The house, the piano, the rag dolls filling the room—they all belonged to Ying Yue, but there seemed to be some problems in the midst of it all.
The feeling of being watched grew stronger, and Han Fei found another diary in a different drawer of the desk.
The handwriting in the diary was delicate, suggesting that it was likely written by a woman.
"January 1st, moved into the new home today. From now on, I will be a mother to two children, I intend to raise both of them."
"January 10th, Ying Yue and Mingmei are always arguing, it’s really giving me a headache. These two children are both my daughters, I truly wish they could be more sensible."
"January 15th, Mingmei wants to keep a pet, but unfortunately, Ying Yue’s health is not good—she’s allergic to animal fur. Their personalities really don’t mesh well."
"January 20th, my husband and Mingmei both dislike Ying Yue, but after all, she is my brother’s daughter, I will take good care of her."
"February 20th, today the police came. They said Mingmei and Ying Yue got separated while playing outside. They’ve brought Ying Yue back, thank goodness!"
"April 18th, treating Ying Yue’s eyes is going to cost a lot of money, but it’s okay, I’m almost there."
"May 4th, Ying Yue’s temper is becoming more and more strange, now she won’t even let me help her comb her hair anymore, this won’t do, I am almost there."
"June 1st, this year’s Children’s Day was really fun, it has been a long time since the family of three went out to play."
At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with the diary’s contents, but on closer thought, something felt amiss.
Every sentence written by the woman was gentle, yet behind this gentleness, there lurked a form of terror.
What struck Han Fei as most amiss was the diary entry from June 1st. Although there were supposed to be four of them, the woman wrote about a family of three going out to play.
Who was the missing person? Where had she gone?
Han Fei opened all the drawers of the desk and then discovered a doll woven from hair, the size of a thumb.
There was a piece of white paper pinned to the back of the doll. It bore Ying Yue’s name and her birthday.
When Han Fei touched the doll, he heard the system’s voice in his "brain sea."
"Attention Player Number 0000! You have found a Grade G Curse Item—Ying Yue’s Hair Doll, woven from Ying Yue’s hair, containing a malicious curse."
"Ying Yue’s Hair Doll (Grade G Curse Item): Why aren’t you dead yet? This isn’t your home anymore! Do you know? Nobody here loves you, we all hope every day that you will die!"
The Hair Doll in his palm had no eyes and conveyed a bone-chilling coldness. Just holding it made Han Fei feel extremely uncomfortable, as if someone was constantly casting a "spell" in his mind.
"On April 18th, the diary’s owner mentioned that it would cost money to treat Ying Yue’s eyes, followed by saying that she was almost there."
"But looking further into May, she stated that Ying Yue wouldn’t let her continue combing her hair, and again, she said she was almost there. From this, it is evident that the ’almost there’ she previously mentioned wasn’t regarding medical expenses, but rather the hair she had been surreptitiously pulling out."
"From the beginning, she never planned to treat Ying Yue’s illness, she wanted Ying Yue to die."
Han Fei sorted through the information in his mind, "This family of three took occupation of Ying Yue’s apartment and even caused her death. But if it were just that, Ying Yue’s grudge energy shouldn’t be strong enough to take over the entire eighth floor. Maybe they did something even more appalling."
"Eyes could appear in any crevice or hole in the house, yet her diary and sketchbook say Ying Yue had issues with her eyes..."
"Could it be that the family of three had subjected Ying Yue to such pervasive surveillance and bullying? For someone with severe vision problems, she wouldn’t know where those malicious gazes were coming from. All she knew was that no place in the home was safe, and that malevolent eyes might be watching her from anywhere!"
Han Fei suddenly realized that what he experienced in room 1084 was exactly what Ying Yue had gone through.
Panic, fear, helplessness, unable to escape—vicious gazes could be hiding anywhere!
"The child’s sketchbook, the woman’s diary, the man’s last words under the bed—this exactly corresponds to the family of three. Perhaps Ying Yue did this wanting those who had hurt her to suffer the same pain and despair!"
Han Fei figured out why room 1084 had become this way; to break the cycle, he had to find the right remedy.
"I remember Meng Shi once mentioned that a very dangerous little girl lived on the eighth floor. That girl must be Ying Yue."
Dissolving Ying Yue’s grudge energy would be difficult, and Han Fei didn’t hold out hope that he could calm Ying Yue. What he needed to do was to understand Ying Yue, to know her true suffering.
The sensation of being spied upon grew stronger, and the eyes in the dark seemed very close.
"Ying Yue is in this room, I must find a way to meet her."
Leaving the bedroom with the piano, Han Fei successively entered the kitchen, bathroom, and living room.
He searched all these rooms but didn’t find Ying Yue. However, he discovered many frightening things.
There were three holes in the bathroom shower curtain—neither large nor small, just right for someone to peer through the curtain.
Every room lock in the house was broken, completely unsealable, and some doors didn’t even make a sound if opened slowly enough.
The shoe cabinet held four pairs of slippers, three of them covered in dust. It seemed as though their owners, to avoid making noise, would often choose to walk barefoot around the house.
Besides these, Han Fei found many drugs that could harm one’s hearing and numerous blood-stained earplugs in the cabinets.
For people with vision problems, hearing becomes a crucial reliance, but it appeared that this family wanted to rip even that sense away from Ying Yue.
"Now, the last room I haven’t visited is left, and there’s a big problem with that ’Princess’ room."
Gathering his courage, he entered the ’Princess’ room. The entire room was in shades of pink, with cute wallpapers on the walls, cartoon patterns on the floor tiles, and even the ceiling lamp was a specially made fish shape, giving off the feeling of being in an underwater world when lit.
"Such a sweet decor, but why do I feel this place is so sinister?"
Staying beside the bed, Han Fei suddenly turned his head and looked aside—among the scattered rag dolls on the floor, it seemed like something was watching him.
"Could Ying Yue be hiding inside one of the rag dolls?"
There were too many dolls in the room, and it was clear that Ying Yue’s parents loved her deeply. It’s just a pity that these toys that should belong to her were later taken by others.
"I’m a neighbor from downstairs, and I’m very sorry to have entered without your permission. I not only mean no harm to you but actually wish to help you punish those who’ve hurt you," Han Fei spoke to the scattered rag dolls in the pitch-dark bedroom. "Isn’t this room meant for punishing them? I will find a way to bring them inside!"