48 Hours a Day

Chapter 330 Eye

When the wall in front of him melted away, Zhang Heng stepped across the plants and walked directly into Tian Tian’s room. The bubblegum pink wall then started patching up again, gradually returning to its original form. Zhang Heng found the light switch on the right. He flipped it on, and looked around. He was also surprised to see that Tian Tian wasn’t in bed.

In fact, there was no one in the whole room. The quilt on the bed remained undone. However, a pair of slippers were by the bed. Zhang Heng frowned. Tian Tian should be sleeping at this hour. It would be impossible for a little girl her age to go out on her own. Surely, her family would disallow it, and there was also no way to climb out of the window since security grills guarded it. After looking around, he decided to check on the bed and wardrobe in the room. These two places were the only possible hiding spots that a little kid could hide in.

Zhang Heng first opened the wardrobe. He found children’s clothing, sheets, and quilts in it. The Disney schoolbag he gave Tian Tian yesterday was in there as well. Squatting down, he pinned his cheeks as close as possible to the floor, peeking under the bed. This time he finally found something.

The ‘missing’ Tian Tian was hiding under the bed. Her body was curled up into a ball at the furthest corner, her expression looking a little frightened. Zhang Heng also noticed that her eyes were wide open, which meant her eyes weren’t closed when the hour hand pointed at 12.

What was she afraid of?

Why did she have to hide here?

Was something about to appear in her room tonight?

Zhang Heng had a feeling that he was very close to the answer, so he stood up, checking his surroundings to see if he could spot any suspicious items. He decided to start with the wardrobe. He found two storage boxes, where one contained Tian Tian’s kindergarten certificate and a couple of art pieces she had made. The other one mainly stored toys, including Barbie dolls and bears. These objects seemed to be fine, judging by their appearance.

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He moved to the desk after that. On it were some stationery, textbooks, and toys for girls. Zhang Heng then noticed a Winnie the Pooh notebook. After replacing Tian Tian’s old workbook, she had begun to doodle in this notebook instead.

Her first piece was about her grandfather getting hit by a drip stand in the hospital. According to the previous pattern, her second painting should appear tomorrow. When Zhang Heng opened the notebook, he saw a new picture that had hadn’t seen before. It seemed to have been done recently, where a little girl was hiding under the bed looking very frightened. If he was right, this little girl should be Tian Tian herself, and the thing in front of her seemed to be… an eye?

Could this have been the object that had been wreaking disaster to her family?

Zhang Heng sensed a trace of evil in that eye, or at least in Tian Tian’s eyes; this thing was evil. The next step had become much simpler, though. He only needed to locate the eye, and the frequent accidents that had strangely befallen Tian Tian’s family could be solved.

The painting did not specify when the next accident would take place, and he could not rule out if the evil creature were already in the room. If that were the case, then he would have to find a way to install a hidden camera, waiting for 24 hours until the true identity of the evil being was revealed.

He seemed to be in luck tonight. It took him less than an hour to locate the object.

It was a peculiar little ornament made out of unusual stone and was about a fifth of the weight of ordinary gems. Other than that, it retained its natural shape, except for a small hole drilled at its end. It could be made into a necklace, bracelet, or keychain. At the face of the stone, a red-colored eye was engraved. The strange thing was that no matter which angle it was looked at, the eye seemed to be staring at its looker.

Zhang Heng found the peculiar object under Tian Tian’s pillow, and it perfectly matched the eye that Tian Tian drew on the book. It also seemed to be quite old. So, to be safe, Zhang Heng did not touch the “eye” with his hands, knowing that it might be cursed. Instead, he tore two pieces of paper from the notebook, wrapped it up, and put it in his pocket.

At this point, the matter should have come to an end. As long as the frequent mishaps stopped happening to Tian Tian’s family, and she stayed away from the source of the curse, her mental health should gradually improve with the therapy she was getting.

Zhang Heng spent another four hours scanning Tian Tian’s entire house. After making sure that there were no more suspicious objects, he left the house through the front door.

The time was 00:45, and 45 minutes had passed since the end of Zhang Heng’s extra 24 hours. Instead of going home, he stood by the roadside, wearing a mask and hoodie, staring at the KTV that was opposite him.

This was the address given to him by the bartender. A drunk man in a suit hugged two voluptuous ladies as he walked out from the place, a wide plastered across his face. He then hopped into a rented car and went straight to a hotel. With the four burly guards standing outside the entrance, Zhang Heng could probably guess the nature of this establishment.

That said, after several anti-prostitution operations, KTVs like this had tried to stay out of trouble. The women who worked there were only allowed to accompany their customers to drink. At least no one dared to make any deals here. Once they left, however, they were free to make whatever deals with whoever they wanted to.

Men frequently fancied socializing, and no matter which city, places like this frequently enjoyed good business. Of course, their customers weren’t focussing on the singing bit. Just like the Sex and the City bar, places like this were excellent masquerades as game checkpoints.

Zhang Heng kept his mask on as he walked over to the KTV. His appearance immediately attracted the attention of the four bouncers. The muscular man who seemed to be their leader stepped forward. However, instead of stopping Zhang Heng, they quickly retreated after seeing that he had no intention to stop. Zhang Heng entered the KTV, passed the counter in the lobby, and headed to private room 2306. This time, though, the two gorgeous ladies in bunny costumes gestured to stop Zhang Heng from entering the room.

They both had professional smiles and judging by their exposed arms and thighs; it was obvious that they had been trained by the system. This reminded Zhang Heng of the two men with shades guarding the iron ladder on the first floor of Sex and the City. If the security guards outside were hired by the KTV, then these two beauties were obviously related to the gaming committee.

Zhang Heng then showed them his player number on his arm. One of the ladies smiled and moved aside.

“I wish you a pleasant gaming experience tonight,” said the lady in a sweet voice.