The Geometry Inn

At the Geometry Inn

Just as we had arranged, I and five other classmates—all fellow members of the Spirit Investigation Society—gathered punctually at seven in the evening before the door of a dilapidated building.

“So this is the Geometry Inn, the one with the reputation as the fastest-ever haunted house of doom?” one of the boys said. Hearing this, the girl beside me edged a little closer to my side.

“Well put—this is the Geometry Inn,” the upperclassman, who I gathered was the head of the Investigation Division, nodded. “But before anything else, let’s introduce ourselves. After all, this is the first outing for you freshmen.” He glanced around at us and went on: “I’ll start. I’m Xia Yiyan, a junior, head of the Investigation Division of the Spirit Investigation Society. Now please introduce yourselves in clockwise order.”

“My name is Fan Wenyuan, a first-year freshman, and I’m really into the supernatural!” This was the boy who’d just mentioned the fastest-ever haunted house. His voice was bursting with enthusiasm.

“I’m Lin Muxian, a first-year freshman. Pleased to meet you all,” I said briefly.

“I’m Jiang Yuwei, also a first-year.” This girl beside me had been my close friend since high school; we’d gone on to the same university together, and I’d talked her into joining the Spirit Investigation Society with me.

“I’m Wu Ji. I’m a sophomore, but I just joined the club.” This boy did indeed look a bit more mature.

“My name is He Ping, also a freshman. Looking forward to working with you all.” said the boy with glasses.

Once we had all finished, Xia Yiyan began describing the place vividly: “The place we’re going to explore today is the so-called ‘fastest-ever haunted house of doom,’ the Geometry Inn. That nickname comes from the fact that someone died inside it a mere three days after it opened for business. The inn declined rapidly after that, and before long it closed for good. And because the structure here is so peculiar, no one was willing to take it over—so it has stood abandoned ever since.”

“Peculiar structure? Peculiar how?” Fan Wenyuan asked impatiently. Hearing this, Xia Yiyan gave a little smile and said, “Well, we won’t keep you in suspense—let’s go into the lobby first and take a look.”

Our party filed in one after another, entering the inn through the front door. The moment I stepped inside, I began to understand why this inn was called the Geometry Inn—the lobby was a room in the shape of an equilateral triangle, with sides that looked to be about six meters long. The front door we’d entered by was on one of the sides; the other two sides were the front desk and the door leading deeper into the inn.

Xia Yiyan walked over near the front desk and fished out a big bunch of keys from behind it. He gripped the keys in his hand, letting only the toothed ends show.

“Before we go further, to ensure your safety while you investigate here, the other club old-timers and I have already made a trip and looked the place over from top to bottom. You can rest assured—there’s nothing too dangerous, so long as you don’t trip and fall from scaring yourselves. What I’m holding are the keys to every door in the whole inn,” Xia Yiyan said, drawing one out from his hand as he spoke. “Apart from this one, which is used to open the door to the inner hall, the other five each correspond to one room. For the sake of fairness, you’ll draw them at random—how about it?”

“Captain, why do we even need to draw? Is there some difference between the rooms?” asked the boy who I believe was called Fan Wenyuan.

“Also… which room is the one where someone… died?” Jiang Yuwei asked timidly, leaning into me again at the same time.

Xia Yiyan did not answer, but instead asked the group: “You really don’t know, any of you?”

Seeing everyone shake their heads, Xia Yiyan gave a soft chuckle and said, “That’s just as well—the experience will be more thrilling for you. Ha ha…”

Seeing the looks of disdain on all our faces, Xia Yiyan grew a little awkward, cleared his throat, and began to explain: “The reason it’s called the Geometry Inn is that the layout here is rather special—every room is a regular polygon. To be precise, there are in total six regular-polygon rooms with equal side lengths, and in the middle they enclose a regular hexagonal common hall—seven rooms in all. The six surrounding rooms are, respectively, the regular triangle through the regular octagon. The front-desk lobby we’re standing in now is the equilateral-triangle room. And apart from this one, the other five rooms are all guest rooms.

