Phantom Skeleton Painting

骷髅幻戏图

phantom-skeleton-painting

Room 1303 (4) Part 1

After a night of torment, Ji Leshui's mental state was at its limit. Lin Banxia was worried and wanted to go with him to meet the agent, but Ji Leshui refused.


 "You don't have to come with me, I can go alone. You didn't sleep all night either, you should find a place to rest." Ji Leshui, having changed his clothes, said to Lin Banxia while holding the keys, "But don't sleep here. I'm worried something might happen to you at home alone."


 "I'm fine," Lin Banxia said. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"


 "No need." Ji Leshui forced a smile, but it was so unsightly it would have been better if he hadn't smiled at all. "I'm a grown man. It's one thing to be scared at night, but am I supposed to be scared during the day too?" He put the apartment key in his pocket, nodded at Lin Banxia, and turned to leave.


 Lin Banxia watched his retreating back with a complicated expression. He had invited Ji Leshui to live with him out of kindness, thinking he could help his friend save two thousand yuan in rent each month. Who would have thought something like this would happen just a few days after he moved in.


 It was an overcast day, with a chilly wind blowing, devoid of any early spring warmth.


 The trees in the residential complex were evergreens and quite lush, but for some reason, the shade they cast exuded a shivering coldness. At first glance, the entire complex looked like a faded old photograph, making one feel very uncomfortable.


 After Ji Leshui left, Lin Banxia re-examined the glass window. It was perfectly clean, without a single trace of blood, as if everything that happened last night was just Lin Banxia's hallucination.


 Lin Banxia stared at the window for a while but couldn't spot anything unusual. His stomach happened to be growling again, so he turned and went into the kitchen to cook some noodles to fill his stomach.


 After finishing the noodles, he sat on the sofa to take a nap. In a half-asleep state, he heard his phone ring.


 He picked it up and saw that it was a call from Ji Leshui.


 "Hello, Leshui?" Lin Banxia said. "What's wrong?"


 Ji Leshui's voice was hoarse, filled with deep despair. He said, "Banxia, get out of that apartment right now. Don't live there anymore. That place isn't fit for people to live in."


 Lin Banxia asked, "What's wrong?"


 "I went out and met with the agent, and I asked about the situation in that complex," Ji Leshui said. "He said that no one lives in that complex!!!"


 "No one lives there? What do you mean?" Lin Banxia didn't understand.


 "The agent said that the cemeteries around here are too expensive, so some rich people buy up a few buildings in a new residential complex specifically to store funeral urns. The complex you bought isn't big to begin with, the location is remote, and it's near the mountains and water, so several buildings were bought up..." As Ji Leshui spoke, his voice began to tremble uncontrollably. "No wonder there's no one upstairs or downstairs from us. It turns out the apartments are all filled with funeral urns. We're... we're the only two living people there."


 Lin Banxia was stunned too. He had wondered if something had happened in this apartment for it to be so cheap, but the contract clearly stated that he could demand compensation if it was a "haunted house." However, he never imagined that while the apartment itself wasn't haunted, all his neighbors were living tombs filled with funeral urns.


 "I'm looking at apartments right now," Ji Leshui said in a low voice. "Once I find one, you should move out of there..." After saying that, he hung up the phone.


 Lin Banxia stared at the dark screen, silent for a long while. He scanned the living room but didn't feel anything strange. Aside from being a bit cold, it was just an ordinary living room. But could it really be as Ji Leshui said, that this place was uninhabitable? Lin Banxia pondered for a long time, then suddenly remembered something. He grabbed his keys, turned around, and went out the door.


 Lin Banxia walked a few steps down the hallway and stopped in front of the neighboring apartment's door. He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and knocked.


 Knock, knock, knock. The crisp sound of knocking echoed in the hallway, but the door didn't open.


 Lin Banxia was a little disappointed. A few days ago, he had seen a family move in next door. Although he hadn't seen the owner in person, this door had definitely been opened by someone. Could it be that the owner wasn't home, or perhaps they hadn't moved in yet and just came by occasionally to check on things?


