51st oil painting

Chapter 35

KEY's regular online time is from 10 PM to the early hours of the next morning. Around midnight, a new email notification appeared in the lower right corner of his computer screen. He clicked on it, opened it, and wow! It was a pornographic image. The picture showed a completely naked man sitting with his legs spread apart, brazenly exposing his genitals, as if showing off. The man's face was exactly like his own. KEY was initially surprised, but upon closer inspection, he couldn't help but laugh. Who played this prank? Cutting and pasting his own image onto the image? Such a childish game, trying to fool KEY? It was like showing off one's skills before an expert!

Thinking about it, his gaze lingered on the man's genitals. To be honest, KEY, who frequented porn sites, had never seen anything so big. No Asian man could have one this big; it must be a Black man's, or a White man's, maybe even a horse's genitals cut and pasted on...

Who played this prank? Where were the pictures downloaded from?

He glanced at the other person's email address: zoe@

This address seems familiar, but I can't quite place it.

At this moment, something strange happened: the DVD drive door opened automatically, and the disc was smoothly pushed out.

That's strange, I didn't press the open button!

KEY was puzzled, so he leaned closer to take a look and saw something in the plate, which looked like a light blue piece of paper.

He carefully picked it up and opened it. It turned out to be a paper mask, folded up and placed in the CD drive. It was the perfect size.

What... what's going on??

KEY was stunned, unable to recover for a full minute.

He couldn't explain this phenomenon; clearly, it had gone beyond a prank and become mysterious and bizarre.

The pornographic image began to change; the enormous genitals started smoking… no, they were on fire, burning! The man (KEY) began to look pained, and mold spots appeared on his body, spreading rapidly. Soon, his composed face became gaunt, like that of a dying AIDS patient. The fire spread from his genitals to his entire body, eventually burning him to a charred corpse.

KEY, sitting in front of the computer, backed away in terror.

Could this be an animated film?

A master, definitely a master! I've run into a master. What's he up to? Provocation? A joke? Or...?

KEY dared not look any further and tried to shut down the computer, but it crashed and wouldn't turn off. The mouse also stopped working. Frustrated, KEY turned off the power, but the computer remained on, the charred corpse still occupying the LCD screen. KEY was truly terrified. He jumped up and ran out of the room. There was a distribution box on the living room wall. He turned off all the light switches and appliance switches. The lights went out, the air conditioner and refrigerator stopped working, and the house was plunged into darkness.

KEY cautiously peered into the room. Incredibly, the computer screen was still lit, like an ever-burning lamp. At the same time, the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.

The room was deathly silent. He composed himself and decided to leave.

He fumbled to open the door, stepped out, and thud! His head slammed solidly into something.

"Who is it?" he shouted, clutching his bruised face. There was no answer. He reached out and touched it. Some guy had actually built a wall in front of his house. The wall was cold and had a chill to it, just like the wall of a morgue.

KEY touched the wall, and it seemed like the wall was touching him too. The wall was pushing inward, the wall and the person were merging. KEY felt something invading his body, a burning heat rising within him. He was thirsty, he was uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable...

KEY ran back to his room like a madman, stared at the charred corpse on the computer screen, and suddenly he exploded, he gushed out, let it all out!

The next morning, KEY's girlfriend, who couldn't contact him, came to his door. No one answered the phone at home, and his cell phone was switched off. Was he messing around with some girl?

KEY lay on his back on the ground, his eyes wide open and his mouth half-open as if he were shouting.

The computer was running normally, displaying Windows XP on the LCD screen. There was some sticky white liquid on the keyboard and the computer case, which had already solidified.

According to the coroner, Key ejaculated before his death. Ejaculation is a manifestation of sexual climax. However, judging from the deceased's painful expression, it is impossible to associate it with sexual climax. Moreover, all the bones in his body, including the joints, were shattered, as if the Berlin Wall had collapsed on him. How could he have had a sexual climax while enduring such great pain?

After KEY's death, there was a lot of discussion in the community. Some people felt sorry for him, while others gloated, saying that this was the fate of a sex maniac.

Oil painting No. 51: 773 Horror Series 13

Section 90: Dreaming of my deceased maternal grandparents

That's just how the climate is in Shanghai. Sometimes you don't see a single drop of rain for a whole month, but once it starts, it's a continuous drizzle that lasts for a whole week without seeing the sun. The air is filled with moisture, and the humidity is so high that clothes in the closet get moldy, which makes you feel irritable.

The water in the bathtub slowly cooled down, and An Ruohong remained lying in the tub, staring blankly at her own body. In the water, her torso looked exceptionally alluring, the only flaw being the cesarean section scar.

An Ruohong, the head nurse, actually loves sports. She enjoys swimming, cycling, and even judo. Despite her seemingly weak appearance, she is surprisingly strong, as evidenced by her well-developed calf muscles, a result of years of swimming and cycling.

By age, she's already a young woman, but she just can't seem to gain weight. She thinks about other women, sweating buckets in the gym trying to burn even a tiny bit of fat, drooling over delicious fried pork chops because they have to diet, and constantly facing those weight-loss supplements that cost more than seafood but taste worse than traditional Chinese medicine… Because she's thin, she doesn't have to suffer like that, and can still enjoy delicious food. It seems like she's quite fortunate.

But she just couldn't be happy.

How could she possibly be happy after killing someone?

That very day, around four in the morning, she had a nightmare. She dreamt of her deceased grandparents. Her grandmother was talking incessantly to her, while her grandfather sat silently under the eaves, smoking. Her grandmother was from Shaoxing and spoke with a strong Shaoxing accent. As they were talking, her grandmother grabbed her hand. The hand was ice-cold, devoid of any warmth, like a pair of stainless steel handcuffs that snapped shut on her, waking her up in fright.

