Paintings of Terror

Chapter 46: There Are Ghosts

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

For once, Mu Yiran was wearing casual clothes. Ke Xun smiled at the other. Everyone was wearing casual clothes today. The deep blue went well with the glacial grey.

Mu Yiran’s expression was as solemn as ever. He looked at the Spring Bamboo Apartments’ sign and then looked at the flyer in his hand. He then looked like he was trying to find some clues from the surrounding shops.

Ke Xun knew what he was thinking. “You don’t have to look. The current year is 1997. The flyer is a year old.”

“This slope is ridiculously steep.” Mu Yiran gazed at the distinct downward slope of Spring Bamboo Street. He felt like there had to be an issue with the feng shui here.

“Maybe the people who built the apartment thought it’d help make money?” Ke Xun looked up at the fake-looking jet-black sky. He felt an invisible pressure pushing down against him. Actually, this apartment’s feng shui really sucked. It was situated at the end of Spring Street. Furthermore, there were T-junctions on either side of it. It made the apartment look like it was some kind of hub.

Experts would say that a home like this would ‘rip you to shreds.’

——”This has to be an example of deconstructivism!” From a distance, three guys and one woman walked over. One of them was Qin Ci.

Qin Ci nodded at Ke Xun and co. He turned the flyer in his hand over and walked over to the three of them.

“This is deconstruction of art! no, it’s the deconstruction of modern buildings!” A glasses-wearing middle-aged man said passionately. He was skinny like a pole.

Another middle-aged man, who had long hair but was balding at the top, looked pensive. “No, I think that this is related to philosophy.”

“Deconstructivism has its roots in philosophy!” The glasses man’s gaze pierced through the lens of his glasses.

Ke Xun looked at Qin Ci. He didn’t really understand what these two people were from the outside world or were characters in this painting.

This was the first time he’d seen someone enter a painting so flustered.

“I met them in the exhibition hall. They said that they’re poets. They were collecting information about the local culture.” Qin Ci explained briefly.

The female poet seemed much more normal. There was some panic in her eyes and she looked like she was sounding them out. She had on a pale cheongsam and a muslin shawl. She walked over in her embroidered shoes. “Dr. Qin, I don’t quite understand what’s happening. It’s a bit preposterous to believe that we’ve really entered a painting. Could we have…gone through the gallery’s back door?”

“We wish.” Ke Xun looked over the odd poets and then kept his silence.

Another group of people followed. One of them was Sha Liu, who had on, an unresigned expression. There was also the young man who had a bit of a stubble and dressed in the style of Japanese street wear, Zhu Haowen; the seventy-something year old , Li Taiyong; and the three long-legged devilish beauties—Tina, Xin Miao and Luo Han.

Wei Dong stared at the three pretty girls. What a freaking coincidence~

After everyone arrived, Qin Ci gave everyone a simple lecture on ‘entering paintings.’ They then prepared to knock on the door of the apartment.

The newcomers—aside from the old man, Li Taiyong—found it difficult to conceal their alarm, especially the three beauties. Two of them seemed to have been scared silly. The other one was crying and saying that she couldn’t believe that she had transmigrated.

Old Man Li Taiyong wore a half-sleeve shirt and a pair of washed-out work pants. He also had on a pair of old man shoes. His outfit was very much in tune with the current era of the painting.

The old man’s hands trembled non-stop. It was unclear whether this was out of nervousness or due to some sickness. He was slightly out-of-breath from all the walking. Qin Ci, who was the closest to him, supported him as they walked.

Ke Xun was particularly compassionate towards the elderly and children. Old man, just why did you have to come to this art gallery? It must have been because it was too hot today and you couldn’t bear to turn on the AC….

The metal gate of the apartment opened with a clang. It was pitch black inside, like a black hole. The wind was freezing and there was an indescribable scent in the air. It kind of smelled like the stuffy air of an underground garage.

After everyone pulled themselves together, they realized that there were lights inside. Due to the cylindrical shape of the building, the courtyard—or rather, atrium—inside was also circular in shape.

