84 The House of Eye

Chill engulfed Han Fei. Once Han Fei ran into Room 1084, he immediately shut the door. ‘The footsteps first appeared at the 9th floor, this means the thing probably lives there!’ Leaning against the door, Han Fei was in a very dangerous situation. The 8th floor was completely different from the 6th floor. Particularly scary things occupied the rooms on this floor. The tenant inside Room 1084, if there was one, still had not shown themselves but the footsteps were approaching. Han Fei’s heart couldn’t help but race. ‘If there’s no other choice, I’d just log off.’

Sensing the frost from his finger, Han Fei slowly squatted down as he scanned his surroundings. The room had been remodelled. The décor was much more luxurious than any of the other rooms Han Fei had visited in this building. There were 2 bedrooms visible from Han Fei’s vantage point. A grand piano sat inside one of them and the other was probably a girl’s room. It was designed in princess style, it had a pink theme with cute dolls on the bed and on the ground. These things did not exude any horror but for some reason, Han Fei felt uncomfortable being inside the house.

‘Meng Si did warn me to stay away from the 8th and 9th floor.’

After some time, the chill from the ring finally receded. Han Fei adjusted his breathing as he reached towards the peephole. Leaning on the door, Han Fei glanced outwards. Somethings appeared to be blocking the peephole of Room 1084. All he could see was a blur of something red and black. He adjusted his vision angle but the sight did not clear.

‘That looks like a blob of blood…’ Han Fei made an educated guess. Just as he wondered who had done this, something surfaced among the splotch of blood. Stuck in the peephole, a bloodshot eyeball blinked at Han Fei. ‘What the fuck?!’ Han Fei staggered back immediately. He was not expecting to come into such an intimate contact with an eyeball!

‘I only looked through the peephole after the owner of the footsteps left so the eyeball inside the peephole probably does not belong to it.’ The urge to escape deepened as the feeling of discomfiture amplified. Han Fei reached for the door handle but was distressed to find out that the door refused to budge! ‘It’s not locked so why won’t it open?!’

Fear tingled down his spine, Han Fei knew he has been targeted. ‘Now that the door is locked, even if I log out now, I’ll relog back into this room. The situation will not have changed then.’ Gritting his teeth, Han Fei understood the only way left was forward. He was not one to surrender easily or else he would not have survived until now. At that moment, Han Fei did something a normal person wouldn’t do. He inclined his body towards the door to peek through the peephole again. He wanted to see if he could find any answer from that eyeball. Han Fei was ready for a staring contest but when he glanced through the peephole again, the eyeball had disappeared. ‘The door is still locked but the eyeball is now gone.’

Han Fei turned around and reclined against the door. Using his superior memory, he memorized the location of all the furniture and objects inside the house. ‘There’s nothing outwardly horrifying like talismans, black and white photos or ceremonial urns. There is not even a drop of blood visible. If I have to point out something that’s rather unusual, it’s the number of dolls gathered inside that girl’s room.’

There didn’t seem to be any specific arrangement to the dolls, some were sitting, others were tipped over. Not all of them looked new either. In fact, some of them had obvious traces of wear, with yellow cotton oozing out from their cut bellies. ‘Are there ghosts living inside these dolls?’

Han Fei had no particular penchant or hatred towards dolls but at that moment, these human-like objects appeared so terrifying.

“Tik tok, tik tok…” Amidst the dead silence, suddenly came the sound of waterdrops. Han Fei turned to the source and spotted the faucet in the bathroom leaking. ‘When I first came in, this sound was definitely not present.’

He slowly nudged his way to the bathroom door. Before he entered, he glanced at the mirror and shower. He did not want any nasty surprises. ‘The tap got loosened?’ Han Fei twisted the tap and he realized the tap was not only not screwed on tight, it was left open. ‘The water is supposed to be running since the tap is left open… Then why isn’t it? Is it stuck?’ He bent down to take a closer look. He then saw a bloody eyeball tumble out from the faucet. It was then washed away by the running water down the drain. Everything happened so quickly that Han Fei had to question his own vision. ‘Wait, it was an eyeball that stuffed up the pipe?’

Han Fei swore when the eyeball was carried away by the water, the pupil shook as if focusing on him. ‘What is going on with this place?’

Han Fei finally understood why he felt so uncomfortable. This must be what it felt like being a zoo animal, he was being examined from all sides by an unknown number of eyes. Goosebumps rose on the back of his neck. Han Fei panicked but he did not let it show because he knew that would not change anything, if anything, it would only show weakness. Han Fei switched off the tap and quickly exited the bathroom where Yin energy would gather. Han Fei retreated to the living room and picked up the fruit knife from the coffee table.

‘The system can identify any unique items that I touch. When the eyeball appears next, I should try to grab hold of it.’ Han Fei was not exactly looking forward to that experience but he knew with no risk came no reward.

Since the door was locked, essentially blocking his escape, Han Fei had no choice but to search the house for more clues. After inspecting the living room, Han Fei walked towards the bedrooms. He glanced into the princess room with the dolls and he could not gather the courage to enter it. In his mind, the dolls would come alive and jump on him once he stepped into the room. Thus, Han Fei turned his attention to the other bedroom. This bedroom was well-furnished. There was a piano, a bookshelf, a single bed and many paintings on the wall. ‘Something’s not right.’

Despite the many fancy furniture, the thing that caught Han Fei’s attention was a simple pillow. That was because instead of being on the bed, the pillow was hidden under the single bed. It suggested someone slept under the bed instead of on it. Holding the fruit knife, Han Fei crossed into the bedroom. He bent low to reach for the pillow when he noticed there were many nail scratch-marks on the side of the bed frame. He followed the trail of marks and slowly reached his head under the bed.

The marks reached under the board so Han Fei had to turn his head around to keep up with the snaking path of nail marks. When he did, he saw the same proclamation repeated endlessly, filling up a greater part of the bed board—It is looking at me!