Chapter 29-I Clean Up Garbage in a Wasteland World

 Chapter 29 The House That Hunts People-2

Huang Yaruo wasn't used to speaking to a camera: "It starts with me buying a house. I started working at 16, and by 35, I used all my savings plus my parents' money to buy an apartment. The location is great. I was so happy at the time, thinking I finally had my own home."

"I was involved in the whole process from the start of the renovation. The wallpaper in every bedroom, the pattern and color of the floor, even the color temperature of the lights in the house—I controlled it all."

Huang Yaruo also took out her renovation plan from back then. "The renovation took a full six months. I even tore it down and redid it twice halfway through because I wasn't satisfied. The renovation workers told me to just make do, but I couldn't. My entire net worth went into buying this one house. I might not be able to afford a second one in this lifetime. One chance in a lifetime—I wanted it to be perfect. I didn't want to leave myself any regrets."

"After six months of renovation, I started on the soft furnishings. All the furniture was carefully selected. I really like the sofa I chose; it's especially comfortable."

Listening to this, Zhu Ning felt something was off. This seemed like a home renovation guide video.

Huang Yaruo suddenly choked up here: "But unexpectedly, just three months after I moved in, strange things happened."

Zhu Ning focused. This should be the main point.

Huang Yaruo said, "At first, it was very small things. For example, when I woke up the next morning, the sofa in my house would have shifted position."

Huang Yaruo took out two photos and showed them to the audience. "My sofa was originally facing the TV cabinet."

In the first photo, a red fabric sofa was indeed facing the TV cabinet. This was a very standard layout; most people arranged it this way.

"But the next day when I woke up, the sofa was facing the wall."

Huang Yaruo took out the second photo. As she said, the red sofa had its back to the TV cabinet and was facing the wall, pressed tightly against it.

"At first, I thought a thief had entered the house, or someone was playing a prank. But there were no traces of outsiders entering my home at all because I live alone. I installed a secure electronic lock for myself. If an outsider came in, I would definitely know."

"I told my friends about this. They asked me if I was hallucinating due to high pressure, or if I was sleepwalking in the middle of the night because I didn't sleep well?"

"I thought it was possible at the time, so I stayed at a friend's house for three days before going home. I saw nothing unusual at home, so I slept there again. The next day when I got up—" Huang Yaruo choked up a bit as she spoke, "The next day, the position of the furniture changed again. I... I can show you the video."

The video ended. Zhu Ning wanted to see the subsequent video, so she clicked on the next one.

The image was very shaky, containing the sound of a woman's terrified panting. In the video, all the furniture positions had changed, and this time it wasn't just the red sofa facing the wall.

The double-door wardrobe, refrigerator, TV, dining table—as long as it was large furniture in the house, everything faced the wall.

The furniture... looked like rows of people standing with their backs to the outside.

This was an old post. Someone had commented below:

"The OP is grandstanding. You moved the furniture yourself in the middle of the night just to gain traffic here."

"Crazy for fame."

"Is there a team behind this? I've seen similar posts online before. It's outdated, sister."

"Should the OP call a master?"

"Is it a dual personality? The other personality comes out to move furniture when you fall asleep at night? But your personality is really strong; I can't even move those."

There was another video below. This time Huang Yaruo's mental state was even worse. Her face was sallow, her hair messier, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

She seemed to have aged a lot.

"I've read everyone's replies. First of all, I don't have a team, nor am I grandstanding. I've really encountered something."

"I tried the ideas suggested by a few kind people. I installed surveillance, but the surveillance captured nothing. If you want evidence, I can put a link below. You can analyze whether it's true or false yourselves."

"Someone also suggested I tie myself up. I tried that too. I handcuffed myself to the bed. When I woke up the next day, the furniture was still facing away from me. It really wasn't me. I didn't sleepwalk, and I don't have a second personality."

"I tried some masters. I called exorcists and soul summoners. They made a mess, but it was useless. I've tried every method I could."

"I can't take it anymore. If you want to see, there are videos below. I don't have any money, so why would I pay a team to do this kind of thing? I don't want to be famous. I'm really suffering."

"I tried not sleeping all night. It's fine if I don't sleep, but as soon as I close my eyes, the furniture is like that when I get up the next day. I beg you, help me."

Zhu Ning clicked open the evidence she listed and watched it all.

In the video, Huang Yaruo installed surveillance and then went to sleep. The surveillance recorded the whole night; the furniture remained motionless, staying as it was.

Wait until the moment Huang Yaruo woke up the next day. The instant the camera captured her, there was a second of static. When the display returned, it was Huang Yaruo screaming.

The position of the furniture had changed again.

