Possession (2) Part 1

I have to say, Song Qingluo's pale, glowing face suddenly appearing at night was genuinely a bit scary. Lin Banxia helped the limp Ji Leshui up and greeted Song Qingluo, tilting his head back.

"Mr. Song, what are you doing up there?" Lin Banxia called out.

Song Qingluo said, "Catching ghosts."

Lin Banxia said, "Didn't you say there are no ghosts?"

Song Qingluo was expressionless. "Just kidding. I'm trespassing."

Lin Banxia: "..." You might as well be catching ghosts. At least that's not against the law.

Ji Leshui was quite frightened, his legs still weak. Lin Banxia had wanted to say a few more words to Song Qingluo, but saw him wave his hand, signaling him to take Ji Leshui back first. Lin Banxia nodded, supported Ji Leshui, and returned along the small path.

Ji Leshui's face was pale with fear. Only after they arrived at Song Qingluo's home did the tense expression on his face relax. He sat on the simple sofa, hugging a cushion, and said that although the big shot's home looked gloomy at first glance, he felt a sense of security as soon as he entered, as if some unseen force, some instinct, told him this house was safe.

"Then you should get some rest," Lin Banxia said. "I'll head back now."

"Go on, go on." Ji Leshui didn't try to make him stay.

Lin Banxia returned to his apartment, took a quick shower, and sat on the sofa to watch TV. His mind was on Liu Xi's situation, and he was somewhat distracted.

Around eleven o'clock at night, Song Qingluo came back. He saw Lin Banxia upon entering and greeted him softly.

"Mr. Song," Lin Banxia called out.

"Just call me by my name," Song Qingluo said. "What's wrong?"

"There's something I'd like to ask your advice on," Lin Banxia said.

Song Qingluo sat down beside him and tilted his chin up slightly, motioning for him to speak.

Lin Banxia asked, "Do you think dead people can still move?"

Song Qingluo said, "It depends." As he spoke, he slowly rubbed the pad of his thumb, as if there was something unpleasant on it.

Lin Banxia thought for a moment, then carefully told Song Qingluo what had happened at his workplace. It wasn't that he didn't want to warn Liu Xi, but if he said something like this, he'd be lucky not to be considered mentally ill.

Song Qingluo listened casually at first, but he perked up when Lin Banxia mentioned the person behind the woman climbing onto her back. He raised his eyes and said, "Can you contact her?"

Lin Banxia asked, "Who? That woman?"

Song Qingluo: "Yes."

Lin Banxia said, "I definitely can't contact her directly, but the funeral parlor should have her phone number. I'm not sure if they have her address..."

Song Qingluo said, "The phone number is enough."

Lin Banxia said, "I'll look for it tomorrow. But what about my colleague?"

Song Qingluo said, "Just observe for now, don't alert the target. Give me the phone number. If there's really a problem, I'll deal with it as soon as possible."

Hearing him say this, Lin Banxia felt much more at ease and nodded.

The next day at work, Lin Banxia went to the funeral parlor and got the woman's phone number from an acquaintance. It was then that he learned the woman's name was Cheng Yuliu, and she lived nearby.

After getting the number, Lin Banxia sent it to Song Qingluo.

When he arrived at work, Lin Banxia saw Liu Xi sauntering in late. He had expected Liu Xi to look unwell, but to his surprise, Liu Xi was in high spirits, his face full of excitement, completely devoid of the haggard and depressed look from the past few days.

Lin Banxia asked tentatively, "Yo, why are you so happy today? Did something good happen?"

Liu Xi glanced at Lin Banxia, a hint of wariness and faint hostility in his eyes. He said coldly, "Nothing good happened," and turned away, ignoring Lin Banxia.

Lin Banxia was stunned. It was the first time he'd seen this attitude from Liu Xi. He couldn't figure out why. Was it because of the message he sent him yesterday?

That afternoon, Lin Banxia and Liu Xi went out on a job. They went to a nearby railway to retrieve a body that had been run over by a train. Usually, such bodies were not a pretty sight, but then again, if the body were intact, it wouldn't be their job to handle it.

Liu Xi was in a good mood all day, but he was unwilling to speak to Lin Banxia. He just grinned while holding his phone, looking at something.

Lin Banxia tried to ask him something several times, but was rebuffed with a bad attitude each time. After a few tries, Lin Banxia had no choice but to give up. Liu Xi's state made Lin Banxia feel deeply uneasy. In the afternoon, Lin Banxia finally found a colleague and asked what was wrong with Liu Xi.

"He didn't tell you?" The colleague was very surprised to hear Lin Banxia's question. After all, Liu Xi and Lin Banxia usually had the best relationship, so logically he should have been the first to know.

"No," Lin Banxia shook his head.

"He won the lottery," the colleague said. "He was even showing it off on his Moments this morning. After taxes, it's still several hundred thousand. He was smiling at noon saying he was going to treat everyone, but you happened to be away..."

Lin Banxia asked, "When did he win?"

The colleague replied, "Just last night."

Lin Banxia: "..."

