Chapter 52: Bad News

    If looks could kill, Jin Jiuchi would be lying in the puddle of his own blood by now. Nian gritted his teeth. He did not even need to look at the mirror to know that his face was beet red. How embarrassing! To think that he would be intimidated by this damned husky!

    He chose not to comment about the man’s hunger and addressed the problem at hand instead, "So what you are saying is, Tang Ye lied about his skill card when in fact he has the ability to make someone lower their guard and trust his words?"

    Jin Jiuchi nodded, still devoid of his usual energy.

    Nian let out a thoughtful hum, "I can tell that something is off about what he has told us. First, if there is indeed a clue in his room, he would have found it the very first night instead of now. Second..." he paused for a beat before finishing his sentence. "That nightmare creature has warned us to be careful about the kitchen. I don’t think he is lying."

    Come to think of it, he had not seen Zhi anywhere this morning and it was giving him a bad feeling. After deliberating over his choices, he finally decided, "Let’s go to the fourth floor and find Zhi first. He must be able to tell us something more."

    Together, they rushed to the fourth floor and stopped in front of room 404 aka Sister Hong’s room and also the room where the nightmare creature resided. "What does it smell like?"

    Jin Jiuchi sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Something rotten, rats, blood, and death."

    Nian nodded. If Dong really died because of the rats, then it was reasonable for him to smell like that. He slapped another talisman to the door and after receiving the signal, he shared a look with Jin Jiuchi and opened the door.

    The pungent and unpleasant stench immediately rushed out of the enclosed space, causing Nian to cough in disgust. As he covered his nose and mouth with his sleeves, his eyes moved to scan the surroundings and his expression immediately sank when he found that the room was empty.

    The sheets were smooth without a wrinkle, and all the things were placed where they were supposed to be. In fact, the entire room looked as if it had been unoccupied for a long time with no traces of Sister Hong ever existing. Judging from Old Guan’s room which had become the nest of black spider silk, he had expected to find something similar in this place. Alas.

    Catching Jin Jiuchi’s eyes, he shook his head and closed the door again.

    Next, they moved to room 406 – Zhi’s original room – and just like the previous one, there was nary a person in sight. Worse still, Jin Jiuchi could not even smell the nightmare creature in this room, proving that he had never stepped foot in there.

    "Can you find him?" Nian asked with a grim look after two successive failures. If the nightmare creature was not present in his dwelling, then where could he be?

    Jin Jiuchi furrowed his brows and tentatively sniffed the air with a miserable look, "Nian’er, I’m going to die if I have to smell him one more time..."

    When the jade doll shot him another murderous glare, he finally resigned to his fate and told the truth, "Okay, okay, I give up. His smell is diluted and I can’t seem to pinpoint where it comes from. It’s like... something is preventing me from finding him..." he pressed his lips tight, upset that he could not find the ticket to make the jade doll smile again.

    Nian’s expression darkened when he heard that. So even someone with a keen nose like Jin Jiuchi was unable to find him...

    "Let’s go," he said in a low voice as he turned toward the stairs. "Tang Ye and Xinxin must be waiting for us. We will deal with them first."

    Nian had no idea where Tang Ye had gotten the newspaper clipping from, nor did he know why he wanted to lead them to the kitchen. However, nothing was wrong with being careful. He summoned his needles and hid them into his sleeves so that he could take it out once the need arose.

    He found Tang Ye and Xinxin standing on the mouth of the hallway. Thinking that they had been waiting all this while, Nian showed an apologetic look and said, "Sorry, I forgot something important in my room, so I went back to get it. Shall we go in?"

    It was only when Nian came closer did he sense that something was off with the atmosphere between the two. Gone was Tang Ye’s joyful look and in its place was a deep frown, whereas tears were pooling in Xinxin’s eyes.

    Nian paused for a second, "...What’s wrong?"

    "Little brother..." Xinxin wiped the tears on his eyes. "What to do? We can’t find the secret chamber."

    Bad news came one after another, and Nian’s expression turned ugly. Through Tang Ye and Xinxin’s words, he found that they had entered the kitchen first and searched for the secret chamber, only to find nothing there.

    "We have searched through every crook and cranny, even the floor and any mechanism that can trigger the appearance of the chamber, but there’s nothing at all!" Tang Ye raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "It’s just an ordinary old kitchen. Damn it, have I been tricked...?" The last sentence was murmured in a small voice such that only himself – and Jin Jiuchi – were able to hear it.

    Jin Jiuchi narrowed his eyes at him, but he made no attempt to comment about it.

    Nian murmured as he walked past them, "Let me see..."

    With Jin Jiuchi in tow, they entered the kitchen again. All of the cabinets and shelves were wide open from the previous search and it was apparent from a glance that there was not enough space for a secret chamber wide enough for a person to pass – even someone with his stature.

    He stood in the middle of the abandoned kitchen and murmured, "Could there be some kind of hidden mechanism...?"

    Unfortunately, he had no props that could help him with something like this. He turned to Jin Jiuchi, intending to ask if he could find anything with his acute senses, but then he noticed that Jin Jiuchi was staring at the dark corner behind the door.

    He followed the man’s line of sight but could see nothing there. Frowning, he tugged on Jin Jiuchi’s pinky finger to draw the man’s attention. "What’s wrong?"

    Jin Jiuchi stared at the empty space for one long moment before tearing his gaze away. "Nian’er, have you seen rats in this place?"

    "Rats?" Nian was taken aback for a split second before shaking his head, already used to Jin Jiuchi’s burst of randomness. "Never. How about you? Did you see one?"

    ’Not only one’, Jin Jiuchi thought as he recalled the tiny and dense ruby eyes hidden within the darkness. ’I saw dozens of them last time.’

    But now those rats had disappeared without a trace, and he had never seen even one of them in the apartment. So if there was a place where those rats could be hiding, it should be where the secret chamber was... right?

    Alas, before he could tell the jade doll about his hypothesis, Tang Ye popped his head in and asked, "How about it..." he hastily averted his gaze when he caught Jin Jiuchi’s eyes. He cleared his throat and let out a nervous chuckle, "Did you guys find something?"

    Jin Jiuchi snarled at him silently. He still had not forgotten how this man tried to lure Nian in with lies. He couldn’t care less if Tang Ye did it to another person, but not Nian. It was off-limits!

    "Nothing either," Nian took the initiative to diffuse the tension in the air. He reached out to hold Jin Jiuchi’s wrist and gave it a squeeze, signaling for him not to cause any trouble here. "It seems like there is only one way..."

    His expression became grim as he stated, "We have to wait until curfew and come here again."