Chapter 18.1 Possession (End)
Ji Leshui ran so fast that before Lin Banxia could react, he saw him disappear in front of his eyes. He immediately froze on the spot and stared blankly at the useless weapon in his hand. He glanced at the clothes drying pole and looked at the room behind him. The voice of the opera was still singing, and he was singing “My son’s father walked west across the river on the right path. For my mother, I was taken away by the Lord of Hell…”
Lin Banxia thought for a moment, turned around and stepped into the room. He walked slowly to the bedroom door and looked inside. The old lady was still lying on the rocking chair, and the cat was lying on her chest docilely, making a contented cry. Lin Banxia was just thinking about whether to go in and take a look again, when someone lightly patted his shoulder.
He was slightly startled, then turned around and saw a familiar person – Li Su standing behind him, looking at him in surprise.
“Why are you here?” The two asked the same question in unison.
“Ji Leshui said he saw Song Qingluo being held hostage by two people and brought to this building.” Lin Banxia decided to explain first, “We were afraid that something would happen to him, so we wanted to come over and have a look.”
Li Su snorted: “He and I are here to deal with something.” He smiled, “The one who ran out screaming just now was your friend? You scared me.”
“Well.” Amidst the weird drama, the two were having a calm conversation. The atmosphere was a little weird for a while, but Lin Banxia didn’t realize it. “That… thing in the room… is… what’s going on?”
Li Su said: “A small experiment.”
As he spoke, he walked to the cabinet in the living room, took out a red cloth from somewhere, and then, under Lin Banxia’s shocked gaze, poured the ashes from one of the urns onto the red cloth.
Lin Banxia said in surprise: “What are you doing?”
Li Su didn’t look back: “Wait.”
Lin Banxia saw him pour the remaining ashes in the urn into an empty jar. The moment the ashes were poured in, the Opera music in the room stopped instantly. Before Lin Banxia had time to wonder, he discovered that a woman’s figure had appeared in front of the window of the living room on his right. She stood in front of the window, leaned out, and looked out the window.
Lin Banxia’s eyes widened, and he realized that the scene in front of him seemed to be almost the same as what Ji Leshui described.
Sure enough, the woman quickly took action. She slowly opened the window, climbed onto the windowsill, and then jumped…
The scene described by Ji Leshui more than a month ago appeared in Lin Banxia’s sight again. This time, Lin Banxia finally reacted. He took a few steps back in fright, and shouted “F*ck” in shock.
Li Su looked at him inexplicably: “Are you scared now?”
Lin Banxia: “Isn’t this scary?”
Li Su: “…”
Lin Banxia: “0.0 She jumped.”
Li Su fell into silence. He also saw the scene in the bedroom. That scene was a hundred times scarier than jumping off a building, but Lin Banxia didn’t react at all and even returned to the house.
“What’s going on?” Lin Banxia covered his thumping chest and silently moved away from the window.
Li Su took a deep look at Lin Banxia, sighed, and said with regret in his tone: “It’s a long story…”
Lin Banxia: “Then speak slowly.”
Li Su said, “Have you seen this urn? Do you think anything is different?” He said and took the urn off the table.
Lin Banxia looked at it carefully, compared it with the one next to it, and suddenly said: “It seems to be bigger.”
“Yes, it’s bigger.” Li Su said, “Song Qingluo said before that your house number may not be the only heretical thing in your community. I thought he was mistaken, but I didn’t expect it to be true.” He poured the ashes in the jar back into the normal-sized urn, and then poured the ashes in the red cloth into this slightly larger jar. Almost at the same time, the sound of opera in the room started again. It rang.
“Because we suspected something was wrong with something in the house, we came over to check it out and found that the problem was with the urn.” Li Su said with a smile, “As long as you put people’s ashes in it, it will keep repeating the scene before their death, accompanied by some unusual scenes, such as windows opening, music coming from the bedroom, etc.”
Lin Banxia was stunned. He looked at the three photos hanging on the cabinet and said curiously: “So the scene I saw before was the experience of one of the three dead people.”