“From a construction standpoint this place is actually quite well made—the walls have excellent sound and heat insulation, and every wall is of the same thickness throughout. We measured earlier: the side length of each room, seen from inside, is five meters.

“By rights the doorway of each room should have a nameplate marking the room’s number, but because of the passage of time, all the nameplates are damaged. In other words, in a moment you’ll need to try inserting your key into the keyhole of each door one by one to find out whether it opens, and only then can you finally confirm which room is yours. The numbers on the keys, however, are still all clearly legible. Oh—the number corresponds to the number of sides of the room.

“As for which room someone died in—I’d better not tell you, or whoever draws that key will be under a great deal of psychological pressure, and the others would have things relatively too easy by comparison.”

Having finished, Xia Yiyan looked around at all of us and watched us quietly. We looked at one another; a tense atmosphere had already been conjured up during the recitation of the rules, just like playing some eerie rules-based ghost story.

“Captain, can’t you give us a hint? Otherwise it’s really too scary…” Jiang Yuwei’s voice trembled slightly.

“Ah, so it goes…” Xia Yiyan scratched his head, thought for a moment, let out a long sigh, and said reluctantly, “All right, since it’s your first outing, I’ll make an exception—the number of the room where the incident happened is even.”

Even. If the room numbers run from 4 to 8, that still leaves three of them. Xia Yiyan held the key shafts engraved with the numbers in his fist, letting only the irregular, patternless teeth show, and had us draw. “Come on, everyone take one.”

One by one we lined up; each of us drew a key, then nervously inched our fingers along so the number would reveal itself bit by bit. Mine was number 8—not exactly safe. But then it isn’t dangerous to begin with.

“Aah!” The cry from Jiang Yuwei beside me gave me quite a start. No need to guess—she must have drawn an even number; she’s always been a coward. “Hey, hey,” she poked me, “what number did you get?”

“I got number 8—no use swapping with me,” I declared firmly, with a pout.

“Aww…” came her dejected voice.

“Um, Jiang, how about you swap with me? I’ve got number 5.” The bespectacled boy who I believe was called He Ping had walked over. I hadn’t expected this guy to be so chivalrous.

“You jerk—why wouldn’t you swap when I asked you!” came Fan Wenyuan’s furious voice. “You value love over friendship!” He Ping turned around and stuck out his tongue at Fan Wenyuan: “Number 4 is just too unlucky—it sounds more like the room where the incident happened, doesn’t it? You’d better toughen up too. Next time, after watching a horror movie, don’t lie awake all night again, rolling around and making the bed creak.” “Shut up!” It seemed these two were roommates.

Wu Ji also came over to me. “I’ve got number 7—how about I swap with you?” “No thanks, I’ll respect the result of the draw. That way the experience is a bit more intense, too.” I smilingly declined Wu Ji’s kind offer.

Into the Inn

After the key-swapping incident was over, Xia Yiyan, with great ceremony, slowly pushed open the door leading to the common hall. “Who wants to go in first?” The few of us looked at one another; no one made a sound. Seeing us all shrink back, the captain grew a little awkward, too. “How about one of you boys steps up first? There’s only one sophomore here, right—Wu Ji, why don’t you give it a try?”

“No, no…” Wu Ji hurriedly waved his hands and took two steps back. “I’m a coward—there’s no way I want to be the first to go in.” Honestly—a coward, and yet he still joined the Spirit Investigation Society?

Just then, Fan Wenyuan raised his hand. “How about I go first?”

“Good, good—our society needs a brave soul like you!” Xia Yiyan encouraged him, then went on: “The old club rule: keep an eye on the time, come back out within fifteen minutes, and in the meantime enjoy your solo spirit-investigation journey. The number 4 key is in Fan Wenyuan’s hands, right?” Fan Wenyuan stepped forward with a tense expression. “Good luck!”

The five of us watched Fan Wenyuan walk in, trembling. Then Xia Yiyan shut the door, and we could hardly hear any sound from inside at all.

