C20 Non-human

"Good evening."

Maria walked out from the room. She was still wearing the same outfit she'd seen us in for the first time, a long black dress with a high collar and a velvet jacket. He was wearing a lace glove.

"I'll go make a pot of tea."

Lina and I sat in the living room. I lowered my voice and said to Lina in Chinese, "Didn't you notice anything unusual about this apartment?"

Lina looked around, and nodded: "It seems like it's been a long time since I last cleaned up my house, it's all dust."

The entire living room was covered in dust, from toys to furniture. Only the piece of cloth in the middle of the sofa was clearly clean. This piece was much whiter than the rest of the couch, and not a speck of dust could be seen on it. The marks were very neat, as if someone had been sitting in the same position for a long time. Could a person sit in the same position on the sofa for years without moving for a whole day?

"There's one more thing that's strange." I whispered in Chinese.

"What?"

"She doesn't have a mirror."

Maria's home was a typical 1920 American Baroque decor. As far as anyone with the slightest knowledge of history knew, baroque decorations had been popular on the continent since 1670, when Americans were mostly farm bumpkins, and it was not until after the Second Industrial Revolution that the American nouveau riche introduced the style and it took another ten years to get from the East Coast to the West Bank.

Baroque interior decoration, in addition to complex patterns and furniture carving, the biggest feature is the use of mirror refraction to make the room look more hierarchical. Baroque buildings have mirrors on the walls, three or four of them are normal, a dozen of them are not surprising.

I could even make out several awkward gaps in the wall of the living room, all marked by a ring of mirrors.

"Maybe they don't like looking in the mirror." Lina stuck out her tongue.

There was no modern equipment in the living room, no matter if it was a phone, TV, or even a radio. Could it be that Maria's only entertainment was to sit motionlessly on the sofa in a daze?

Just as he was thinking, Maria took out a pot of hot water from the kitchen. Alpha followed behind him with two teacups and two tea bags in his hands.

"Maria, we were just sitting for a while before we left. There is no need to go through all that trouble." Lina said.

Maria slowly revealed a strange smile on his face. "Please drink some tea."

She put the tea bag in the cup.

"Maria, I saw your letter downstairs in the security room, so I brought it up for you," I quickly took out the letter from Johnson's bag. Letter from H:

"From the XX Trust Company, with Johnson as the client. H, the beneficiary is you, Johnson. This name is so familiar, the 610 former tenants that you told Lina about migrating to Australia overnight without a trace of news, is their name Johnson too? Are they the same people? "

Maria was pouring tea, his face expressionless.

Lina also looked at me with incomparable shock, then looked at Maria.

"No."

Maria popped out a emotionless word from his throat. It was the same as the first time I saw her, a hoarse voice with a weird tone.

"You're lying."

"They are the same person, and he is Johnson. Harkes, he never went to Australia! You tricked him into marrying you! It caused him to leave the building in a nightmare! You even got hold of his weakness, and used it to threaten him, every month for over ten years, to send you a huge cheque! " I shouted.

I don't know if Johnson has ever been to Australia, but he's definitely alive, because the moment he dies, the living trust will automatically terminate.

As for Maria grabbing onto his weakness, this is the most reasonable conjecture I can think of. I have to act as if I already know everything.

Silence.

"Oh my god!" Lina shouted in shock.

Almost at the same time, I realized that Lina's shouts were not because of what I had said, but because, from the moment I had spoken until now, Maria was still pouring tea.

She held the teapot in one hand and the teacup in the other. When she had just boiled the hot water, it had already overflowed the teacup and poured into her hand. This process lasted for at least one minute, until all the water in the teapot had been poured out.

Maria's hand was under the 100 degrees of boiling water for a minute.

And she didn't react at all, as if the hand wasn't hers.

The hand with the lace glove, apart from dragging the teacup, made no movement at all.

Lina snatched the kettle away and pulled Maria's hand: "Are you alright? I'll get the ice bags! " She got up and ran into the kitchen.

