It had to be said that Song Qingluo’s pale white face suddenly appearing at night, was really a bit scary. Lin Banxia helped the limp Ji Leshui up, raised his head and greeted Song Qingluo.
“Mr. Song, what are you doing there?” Lin Banxia shouted.
Song Qingluo said: “Catching ghosts.”
Lin Banxia said: “Didn’t you say there are no ghosts?”
Song Qingluo said expressionlessly: “I’m just kidding, I’m trespassing illegally.”
Lin Banxia: “…” You might as well catch ghosts. At least catching ghosts is not illegal.
Ji Leshui was so frightened that his feet were still weak at the moment. Lin Banxia originally wanted to say a few words to Song Qingluo but saw Song Qingluo waving his hand, indicating that he should take Ji Leshui back first. Lin Banxia nodded, supported Ji Leshui, and went back along the path.
Ji Leshui’s face was filled with palpitations, and it wasn’t until he arrived at Song Qingluo’s home that the tense expression on his face relaxed. He sat on the simple sofa, hugging pillows, and said that although the boss’s house seemed gloomy at first glance, he felt a sense of security as soon as he entered, as if he instinctively felt that the house was safe.
“Then you can rest.” Lin Banxia said, “I’ll go back first.”
“Go ahead, go ahead.” Ji Leshui didn’t hold back.
Lin Banxia returned to the house, took a simple shower, sat on the sofa, and watched TV. He was thinking about Liu Xi and was a little absent-minded.
Around eleven o’clock in the evening, Song Qingluo came back, saw Lin Banxia when he entered the house, and said hello softly.
“Mr. Song.” Lin Banxia called.
“Just call me by my name.” Song Qingluo said, “What’s wrong?”
“I have something to ask you.” Lin Banxia said.
Song Qingluo sat down next to him, raised his chin slightly, and signaled him to speak.
Lin Banxia said: “You said dead people can still move?”
Song Qingluo said: “It depends on the situation.” As he spoke, he slowly rubbed the pad of his thumb, as if there was something on it that made him unhappy.
Lin Banxia thought for a while and carefully told Song Qingluo about what happened in his unit. In fact, it was not that he didn’t want to remind Liu Xi, but it would be nice if he told this kind of thing without being regarded as a mental illness.
Song Qingluo listened very casually at first. It wasn’t until Lin Banxia said that the person behind the woman was lying on her back that he became energetic. He raised his eyes and said, “Can you contact her?”
Lin Banxia said: “Who? That woman?”
Song Qingluo: “Yeah.”
Lin Banxia said: “I definitely can’t get in touch with her, but the funeral home should have her phone number. I don’t know if it has an address…”
Song Qingluo said: “As long as you have a phone number.”
Lin Banxia said: “I will look for it tomorrow. What about my colleagues?”
Song Qingluo said: “Observe first, don’t alert the enemy, and give me the phone number. If there is really a problem, I will deal with it as soon as possible.”
When Lin Banxia heard what he said, he felt more at ease and nodded.
After going to work the next day, Lin Banxia went to the funeral home and asked an acquaintance for the woman’s phone number. Only then did he find out that the woman’s name was Cheng Yuliu and she lived nearby.
After Lin Banxia asked for the phone number, he sent it to Song Qingluo.
When he arrived at the unit, Lin Banxia saw Liu Xi arriving late. He originally thought that Liu Xi’s face would not look good, but Liu Xi was in high spirits, with excitement on his face. The haggardness and depression of the previous few days was completely gone.
Lin Banxia asked tentatively: “Hey, why are you so happy today? Did you encounter something good?”
Liu Xi glanced at Lin Banxia, with vigilance and mild hostility in his eyes. He said coldly, “Nothing good.” Then he turned around and ignored Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia was stunned. This was the first time Liu Xi’s behaved like that to him. He didn’t understand why. Could it be because of the message he sent to Liu Xi yesterday?