They stood inside the atrium and looked around. The building was made up of round, densely-packed units.

This was a tube-shaped apartment.

Sha Liu looked up to the sky. “I’ve been to tube-shaped apartments before. But those all had roofs. Why isn’t there a roof here?”

“A roof? If we had one of those, we wouldn’t be able to see the daylight then.” A faint voice suddenly spoke up. Sha Liu jumped up into the air, startled.

The person who spoke up was the person who had opened the gate for them. It was a fifty-something year old man wearing a faded red hurdle vest. There was a large ring of keys. It looked like he was the gatekeeper of this apartment.

“Are you all here to rent apartments? Come with me.” The gatekeeper uncle pushed open the door to the mailroom. “There are six rooms left. You’ll have to split yourself into six groups.”

The gatekeeper uncle was unperturbed. He grabbed some fish food from his bag to feed the fish inside the aquarium.

Ke Xun recalled the fragmented images of life he had seen just before entering the painting. He then connected it to this NPC who seemed extremely life-like. He felt like this painting was quite different from the previous ones.

The beauties quickly huddled together. “We’ll form one team!”

Wei Dong and Ke Xun acted like they had received Heaven’s degree and promptly shimmied closer to Mu Yiran. “The three of us will form a team!”

Mu Yiran’s expression was one of indifference. He didn’t seem to oppose it.

The gatekeeper uncle looked at the six people who had formed their own groups. “There can be three people in each group at most. No more. Otherwise, there won’t be enough people left.”

The NPC was quite good at speaking.

“Qiu Lu! The three of us!” The long-haired middle-aged man looked excited. It made people feel like he would be courting death soon.

The female poet named Qiu Lu rolled her eyes. “You two can form a team. There’s another girl here.”

Sha Liu had been silent this whole time. Upon hearing Qiu Lu speak up, she nodded with a smile.

Qin Ci was currently supporting the old man, Li Taiyong. He thus decided to form a team with him.

There was one person left: the Japanese streetwear young man, Zhu Haowen.

Being alone was usually not a good thing, especially in a weird painting.

“Now that you’re here, you’re a resident of the Spring Bamboo Dormitory. We’ll take care of you.” The gatekeeper uncle started to distribute the keys. “There’s only one key to each room. Don’t lose it.”

Ke Xun accepted the key. He saw that it was a simple brass key typical of the 90s. What was even more sketchy was that there was some kind of white plaster stuck on the keys. The room numbers were scribbled on with a ballpoint pen. The number 411 was written on Ke Xun’s key.

Sha Liu looked at Ke Xun’s key. “Ours is 410. Looks like we’re neighbours. We’ll be in your care.”

“All right.” Ke Xun treated people like Sha Liu perfunctorily.

Shortly after, everyone received their keys.

After the gatekeeper uncle finished distributing the keys, he suddenly said, “No one is allowed to live alone on the sixth floor. The pressure up there is crushing.”

As he spoke, his gaze suddenly sharpened. He turned to Wei Dong: “You, stay with him in 616.”

“Ah? Me?” Wei Dong felt like he was always the unlucky one.

The gatekeeper uncle’s gaze suddenly turned fierce. “You want to go against the Spring Bamboo Dormitory’s decision?”

Wei Dong nearly pissed himself in fear. He promptly headed over to Zhu Haowen’s side.

The gatekeeper uncle didn’t look at them anymore. He took away the rest of the keys and said, “Get acquainted with the surroundings before returning to your rooms. Don’t visit other floors after lights out. Don’t visit other rooms either after dark.”

The six teams were a bit befuddled as they stood there with the keys in hand. As soon as they exited the smoky mailroom, the gatekeeper uncle suddenly stuck his head out. “Gather at eight in the morning at Wu Mei’s restaurant!”

Everyone was startled.

Wei Dong tugged on Ke Xun sullenly. “Ke er….”

Ke Xun couldn’t do anything. “Remember what the gatekeeper uncle said. Don’t visit other floors after lights out. If you can, avoid leaving your room altogether.”

