Demon Apartment - Chapter 26 - The Black Cat

The sudden appearance of this blood-stained black cat made Zhao Long’s skin crawl!

The blood on the black cat was clearly not yet dry, as fresh blood-formed paw prints could be seen under its paws. When the black cat and Zhao Long looked each other in the eye, Zhao Long suddenly felt as if the cat possessed intelligence. Its gaze seemed filled with disdain for humans, as if it knew they were doomed to perish here!

“Meow!”

The black cat let out another eerie cry, then dashed into the depths of the darkness! Zhao Long hurriedly shone his candle in that direction, but soon he could no longer see the black cat, only the trail of fresh blood under its feet leading into a room nearby. Oddly, the door to that room was closed, but the cat’s paw prints led up to the door and then simply vanished!

At that moment, Zhao Long was almost certain that this black cat was not a living creature!

“Zhao Long… please, I’m begging you, let’s go!”

At this point, Ge Qi actually fell to his knees on the ground, clutching desperately at Zhao Long’s arm, “I don’t want to die, I really don’t want to die! If you let me go, I would do anything for you! Please, I beg you! I don’t want to die, I really don’t!”

At the door, Dong Xie and Dong Ning also saw the black cat but ignored Ge Qi’s reaction at the time. Fear of death is natural, and no one can be at peace in the face of death. They were pondering about the black cat.

“Since we entered the community, that black cat appeared in front of our car, and now it’s here again…”

“That cat might not actually be a living creature. If humans can become evil spirits after death, the same could be true for other beings.”

“Yes… indeed.”

At that moment, Dong Xie recalled the famous Japanese horror movie “The Grudge,” in which the terrifying evil spirit Kayako had a black cat that became as malevolent as Kayako and her daughter after death. Dong Xie had watched that movie countless times for his horror novel research, so the impression was deeply etched in his mind.

With this thought, he pulled Dong Ning to keep her as far from the door as possible, using his own body to shield her.

“Ah Ning, remember your high school track meet? You ran the 400 meters and came in second, right? You can still run fast, can’t you?”

“You…”

Dong Xie really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. However, he couldn’t afford to bury his head in the sand and had to prepare for the worst.

In reality, humans could never outrun an evil spirit; their escape was merely due to the limitations of the Apartment.

Dong Xie clenched his fists, his whole body tensed, staring intently inside. At this moment, Zhao Long was dragging the desperately pleading Ge Qi to the room’s door. The black cat’s paw prints ended at the door, and it was very likely still inside.

Zhao Long took a deep breath, then said to Ge Qi, “I need to open the door, and I need one hand for the candle. If you try to run now, Dong Xie at the door won’t let you get away.”

“Zhao Long! We’re going to die, if we go in there, we really are going to die!”

Ge Qi was virtually dragged all the way here by Zhao Long, whose strength was so great that Ge Qi couldn’t break free!

“I’m letting go of your hand now to open the door, I’m warning you one more time, if you try to run… I won’t let you off.”

Ge Qi looked back at Dong Xie blocking the doorway and then at Zhao Long in front of him, realizing that pleading was useless. He stood up and said to Zhao Long, “Are we… really going in? I’ll guard the door for you from outside, okay?”

“Guard the door…” Zhao Long thought for a moment, indeed someone needed to guard the door, nodded and said, “Fine, guard the door here. Dong Xie, if he tries to run, feel free to take him down!”

Dong Xie nodded, clenched his fists, and said, “Understood!”

For Dong Xie, he would rather “those things” take Ge Qi down and buy him and his younger sister some more time.

Ge Qi looked at Dong Xie, who was towering near the door, much taller than himself. Like a gatekeeper, escaping would not be easy.

Ge Qi was almost in despair. Was he really going to die here?

At that moment, Ge Qi glared hatefully at Zhao Long’s back, hoping Zhao Long would perish there. If Zhao Long died, it would at least buy some time.

While secretly cursing in his heart, Zhao Long had already opened the door and walked in. Ge Qi, though he was supposed to guard the door, made up his mind that if the door closed under the curse’s power, he wouldn’t actively try to stop it, letting Zhao Long be trapped inside!

“Zhao Long, go die!” Ge Qi cursed under his breath, audible only to himself, while also observing the room Zhao Long entered.

It was a moderately sized bedroom.

The black cat’s paw prints disappeared as soon as the door was opened.

On the bedroom table, there were several photographs. Zhao Long walked over, illuminating the photos with his candle, examining them closely.

Previously, when Zhao Long had dealings with the landlord’s son who lived in K City, he had asked many questions. The landlord had two sons, the elder son in K City and the younger son in S City. The photos included a joint portrait of the landlord’s elder and younger sons, as well as pictures of the landlord and his wife when they were alive.

At that moment, seeing the photo of the landlord’s wife still sent chills down Zhao Long’s spine.

Zhao Long scrutinized the photos to see if he could find any clues.

“Hmm? Is this photo taken within this community?”

Zhao Long picked up one of the photos.

He noticed that of all the photos on the table, only this one was a family portrait of the landlord’s family with the community as the backdrop. This surprised him, as typically, a family’s displayed portrait is often taken during an outing. This indicated that even when the sons came to visit their parents, they had no time to go out with them.

“Hmm?”

Just then, Zhao Long’s eyes widened as he saw about ten meters behind the photo’s backdrop, under a tree, stood an old man in his seventies or eighties. In his arms, he was unmistakably holding the black cat!

He brought the candle closer to see, and although the distance was somewhat far, the photo’s resolution was quite clear. Then, he discovered something even more horrifying.

The clothes on the old man were exactly the same as those worn by the pale evil spirit attached to the iron door in a photo Dong Xie had found earlier!