Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

The old man had gray hair and a face etched with deep wrinkles. He was wrapped in a tattered cotton-padded coat whose original color was no longer discernible, and leaned against a fairly intact cardboard box.

His cloudy eyes were half-open and half-closed, and he hummed an off-key tune, showing no reaction to Lin Yu's approach.

Lin Yu squatted down in front of him, trying to keep his eyes level.

He thought for a moment, then took a soft white bread out of his backpack and handed it to the old man.

The aroma of wheat bread stood out starkly against the polluted air.

The old homeless man's nose twitched, and his humming stopped.

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze first falling on the bread. A glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes, and his throat bobbed.

"Oh ho... is it an imported product?" His voice was hoarse, with a heavy local accent. He reached out and grabbed the bread, tearing into it impatiently, crumbs falling everywhere.

Lin Yu waited until he had wolfed down a few mouthfuls before speaking, his tone carrying a deliberately probing tone: "Sir, I apologize for disturbing you."

I write horror novels and specialize in collecting strange and unusual folk tales. I've heard... this fortified village was once haunted? Would you be able to tell me about it?

The old homeless man was struggling to swallow the bread in his mouth when he heard this. He paused for a moment, raised his cloudy eyes, carefully looked Lin Yu over, and then chuckled, revealing a few yellowed, broken teeth.

"Young man...hehe, you've come to the right person! This old man of mine has been around this village since I was a kid, born and raised here! Nobody knows better than me what dirty and strange things have happened here!"

Lin Yu then handed over an unopened bottle of mineral water.

The old man's eyes brightened, and he took the bottle without hesitation, unscrewed the cap, took a big gulp, breathed a satisfied sigh of relief, then sat up straighter cross-legged, seemingly feeling a bit better.

"Alright! Since you're a sensible kid, I'll give you a piece of my mind!" He wiped the water from his mouth, his cloudy eyes gazing into the dark corridor deep within the fortress, as if lost in memories.

"That must have been... many, many years ago, probably about twenty years ago," the old man smacked his lips.

"This fortress is crowded with people, like an anthill. When there are too many people, things get chaotic, and accidents are more likely to happen."

He lowered his voice, speaking in a tone as if recounting a secret: "Then one day, the accident happened. It seems to have happened on the fifth floor. I don't know which apartment caught fire."

The fire blazed up instantly!

That fire burned incredibly fast! So fast it seemed almost unnatural.

At that time, thick black smoke billowed up like a poisonous dragon, and cries of agony filled the air... The person in charge of the fortress did arrive and arranged for people to put out the fire.

But the place was too narrow, and there were too many people, it was so crowded that you couldn't move an inch... By the time the fire was finally put out, sigh...

The old man sighed and shook his head: "Dozens of people, burned alive to a crisp! It was horrible! The smell... it lingered for months!"

"Well, people die in this village every day, whether they starve, die of disease, or are beaten to death... This time, there were just a few more deaths, so it's not too surprising. Everyone will sigh for a few days and then it will pass. After all, life goes on."

But the strange thing is, not long after, another accident happened on the fifth floor! The old man's voice was even lower, with a hint of barely perceptible fear.

"First, someone got up in the middle of the night to urinate and said that he saw a charred figure in the hallway, grinning at him."

Then someone heard someone crying inside the empty house, a truly chilling cry. If you listened closely, you could also hear cries of "Help!" and "It's so hot!"... The story grew increasingly bizarre, and then...

His cloudy eyes widened suddenly: "Someone really died, and died inexplicably, either scared to death or... there were black handprints on their necks, and it was later discovered that they had strangled themselves."

In total, more than a dozen lives were lost. The entire village was filled with fear; no one dared to go out during the day, and as soon as it got dark, every household locked their doors tightly.

"It got to this point, and the landlord couldn't sit still anymore. No matter how greedy he is, he's afraid of dying. I heard that one night he was in his own room and he was so scared that he almost wet his pants!"

After that, I heard that he spent a lot of money to hire a highly skilled monk from outside.

The old man spoke of the sorcerer with a hint of reverence, "That sorcerer, dressed in a Taoist robe, carrying a peach wood sword and a compass, walked around the village several times, and finally stopped at the fifth floor on the east side, the floor where the most people were burned to death back then."

He pointed to one of the rooms and said, "The root of the trouble is here! The vengeful spirits of those who died unjustly have gathered here and become a force to be reckoned with!"

"The sorcerer immediately set up an altar and performed a ritual right at the door of the house! He burned talismans, chanted incantations, and brandished a peach wood sword with a whooshing sound! After fussing for most of the day, he finally locked the door shut with a huge copper lock with a 'click'."

He then drew a talisman on the door with cinnabar. Hey, that talisman was drawn so well, it looked like it was alive, so bright and shiny. The old man gestured with his fingers.

"After the sorcerer finished his ritual, his face was deathly pale, as if he had collapsed from exhaustion. He told the landlord, 'That's enough, I've sealed all these wicked creatures inside! With time and effort, my talisman and lock will gradually refine them clean, causing their souls to scatter!'"

"Since then," the old man took a sip of water, his tone becoming more relaxed, "hey, things have really been peaceful, and we haven't heard of any ghosts or deaths since."

At most... some elderly neighbors, when they occasionally pass by the locked door on the fifth floor, say they seem to hear faint... cursing sounds coming from inside?

But who cares! Just being alive is good enough! What's even stranger is that the cinnabar talisman on the door, after decades, hasn't faded at all; it's still bright and shiny. Many elderly people still worship it, treating it as a talisman for protection.

After telling the story, the old man seemed to have exhausted his strength and retreated back to his cardboard box.

Lin Yu listened carefully, quickly processing the information in his mind: fire, vengeful spirit, sorcerer, seal. He immediately pressed on, "Old sir, do you remember any particularly famous people among those who were burned to death back then? Or what was the sorcerer's name?"

The old homeless man shook his head blankly, his eyes becoming cloudy again: "Decades have passed... Who still remembers those people? They were all unfortunate souls who died. Their names?"

I've long forgotten... A monk? I think his surname was Zhang? Li? I can't remember... I'm getting old, my mind isn't working well anymore...

Lin Yu was somewhat disappointed, but still unwilling to give up: "Then, exactly where on the fifth floor is the room where the sorcerer performed the ritual and locked the door? Are the lock and talisman still on the door?"

The old man remembered clearly: "Yes, it's definitely there. It's on the fifth floor, at the far east end, the one with the door facing west. It's very easy to recognize."

The door was locked with a huge brass padlock, and there were bright red symbols painted on it. It was the only one locked on the entire fifth floor; you could see it at a glance. You're sure to see it when you get there.

Lin Yu thanked him and got up to leave.

He took out his notebook and pen and quickly wrote down the information provided by the homeless man: fire, dozens of deaths, haunting, a sorcerer's seal, and a cinnabar talisman locking the door on the east side of the fifth floor.

Lin Yu closed his laptop and headed straight for the fifth floor of the walled city.