INHA Chapter 75

In the evening, Zhao Mingming, her boyfriend Ah Tao, and another young couple headed to a villa in a seaside resort to rest.

Listening to the sound of the waves, they began preparing a barbecue. However, Zhao Mingming seemed distracted, and the meat she was grilling was starting to burn.

Ah Tao quickly took the skewer from her hand and asked with concern, “Mingming, what’s wrong?”

The other couple also looked up, showing the same concern and confusion.

Zhao Mingming had been fine in the morning.

Forcing a smile, Zhao Mingming replied, “Maybe I’m just too tired.”

The three believed her and urged Zhao Mingming to eat quickly and then get some rest, as they still had plans to explore the area tomorrow.

Zhao Mingming nodded, quickly finished her food, and went upstairs. However, once she lay down, she couldn’t fall asleep. The image of the black object she had seen repeatedly today kept flashing in her mind.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like human hair and a head. But aside from her, no one else could see it, as if it were just an illusion.

Zhao Mingming patted her face, telling herself not to think about it anymore. What she really needed was a good night’s sleep, and everything would be fine when she woke up.

She closed her eyes, trying to hypnotize herself, but the quieter everything around her became, the more vivid it all felt.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound was gradually getting closer, and the air seemed to carry a slight dampness—the distinct salty and moist scent of seawater.

Zhao Mingming suddenly became tense, paying even more attention to the sounds around her.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound was indeed getting closer, finally stopping abruptly right next to her ear.

The salty, damp smell became more intense, and wet droplets seemed to fall onto the back of her hand, which was outside the blanket. The sudden sensation made Zhao Mingming shudder with fear.

She was certain this wasn’t an illusion; the cold droplets on the back of her hand were sliding down her skin, and the sensation felt very real.

She could even imagine a figure standing by her bedside, perhaps staring at her, with water dripping steadily from its hair.

Perhaps it was even smiling eerily, its face bloated and pale from soaking in seawater, looking especially sinister in the moonlight.

The smile grew wider, and the figure slowly leaned closer, whispering chillingly in her ear, “Haven’t you already seen me?”

Zhao Mingming jolted awake, terrified. The figure that had only existed in her imagination was now actually standing there, its grotesque, pallid face slowly breaking into a wide grin. An endless flood of water suddenly engulfed the entire room.

Zhao Mingming screamed in terror, “No—!”

But her voice was drowned by the water that filled her mouth, silencing her completely.

Downstairs, Ah Tao sighed and said to the couple across from him, “Mingming seemed off earlier today while we were playing in the sea.”

The couple set down their wine glasses and quickly asked if Ah Tao and Mingming had been arguing.

Ah Tao shook his head, “No, we didn’t argue. I suspect that Mingming is under a lot of mental stress from work, and she might be hallucinating.”

When they were playing in the sea earlier, he hadn’t seen anyone drowning, as Mingming had claimed, but her expression at the time was extremely convincing.

The couple exchanged glances, unsure of how to comfort Ah Tao. The whole point of this trip was to help Zhao Mingming relax.

Her company boss was especially harsh on the employees, with low pay and high pressure. Zhao Mingming had considered quitting, but the company had a good reputation in the industry. If she left, her next potential employer might have doubts because of it.

This was going to be difficult.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and have a good talk with Mingming later? Work is important, but health is even more important.”

The stress was so intense that it had led to hallucinations.

Ah Tao nodded in agreement. After the three of them finished eating and drinking, they each returned to their rooms. When Ah Tao opened the door, only a dim nightlight was on inside, barely illuminating Zhao Mingming, who was lying down with her eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

Perhaps she was just too exhausted from the day, as her face seemed unnaturally pale.

Ah Tao tiptoed into the room but couldn’t help feeling puzzled. Why was the room so damp, almost like a steam room? There were even patches of water on the floor.

Turning around, Ah Tao went to the bathroom, grabbed a mop, and quickly wiped up the floor before starting to wash his face. The sound of running water filled the air.

Accompanying it was a faint dripping sound.

Ah Tao stopped what he was doing. The dripping sound seemed to be getting clearer as if it were coming from outside the door.

Could the roof be leaking?

He quickly dried his face, opened the door, and looked around, but the dripping sound seemed to have disappeared.

Ah Tao felt even more confused.

He took off his jacket and prepared to lie down to sleep. But just as he closed his eyes, the persistent dripping sound returned, this time seeming to come from inside the bathroom.

Feeling increasingly irritated and unable to sleep, and not wanting to disturb his girlfriend, Ah Tao decided to get up and head to the bathroom.

The dripping sound seemed to vanish again.

Ah Tao began to feel frustrated. He carefully inspected the bathroom and finally pulled back the shower curtain.

