CH 56.1

“Since the pipes are now unclogged, we’ll withdraw.”

Seeing that he couldn’t get any more words out of the crayon-faced woman, Bai Lixin also had no intention of staying here any longer.

With just over three hours left, he had other plans.

The woman lit a cigarette, the filter in her bright red crayon mouth.

She inhaled and gave a gentle blow.

” I haven’t paid yet. How much do you charge for a sewer cleaning?”

Bai Lixin turned on the tap and washed his hands clean, “No need for money, we were in the wrong place and the tools were your own.”

“Tsk,” the woman laughed, exhaling a wisp of white smoke from her mouth, “You have a good heart, little brother.”

Before leaving, Bai Lixin looked up at the clock hanging on the wall in the room. It showed the time as 9:15.

He had just looked out through the bathroom window and it was already dark outside, so it must be after 9 p.m.

As Bai Lixin and Dijia pushed the door open to leave, the man who had gone to smoke came back in.

The man’s body was very fit, and Bai Lixin’s sharp eyes saw a black spot, a bit like a birthmark, under the man’s vest.

The man paused when he saw the two men. He frowned and asked warily, “Who are you people?”

“Why are you fierce?” The woman sat on the sofa, crossed her legs, and smoked the cigarette. “They’re the plumbers. The sewers were clogged recently, and it turned out to be the scalp of the vixen next door.”

The man’s body stiffened for a couple of seconds, and he walked inside after staggering away from Bai Lixin, “Where is that unlucky thing? Hurry up and flush it away.”

The woman, “Flush it away for what? The police said there was a reward of ten yuan. If you were capable, we’d have moved out of the building long ago, and I wouldn’t be saving that disgusting thing for only 10. ”

The door to the room and the metal door slammed shut, and the sound of the woman and man arguing became muffled and vague.

Dijia’s gaze deepened, and he silently glanced at Bai Lixin, “Are you going to check out the house in question?”

Bai Lixin nodded “Let’s go. We’re already here after all.”

This was the 19th floor, which was occupied by a female ghost, but they hadn’t seen her yet.

The ghost was so powerful that it had even reconstructed the residential building from back then. Wouldn’t the crime scene also be realistic?

Dijia took Bai Lixin’s arm, and his voice was a little serious: “Don’t be reckless, and don’t be afraid. I will protect you.”

Bai Lixin was about to walk forward, but when he heard Dijia’s words, he paused, and with a twist of his wrist, patted the back of Dijia’s cold hand, “Yeah, I know, you too.”

The incandescent lights overhead pulsed more intensely as they trudged through the corridor filled with clutter.

The dark, residential corridor was narrow and messy. The iron-grated door of the target residence had a white seal affixed to it, and two caution tapes were wrapped around the frame.

The iron door was open by a slit, and the dark and empty inside was exposed.

Even though nothing could be seen through the slit, a chilling and cold aura that was simply impossible to ignore frantically surged from the inside.

Dijia quietly took hold of Bai Lixin’s shoulders and pulled him behind him.

The broad shoulders blocked his view and shielded him from that chill.

Bai Lixin glanced at Dijia and saw that the other man had already begun to pull at the caution tape in silence.

The tape was ripped off and the seal was torn off.

Throughout, Dijia firmly guarded Bai Lixin behind him.

The old, dilapidated iron door was pulled open with a loud creak in the narrow, gloomy corridor.

Bai Lixin realised that the noise next door had stopped, and the whole corridor was as quiet as a tomb, even his breathing was amplified several times.

Taking a secret breath, Bai Lixin reached out from behind Dijia and pushed the wooden door after the iron door by a small crack.

The incandescent light overhead suddenly flickered a few times.

With a loud “bang,” the last stubbornness of the incandescent light disappeared, and it was suddenly pitch black before his eyes.

Something flashed by in the darkness, bringing a small gust of wind with it.

As Bai Lixin waited for his vision to adjust to the darkness, a pair of broad hands took his hand.

Those hands had lost their original warmth, but in this cramped and terrifying darkness, they gave Bai Lixin great courage, even though he wasn’t really scared.

