The Haunted House - Chapter 4

“Do people these days all behave like this? Unwilling to trust anyone?” Li Xian’s voice carried a hint of helplessness. Bai Qingqing sensed it, thinking to herself, “If I could see her face, she must be wearing a bitter smile, right?” Nevertheless, she firmly said, “Let’s begin. Tell me everything you want me to know, and everything I must know.”

“Alright then, I hope you won’t be too shocked,” Li Xian’s voice became serious for the first time. “Actually, in the world we live in, many people exhibit behaviors that are beyond ordinary. When their talents are maximized, they become what people refer to as successful individuals. However, there’s a small group of people who, perhaps due to their environment or personality, have their talents buried. For these few, there is someone who can unearth their talents and grant them supernatural abilities. This person is known as the guide to the underworld. No one knows how powerful his abilities are, nor does anyone know his true intentions. But what I do know is-you are about to become a monster with supernatural abilities, and you will work for him. When he feels you are no longer of use, he will abandon you without hesitation. Your end will be lying dismembered among the cherry blossoms, slowly losing consciousness as your last drop of blood drains away, dying in agony.” Bai Qingqing lay there, her pupils filled with terror, her lips dry. The slowly moving finger in her mind was inescapable. She trembled and said, “What should I do then?”

“Actually, the apartment you’re living in now hides many secrets unknown to others. Until you see those things, you cannot imagine how terrifying they are. They are truly spine-chilling,” Li Xian paused briefly, as if she too had recalled something frightening, her voice trembling slightly. She was struggling to overcome her own fears, because she did not want Bai Qingqing to lose faith in her. After calming her own fears, she continued, “You must be mentally prepared because you have no other choice but to face everything. Not far from your room, in the hallway, there is a secret room. If you search carefully, you will definitely find it. There, you will learn much more.” Bai Qingqing tried to calm her tumultuous heart and said, “Are you saying I will become a puppet for the guide to the underworld? But I don’t have any remarkable talents. I’m just a poor novelist still living off my father’s support. And what is this secret room?” But it seemed that Li Xian was not ready to divulge these details to Bai Qingqing, so she simply said, “You will understand in time, but not now. What I need to remind you of is that you must be careful about that-”

“Qingqing? Qingqing?” Bai Qingqing was woken up from her dream by Wang Chenxi’s voice. She opened her drowsy eyes, thinking, “So it was just a dream? But how could it feel so real? Real enough to seem like I actually experienced it.” The sound of Wang Chenxi calling her name continued from outside the door. Snapping out of her daze, she responded weakly, “What is it? I’m still sleeping.”

“It’s already noon! You’re still in bed? Get up and have some lunch,” he said.

Bai Qingqing glanced at the old-fashioned pendulum clock hanging on the wall, and sure enough, the hands pointed exactly to twelve. She was stunned. What was going on? Ever since graduating from college, she had never slept past eight in the morning, yet today she’d somehow slept until noon. Forcing herself to overcome the dull ache in her head from oversleeping, she got up and shuffled out of the room in her slippers.

To her surprise, Wang Chenxi had prepared an entire table full of dishes and was sitting there waiting for her. Bai Qingqing had never known Wang Chenxi was capable of something like this. She sat down at the table, her movements still sluggish. Wang Chenxi looked at the faint trace of weariness and melancholy on Bai Qingqing’s face, his eyes filled with a gentle warmth. Slowly, he began to speak.

“Actually, today is a special day. I don’t even remember what year it was, but I remember it was September 13th-today. She said to me, ‘Chenxi, I’ve made up my mind.’ At the time, I couldn’t believe my own ears. I asked, ‘What? What did you decide?’ Her cheeks turned as red as a cherry, but she still mustered the courage to look at me and say loudly, ‘I mean I’m willing to be your girlfriend, you idiot! You coward!'”

Wang Chenxi seemed to drift off into the memory of that beautiful, heart-thumping moment. A subtle smile began to spread across his lips.

