Aoba Office

The community Liu Miao pointed out seems nothing special at first glance.

The residential buildings in the community are gray-blue, which is different from the beige buildings in the photo.

However, after entering the community, I found that the buildings inside had another color. A row of residential buildings along the street have gray-blue exterior walls and gray-green interiors.

Liu Miao also pointed us to the location of Chengxin Garden. It’s a little further away from here, but we can’t see it from where we are.

After passing the gray-green residential buildings, I saw a few beige buildings.

Building No. 11, which Liu Miao mentioned, comes into view first, followed by Buildings 12 and 13.

The buildings in question, Nos. 13 and 14, are side by side, and there is nothing weird about them from the outside.

The windows on the third floor of Building 13 were lit, still dimly lit. When I looked carefully, I realized that it was the effect of flashlight shining on the yellow curtains.

The rest of the windows in both buildings were dark, and most had their curtains open to let the moonlight into the room.

Due to the power outage, the building's anti-theft iron door has lost its function, at least the doorbell cannot ring.

Liu Miao took out a small bag from his pocket, which contained lock-picking tools that ordinary people only see in movies and TV shows.

I was stunned.

After Liu Miao tinkered for a while, he successfully pried open the iron door lock.

The sound of unlocking was deafening at night.

However, we made a lot of noise while walking before.

I looked around, but no one looked around. I don’t know if it’s because it’s past midnight and most people are asleep, or if there’s something wrong with this community.

Liu Miao opened the iron door, motioned for us to follow, and walked through the door first.

Naturally, there were no lights in the corridor, and the glass windows were still dusty from not being wiped all year round, so the moonlight couldn't shine in very well.

I smelled some moldy smell, but it wasn't strong. I smelled it only at the corner of the stairs on the first floor. There are old bicycles and motorcycles piled up there. Judging from the dust on them, they must have been abandoned here.

This building has a total of five floors, with two households on the first floor. It looks like an old community common in Minqing. It should have a history of 20 to 30 years, and is slightly newer than the Sixth Village of Workers and Peasants. However, the old houses in Gongnong No. 6 Village had been renovated about 10 years ago. This building does not seem to have received such treatment. At most, the exterior walls have been repainted.

The doors of the two houses on the first floor are closed. The left is a security door, and the right is a combination of an iron door and an ordinary wooden door. I looked at the two doors and saw no Yin Qi or other breath leaking from the cracks in the doors.

"Let's go up and take a look first." Liu Miao said, taking out a small flashlight.

He brought a lot of things with him. The flashlight's illumination was very strong, and a small circle of light immediately appeared in front of our eyes.

The stairs are narrow and can only accommodate an adult male.

At the corner of the stairs from the first floor to the second floor, there were several pieces of advertising paper scattered on the ground. The words "Old friends, good news! Very good news!" are printed on the colored paper. Below is a dense collection of small words and a few accompanying pictures. The content of the picture seems to be several kinds of raw materials of traditional Chinese medicine.

Liu Miao didn't stop and continued walking up.

The upper stairway was painted with the words "Plumbing Repair" and underneath it was a phone number.

There are white painted squares on the walls. It turned out to be a small advertisement.

Residents on the second floor are equipped with security doors, one black and one green, both of which look ordinary.

On the third floor, there are no new tricks.

There was a bicycle placed on the corner of the stairs from the third to fourth floors. It was also a dirty abandoned vehicle.

At the corner of the stairs from the fourth to fifth floors, several cardboard boxes were piled up. The cardboard boxes contained old toys, old lamps and a typewriter.

There is a trace of a square on the ceiling of the fifth floor. There should be an opening leading to the roof. When I entered the community, I saw the water tanks installed upstairs by these residents, as well as the water pipes on the outside of the building.

In the past, the water supply here was supposed to be from a water tank. However, Minqing changed the water supply method a few years ago. The water supply for residents has become direct water supply. But I'm not sure what's going on in the residential buildings here.

Liu Miao pointed the flashlight at that area.

I looked carefully and couldn't see why.

Liu Miao had some judgment, "This door hasn't been opened for a long time."

After he finished speaking, he put down the flashlight and looked at the two households on the fifth floor.

On the left is the security door. There was a plastic shoe cabinet at the door. It was wiped clean and still pink. There are floor mats on the floor, which are also clean and cute pink, with a cat printed on them.

The door on the right is the most ordinary wooden door. The keyhole seems to be the thinnest one-word lock, which is simpler than the cross lock of the big iron door downstairs. The wooden door itself doesn't look very sturdy. When you lower your head, you can see a gap in the lower right corner of the door panel, as if it was bitten by a mouse.

There are ten households in this building, and this one looks the most suspicious.

Liu Miao stepped forward and knocked on the door without finding the doorbell.

The knocking on the door seemed scary in the middle of the night.

Although the person knocking on the door was Liu Miao, who was from our side, and his expression was calm, my heart was about to burst out of my chest.

The shoe cabinet is relatively large, and together with Liu Miao and I, it already occupies the entire platform. Shouzi and Nantian stayed on the steps.

The thin man was right behind me, and I could feel him shivering.

This may have affected me.

Compared to seeing a ghost that looked ferocious or powerful enough to kill me, what happened in front of me made me more stressed.

This kind of waiting and unknown is terrifying.

Liu Miao knocked on the door once, but received no response, so she knocked again. This time, he shouted while knocking.

Suddenly, his movements stopped.

It was quiet at night.

In this silence, the sound of a cane came from behind the door.

My nerves were on edge.

I pictured the ghost in the police station, the old man on crutches.

But there is something different about the sound of the two crutches. I can't tell the difference clearly either. It seems that the material of the crutches is different, and there seems to be other reasons.

There was a clang, and the sound of an empty bottle falling to the ground came from behind the door.

The bottle rolled like a bone, as if it had rolled to the door of the room and hit the wooden door.

The sound of the cane paused, then sounded again, approaching the wooden door.

Click.

The door lock unlocked.

Squeak——

The door panel was slowly opened.

It was dark behind the door.

The flashlight in Liu Miao's hand suddenly illuminated the scene inside the door.

Blocking the entire crack in the door was a down-and-out man.

He was unkempt, with sparse hair falling on his shoulders, and a beard almost as long as his hair.

The man squinted his eyes, avoiding the light.

I saw the crutch in his hand.

It was a new type of crutch. It was made of metal and was all black. The curved handle was also covered with sponge. The bottom looked like an octopus with its legs spread out. It was divided into four support columns and the bottom was equipped with anti-skid and cushioning pads.

This crutch doesn't look cheap, and it reflects the metallic light under the light of the flashlight.

The men's clothes were shabby, with old T-shirts and old trousers all baggy and not washed very much.

"Hello, is this Mr. Cheng?" Liu Miao asked.

The man raised his head and looked at us with narrowed eyes.

"I am." He nodded and moved away, "Come in."

The weather has been very bad recently. Please keep warm and travel safely. (づ￣ 3￣)づ