If the video wasn't faked or edited, then the problem now wasn't whether Huang Yaruo had the strength to move the furniture. Unless she was Superman, she couldn't make all the furniture in the house change appearance within one second.

Even a Demon Hunter couldn't do it in one second.

The comments section was much more serious this time. Some people really wanted to give her ideas.

"Hiss, so scary. Does the OP want to move?"

"Why can it manipulate the surveillance? A real supernatural event?"

"Faked surveillance?"

"This house won't be easy to sell like this either. What a pity, a life's savings bought a haunted house."

"Actually, if no one wants to harm you, you can just live there? Just treat it as your own furniture being a bit weird. It's still livable."

"It looks weird, but it didn't seem to want to hurt anyone."

"I think so too. The house doesn't seem malicious, or it would have killed the OP long ago."

"Sigh, if I bought the house, I wouldn't be willing to leave either."

A month later, Huang Yaruo posted a video again.

This time Huang Yaruo had completely broken down. She kept crying into the camera.

"I feel like I can't take it. I spent my life's savings on this house. I tried to grit my teeth and live in it, but I couldn't. At first, I moved the furniture back every day, but as soon as I closed my eyes, the furniture moved again."

"Later I thought, I'll just live like this. At worst, I'll change my living habits. But sitting on a sofa facing the wall, not knowing what to do... after living in there for three days, I feel like a monster."

Generally, home interior design considers ergonomics. Furniture height and placement must suit the owner's habits.

But if the placement of all the furniture in your home doesn't conform to human habits—if they all turn their backs on the owner—living in it will cause a mental breakdown.

Hearing this, Zhu Ning felt this matter was very strange. Wasn't this mental contamination? Making normal people do abnormal things, or making abnormal people do normal things.

Then repeating it over and over.

Only this time, it was forcing a living person to forcibly reverse the living habits she had established for over thirty years, shattering her cognition as a human.

The house wouldn't take her life, but living in this kind of house long-term would make one either go mad or turn into a monster.

Half a month later, Huang Yaruo posted another video.

Huang Yaruo had lost a lot of weight. Probably because she often didn't sleep or eat much, she looked like she only weighed about seventy pounds now.

Through the videos, Zhu Ning watched helplessly as a healthy woman was cannibalized.

Huang Yaruo's video was particularly short this time: "I really can't stand it. I'm moving out. Wish me luck. I'm giving up on this house. Thank you all for your comfort and support."

The comment section below was full of support and understanding.

Mixed with a few doubts, still questioning the authenticity of this post, saying they wanted to help Huang Yaruo by coming over to exorcise ghosts.

Two weeks later, Huang Yaruo posted a new video saying she had moved.

The video showed Huang Yaruo's new home. It was small, a one-bedroom apartment, but it looked quite cozy. A person like Huang Yaruo would make a home nice no matter where she was.

Huang Yaruo said she was recovering her sleep schedule and diet recently. She felt she could finally breathe and return to a normal life. As long as she persisted, she could get rid of the shadows of the past.

The door to a new life was opening for her.

Many people in the comments section below were blessing her as she welcomed her new life.

But there were also harsher voices: "Yo, finally can't keep pretending, right? Are you going to start selling goods next?"

"I also feel it's a bit strange. Everyone be alert, this might be a scammer."

Zhu Ning frowned. This matter might not be over yet.

Sure enough, scrolling down, only five days had passed this time. Five days later, Huang Yaruo released a video again.

This time there were many injuries on Huang Yaruo's body. It was unclear if they were self-inflicted or if someone had beaten her. Huang Yaruo was so thin she was just a bag of bones, looking like a monster.

"I moved. I thought it was over. I didn't want the house anymore. I listed it with the agency; it wouldn't sell even at half price. I thought at the time, just let me go. I don't want the money. I don't want to live that kind of life."

"I don't want anything. I just want to be normal."

"But I didn't expect," Huang Yaruo's gaze turned angry. She stared dead at the camera, as if she could look straight at the audience behind it, "I didn't expect it could catch up."

"It caught up. It's hunting me!"

Hunting? How exactly does a house hunt?

Zhu Ning immediately clicked on the next video. In the video, Huang Yaruo cautiously pushed open the door. In the pitch-black corridor, the sound-activated light turned on.

Opposite her home was a house with "101" written on it.

Zhu Ning had seen this door before. Huang Yaruo had specifically shown it when introducing the renovation. It was a door color many people wouldn't choose.

A forest green door, with a red wooden sign hanging on it that read: Cozy Little Home.

Zhu Ning didn't react for a moment. Wasn't this Huang Yaruo's original home?

"This is my home," Huang Yaruo's voice revealed terror. "I'm not seeing things. This is my home. I renovated it with my own hands. It caught up."

Comments below: "This is getting a bit scary."

"Did the OP offend someone? Is someone playing you?"