For the remaining fifteen minutes the five of us had nothing to do. Fan Wenyuan seemed to have vanished completely into the depths of the inn; not a trace came back to us. From this we could already tell how deathly silent it would be once we went in. Perhaps you could even hear the echo of your own heartbeat clearly.

The fifteen minutes passed in our chatter—in fact, it was only fourteen minutes before Fan Wenyuan came out. When he pushed open the door, it even startled us. Xia Yiyan smiled and patted Fan Wenyuan on the shoulder: “The vanguard who led the charge returns safely! Care to share?”

Fan Wenyuan described it eagerly and vividly: “It’s really quiet in there! And so dark—I could only see things with my flashlight. And it’s all run-down; the room is full of spiderwebs.”

“Did you see anything strange in the room, like blood?” He Ping asked jokingly.

“Nothing like that. I looked very carefully—I turned over every corner, though I did spend quite a while steeling myself before opening the first cabinet.”

“Did you have any trouble getting in?” I asked as well.

“The door was fine—I just had to try two doors before one opened. The door has a keyhole and a handle. If you insert the wrong key into the hole, it won’t turn; if it does turn, there’s a click, and then the handle can be pressed down to open the door. The handle mechanism and all that are quite smooth. I also tried the handle and keyhole of every room door—and indeed none of them could be opened directly; if you haven’t inserted the correct key, the key won’t turn and the handle can’t be pressed down.”

The next to volunteer to go in was He Ping, who had swapped with Jiang Yuwei for the number 6 room key. The rest of us chatted idly outside to pass the time. But compared with Fan Wenyuan, who had already come out, and Captain Xia Yiyan, those of us who hadn’t yet gone in were even more nervous.

He Ping used up almost the full fifteen minutes before he came out. When we asked what had happened inside, he merely shrugged and said, “The room was pretty dark and old, but there was nothing special, really. About the same as what Fan Wenyuan said—except that the room I entered was a regular hexagon.”

I was about to go in next. But Jiang Yuwei called out to me: “Mu-mu, I feel like the longer I wait the scarier it gets… I’m right in the middle of the order now—do you think I should just go now?” She had a point, too; it was rare for this girl to look so bold for once, so I decided to encourage her. “True—good luck!” When Jiang Yuwei raised her hand, Xia Yiyan’s eyes even widened a little, then he smiled and encouraged her, too: “Very good—I’m counting on you!” So the next to go in was Jiang Yuwei. Before going in she clung tightly to my shoulder. I gave her a hug and comforted her: “If anything happens, just run out early—don’t push yourself. And besides, the room you’re going to isn’t one where anyone died, so don’t worry too much.” Jiang Yuwei wore an expression on the verge of tears, but she gritted her teeth and walked in. As Xia Yiyan shut the door, Jiang Yuwei too disappeared into the depths of the inn.

In about seven or eight minutes, Jiang Yuwei came back. The instant she saw us, she let out a heavy breath, as if a great stone in her heart had finally dropped to the ground. “There really wasn’t anything dangerous inside, but I kept feeling as if someone somewhere was watching me—it was pretty scary!”

“That’s just you scaring yourself,” I said disdainfully. Jiang Yuwei smacked me. “It is not. Oh—my experience opening the door after I went in was the same as what Fan Wenyuan said. I tried the first room, and the key really wouldn’t turn; the second one turned. The room inside was a regular-pentagon layout—quite odd, really. I investigated very thoroughly!” In fact, judging by the time, she must have huddled at the doorway without investigating at all, until she scared herself past the point of bearing it, and then ran out.

Blood for Blood

Now only Wu Ji and I were left. I had just raised my hand when Wu Ji’s hand went up too. “Lin Muxian, I think… I’m a guy, so I should go first—otherwise it’d be too embarrassing.” “Not at all—being afraid is only human. Good luck!” To Wu Ji’s sudden burst of courage, I responded with encouragement, too. Wu Ji, holding the number 7 key, walked into the depths of the inn. Sigh—why did the closing slot have to fall to me? The tension of going last is by no means less than going first. But strangely, after fifteen minutes had passed, there was still no sign of Wu Ji coming out. “Why hasn’t Wu Ji come out yet?” Jiang Yuwei had noticed it too.

