Wang Xiaoming's meaning was already clear enough — the "big dog" the little girl had mentioned wasn't a dog at all, but a missing person. This entire family was twisted.
"I know what you're trying to say, but have you noticed something strange?" Chen Ge's voice gradually dropped. "Why does she look at me differently from you? Those eyes filled with nothing but pure malice only reflect me — did she know me before?"
"This isn't the time for that, Xiao Lin! We have to leave!" Wang Xiaoming grabbed Chen Ge and tried to pull him out, but just then, footsteps sounded from inside the bedroom. The bedroom door swung open again almost immediately.
The little girl was wearing pink pajamas, and she held a long string of keys in her hand. "Found them."
"Good. Let's head to the repair room now." Leaving was a certainty, but before that, Chen Ge wanted to get his hands on anything useful.
He reached for the girl's keys, but she suddenly took a step back. "The spare keys are here, but my dad told me I'm not allowed to go near the room at the very end of the hallway, and he strictly forbids me from giving the keys to strangers."
After Chen Ge had revealed his intentions, the girl seemed to gradually bare her fangs. She had been harboring ill will from the very beginning — it was just that no one besides her herself knew what her true goal actually was.
"This classmate and I both know Teacher Bai. How does that make us strangers? If it's inconvenient for you to go over there, you can hand me the keys. I'll open the door and return them once I'm done," Chen Ge said patiently, his expression perfectly calm. Trying to read his true thoughts from his facial features was an extraordinarily difficult task.
"No. My dad said the keys can't be given to strangers. Only family members can take them." The girl's voice softened, sounding almost pitiful.
Chen Ge's brow creased slightly. He had a feeling the girl was hinting at something — trying to get him to become "family."
After a brief moment of contemplation, Chen Ge crouched down once more and pinched the girl's cheek. "We're friends now. The best of friends can always rely on each other at any time — that makes us just like family. If you ever get bored being alone, the two of us can come keep you company often."
Chen Ge was meticulous by nature. He knew that some ghosts harbored obsessions that functioned like curses — as long as you agreed to something using your real name, you'd become entangled with them. So without hesitation, he dragged Wang Xiaoming into it as well.
"The two of you?" The little girl's gaze had been fixed on Chen Ge the entire time, completely ignoring Wang Xiaoming from start to finish. That was yet another thing that struck Chen Ge as strange.
The girl stood in the doorway, still hesitating. But just then, a heavy thudding sound rang out from inside the room — something crashing against the wooden boards!
The bedroom door hadn't been fully closed. The "big dog" inside the room had apparently overheard the conversation between Chen Ge and the girl, finally confirming that the people who had entered this time were not actors playing the roles of Bai Ling and Teacher Bai.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Alright, it's settled then." The girl's smile bloomed like a flower. "Hold on a moment — that big dog is acting up again. Can't let it disturb the others."
The girl gave Chen Ge a meaningful look, then turned and went back inside.
The sound of heavy impacts against the wooden boards gradually faded. Several minutes passed before the girl finally emerged.
Her expression was normal, save for the fact that she had changed into a fresh set of pajamas.
"I'll go with you. You open the door and look for things — I'll wait outside."
There was a hint of incomprehensible excitement in her words. She trotted over to the living room door, and Chen Ge and Wang Xiaoming followed close behind.