Observation Chapter 8
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Observation Chapter 8: Eerie Noises
“…”
Without a flicker of emotion, Lin Qian hurriedly stepped in, blocking Lin Yin’s gaze. “There is nothing particularly interesting in there; it’s just a plain apartment without any fancy decoration.”
Despite his assertion that his apartment was plain, it was, in actuality, littered with clutter. The prospect of someone seeing this made him quite uncomfortable.
Setting everything else aside, just the few pieces of underwear he had left haphazardly on the floor would have made for an extremely unsightly sight.
“I won’t tell anyone else; I just wanted to have a brief glance, that’s all. Or is it not appropriate for me to enter because your girlfriend is inside?”
“No, I don’t have one.”
He vehemently denied the allegation of him being in a relationship.
Was the prospect of having a girlfriend attainable for a web novel writer who was struggling to make ends meet? Was that even essential for them in the first place?
Perhaps they could get one if they wrote for the girl section of Qidian, or JJWXC.
If none of those options worked out, they could try writing light-hearted or yuri novels on SFACG. That might help them gain some female fans too.
However, someone who wrote dark and depraved novels was destined to remain single.
Nevertheless, Lin Qian did not let that bother him.
If he had spare time, he would rather spend it on writing. After all, putting food on the table was his number one priority.
“You don’t? Alright then… Hehe, sorry about that. I’ll take my leave now, Lin… Qian~?”
Lin Yin had a tender smile on her face as she took special care in enunciating his name.
All of a sudden, the lights in the corridor went out.
In that instant, darkness swallowed the girl in front of him, leaving behind only a pair of deep irises, which radiated a dark gloomy light.
“Cough, cough~!”
A gentle voice echoed in the darkness.
It belonged to Lin Yin.
Even so, the lights showed no sign of returning.
“Cough!”
This time, as Lin Qian’s voice rang out…
…The sound-activated lights sprang to life.
“It’s such a hassle to use these.” Lin Yin voiced her frustration softly.
“Yeah, it can be a bit of a pain to deal with. Most of the time, it’s not very responsive either. Maybe it has something to do with your soft voice.”
“Mhm. I suppose so. Well, I’m off to get some rest.”
“Got it. I hope you have a sweet dream, good night.”
“Thank you~ Night.”
After closing the door behind him, Lin Qian returned to his chair.
“Finally time to dig in.”
Lin Qian grabbed a succulent beef ball with his chopsticks, promptly popped it into his mouth, and, without chewing it thoroughly, swiftly swallowed it down into his stomach.
A figure with Lin Yin’s qualities could actually serve as the second most important female character in a novel. Her charming appearance and amiable personality made her the perfect fit for such a role.
Furthermore, she seemed incredibly innocent, like unblemished jade.
Lin Qian pondered.
‘Wait a moment…’
‘It seems… something’s kind of off here?’
‘I’m a grown-up man and she’s a schoolgirl…’
‘Plus, it’s already 1 am in the morning…’
‘Even if I don’t take into account how she doesn’t appear to be wary of me and her request for a juicy meatball…’
‘Why did she want to take a look at my room?’
Lin Qian closed his eyes and attentively recounted the scene from that moment.
Having finished the juicy meatball, Lin Yin had brought up her desire to enter his apartment and have a look around.
He was not overly bothered by her eating his takeout; Given that it had gone through her hands, it made sense she would be bold enough to eat it.
‘But why was she so keen on entering my apartment in the dead of the night?’
That thought caused Lin Qian’s palms to break out in a sweat.
‘Shoot, has a bloodthirsty demoness shown up uninvited?’
‘This can’t be happening, right…? Out of all the people in the world, why is she only knocking on my door?!’
‘I didn’t commit any horrific acts…’
‘Was there a character named Lin Yin in the novels I wrote?’
Lin Qian racked his brain for a long time.
His thoughts left him with no clear answer.
The plot holes he created and the characters he brought to life were too many to count. He could not even recall how many manuscripts he had relegated to the wastebin.
Lin Qian stopped pondering. Turning his head slowly to the side, he glanced at the metal grille of his apartment.
‘I don’t think I heard the door close… earlier…’
‘If she lives next door to me… there should have been some sound at the least, right?’
Amid his thoughts, Lin Qian began to discern, albeit faintly, the presence of the teenage girl known as Lin Yin through the door. She was still standing outside his apartment, her eyes fixed directly on him.
