Chapter 033: The Strange Stairwell

What the hell!
Is this... is this some kind of joke?
Whenever I stay at a hotel, I sometimes find little cards slipped under the door. But I'm not the daring sort; after glancing at the pictures on them, I always toss them straight into the trash.
Now it's past one o'clock in the morning—who the hell is trying to mess with me at this hour?
"You've got the wrong room!" I shouted through the door.
"Oh come on... just open up already! How could I knock on the wrong door? Hurry up!" The woman's voice from outside was...
Well, I can't quite describe it, but goosebumps prickled all over my skin.
Honestly, I was sure she'd knocked on the wrong door. But for a young man my age, resisting a voice like that was nearly impossible.
So, I opened the door.
"Um... you..." I started to speak as soon as the door swung open, but there was no one there.
What the—! How could there be no one?
I stepped out, looking both ways down the hotel corridor.
No one!
There wasn't a soul in sight.
But that can't be! The woman had just knocked on my door. The moment her voice faded, I opened it—how could she have vanished so quickly?
This is wrong!
A sudden chill ran down my spine.
Something was definitely off!
My room was right in the middle of the hallway, which meant there was no way someone could disappear that quickly, no matter which way she ran.
Damn!
Could it be... I've run into a ghost?
My heart sank. I quickly raised my hand to press between my brows and then wiped it across my eyes.
With my spirit sight open, I looked both ways down the corridor again.
Nothing!
Still, there was nothing unusual.
I sniffed the air—no strange scent.
This was getting more and more bizarre.
It wasn't a person, nor a ghost!
Then who had been knocking at my door? Who was that woman with the bewitching voice?
Click, click, click...
Just as I was racking my brains and about to head back into my room to close the door, I heard an eerie sound from the nearby stairwell.
That sound...
High heels!
Yes, it was unmistakably the sound of a woman in high heels climbing the stairs.
Click, click, click...
The footsteps grew clearer and clearer.
In the dead of night, when the world is silent, that sound was downright spooky.
Click, click, click...
From the rhythm, it seemed the footsteps were going back downstairs.
No—something was definitely wrong with that sound!
I was on the sixth floor of the hotel. The elevator ran twenty-four hours a day.

Who in their right mind would be wandering back and forth between the fifth and sixth floor stairwells in high heels at this hour?
Click, click, click... The footsteps were coming back up to the sixth floor.
I exhaled slowly, steadying my nerves, and returned to my room, closing the door behind me.
Since I'd encountered something so strange, I couldn't just pretend it hadn't happened and hide.
Whatever was in that stairwell, if it dared to mess with me, I wasn't about to let it go.
Back in my room, I quickly dressed, then pulled out my phone and dialed Shang Wuyong.
The phone rang for ages before he finally picked up.
Then came Shang Wuyong's thoroughly annoyed voice: "Who is it? In the middle of the damn night! Someone die in your family?"
"You..." I let out a helpless sigh.
This guy, honestly...
I never know what to say to him—he always talks like he’s begging for a punch.
"It’s me! Get up, there’s something weird going on over here!" My tone was hard.
"Uh..." He must have looked at the caller ID, then said, "Xiao Wei? What’s up, why aren’t you sleeping at this hour?"
"Come here, there’s a situation!" I said.
He and his brother were staying in the same hotel, just two floors down on the fourth.
I still didn’t know what was causing the disturbance. Better safe than sorry, so I called them—after all, their fighting skills were way above mine.
"What’s the big deal? Can’t it wait till morning?" Shang Wuyong sounded reluctant to get up.
"No, there’s something dirty causing trouble here—you need to come now!" I insisted.
"Something dirty?" His voice instantly sobered, and I heard him sit up in bed.
"Yeah! Bring Wu Wei with you! Hurry!"
"Got it! Be right there!" he replied.
After hanging up, I pulled out my compass from my bag, and took out the jade box of talismans as well.
For safety, I dabbed cinnabar from its pot and pressed it to my brow.
Once that was done, I opened the door again.
I listened carefully.
Click, click, click...
The high heels were still pacing up and down the stairwell.
Damn it—of all people to mess with, she had to choose me! Coming to my door, knocking, and tempting me with that voice! She’s asking for trouble!
I took a talisman from the jade box and held it between two fingers of my right hand, compass in my other hand, and crept toward the stairwell.
There was a fire door at the stairwell, so I couldn’t see inside.
But I didn’t push the door open to check—I had no idea what was in there. I’d already called Shang Wuyong and his brother—no need to risk it alone.
What if it was a Red Ferocious Ghost? If I acted on my own, I’d be the one courting death.
The fire door was right next to the elevator. I waited by the elevator for the others.
Click, click, click... I heard the high heels coming up, then stopping right behind the fire door...
Huh?
No more sound!
Before, the footsteps were always going up or down, repeating over and over.
This time, after coming up, they stopped.
I'm not inexperienced—over the years, I’ve met plenty of ghosts. But right now, my hair was standing on end.
Because I could sense she was standing just on the other side of the fire door, staring at me.
I raised the talisman, ready to strike at any moment.

With a soft snap, a door down the hall was pulled open.
Startled, I saw it wasn’t the fire door I’d been watching, but a room a little further away.
“I’m heading out! You should get some rest!” a woman’s voice called.
Then a scantily clad, striking woman stepped into the corridor.
“Oh!” She spotted me and gave a small gasp.
“Uh...” I hurriedly lowered the talisman in my hand.
She frowned slightly at me.
I gave an awkward smile, hiding my compass behind my back.
Just then, with a “ding,” the elevator doors opened a short distance away.
Shang Wuyong and his brother stepped out.
The woman quickly scurried past them and entered the elevator.
They both turned and eyed her up and down as she went. The woman scowled even more deeply, jabbing the elevator’s close button repeatedly.
“Xiao Wei! Is... is that your girl?” Shang Wuyong leered at me as the doors closed.
“Come on! What are you talking about? I don’t even know her!” I glared at him.
“Heh, really?” Shang Wuyong raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! Can we focus? Something’s up...” I pointed toward the fire door.
“What is it?” Shang Wuwei asked.
“Behind the door...” I said seriously, pointing at it.
At once, the two brothers grew serious.
They knew exactly what I meant. Without a word, they edged toward the fire door.
“Careful!” I warned, raising my talisman again.
Bang! Shang Wuyong kicked the fire door open, and Shang Wuwei darted inside.
I rushed after them.
As soon as Shang Wuwei entered, Shang Wuyong slipped in too.
Before the fire door swung shut, I followed with my talisman in hand.
Once inside, I quickly scanned up and down, left and right.
“Huh!” I frowned, puzzled. The stairwell was empty—no one, not even a ghostly shadow.
That can’t be! The high heel footsteps had stopped right behind this door!
“What’s going on?” Shang Wuyong asked me.
I didn’t answer, instead poking my head down the stairs. Still nothing unusual.
This was getting stranger and stranger!
Unwilling to give up, I headed down toward the fifth floor.
But after just a few steps, I stopped in shock.
“Look!” I cried, pointing to the landing.
There, placed neatly at the corner of the stairs, was a pair of high heels.
A pair of red high heels!