Falling In Love Inside An Urban Legend — Chapter 3.2

original novel: 在都市怪谈里谈恋爱[快穿]

author: 小生不知

mtl’d and edited by dogpotato. please leave a comment if there are any questions or errors!

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Chapter 3.2, Arc 1: Strange Sounds in the Morgue

Anyone who has studied medicine would know that those black pupils encompassing the edge of the iris—they could only belong to the dead.

And that pair of eyes stared dead straight at him, full of resentment.

The elevator was quiet, so quiet that he could clearly hear his heart beating like a drum. As the floor number on the display went up, Yao Ye’s fingers kept trembling and his grip on his phone was unsteady.

After a long while, he came back to his senses. Taking a few deep breaths, he squeezed the phone in his hand and settled his nerves before attempting to rationalize what he had just seen.

There were no ghosts in this world. Ghosts and spirits were all just superstition. Those eyes may not necessarily indicate the owner was deceased; some eye diseases can also cause the same pupil dilation, not to mention that the girl was obviously still alive and kicking.

It must have been a mistake. Maybe it was just a prank planned by the girl and it scared someone totally unrelated like him.

Yao Ye blinked and reassured himself, spurning his lack of a firm belief in materialism.

“What am I thinking!? My brain must’ve been frozen just now!”

Yao Ye knocked on his head, annoyed.

It was all because of the gossip that he had heard today.

He had probably been subconsciously frightened by the nurses’ made-up stories, combined with the stimulation from the pile of joss paper at the crossroads and those news articles earlier, which all lead to him having a hallucination. 

Yes, it must have been a figment of his imagination.

Despite comforting himself so much, Yao Ye still moved silently to the interior of the elevator, trying to stay away from the elevator doors. It was as if there was something there that made him uncomfortable.

Ding—he’d reached the tenth floor. 

Yao Ye unclenched his jaw and could not wait to get out of the elevator. His injured ankle began to protest due to the rushed pace of his steps. The more anxious he felt, the more agitated he became. The ulcerated side of his mouth hurt so much that he almost wanted to cut that piece of flesh off.

Enduring the discomfort all over his body, Yao Ye licked his dry lips and took out the key in his pocket. He walked to the apartment room with the number 1005 written on it, yanked open the door, and quickly banged it shut again.

Then, leaning against the thick door panel, Yao Ye let out a long sigh. His tight nerves completely relaxed.

This was the first time he felt that this small apartment room was so warm and inviting. Although he clearly disliked the cramped and expensive apartment of less than seventy square meters just a few days ago, at this moment, there was no doubt that having a place to call home made him feel much more at ease.

Reaching out to turn on the light in the hallway, Yao Ye found the remote control of the air conditioner in the living room and adjusted the temperature to the highest level until he felt his stiff limbs warm up again.

The salary from his residency wasn’t much so he couldn’t leave the heater on. While he’s taking a warm bath later, he’ll turn off the air conditioner to save electricity.

Yao Ye looked at the time on his phone. It was 1:15 a.m., and if he didn’t rest now, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to get up on time to catch the bus at six in the morning. Sighing despondently, he unbuttoned his clothes and walked to the bathroom. 

Thus he had no choice but to shorten his warm bath into a quick rinse with a little hot water before bed.

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At the same time, outside the apartment.

In the middle of the corridor, the previously closed elevator rose from the first floor to the tenth floor. The doors opened to reveal the pale face of a female junior high school student.

She stepped out of the elevator and stood there for a long time before moving her stiff limbs and ringing the doorbells one by one, seemingly looking for someone.

The female student with black hair scattered over her face rang the doorbell with what appeared to be a weak and slender arm. Her every movement was rigid and dull, and the angles of her joints brought about a sense of incongruity. The closest description would be—like a walking corpse. 

The lights in the corridor began to flicker.

Gradually, the blue and white school uniform became soaked with heavy blood stains. 