That afternoon, Lin Banxia and Liu Xi went out on a job. They went to the nearby railway to recover a body that had been crushed by a train. Under normal circumstances, this kind of corpse doesn’t look very good-looking, but then again, if the appearance is complete, it wouldn’t be their turn to take action.
Liu Xi was in a good mood all day, but he didn’t want to talk to Lin Banxia. He held his phone with a smile and it was unknown what he was looking at.
Lin Banxia tried to ask him something several times, but he retorted with a bad attitude. After several times, Lin Banxia had no choice but to give up. Liu Xi’s state made Lin Banxia feel seriously uneasy. In the afternoon, Lin Banxia found a colleague and asked what happened to Liu Xi.
“He didn’t tell you?” The colleague was very surprised when he heard Lin Banxia’s question. After all, Liu Xi and Lin Banxia usually have the best relationship, so he should be the first to know.
“No.” Lin Banxia shook his head.
“The lottery he bought won the prize,” said a colleague. “This morning he posted it on WeChat. After paying the taxes, he still has hundreds of thousands. He even smiled and said he wanted to treat us at noon. You happened to be away at that time…”
Lin Banxia said: “When did he win?”
The colleague said: “It was just last night.”
Lin Banxia: “…”
Colleague: “Why do you look so upset?” He misunderstood something, patted Lin Banxia on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, he got a bonus, he probably won’t be able to do this job for a long time… with this kind of person There’s no point in making friends.”
Lin Banxia said: “Okay.”
On duty in the latter half of the night, Liu Xi, who was usually listless, was in high spirits, sitting in the office humming songs happily. Lin Banxia hesitated several times, but finally said nothing. When it was almost time to get off work, Lin Banxia politely said: “Liu Xi, did you really not encounter anything yesterday?”
Liu Xi glanced at him and said simply: “No.”
Lin Banxia was silent for a moment and whispered: “That woman… has a problem. Don’t get too close to her.”
Liu Xi sneered, ignored Lin Banxia, picked up his coat and turned around to leave.
Lin Banxia looked at his back and fell into silence.
Other colleagues also heard the conversation between the two and came over to comfort Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia shook his head to indicate that he was fine. He did not take Liu Xi’s words to heart. Instead, he was worried that Liu Xi was being influenced by that woman. With this in mind, Lin Banxia walked into the locker room, changed out of his work clothes and planned to leave after getting off work.
However, when he left the locker room and returned to the office, he actually saw Liu Xi back, still sitting in the same position as before, with his head lowered and looking at something.
Lin Banxia was a little surprised that he came back. He walked to Liu Xi and was about to ask when he suddenly noticed something. This Liu Xi seems to be a little different from the person who walked out just now. He was about the same height, and size as Liu Xi. He wore a set of all black clothes and sat quietly on a chair, like a stiff puppet. Lin Banxia pretended to tie his shoelaces and squatted down. From the corner of his eye, he saw the drooped face of “Liu Xi”. The face was as white as a dead person. The eyes were open, but there were no pupils, only pale white.
If ordinary people saw this, they would probably scream on the spot. Fortunately, it was Lin Banxia, so he just calmly withdrew his gaze, stood up, and walked out as if nothing happened.
Late that night, Lin Banxia returned home alone.
He got off work early today, so it was only three o’clock in the morning when he got home. He thought Song Qingluo had already gone to bed, but when he opened the door, he saw him sitting in the room watching TV.
After Lin Banxia entered the house, he asked curiously: “Aren’t you going to sleep?”
Song Qingluo said: “I’m sleeping, but I have something to do, so I’m waiting for you to come back.”
Lin Banxia said: “Is it about that woman? I also have something to tell you.” He was a little tired at first, but now he immediately became energetic and concentrated on telling Song Qingluo about Liu Xi’s situation.
After hearing this, Song Qingluo nodded and said, “I made an appointment with Cheng Yuliu to meet tomorrow.”
“She agreed?” Lin Banxia was slightly surprised.
