Chapter 15: The Haunted Villa

Following the directions on her navigation app, Bai Xian rode a shared electric yellow bike for half an hour. The buildings around her grew increasingly grandiose, the storefronts ever more upscale—she had clearly entered a wealthy district.

Could there really be an affordable rental here? One that didn’t even require mandatory ID verification?

Just as she was beginning to second-guess herself, an imposing gated community appeared before her eyes. She squeezed the brakes and looked up.

“Victoria Harbour!”

Bai Xian did have some impression of this neighborhood. It was a grand project by a major real estate developer, once touted as the finest luxury community in all of Yu City. Every residence in the enclave was a fully furnished villa, and at its peak, the price per square meter had soared to forty-five thousand.

Could one really find a villa for just a few hundred a month here?

She questioned it silently. But since she was already here, she didn’t intend to turn back. She pedaled her yellow bike straight toward the grand entrance.

The security guard at the gate glanced at the pretty young woman and her humble ride. Out of professional courtesy, he maintained a polite smile. “May I ask who you’re here to see?”

“I’m here about a rental. Could you tell me how to get to Building 6 in Zone 3?”

At the address, the middle-aged guard was visibly taken aback, a strange look flickering across his face.

“Miss, let me give you some advice—maybe you should just go home.”

“Why?”

“Because… well, that villa’s got something unclean about it. Scared off quite a few tenants already.”

Unclean?

Sudden understanding dawned on Bai Xian. No wonder the rent was so cheap—they were looking for someone to “test” the place.

Yet she felt no fear; rather, a faint thrill stirred within her. She had worried the rental was a scam, but this seemed proof enough it was genuine. As for ghosts? She’d like to see which spirit dared make trouble in her presence.

After registering her name and phone number, Bai Xian confirmed the directions and entered the community, heading toward Building 6 in Zone 3.

In the security booth, the guard shook his head. “Young people these days just won’t listen.”

Victoria Harbour was vast; every villa boasted its own garden and parking spot. Luckily, her rented villa wasn’t far. Soon, Bai Xian found Building 6, the number plate glinting in the afternoon light.

Now she understood the guard’s cryptic warning.

Right outside the villa’s walls, a large cluster of earthen mounds rose, some ringed with funeral wreaths and burnt joss sticks—the faint scent of incense smoke hung in the air. Not just this villa, but the entire zone seemed shrouded in gloom. Yellow talismans were pasted over many doors and windows. Simply standing there brought a subtle oppression to the heart.

She dialed the landlord’s number, and before long, a small electric vehicle approached.

A lean man in a white shirt stepped down. Seeing Bai Xian at the door, he momentarily froze. He had known from their phone conversations that the new tenant was a woman, but never expected someone so young—no more than seventeen or eighteen, a college student at most.

“Hello, I’m Chen Xu, property manager here at Victoria Harbour. The owner asked me to handle the handover for this house… Are you sure you want to rent it?”

Bai Xian nodded.

“Well… perhaps you’d like to reconsider?”

Though duty-bound to get the property rented, Chen Xu’s conscience balked at seeing such a pretty girl fall into a trap. But the girl seemed resolute, unmoved by all his hints.

Seeing he could not dissuade her, Chen Xu could only acquiesce. After all, this so-called haunted house had only ever frightened people; he’d never heard of any real incident. No doubt, by tomorrow she’d be scared off too.

They signed a simple agreement, and Chen Xu handed over the keys. “The place is fully furnished; bedding is new. You can move right in. The master bedrooms are on the second and third floors; you’re free to choose any room on the ground floor. As for rent, you can pay after you’ve stayed a while—the owner isn’t strict about it.”

He rattled off a few more details, then hopped back in his cart and drove off in haste, as if terrified Bai Xian might invite him inside.

With daylight left, Bai Xian took a cab back to her apartment. As a lifelong renter, she owned little. She kept only two old T-shirts from before her transition, discarding the rest. Carrying her laptop and a bundle of new clothes, she closed the door behind her, marking a final farewell to her old life.

…

Victoria Harbour

Villa 6, Zone 3

Bai Xian set down her luggage in a ground-floor bedroom, tucked her groceries into the refrigerator, then began inspecting her new home.

The villa was exquisitely decorated, just as Chen Xu had said. Appliances, furniture, and internet—all provided. A soft mattress sprawled over a two-meter bed, fresh bedding stacked unopened in the closet, a full set of pots and dishes in the kitchen—all arranged for immediate move-in.

Were it not for the yellow talismans pasted over every door, this would be a fine house indeed.

Yet despite such excellent conditions, a strange dampness marred every corner, a faint rot lingering in the air—the chill of “uninhabited” places, usually found in abandoned old buildings. For such a villa, it was unnatural.

When something is so amiss, there must be something supernatural at work.

On her first night, Bai Xian didn’t sleep in her room. Dressed in a loose old T-shirt and shorts from her previous life, bare-legged, she sprawled on the living room sofa, playing on her phone.

Night fell, and darkness crept across the villa. Streetlights outside glimmered like distant stars.

Throughout Zone 3, only Bai Xian’s living room showed a faint glow; everywhere else was shrouded in mist, eerie and foreboding.

After a while scrolling through videos, Bai Xian yawned, set down her phone, switched off the lights, and fell asleep as she was. Soon, her steady breathing filled the room. The world pressed pause—serene, yet tinged with unease.

At some unknown hour.

The floorboards upstairs creaked as if someone walked, the toilet flushed, the unplugged TV flickered with static, closed windows rattled without wind…

All these things happened so suddenly that anyone else would have fled in terror.

Yet none of it roused the sleeping girl on the sofa. She remained as she was.

The shadow lurking in the dark hadn’t expected someone to sleep so soundly.

Fine, then—I’ll have to take matters into my own hands.

Just as the fat ghost was about to make more noise to wake her, he suddenly realized—the girl had vanished from the sofa, leaving it empty.

“Hey, is it you haunting this villa and scaring people?”

The sudden voice at his ear startled the ghost so badly that even his spectral aura almost dissipated. He turned and found himself face to face with a glowing visage.

“Ah!”

The fat ghost let out a wretched screech.

A second look revealed it was only a girl, crouched in the corner, lighting her face with her phone’s flashlight.

Bai Xian rose slowly, a sly, victorious smile on her lips.

“So, you’re allowed to scare people, but I can’t scare you?”

The ghost was speechless, thick lines of frustration forming above his head.

Ghosts frightening the living was common enough—but people scaring ghosts? He’d never heard of such a thing.

But in the next second, as realization dawned, the ghost spun and tried to float upstairs.

Bai Xian whipped out a willow switch and, with a leap, lashed it across the ghost’s back.

Crack!

A hysterical wail pierced the air.

Unlike the vengeful spirits she’d dealt with before, this one was merely an ordinary ghost—no match at all for Bai Xian’s strike. He tumbled down the stairs, nearly dissipating on the spot.