Evening.
Time spent with family is always fleeting.
Li Ran felt that the whole day passed quickly.
This was also the most relaxing day he had since entering the strange world.
If it were in the real world, it would have been a very happy day.
During the day, Lu Zhaohui had taken Meng Ge out for a stroll, and he had also kept his promise, giving Li Ran the 1,000 points of reward and the special card.
Li Ran didn’t refuse, as he had helped Lu Zhaohui so much today, so taking this small reward was only right.
Li Ran also gave the 20,000 yuan bridal gift deposit to Lu Zhaohui.
While spending time with his family, Li Ran occasionally tried to subtly ask Su Bingyao about the whereabouts of the marriage certificate, but Su Bingyao either ignored him or changed the topic, not giving Li Ran any chance.
Li Ran even thought of putting the Aged Bridle on Su Bingyao, then taking out the Contract Scroll to bind her. That way, she would have no choice but to obey him.
Unfortunately, these two items couldn’t be used on people.
Returning home.
Li Ran planned to wash up and go to bed early.
“Hubby, come and take a look at this,”
At this moment, Su Bingyao’s voice pulled Li Ran’s thoughts back.
Su Bingyao was holding her phone, her expression quite strange.
“What’s wrong?” Li Ran asked.
“The homeowner group has exploded.” Su Bingyao opened the homeowner group in her WeChat, and inside, people were intensely discussing something. Su Bingyao quickly scrolled upwards until she found a video, then hurriedly said, “You need to see this video.”
Li Ran took the phone and held it in front of him. It was a video.
“Hubby, this looks like Xiao Zhao,” Su Bingyao said.
The video showed footage from inside an elevator, with a woman in a red top and a black pleated skirt standing in it. From the back, it appeared to be Zhao Yingzhi.
Li Ran frowned, “Why is this video so blurry?”
“This building’s elevator cameras haven’t been upgraded in over ten years. It’s normal for the resolution to be low,” Su Bingyao said.
“From the back, it looks like her, but we’ll need to see more of the video to be sure,” Li Ran said.
“Then, you’d better be mentally prepared,” Su Bingyao suddenly said.
Li Ran didn’t understand why he needed to be mentally prepared just to watch a video.
Li Ran clicked play on the video.
In the video, the woman in the red shirt with long hair entered the elevator, then bent down, bringing her face nearly to the floor button panel. She used both hands to press all the floor buttons from top to bottom.
After pressing all the buttons, the woman stood at the very back of the elevator, as if waiting for someone.
Li Ran frowned slightly.
Although the video was blurry, once he saw the movement, he could almost confirm that the woman in the red shirt was Zhao Yingzhi.
The video continued to play, and the elevator door seemed to malfunction, taking a long time to close.
Suddenly, Zhao Yingzhi rushed to the door and peered to one side of the elevator as if looking for something.
This behavior left Li Ran confused.
Was someone outside the elevator?
But soon, Zhao Yingzhi retreated back into the elevator, crouching in a corner, her body tense, and she stared in terror at the elevator door.
After standing in the corner for a while, she approached the elevator door again, cautiously peering outside, as though trying to avoid someone.
It seemed she confirmed there was no one outside, and then she jumped out of the elevator, stomping hard on the floor several times. It looked like she was deliberately making loud noises, perhaps to scare away someone hiding in the dark?
“Is someone following her?” Li Ran asked, puzzled.
Su Bingyao’s expression became serious. “At first, I thought the same thing as you.”
Li Ran furrowed his brows and continued watching the video in confusion.
Zhao Yingzhi went back into the elevator, but the elevator door was still open, apparently stuck.
Zhao Yingzhi walked over to the door again, stood there for a moment, and then suddenly seemed to discover something terrifying. She quickly dashed back into the elevator, pressing all the floor buttons once again.
Seeing that the elevator door still wouldn’t close, Zhao Yingzhi ran out of the elevator once more, standing alert at the door.
Just when Li Ran was more confused, Zhao Yingzhi did something incredibly bizarre.
In the video, standing at the door of the elevator, Zhao Yingzhi stretched out her hands and began performing strange, exaggerated movements, as if communicating with someone invisible.
Seeing this, Li Ran’s scalp tingled.
The movements in the video were like Zhao Yingzhi was either performing some crazy ritual or trying to use some exaggerated sign language to communicate with an unseen person. Her actions were disturbingly bizarre.
“Then, she left the elevator, and where she went from there is unknown,” Su Bingyao said. She had already watched the video once, so the second time she saw it, she was no longer as shocked.
After Zhao Yingzhi disappeared from the video, the elevator door took a long time to finally close, and the elevator began to descend to the first floor.
Li Ran, eyes full of disbelief, asked, “How did such a video spread in the homeowner group?”
Su Bingyao shook her head, uncertain. “It seems the property management sent it out. They thought the footage was strange when they reviewed the surveillance.”
Li Ran’s face turned serious as he took out his phone and dialed Zhao Yingzhi’s number.
“Hello, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable…”
“Unavailable?” Li Ran opened the homeowner group in WeChat to check the chat history.
The video of Zhao Yingzhi’s bizarre behavior in the elevator had caused a great deal of panic in the group.
There were all kinds of speculations: mental illness, violent behavior, taking medication, hallucinations, supernatural events, possession by evil spirits… people were saying anything.
The property management also mentioned that after discovering the anomaly in the surveillance footage, they immediately went to the scene, but they didn’t find any trace of the girl in the elevator.
“I can’t reach Zhao Yingzhi,” Li Ran thought. He clicked to replay the video.
“It seems she’s constantly battling with the other soul inside her.”
The first time Li Ran watched the video, he was indeed startled by Zhao Yingzhi’s bizarre behavior. But that was before he knew she had two souls inside her.
Now that Li Ran understood this, he could make sense of the video.
Moreover, his "Golden Finger" had also provided a clue.
(She is at odds with the other soul inside her. These strange movements are the result of a struggle for control over the body.)
Li Ran wasn’t sure how to explain this to Su Bingyao.
Without his Golden Finger, if he had seen such a disturbing video of Zhao Yingzhi, he would likely have been just as frightened.
“It’s getting late, I’ll ask her about it tomorrow,” Li Ran said.
“Mm.”
Li Ziyang didn’t ask to sleep with his parents tonight.
So, naturally, he couldn’t get into the bed and had to sleep on the tatami mat obediently.
Midnight.
Li Ran fell into a deep sleep.
In his dreams, Li Ran heard an overwhelming noise, as if he was in the middle of a bustling city.
He continued to dream, one strange dream after another, as if he was falling endlessly into a bottomless abyss.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, as though someone had kicked him hard.
Li Ran woke up with a start, clutching his stomach and curling into a ball.
His back was soaked, his whole body drenched in sweat, as if he had woken from a nightmare.
Before him, black, oppressive fog covered the ceiling of the room.
A black cat suddenly jumped onto his legs, its face transformed into a woman’s, with an eerie smile on her lips.
“Welcome to the Dark World!”
(End of Chapter)