Chapter 44: The Records
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
Dark crimson blood trickled from the corners of Bai Xiao’s mouth, a disturbing sign that he may have partaken in the consumption of forbidden, possibly human, flesh.
This unnerving scene cast a sinister shadow over Bai Xiao’s innocence. Two decades earlier, a horrific massacre occurred, implicating Bai Xiao as a potential suspect here. However, at that time, he was merely a child, too young to have possibly committed such atrocities. Yet, the chilling resemblance between Bai Xiao’s current demeanor and the murderer that Gao Ming had conjured in his mind from the details of that massacre case was striking and unsettling.
Fleeing seemed almost a lost cause now. Gao Ming’s hand was firm around the chain, while Zhu Miao Miao, with calculated precision, placed a talisman on the blade of a firefighter’s axe. “Two against one, odds might be in our favor,” Gao Ming pondered with a hint of hope.
This fleeting moment of decision-making was abrupt. In those few critical seconds, Bai Xiao had already lunged through the corridor towards them, driven by a frenzied rage.
His cleaver, a weapon of terror, cut through the darkness of the night, targeting Gao Ming with lethal intent. “Watch out!” The warning echoed in the tense air.
Quick on her feet, Zhu Miao Miao rushed in from the side, her axe aimed with determined force at Bai Xiao’s shoulder. But Bai Xiao, with an agility that defied belief and clad in a raincoat, evaded the strike at an almost impossible angle.
The raincoat bore the mark of the near miss, and through this tear, Gao Ming caught a brief, horrifying glimpse of Bai Xiao’s flesh. It was etched with strange, almost otherworldly symbols that seemed to squirm and wriggle under his skin, a sight both fascinating and repulsive.
With each movement, Bai Xiao’s body emitted a grotesque sound, as if his bones were being wrenched apart segment by segment. His face, twisted into an expression of ecstatic madness, seemed to be under the control of a sinister force beyond human understanding. His mouth, smeared with blood, stretched into a grotesque, spine-chilling smile.
Suddenly, Bai Xiao lunged forward with the force of his hind legs, a burst of speed that showcased his body’s terrifying potential.
Gao Ming, despite maintaining his physical condition even during his time in a high-security prison, found himself grossly unprepared for this confrontation. His approach, devoid of formal combat training, was purely instinctual, driven by a primal survival instinct.
With no formal strategy, Gao Ming’s focus was entirely on Bai Xiao. He tried to remain calm, anticipating Bai Xiao’s movements, narrowly escaping each attack by mere inches, relying solely on his predictions.
“Chop him down!”
In this dire situation, the thought of launching a counterattack with the chain was far from Gao Ming’s mind. His primary concern was evasion, desperately dodging and placing his hopes on Zhu Miao Miao’s intervention.
Armed with the talisman-enhanced firefighter’s axe, Zhu Miao Miao fought valiantly. However, Bai Xiao’s movements were erratic and unnaturally swift, making him a nearly impossible target.
In a matter of moments, Gao Ming found himself retreating from the corridor’s entrance to the inner confines of Building B, an experience that brought him terrifyingly close to the brink of death.
Bai Xiao’s menacing cleaver, coupled with his maniacal laughter, dominated Gao Ming’s senses. The walls, smeared with blood, and the slippery floor underfoot hampered his movements. Despite his cautious approach, the physical disparity between him and Bai Xiao inexorably pushed Gao Ming into a corner.
With no path of escape and cornered, Gao Ming, mirroring the fate of the other unfortunate investigators before him, sought temporary refuge in a nearby room, his heart pounding with the dread of impending doom.
Gao Ming hastily slammed the door shut behind him, only to realize with a sinking heart that the lock was broken. It dawned on him that the ninth floor was akin to a predator’s den, where every door was compromised, leaving no chance for secure refuge.
Outside, Bai Xiao’s eerie laughter reverberated through the hallway, his cleaver hacking relentlessly at the door. Each thud sent a surge of panic through Gao Ming, accelerating his heartbeat.