The colleague asked, "Why do you look so pale?" He misunderstood something and patted Lin Banxia's shoulder, saying, "Don't take it to heart. Now that he's got the prize money, he probably won't be working here for much longer... There's no point in being friends with someone like that."

Lin Banxia said, "Okay."

On duty late that night, the usually listless Liu Xi was full of energy, sitting in the office and humming happily. Lin Banxia wanted to say something several times but held his tongue, ultimately saying nothing. Just before their shift ended, Lin Banxia finally said tactfully, "Liu Xi, did you really not run into anything yesterday?"

Liu Xi glanced at him and said bluntly, "No."

Lin Banxia was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "That woman... there's something wrong with her. You shouldn't get too close to her."

Liu Xi scoffed, ignored Lin Banxia, picked up his jacket, and left.

Lin Banxia watched his back, falling into silence.

Other colleagues overheard their conversation and came over to comfort Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia shook his head to show he was fine. He truly didn't take Liu Xi's words to heart; rather, he was worried that Liu Xi had been influenced by that woman. With this in mind, Lin Banxia went into the changing room to change out of his work uniform, planning to head home.

However, when he left the changing room and returned to the office, he was shocked to see that Liu Xi had actually come back. He was sitting in the same spot as before, looking down at something.

Lin Banxia was a bit surprised by his return. He walked over to Liu Xi's side, about to ask a question, when he suddenly noticed something. This Liu Xi seemed slightly different from the one who had just left. His height and build were similar to Liu Xi's, and he was wearing all black, sitting quietly in the chair like a rigid puppet. Lin Banxia pretended to tie his shoelace, crouching down, and caught a glimpse of 'Liu Xi's' lowered face in his peripheral vision. The face was as pale as a corpse's. His eyes were open, but there were no black pupils, only a ghastly white expanse of sclera.

If an ordinary person had seen this, they probably would have screamed on the spot. Fortunately, it was Lin Banxia, so he just calmly withdrew his gaze, stood up, and walked out as if nothing had happened.

In the deep of the night, Lin Banxia went home alone.

He got off work early today, so it was only three in the morning when he got home. He thought Song Qingluo would already be asleep, but when he opened the door, he saw him sitting in the room watching TV.

After entering, Lin Banxia asked curiously, "Aren't you going to sleep?"

Song Qingluo said, "I am, but there was something I needed to do, so I was waiting for you to get back."

Lin Banxia said, "Is it about that woman? I have something to tell you too—" He had been a bit tired, but now he was instantly energized, attentively recounting Liu Xi's situation to Song Qingluo.

After listening, Song Qingluo nodded and said, "I've arranged to meet Cheng Yuliu tomorrow."

"She agreed?" Lin Banxia was slightly surprised.

"Yes," Song Qingluo said. "Do you want to come with me?"

Lin Banxia hesitated. "Can I be of any help if I go?"

Song Qingluo said, "Perhaps."

"Then I'll go," Lin Banxia agreed. He also wanted to figure out what exactly was happening.

The meeting was scheduled for the afternoon, so Lin Banxia could still catch some more rest. He took a quick shower and went to bed.

The closet was also quite restless today, the sounds even a little louder than usual. However, Lin Banxia was already exhausted and completely unfazed by the commotion. He closed his eyes, kicked out his legs, and slept like the dead. The constantly rattling closet, like a resentful wife with an incompetent husband, opened and closed again and again several times. In the end, it annoyed Song Qingluo in the living room, who said coldly, "If you keep making a fuss, I'll help him pay off his mortgage."

The room fell silent in a second. It even considerately closed the window for Song Qingluo.

Lin Banxia slept comfortably and dreamlessly through the night. When he woke up the next day, it was already noon. He had a simple lunch with Song Qingluo, and the two of them set out on time.

The place Song Qingluo had arranged to meet the woman was a park not far from their residence.

The weather today was average, and the park wasn't crowded. Lin Banxia casually remarked, "This is a great place to talk, much better than a coffee shop."

Song Qingluo asked, "How is it better?"

Lin Banxia answered seriously, "It's free."

Song Qingluo: "..." He said nothing, but quietly went to the park entrance, bought three grilled sausages for Lin Banxia, and a bottle of Coca Cola for himself.

Lin Banxia's mood soared as he ate the sausages, but deep down, he was still a little sad, thinking, 'I could have been very happy, but my mortgage ruined it all.'

After that, the two of them sat quietly in the park waiting, one holding sausages and the other drinking Coke. The atmosphere was very harmonious.

Lin Banxia had finished two sausages and was about to start on the third when he noticed a figure approaching from the distance. He looked closely and saw it was the woman named Cheng Yuliu, whom he had seen at the funeral parlor. Compared to a few days ago, her appearance had become even more terrifying. There was almost no flesh left on her face, only a thin layer of skin. Her eye sockets were deeply sunken, making her look like a skeleton at first glance. A single look was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

And the thing that had been on her shoulder was now almost fused with her, leaving only some limbs that splayed out behind her like spider legs. Its head had also melted away for the most part, leaving only a pair of ghastly white eyes that sinisterly surveyed the surroundings from her shoulder.

From Lin Banxia's perspective, this could no longer be considered human.