Chapter 35: Double Happiness

The first time I encountered a funeral during field practice in the mountains, it was unsettling. This time, however, experiencing a genuine paranormal event in my own apartment complex, I encountered a wedding. Yet, despite the festive red associated with such an occasion, it felt far more hair-raising than any funeral site.

Wearing embroidered shoes, the class monitor pressed closely against Luo Di as they entered the grand hall. An old-fashioned Eight Immortals table stood in the center of the room, surrounded by carved wooden chairs. Four ornately dressed paper effigies with greyish-white wigs sat upon them, sporting corsages on their chests. These effigies looked strange—or rather, their bodies were stuffed so tightly they seemed to be packed with some sort of living creature. Their gazes were fixed entirely on an old television set that flickered with static and emitted a constant, droning noise.

The two skirted past the living room and the effigies, heading first to the balcony to see if they could jump down to the floor below. However, every window on the balcony had been boarded up with haphazard planks, with "Double Happiness" characters pasted over them.

"Let me pry these open..."

Luo Di used the kitchen knife in his hand to pry at the boards. After significant effort, he managed to dismantle them, but instead of seeing the street below, the sight before him added a layer of profound despair. Beyond the window, there was no night view, only a solid wall of red bricks. Just as the textbooks recorded, in these corner-space anomalies, there is no gap through which one can escape.

When the two turned around to continue investigating the room, the paper effigies that had been watching television were now all staring directly at them on the balcony.

"Luo Di, should we deal with these effigies first?"

"Is it possible that's exactly what they want us to do? Or perhaps there's some kind of trap hidden inside them?"

No sooner had they finished discussing this than a small slit opened in the eye area of one of the effigies. A hairy spider crawled out from within. Looking through the tear the spider had made, they discovered the interior of the effigy was packed with various spiders. If destroyed, the swarm would surge out, causing no small amount of trouble.

Luo Di subconsciously tightened his sleeves as he looked at the spiders. "Let's check the kitchen first. If there's fire, we might be able to burn them."

When they searched for the kitchen according to the apartment's layout, they found that the room simply did not exist. The floor plan seemed to have changed entirely. The most drastic change was the direction leading to the bedrooms. In a standard apartment of this size, there would only be a single wall between the living room and the bedrooms. Here, an extra-long corridor had appeared. Visually estimating it at over ten meters, this indoor passage far exceeded the dimensions of the building itself. A red lantern hung every two meters, providing ample light. At the end of the passage, there was no bedroom door, but rather a staircase leading upward, seemingly heading to a "second floor."

As the textbooks stated, the space had expanded. Based on current observations, the first floor consisted only of the living room and this long, redundant corridor.

"Let's go. Let's see what's deep inside."

"Wait."

The class monitor jogged back to the balcony and retrieved one of the dismantled wooden planks. A few nails were still embedded in the end, making it barely usable as a weapon. As they stood at the mouth of the lantern-lit corridor, the paper effigies all turned their heads, as if bidding them farewell—or perhaps... hoping they would hurry and bring the bride and groom over to complete the day's wedding.

The moment their attention was caught by the effigies, a woman dressed in red, her face obscured by a bridal veil, walked up the stairs at the end of the corridor.

The class monitor was incredibly fast; she immediately pulled a nail from the wooden plank and hurled it forward. The iron nail flew true, landing at the end of the ten-meter corridor, narrowly missing the woman ascending the stairs. Luo Di was startled by the monitor's reaction and throwing ability; he had assumed she only excelled in swordsmanship, not such specialized skills.

Perhaps sensing Luo Di's gaze, the class monitor explained, "Projectile weapons are also part of my remedial training. Often, using the environment to fight is more effective than the weapon in your hand. It's a pity my reaction was still too slow. Judging by her height, that woman is likely the true form of the mimic. Let's go."

"Right."

The large red lanterns hung high. The two walked through the corridor without encountering any danger or environmental traps, but they maintained a back-to-back formation, keeping watch in both directions. The walls of the corridor were hung with paintings depicting a young man and woman spending their days together, though the faces of both the man and the woman were blurred. At the very end hung a formal wedding portrait. Although the woman in the photo wore a bridal veil, a flash of a bright red smile was visible... though it felt more like the smile of a young woman than the mimic itself.

Reaching the end of the corridor, they found the stairs leading to the second floor. The lighting in the stairwell was no longer lanterns, but red candles burning on either side. Many had already burned down, and the brightness had fallen below safe levels. The flashlight the monitor carried came in handy here.

They didn't hesitate, climbing the stairs to the second floor that shouldn't have existed. The number of candles here was even lower, the light dimmer, but the interior design still followed the "corner law," dominated by curved edges. There were three rooms: the master bedroom, the secondary bedroom, and the bathroom. The door to the master bedroom at the far end was tightly shut, with a faint red glow seeping from the gap beneath it. The red-clad bride they had seen earlier was likely inside—or rather, the mimic’s true form was waiting within.

Furthermore, a dripping sound emanated from the bathroom nearby.

Before heading to the master bedroom, it was necessary to fully understand the environment. The two exchanged a glance and walked to the unlocked bathroom. The interior was pitch black, without a single candle or lantern. This extreme darkness, for two people who had grown up in the light, placed immense mental pressure on them.

The class monitor quickly pointed her flashlight forward, dispelling the darkness, and the room's structure was outlined by the beam. As far as the eye could see, there was still no structure that could generate a "physical corner."

The floor of the bathroom was stained with blood; one could even see traces of hair and tissue near the floor drain. A curtain hid the bathtub in the back, and the persistent *drip-drip* sound came from inside it. The class monitor moved her light; as the beam hit the curtain, the silhouettes inside were clearly visible. It looked as if two people were sitting at opposite ends of the tub, enjoying a bath.

Just as Luo Di was considering how to handle the situation, the nail-studded wooden plank flew directly through the air.

*Clang!*

The silence was shattered. The torn curtain fell to the ground, revealing the scene behind it. In the cold, water-filled tub, two severed heads floated. The faucet, loose from its fixture, kept dripping. These heads were the same ones that had served as the tails of the spiders earlier—the heads of young girls, floating on the surface with their black hair, faces turned toward the two at the door, wearing smiles.

Just as Luo Di prepared to step forward with his knife to deal with the heads that might pose a threat, *creak*—the door to the second-floor master bedroom opened.

In that split second of distraction, the heads floating in the bathtub vanished.

At this very moment, even the two of them, who had undergone fear training, felt a primal emotion stir in their minds—an emotion called terror. However, Luo Di suppressed it quickly. In his view, a slasher could never experience fear; such an emotion would be the greatest shame for a horror movie enthusiast.