From the side of the balcony, through the window, Su Qingyu discovered that this angle allowed her to see the window of the grey bedroom.
A blurred figure fell from the window of the grey bedroom.
"Splat!" It splattered into meat paste.
It turned out that all the strange noises coming from outside the window were the sounds of someone jumping off a building.
A blue and white school uniform repeatedly fell.
It turned out that her daughter was already dead.
Su Qingyu was suddenly overcome with grief.
After finishing her online class in the morning, Su Qingyu heard a cat's meow in her bedroom.
She saw the black cat damaging the lock on her bedroom door.
The lock, connected by tape, fell to the floor.
Su Qingyu angrily waved to drive away the black cat, which let out a "meow" and darted under the bed.
The black cat's stance had begun to change.
Su Qingyu noticed that the black cat was merely hiding under the bed, spying on her, its feline eyes filled with ferocity.
During lunch, her father held an empty wine bottle and said, "You have an exam tomorrow.
Dad cares a lot about your grades.
Although Dad loves you very much, you cannot be spoiled.
As long as you score sixty points, Dad will love you as always."
Due to the bribe of spirit money, her father's requirements for Su Qingyu were lowered to a passing grade.
However, the teacher required a score of ninety or above.
Students who did not score ninety or above needed to participate in a year-long tutoring program organized by the school.
This year-long tutoring program did not sound like a good thing.
Mom lowered her head and licked the plate, seemingly unconcerned about the grades.
"Thump!"
"Bang-thump!"
After lunch ended, that sound came from outside the balcony again.
This time, Su Qingyu perked up her ears and clearly heard two falling sounds.
The two sounds were very close together; the curtains were closed before, so she couldn't hear them.
Today, her younger brother opened the curtains, and Su Qingyu happened to be in the living room, hearing it all clearly!
The outside world was misty, and only the grey windowsill of her parents' bedroom was clearly visible.
It extended out lonely.
Previously, Grandma had sat on the balcony and personally witnessed her granddaughter's death each time.
Therefore, Grandma suffered the most contamination.
During the afternoon online class, the online class teacher's entire face was pressed against the camera lens.
Su Qingyu looked up at the camera.
Rough pores, chapped foundation.
Pitch-black eyes reflected the appearance of her daughter, who was studying with her head down, outside the camera's view.
"...Ka ka ka..."
The "sizzle" of electric current and the intermittent "ka ka" sounds from the teacher's lips pierced Su Qingyu's eardrums.
Su Qingyu covered her ears; those sounds would plunge her into chaos.
At night, the bedroom lock had completely fallen off. When blocking the door with a bench, one could feel a strong wind blowing into the room from outside.
The originally clean and soft bedding could no longer be used.
The quilt was filled with dense white insect eggs, and water dripped continuously from the ceiling.
On the floor, within a few steps, were stacked red cockroach egg sacs; stepping on one would crack its brittle shell, and over fifty milky-white, translucent baby cockroaches would emerge.
Everything in the room was rotting, except for the love letter on the bookshelf, which remained intact.
Su Qingyu simply sat on the bench blocking the door.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
After nightfall, the black cat emerged from under the bed.
The cat was scratching at the door, making sounds like a baby's crying, wanting to break out.
Mom heard the cat's meow and headbutted the bedroom door.
Su Qingyu swayed back and forth from the impact.
This state continued until dawn.
At six in the morning, all conflict abruptly stopped.
Su Qingyu gently touched the bedroom door, and the entire door collapsed with a roar.
Dad was putting Mom into a black garbage bag and dragging her out of the house.
Younger Brother, who had been lying on the balcony, ran into the bedroom upon seeing Su Qingyu emerge and took out a cute doll.
"Sister, this is for you."
Su Qingyu stroked her younger brother's head, even though it was covered in maggots, "What is this?"
Younger Brother lowered his head and admitted his mistake, "This is a doll that Older Brother asked me to give you. I hid it before and didn't give it to you.
I used to dislike Older Brother and thought he was a big bad guy. I secretly entered Sister's bedroom and hid under Sister's bed.
These past few days, Older Brother has been playing with me, and I've decided to accept Older Brother as a member of the family.
Oh, and Older Brother also said that the doll would stay with Sister in his place."
The doll's pitch-black glass eyeballs emitted a strange light.
Su Qingyu let out a cold smile and directly dug out the doll's eyeballs, pulling out the metal wires from the cotton along with them.
She went into the bedroom, squatted down, and threw the doll under the bed.
The black cat was licking its paws.
Upon seeing the doll, the black cat let out a piercing scream.
Su Qingyu pinched the black cat's scruff, the corners of her lips curving upwards.
"Are you Xiao Hei? Or the Peeping Tom?
Or perhaps, you are both?"
She questioned the black cat word by word.
The black cat fearfully retreated under the bed.
At this point, Su Qingyu finally understood the whole story.
It was love that forced her daughter to death.
Everyone's love was like a shackle, tightly binding her daughter and making her feel suffocated.
Mom loved her daughter; after her daughter reported the Peeping Tom incident to her, she contacted the teacher, and had her daughter take online classes at home.
Dad, having incurred huge debts from his work, placed immense hope on his daughter. He cared immensely about her grades, making his daughter feel oppressed and suffocated.
Her daughter left school, and not long after, the school reported a male student missing.
The missing person was none other than Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei loved her daughter, pretending to be a loving painter, a sunny and positive youth, and dating her daughter.
On the other hand, he also acted as the Peeping Tom, satisfying his inner darkness and keeping her daughter in a constant state of fear.
He was the one holding the knife, and he was also the one feigning to protect her daughter.
The photo album was always in Xiao Hei's hands.
Even the perspective of the daughter in Xiao Hei's paintings and the daughter in the Peeping Tom's photos were highly similar.
The selfie at the end of that photo album was nothing more than a clumsy attempt to cover up his tracks.
The "Peeping Tom" hidden in the bushes was Xiao Hei's accomplice, called to help him escape suspicion.
Xiao Hei was the Peeping Tom, and the Peeping Tom was Xiao Hei!
Moreover, after her daughter started studying at home, Xiao Hei even secretly infiltrated her room to spy on her life.
Until one day, while cleaning, Mom found a black hair in a crack on the floor.
Mom questioned her daughter if she had secretly kept a black cat.
Upon seeing the hair, her daughter suddenly realized something and jumped to her death from the windowsill of her parents' bedroom.
Xiao Hei discovered her daughter had jumped and ran out from under the bed.
Dad, thinking an intruder had entered, accidentally killed Xiao Hei.
After Xiao Hei's death, Dad dismembered him, hid the pieces under his daughter's bed, and then slowly transported them out of the house, piece by piece, in black garbage bags.
Mom tried to hide everything, so she desperately cleaned, preventing Xiao Hei's hair from falling into the floor cracks.
Meanwhile, Grandma, who was already frail and sickly, was sunbathing on the balcony. Witnessing her granddaughter commit suicide by jumping, she was stimulated and suffered a sudden cerebral infarction.
As for why there were loud noises with short intervals when falling from the balcony.
That was not an echo—
✦✦✦