My Sister Never Said She Was a Creepy Tale - Chapter 1

“You have a takeout order; the delivery rider has arrived.” The cold, robotic female voice echoed throughout the shop. After the announcement, the crisp wind chime at the entrance jingled loudly, and a figure wearing a light yellow vest appeared in the doorway.

The woman humming a tune in the kitchen heard the sound of the door. She awkwardly fastened the takeout bag she was holding and looked at the person standing stiffly at the entrance with a smile: “Yo, Yue Yiyue, running so late tonight?”

The boss seemed unusually enthusiastic tonight. Yue Yiyue  uncomfortably shifted her gaze to the large ‘No Smoking’ sign nearby, trying hard to force out an awkward smile, attempting to greet the woman like the colleagues she had seen before: “Good evening, Sis.”

After a pause, she added, “The delivery fee for this one is 100 yuan.”

The slender woman in the kitchen, wearing a rustic floral apron, subconsciously looked up at the shrine beside her, then turned back to look meaningfully at Yue Yiyue.

This gaze gave Yue Yiyue  a sudden chill, but it lasted only a moment.

The boss tapped the counter, humming an unknown song. As she moved, the friction of her sweater against the apron made rustling sounds that echoed in the small shop.

Yue Yiyue  recalled a scene from a horror novel she had recently read: a late-night takeout order, the rider intercepted by a guard, and finally becoming a wandering spirit in the residential area…

On the other side, the boss noticed Yue Yiyue’s  gaze. Her attractive face blurred slightly before Yue Yiyue: “By the way, you mentioned before that you always receive inexplicable messages and feel like you’re being watched, right?”

The woman fumbled inside her clothing for a moment and tossed out a small object wrapped in black cloth.

Yue Yiyue  awkwardly reached out with both hands, catching the weighty object that landed in her palms. She looked at the woman before her with some bewilderment.

Had she mentioned that?

Perhaps she had.

After all, she had been receiving those inexplicable text messages lately, things like: Don’t leave me, don’t hate her, she’s trying hard. Blocking the number didn’t work either. It felt like an endless prank.

Maybe she had unintentionally mentioned this annoying experience to the other person, especially since her memory had been fragmented ever since she had that accident last year.

“It’s good stuff, go on now.” Seeing Yue Yiyue’s  momentarily flustered expression, the boss cheerfully pushed the takeout forward: “Don’t be late; it’s a hassle to compensate for that.”

Yue Yiyue quietly said “thank you,” picked up the takeout, and headed outside.

After placing the takeout into the insulated box outside, she stood still for a moment, hesitating.

Another huala-la sound of the door opening rang out. Following her action, a bright red bill was placed on the counter.

The woman, who had already sat back down at the register to smoke, raised an eyebrow at Yue Yiyue. She slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and her expression was blurred by the mist.

Yue Yiyue couldn’t see her expression, merely standing there in a daze. She thought that the boss was too beautiful to be in a place like this; she should be kept at home…

The click of a lighter sounded. The woman mumbled something while toying with the object in her hand, then waved her hand: “Fine, it’s all about the same.”

Yue Yiyue  didn’t hear the rest of the sentence; she simply bowed politely. The moment she raised her head, she suddenly felt a warm breath on the back of her neck. She froze for a moment, carefully touched her own neck, and added, “Let me know if it’s not enough.”

Another huala-la sound, and the person in the yellow vest had already quickly mounted her bike and sped away.

As Yue Yiyue  left, the restaurant lights flickered and gradually dimmed to a sickly yellow. The woman’s half-closed eyes stared at the money on the table. She then carefully pinched the spot Yue Yiyue  had touched, feeling the lingering warmth on the paper. Her tongue pressed against her back molars, seemingly suppressing some unspeakable emotion.

After a long while, a soft whisper came from inside the room: “I told you she was good. You will surely try every way possible to get her, just like me, won’t you?”

A faint red light flashed in the pitch-black shrine.

The wind picked up, causing the wind chimes to sway. However, the shop remained eerily quiet.

The motorcycle sped along the road. The weather was a bit cold, and Yue Yiyue, who had just thrown on two sweaters, regretted not putting on another layer.