With his back pressed against the door, Gao Ming frantically rummaged through his backpack and extracted a photograph of Zhao Xi.
“Brother Zhao Xi! If you don’t come to my aid now, you’ll never see me again!” he cried out, his voice tinged with desperation.
As blood from Gao Ming’s wounded fingers dripped down the chain in his hand onto the photograph, an uncanny connection seemed to form between him and Zhao Xi. Shadows eerily converged around the image as the room’s temperature plummeted abruptly.
The colors in Zhao Xi’s photograph started to drain away, giving way to a surreal scene as five ghostly fingers, injured and ethereal, reached out from the photo itself.
Following the trail of the black chain, the spectral arm in the photograph extended, grasping Gao Ming’s hand in a chilling embrace.
The scent of blood grew more intense, and then, as if materializing from the depths of the photograph, the distorted figure of Zhao Xi emerged, his body twisted and contorted in a ghastly manner.
At that critical moment, the door to the rental burst open, revealing Bai Xiao, clad in his raincoat and fueled by fury. He charged in, only to be confronted by the apparition of Zhao Xi.
Zhao Xi’s mangled form latched onto Bai Xiao, clinging to him with an unyielding grip. Despite Bai Xiao’s frenzied attempts to hack at him, Zhao Xi clung on, emanating a palpable aura of despair and unrelenting suppression, the weight of a life filled with suffering that seemed to persist even beyond death.
Blood seeped from Zhao Xi’s wounds, but it didn’t fall to the floor. Instead, it remained suspended between him and Bai Xiao as if transmitting the full extent of his pain and oppression to his assailant.
Bai Xiao’s expression contorted into a mask of horror as his cleaver proved ineffective against the spectral Zhao Xi. In a gruesome turn, Bai Xiao resorted to biting into Zhao Xi’s shoulder with a bloodied mouth!
He tore away a chunk of Zhao Xi’s flesh with a savage pull. Horrifyingly, the bite wound didn’t close, and the sinister characters etched on Bai Xiao’s skin began to creep into Zhao Xi’s body.
“Biting ghosts too?” Seizing the moment, Gao Ming grasped the chain and charged at Bai Xiao. He wrapped the black chain around Bai Xiao, now infused with Zhao Xi’s lingering will. “Zhu Miao Miao!”
Now empowered with a talisman, Zhu Miao Miao swung the weapon with all her strength, striking deep into Bai Xiao’s back.
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
A blood-curdling scream erupted as a swarm of black characters surged towards the wound on Bai Xiao’s back.
“I’m sorry, Team Lead Bai Xiao!” Zhu Miao Miao’s voice was filled with a mix of sorrow and resolve as she swung the axe again, this time without any hesitation. In her eyes, Bai Xiao had transformed from the respected chief she once knew to a perilous, deranged threat.
The talisman shattered upon impact on Bai Xiao’s back, and Zhu Miao Miao’s axe blade plunged through his ravaged chest.
“His heart has already been removed!” she exclaimed, revealing a shocking and macabre twist in the harrowing encounter.
Bai Xiao’s face was a ghastly sight, crisscrossed with fine, blue veins, his eyes brimming with a deep-seated resentment. The black characters that had once seemed to wriggle beneath his skin began to dissolve, fading away like melting snowflakes.
As he crumpled to the ground, his body seemed to lose its structural integrity, collapsing into a grotesque heap of flesh.
Gao Ming, his hands stained with the blood of the encounter, carefully removed the firefighter’s axe from Bai Xiao’s body. He stared down at the man, lying motionless on the ground, a sense of uncertainty clouding his judgment. Was Bai Xiao still a man, or had he crossed into the realm of the spectral?
In a surprising turn, after all the black characters had vanished, Bai Xiao’s eyes fluttered open once more. Upon seeing Gao Ming, a flicker of agitation crossed his features. He made a feeble attempt to reach into his raincoat as if to retrieve something, but ultimately, his strength failed him.
Bai Xiao’s flesh, now devoid of any signs of life, emitted a foul, decay-like odor, suggesting he had been deceased for several days.