“Yeah.” Song Qingluo said, “Do you want to go with me.”
Lin Banxia hesitated: “Can I help if I go?”
Song Qingluo said: “Maybe.”
“Then I’ll go.” Lin Banxia agreed. He also wanted to find out what happened.
The agreed time to meet was in the afternoon. Lin Banxia could still seize the time to rest a little longer. He simply took a shower and went to bed.
The cabinet was not very quiet today, and the sound was even a little louder than usual. However, Lin Banxia was already very sleepy, and was completely indifferent to those movements. He closed his eyes and kicked his legs, sleeping like a dead person. The cabinet that was constantly being tossed and turned seemed to be faced with the resentment of the incompetent husband. The specter opened and closed it, back and forth several times, and finally annoyed Song Qingluo in the living room to the point where he said coldly: “If you keep doing this, I’ll help him pay off the mortgage.”
The room was quiet for a second, and it even thoughtfully closed the window for Song Qingluo.
***
Lin Banxia had a dreamless night and slept very comfortably. When he woke up the next day, it was already noon. He and Song Qingluo had a simple lunch together, and the two set off on time.
The place Song Qingluo agreed to meet with the woman was a park not far from his residence.
The weather today was average, and the park was not busy. Lin Banxia said casually, “This is really a good place to chat, much better than a coffee shop.”
Song Qingluo said: “What’s so good about it?”
Lin Banxia replied seriously, “No need to spend money.”
Song Qingluo: “…” He didn’t say anything. He silently went to the park entrance and bought three grilled sausages for Lin Banxia and a bottle of Coke for himself.
Lin Banxia was eating grilled sausage, and his mood immediately took off, but deep down he was still a little sad, thinking that he could have been very happy, but it was all the mortgage that had harmed him.
The two of them were holding grilled sausages in their hands, with one drinking Coke, sitting in the park, and waiting quietly. The atmosphere was very harmonious.
Lin Banxia ate two of the sausages, but when he was about to bite the third one, he noticed a figure moving towards them from a distance. He took a closer look and saw that it was the woman he had seen before in the funeral home, named Cheng Yuliu. Compared with a few days ago, her appearance became even more terrifying. There was not much flesh left on her face, only a thin layer of skin was left, and her eye sockets were sunken. At first glance, she looked like a skeleton, making his scalp crawl.
The thing that was originally lying on her shoulder had now almost integrated with her, leaving only some of its torso, like a spider’s legs, standing behind her with claws and teeth. Most of the head had also melted away. Only a pair of pale eyes were left, looking around grimly from her shoulder.
From Lin Banxia’s perspective, this was no longer considered a human being.
Cheng Yuliu walked up to Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo. She recognized Lin Banxia and said coldly: “Was it you?”
Song Qingluo said: “No, it’s me.”
Cheng Yuliu’s eyes showed suspicion: “Are you telling the truth?”
Song Qingluo folded his hands and put them on his knees with a very cold attitude. He said, “Then it depends on your sincerity first.”
Cheng Yuliu squinted her eyes, seeming to be thinking about something. She stuck out her tongue, slightly licked her lips, red with heavy makeup, and actually smiled: “Follow me, it’s not convenient here, so it’s better to go to my house to talk in detail.” She said that, but she didn’t care whether Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo agreed or not, and just walked out on her own, obviously sure that the two of them would follow.
Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo looked at each other, stood up in unison, and followed the woman outside.
Lin Banxia ate the last bite of grilled sausage, threw the bamboo stick into the trash can, and whispered to Song Qingluo: “Do you really want to follow her back?”
Song Qingluo said: “It doesn’t hurt to go and have a look.”
Lin Banxia: “Don’t you find it a little unsettling?”
Song Qingluo glanced at him and handed the half-drunk Coke to Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia silently took it and took a sip. The sweet taste filled his mouth, and the dopamine secreted by the sugar made him feel… Feeling reassured, Lin Banxia said: “Much better.”
Song Qingluo had a calm expression on his face.