Sha Liu also spoke up. “There’s something I find strange about the floor’s restriction. Does that mean we are allowed to leave our rooms at night? That we can walk around our floor?”

Before she could finish her thought, someone suddenly shouted: “Common bathrooms!”

The person who had spoken up was Tina, one of the long-legged beauties. She was pointing to the bathroom near where they were standing. “The individual apartments don’t have bathrooms! We can only use the common ones.”

The other two beauties were alarmed.

Everyone now understood why they had not been restricted from leaving their rooms. If they wanted to use the bathroom at night, they would have to go to the common ones.

Everyone felt complicated. The veterans who had already lived through at least one painting earnestly began to familiarize themselves with their environment. they tried to memorize the position of each room in their heads. The gatekeeper uncle had probably told them to do this for a reason.

Everyone made the attempt to get to know each other. The male poets introduced themselves. The thin, glasses-wearing poet was named Shou Zhu. The balding, long-haired one was named Zhi Shao. They were probably their pen names.

Young Sweet Potato even handed everyone his business card. The quaint business cards had the characters for Zhi and Shao printed on them.

Everyone knew that the character for shao meant sweet potato. Then wasn’t Zhi Shao a small sweet potato…?

No one was in the mood to think about the sweet potato matter given the current circumstances. Everyone wandered around the simple atrium on the first floor. The atrium was full of life. It was no longer deathly still like it had been when they had first arrived.

There were no residences on the first floor. They were all shops. Everyone quickly found “Wu Mei’s Restaurant.’ There were quite a few people dining inside at present.

Aside from the little restaurant, there were several other little shops.

The beauties had been the most ill-adjusted upon arrival. Now, they were huddled at the little shops, buying things. One of them bought a bottle of orange soda and drank it with a straw at the entrance of the shop.

Everyone felt relieved upon seeing that they could use the money in their wallets.

“Don’t you find it strange? The shops should face the outside—why are they all facing inwards?” Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran. He inadvertently caught a whiff of the other’s cologne: cedarwood and oakmoss. It smelled pretty good.

“There was a demolition notice stuck on the wall outside the apartment that I saw before we entered the building. It was dated May 1996.” Mu Yiran thought that these stores were likely no longer allowed to open outside.

“Wow, you noticed a demolition notice? All I saw was the large words written in red paint: There are ghosts.” Ke Xun beamed at Mu Yiran.

Everyone became uneasy upon hearing ‘there are ghosts.’ But actually, everyone had already seen that. The large red words had been written in a sinister-looking script.

All of a sudden, unbridled loud laughter came from the store in front of them. A young woman dressed in red clothes walked out soon after.

She had on a fiery red, short, A-line skirt and her hair was done in a style that was in vogue during this time period. It was cut in a Ω shape.

The young woman in red had used hair gel to style her hair into magnificent arcs. Her thin, high-arching brows were drawn into beautiful curves. Her red lipstick was glossy and she aroused people’s tender feelings when she pouted her lips.

The three beauties looked crude in comparison with their drawn in brows and large crimson lips.

The shop the young woman walked out from was a hairdresser’s parlour. She was probably the owner of that shop.

“Are you new here?” The young woman greeted them calmly. Her voice was soft and she had a sweet sounding Wu accent.

Another lively and realistic NPC had shown up.

Shou Zhu seemed to have gotten energized from the pretty woman’s appearance. “At day’s end, when the rain is observed by none, a pair of mandarin ducks bathe before each other in red clothes.”

Everyone: “….”

Zhi Shao was all smiles. “Miss, actually, we come from the art gallery….”

“The art gallery? Were you sent by that Hong Kong developer?” The young woman in red suddenly cut him off coldly.

Qiu Lu promptly said, “We’re just tourists!”

The young woman in red examined everyone in detail. “Then you best shut your doors tightly. There are ghosts at night.”

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate Christmas and Happy Holidays (belated or early) to those who celebrate other holidays around this time!