" What do you mean by not 'built to house normal people'?" Xinyi Questioned.
" I will tell you one day.... If you are still alive"
"The fuck do you all mean by still alive ? You all want me dead or something?"Xinyi asked clearly pissed off. The old man ignored him and headed to his room. Pissed off, Xinyi Glared at the old man and continued his journey downstairs.He found a cafe five minutes walk from the apartment.
After placing his order, Xinyi sat at a corner in the cafe and decided to do some research about the apartment he was living in. Since he didn't bring his laptop, his home was his only choice. Xinyi searched 'Yuehua Apartment' and the hair on his nape stood up.
The first news found was normal, talking about Yuehua during it peak moments. But the next news and the rest that followed was nothing good.
The next article talks about an electrical engineer by the name Zhang Wei who died in 1999. He was found dead in the elevator. Cause of death was cardiac arrest. Digging deeper he found something that wasn't written in the public article...The elevated was between the 3rd and 4th floor at 3:o3am when he died.
The next article was about a graduate student, Li Xiumei who fell from the 9th floor. The security footage was corrupted between 3:01 to 3:07am.
Xinyi found a picture, he zoomed into the scanned photo attached to the article. It was a black and white photo...the lady stood on her balcony, body angled slightly as if she was she listening to someone.
The shadow at her feet wasn't right. It stretched inward not outward. Xinyi told himself it was distortion, he still refused to believe the 'supernatural talk' with everything right in front of his eyes.
He scrolled more and found gas explosion at a near by gas station,three death...all residence of Yuehua. A bathroom drowning, A missing student named Wang Zhihao. His case file included a photograph of his desk. The police had cataloged everything neatly. Textbook, A half-drunk bottle of water and an open notebook, the last entry he wrote preserved in the report.
'If I stay awake past 3:03, maybe I can catch it changing.'
Xinyi was unsettled with the mention of 3:03 in everything about the apartment.
" Hmm...sounds like an important clue"Xinyi hummed. At the bottom, Xinyi found a link,he clicked on the link and found a compiled summary someone had posted anonymously on an urban forum before it got deleted.
Official death since 1999: 23
Unconfirmed disappearance:at least 7.Every single one connected directly or indirectly to 3:03am.
Xinyi would like to think it was coincidence or urban myth amplification. But he felt the number was intentional. As if every bad thing at Yuehua happens at this time.A soft ceramic cup touched down on Xinyi's table with a plate of muffins.
" Your cappuccino and muffins" Xinyi looked up at the barista . For a second,just a fraction...he thought the barista had said his name...but he hadn't given it out.
He blinked, she smiled politely,nothing strange about her at all. "Thank you" He said. Thankfully his voice sounded steadier than he felt.
When he looked back on his screen, the browser was refreshed on its own. The elevator case...Zhange Wei was showing, but the timestamp had changed. It read 3:03:03. He stared at the extra seconds flabbergasted. He swore he could hear a low rhythmic hum.Like a clock or ...a heartbeat.
And for the first time, he wondered...was he researching Yuehua Apartment or... was it researching him..