The woman walked very fast and said nothing along the way. People around her were frightened by her appearance and ran away to avoid her, but she was completely unaware of it. After leaving the park, the three of them walked for about ten minutes before arriving at the door of a high-end residential complex. The security guard at the door obviously knew the woman. When he saw her, he opened the door quickly without even daring to ask any questions.
Song Qingluo and Lin Banxia followed and walked into the community.
Lin Banxia had some impressions of this community. It seemed to be a well-known wealthy area. It was full of large flat building of several hundred square meters. The house prices were more than 10 million. Those who could afford to live in these houses were not ordinary people.
The woman walked straight to a certain building and swiped the room card in the elevator.
Lin Banxia looked at the number eighteen displayed in the elevator, and then the elevator slowly rose and reached the designated floor with a ding.
This is an apartment with elevator access. As soon as the door opened on the floor, it was the woman’s room.
This was the first time Lin Banxia came to such an expensive house. He looked around curiously, but Song Qingluo was not interested. He followed the woman into the house without even changing his shoes. Fortunately, the woman didn’t care about this. When she got home, the first thing she did was light a few candles.
It was obviously daytime, but all the windows had thick curtains drawn, so it was dark inside the house. Only the flickering candlelight provided a weak source of light for the empty room.
The woman sat down on the sofa, lit a slender women’s cigarette by candlelight, then picked up another pack of cigarettes and asked them with a smile if they wanted it.
Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo both refused.
It stood to reason that the woman had become so thin that no matter what expression she made, she should be terrifying, but Lin Banxia noticed a strange and charming look from her smoking expression, which reminded him of the folk tale about the fox fairy. However, no fox fairy would let themselves become so embarrassed.
“Can you resurrect the dead?” The woman exhaled a puff of smoke, squinting her eyes and asking straight to the point.
“Okay.” Song Qingluo said, “But you have to tell me what happened to Liu Xi.”
The woman said: “How much do you know?”
Song Qingluo said: “Some.”
“That means you don’t know everything yet.” The woman crossed her legs and smiled, “Then we can make a deal. You let them return to their original state, and I will tell you what happened to Liu Xi.”
Song Qingluo said: “It’s okay, but…”
The woman said: “But what?”
Song Qingluo said: “But, I have to listen to your story first.” He slowly took out the pair of black gloves from his pocket, put his fingers in one by one, and lowered his eyes, “I am sure that story must be amazing.”
Cheng Yuliu said coldly: “My sincerity is my story, what about your sincerity?”
Song Qingluo crossed his fingers and smiled rarely: “Put out the things locked in your refrigerator first. I can show some of it first.”
The woman licked her lips heavily and laughed hoarsely. She stood up and headed towards the kitchen. Lin Banxia asked in a low voice in confusion: “What’s in the refrigerator?”
Song Qingluo said softly: “It’s just something that was thrown away.”
Lin Banxia was stunned for a moment, still thinking about the thrown away things, but Song Qingluo had already stood up and walked in the direction of the woman, so Lin Banxia had to follow him quickly.
As soon as he approached the kitchen, Lin Banxia heard a strange sound, sticky and soft, like a ball of something wriggling on the ground. He walked behind Song Qingluo and saw the source of the sound through the weak candlelight. At that moment, he understood what the discarded things Song Qingluo was talking about…was referring to the corpses discarded in the funeral parlor.
Lin Banxia may never forget this scene in his life. The corpses that should have been cremated were now lying limply on the ground, but because of the broken bones and flesh, it was almost indescribable and could not even be referred to as a human being. He…no, it should be they. They were lying on Cheng Yuliu’s calf, greedily begging for food. Cheng Yuliu was holding a jar in her hand. The jar was filled with something that looked like minced meat. She fed that thing with a gentle expression.
He didn’t know how long that thing had been there. The air in the kitchen was filled with a disgusting rotten smell. Even Lin Banxia, who was engaged in special work, can’t help feeling a little breathless.