“But in that instant, her pupils lost focus, and blood slowly trickled from the corner of her mouth before she collapsed powerlessly in front of me! I didn’t even know what had happened! I just stood there like a coward, staring at her as she slowly fell to the ground in front of this dining table.” Wang Chenxi caressed the edge of the table, his expression indescribable-a mix of sadness, anger, hatred, and tenderness. Bai Qingqing didn’t know how to respond, as she knew that at that moment, her role was to be a silent listener, quietly hearing Wang Chenxi share his story. Yet, Wang Chenxi remained silent, seemingly with no intention of continuing. Driven by curiosity, Bai Qingqing finally broke the silence, asking, “And then?”

Wang Chenxi snapped out of his reverie, looked at Bai Qingqing, and with a slightly mischievous smile that had returned to his face, said, “Some things are better left unasked, dear, because the truth is often hard to accept.” Bai Qingqing, unnerved by his peculiar smile, tightened inside. She recalled that all-too-real dream again. She wondered how such strange people could live in this apartment-from the rock maniac upstairs to the young man in front of her, always wearing a sinister smile. From Wang Chenxi’s tone, it seemed like he had many sorrowful stories and was like an ageless, undying creature. Regardless, Bai Qingqing decided she needed to find some peace of mind, even if it meant seeking out the so-called secret room; else, her heart would never settle.

Wang Chenxi nibbled at his food briefly before leaving alone, leaving Bai Qingqing to face a table full of dishes. On this particular day, he seemed to have forgotten that he no longer needed to eat. He tried hard to remember the last time he had eaten, but it seemed he truly couldn’t recall. Wang Chenxi shook his head in resignation, gazing out the window at the dry, yellow leaves fluttering in the breeze, and muttered with a bitter smile, “Xian, I miss you so much. You’ve never heard me call you so affectionately, have you? But I know you will hear me. Then, we won’t have to face the cold winter alone anymore.” Wang Chenxi shed emerald green tears as the cold wind tousled his hair, but he was oblivious to it all, for he no longer felt the cold.

After lunch, Bai Qingqing wandered the hallways, meticulously checking every corner in search of the secret room Li Xian had mentioned in her dream. Just as she was about to give up, she stumbled upon an inconspicuous corner cluttered with junk. Behind the debris, Bai Qingqing was startled to find an unremarkable wooden door. With effort, she cleared the heavy items away to reveal the entire facade of the door. Swallowing hard, her hand trembling, she slowly pulled open the aged wooden door. Her heartbeat quickened, everything exactly as Li Xian had described in her dream. Unsure of what awaited inside, Bai Qingqing knew, just as Li Xian had said, that if this was all real, she couldn’t escape it. Steeling herself, she stepped into the secret room.

Inside, it wasn’t as dark as she imagined, eerily quiet like a morgue in a hospital. Bai Qingqing could even hear her own heartbeat. The room was draped with various skins that had darkened with age. Bai Qingqing couldn’t be sure what kind of skins they were, but they eerily resembled human skin! The thought made her even more nervous. Suddenly, a pair of blood-red eyes with emerald green pupils appeared before Bai Qingqing, startling her immensely.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” a voice echoed from some corner, sounding both angry and slightly frightened. Despite her fear, the strange events Bai Qingqing had experienced over the past few days had gradually dismantled her worldview.

“I am someone caught in the whirlpool of fate,” she responded, “Someone told me that there is a way out of here, so I thought, maybe we aren’t enemies?” Upon hearing her words, the creature emerged from the shadows. No one could discern his original face anymore; it looked as though it had been corroded by sulfuric acid-no, it was being corroded, as pus continued to drip down. His teeth, devoid of any lips to shield them, appeared cold and sharp. Bai Qingqing, fighting the urge to vomit, asked, “Who are you? And what exactly is this place? Why are all these horrifying things happening?”