Fan Wenyuan said, “Maybe the room is bigger and harder to finish searching. After all, I went into the square room, while he went into the regular heptagon.” That said—would they really comb through every corner the way an anti-smuggling team would?

Another five minutes passed, and Wu Ji still hadn’t come out. None of us could hide the worry on our faces. Xia Yiyan said, “Let’s go in together and take a look—has something happened?”

Xia Yiyan pushed open the door, and the dim, run-down interior came into full view, though you could still faintly make out the once-careful decoration. The door of the room directly opposite stood open by a crack—what was going on?

Five flashlights shone over at once. We all rushed toward the door opposite. Xia Yiyan was just about to push the door when He Ping suddenly called out to him: “Stop!”

Xia Yiyan was startled and looked at He Ping in puzzlement. He Ping waved his flashlight around the door handle, and only then did we notice what looked like bloodstains on the handle. This might be evidence from the scene, so Xia Yiyan didn’t touch the handle again; instead he carefully kicked the door open with his foot. Inside, Wu Ji already lay there, his face full of pain, unconscious.

On the floor beside Wu Ji was a note, on which was scrawled in crooked handwriting: “Wu Ji—blood for blood.”

Xia Yiyan went up and felt the carotid artery, then pulled back Wu Ji’s eyelid and shone the flashlight at it, then said to us regretfully, “Call the police. Wu Ji is probably already dead.”

To be safe, we dialed both 110 and 120 at the same time, and while we waited we all stayed at the doorway and didn’t touch anything else inside the inn. Soon the police took over the scene. Wu Ji was confirmed dead. On the handle of the door to room 7, the police found a razor blade stuck to it; on the blade they detected a powerful poison, lethal even if only a little entered the bloodstream. But contrary to Jiang Yuwei’s feeling that someone seemed to be watching her, no one besides us was found at the scene of the inn. Nor was any exit to the outside found inside the inn other than the triangular front desk, and there was no secret passage of any kind.

Naturally, we were all taken back to give statements. My suspicion was the least, because before Wu Ji died I had never gone into the inn at all, and so had had no opportunity to install the blade. The others were released one after another as well; it seemed the police had gotten nothing out of them. Xia Yiyan was questioned the longest—perhaps they were trying to learn more about the situation from him? In the end he too was released. Of everything everyone had said at the Geometry Inn, all of it that could be judged true or false through examination of the scene was confirmed true by the police investigating the scene. In other words, no one had lied. On everyone’s face was a mixture of solemnity and fear.

The autopsy results came out. The only wound on Wu Ji’s body was on his hand; the deadly poison on the blade was the direct cause of death.

The police had the handwriting on the note examined. The writer had apparently deliberately disguised their handwriting, and the writer of the note could not be identified. The police also investigated Wu Ji’s life to see whether he had any enemies, but found only that he lived an ordinary life, with simple interpersonal relationships, did not associate with people from broader society, and spent most of his free time online.

That night, back in the dormitory, I still couldn’t stop thinking about the incident from the evening. “Muxian, will you come with me to buy a late-night snack?” Jiang Yuwei poked me. She probably didn’t even dare go out alone now. I wanted to clear my head, too, so I went out with her.

“Hey,” something suddenly occurred to me, and I asked, “which room did you open this evening, again?” “Why are you still thinking about that? Let’s not bring it up, please.” “Tell me quickly, or I’ll run straight back to the dorm right now and leave you here alone.” “Don’t, don’t—why do you have to threaten me over this too? It was the second room on the right—I had the number 5 room.”

Suddenly I began to have a thread to follow. Sitting at the late-night-snack stall, shoveling stir-fried rice noodles into my mouth, the shadow of that evening’s case gradually grew clear in my mind.