“Follow me, I’ll protect you.” Dijia’s voice rang out, as if protecting Bai Lixin had been ingrained in his instincts, and every time he encountered something, he subconsciously wanted to protect him.

The doll head in his arms twitched twice, as if it had woken up.

Bai Lixin felt the doll head turn the back of his hand with its tender tofu-like cheeks.

In the next second, the doll head turned and jumped onto his shoulder.

“Let’s go.” Bai Lixin looked at the time on the taskbar; it was already 2 am.

Over time, he gradually adjusted to the darkness, and some outlines began to appear before his eyes.

Dijia pulled at Bai Lixin, he walked through the wooden door. As soon as they stepped through the door, the man and the ghost stopped in their tracks.

Dijia’s hand, which had been holding onto Bai Lixin, slightly applied pressure, as if telling him “don’t be afraid”.

Bai Lixin squinted and saw a vague outline of someone standing before them.

It looked like a tall and thin person, and as they looked at the silhouette, the silhouette was looking at them too.

In the darkness, the two sides confronted each other in silence.

In the spirit of classic Renaissance theories such as “the villain dies by talking too much” and “if the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move,” so Bai Lixin just dawdled on.

After a few minutes or so, a soft female voice rang out in the darkness.

“Why don’t you two come in? Why are you standing at the doorway like mallets?”

The figure slowly approached Bai Lixin and Dijia, and as she moved, a chilly aura began to flow through the air.

Dijia’s body moved slightly, completely blocking Bai Lixin behind him.

The dark shadow reached out and touched the wall, and with a click, the overhead lights came on.

The light was a little dim, but in this dim light, the dark figure was finally visible to the man and the ghost.

Bai Lixin’s breath stopped for a moment when he saw the figure before him clearly.

There was a woman in front of him, only, her whole body was covered with lines. The lines were dense black threads that stitched her body together.

It may be because some of the flesh could not be found, or that it had decayed, so the splicing was not as perfect as it could have been.

The woman wore the simplest of floral dresses, with an apron over it.

Bai Lixin couldn’t see the skin hidden inside the dress, but what was exposed was just randomly stitched together to form limbs and a head.

Some of the organs for the stomach were on the arms, and the features on the face were randomly put together. One eye was horizontal and the other vertical. The nose was sewn to where the cheeks were and the mouth was hanging crookedly.

The woman cracked a smile. “Mom will make you your favorite lean pork congee and potted pork tonight.”

Bai Lixin, “……”

When the woman spoke, the rotting flesh was exposed where the patchwork was not perfect.

I’m numb.

“Ming Ming, take your sister to the study to do her homework first; the meal will be ready soon.”

Bai Lixin and Dijia looked at each other.

The study, which room was it?

Just when the two were hesitating, the ghost abruptly frowned, and her eyes sharpened. A faint chilly wind blew in the air and her hair began to rise.

The woman’s eerie voice slowly reached the two men’s ears, “Don’t you know… where the study is?”

In the midst of the awkward stare-down, Bai Lixin poked his head out from behind Dijia. He pulled a smile and called out, “Mom.”

Hearing this call, the woman’s anger subsided.

Her hair fell naturally, and the woman gave a crooked smile, “En.”

Bai Lixin saw the soft flesh squeezed out from between the threads holding the flesh together, “……”

You may have a lovely smile, but don’t smile again.

Bai Lixin, “The teacher didn’t assign any homework today.”

The woman frowned in confusion. “They always assign homework; how come there is none today?”

Bai Lixin, “It’s the weekend. Me and brother just went out to play, did you forget?”

Dijia kept taking Bai Lixin’s fingers and rubbing the back of Bai Lixin’s hand.

The woman’s eyes were blank for a few seconds before she nodded in realization, “Yes, yes, it’s the weekend, look at Mom’s memory. I’m sorry, baby. Mom’s memory is not good these days, Mom’s so stupid.”

“No way,” Bai Lixin blew rainbow farts, “Mom’s not stupid. Mom is the smartest and most beautiful woman in the world.”

