CH 20

Chu Chen’an sat up, gasped for a moment to slow down, then put on his shoes, walked into the bedroom bathroom and rinsed his face with cool water.

He took out the rusty key in his pocket and surveyed it for a long time, then slowly wrapped it in his palm.

Time was short, he had to hurry and complete the task point one.

Chu Chen’an walked out of 702 softly.

Zhang Liang and Li Yaya were not there, they should have gone back to 703.

He didn’t care much and slowly walked to the stairway on the seventh floor.

He took a small flashlight and walked down the stairs with the tiny bright light. He passed the corner of the stairs where Wu Longyang died, his hand shook slightly as he held the flashlight and walked nervously and carefully to the next flight of steps.

Soon, he came to the sixth floor stairway.

The red lights in the hallway flickered on and off, making this floor extra lonely and eerie.

He took a deep breath, his bright eyes wide and alert, and walked towards the entrance of Jiao Jiao’s house.

“Ta, ta, ta.”

The hallway was so quiet that only his footsteps could be heard, the light of the torch and his shadow reflected in the corridor, the red light refracted by the treacherous light creeping up the side of his face.

He stood at the door of Jiaojiao’s house, took out the key and inserted it in the lock, after two attempts left and right, the door opened.

Chu Chen’an pushed open the door, the ancient door emitted a “creak” a soft sound, echoing in the dark and treacherous surroundings.

The interior of the house was darkly lit and the furnishings were old.

The last time he came to Jiaojiao’s house, he didn’t have time to take a closer look. The counter on the left side of the living room was filled with all kinds of expensive Western decorations and collectibles.

Pearl and gemstone pendulum clock, glazed lamp, gold-encrusted glazed wine jug ……

The furnishings were elegant and luxurious.

Chu Chen’an took a flashlight and let the light sweep over every corner. Behind the side of the counter was a row of tall bookshelves, the shelves were full of black moldy debris, once there should have been a lot of books.

Next to the bookshelves there was also a row of carved counters, now covered with black and gray debris chips. According to the shape of the remaining ruins, there were also paper, ink, pen and ink stone and several ancient paintings above the counter.

The house was decorated in a style that combined Eastern and Western cultures, ancient and elegant, without losing its flamboyance and opulence.

Chu Chen’an guessed that Jiaojiao’s parents should both be highly educated and appreciated the cultures of the East and West.

He walked up and wiped a bit of black ash on the counter with his index finger finger, and he carefully examined it with light for a long time.

It was indeed a fire mark.

Could it be that Jiao Jiao died in a fire at home?

But if it was a fire, what about Jiao Jiao’s parents, who moved away?

He held up a flashlight and looked around the living room. The house had obviously been altered.

There were only two suites in all the floors below the seventh floor, and the layout of each suite was three rooms and two halls.

Instead, Jiaojiao’s house had only two bedrooms, the living room and a room kept the antiques of the East and West, and the kitchen was on the inside of the living room, occupying little space.

He walked softly into the master bedroom on the left side, and when the light hit the inside of the master bedroom door, he jolted.

The door was black and grey, there were countless thin deep black blood marks, like the scratches of human hands.

This meant that when the fire started in this house, the door of the master bedroom was tightly closed, and there were people locked in the master bedroom!

With trembling hands, he went up to measure these evenly distributed scratches, the highest scratches stayed a few centimeters above his head.

He lifted his hand to compare the five-finger scratches, only to see that the five fingers of the scratches were a little larger than his fingers.

In other words, the owner of the five-finger scratch …… was an adult!

He looked at the interior, the perimeter of the room had traces of the fire, from the bed to the dresser, were a blur of ruins.

The light of the flashlight swept to the dresser cabinet, the lock on the cabinet was knocked off.

The interior was so silent that it made him sweat, he could only hear his own breathing.

He cautiously swept his light around him once, making sure there was nothing else in the room before he dared to walk towards the dresser.

The dresser cabinet was unlocked and only slightly open with a small gap.

He lifted his hand and tried to drag one of the cabinets.

The cabinet was so old that it had a lot of embroidery and was stuck when dragged.

Chu Chen’an then squeezed the hand rest on the cabinet and increased the force to yank back hard.

“Peng dong”

The left side of the cabinet opened.

Inside were watches, razors and broken men’s glasses.

Chu Chen’an picked up the men’s glasses and examined them for a few seconds.

Following that, he found that there was also a long locket underneath, like a glasses case.

He hesitated for a moment, took it out, lifted his finger to wrench open the opening of the glasses case and slowly opened it ……

Suddenly, he was so frightened that he dropped the glasses box in his hand back into the cabinet.

There was …… a pair of blood-stained eyeballs!

It was wrapped tightly in a plastic bag.

Chu Chen’an took two steps back with trembling hands and panted sharply.

He covered his chest and stood for a long time, before slowly turning to the right side of the cabinet.

He trembled a little and pulled it open.

There were some scattered cosmetics placed inside, buried on a tin makeup box.

Chu Chen’an took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to open the tin makeup.

He opened the box ……

As expected, there was also a pair of blood-stained eyes on it, wrapped in plastic bags.

The left and right cabinets both had a pair of hideous eyes ……

Men’s glasses case ……

Ladies’ make-up case ……

Chu Chen’an frowned slightly and pushed the cabinets back and walked out of the master bedroom with quick steps.