“Yes.” Li Su said, “But although we have a general understanding of the situation of the urn, we still lack some detailed data, such as how often these images will be repeated and why you and your friends will see two different images, obviously only one urn is working.”
Lin Banxia suddenly realized: “Yes, why do Ji Leshui and I see different things?”
“This is a long story.” Li Su sighed. Because it was night, he was not wearing a mask or sunglasses. He was standing in the darkness, with a hint of sadness in his pale pink pupils. “Do you have to listen here?”
Lin Banxia thought for a while: “Let’s go down first, I’m a little worried about my friend.”
Li Su said: “Don’t worry about this. Song Qingluo and my partner are downstairs, so they should have blocked him.”
While the two were talking, they heard the sound of an elevator arriving outside, followed by hurried footsteps. Lin Banxia turned around and saw the panting Ji Leshui and the two people behind him outside the door.
“Are you okay?” Song Qingluo was one of them. He looked at Lin Banxia and asked softly.
“I’m okay.” Lin Banxia replied with a smile.
“How about we go down and talk about it?” Li Su spread his hands and said, “It doesn’t seem like the atmosphere is appropriate to talk about it here.”
“Okay.” Lin Banxia nodded.
Then Li Su took out a new jar from nowhere and put the ashes in the slightly larger urn into the new jar in his hand. Almost as soon as the ashes were poured out, the opera in the room stopped. It was gone, leaving only a room of silence. Li Su carefully wrapped the larger urn in the red cloth and gently put it into the black box that his partner carried with him.
Only then did Lin Banxia see the partner Li Su was talking about. Through the dim light of his mobile phone, Lin Banxia could barely see the partner’s face, which was almost obscured by a beard. This man had a high nose, broad forehead, and deep-set eyes. His green eyes stared at Lin Banxia unkindly. At first glance, he did not look Asian. Although he has an exaggerated beard on his chin, it could be vaguely seen that his appearance was actually very good, though it was in sharp contrast to the exquisite appearance of Li Su next to him. However, it was not polite to stare at others. Lin Banxia glanced at them and looked away.
Ji Leshui still hadn’t recovered yet, his head hung down with a look of sadness. Lin Banxia patted him on the shoulder to express comfort, and briefly described what Li Su had just said. After summarizing his speech, he said that there were neither dead people nor ghosts, so he should not be so afraid.
Ji Leshui shed tears of sadness and said that he would rather face ten sturdy men than one ghost. With the sturdy men he had police uncles who could help, but what could he do with a ghost.
Lin Banxia laughed when he heard this.
Li Su and his partner tidied up the house, rearranged the urns neatly, burned a few sticks of incense in front of the photos of the deceased, said a few words, and then went downstairs with Lin Banxia and the others.
It was getting late, and Ji Leshui’s previous plan to buy braised vegetables and drink with Lin Banxia was completely aborted. The two of them originally planned to go back, but Li Su smiled and suggested that they go for supper together.
“It’s so late, is it safe?” Ji Leshui was a little timid.
“Is there anything unsafe?” Li Su said, “Wasn’t Banxia just curious about what happened in the house? This story is a bit long, why don’t we talk about it while walking?”
Lin Banxia was quite interested in the story, so he agreed: “It’s okay to go, Leshui, do you want to go back and rest first?”
“No!!!” Ji Leshui refused quickly, “I want to be with you.” He didn’t dare to go back alone now.
So, in the end, the five of them headed towards the barbecue restaurant in the neighborhood next door.
On the way there, Li Su told Lin Banxia the somewhat long story.
“The landlord is a man who had a beautiful daughter.” Li Su’s voice was nice and gentle, somewhat similar to Song Qingluo’s tone. “His daughter fell in love with another girl. You know, this kind of thing is difficult for some parents with traditional ideas to understand.”
Lin Banxia listened quietly.
