Phantom Skeleton Painting

Ji Leshui was so stimulated that he just fell on his face. His reaction shocked Lin Banxia. He quickly squatted down and pinched Ji Leshui, then slapped his forehead, thinking about whether to hit him or not. As he was calling 120, Ji Leshui finally woke up.

It’s just that Ji Leshui was not in a good state after waking up. He huddled on the sofa with a pale face and stared blankly at the window located in the corner of the room.

Lin Banxia whispered his name several times before Ji Leshui came back to his senses. He stared at Lin Banxia with pleading eyes and said in a trembling voice: “Banxia, ​​I’m still afraid of that window. Is it really a window.?”

“Yes.” Lin Banxia comforted his friend, “It’s just the window…” He was a little worried that Ji Leshui wouldn’t believe it, so he stood up and walked towards the window, then lifted the lock on the window and opened the window. As soon as the glass window was opened, the sound of the wind outside became even harsher. The cold wind whistled and swirled, stinging Lin Banxia’s cheek.

It was pitch black outside the window, nothing could be seen, neither the stars nor moon, only the dark sky was left, like a big mouth swallowing people.

Lin Banxia opened the window then turned to look at Ji Leshui.

Ji Leshui was startled when he saw Lin Banxia opening the window. His voice shook as he asked Lin Banxia to close the window, saying that the thing would come in.

Seeing his agitated expression, Lin Banxia did not dare to refuse, so he could only nod, grab the window and close it again. However, when he was closing the window, he felt as if his fingers had touched something sticky, but before he could think about it, he had already closed the window.

“Look, there’s nothing.” Lin Banxia closed the window, walked to Ji Leshui’s side, and continued to comfort his friend, “Did you see it wrong? I’m not leaving. I’m at home. You’ll still be there tomorrow. You have to go to work, so go to bed first.”

Ji Leshui smiled bitterly and said, “How could I see wrong? This house is very evil… Banxia, ​​how did you think of buying it here?”

“It’s cheap and it’s close to my work.” Lin Banxia said, “I can’t afford it elsewhere.”

Ji Leshui said: “Sorry, that’s not what I meant…”

Lin Banxia said: “I know. You go rest first, I’ll be in the living room, call me if you need anything.” He crossed his arms and spoke calmly, giving Ji Leshui a sense of security. When he was in college, he felt that Lin Banxia was very courageous. There was almost nothing that could scare Lin Banxia. Whether it was snakes, insects, rats, ants, or monsters, Lin Banxia acted indifferently after seeing it.

It was already close to two o’clock in the morning and Ji Leshui was indeed tired after being frightened all night. He dragged his tired body to the bedroom. After lying on the bed, he listened to the sound of the TV coming from the living room, feeling exhausted. His eyes closed.

After Ji Leshui left the living room, Lin Banxia quietly went to the toilet. He didn’t dare to say it just now. After closing the window, he kept feeling something sticky on his hands. He looked down and realized why his hands were sticky. There were lots of red stains on his fingers.

At first, Lin Banxia thought it was paint or something, but after entering the toilet, he held his fingers up to his nose and smelled it. It smelled of blood.

Is that the smell of blood? Could it be that Ji Leshui accidentally hurt himself on the window? Lin Banxia turned on the faucet, washed away the stains on his hands, and then walked towards the window again.

This time, he did not push the window open, but carefully observed the window. It was too dark before, so he didn’t pay attention. Now when he looked again, he discovered that there was indeed something on the glass of the window. At first glance, the stuff looked like strange lines. After careful observation, Lin Banxia realized what it was.

It turned out to be blood-red fingerprints, so abruptly printed on the glass window. If you looked at them casually, you would probably think they were patterns on the windows.

Lin Banxia frowned as he looked at the fingerprints, then turned around and went into the kitchen. When he came out again, he had a rag in his hand.

Carefully pushing open the window, Lin Banxia bent over and leaned out, intending to wipe away the marks on the outside of the window. However, after wiping the wet rag back and forth on the glass window for a while, his movements paused, and he took back at his hands. Looking at the clean rag, he suddenly realized something…

The bloody handprints were not printed on the outside of the window, but on the inside.

Lin Banxia turned around and looked at the room behind him.

The lights were on in the room, so it was not too dark. There was no furniture in the room, so the entire room could be seen at a glance. It stood to reason that ordinary people would panic immediately when seeing such a thing, but Lin Banxia looked calm and just went to the toilet and washed the rag in his hand.

When he first bought this house, Lin Banxia was a little surprised because the price of the house was surprisingly cheap. In the same location and in a different community, it was a full two to three hundred thousand yuan more expensive. Lin Banxia also asked the agent why the house prices here are so cheap. The agent’s answer was that the previous owner was anxious to go abroad and wanted to sell it cheap, so he left quickly.

