chapter_022 : Non - existent Floor

Early the next morning, in Joey's apartment building, a couple who got up early for work came to the elevator and pressed the button. When the elevator ascended to their floor and the door slowly opened, what appeared before them was...

A female corpse with a badly distorted face!

The police quickly rushed to the scene for investigation. They soon determined that she had died from suffocation, and the obvious strangulation marks on her neck indicated that it was a murder.

Zachary was awakened from his sleep by a call from Detective Captain Frank Howard.

"Mr. Thompson? Your college classmate, Miss Joey Foster, has been murdered. We'd like you to assist us with the investigation..."

It seemed that the rain was pouring down along with his grief.

The phone crashed onto the floor in an instant. Zachary stared blankly at the surrounding walls with empty, lifeless eyes. It was a long time before he felt some warm liquid trickling down his cheeks. He tightly grasped the corner of the blanket, feeling as if his heart had been torn apart at that moment. Although he had long expected such an outcome, he still couldn't bear it when it actually happened. He had clearly promised that he would protect Joey... but in the end, he had done nothing.

"Did you say it was the apartment 401 across from your friend's place? And there was someone spying on you there?" "Yes... Joey went to my friend's house yesterday. Through the opposite window, she saw a strange man looking at this side with binoculars. He's probably the culprit... yes, it must be him..."

"I understand. Please sign this statement. We'll conduct an investigation. Rest assured, we'll look into it thoroughly."

Zachary didn't know how much time he had left.

Joey's parents also knew him. When he went to Joey's house to help them sort out her relics, they received him courteously. Her parents were already in a state of extreme grief, their eyes swollen like walnuts.

"Why did Joey have to die like this? She was such a kind, obedient and sensible girl. Why was she killed... Why did this happen..."

Joey's mother's voice was now hoarse, and her tone trembled incessantly. Holding a bright red coat in her hand, she stammered, "This... this was Joey's favorite coat when she was alive... Now, she... she... she'll never have the chance to wear it again..."

Based on Zachary's testimony, the police went to apartment 401 in the building across from Roderick's place. Meanwhile, another group of policemen went to Roderick's to verify the situation.

The police got confirmation from the building's administrator that Zachary and Joey had indeed visited Roderick last night. However, they rang the doorbell for a long time but no one answered.

"The administrator said he hadn't gone out?"

"This is strange..." The policemen then started knocking on the door and shouting, "Is it Mr. Roderick Green? We're the police. Please open the door!"

Even so, there was no response. The policemen began to sense something was wrong. According to Zachary's statement, if there really was a man using binoculars to spy on them from the opposite apartment, then Roderick might also be in danger. So, they went downstairs to call the administrator, who used the spare key to open the door.

The policemen rushed into the room, continuing to call Roderick's name and searching everywhere. Then, a policeman suddenly ran out of the study and said, "Come here quickly!"

When they gathered at the study door, they saw a man lying in front of the window. His eyes were rolled back, one hand holding a pair of binoculars and the other a kitchen knife.

A policeman stepped forward to check and shook his head, saying, "It's too late."

After Zachary finished sorting out Joey's relics, he said to her parents, "Please give me this red coat... I know you'll be heart - broken every time you see it. Let me keep it... Please..."

Looking at his sincere and pain - stricken expression, the old couple also shed tears. The pain of losing a child was beyond words. Seeing this young man's deep affection for their daughter, they naturally couldn't refuse his request.

Just as Zachary was about to take the coat, his phone suddenly rang.

It was Captain Frank calling. "Mr. Zachary Thompson, why did you lie to us? Don't you know that giving false testimony is a crime?"

Zachary's heart skipped a beat. He had indeed lied about the man using binoculars to spy on them, but could he tell the truth? Who would believe that a female ghost in a painting could come into the real world?

"Officer, I..."