“The two girls had been arguing for a long time, and finally they separated. The daughter couldn’t bear to let her father be sad and married someone she didn’t love. Her beloved girl ended her life not long after she got married… committed suicide by jumping off a building.” Li Su said, “After his daughter learned the news, she was in agony, but this was just the beginning of the disaster. Her married life was not happy. The man often used violence against her and beat her beyond recognition… Fortunately, she had a grandmother who loved her.”
Lin Banxia said: “That’s the old lady?”
“That’s right.” Li Su said, “Her grandmother felt guilty when she saw her granddaughter living in such pain. She felt that she had failed to stop her father, so she wanted to take her to her place and help her leave. That man…but…it was too late.”
“The enraged husband chopped off the daughter’s head. Her head fell from the high window in the same way as her beloved died and rolled far away. This incident caused a lot of trouble at the time. Everyone has seen her head, the man has been sentenced to a severe sentence, and there was absolutely no room for redemption.” After Li Su said this, he wanted to light a cigarette. The cigarette was in his mouth, but his partner on the side stretched out his hand and pulled it away. Li Su was about to say something, but when he saw the unkind look in his partner’s eyes, he was forced to give in. He said nonchalantly, “I won’t smoke anymore… Later, the grandmother also died. It is said that she died of illness. She was dead at home for several days without being discovered. By the time anyone noticed, most of her face had been eaten by a cat. She refused to forgive the girl’s father before she died. The father later came back to hold the funeral. He never showed up again.”
Lin Banxia said: “But why did Ji Leshui and I see two girls with different scenes when they died?” As soon as he finished asking the question, he suddenly thought of something, and suddenly said, “Could it be that the ashes in the urn were different?”
“Smart.” Li Su laughed, “I heard that the man regretted it very much after losing his daughter and mother, and privately contacted the family members of the person his daughter liked. Of course, these are all hearsay and there is no clear information. There is no evidence to prove it, but the portrait hanging on the urn gives us a hint.”
“We can’t be together in life, but at least we can’t be separated after death. In the story of despair, at least there is still a trace of sad romance.”
“The homeowner kept two urns in the house and hung three portraits. He probably wanted to find some comfort in his heart. Unfortunately, his luck seemed to be bad. There was something wrong with the urns containing the ashes of the two people.” Li Su said, “In the information I found, the homeowner’s mental state is also very poor. I don’t know if he has seen the illusions you saw previously. However, according to our current experiments, this kind of scene is not very common. It requires a certain amount of time. It will happen only with probability. Of course, the exact probability requires further investigation.”
Lin Banxia thought that his and Ji Leshui’s luck was really not that good.
After the story was finished, they also arrived at the barbecue restaurant. Although it was very late, there were still many customers in the barbecue restaurant because it was Saturday.
The group found a seat and started ordering.
Li Su said: “But having said that, did I forget to introduce you? This is my partner, Li Ye.”
Li Ye said nothing and nodded slightly towards Lin Banxia.
Lin Banxia asked curiously: “Are you not Chinese?”
“Russian.” Li Su smiled and patted Li Ye on the shoulder, “He is a good man!”
Li Ye glanced at Li Su expressionlessly.
Li Su spread his hands and said, “He is very boring, just like Song Qingluo, tsk tsk tsk.”
Song Qingluo said coldly: “No one will treat you as a mute if you don’t speak.”
The appearance of these two people was incompatible with the surrounding environment, attracting some curious eyes from around them. The two of them had obviously been used to it for a long time. One was laughing and telling jokes, and the other was already pouring wine.
Li Ye poured three glasses but left the glass in front of Li Su empty. Li Su knocked on the empty glass with his hand: “Why, are you treating me differently?”
Li Ye gave him a neutral look.
Li Su said: “Just one cup, I won’t die.”
Li Ye shouted: “Boss, bring two bottles of liquor, the one with the highest alcohol content.”
Although Lin Banxia and the others didn’t understand what was happening, Li Su was already experienced and said quickly: “Forget it, I won’t argue with you. Let’s use tea instead of wine. Tea instead of wine!”
Li Ye twitched the corners of his mouth, and it was hard to tell whether he was angry or smiling on his bearded face.