Curious, Gao Ming lifted the raincoat and discovered a black ring cunningly sewn into the stitched wound on Bai Xiao’s abdomen.
Upon opening this unexpected find, he discovered it contained several short audio recordings, a hidden trove of Bai Xiao’s final messages to the world:
Recording one detailed the tragic loss of two team members merely seventeen minutes after entering the apartment, vanishing mysteriously in a corridor.
Recording two described the ghostly entities encountered – human in form, yet deformed, and tragically unaware of their own demise, holding onto their memories. It warned of the dangers of abnormal behavior and the peril of entering their rooms.
Recording three chillingly mentioned that consuming flesh could prolong survival in this twisted reality.
Recording four speculated on the nature of their situation – questioning if it was more than an anomalous event, possibly a real, alternate world existing in parallel to their own.
Recording five simply stated, “One must guard their own heart.”
Recording six offered a glimmer of hope, noting the morgue on the fourth floor and the house with the white lanterns as safe havens.
Recording seven was a stark warning: “Never eat the flesh!”
These recordings were Bai Xiao’s final testament, concealed within his own body in a desperate attempt to preserve and pass on this crucial information.
Zhu Miao Miao, her condition visibly worsening, reflected on her past with Bai Xiao. “When I came for my interview at the Bureau, it was Team Lead Bai Xiao who recruited me. He was a very upright person,” she said, her voice tinged with a mix of respect and sorrow. She had never imagined that the first ‘ghost’ she would be forced to kill would be the person she once admired the most.
Solemn and philosophical, Gao Ming responded, “Everyone dies, including you and me. The only thing we can do now is to make our deaths count for something more.” He noticed Zhu Miao Miao’s hands, marred with wounds that seemed beyond healing, a consequence of wielding the axe. “What happened?”
“The talisman draws blood from my body when used,” Zhu Miao Miao explained, her voice weary. She revealed two more talismans, her tone suggesting a mixture of fear and resignation. “I felt like the talisman was devouring me.”
Upon examining the talismans provided by Granny, Gao Ming made a disturbing discovery. The so-called “Talisman of Slaying” appeared to be crafted from human skin, each harboring a trapped, ghostly shadow within. This revelation added a sinister layer to their already dire circumstances, hinting at darker forces and deeper mysteries yet to be unraveled.
Gao Ming, his mind swirling with questions, pondered aloud as he assisted Zhu Miao Miao to her feet, balancing Zhao Xi’s weight on his back. “Is everything in these ghost stories, even the talismans, related to ghosts? Is the shadow world entirely composed of ghosts?”
Their steps were cautious and heavy as they lingered near the corridor briefly before Gao Ming steered them toward Building A. The path was an eerie blend of shadows and bloodstains, creating a macabre tapestry that seemed to stretch endlessly before them. As they moved closer to Building A, Gao Ming felt his heart pounding with increasing intensity. There was an inexplicable, almost magnetic pull emanating from deep within the apartment building, beckoning him forward.
He mused on a troubling thought. “Granny said this isn’t my first time participating in a sacrificial ceremony. Could it be that I unwittingly worshipped something in the tunnel?”
As they progressed, the bloodstains on the ground became less frequent, replaced by the distant sounds of hawking that drifted towards them. Gao Ming, somewhat dazed, lifted his head to realize they had already navigated through the corridor and entered Building A.
Upon parting the clothes hanging at the entrance of the corridor, a surreal sight greeted them. It was as if they had stepped into a different world – one where children played carefreely and adults engaged in casual conversation. The atmosphere in Building A was starkly different from the grim narrative they had been part of; it was almost as if the residents were untouched by the ghostly happenings around them. Yet, a closer look revealed that their bodies bore signs of incompleteness – a subtle indication that the ordinary facade of Building A was just a thin veil over an underlying abnormality. The contrast between this seemingly normal life and the grim reality they had just witnessed was both jarring and mysterious, hinting at deeper, unseen layers to the shadow world they were entangled in.