He gripped the flashlight tightly, his palms so tense that fine sweat came out of them, and turned towards the second bedroom opposite the master bedroom.

The light shone on the door of the second bedroom, only to see the door with deep black blood stains, it had a lock.

Chu Chenan went up to check the rusty door lock, the lock was the traditional external buckle type, since it was old, if he used external force, he may be able to smash it open.

He was so anxious that he couldn’t care less, he looked around the house, but unfortunately there was nothing hard to use in the living room.

He then turned to the inner kitchen, he searched around the kitchen, his eyes finally fell on the corner of the window.

Suddenly, he found a few square iron pipes on that debris, perhaps it fell from the window fence.

Chu Chen’an thought nothing of it and took the hardest iron pipe, went to the door of the second bedroom, raised the iron pipe and began to knock the lock.

“Peng Peng”

The ancient lock was soon half smashed open, which gave Chu Chen’an hope, and he eagerly increased the force.

The iron pipe had a rough surface and some sharp corners, which stabbed Chu Chen’an’s hand with many wounds, and his white and delicate palm began to bleed.

“Brother is so excessive.” Jiao Jiao’s voice rang out in the living room.

Chu Chen’an was so frightened that his lock knocking stopped abruptly, the iron pipe was smashed on the floor, he gasped and looked around the empty living room.

“I’m sorry Jiaojiao, don’t be angry,” the wound at the center of his hand emitted a slight stinging pain, panting sharply, he coaxed her in a warm voice, “This lock is too old, it’s all rusty, when I smash it off, I’ll compensate you with a beautiful new lock, okay?”

“It’s not because of the lock, brother Chen An what you want Jiao Jiao will give you, all the things I have at home are brother’s ah.”

Chu Chen’an, “Then, then because of what?”

“Because brother is injured!” Jiao Jiao hid in the corner, sulking, “Hum, brother Xu will definitely be angry when he finds out, he will lock you up, brother, you’re not allowed to cry then.”

Listening to what the kid thought was a terrible threat, he frowned and looked down at his palm. A little blood flowed from the small wound, but it wasn’t serious. It was all skin injuries.

Chu Chen’an, “I was accidentally injured when I smashed the lock, it wasn’t on purpose.”

Jiao Jiao simply responded, “Then you won’t get hurt if you don’t smash it?”

Chu Chen’an quietly responded, “But I don’t have a key, do you have a key, Jiao Jiao?”

Jiao Jiao thought for a long time, “Yes …… no yeah, I forgot where I put it.”

“Hee hee but ……” she suddenly smiled playfully and hugged and put the doll in Chu Chen’an’s hand, “Brother you’re about to be locked up!”

The cotton of the doll stopped the blood on Chu Chen’an’s wound, he moved to pick up the iron pipe, not thinking, “Why?”

“Because brother Xu is coming!” Jiaojiao giggled playfully.

Chu Chen’an suddenly straightened up, eyes wide open, he turned to look outside the gate.

Only to see the dark gate was the same as before, there was no trace of anyone at all.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Following that, he gritted his teeth and whispered, “Jiaojiao!”

This silly child.

She loved to scare him when there was nothing to do.

“Brother is really good-looking when you’re angry, hey ……” Jiao Jiao’s childish voice rang out, she said mysteriously, “but I didn’t lie to you brother, brother Xu is really coming.”

Chu Chen’an wiped the fine sweat on his forehead, and bent to pick up the iron pipe.

He didn’t believe again, he continued to knock the rest of the iron lock.

While knocking, he perfunctorily said to Jiaojiao, “Then tell me, where is he now?”

Jiao Jiao: “Well ……”

Chu Chenan increased the force and smashed the other side of the lock.

Finally, after a “pang” sound, the remaining half of the lock was cracked open by him and fell on the floor.

“Oh, he’s downstairs~” said Jiao Jiao.

Chu Chen’an pushed up the door hand slightly paused and frowned, “What did you say?”

“Really brother, brother Xu is downstairs, he will soon come up, I didn’t lie to you.”

Jiao Jiao said seriously.

Time was running out, Chu Chen’an couldn’t care less, he took the lead and pushed open the door of the second bedroom.

He was so frightened that his bright eyes opened wide, even his fine eyelashes were trembling.

There was a tragic looking skeleton in the bed of the second bedroom.

A rusty scissors was inserted in the skeleton’s cheekbone, and a fruit knife was in the abdomen.

The perimeter of the second bedroom wasn’t affected by the fire, even the bed sheets were intact. The skeleton was surrounded by a circle of blonde hair, which should be a female corpse.

“Jiaojiao ……” Chu Chen’an walked in a few steps, he looked around the chamber in a dull and timid manner, and mumbled a call to her.

“What’s wrong, brother?”

“Is that …… that your mother?” He uttered the words with difficulty.

Jiao Jiao was silent for a few seconds and said with doubt in her tone, “Well …… Brother Chen An, I don’t have a mom and dad ah, I only have you and brother Xu!”

“Brother knows, Jiao Jiao,” Chu Chen’an followed the words of Jiao Jiao, warm voice coaxing, “You have only me and brother Xu, then you can tell me, who is this person?”

“She, hehe ……” Jiao Jiao saw that Chu Chen’an agreed with her, and laughed happily again, “Well, she used to be my mother, but not anymore.”

The girl’s eerie laughter echoed in the room, giving him goose bumps.