My ‘Healing’ Game
Chapter 198: 3:30 AM

Chapter 198: Chapter 198: 3:30 AM

The hot water soothed his muscles, and Huang Ying finally calmed down, regaining some strength in his body.

After shrinking the video window to half its original size, Huang Ying moved it aside and played comedies and cartoons on the main screen.

Listening to the funny sketches and festive music, he dared to look back at the minimized video window.

The video resumed playing. The man in the frame was using his phone to film behind him, visibly terrified, with cold sweat on his forehead.

"Has it entered my house yet?"

Grabbing a glass ashtray from the coffee table, the man filmed inside the house with his phone, unsure whether he was talking to himself or someone else, "Can a phone really capture it?"

The man carefully checked every room in the video. There were no ghostly creatures, and Huang Ying, watching from beyond the screen, saw nothing unusual in the man’s house.

"But the neighbor clearly said a ghost had entered my home?" The man was still very uneasy, "Could it be that the neighbor is possessed by the ghost? Is he in league with the ghost? Maybe the ghost didn’t actually come inside; he just wants to trick me into opening the door?"

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed: "The neighbor is trying to scare me, waiting for me to open the door and then the ghost outside will really come in!"

With this thought, goosebumps appeared on the man’s arms: "Thankfully I didn’t listen to him, I was about to open the door just now..."

"Buzz! Buzz!"

While filming, the phone suddenly started vibrating, forcing the man to exit camera mode. After seeing the caller ID, his expression slowly relaxed, "Wife? Why are you calling at this hour? Haven’t you slept yet?"

"There are too many insects in the countryside, I can’t sleep at all," the woman’s voice carried a hint of annoyance, "When can my son and I finally come back? Did you really see a ghost in the corridor?"

"How could I lie to you about such a thing!" The man’s voice suddenly rose, then, fearing he might be heard by the ghost outside, he quickly lowered it again, "Just bear with it a little longer. If it comes to it, while nothing bad has happened yet, we’ll find a way to buy this house. You and our son always wanted to move to New City, right?"

"Do we have enough money at home? Stop daydreaming! You really should take a few days off and go see a doctor; you’re always talking nonsense."

"Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you." Soothed by the familiar nagging from the phone, the man’s fear slowly dissipated as he placed the glass ashtray on the shoe cabinet at the edge of the frame, "By the way, I haven’t told you yet, that sound appeared again today! There’s not just one of them!"

As the man spoke in a low voice on the phone, the shoe cabinet in the corner of the video seemed to be nudged open by something; an arm reached out and grabbed the heavy glass ashtray.

"I’m telling you, the neighbor across might be possessed by a ghost. He even came knocking earlier, claiming that a ghost entered our place, but if he really saw the ghost, would he dare to step outside?" the man said as he walked out of the camera view, with his silhouette faintly reflecting on the tiles.

"He’s trying to trick me into going outside; how could I possibly go out at a time like this?"

The glass ashtray on the shoe cabinet began to move slowly, eventually disappearing from view.

"Wife, stay there a few more days, I promise..."

As the man spoke, another faint outline appeared on the tiles, eerily shadowy as if without a corporeal form.

The man was oblivious, but Huang Ying, observing from beyond the screen, saw it clearly. The blurry figure raised the ashtray and then violently smashed it down on the man’s head.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

One blow after another, blood splattered on the tiles and shoe cabinet, and soon the man’s bloodied face fell into the center of the frame, eyes wide open in terror.

The video froze there, but it hadn’t ended yet.

The man’s phone fell to the ground, and his wife, thinking something was wrong, kept yelling.

After a while, Huang Ying saw that arm appear again. It picked up the phone from the ground and began imitating the man’s voice.

"It’s okay now, wife, I just killed a rat. That might’ve been the source of the strange noises recently."

"Do we still need to stay in the countryside then? This place is dirty and messy, not to mention the insects."

"If you really don’t want to stay in the countryside, come back tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you guys have been working hard recently, I’ll make you a big meal."

After the phone call ended, blood-red footprints appeared one by one on the floor behind the man, and the originally closed door abruptly opened, nearing the knocking of the neighbor’s security door.

The video window suddenly went dark, and when it returned to normal, the scene had darkened considerably, and the setting was no longer a corridor but looked like a luxurious bedroom.

Two women with good complexions sat on the bed, one applying a face mask, the other recommending some skincare product.

They were wearing pajamas and both had great figures; their conversation was quite bold too.

While talking, one of the women suddenly glanced at a wall clock in the bedroom, whose time showed three in the morning.

Her expression changed slightly, then she took the other woman’s hand.

"Thank you for coming to stay with me, Axin. After my husband disappeared without a clue, living alone in such a big house has been quite frightening."

"Little Jie, you shouldn’t say that." Axin was average-looking but had a great personality, she could tell Liu Jie was feeling down and tried to cheer her up: "If not for you, I probably would never have had the chance to sleep in such a luxurious bed."

"If you like, you can come over more often." The girl known as Little Jie hugged Axin: "It’s really nice to have you as a friend."

"Let’s go to sleep, otherwise all this expensive skincare will go to waste." Axin crawled under the covers, ready to turn off the bedroom light, but Little Jie stopped her.

"Maybe let’s not turn off the light? I’m afraid of the dark." Little Jie also lay down in bed.

"Alright, alright, it’s all up to you."

"By the way, Axin, there’s something else I need to tell you." Little Jie looked seriously at Axin: "I think I might have a habit of sleepwalking, so if I get up after falling asleep, you must wake me up."

"Sleepwalking?"

"Yeah, I don’t really know, my husband used to tell me that."

"I promise I’ll wake you up, rest assured and sleep."

The two girls covered themselves with the blanket, and at that point, the lights in the bedroom were still on.

The small window playing the video suddenly went dark once again, and when the image reappeared, the lights in that luxurious bedroom had been turned off, and the wall clock showed half-past three in the morning.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Strange sounds were heard in the video, and it was impossible to determine what was producing them from the sound alone.

The familiar Axin woke up in bed due to the noise, rubbed her eyes, and quietly inquired to Little Jie, but received no response.

As she reached her hand to the other side of the double bed, she realized that there was no one there.

"Little Jie?"

Groggily sitting up in bed, Axin found the bedroom light had been turned off by someone.

She tried pressing the switch, but the light did not come on: "Did it trip? Or is it a blown fuse?"

Using her phone for light, Axin called out Little Jie’s name while walking to the bedroom door.

The strange sound seemed to come from the kitchen; she cautiously crossed the living room and pushed open the kitchen door.

"Little Jie?"

Little Jie, wearing an apron, stood in front of the cutting board, her eyes closed, and her hands gripping the Dinner Knife, chopping down repeatedly, although there was nothing on the board.