Feng Tian stood before the gate of Futiangyuan, Building No. 13 on Qiming Road, and Kuang Feifan could hardly believe that a notorious haunted house existed in such a place. The complex was named Futiangyuan, situated in a decidedly bustling area, flanked on both sides by towering commercial office buildings, directly opposite a large supermarket, an electronics mall, and a furniture market. It seemed impossible that a place prone to hauntings could exist where foot traffic never ceased, even deep into the night.

His assessment wasn't entirely without merit; areas with high concentrations of people usually generate strong yang energy, which lingering spirits tend to avoid. However, exceptions always existed.

Generally, a dwelling only becomes truly haunted if someone dies unnaturally within its walls—through accident, suicide, or homicide—like the small building Kuang Feifan had previously encountered, or now, Apartment 301 in Building Three of the Futiangyuan complex before them.

According to Feng Tian's account, the current owner of 301 had been extraordinarily unlucky. Although he secured a decent discount when purchasing it, he later discovered he had been swindled, and the con artist had shamefully vanished.

The owner in question was the bespectacled man Kuang Feifan had met earlier, named He Xufu. When He Xufu acquired the unit, it was already being sold by the scammer for the second time. Now, every attempt to resell it had failed due to the horrific details of what transpired inside becoming widely publicized. Left with no other recourse, he had called Feng Tian for assistance.

Futiangyuan was a high-end residential complex completed just three years prior. The first owner of 301 renovated it minimally before leasing it to a family of three. Initially, things were quiet, but less than a year into their tenancy, the family was brutally killed overnight. The reported manner of death was gruesome: the husband was found on the living room sofa, his throat nearly completely severed, clutching a paring knife. The wife was discovered dead in the bedroom, her head severed and placed beside her body. Perhaps most cruel was their elementary-school-aged son, who was found drowned in a bathtub filled to the brim.

Rumors circulated that the husband had murdered his wife and child before taking his own life, but the police never confirmed this conclusion, and the case eventually went cold. The original purchaser, before the rumors gained traction, managed to offload the property quickly, given the massive demand for housing at the time.

The second owner bought the unit intending to live in it himself. He hired a crew of renovation workers, all hailing from the countryside, who were thrilled with the job and the generous pay. Consequently, they decided to work around the clock—tackling noisy tasks during the day and quieter activities like pasting and trimming at night.

Initially, nothing untoward happened; the renovation proceeded smoothly. But one morning, two of the workers who had slept in the apartment the night before awoke to find themselves lying outside in the hallway.

The workers were understandably terrified. It was only the owner’s insistence on a sleepwalking explanation that temporarily calmed them. However, the next night, three workers slept over, and all three woke up in the hallway again. They claimed they became uncontrollably drowsy around midnight, realizing they had fallen asleep inside only to wake up outside.

This time, the workers refused to continue. A leader among them investigated and quickly learned about the previous, unnatural deaths in the apartment. He immediately gathered his crew to confront the owner, intending to settle accounts and leave.

The owner was already aware of the unit’s dark history, but hearing the workers’ superstitious accounts, he knew he couldn't encourage such talk, nor did he want to hire new hands. He agreed to arrange sleeping quarters for them elsewhere at night, allowing them only to work inside during the day, and even offered them extra pay. This momentarily pacified the crew once more.

Unfortunately, once the bizarre incidents started, they couldn't be stopped. Even with the daytime-only work schedule, strange occurrences persisted. Tools would vanish mysteriously, only to reappear later. Worse, on nights when the newly installed security door was confirmed locked, it would be found wide open the next morning. Whispers began circulating among neighbors about sounds emanating from the apartment at night and the installed lights flickering violently after midnight.

Most unnerving was the realization that even though the workers no longer slept in the unit, the horror followed them. Not only were their dreams plagued with nightmares, but upon waking during the night, they would occasionally catch glimpses of shadowy figures moving within the apartment. At this point, every last worker refused to stay a moment longer. They hastily settled their final pay with the owner and returned to their hometowns.

The owner, furious and despondent, decided in a fit of defiance to move into the nearly completed apartment himself that very day, as some furniture had already been delivered. That night, he slept in his new bed.

A few days later, the owner’s father arrived with the police. When they forced the door open, a noxious stench permeated the air. The owner was found dead in the bathtub, submerged in water that had turned into a pool of blood-like sludge; the condition of the body was appalling.

Soon, rumors exploded throughout the complex. Even if nothing genuinely terrifying had occurred, the persistent retelling transformed the incidents into something unimaginably horrific.

The owner's father, grieving the loss of his son, was an object of pity. Yet, perhaps possessed by some strange impulse, he encountered He Xufu, who was desperately searching for a marital home. Through some convincing, the old man agreed to sell him Unit 301.

The elder wasn't unintelligent; he arranged all viewings with He Xufu to take place after dark, keeping the inspection brief. He Xufu, eager to secure a home, saw the 100-plus square meter apartment being offered for thirteen thousand yuan. He genuinely assumed the old man was desperate for money and agreed without much second thought.

As fate would have it, shortly after finalizing the payment, He Xufu learned the property's true nature. Enraged, he immediately tracked down the former owner, only to discover that the old man had taken the money and disappeared. While recovering the funds could be pursued through legal channels, the money was gone, and he dared not live in the apartment. He was truly beside himself with despair.

Once 301 became officially haunted, every resident in the complex grew jumpy. Futiangyuan saw turnover after turnover of tenants, with several units remaining completely empty.

The neighboring apartment, 302, directly across the hall, was especially terrified, hearing that wrongfully deceased spirits were the most malicious. What if the evil from 301 spread to them?

No one could guarantee safety. After several unsuccessful attempts, He Xufu finally located Feng Tian.

The swindled money was outside Feng Tian’s jurisdiction, but the haunted property was certainly something he could investigate. Coincidentally, Kuang Feifan was visiting at that moment. The instant Feng Ping saw Kuang Feifan's appearance, an idea flashed through his mind: a nighttime expedition to the haunted house. Kuang Feifan was the perfect partner, though figuring out how to secure his willing cooperation would require some thought.

Naturally, Feng Ping was overthinking things. But the simple fact was that Kuang Feifan had just agreed to accompany him to investigate the haunted dwelling. Perhaps even Kuang Feifan himself didn't realize that if Feng Ping had asked him to go from the start, he might have immediately accepted. Given Kuang Feifan's current constitution, nighttime posed a particularly dangerous period.