The Gentleman at the End-Chapter 737 - 735: The House Owner and the Lady

"What did you call me?"

Grep froze for a moment, after all, it had been a very long time since anyone had addressed him this way. Listening to such a title did bring back some nostalgia, and he also had many things he wanted to clarify.

"I didn’t say anything, Mr. 71 must have heard wrong, right? It’s raining outside, let’s go in and talk."

The creaky, rust-covered door hinges screeched as they moved.

The wet umbrella was stored in an upright bin by the door,

Oddly, the interior of the villa felt more oppressive than its exterior suggested, nowhere near as spacious.

It was more like a Japanese villa, without an open hall—entering meant facing a straight entryway and stairs leading to the Second Floor.

At that moment,

a white-haired lady with a mask emerged from a room at the end of the hallway, wearing only a high-collared sweater. The hem of the sweater covered half of her thighs, making them appear long and pale.

"This is my lady, Jessica.

She suffers from a contagious disease and needs to wear a mask at all times. I hope Detective sir won’t mind. As long as you can help us find and remove the ’source of the peeping’ in the house, I am willing to pay five times or even more."

"All right."

Grep sized up the masked silver-haired lady, confirming that he had never seen her before. For some reason, the longer he looked at her, the more his teeth seemed to ache.

Under the white-haired lady’s guidance, they went to the living room to dine together.

However, as Grep took off his shoes and stepped onto the wooden floor of the entranceway, a sudden ’feeling of being watched’ struck him, and he quickly turned toward the stairs leading to the Second Floor.

He didn’t see any ghostly figures, but at the end of the staircase, he saw a spoon,

Though it was an Ordinary spoon, Grep felt as though his eyes were about to be scooped out. When he looked carefully, the smooth surface of the spoon reflected light, seemingly showing a black-haired woman covering her face on the Second Floor above the steps.

With a blink, the spoon had vanished.

An unease spread within him, yet the presence of William in front of him was more concerning to Grep, speculating more on the purpose behind William’s appearance.

Nevertheless, since William made no declaration, he continued to maintain his constructed identity as a detective.

The living room and the dining room were adjacent to each other, with the dining table full of lavish food.

Grep looked around carelessly, making sure there were no problems before he chose to sit down. He immediately noticed a strand of hair inside the sandwich in front of him.

However, the hair was black,

and neither the Master of the house played by William, nor his lady had that hair color. For Safety reasons, Grep chose not to eat for the time being, instead opting to chat with the two of them first.

"Speaking of which, is it just the two of you living here?"

"Indeed, my lady isn’t well, so we decided not to have children. We have lived here for decades, but strange things began occurring frequently starting three months ago.

I used to work as a technical consultant at a steel plant, not often at home, and my lady was the first to notice the problem.

She always felt like there was someone standing behind the shower curtain while she was bathing.

Initially, I thought it was just the stress due to the frequent reports of awful news, and she was getting a bit anxious being home alone, so I took leave to stay with her for a while.

But even I began to feel that same strangeness when I was at home.

During my showers, I too felt someone behind the curtain, and over time, the frequency of this sensation of being watched grew.

Under the bed, behind the wardrobe, the back of the couch, or on the windows.

Until one day, something truly went wrong."

The house Master played by ’William’ said this as he also invited the ’lady’ to sit down, and they began to recount the strange occurrences over a glass of fresh milk with cornflakes.

"Two weeks ago, I started sleeping badly due to a persistent feeling of being watched,"

"One morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I thought I’d go for a run to relax. Later, I happened to pass by a 24-hour fast-food restaurant, so I sat inside to rest and grabbed a bite to eat."

"When it was about 8 o’clock, I suddenly remembered the lady alone at home and wondered if she might be scared, so I called her."

As he said this, William, looking every bit the considerate husband, tightly grasped the back of his wife’s hand.

"From the other end of the phone came a trembling voice. The lady said I was sleeping next to her, lying on my side, face unseen..."

Hearing this, I rushed home as fast as I could.

But by the time I got there, the lady had already fainted from fright. When she came to, her spirits were continually unstable, so I quit my job to stay with her at home."

"Why not move out?"

"This has already been our third home, and even when we were in the hospital room, the feeling of being watched never vanished. The thing that is watching us isn’t inhabiting a particular house, but stalking the two of us.

We’ve tried many methods to no avail.

A few days ago, I came across your information in the corner of an ordinary newspaper and thought I’d give it a shot. Unfortunately, when I came to visit, you didn’t respond, and the door wasn’t locked.

So I took the liberty of leaving a letter on the table, locked the door for you, and left."

After finishing, William also bit into a sandwich, which seemed to have a black hair sticking out of it.

Grep noticed but said nothing, "Alright, I’ve got a general idea. Today I’ll conduct a full-house inspection for you. If nothing turns up, we’ll consider other options."

Just as Grep was preparing to stand up for the inspection,

Slam! His arm was suddenly pressed down hard by William sitting across the table, the force so great that it made his arm ache.

William wore a chilling smile, "Mr. 71, don’t you like the food my wife prepared? You seem to have not eaten a single bite."

"I’m not much for breakfast. An empty stomach and a bottle of whiskey help clear my mind, making my investigation more effective. If it’s alright, I can take the food to go and have it as a midnight snack later?"

With that, Grep placed the bottle of whiskey the taxi driver had given him on the table, and William slowly let go.

"I see, I don’t know you well enough... Drinking on an empty stomach isn’t good on the guts, and it greatly increases the risk of gastrointestinal cancer, not to mention ordinary gastrointestinal diseases, which can make your body smell."

Grep spread his hands, "Living long enough in a city like this is enough; there’s no need to live too long. Once I’m sure I have cancer, I’ll head straight to a tall building to experience the sensation of falling while drunk, to see if I can drop directly into that wine-steeped hell."

"Mr. 71, you are truly interesting. It’s no wonder God gifted you with such an ’Eye.’ The rest of the time, feel free to search any area of the house; there are no limitations. If you have any problems, call us anytime."

"Then I’ll start with the Second Floor."

Grep left the dining room, pausing for a moment in the entrance hall.

His ’Third Eye’ suddenly opened at the center of his forehead, peering through the walls to observe William and his wife eating,

William wasn’t using utensils but was eating with his hands.

The lady sat beside him, cutting the food with a knife and fork, stuffing it into her mouth from under a face mask, chewing slowly and deliberately,

This stark contrast created a slightly eerie scene,

but considering William as the Master of the house, who had given up a well-paying job to stay home with his wife, bearing the psychological pressure of being watched, it was somewhat understandable.

"What in the world is William up to, calling out my name but still continuing to act? Is he trying to communicate something through the act, or is he deliberately testing me?

He’s getting more cunning..."

While Grep was Thinking, he had already stepped onto the stairway to the Second Floor, but before he could fully ascend,

Giggle, giggle, giggle~

A series of low, hoarse bubbling sounds came from the Deep of the throat, emanating from above, as if someone was about to crawl out from around the corner of the stairs.