Chapter 8: The Haunted House Story
At this point, Liu Feifei paused and looked at Fang Xiaocao, her expression hesitant as if she had more to say but was unsure.
Having parked the car by the roadside, Fang Xiaocao, who was happily munching on popcorn like an eager spectator, noticed Liu Feifei stopping and quickly urged, “And then? What happened next?”
Liu Feifei hesitated for a moment before asking, “Xiaocao, are you sure you want to hear this?”
As an experienced real estate agent, Liu Feifei could already predict that once this story was told, Fang Xiaocao’s desire to buy the house would drop to zero.
“Yes, yes! I want to hear it!”
Fang Xiaocao nodded enthusiastically, like a little chick pecking at rice.
“Alright then…”
Liu Feifei sighed and continued.
“A neighbor who was close to the couple curiously asked the husband where his wife had gone.”
“The husband simply replied that she had returned to her hometown.”
“Hearing this explanation, the neighbor didn’t press further—it was, after all, their private family matter.”
“It wasn’t until a year later, when the neighbor adopted a retired police dog, that the mystery of the wife’s disappearance was finally uncovered.”
At this point, Liu Feifei paused.
Fang Xiaocao, perceptive as ever, immediately handed over a bottle of water.
Liu Feifei unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and continued, “That afternoon, the neighbor was walking the police dog home. As they passed the villa, the dog suddenly froze, sniffed the air, and began barking furiously at the house. It even broke free from the leash and leapt into the villa’s yard, frantically digging at the soil, which was covered in blooming rose bushes.”
“Its paws were soon covered in blood, staining the soil red, yet it refused to stop.”
“Seeing this, the neighbor realized something was terribly wrong. He rushed home, grabbed a shovel, and started digging alongside the dog.”
“Until…”
“They unearthed… a human leg bone beneath the roses!”
Liu Feifei took a deep breath, drank another sip of water, and steadied herself.
Fang Xiaocao felt a chill run down her spine, already imagining countless murder scenarios.
“A… a murder case?” she asked, trembling.
Liu Feifei shook her head, her expression complex.
“I told you, more than one person died. It’s not just a simple murder case,” she said in an eerie tone.
Fang Xiaocao shuddered.
“Then… then what is it?” she stammered.
Seeing her pale, frightened face, Liu Feifei smiled mysteriously.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
She placed the water bottle down and continued in a low voice, “After finding the leg bone, the neighbor was terrified. He finally understood why the usually gentle police dog had suddenly become so agitated.”
“That dog had been trained to search for human remains during its service, making it extremely sensitive to the scent of corpses.”
“After the neighbor reported the discovery, the local police immediately escalated the case to the city bureau. A forensic team and a criminal investigation team were dispatched to the scene. They also brought in the husband for questioning.”
“The forensic team dug up a total of fifteen bodies beneath the rose garden.”
“The oldest body dated back two years. It showed clear signs of cooking—except for the head, the entire corpse had been boiled. The leg bones and ribs had deep, uneven bite marks.”
“Through facial reconstruction and DNA analysis, the results revealed that the remains belonged to…”
Liu Feifei paused again and looked at Fang Xiaocao.
“It… it was the wife?” Fang Xiaocao stammered, barely able to get the words out.
Liu Feifei smiled and shook her head.
Taking a deep breath, she said in a chilling tone, “The DNA results and facial reconstruction matched the husband.”
“Oh my god!”
Fang Xiaocao let out a horrified scream.
“How… how could it be the husband? Wasn’t he still alive?”
Her eyes widened in shock.
Liu Feifei gave a bitter smile.
“Yes, that’s what everyone thought. No one expected that the husband had actually been dead for two years…”
“The moment the news broke, the neighbor who discovered the bodies fainted on the spot. To this day, he’s still in a psychiatric hospital.”
“And the strangest part?” Liu Feifei sighed.
“The person who had been living in the villa as the husband for the past two years mysteriously vanished after the case was exposed.”
“To this day, they’ve never been found. The case remains unsolved.”
“That’s why this luxurious villa became infamous as a haunted house—no one dares to buy it.”
“Some even say the real husband’s ghost still lingers in the house.”
At this point, Fang Xiaocao had curled up in the driver’s seat, trembling in fear.
Liu Feifei sighed and shook her head.
“Xiaocao, maybe you should consider a different property.”
But to her surprise, Fang Xiaocao shook her head firmly.
“No, I want this villa.”
“If I can uncover its secret, then it won’t be a haunted house anymore.”
“If there’s no ghost story, then it’s not a haunted house!” she declared stubbornly.
Liu Feifei sighed in resignation.
“Fine, shall we go for a viewing then?”
“No rush, you haven’t finished the story yet,” Fang Xiaocao said.
“What happened to the wife?”
“And who were the other fourteen victims?”
She refused to let the story go unfinished.
“The wife’s body was never found. She vanished without a trace—neither dead nor alive.”
“Some speculate that she was the first victim and had been completely eaten by the killer.”
“Others believe that the ‘husband’ who lived in the villa for two years was actually the wife in disguise.”
“The theory goes that she killed her husband, dismembered him, cooked the flesh, ate it, and buried the bones beneath the roses. Then she underwent plastic surgery to look like him.”
“After the case was exposed, she reverted to her original identity and disappeared without a trace.”
“But the police investigated this theory. The wife’s identification documents and records had gone silent two years before the crime. They were never used again.”
“As for the other fourteen victims, they died the same way as the husband. DNA testing and missing person reports matched them to individuals who had disappeared over those two years in Tang City.”
This time, Liu Feifei didn’t leave any suspense. She laid out all the facts she knew.
Fang Xiaocao was frozen in shock.
What kind of monstrous killer could eat more than a dozen people over two years…
This was even more horrifying than any news report.
Ding-dong!
Just then, Fang Xiaocao’s phone rang.
The sudden notification startled her so much that she nearly dropped it.
Steadying herself, she glanced at the screen.
It was a WeChat message.
Seeing this, she quickly opened it.
[Hot Noodles: So, did you enjoy the story?]
[Hot Noodles: Want to know the truth?]
(End of Chapter 8)