Sure enough, the showerhead wasn’t fully turned off and was dripping water into the bathtub. He turned it off properly and was about to leave.

Drip.

The sound reappeared.

And it was coming from right behind him. Ah Tao started to feel uneasy. He had just shut off the faucet, so where could the dripping sound be coming from?

He turned around and almost screamed.

The shower curtain that he had pulled back earlier was now drawn closed again, somehow concealing what was inside. Through the curtain, he could faintly see a shadowy figure standing there.

He had been in the bathroom the entire time, so no one could have entered. There was nowhere for anyone to hide, and it was impossible for someone to have been in there all along.

This figure had appeared suddenly!

Suppressing his growing fear, Ah Tao slowly approached and hesitantly pulled back the curtain. As he caught a glimpse of what looked like strands of long black hair, his terror reached its peak.

This was no hallucination.

There was indeed a woman with long hair standing inside.

At that moment, Ah Tao wanted to turn and run, but his body felt as if it was nailed to the floor, unable to move. He also felt compelled to see who this person was, so he forced himself to keep pulling the curtain back.

The slow process of pulling it back was excruciating and only intensified his fear. Out of the corner of his eye, Ah Tao thought he could see the figure’s hand—a swollen, pale hand, as if it had been soaked in water, hanging limply like that of a corpse.

Ah Tao’s scalp prickled with fear. After taking a deep breath, he suddenly yanked the curtain fully open and found himself face-to-face with the figure inside.

It was a face with eyes opened wide, bloodshot, and staring directly at Ah Tao, with a twisted, ghastly expression on its deathly pale face.

Ah Tao let out a terrified scream. This face couldn’t belong to a living person! He fell back, landing hard on the floor, then scrambled frantically toward the bed to grab his girlfriend.

Her hand was ice-cold. As Ah Tao pulled her, she rolled over, revealing a face with no pupils, just whites of the eyes, and a twisted expression directed at him.

Ah Tao screamed again, immediately letting go of her and fleeing the room in panic. He ran straight to the other couple’s room, pounding on the door desperately. “Xiao Shan, Sun Tian, open the door, quick!!”

The couple was startled awake and quickly opened the door. Before they could ask Ah Tao what had happened, he screamed in terror, “Get out of here, the villa is haunted. There’s a ghost!!”

The couple immediately felt a surge of fear and hurriedly followed Ah Tao out of the villa. As they were about to leave, Sun Tian suddenly grabbed Ah Tao. “What about Mingming?”

Ah Tao whipped around, his voice trembling with fear as he shouted, “She’s dead! The ghost killed her, and we’re next!”

Sun Tian was so frightened she let go of Ah Tao and nearly collapsed, her legs giving way.

She didn’t want to believe what Ah Tao was saying—how could there be ghosts? But she also knew Ah Tao would never make something like this up to scare them for no reason.

Especially since Ah Tao’s expression was so genuine!

Moreover, with all the noise they had made on the first floor, Zhao Mingming should have woken up, no matter how deeply she was sleeping.

“Whether there’s a ghost or not, we need to get out of here and call the police!” Xiao Shan quickly decided.

The three of them fled the villa, got into their car, and prepared to leave. The pitch-black night seemed to be hiding an unseen specter as if something could jump out at any moment.

Xiao Shan drove, glancing at Ah Tao in the backseat through the rearview mirror. Ah Tao’s face was pale, filled with terror and unease, and he kept urging Xiao Shan to drive faster.

Xiao Shan was already driving as fast as he could. He asked, “Is Mingming really dead?”

Xiao Shan still found it hard to believe.

If there really was a ghost, why would it want to kill Zhao Mingming and the three of them?

Most importantly, from the beginning to the end, he hadn’t seen the ghost himself. A darker thought even crossed Xiao Shan’s mind.

Could it be that Ah Tao killed Zhao Mingming and then staged all of this to mislead them?

But then he reconsidered and thought it was unlikely.

The excuse was too flimsy—if they called the police, it would quickly be discovered if Ah Tao had killed someone.

Could it be that Ah Tao was telling the truth?

Sitting in the passenger seat, Sun Tian was already in tears, unable to stop crying. She was genuinely terrified, even though she hadn’t seen the ghost herself.

Just seeing the sheer terror on Ah Tao’s face was enough to infect her with the same fear and dread. Her voice trembling, she pressed Ah Tao for an answer, “Say something!”

Ah Tao seemed to snap out of it, his body shaking as he stammered, “It’s… it’s true. I saw it with my own eyes—I saw Mingming lying there, her eyes were all white, and she was just staring at me with that twisted expression, completely motionless.”

This description made Sun Tian even more frightened. She covered her mouth, “Oh my God. This can’t be real, this can’t be happening.”

They had just come out for a fun trip—how did it turn into this nightmare?

---