“Devil?”The old woman was stunned when she heard this word. Then, she sneered, “Aren’t you guys devils who enter other people’s homes without permission and pretend to be service personnel?”
“Even so, it’s much more normal than imagining auntie living with you,”Zhang Heng said calmly.
“You’re saying that she’s a figment of her imagination?”Agatha was a little surprised, but the queen of deduction quickly came to her senses and said, “That’s right, this manor only invites the author in, and each person has a room. Since the owner of this room is someone else, then his auntie can’t be here as well. This is the most logical explanation.”
When Zhang Heng said that, the old woman across from him fell silent, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
When Agatha finished speaking, her figure gradually faded away until she completely disappeared.
However, after she disappeared, the gloomy atmosphere in the room didn’t improve. Instead, it became more intense, so much so that the other authors who lived in the same building also felt it.
Some authors who were already mentally ill suddenly became depressed because of this atmosphere. Some terrible thoughts flashed through their minds uncontrollably, the pilot man from before began to pace around the room. Fitzgerald picked up the love letter he was writing halfway and threw it into the wastepaper basket. Then, he hugged his head in frustration on the bed, even Hemingway, who had always been a tough guy, looked at the shotgun in front of his bed a few times. His expression kept changing.
Agatha, who was the first to feel it, felt even more strongly. Her face changed. “How can this be?”
After a moment of silence, Zhang Heng said, “I might have guessed wrong before. I thought his aunt was the main culprit for his mental problems because this room is most likely the place where he lived with his aunt before. Only this can explain why this place is so dilapidated, and at the same time, it has the illusion of his aunt. The Hobbit housekeeper once told me that every guest room would satisfy the needs of the guests to the greatest extent, and he chose to transform his guest room into a place where he had lived before, probably because it would give him a sense of security
“You’re right. He has been in the manor for so long, but no one has seen him leave his room. He should be an extremely introverted person. When such a person chooses the style of the guest room, he is most likely to choose the place where he lived, even if it is very simple and shabby, and he could have chosen a better living environment.”
Agatha paused. “Wait, you… seem to know someone who lives here?”
“That’s right, he’s the creator,”Zhang Heng said.
“Who is the creator of Who?”
However, Zhang Heng did not answer the question.
So Agatha asked again, “What about the Auntie you mentioned before?”
“I was wrong. The old aunt we met before showed a strong desire to control. I thought that was the reason for his mental problems, but now it seems that his aunt has been trying to help him and solve his mental illness. The reason why he imagined his aunt here is to help himself to stabilize his mental state. This is also the reason why there hasn’t been any problems in the manor for a long time, until we exposed his fantasy just now.”
“Wait, I still don’t understand. Why is his mental illness affecting everyone in the manor?”Agatha asked.
“It’s hard to explain in a short amount of time. I have some history with him. Can I have a moment alone with him?”Zhang Heng asked.
“Okay.”Agatha could tell that Zhang Heng was very concerned about the guests in the room, so she agreed without hesitation and left.
After she left, Zhang Heng closed the door and walked toward the study. He could feel the gloomy and depressing atmosphere in the study, and if nothing went wrong, it came from there.
Zhang Heng didn’t expect that he would find the culprit of all this instead of the owner of Room 515.
Zhang Heng knew that the person in this room was the creator of the monster in underice city. Since the monster’s blood flowed in his body, in a sense, the other party could be considered his half-creator, therefore, the next meeting was going to be very interesting.
Zhang Heng placed his right hand on the worn-out brass handle of the study. He took a deep breath and slowly turned his palm.
The door to the study wasn’t locked, which was normal. The owner of this suite usually kept the door tightly shut, so there was no need to lock the study that was used for work.
When he pushed the door open, the scene inside the study was clear at a glance.
This place was as simple and shabby as the reception room outside, but the collection of books wasn’t small. It was like a small library, with a lot of old newspapers arranged according to the date and stacked in the corner of the room.
In the middle of the room was an old table. A tall and thin man was tapping on a black typewriter on the table with his back to the door.
The tapping sound of the typewriter was particularly jarring in the quiet room.
The tall and thin man at the table seemed to have heard the footsteps behind him, but he didn’t turn around. He just said, “Aunt Annie, you eat first. I’ll go to the living room after I finish writing this.”
However, the person behind him did not continue to urge him as usual.
The tall and thin man seemed to have noticed something. He turned his head away from the desk and saw a strange man standing behind him. The man was squatting down and picking up a piece of paper from the ground.
It was the end of a novel. Zhang Heng noticed the signature at the bottom of the paper — Howard Philip Lovecroft.
Then, he quickly scanned the rest of the words on the manuscript and handed it back to the man opposite him.
The Man took the manuscript and stammered out his thanks. After a moment of hesitation, he asked nervously, “Who are you, Aunt Annie’s friend?”
“No, I’m here to see you,”Zhang Heng said.
“See me?”Lovecroft looked surprised, but then he said shyly, “But, I don’t know you. Usually, I communicate with my friends through letters. They rarely come to see me.”
“Yes, this is our first meeting. Although I have always admired your talent.”
“Really? This is the first time someone has said such a thing to me.”Lovecraft was a little excited, and his dull face showed a hint of excitement.