She rode the bike expressionlessly, calculating in her mind: aside from that one hundred yuan, she still had one thousand seven hundred sixty-nine yuan and seven cents. She would buy herself a thicker jacket on PXX (Pinduoduo/a popular e-commerce site) and check TaoX (Taobao/another e-commerce site) for a good cotton coat for Aunt Zhang, who was hospitalized. Next month, she also needed to get some school supplies for her younger sisters, so she would ask the aunties at the orphanage. Yes, she also had to save some money for gas for the bike.

The night was heavy, and she continuously passed dimly lit streetlights. The chilly wind whistled into Yue Yiyue’s collar, raising goosebumps.

This particular order truly paid well, but the resident’s home was quite far away. However, this was a well-known wealthy district. She had heard from colleagues during breaks that if you were quick when delivering here, you could get a small tip—sometimes dozens, sometimes hundreds…

Yue Yiyue had worked hard for a month just to snatch this single order.

Thinking of this, Yue Yiyue  twisted the throttle tighter.

Yet, the further she rode towards the edge of the city, the more desolate the surroundings became. Even the trees, with their gnarled, claw-like branches, looked overly frightening, inappropriately reminding Yue Yiyue  of the horror novel she was reading.

She constantly sped through various intersections. Thankfully, there was a black car ahead of her traveling the same way, proceeding towards the destination one after the other.

Upon reaching her destination, Yue Yiyue  removed her helmet and took the takeout from the box. She placed the back of her hand against the bag to check the temperature. Phew, the expensive insulated box is quite good.

Checking the time, she prayed that the security guard wouldn’t be too strict, as many guards in these wealthy communities were reluctant to let outsiders in.

Catching a glimpse of the interior of the residential area from the corner of her eye, Yue Yiyue  sensed something was wrong.

It was too dark inside. Pitch black. All she could see were tall trees and small patches of light cast by the moon filtering through the gaps. The guard in the security booth at the gate had his head down, seemingly half-asleep.

This setting made Yue Yiyue  feel uneasy. The scene resembled one of her previous nightmares: her, delivering food to a certain neighborhood, and then being ‘picked up’ and taken home by a certain beautiful person…

Recalling that blood-soaked dream, Yue Yiyue shook her head, trying to dismiss the memory and telling herself not to overthink things. She just needed to focus on the task at hand. She only needed to deliver the takeout, greet the guard, and if she couldn’t enter, call the customer.

Just as she was about to approach, the black car beside her honked. The guard instinctively pressed the gate-opening button, and a loudspeaker simultaneously announced: “Esteemed Resident YY-10Y12, welcome home—”

With this sound, the pedestrian gate let out a grating, screeching sound. The old, trembling gate, jarringly out of place in this modern community, slowly opened, quietly waiting for pedestrians to pass through.

“Thank you, you’ve worked hard.” Yue Yiyue  politely thanked him and hurried inside.

The lights behind her flickered. The person in the guard booth stood up stiffly, robotically repeating, “Welcome home…”

This delivery was much smoother than she had anticipated. Yue Yiyue  mused that after she returned home and washed up, she could still read her novel for twenty minutes. She had been eagerly awaiting tonight’s plot! Her namesake cannon fodder was about to face judgment! The female lead, Gu Nanqiu, would finally realize that this two-faced woman had almost killed her multiple times! How gratifying!

Thinking of this, Yue Yiyue’s  steps became noticeably lighter.

However, the most important thing right now was to deliver the food. Yue Yiyue  carefully checked the building number of the community, afraid of going the wrong way.

The entire community was dim, perhaps due to broken bulbs or a power outage. None of the streetlights on either side were lit. Looking up at the floors, they were also pitch black, with only an occasional faint red glow, suggesting lit candles.

All of this felt strangely familiar, as if Yue Yiyue  had been here before.

Several knife-wielding figures flashed through her mind, but Yue Yiyue  was distracted by the sound of a heavy object dropping in the distance before she could fully react. The night was too dark; she didn’t see clearly. Perhaps the wind had blown something down.

After rationalizing all the surrounding oddities, Yue Yiyue  took out her old cellphone, switched it to flashlight mode, and muttered to herself, “Building Three, Building Three—”

“Young lady, Building Three is over there.” A friendly voice suddenly came from a nearby patch of grass. Yue Yiyue  turned her head and saw an older woman sitting on the fitness equipment, stretching her legs. Noticing the item in Yue Yiyue’s  hand, the woman said, “Hurry up and go; don’t make the customer wait too long.”

