Chapter 2

Even if he knocked at every apartment on the sixth floor before coming down, it shouldn’t have taken him long.

A terrible thought struck me.

The man claiming to be from management was still inside our building.

Just then, another message came from the girl downstairs. She lived directly below me, in 401.

【Sorry! I was painting my nails and couldn’t hold my phone. My boyfriend replied to you earlier. Cute.jpg】

This time, there was punctuation. And a sticker.

Two completely different texting styles.

Apparently, I’d misjudged her.

Before I could reply, she sent another message.

【Have you seen today’s news? So scary! Good thing management is going door to door checking our windows and doors. Oh, you probably haven’t heard—we’ve got a new management team. Uncle Wang on the first floor is in charge. Puppy-resting-chin.jpg】

So it was Uncle Wang from downstairs.

Of course he wouldn’t have left the building.

What was I thinking?

I shook my head.

I’d frightened myself so badly I couldn’t sleep.

I typed a reply.

【Thanks. It’s late. Get some sleep.】

Before I could send it, my hand froze in midair around the glass of milk.

In the reflection on the windows of the building opposite…

401 was completely dark.

No lights on.

If it was that dark, how was she…

painting her nails?

Fortunately, another message arrived immediately.

【Okay, we’re off to bed. You should get an early night too. Good night! Cute.jpg】

So she’d gone to bed.

But why did the timing fit so perfectly?

My phone was still displaying the residents’ group chat.

The last message was from Uncle Wang that morning.

At eight, he’d posted the day’s weather forecast and reminded everyone there would be thunderstorms that night.

We should bring in any laundry hanging on the roof.

For some reason, I tapped his profile picture and sent him a contact request.

To my surprise, he accepted at once.

【Hello, Uncle Wang. I’m one of your upstairs neighbors. Is management doing door-to-door inspections tonight?】

He replied quickly too.

【Yes. Haven’t you heard there’s a maniac on the loose? Management arranged an emergency inspection. You’re home, aren’t you? I’ll come straight up.】

【Have you been to 0401 yet? I borrowed a hairdryer from the girl downstairs and wanted to return it, but she isn’t answering my messages or calls.】

【She must be out. I knocked earlier, but no one answered. You’re home, right? I’ll be right up.】

I almost dropped my phone.

Uncle Wang said no one was home in 401.

But 401 had clearly said he’d already inspected her apartment.

One said he’d been inside.

The other said he hadn’t.

What was going on?

One of them had to be lying.

When I didn’t answer, he sent more messages.

【You’re in 501, right? Are you home? If you are, I’ll come up. We can’t file our report until tonight’s inspections are done. Everyone has to be registered.】

【Have you seen my messages? I’m coming up now. Leaving my apartment. Make sure you open the door.】

I still didn’t reply.

He hurriedly made two video calls.

I answered neither.

Uncle Wang lived in 101. He had just retired.

He was sixty, healthy, energetic, and always eager to help.

He had a cheerful face and spoke warmly to everyone.

There was a lot still unfinished in the new complex, and he usually helped the residents sort things out.

When the poor management service caused a dispute, he had been the first to speak up.

I’d had a lot of belongings when I moved in.

The moment he saw, he made several trips up and down to help me carry them, without a word of complaint.

Later, I gave him a few packets of local specialties my family had sent me as a thank-you. He just laughed.

“Serving the people.”

His wife, Aunt Chen, often said he was so unhurried that he wouldn’t worry even if a fire were licking at his feet.

But now?

Every message felt urgent. Insistent.

To be safe, I replied:

【Sorry, Uncle Wang. I’m not home tonight. I’m staying with a classmate. Could you inspect my apartment tomorrow?】

0101—Uncle Wang:

【Didn’t you just say you wanted to go downstairs and return a hairdryer?】

Me:

【If she was home, I was going to return it tonight. But since she isn’t, another day will do.】

After I sent that, he stopped replying.

Between Uncle Wang and 401, Uncle Wang was clearly the more suspicious one.

But I had no proof. I couldn’t even explain exactly what was wrong.

My head hurt.

Enough. I’d stop thinking about it.

Nothing seemed to have happened so far, anyway.

All I could do was warn the neighbors to be careful. Lock their doors and windows. Stay inside.

I sent a red envelope to the group chat and wished everyone a happy weekend.

Anyone who claimed the money would still be awake.

I could message them privately and tell them to keep everything locked and not go out.

In our building, Uncle Wang’s family were the only residents on the first floor, in 101.

The second floor was empty.

A woman with a dog lived in 301. No one lived in 302.

401 was the girl who had just started her second year at university and her boyfriend.

In 402 lived a man in his twenties. He was friendly too. I’d heard Uncle Wang call him Xiao Zhao.

On the fifth floor were me and the withdrawn man opposite.

The sixth floor was empty.

Whenever I’d sent a red envelope before, almost all the money was claimed within a minute.

This time, five minutes had passed.

Not one person had taken any.

I checked the time.

Almost half past eleven.

Could the woman in 301 be walking her dog?

There had been an incident involving a dog biting a child.

Worried that people in the complex might be afraid of dogs, she had recently started taking hers out at night.

Several times, I’d heard her opening the iron gate to go out as late as midnight.

By now, she should probably be coming back.

I sent her a contact request.

Several minutes passed with no response.

She neither accepted nor rejected it.

Had she gone out without her phone?

I stood by the window and looked outside.

Lightning flashed across the sky.

Thunder crashed, and huge raindrops began pelting down.

Only then did I remember the forecast Uncle Wang had posted that morning.

Heavy rain tonight.

Perhaps the woman on the third floor had seen it and decided not to take her dog out.

It was nearly midnight.

If she hadn’t gone out, she was probably already asleep.

I let out a breath.

The downpour had come out of nowhere.

Heavy as stones, the raindrops kept battering the window.

I shut it tightly and drew the curtains.

Time for bed. I’d stop thinking about it for now.

But I’d been lying down for less than five minutes when WeChat chimed again.

This time, it was 502.

Another contact request.

【Hi. I just wanted to ask… does anything about tonight feel wrong to you?】

I sat bolt upright.

Every trace of drowsiness vanished.

502…

He’d noticed it too.

I quickly accepted his request.

【Why do you say that?】

【Have you heard the dog on the third floor barking tonight?】

Of course.

Only then did I remember.

The woman on the third floor had a husky.

Huskies were lively—and particularly noisy.

I often heard it barking at night.

I thought back carefully.

I really hadn’t heard it tonight.

【Maybe it’s asleep?】

【After all that thunder? Dogs have very sharp hearing. It should have woken up long ago.】

He was right.

Some of those thunderclaps had been deafening.

Even with my windows shut, they’d made me jump.

Yet I still hadn’t heard the third-floor dog.

【What are you saying?】

“Typing…” stayed on the screen for a long time.

Finally, a message appeared.

【Probably… exactly what you’re thinking.】

Every hair on my body stood on end.

What I was thinking…

The dog downstairs…

Could a killer really have broken into our building?

No. Surely not.

【We should call the police.】