Li Su muttered: “You are really more difficult than my father.”
Li Ye sneered: “I don’t mind if you call me dad.”
Li Su: “…”
Lin Banxia watched the two bickering with relish, but Song Qingluo was used to seeing the two bickering and became impatient and said, “Can you two wash your hands before eating? You just handled the ashes. Can you just put it in your mouth?”
Just as Li Su was about to refute, Li Ye picked him up like a chicken and cleaned his hands aggrievedly.
Lin Banxia found it funny and said, “They have a good relationship, right?”
Song Qingluo said: “Well, Li Ye was picked up by Li Su from Russia.”
Lin Banxia smiled and said: “Can people pick someone up like that?”
Song Qingluo nodded.
Ji Leshui had already ordered the dishes while the group was talking. Song Qingluo took a look at the menu and added several hundred skewers of meat before placing the order. He said, “Why were you and Ji Leshui going to that building?”
Lin Banxia explained, “Ji Leshui said he saw you being held hostage by two people and being taken into that building. I thought you were being kidnapped.”
Ji Leshui said sadly: “Don’t you think that the boss looked like he was held hostage by strange people? Your friend named Li Ye is as strong as a bear…”
Lin Banxia laughed out loud.
“Song Qingluo, how were you sure that there were other heretical things in that building?” Lin Banxia asked curiously.
Song Qingluo slowly peeled the edamame beans, ate one, and then said, “Do you still remember what you and Ji Leshui saw in that window?”
Lin Banxia and Ji Leshui nodded at the same time.
Ji Leshui was a little confused: “Isn’t that an illusion caused by where we live?”
“No.” Song Qingluo said, “Based on your description, I sorted out the timeline and found that the scene that appeared in the window was before the house number had any impact.”
Lin Banxia was stunned.
Song Qingluo continued: “House number 1303 usually pollutes the host’s spirit within a week to half a month of the host’s stay. The specific time depends on the host’s mental state. After the impact, the host will… In this situation, their inner fear will be materialized. The more people live there, the richer the materialized content will be. It can even create an independent space and trap the host in it.” He twisted another edamame with his slender fingertips. Putting it to his lips, he bit down gently with his white teeth, “When Ji Leshui saw the window, he hadn’t seen anything scary in the house, and he had no thought of moving out, so him seeing someone jumping from the window is not a normal situation, so I suspected that there was something else in that building.
Lin Banxia suddenly realized: “No wonder I saw it even though I didn’t want to move out.”
“Yeah.” Song Qingluo said, “I went there that night just to confirm again.”
As soon as they finished chatting, they saw Li Ye and Li Su coming back.
It happened that the barbecue they ordered just now was also served. Li Su picked up a bunch of beef and ate it with relish. He vaguely asked Song Qingluo when he was coming over. When he asked this question, he glanced at Lin Banxia unintentionally.
“As soon as possible.” Song Qingluo said.
Although Lin Banxia wanted to ask Song Qingluo where he was going, he felt that his relationship with Song Qingluo was not that good, so he simply sighed and lowered his head to eat with Ji Leshui.
Song Qingluo, Li Ye and Li Su were obviously familiar with each other, but the atmosphere between them was very strange. Li Ye basically didn’t speak, while Li Su smiled and talked to Song Qingluo, but Song Qingluo ignored him, and finally it turned into Lin Banxia and Li Su who started chatting. He learned that Li Su and Li Ye had been partners for many years. Li Ye was Russian, and his Chinese was very good, but he couldn’t handle complicated words. You could scold him in dialect, since he couldn’t understand it anyway.
While Li Su was talking, Li Ye spat out three words: “You stinky boy!”
Li Su: “Oh, these three words are no good. I often scold him, and he has learned it.”
Lin Banxia: “…”
“Hey, don’t look at how tough he is. He’s actually six years younger than me, only twenty.” Li Su said, “It’s a pity that foreigners are born old, and he doesn’t like to talk to others. He looks more like a bear.”
Lin Banxia couldn’t help laughing.