It wasn’t until the day of transfer that Lin Banxia met the landlord. He was a somewhat talkative middle-aged man with a pale face and thin body. He kept mumbling something and seemed to be in a bad mental state.

After the transfer, the landlord disappeared completely, not even taking away the things in the house. Now that he thought about it, there was indeed something wrong.

Lin Banxia closed the window, returned to the sofa, sat down quietly, and turned up the sound of the TV a little louder.

In the bedroom, Ji Leshui opened his eyes in the darkness and stared at the ceiling above his head. After staring for a long time, he felt a strange dizziness. His body seemed to be in the center of a whirlpool, rising and falling, constantly twisting and deforming. He closed his eyes, and the wind in his ears became more and more shrill. The sound of the wind was mixed with a soft and inconsistent sound. There was an unnatural squeaking sound, and the wardrobe door next to the bed suddenly opened a crack.

This wardrobe was left by the previous landlord. It was a bit old, so they didn’t want to throw it away and continued to use it. There seems to be something wrong with the cabinet door, since it always opened by itself.

A few days ago, Ji Leshui probably wouldn’t have taken this cabinet seriously, but today he had encountered too many things, and his sensitive nerves could no longer withstand any stimulation.

As soon as the cabinet door opened, dense goose bumps appeared all over his body. He didn’t dare to sleep anymore, so he sat up straight.

“Banxia…” Ji Leshui called out his friend’s name. He wanted to call Lin Banxia into the bedroom to help him close the closet.

However, when he called Lin Banxia’s name, no one outside responded. At that moment, Ji Leshui heard a strange noise, which seemed to come from the closet.

It was a sticky chewing sound, as if something was being feasted on in the closet.

“Lin Banxia.” Ji Leshui’s voice was filled with tears. As an adult man, he wanted to stand up, but it seemed as if all the strength in his body had been taken away and he couldn’t move.

The sound of chewing became louder and louder. From the corner of Ji Leshui’s peripheral vision, he saw a blood-red eye appearing in the dark gap of the wardrobe, peering greedily outside. It seemed to notice that he was sitting on the bed and could not move. It let out a bone-chilling chuckle…

Ji Leshui opened his mouth wide, his throat seemed to be tightly strangled, and he used all his strength to barely spit out two words: “Help…”

“Bang!” The light in the bedroom came on.

The cold, stiffness, and fear faded away like a tide. Ji Leshui raised his head and saw Lin Banxia standing beside the bed. Lin Banxia looked at him worriedly, opening and closing his mouth as if he was saying something, but Ji Leshui couldn’t hear anything. He was like a petrified statue, frozen in place, unable to make an expression. He couldn’t utter a word.

“Leshui?” Lin Banxia called to his pale friend worriedly.

“Banxia…” Ji Leshui finally spoke, but his voice was like a gnat, filled with uncontrollable trembling. He said, “Banxia…I want to move out.”

Lin Banxia said: “Okay, when?”

“As soon as possible.” Ji Leshui said, “You should move out with me. There is something really wrong with this house.”

Lin Banxia didn’t respond. He sighed, sat down next to Ji Leshui, held his shoulders to stop his body from shaking, and then continued: “I’ll stay for a few more days and see.”

Ji Leshui said: “Did you hear that sound?”

“What’s the sound?” Lin Banxia asked.

“Someone was eating in the cabinet.” Ji Leshui said dullly, “It seems like it was eating meat, a lot of meat.”

Lin Banxia got up and looked at the closet. Of course, there was nothing in it. Looking at Ji Leshui’s dull look, he couldn’t tell whether Ji Leshui had really heard something or whether it was a sequelae of a poor mental state.

“I will definitely go crazy if I continue to live here.” Ji Leshui grabbed Lin Banxia’s arm and said in a pleading tone, “You don’t want to live here anymore, it’s really not possible here!”

Lin Banxia said: “Let me help you find a house first.”

“Okay.” Ji Leshui said, “I won’t go to work tomorrow and will look for a house right away…”

Lin Banxia agreed.

Although Ji Leshui looked extremely tired, he did not dare to sleep for the next few hours. Instead, he sat in the living room and watched TV with Lin Banxia.

At around six o’clock in the morning, the sky finally glowed with faint morning light.

Ji Leshui blankly stared at his mobile phone. All kinds of houses were displayed on the screen. At about eight o’clock in the morning, he began to call the numbers eagerly and made an appointment with an agent to view the house.

While Ji Leshui was doing this, Lin Banxia was by his side. He didn’t say much, but looked at Ji Leshui’s unusual look, with a slightly worried look in his eyes.

Translator’s Notes:

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.