Chapter 14: Spiritual Contamination

“Will you give me snacks every day?”

Nie Haohao tilted his head, pondering for a moment.

“What kind of snacks are you going to give me?”

“That depends on whether you can beat me in the game,” Ji Linmo replied with a half-smile.

“If you win all three rounds against me, then from now on, you can pick anything you like from the vending machine.”

Nie Haohao’s eyes sparkled.

He raised his little hand high and shouted at Ji Linmo, “I want to play! I want to play! You have to keep your word, or I’ll tell Mom you tricked me!”

He’s taken the bait.

Ji Linmo narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“Alright, it’s a deal.”

The first game was simple—a treasure hunt, just as they usually played.

—After returning home, the two of them searched for treasures around the house. Whoever found the most valuable item would be the winner.

“Too easy! Big brother, if I win, you better not go back on your word!”

No sooner had he spoken than Nie Haohao darted back into the house and began rummaging around energetically.

The cozy home was soon filled with the sounds of thudding and clattering.

Nie Haohao was working hard, even pulling out all sorts of miscellaneous toys.

But clearly, greasy building blocks and a robot with a broken head hardly qualified as “treasures.”

So the boy doubled his efforts, searching even more diligently.

Meanwhile, Ji Linmo stood to the side, leisurely surveying the house, his brow furrowed.

Room 301, aside from the “nonexistent parrot” in the living room, held no other strange features.

“As expected, the living room, kitchen… these places where players can move freely wouldn’t hide any clues.”

Ji Linmo’s gaze shifted to the bedroom, and he stepped closer to the doorway.

The rules stated that guests could not enter the bedroom.

But if he just drew near, nothing should happen, right?

One step—

As Ji Linmo approached the door, the blood-red bedroom door suddenly revealed countless lifelike eyes carved into its surface, snapping open.

Two steps—

Crackle! Crackle! The crimson eyes aligned, staring intently at Ji Linmo, like a field of bizarre sunflowers, their pupils twisting eerily with his movements.

Three steps—

As he neared the doorknob, the blinking eyes began to weep blood, which flowed down the blood-red door in streams, soaking the floor and submerging the tip of Ji Linmo’s shoe as he was about to lift it.

A piercing ring filled his ears, and his vision suddenly turned crimson. The red door spun before his eyes, and the densely packed eyes surged toward him, overwhelming him.

—He couldn’t go any further!

“Stop! Stop!”

The parrot spread its wings and screamed incessantly.

Ji Linmo snapped back to himself and quickly stepped away.

Everything around him returned to normal, or rather, nothing had changed at all.

Gazing at the blood-red bedroom door, Ji Linmo cautiously retreated a step.

He vaguely realized that the eyes on the door could corrupt a person’s mind.

And one step was the furthest he could go without interference.

“Thank you...”

Turning his head, Ji Linmo quietly thanked the parrot not far away.

The parrot seemed to understand and even nodded slightly.

“Big brother! I found something good!”

Nie Haohao, who had been digging under the sofa with his backside in the air, suddenly held up an earring triumphantly.

It looked like something Nie Xiaolan had left behind.

“Ahem, Haohao, look what I found.”

With that, Ji Linmo crouched and reached under the TV cabinet, quietly retrieving his own jade pendant he’d brought along.

Seeing the emerald jade, Nie Haohao’s eyes flashed with surprise and disappointment.

“A jade necklace!? Big brother, you’re cheating! My mom never bought a necklace like that!”

“But you saw it yourself—I found this necklace in the crack beneath the cabinet. Looks like I won the game.”

Ji Linmo feigned pride, shaking the jade pendant.

Seeing Nie Haohao about to throw a fit in disappointment, he quickly changed the subject.

“But there’s still one place we haven’t searched, Haohao. Your mom’s bedroom must have plenty of treasures!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Nie Haohao ran to the bedroom door and twisted the handle.

“I got here first! Big brother, don’t try to snatch it from me!”

As Nie Haohao opened the door, a chilling air swept out.

—On the dark red walls, a bright double happiness character was pasted above the bed.

“Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!”

The parrot’s shrill cries rang out again.

At that moment, the parrot looked as if it had seen something terrifying, its feathers bristling.

It opened its beak wide, shouting at the bedroom.

Ji Linmo stood silently three steps away, peering inside.

Outside the bedroom, warm orange decorations filled the space—scattered toys, cute tea cups, everything radiated warmth and comfort.

Inside the bedroom, the ashen floor, blood-red walls, and curtains blocking all light made everything seem lifeless and cold.

Confronted with such drastically different décor, Ji Linmo furrowed his brow.

He hadn’t seen, as he’d expected, anyone else inside the bedroom!

Could he have been wrong?

Perhaps no one really cared for the parrot; maybe it survived on something else.

Or perhaps, the parrot simply didn’t need food at all?

“Big brother, just wait, I’ll definitely find a treasure worth more than your jade!”

Nie Haohao turned his head.

In an instant, his cute, tiger-faced appearance vanished, replaced once more by the ghastly visage—eyes bleeding, tongue protruding.

Wait!

The parrot, the bedroom, mental distortion…

Ji Linmo’s eyes widened in realization.

—When did Nie Haohao begin to seem like an ordinary, adorable boy to him?

It was when he first stepped into Room 301.

—And when did Nie Haohao transform into that bloody, tongue-spewing monster?

It was at the elevator, and again in this bedroom.

Nie Haohao had never been an ordinary little boy; his true form was always that of a hanged ghost.

Ji Linmo finally understood everything. He quickly grabbed a small mirror from the bathroom, stood at the limit of one step away, and raised the mirror.

Through the mirror, Ji Linmo saw clearly—the cozy, peaceful living room had transformed into a floor smeared with blood, an old, dilapidated house.

Even the rib soup on the table had become a severed human hand.

“Squawk… squawk…”

A voice of despair sounded quietly.

Ji Linmo lifted the mirror higher and saw, suspended in the center of the living room, an impossibly narrow iron cage.

Inside the cage, a girl, her skin deathly pale from years without sunlight, curled her emaciated body into a grotesquely twisted pose, huddled within.

“Save… save… save me…”