Li Ye ate the meat with a sullen expression beside him the whole time, as if he was too lazy to pay attention to Li Su.
The taste of this barbecue restaurant was actually very good. The only flaw was that the quantity is a little small. In fact, he couldn’t blame the boss. The main reason was that the price of meat had been too expensive recently.
The hundreds of skewers of meat that Song Qingluo added were not enough to fill Li Ye’s stomach. Within half an hour of eating, Li Ye went to order several hundred more skewers. The boss kept looking at them as if he were looking at a gorilla.
“Banxia, are you going to take annual leave?” Ji Leshui started to eat hard and was finally full. After he stopped, he slowed down and burped, “Your annual leave will be invalid in May, ah.”
“Oh, yes.” Lin Banxia then remembered, “But even if I take annual leave, I have nowhere to go.”
“Yes.” Ji Leshui thought of Lin Banxia’s family situation, opened his mouth, and closed it again. The group continued to eat and chatted with each other.
Unknowingly, after three rounds of drinking, Ji Leshui, the worst drinker, lay on the table and fell asleep. Lin Banxia was also drunk a lot because of Li Su, and his consciousness was a little hazy.
“Hey, you happen to be on annual leave?” Li Su suddenly asked, “Would you like to go out with Song Qingluo? He happens to be going on a trip.”
Song Qingluo glared at Li Su.
Lin Banxia thought he was unhappy, and said awkwardly: “No, no need to trouble Mr. Song…” He originally wanted to say Song Qingluo, but when the words came to his lips, he suddenly changed to Mr. Song.
When Song Qingluo heard Lin Banxia’s words, he pursed his lips slightly.
Li Su rolled his eyes, and his smile became brighter. He moved closer to Lin Banxia and lowered his voice: “Actually, I was joking. Song Qingluo isn’t going on a trip, he is going to do something.”
Lin Banxia said blankly: “Then if I follow him… wouldn’t it be even more inappropriate?”
Li Su blinked and smiled: “I just want to ask you; do you want to have an adventure? The kind that also has income.”
Lin Banxia looked at Li Su blankly.
Li Su said: “Actually, Song Qingluo has been looking for a partner, but has never found a suitable candidate. I think you are very suitable. Although our industry is a bit dangerous, the salary is actually very high.” He said, “In just this half month, Song Qingluo has earned your rent money back.”
Lin Banxia said in a daze: “Is that real or are you scamming me…?”
Li Su said: “You are short of money, right? Don’t worry, this job is also legal, but you just can’t speak about it. You can earn hundreds of thousands in about ten days. You can think about it carefully.” After he finished speaking, he straightened up with a smile, raised the teacup in front of him, raised it to Lin Banxia, and then drank it all.
Song Qingluo stood next to him with a stern expression: “Li Su, shut up.”
Li Su said: “Oh, don’t be embarrassed. If you see the person you like, you need to act fast, if you don’t the person will run away. Besides, are you willing to see a person like Lin Banxia wasted on collecting corpses?” He finished, and muttered dissatisfiedly, “Besides, collecting corpses isn’t much better. It might even be scarier than the content of our work.”
Lin Banxia nodded in agreement and said sadly that the corpses were not good-looking at all. He didn’t eat meat for half a year just because he had to always look at corpses.
Song Qingluo frowned: “My job is very dangerous.”
Lin Banxia whispered: “It’s okay. I’m the only one in my family. It doesn’t matter if I’m gone.”
Song Qingluo frowned even more tightly: “How come it doesn’t matter?”
Lin Banxia said: “Really…it doesn’t matter.”
Song Qingluo was silent. Although Lin Banxia’s voice was very soft, he felt that Lin Banxia’s words were serious.
Li Su held his chin up and watched with interest. Li Ye next to him suddenly said, “Song Qingluo, he is very suitable for you.”
Lin Banxia cast an expectant look at Song Qingluo.
Song Qingluo just said softly: “Let me think about it again.”
Lin Banxia lowered his eyes regretfully.
Translator’s comments:
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