You can’t reach out and hit a smiling person, let alone a “ghost mother” who loved her children.

Sure enough, the woman’s smile deepened, “Oh, Yuan Yuan is making Mom happy again. Then you guys watch TV for a while, and Mom will cook for you.”

The woman then turned on the TV. It was an old TV with a big behind, and there was a “prickly” snow pattern when it was turned on.

She took the remote control and pressed a few buttons, quickly putting on a children’s channel.

She put the remote on the coffee table, and walked into the kitchen.

Bai Lixin called out across the hall, “Mom, close the kitchen door, the smell of fumes is too strong.”

The woman obviously loved the two children, and she immediately closed the kitchen door, “Okay, you guys play for a while haha. Ming Ming, take care of sister.”

The kitchen door was closed, smoothly separating them from each other.

Bai Lixin and Dijia looked at each other. Bai Lixin pinched Dijia’s fingers hard and leaned over to whisper in the other man’s ear, “Let’s check the other rooms.”

Warm breath blew into the man’s ear, and Dijia’s fingers subconsciously tightened.

Bai Lixin’s eyes flickered, and after a two-second pause, he blew on Dijia’s ear as he whispered, “Okay, brother?”

Dijia, “……”

Of course it’s okay, how could it be not okay?

The sound of children’s cartoons rang out from the television.

With the sounds of the cartoons covering them, the two began to search every room.

The house was not large. There was a hall and a kitchen, the recessed area around the corner, which was a sanitary place at first glance, and two other rooms.

The doors to both rooms were closed, and the two men went into the room nearest the front door first.

They turned on the light, and a bedroom appeared before them.

It wasn’t so large, and just a double bed filled the room.

Above the bed hung a photograph of a woman in a wedding dress, but the woman’s face was painted over.

The photograph was clearly a crop from a wedding photo, and the black corner of a suit was visible on one side of the photo.

The room also had two bedside tables and a large wardrobe.

Bai Lixin opened the wardrobe and found a few clothes inside.

There were thin clothes and a few thick clothes, all of which were a little worn, but nothing else.

Bai Lixin closed the wardrobe and turned his head to find that Dijia had already opened the bedside table.

He had just walked over when he saw Dijia calmly closing the bedside table with a push.

“What’s in there?” Bai Lixin asked Dijia with curiosity.

Dijia’s eyes flickered. “There’s nothing there, don’t look.”

Once he said that, it made Bai Lixin all the more curious. He directly pulled Dijia’s arm and opened a drawer.

Several thin and square packages with a small rounded bulge in the middle were exposed to the eye.

Bai Lixin paused for two seconds and calmly closed the drawer in silence, “……”

Oh.

His hand went to the second drawer of the bedside table.

The drawer was opened, and inside was a small, four-sided, blue leather book.

In the hall outside, the sound of frying and smoke from the dishes going into the pan rang out.

Bai Lixin took out the little book and opened it.

It was an account book.

It was basically a record of the daily income and expenses.

From the ledger, it was clear that most of the daily spending went on meals and children. For several years, the woman had barely bought herself a decent outfit.

Bai Lixin quickly flipped through it and he was almost at the end when his fingers suddenly stopped.

He flipped forward a few more pages, and used his finger as a bookmark to pick out these pages.

On the ledger, several strange expenses appeared.

A large amount of sleeping pills, a machete, twine, woven bags ……

It wouldn’t be suspicious if any of these were taken out individually.

But to have them bought in close proximity to each other, one cannot help but think about certain bad aspects.

Bai Lixin flipped back a few more pages before the entries came to an abrupt halt.

He put the account book back into the drawer and looked at the contents of another drawer.

This time, it was just everyday trivial tools, and he didn’t make any additional discoveries.

The sleeping pills were obviously not something that had been bought by coincidence.

The handwriting that recorded those items had not changed either, so it was obvious that the woman had bought them.

Had she bought them intending to kill someone?

Outside the hall, the sound of frying became louder, accompanied by the sound of oil being added to the pan and the smell of meat coming through.