The woman then turned her head and continued stretching, murmuring softly, “The security guards aren’t on duty late at night. How did this person get in?”

Yue Yiyue  looked curiously towards the entrance she had just used and saw a slow-moving figure.

That feeling of unease she had felt at the entrance returned. If it were a normal day, she would have turned around and left. But today, she remembered the hundred yuan delivery fee…

Thinking of the hospitalized Aunt Zhang and the look of anticipation on her sisters’ faces for new school books, she gritted her teeth and headed towards the elevator.

Ding-dong—

The empty elevator machinery opened its doors, and a sweet male voice rang out: “Welcome home, Esteemed Resident—”

Yue Yiyue  confirmed it was the ascending elevator before stepping inside. She pressed the button for the 18th floor, which lit up. The elevator slowly ascended, the machinery’s operation letting out a grating sound, as if chewing on something.

Yue Yiyue  confirmed the floor again, then looked up listlessly at the looping advertisement on the elevator screen.

As her peripheral vision scanned the mirror reflection of the elevator door, a trace of confusion flashed in Yue Yiyue’s  eyes. Was there someone in the elevator just now?

The silver elevator door twisted for a moment. This time, Yue Yiyue  clearly saw the person behind her. She was wearing a blue, not unfamiliar, security uniform… But the person’s head was not that of an ordinary human.

Instead, it was a large fish head, with strands of reddish, blood-stained intestines draped over it, seemingly peeled from something recently, with fragments of skin tissue still attached. Blood slid down the fish head onto the uniform, then dripped onto the floor, drop by drop.

The dark, beady eyes on the fish head rolled around once, finally staring intently at Yue Yiyue . The light pink fish lips, which changed shape as the gills on both sides contracted and expanded, contorted into a smile. Yet, as if restrained by some taboo, it did not move to strike inside the elevator.

In an instant, she felt as if she had plummeted into an ice cavern. Her mind went blank, fixed on the elevator door. Through the reflection, she desperately confirmed whether she had been mistaken.

Ding—

It felt as though a century had passed, yet it was only a few seconds. The floor finally arrived, and the sweet female voice sounded. Yue Yiyue did not hesitate, rushing out of the elevator immediately.

She did not dare to look back. The book said that one has three flames on their shoulders and must never look back. She could not let the entity know that she could see it. She had to pretend that nothing unusual was happening.

The hallway light was on. Besides that, there was only one door slightly ajar. The owner of the door seemed to have been waiting for a long time, leaning against the door against the light. Her face was obscured by a mask, but her brows and eyes alone indicated she was an exceptionally beautiful woman.

The sound of the elevator door opening came from behind again, and the sweet, mechanical male voice repeated its broadcast.

Yue Yiyue  swallowed, quickened her pace, and rushed to the woman’s side. She pushed the woman inside without regard for anything else, saying quickly, “I apologize for being late. I wish you a pleasant meal—”

She then abruptly slammed the door shut.

Outside, heavy footsteps paced back and forth, accompanied by heavy breathing, and the sharp, nauseating, and spine-chilling sound of pointed fingernails scraping against the wall.

It didn’t forcibly break down the door. Thank goodness.

Yue Yiyue  felt a joy of narrow escape. She controlled the trembling in her fingertips and handed over the takeout box: “I’m sorry, it seems like something was following—”

“Mm, I know.” Before she could finish her sentence, Yue Yiyue  was grasped by the hand. Next to her ear, she heard the rustling sound of a sweater brushing against something. This reminded Yue Yiyue  of the woman who had been smoking beneath the ‘No Smoking’ sign in the restaurant.

Only a dim light illuminated the entryway, falling on the woman’s face. Yue Yiyue looked up dazedly at the woman’s obscure expression before her, feeling as if she had seen her somewhere.

Yet, the strange feeling filling her heart made Yue Yiyue  confused. Why did she feel happy?

It was like a person who had wandered lost in a dry desert for a long time finding a clear spring. Her heart was leaping, cheering. Before she could analyze the current situation, she heard the woman whisper: “Welcome home—”

“Welcome home, Baby.”