"We've checked! Because of the taboo against the number 4, when the apartment complex was built, the floor that should have been the fourth floor was skipped and became the fifth floor. So, there's no such thing as apartment 401! It's possible that you didn't know about it. But we've checked the apartment across from Mr. Roderick Green's on what should have been the fifth floor. There lives an old blind man there. Do you really think it was him spying on you with binoculars? Moreover, we've asked him, and he said he's lived alone and rarely has any visitors... Also, I have to tell you that your friend, Roderick Green, is dead. When he died, he was holding a knife and binoculars... I'm saying, have you got everything mixed up?"

Zachary was stunned...

He remembered that Roderick had lived in that apartment for about three years. He had never paid attention to the windows of the apartment across from Roderick's study. When Roderick told him that he had seen someone hiding behind the curtain in that room that had always been empty through his binoculars, he hadn't thought much about it. But... if there actually lived a blind old man there, why did Roderick lie to him and say that the room was empty? Moreover, he had said that he saw a bookshelf and a desk in that study, which had only appeared in the last few days.

No... Roderick hadn't lied. What he saw was the non - existent fourth floor. His memory of the existence of the unoccupied apartment 401 was a false one created under the influence of that female ghost.

Then... what about Orion and Jane? Could they be trapped on that non - existent fourth floor right now?

If this assumption was true, then everything Roderick saw through the binoculars... must have been scenes from that non - existent floor! And now, Roderick was also dead...

He was the only one left...

That female ghost would definitely not let him go...

Originally, he had held out a glimmer of hope that the police could go to apartment 401 and find Orion and Jane, and then they could find a last chance of survival. But now, it was impossible because he couldn't enter that non - existent fourth floor to look for them. Maybe they were already dead. In any case, he had to face everything alone from now on.

Of course, he was taken to the police station for interrogation. "Well... simply put, your two friends, Roderick Green and Joey Foster, are dead, and you gave us false testimony. So, we have to suspect you. According to the statements of some people at your internship, your behavior these days has been very strange. We hope you'll tell the truth."

"Are you saying that I killed them?"

"We just hope you can assist with the investigation as much as possible."

At this moment, Zachary was filled with anger. Three people had died successively, and one of them was the woman he loved. He was in a desperate situation where death could come at any moment, and he could no longer stay calm.

"I didn't kill anyone! How could I have killed Joey! You incompetent cops! You don't understand anything! I'll tell you the truth. They were all killed by a ghost! Don't believe me? Do whatever you want! I didn't kill anyone! I didn't!"

Zachary was almost going crazy. If it weren't for a few policemen holding him down, he might have done something he couldn't even imagine.

Watching Zachary getting more and more agitated behind the two - way mirror, Frank Howard and his deputy, Victor Hart, both felt that Zachary must know something. But he was too agitated at the moment to get any useful information out of him.

"Has the cause - of - death report come out?" "Yes," Victor nodded. "Roderick Green died of heart failure. There are no signs of foul play, but the fact that he was holding a knife when he died is quite suspicious. His death was also extremely tragic, so it's probably not just a natural death. As for Joey, she was strangled to death, and there are also signs of incontinence on her body. It's obviously a homicide. It's just not clear why the killer chose to strike in the elevator, since someone could come to take the elevator at any time."

"I also find it strange. And why did Zachary tell such an easily detectable lie? It doesn't make any sense... Should we arrange a mental evaluation for him? He even said it was a ghost that killed people just now. Maybe he's not mentally stable. Well, for now, detain him for a while and try to talk to the people he knows as much as possible."

"This... his parents are outside and have asked for his bail. After all, there's no concrete evidence yet..."

When Zachary was bailed out of the police station, his parents were very concerned and asked him what was going on recently, but he remained silent. Even if he told his parents the truth, it wouldn't do any good.

He deeply understood that the paranormal was not something an outsider like him could casually get involved in. One slight mistake could lead to disaster. Now, not only himself but also three of his friends... Even if he repented, it wouldn't help at all.

Yes, it was useless...

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die at all. At night, he huddled alone in the quilt, tightly hugging that red coat, unable to fall asleep no matter what. Even though the light in the room was on, and he was wearing headphones listening to music at full volume, he still couldn't dispel the fear. He knew "she" would come for him, but... where would she come from?