Legend has it that ghosts who want to find a substitute[1] will follow the living person they fancy, locate their residence, and watch from the shadows until they find the best opportunity to take away their life. 

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In the bathroom. 

Clank—

Yao Ye turned the faucet handle. Hot water gushed out of the showerhead, washing away the fatigue and residual chill from his body.

He closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the warmth of the steam rising in the bathroom, but the scene in the elevator flashed through his mind again.

If those eyes belong to a living person, then… why was the cornea so dull? The whites of the eyes were also very cloudy…

Yao Ye turned off the faucet and ran a hand through his short wet hair, his cheeks that had just flushed with warmth turning pale again.

Yes, he was wrong just now; the girl was obviously a normal person.

Yao Ye absently picked up the long bath towel on the side and wiped the water droplets from his body. Suddenly, a self-deprecating smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He felt like he was thinking too much.

It was ridiculous that he used to pride himself on his belief in materialism, but once he encountered something for the first time, he immediately had doubts.

He is a big man, there’s nothing to be afraid of! Don’t think about it and everything will be gone as soon as he falls asleep!

Yao Ye cheered up and got ready for bed. This time he finally remembered that he had to take his medicine on time. He took out the medicine for oral ulcers from the bedside table, then smeared some safflower oil on his ankle for the swelling before lying down on the bed and preparing to sleep.

Sigh. His whole body hurt. If this continues, he really will drop dead from exhaustion.

If he had not been so tired recently, would he have been scared by his own imagination like this!

Yao Ye lay on the bed in a daze and felt as if he could hear his bones creaking and settling. A feeling of kidney deficiency[2] rendered him powerless.

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

Ding—Ding—

Hearing the doorbell, Yao Ye didn’t move a muscle. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he became overwhelmingly sleepy. He was already lying in bed, so tired that he couldn’t open his eyelids. He didn’t want to bother about whoever was ringing the doorbell and disturbing people at midnight.

It must be another kid who’s still awake in the middle of the night playing a prank. It should be okay to just leave it alone.

Today had been so busy and in the end he received a huge scare. He really didn’t want nor have the energy to leave his warm bed.

Thus, he threw the ringing of the doorbell to the back of his mind, just as if he hadn’t heard it, and fell into a deep sleep.

Outside the door, the long-haired junior high student’s arms stiffened and pressed the doorbell over and over until the ninth time. She then walked with rigid steps to the next apartment, repeating the previous action and silently ringing the doorbell. 

Thud—

Thud—

The sound of heavy, plodding footsteps echoed in the empty corridor for a long time, accompanied by the unceasingly harsh ringing of the doorbell.

Eventually, an impatient night owl tenant was finally unable to stand it. He opened his door with force, cursing the eighteen generations of this public nuisance who went around disturbing others.

The junior high student who was about to go to the next apartment stopped in her tracks. Her hanging head whipped around suddenly, emitting an eerie giggle. The black eyes hidden behind her hair were glistening with blood.

The moment he saw the lifeless face of the junior high student, the tenant opened his mouth wide, his face twisted in terror. All of his screams were cut off in his throat.

“Gurgle—”

Click—

The door was closed, and the corridor was quiet again.

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The author has something to say: Innocent tenant with gun: MMP! (t/n: Son of a b*tch!)

Thank you for your messages of support~

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[1] ghosts that died in especially tragic or painful ways will be forced to relive that pain after death, and only by making someone die in the same way they did will they be able to rest in peace. that person is their ‘substitute’, and will take their place suffering as a ghost. the most common example is people drowning where a lot of people have drowned before.

[2] kidney deficiency: also known as renal yang deficiency; usually associated with exposure to the cold, excessive strain on the body, or in males, engaging in too much this and that (:3｣∠)_ 

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thoughts of dogpotato: happy lunar new year! wishing you happiness and prosperity in the year of the Ox ✨🧧🍊🧧🥮🧧✨

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