 With this in mind, Lin Banxia knocked a few more times. To his surprise, just as his hand touched the door, he heard a soft creak, and the door in front of him opened.


 Lin Banxia initially thought the owner had opened the door for him, but looking through the gap, he saw no one.


 "Is anyone there?" he called out hesitantly. Lin Banxia pulled the handle, opening the door before him, and he saw the outermost living room.


 The living room was empty, without even a television. It only had a simple table, chairs, and a sofa, even more spartan than Lin Banxia's own place. Because there were so few things, Lin Banxia immediately noticed the strange objects placed in the corner of the living room. There were many black boxes of various sizes, arranged neatly in the corner like building blocks. Some were standing upright, others lying down, all in neat rows. And to the far left of the boxes stood a woman in red with her back to Lin Banxia. She was wearing a bright red ancient wedding gown and an exaggerated Phoenix Coronet, looking extremely bizarre.


 "Hello, your door wasn't closed," Lin Banxia called into the room, trying to get the owner's attention.


 The owner remained unresponsive to Lin Banxia's voice, her back still to him.


 "Hello?" Lin Banxia found it strange. "Can you hear me?"


 No response.


 Wondering if something had happened, Lin Banxia hesitated for a moment before stepping into the apartment. He called out loudly as he walked, but no matter what he said, the woman in front of him with her back turned gave no reaction whatsoever.


 Lin Banxia had a faint, uneasy feeling. When he got behind the woman, he raised his hand and gently tapped her shoulder, saying, "Miss, are you... alright?"


 The woman didn't speak.


 Lin Banxia leaned closer, trying to see the woman's face. However, just as he stretched his head forward, he heard a crisp crack. The woman's head fell right off her neck and rolled to Lin Banxia's feet with a thud. The woman's face was heavily made up, her lips curved in a stiff arc, and her lifeless eyes met Lin Banxia's gaze.


 Lin Banxia was stunned for three seconds before he realized what had happened. But those three seconds were enough for him to see clearly that the head at his feet was not a human head, but that of a Plastic Female Mannequin. The mannequin looked incredibly realistic, almost identical to a human at first glance. When its head fell off, the beautiful Phoenix Coronet clattered to the floor, and its long, thick black hair spread across the floor in front of him like a spiderweb.


 Lin Banxia stared at the head at his feet for a moment, then bent down to pick it up. However, just as his fingertips touched its skin, a soft yet cold voice came from the doorway: "What are you doing?"


 Lin Banxia looked up and saw the man he had briefly met in the elevator before.


 Today, he wasn't carrying a black box and had changed out of that black trench coat, but his complexion was still not good, pale without a trace of color. He tilted his head, staring at Lin Banxia, his voice as light as a breeze: "What are you doing?" As he spoke, he casually tossed what was in his hand into his side pocket. Lin Banxia noticed they seemed to be two dice.


 "Sorry!!" Lin Banxia immediately straightened up and explained, "I saw that your door wasn't closed... I thought something might have happened, so I came in to have a look."


 The man looked at Lin Banxia, his gaze also strange, as if he were both sizing him up and evaluating him. Lin Banxia, being in the wrong, didn't dare to speak, and so the atmosphere remained silent for a minute.


 After a minute, the man spoke again, but his words confused Lin Banxia. The man said, "After entering this room, is there nothing you want to do?"


 Lin Banxia was baffled. "What is there that I'd want to do?"


 The man furrowed his handsome brows and suddenly strode right up to Lin Banxia, so close that their noses were almost touching. Lin Banxia was startled and didn't dare to breathe, simply staring wide-eyed at the man. At such a close distance, he could almost see every single one of the man's eyelashes, and his eyes seemed different from an ordinary person's—so dark that the patterns of his pupils were indistinct, like a deep, black sea.


 The two stared at each other for a moment before the man took a step back and crossed his arms. "You saw this mannequin, right?"


 Lin Banxia said, "Ah...? Ye-yes, I saw it."


 The man said, "Is there nothing you want to do?"


 Lin Banxia was baffled. "Do? Do what?"


 The man didn't answer, asking instead, "You live next door, right?"