“…”
Much like the girl in his dreams, who had gazed at him through the surveillance camera.
“Gulp…”
Lin Qian swallowed a mouthful of saliva, placing down his chopsticks before reopening the document labeled [The Observation Diary of the Abnormal Girls] he had closed moments earlier.
[I opened the door, only to find a sweet-looking teenage girl standing outside…]
[…Her name was Lin Yin. According to her, she was a tenant who had just moved here…]
[Thanks to Lin Yin, I was able to get the spicy hotpot soup I’d ordered. I was on the verge of starving to death…]
[…She asked me if she could have one of the juicy meatballs, and even expressed her desire to take a quick look around my apartment…]
[…Despite giving her a juicy meatball, I turned down her subsequent request…]
“…”
‘Is that it? What happened next?’
Lin Qian forcefully hit his keyboard.
Clattering noises filled the air once more.
[When I returned to my room, a sudden realization struck me: Why would a teenage girl ask to enter the room of a man she was completely unfamiliar with?]
[…For some reason, I had this feeling that the girl named Lin Yin hasn’t left and is still standing outside my door.]
[She seemed to have the ability to gaze at me through the door…]
[At this moment, a strange sound rang out once more…]
“…”
‘Is she still outside?’
‘Seriously? That can’t be happening, can it?’
‘It also mentions a strange sound, it says? What could that sound possibly be?’
Lin Qian held his breath, as he tried his best to filter out the sound of the storm raging outside the window.
‘There’s nothing at all…’
‘Wait…’
Suddenly! Lin Qian’s ears caught a faint sound coming from somewhere.
‘Click, click…’
A series of small, disjointed sounds reverberated in the air.
The noise seemed to match that… of a fine iron wire threading its way into a keyhole.
Lin Qian’s eyes narrowed slightly as he fixed his gaze on the door handle
He could not determine whether the intense stress was causing him to imagine things, or if it was happening right now in reality.
Lin Qian noticed that the door handle was shaking slightly.
‘Clack, clack, clack…’
The sound of the keyboard rattling rang out once more.
The words in the document seemed to convey a slightly twisted nature.
[The door handle appeared to jiggle, yet I was uncertain if what I was seeing was real…]
[I was unable to confirm if someone was actually standing outside the door…]
[Everything seemed to be a hallucination…]
[I was starting to suspect there are problems with my mind… This was not a good sign…]
Outside the window, the storm persisted. On the table, the plastic bag which held his takeout was covered with water droplets of various sizes.
They slowly slithered downwards, gliding along the side to its edges before finally dripping onto Lin Qian’s slipper-covered feet. That sent an uncontrollable tremble down his body.
A booming thunder was accompanied by countless flashes of silver light. They segmented the tiny apartment of around ten or so square meters into a series of old, disjointed photographs.
Even amidst the falling raindrops, Lin Qian… could still pick up on the creaking sound.
It sounded as though someone was scratching a wall with their fingernails or scraping a sharp tool against glass.
That caused his hair to stand on end and his body to erupt in goosebumps all over.
‘What should I do now?’
Thoughts rapidly raced through Lin Qian’s mind.
In reality, his options were limited, with only a few choices available.
As if sensing Lin Qian’s thoughts, the words on the document began to pile up once more.
[The heavy rain continued outside the window, making what should have been a warm May feel more like winter. Outside, there seemed to be slender hands holding the doorknob. A wire strip was maneuvering its way through the keyhole, the harsh noise from the lock cylinder jarring to my senses.]
[Despite its seemingly unbreakable nature, the metal grille offered no assurance of safety. Was this really happening right now, or was it just a figment of my imagination?]
[However, all signs pointed to things being more complicated than they seemed. As the noise began to hasten in pace, I understood I needed to make my decision…]
[Call the police? Or… should I hide under the bed, like an ostrich burying its head in the sand?]
[I believed the wisest option was to open the door and invite the person inside for a friendly chat. They might just be a kindred spirit…”]
[Having spent many years as an author deeply involved in dark and depraved novels, I thought the last option was precisely the one I needed to choose. It seemed like it might lead to a truly compelling storyline…]
[To be precise, this choice would provide me with an unparalleled sense of excitement and inspire me in ways I’d never experienced before.
[I grew increasingly certain that opening the door was the correct decision and gave ‘it’ a thumbs-up in approval.]