly bristling.

I gestured for Zhao Deshun to follow, and walked ahead myself. The carpet absorbed sound so well that our footsteps were almost silent, with only Zhao Deshun's heavy breathing and the occasional clinking of his keys.

The further you go in, the dimmer the light becomes, and the door to room 404 at the end looks like a blurry, square black hole.

Just as we reached about the middle of the corridor, without any warning...

"Click."

A clear sound of high heels clicking on a hard floor came from the direction of the stairwell not far behind us.

Zhao Deshun shuddered suddenly, and his keychain fell to the carpet with a "thud".

I immediately turned around, and the stairwell was empty, with only a faint light streaming up from below.

"Click, click."

Two more sounds, unhurried and rhythmic, came as they ascended the stairs step by step. The sound amplified in the quiet corridor, echoing and striking the heart.

Zhao Deshun's face was as white as paper, his teeth chattering, and he tried to squat down to pick up the keys, but his legs were too weak to move.

Huang Dalang hummed in my head.

"Playing tricks! Show yourself if you're so capable!"

The footsteps reached the fourth floor and stopped.

Then, the "click, click, click" sound rang out again, this time directed towards us, echoing in the corridor!

But the corridor was clearly carpeted, so how could there be such a crisp sound of high heels? Moreover, to the naked eye, there was no one there!

The sound grew closer, as if an unseen woman, wearing high heels, was calmly walking past us, bringing with her a subtle, cold breeze and a slightly clearer smell of rust.

"What is that?!"

no respond.

The clicking sound passed us by, and the person continued walking slowly towards room 404 deep in the corridor.

The sound stopped when we reached the door.

Followed by.

"Squeak!"

With a sickening, rusty sound of hinges turning, the tightly locked door to room 404 slowly opened a dark crack inwards!

Zhao Deshun let out a scream and collapsed to the ground.

I took a deep breath, suppressed the pounding in my heart, bent down to pick up his dropped keychain, and strode towards 404.

The little fox followed closely at my feet.

Huang Dalang's restlessness intensified, while Liu Ruoyun exuded a faint, cool aura that protected my mind.