"The neighbor opposite renovated a door exactly like your old one?"

"At such a huge cost? Who has nothing better to do? OP, why don't you try knocking?"

"Who's inside?"

"OP, don't listen to them. Absolutely do not knock. Do not knock! Run! Run fast!"

Then Huang Yaruo changed to a new house. She moved to another residential compound. This time, what happened was even more bizarre. Huang Yaruo recorded another video.

The image was very shaky. Huang Yaruo herself didn't appear on camera.

"That house, it caught up again." Huang Yaruo's whole body was trembling as she spoke. "It makes strange noises in the middle of the night. I'll let you listen."

The video must have been shot in the middle of the night. Huang Yaruo opened the door and cautiously poked the camera out. Sure enough, it captured the green door directly opposite her home.

The green door was hidden in the depths of the corridor. The sound-activated light wasn't on. In the darkness, a green door was surprisingly conspicuous.

In the dead of night, a burst of noise came from behind the green door.

Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It sounded like someone was boxing inside. There was an echo throughout the stairwell. The video didn't end; the camera faced the green door squarely, accompanied by Huang Yaruo's terrified voice.

"There seems to be someone inside," Huang Yaruo lowered her voice. "Who is living in my house?"

Huang Yaruo's hands were shaking too much. As she shook, the whole picture swayed.

Suddenly, the boxing sound stopped.

After listening to the continuous noise for so long, once the boxing sound stopped, the entire corridor fell into a weird silence.

"Mom—"

Suddenly, a voice came from the darkness. Mom.

Mom—

Huang Yaruo went stiff all over.

"It's calling me?" Huang Yaruo asked uncertainly, "Did you hear it? It called me... Mom?"

Mom, Mom—

In the middle of the night, deep in the pitch-black corridor, a green door was calling "Mom."

"I don't have children. I don't have children. I'm going crazy." Huang Yaruo ran back home in terror, and the video ended.

The discussion below was even more interesting this time.

"Did the OP abandon a child? Karma, right?"

"If that's really the case, then there's nothing to sympathize with. Trash."

"Is this the legendary cycle of retribution?"

Huang Yaruo released a video response again.

"I don't want to respond anymore. I'll just say one thing: no children. I really haven't given birth to a child. I'm DINK (Double Income, No Kids)."

Huang Yaruo faced the video and said these words very solemnly: "I'm not the kind of person who abandons their children."

"I don't know why it's calling me. Stop asking."

"I'm moving. I'm moving away."

Every time she moved, Huang Yaruo would post a notice. At first, netizens would wish her well in her new life. But after this happened too many times, the netizens' well-wishes were feeble.

Huang Yaruo changed houses four times. Each time, it was fine when she first moved in. But when she woke up the next day, the door opposite her home would turn into a green door.

With a sign hanging on it: Cozy Little Home.

Moreover, strange noises would come from the house in the middle of the night. Someone made banging sounds inside, and a voice called her "Mom," as if someone was living in there.

Even Zhu Ning was stunned. This matter exceeded cognition a bit excessively.

The post was about to reach the end. There was still one last video left to watch. Zhu Ning took a deep breath and clicked on the final video.

Huang Yaruo laughed loudly facing the camera. "I don't care. I'm going crazy. If I'm going crazy, I'm taking someone to die with me. Either I die or the thing opposite dies."

Huang Yaruo's speech was incoherent and lacked logic. The camera swayed. With a creak, Huang Yaruo pushed open the door.

This was the sixth house she had moved to. At the end of the corridor, directly opposite her door, was a green door, staring at her like an eye.

That was her house.

"I'm going in. That is my home. It's my home! Every floorboard inside is mine! It's all my blood and sweat money!"

"If I can't live there, why should someone else live there?"

"I'm going home. Going home. Hahahahahaha."

Huang Yaruo sounded more and more insane. With a clatter, the camera spun and fell to the ground, only capturing a corner.

Huang Yaruo stepped over the camera in her slippers. The camera captured a burst of sound.

Creak—

The green door was opened, and Huang Yaruo walked over.

Immediately after, with a creak—

The green door closed, the video cut off, and the dead post finished reading.

Zhu Ning didn't react for a long time. She didn't even know what happened to Huang Yaruo in the end. Huang Yaruo entered the house, so who uploaded this last video for her?

Ding—

[Congratulations on triggering a random mission: The House That Hunts People. Mission Objective: Find the missing Huang Yaruo, stay overnight in the house until dawn, and successfully escape. This mission is a random mission, not a mandatory mission. Please choose whether to accept.]

Zhu Ning looked at the time. Half an hour had passed since she finished reading this post. She wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Zhu Ning clicked "Yes."

[Mission accepted. Please complete before dawn.]

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