Chapter 1 Can You Contact the Landlord?
Chapter 1: Can you contact the landlord?
"Ding-dong!"
The doorbell chimed softly, but no one opened the door. Was he not home?
The woman who rang the bell stood at the door, hesitating whether to press it again.
"Clang!"
A sound of furniture colliding came from inside the house, indicating that someone was clearly there.
She hesitated for a second, then reached out to press the doorbell again.
This time, before her finger even touched the button, the lock suddenly rattled, and the green anti-theft door opened a narrow five-centimeter crack. A tired face appeared behind the door, peeking out at her.
"Uh… is something wrong?" Zhou Ming looked nervously at the young woman in front of him. He wasn't sure if he knew her well.
The woman looked at the handsome young man with faint dark circles under his eyes, and her heart quickened slightly.
This man was their neighbor, Zhou Ming, who had recently moved in. He was aloof but polite, and very handsome.
"Zhou Ming, can you contact the landlord?" the woman asked timidly, "I can't reach him. The gas stove in my rental is broken, and someone needs to come fix it."
Zhou Ming rubbed his nose, thinking that since she knew his name, they must be acquainted.
He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I can't reach him either."
Zhou Ming remained silent, his cold demeanor a clear dismissal, but the woman showed no intention of leaving. She stood at the door, frowning, looking at him with a pleading gaze.
So, he had no choice but to add, "If I do get in touch with him, I'll tell you right away."
"Oh." The woman nodded slightly, clearly a bit disappointed, but she quickly perked up again and held a ceramic box to her chest, "Can you help me heat up dinner? I don't have a microwave in my place."
Zhou Ming hesitated for a moment, then reached out and said, "I'll heat it up for you. I just sprayed disinfectant in my house, so it's not very easy to move around right now."
"Oh, okay, okay."
The woman handed the ceramic box to Zhou Ming, slightly tilted her head, and glanced into the house, but Zhou Ming's body perfectly blocked her view.
Zhou Ming took the lunchbox, closed the door, and let out a heavy breath. He composed himself and walked towards the kitchen, leaving a bloody footprint with every step.
He went to the kitchen to heat up the meal for her in the microwave, his fingers tapping lightly on the counter, his expression slightly solemn.
The landlord was dead. "He" killed him.
So he couldn't let that woman in, because his bedroom was full of blood. He was cleaning up the scene when she knocked, and if he hadn't accidentally bumped into the cabinet, he wouldn't have come out to open the door… Even worse, he forgot his shoe soles were covered in blood when he came out, and now there were shocking bloody footprints all over the white tiles in the entryway.
"Ding!"
The microwave chimed, signaling that it was done. Zhou Ming took out the heated lunchbox and returned to the entryway, pulling the door open a narrow crack. He handed the lunchbox to her: "It's heated."
"Oh, thank you." The woman nodded slightly, standing still, still showing no intention of leaving.
"If… I contact the landlord, I'll tell him about your situation right away," Zhou Ming said.
The woman nodded and hummed in acknowledgment, and Zhou Ming also nodded.
"Alright then, goodbye."
With a bang, the door closed. Zhou Ming let out a sigh of relief, his heart pounding like a drum in his chest.
He forced himself to calm down and walked into the bathroom.
In the mirror, a tired face with heavy dark circles stared back. Although his features were delicate, there was a hint of coldness in his eyes. This face was exactly the same as the one he remembered, but his skin was paler.
Zhou Ming took another look at himself in the mirror, propped one hand on the sink, and lifted the hem of his shirt to examine his body, noticing clear signs of exercise.
Finally, his gaze fell on the corner of the mirror, where there was a line of text painted in red—[I am you, the you from another world. Go open the computer.]
There was no mistake. This body truly wasn't his; it belonged to his self from another world. There should be no technology in this world that could turn an unexercised person into a muscular man just by sleeping. Even if such high-tech existed, there was no reason for it to be used on an ordinary, worthless student like him.
So the only explanation was that he had transmigrated… transmigrated into his self from another world.
Furthermore, his transmigration here wasn't a coincidence. The original owner of this body clearly knew he would come, otherwise, he wouldn't have left blood writing on the bedroom ceiling outside, nor would he have written on the corner of the mirror.
"I never thought… something like this would happen." Zhou Ming was immersed in shock, unable to recover for a long time.
After an unknown amount of time, he walked out of the bathroom and returned to the bedroom.
The lingering smell of blood in the air made him slightly uncomfortable. Zhou Ming frowned and observed the bedroom carefully for the second time.
On the left wall of this room was a bed, with a large bookshelf full of books placed right next to it. On the wall opposite the bookshelf, various reference photos were densely pinned. These papers were pinned to the wall with thumbtacks, and red threads were tied to the thumbtack heads, crisscrossing the wall to form a strange red spiderweb.
The photos showed various eerie landscapes, with small notes attached next to them for identification—[Kunlun: Heavenly Palace], [Bermuda Triangle: Ghost Islands], [Norway: Asgard]…
On the computer desk nearby, a large number of folders were stacked, each with its own number. These numbers corresponded to the photo numbers on the wall, seemingly containing detailed information about the photo clues.
If he hadn't already known this was the original owner's bedroom, Zhou Ming might have mistaken it for a secret police investigation outpost.
"It seems that the me in this world is doing something not quite legitimate, which is quite similar to me," Zhou Ming murmured.
Before transmigrating, Zhou Ming was someone who loved horror movies and explored strange rumors. His biggest interest was reading about unsolved murder cases from years ago online, then sharing his thoughts and discussing them with netizens on forums based on his own understanding.
However, the him in this world was clearly doing more than just discussing strange occurrences.
He looked up at the peeling paint on the ceiling. In the center of the yellowed ceiling hung a banner that read—[Don't be afraid, go to the bathroom first.]