Cheng Yuliu was completely unaware. She bent down and gently stroked the piece of minced meat. Then she looked at Song Qingluo and said, “Come on, show your sincerity.”
Song Qingluo stepped forward and took out a small box from the bag he was carrying. The box was the same as the ones Lin Banxia had seen, only smaller. He spent some time opening the lock of the box, and then took out a roll of plastic wrap-like stuff from the box. No, it was plastic wrap. Lin Banxia was only sure when Song Qingluo tore open an opening.
Cheng Yuliu was stunned when she saw what Song Qingluo was holding, but before she could ask any questions, she saw Song Qingluo pull out a piece of plastic wrap and wrap part of the meat underneath. The change happened almost instantly. The thing wrapped in plastic wrap recovered at an extremely fast speed. It seemed to be a section of an arm, and even every fingernail had regrown.
When Cheng Yuliu saw this, her eyes showed ecstasy, and she said: “I want this, give it to me!”
Song Qingluo straightened up, glanced at her indifferently, and put the plastic wrap in his hand back into the box.
Cheng Yuliu said: “Conditions?”
Song Qingluo said: “The conditions are already very clear, aren’t they?”
Cheng Yuliu thought for a moment and suddenly said: “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Song Qingluo shook his head, and Lin Banxia said no.
“What about tea? Or wine?” Cheng Yuliu’s attitude became very enthusiastic.
Song Qingluo said: “Is there any Coke?”
Cheng Yuliu was stunned for a moment, and then repeated incredulously: “Coke?”
“Forget it if you don’t have any.” Song Qingluo raised his hand to look at his watch, “Time is precious, let’s listen to your story first.”
The woman showed a bright smile, which was really scary on her gaunt face. She said, “I bought this house in full for 14 million yuan.” As she spoke, it was as if she was a different person, she kicked the piece of flesh that she had treated so tenderly to the side. Like a light butterfly, it danced in the empty room. The candlelight placed nearby flickered on and off, making her face even more ghostly.
“The decoration alone cost four million. This floor and this sofa are all made of the best materials.” The woman said happily, “I also bought a car, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, whatever is more expensive. Not a penny of which was a loan.
Lin Banxia almost shed tears of envy when he heard this. Song Qingluo silently handed him a tissue and whispered, don’t cry, I’ll buy you sausage later.
Cheng Yuliu said: “But just three years ago, I was still poor. I didn’t dare to take a taxi. I even bought the cheapest food. Sometimes it was too difficult, so I had to go to the vegetable market to pick up some food from others. Discarded, rotten food.” Her voice became colder. “At that time, if I wanted to eat a small piece of cake that cost only three and a half yuan, I would have to be careful save. I had had enough. You should know what it’s like to be poor! That’s the way it is. Who would have thought this day would come!!!”
Lin Banxia originally wanted to nod weakly, but because of the unpleasant look in Song Qingluo’s eyes, he held back.
“It’s only been three years. Guess how I became so rich?” The woman smiled, “This… is my secret.”
Then, her smile gradually faded until it disappeared: “It’s just that at that time, I didn’t know that these things all come with a price.”
The author has something to say:
Lin Banxia: But Song Qingluo, what is the price of wealth?
Song Qingluo: Does your butt hurt?
Lin Banxia: 0.0? ? ?
Translator’s comments:
Hey guys, I’m the translator for this novel. If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to comment and I’ll do my best to answer everything. If you notice any inconsistencies or errors, drop a comment and I will fix it. I am new to this, but I want to learn and give the best translation that I can to the readers. Thanks so much for reading Phantom Skeleton Painting, I hope that everyone enjoys the novel.
If anyone is interested or able, please consider supporting me on Patreon or donating on Ko-fi. There you will have access to advanced chapters as well as polls to choose new novels to translate. I will also do 6 extra chapters for that week every time I accumulate $30 in donations on Ko-fi.
Anyway…if anyone is interested, I would love to have you onboard.