At that moment, Maria slowly raised his head and looked at me.

Slowly, his mouth opened, and on his wrinkled face, a strange smile appeared.

"You, what, what, Du, no, know, say."

A sharp tone, a voice without any emotions, jumped out from Maria's mouth one word at a time.

"Lei, what should we do, her family … "No refrigerator …" Lina came out of the kitchen and looked at me fearfully.

Maria was still standing in front of the table as she slowly took off her gloves. Beneath the glove was a shriveled hand covered in wrinkles. On the surface of the hand, there were dozens of big and small, transparent blisters.

I suddenly realized that Maria's fingers did not have nails.

"Hurry up and go, Maria... Grandmother, she's tired. "

Alpha hugged Lina and didn't let her move forward. His voice was as beautiful as always, but I could hear the begging in his voice:

"Let's go, okay?"

I don't know how Lina and I got out of the 608, but when we walked back after crashing into each other in the pitch-black corridor, Lina was also terrified.

When we got home, Lina made coffee for us both. When she passed the cup to me, her hands were still shaking.

"This is already a severe burn, do we really not need to send ice bags over? Do you want to call an ambulance? " Lina muttered to herself.

I didn't answer, and I couldn't figure out how it was possible for a person to let the boiling water soak him for so long without any reaction.

"Lei, how do you know that Johnson is the same person?" After a long while, Lina asked me.

"I called the trust company."

"You actually went to investigate Maria? It's illegal for you to do that... "

"That's not the point, Lina, can't you tell that Maria is weird? For a normal person to be scalded with boiling water for one minute without any reaction? " I pulled Lina back. "Can we move out?"

Lina hesitated.

"But, but she didn't do anything to hurt us either … Besides, we've used up all our savings, so where can we find a house in such a short time? "

"Lina, you must believe me. Recently, I have been having strange nightmares and I suspect that the previous Johnson is the same as me.

"What nightmare?"

"..."

I was speechless. I didn't dare to tell Lina that my nightmares came from my deepest fears and lies towards her. I didn't dare to say that I dreamed that our child was a monster.

"... Anyway, let's move out, okay? I really feel that Maria is very strange. I think she's going to hurt us. "

"What kind of nightmare did you have?" Lina did not let go of this topic.

"... I forgot. " I turned my head away, not daring to look at her again, because I caught a glimpse of disappointment in her eyes as I answered.

"… …." I'll think about it. " Lina released my hand.

"Uh, go to sleep first. I still have a report to write."

I can't sleep until I move out. I don't know what awaits me when I fall asleep.

Lina ignored me and returned to her room.

I made a big pot of coffee. I hadn't slept for two days so far, and I kept pinching my thighs and face. I felt like if I didn't, I could fall asleep in the next second.

The entire mansion was quiet, not a single sound could be heard. As my eyes and mine struggled, I heard a familiar voice.

"Wuu …" "Wuuu..."

Was Lina crying? In a daze, I got up and walked to the bedroom.

The light in the bedroom wasn't turned on, so Lina, wearing her pajamas, stood with her back facing me.

"Darling, what's wrong?"

"Our child, look at our child... Why isn't he crying? " Lina turned around with an infant in her arms and walked towards me.

"Look, look at him …"

I leaned my head over.

Suddenly, I felt a piercing pain on my face. I looked up abruptly and found that I had already opened the door, walking out of the corridor.

At my feet was the stray cat.

"Meow!" The stray cat meowed, and I touched my face, my hand bleeding.

It was it that saved me, so I almost fell asleep. In such a short time, I had already traveled so far.

He gave me two swipes at the face with his paw in the nick of time.

The stray cat, seeing that I was awake, turned and took two steps to the other side of the corridor, then looked back at me.

It seemed to be a little sad.

It disappeared in the direction of apartment 608.

I hastily returned home, but Lina was still sleeping, it was 6 o'clock. It was already dawn.

I took out the one with Johnson's name on it. The address of H.