Phantom Skeleton Painting

After the woman appeared, Liu Xi and Lin Banxia felt guilty and stood nearby without daring to breathe. Fortunately, the woman didn’t mean to embarrass them. After saying those words, she turned and left. Wang Jinqiao froze in place. After a while, he whispered to them: “What’s going on? Is this girl suffering from a mental problem?”

“How would I know?” Liu Xi was about to cry. He wiped his face and found that there was cold sweat on the tip of his nose. “This is too evil.”

Lin Banxia nodded silently beside him.

“Also, Brother Lin, did you really see a mouse in the carriage?” After calming down, Liu Xi also felt that something was wrong, and turned to look at Lin Banxia, ​​his face full of suspicion.

Lin Banxia’s face didn’t turn red and his heart didn’t beat faster: “I saw it.”

“Really?” Liu Xi still didn’t believe it.

“Really.” Lin Banxia affirmed.

Liu Xi saw Lin Banxia’s resolute attitude and had to give up. However, on the way back, Liu Xi smoked with a frown on his face. Lin Banxia sat next to him and took a nap. It wasn’t until he was almost at work that Liu Xi said, “Brother Lin, I’m going to the temple in a few days to ask for a peace charm. Do you want me to bring one to you too?”

“No need.” Lin Banxia said, “I don’t believe in that.”

“You still don’t believe in it?” Liu Xi said, “What happened tonight was too weird…especially that woman, who laughed so hard that my whole body had the shivers.”

Lin Banxia said: “She…was a little strange.”

Yes, she was crying so sadly at first, who would have thought that within a few hours, she would start laughing when she saw the bodies of her family members. Could it be that she suddenly attained enlightenment due to grief?

The two chatted and entered the unit, planning to take a shower, change clothes, and leave. For jobs like theirs, unless there are special circumstances, everyone usually only takes one job a night, and they could pretty much get off work when they got back.

Lin Banxia also took a shower, then changed into his own clothes, then he called Ji Leshui while drying his hair.

However, although the phone rang, no one answered, so he became more and more worried.

After getting off work, Lin Banxia thought about packing Ji Leshui’s luggage and sending it directly to him, and then taking a look at what was going on there.

Taking the night bus that only came in the early morning, Lin Banxia got off the bus at the bus stop near his community, walked for about five or six minutes, and finally arrived at the door of his house.

Ji Leshui didn’t mention it before, so he hadn’t noticed it. However, after observing it for the past few days, there was indeed no one living in their community. Except for streetlights, there are almost no lights. When a person walked on the road, the sound of their own footsteps would echo in their ears.

However, Lin Banxia was not afraid of being silent at this time, he was more afraid of hearing something. He entered the elevator and went straight to the door of his apartment. Just as he was about to take out the key and open the door, he suddenly noticed that the house number hanging on the door of his house was crooked.

The house number was black, with the four numbers 1303 written in gold font. It hung diagonally on the door, which was very annoying. Lin Banxia stretched out his hand to straighten the house number. However, as soon as his fingertips touched the edge of the house number, he realized that the feel of the house number was wrong and he immediately drew his hand back.

The house number, which was supposed to be made of cold metal, actually exuded the temperature of human skin. The texture reminded Lin Banxia of the black box in the neighbor’s house next door…

Lin Banxia looked at the house number for a moment, ignored it, took out the key and opened the door.

After the door opened, Lin Banxia entered the house, closed the door, took Ji Leshui’s suitcase into the bedroom, and began to pack the clothes in his cabinet. Ji Leshui’s wardrobe was divided into two levels. The upper level was smaller and was used for bedding, while the lower floor contained most of his daily clothes. The suitcase was not big enough so Lin Banxia could only carry most of the clothes. Seeing the remaining clothes, he was in trouble. He thought for a while before he took out his mobile phone to call Ji Leshui, wanting to ask about his situation again.

“Ring, ring, ring… ring, ring, ring~” The moment Lin Banxia’s phone connected, a familiar ringtone came to his ears. At first, he thought he heard it wrong. However, when the ringtone became louder and louder, he raised his head incredulously. Headed.

The ringing came from the closet above his head.

The call that Lin Banxia had been unable to get through to was actually connected at this time. There was no sound inside. Lin Banxia spoke in a low voice, and then he heard his own voice coming from the closet.

Lin Banxia was silent for a moment, his throat moving up and down, as if digesting the situation in front of him. About half a minute later, he made a move and slowly climbed onto the bed next to him. He took a gentle breath and opened the top layer of the closet.

With a soft creak, the cabinet door opened, and Lin Banxia saw Ji Leshui huddled in the closet.

Ji Leshui was 1.73 meters tall and a normal adult male. Logically, it was impossible for him to shrink into the closet, but the situation in front of him has exceeded common sense. Ji Leshui opened his eyes, and his pupils seemed to have dilated. He was sluggish. Staring at Lin Banxia, ​​his whole body was still trembling slightly.

“Leshui! Leshui!” Lin Banxia was really anxious this time, reaching out and pulling Ji Leshui out of the closet with difficulty.

Ji Leshui remained motionless, like a stiff puppet, following Lin Banxia’s movements. It wasn’t until he was completely pulled out by Lin Banxia that he began to sob quietly like a wronged child. Lin Banxia held his shoulders and nervously checked whether he was injured.

Fortunately, apart from the shock, he was in good health and had no external injuries.

“When did you come back? Why are you in there?” Lin Banxia helped him into the living room. He originally wanted to pour him a cup of hot water to calm his shock, but who knew that Ji Leshui was so frightened that he grabbed Lin Banxia and squeezed him almost to death and refused to let go, so Lin Banxia had no choice but to give up.