 Lin Banxia said, "Yes..."


 The man asked, "How long have you lived here?"


 Lin Banxia said, "A week."


 The man asked, "When are you planning to move out?"


 The question was truly bizarre. Lin Banxia said, "I'm not planning to move out..."


 The man said, "Why not move out?"


 Lin Banxia thought for a moment and said, "For some sad reasons."


 The man fell silent for a moment upon hearing this, perhaps thinking Lin Banxia had some touching story. A hint of warmth entered his voice, "What sad reasons?"


 Lin Banxia mournfully uttered a single word: "Poverty."


 The man: "..."


 Lin Banxia: "..."


 An awkward silence spread between the two of them.


 Just as Lin Banxia was thinking about whether he should take his leave, the man finally spoke. He said, "That reason... is indeed sad enough."


 Lin Banxia's eyes grew slightly moist. 'Is there anything more terrifying in this world than being poor?' he thought. 'At present, it seems not.'


 Perhaps not wanting the sadness to linger, the man changed the subject: "Did you come looking for me for something?"


 Lin Banxia said, "Oh, something seems a bit off with my apartment. Is yours the same?"


 The man asked, "What's off about it?"


 Lin Banxia said, "My roommate says it's haunted."


 The man said, "I don't believe in ghosts or gods."


 Lin Banxia gave a wry smile. "Right."


 "However," the man said, "you're interesting. Perhaps I can treat you to a meal and listen carefully to what's going on." As he spoke, he extended a hand to Lin Banxia. "Song Qingluo."


 So that was the man's name. Qingluo, Qingluo, it seemed quite fated with Banxia. Lin Banxia smiled and took his outstretched hand. "Lin Banxia."


 Song Qingluo was a strange person. You could tell from his apartment and the way he spoke. He said he would treat Lin Banxia to a meal, and the next moment he went straight into the kitchen, telling Lin Banxia to make himself at home in the living room.


 It was Lin Banxia's first time in someone else's home, and he didn't want to seem too casual, so he sat stiffly on the sofa and looked around again. The head of the Plastic Female Mannequin that had suddenly fallen off earlier was still lying quietly on the floor, staring up at him. He wasn't sure if he was mistaken, but while the mannequin's expression had been smiling a moment ago, its lips were now turned down in a dead, gloomy frown.


 He met its gaze for a while before bending down, picking up the mannequin's head, and carefully placing it in the corner of the sofa. He then sat on the other side. With nothing to do on the sofa, his eyes began to seriously survey the living room.


 The large and small boxes placed in the living room took up almost the entire space. One box was very close to Lin Banxia, so he tentatively reached out and lightly touched its outer surface. He immediately frowned, a look of confusion on his face. The surface of the box looked like wood at first glance, but it was very soft to the touch, almost like... human skin.


 'What on earth could be inside a box like this?' Lin Banxia was thinking when he suddenly heard a faint sound. He looked up and realized the sound was coming from a cabinet near the connection between the living room and the balcony. The sound was faint but somewhat grating. If he had to describe it, it was like someone was inside the cabinet, scratching the door with sharp nails.


 The sound was continuous, making it impossible for Lin Banxia to ignore. He sat on the sofa listening for a few minutes before he couldn't take it anymore and got up to go to the kitchen.


 The kitchen door was made of frosted glass and was locked from the inside. Lin Banxia could only hear the sound of stir-frying coming from within. He raised his hand and knocked on the glass door, but there was no answer. Lin Banxia called out again, "Mr. Song?"


 "What?" Song Qingluo's voice was very quiet.


 "There seems to be something in your wardrobe," Lin Banxia said loudly. "Do you want to come out and take a look?"


 Song Qingluo said something, but it was too muffled for Lin Banxia to hear clearly. When he asked again, there was no longer any response from inside.


 Meanwhile, the sounds from the wardrobe in the living room were getting more and more exaggerated, creaking and scratching as if trying to tear the door to pieces.

Phantom Skeleton Painting

Phantom Skeleton Painting

Chapter 4 - Room 1303 (4) Part 1

VermilionInk