“Stop checking it. It can’t be opened. We’ve tried multiple ways.” Qian Jin hurried to run after Gao Ming, “Don’t make too much noise in the day. If the owner realises this, he might kill all of us.”
“Is there even one gut among the three of you?” Xu Deyi grumbled, “Yesterday night, you hid in your room. You don’t dare to do this and don’t dare to do that. Do you plan to stay here forever?”
“I won’t waste time with you.” Qian Jin placed his hands on Gao Ming’s shoulders. “Brother, Zhi Ge and I have a plan that we hope you can participate in. If this cooperation goes well, the four of us can form a group in the future.” Qian Jin saw the potential in Gao Ming.
“It’s nothing too difficult,” Qian Jin’s voice lowered. “We can’t open this iron door, but the doors in Room 3009 and the basement are wooden doors. After night falls, we need you to distract the manor owner to buy time for us to break those two doors.”
“How much time would you need?” Gao Ming frowned.
Qian Jin glanced at Silly like the latter was a treasure. However, he knew that Silly would only listen to Gao Ming, “With Zhi Ge and Gao Ming working together, we might be able to break the doors down within one minute.”
“How do you suggest we distract the man for one minute?” Xu Deyi rolled his eyes.
“No one asked you.” Qian Jin didn’t even treat Xu Deyi like he was there.
“Do we need to take such a big risk?” Qian Jin hesitated, “Aren’t you scared that the plan might fail? And you’d end up being chased by both the ghosts and the manor owner.”
“Instead of waiting for death, why not take risks?” Gao Ming leaned forward. His senses were enhanced in the nightmare. He tried to listen through the door. He could hear heavy, low breathing. “Bai Feng said she spent the night in the firewood room and then went to the east lake. I suspect she has already interacted with the strange thing inside this place. Perhaps she knows something.”
“She seems to value you a lot. Maybe you can persuade her to join us.” Qian Jin looked at the snow that melted in his palm. “Come to our room after dinner. Knock three times. That’s our secret signal.”
After Qian Jin left, Gao Ming had Silly lead the freezing Xu Deyi to the manor. He went to the east lake alone. The mountains around the manor were covered with pine trees. The snow made it hard to see the road.
“The sign pointed this way.”
The branches were weighed down by the snow. After entering the forest, the light shifted and the temperature dropped.
“What is that?” Gao Ming spotted a torn children’s clothes on a tree. Then, a few metres later, he found a ball of moulded cotton and a doll’s face. The face was old and wrinkled. “It’s so cold. Even if it were left outside, the doll stuffing wouldn’t have moulded so soon. Did someone bring this out from the manor?” Gao Ming picked up the doll and frowned. It was very ugly. “Who dismembered it and left it here?” Gao Ming looked around. He spotted the doll’s torn left arm on another tree. Further down was the doll’s right hand waving in the wind. Gao Ming moved around to collect the doll’s various body parts and the moulded cotton stuffing. He moved away from the path and eventually found a black wig inside the hollow of a tree.
When he placed the wig on the doll, he suddenly felt a pull on his shirt. He turned around, and a porcelain-looking little girl appeared behind him. The girl was wrapped in thick layers. She looked very cute, but her face and limbs were frighteningly pale.
“Little girl, is this doll… yours?” Gao Ming handed the reconstructed doll to the girl. She hugged the doll and looked at its face.
The pale skin started to regain colour. The girl’s eyes focused. She looked at Gao Ming warily before calming down. “Thank you, but I can’t show up in the day, or it’ll bring troubles to Big Brother,” The girl said softly. She was very shy.
“Your big brother?” Gao Ming knelt down. He had heard this story from the manor owner before. “Does your big brother live inside the manor?”
“Does he play the violin and often carry around a hunting rifle…”
Before Gao Ming finished, the girl screamed as if frightened. The girl lowered her head as she hugged the doll. The joints around her elbows and stomach started to bleed. The locations of the wounds were similar to the parts where the doll was torn apart.
“The person living in the manor is not my brother. He is a bad person. Once he showed up, everything got ruined.” The girl keeled over because she couldn’t stand the pain. She told Gao Ming a different story. “My family used to live in that big house. My dad was kind and gentle. My mom was beautiful, but she had a weak body. However, she did her best to look after my brother and me. We were the happiest family.” The girl’s voice was hollow. “Mom made this doll personally for me.”
“Who shredded it then?” Gao Ming asked.
“It was my grandfather who left the manor behind. After Mom and Bad turned it into a holiday villa, the lower two floors were for guests while we stayed on the third floor.” The girl didn’t answer Gao Ming. Her voice didn’t contain much emotion. “As for the fourth floor, grandfather didn’t allow us to go there when he was alive. One time, Brother brought me there to play. After Grandfather found out, he hit Brother for a long time.
“Grandfather passed away about last winter. Brother and Dad went to the fourth floor to clean up his effects.” The girl’s eyes shone with fear. “Later, Dad carried Brother down the stairs. He said Brother opened a door on the fourth floor. Even though he closed it in time, something managed to escape.”
“Are you saying the current owner of the manor is the thing that escaped from the door back then?” Gao Ming was shocked. The girl’s story was totally different from the one told by the manor owner.
“That’s right! Everyone’s death is related to him!” The girl continued to bleed. Her cute face became scarier.