“I don’t know, I don’t know.” Ji Leshui said desperately, “I don’t know when I came back… When I became conscious, I was already in the closet. I couldn’t move, couldn’t move…”

Lin Banxia said: “Don’t be anxious, speak slowly, speak slowly.”

With a trembling voice, Ji Leshui recounted what he had experienced in detail.

It turned out that after he had a nightmare, he went to work without thinking, but because he was in poor spirits and made mistakes at work one after another, he was scolded by his boss and rushed home. Ji Leshui returned to his new rental house in despair. However, when he opened the door of the new rental house, what he saw was the living room of Lin Banxia’s home.

Ji Leshui was frightened at that time, turned around and ran. It was as if he had run into a twisted tunnel, his ears filled with the howling of women. He ran and ran and ran and ran! He didn’t dare to stop even for a moment. Just when he thought he was about to die of exhaustion, he finally saw the door belonging to his new rental house. This time, he opened the door and finally found his new home.

Ji Leshui cried with joy, rushed into the home, and closed the door heavily. However, before the door was closed for long, there was a knock on the door. Before Ji Leshui dared to look, he heard a woman screaming on the other side of the door.

He was immediately frightened out of his mind and rushed to the bedroom while crawling. He couldn’t remember what happened next, but he vaguely felt that he had entered a dark and small space and could not move.

There was a harsh suona sound in my ears, and people were swaying around, whispering, and crying, until a man’s voice shouted, “Get out of the coffin.”

Ji Leshui’s breathing suddenly became difficult. He wanted to call for help, but he couldn’t utter a word. There was a sound of scraping above his head, as if someone was shoveling soil onto his head with a shovel. Filling the soil, shovel after shovel, to completely bury him in the endless darkness.

At this point, Ji Leshui broke down and cried. He grabbed Lin Banxia’s clothes, like a child who had been bullied: “What should I do, what should I do, Banxia? ​​I can’t move out; I can’t move out!!!!”

Lin Banxia comforted him repeatedly, but he also knew that this comfort was just a drop in the bucket for Ji Leshui. His friend was already on the verge of a mental breakdown. As long as he received a little more stimulation, he might fall into madness. In the final analysis, this matter originated from Lin Banxia. If he hadn’t invited Ji Leshui to stay here, Ji Leshui wouldn’t have become so frightened.

Lin Banxia remembered the advice from his next-door neighbor and thought he must know something. He calmed Ji Leshui’s mood and decided to go find him again later.

Ji Leshui had long had most of his strength consumed by fear. Now he cried for a long time and soon became weak. However, even if he was too sleepy to keep his eyes open, he refused to let go of Lin Banxia’s clothes. His hands were clenched, deeply afraid that he would return to that terrible “coffin”.

Lin Banxia had no choice but to stay with him, looking at his pale face and his frowning brows even when he fell asleep.

The sky was gloomy, the wind was whistling outside the window, the lights in the room were dim, and there was only the thin sound coming from the TV.

Lin Banxia was leaning on the sofa, with Ji Leshui lying next to him. He was a little tired after working all night. Near dawn, he had a vague dream.

He dreamed that when he was in college, there was a classmate who always liked to scare him, but never succeeded. Until one night, the classmate suddenly tapped him from the back, trying to scare him, but of course he didn’t react at all. The classmate gave him a lonely look, sighed, and said this didn’t scare you either. Lin Banxia was still laughing at that time, but unexpectedly the next day, the monitor suddenly told him that the classmate had died in a car accident yesterday morning…

Died? But obviously, he was joking with him the night before…

Lin Banxia was dreaming and suddenly woke up. The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to look for Ji Leshui beside him. He was relieved when he saw that Ji Leshui was still sleeping next to him. After thinking about it, he woke Ji Leshui up and told him that he planned to visit the neighbor next door.

When Ji Leshui heard Lin Banxia’s words, he wondered: “Why are you going to find your neighbor?”

Lin Banxia said: “The neighbor may know something.”

Ji Leshui: “He knows something?” He didn’t understand what Lin Banxia meant.

“He knows about this house.” Lin Banxia said, “He looks weird, not like a normal person.”

Ji Leshui: “How weird is it?”

Lin Banxia: “Weirder than me.”

Ji Leshui struggled for a few seconds and finally gave up: “That’s really weird.”

Lin Banxia sighed and patted his friend’s shoulder.

After a night’s rest, Ji Leshui finally felt better and had enough energy to joke with Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia originally wanted to visit his neighbor alone, but Ji Leshui refused to stay in the house, so in desperation, the two simply went together.

Lin Banxia arrived at the neighbor’s door and knocked carefully.

The two waited for a while, then the door opened with a creak, and Song Qingluo’s face was revealed through the crack of the door. He seemed to have just woken up, his slightly long black hair was a little messy, and his face was still as white as bloodless white porcelain.

“Mr. Song…” Lin Banxia said, “I have something I want to ask you for advice.”

Song Qingluo moved his eyes to Ji Leshui next to Lin Banxia, ​​and said, “Is this your roommate?”

Lin Banxia nodded. He was a little afraid of Song Qingluo’s rejection and wanted to say a few nice words. Unexpectedly, Song Qingluo looked at Ji Leshui with critical eyes, then reached out and brushed away a handful of scattered hair. He said softly: “Come in.”

The two of them cautiously entered the door one after the other.

Ji Leshui, like Lin Banxia who came here for the first time, was surprised by the large and small boxes in the house as soon as he entered the door. Although he didn’t know what was in the boxes, he felt a little scared inexplicably. The footsteps stopped at a place far away from the box.

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.

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