Without wasting time, Bai Lixin exited the room and immediately entered the next one.

This room was both a study and a bedroom.

This room was obviously for children. Two desks were lined up side by side against the wall, and two stools for the children to sit on were underneath the desks.

One side of the room had a single bunk bed with two levels.

The top was covered with pink sheets, and a bunny doll sat next to the pillow.

The bedding underneath was sky blue, and there were a few old anime posters on the wall.

The wardrobe and bookshelves were neatly arranged against the wall.

This room was much more spacious than the one the mother lived in.

Bai Lixin chose to open the wardrobe closest to the door first. The girl’s and boy’s clothes were 50/50, and both the fabric and the colour were much better than the mother’s.

The bookshelves were lined with storybooks and small toys, but nothing special.

“Come and look at this,” Dijia called out to Bai Lixin.

Bai Lixin turned around and found Dijia sitting on a small stool that was a bit too miniature for him, waving a diary-like object at him.

He walked forward and stood next to Dijia.

It really was a diary.

Unlike the woman’s beautiful handwriting on the ledger, the handwriting in the diary was much more childish.

Dijia, “I’ll flip the pages for you to read. When you’re done, tap the back of my hand, and I’ll know.”

Bai Lixin, “Okay.”

The diary was opened to the first page.

Bai Lixin had always been a fast reader, and there was nothing profound in the child’s diary. It was mostly a straightforward rundown of the child’s days.

While Bai Lixin’s attention was on the diary, Dijia’s attention was on Bai Lixin’s fingers.

Fingers as crystalline as jade hung over the back of his hand, their round, soft bellies tapping lightly on the back of his hand every few seconds.

With each tap, he could feel the warmth and delicate touch of Bai Lixin.

Neither spoke to the other at the moment, just one tapping and one flipping the pages. They had a tacit understanding as if they had been together for a long, long time.

This should have been a vicious ghostly environment filled with danger and gloom, but Dijia felt a peace and warmth from it that he had never felt before.

It was as if the long loneliness and aimless waiting had only been for this moment.

For a moment, Dijia wished that time could stand still.

Then he could have the young man forever and stay with him all the time.

After several consecutive taps, Dijia came back to his senses and saw Bai Lixin’s clear gaze looking intently at him.

Dijia hurriedly turned the page.

The warm fingers fell onto the back of his hand, gently making circles as Bai Lixin spoke softly, “You were lost in thought just now. What were you thinking about?”

The young man’s fingers were soft, but there was still a tingling sensation of friction. The fingers drew circles as if they were silently giving an invitation.

Dijia’s non-existent heart skipped a beat. He tilted his head to look at the young man, and saw that the young man’s clear eyes were now covered by a hazy mist, looking exceedingly ambiguous.

“Are you seducing me?” Dijia asked, unsure.

Bai Lixin’s fingers paused slightly, then he slowly withdrew them, placed them on the tabletop and tapped them lightly.

Dijia’s gaze was drawn to the constantly tapping fingers, and his thoughts began to fly about.

The jade-like fingers tapping on the table were a blessing that the table had cultivated for eight lifetimes.

The table was nothing but a dead thing. What virtue did it have to enjoy such a thing?

When will this hand fall on him and play a pleasing piece on him like a piano?

Bai Lixin’s eyes were downcast, his gaze hidden in the mist. He took a deep breath and suppressed his restlessness, “It’s not the right time.”

Dijia abruptly looked up.

Not the right time?

The time for what?

Was Bai Lixin giving him an invitation?

Dijia’s chest suddenly swelled a little.

He silently covered his chest with his cold hand, feeling as if something was scratching and rubbing inside it, making his chest extremely uncomfortable.

It was as if there was a heart in there.

But he was a ghost.

This kind of emotion shouldn’t be there.

Bai Lixin continued, “If there’s anything we need to do or say, let’s wait until we’re completely safe. The Red Apple House, the Underworld Hotel and this residential building are full of danger. You don’t want to be disturbed halfway through, do you?”

Dijia’s eyes widened.

Halfway through?

Through what?

Make it clear to me!