What does it mean to dream of deceased relatives? She didn't know. And so, she suffered from insomnia until around 7 a.m. She forced herself to sleep quickly, as she had to go to the clinic at 11 a.m. Around 8 a.m., she finally drifted off to sleep…

For some reason, her ears were incredibly sharp. Through the bedroom door, she could hear the clicking sound coming from the keyhole of the security door in the living room. An Ruohong immediately sat up in bed. Was it Hong Bentao?

I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. Oh no, it's almost noon! I overslept!

Footsteps entered the living room; someone came in, but it wasn't Hong Bentao!

A brain that is not usually very active made an astonishing judgment with surprising speed.

The footsteps stopped in the living room. An Ruohong quickly got out of bed, barefoot, and went behind the door, listening intently.

The footsteps went to another room, which was supposed to be a study. In reality, there was only an empty bookshelf, an empty desk, and the drawers were empty except for dust.

Footsteps approached, reaching the bedroom door. The doorknob was grasped, and with a click, the door opened.

Zoe peeked into the bedroom and saw a straw mat and a crumpled towel blanket on the bed, as if someone had slept there.

At this moment, if Zoe had been able to walk all the way in and turn around slightly, she would have seen An Ruohong hiding behind the door, but she didn't, thankfully she didn't.

Zoe left the bedroom and returned to the living room, standing there blankly for a moment. She wondered why Hong Bentao had a key to this place. Was it a rental? Was he planning to separate from her and move downstairs?

Every possibility seemed inexplicable. Zoe was about to leave. She turned around, intending to head towards the foyer, but instead glanced back, her body involuntarily turning forty-five degrees, and walked towards the balcony.

The balcony on the 30th floor didn't have frameless windows. Zoe held onto the balcony railing and looked out. The view from the 30th floor was almost identical to that from the 31st floor, except for a difference of just over three meters.

An Ruohong tiptoed out of the bedroom, moving closer and closer to Zoe from behind...

She held her breath, her eyes wide open, her chest heaving with each suppressed breath. Her mind was blank, yet her hands instinctively reached out...

He lunged forward, bent down, grabbed her ankle, and lifted her up sharply.

This set of movements was performed in one smooth motion; if the coach were there, he would definitely applaud.

Two seconds later, Zoe disappeared from the inside of the balcony, plummeting down like a butterfly with broken wings. An Ruohong stuck her head out and watched as the body in the white dress with blue floral print crashed through the fiberglass pigeon coop in the ground floor courtyard. The sound reached the 30th floor with only a soft thud. Only then did An Ruohong realize that she had done something irreversibly foolish.

For the next half hour, she stood motionless in the living room like a statue.

She called the clinic, and Zhang Tiejing answered. She calmly explained that the gas water heater at home was broken, and the scheduled repair time was 1 p.m., so she could only wait. There was nothing she could do, since she was single.

At 12:35, she stepped into the elevator, pressed 1, and the elevator went downstairs. She began to worry: what if she saw Zoe, covered in blood, standing there, waiting for her to step out of the building, and yelling at her, "You're the killer!" and the waiting police officers swarming in...

As she thought about it, her hand unconsciously reached for her earring.

She left Building 6. A police car was parked in the community, but the ambulance had already left. The police were questioning witnesses, and people were gathered around, including community security guards, residents, and construction workers from nearby sites…

An Ruohong didn't linger and walked towards the main gate. She didn't go through the main gate on the east side, afraid of bumping into Hong Bentao who had gone home early. Instead, she went through the west gate and went to the Nonggongshang Supermarket first. She wandered around inside, squeezing into the crowds and piles of goods, trying her best to calm her tense mood. In a little while, she would have to go to work and pretend to be nonchalant. In a few hours, the news of Zoe's fall would come. She would have to feign surprise, grief, and tears.

The word "regret" doesn't exist in her vocabulary. She didn't regret getting divorced, she didn't regret giving custody of her children to her ex-husband, she didn't regret sleeping with Hong Bentao, and she didn't regret killing Zoe. Because she knew that regret was useless. Since she had done it, she accepted the facts and protected herself; that was the most important thing.

She did a great job.

No one doubted her, including Hong Bentao, and the two broke up peacefully.

Oil painting No. 51: 773 Horror Series 13

Section 91: Overturning the verdict won't be so easy

It's been a long time since then, and she hasn't had a single nightmare about Zoe. When Zoe fell, she probably didn't even know who was behind her. If Zoe had looked back, although she might not have been able to escape the fate of falling, that one glance would have been enough to terrify her for the rest of her life, so she was very grateful.

In recent days, An Ruohong has begun to feel uneasy. What exactly do that girl who claims to be Zoe's cousin and that chubby boy who looks like a teapot want? How do they know about her relationship with Hong Bentao? Could they be police officers?

Regardless, they have no evidence. Even if they find the landlady of room 3002 and prove I rented a room downstairs, so what? Zoe's death was suicide; the police have concluded that, and the body has been cremated. Overturning the case won't be easy unless someone witnesses me pushing Zoe down. If there really were such a witness, they would have reported me to the police long ago. Why wait until now?

The water in the bathtub grew colder and colder, but An Ruohong's mood gradually improved. She got out of the bathtub, stood in front of the bathroom mirror, and admired her naked body.

Mr. T seems to be interested in me. Every time I come shopping, no matter how long the line is, I always make sure to pay at my cashier. After chatting for a bit, he gave me his business card. He works for a financial consulting firm. Should I call him and make him excited?

This kind of man has definitely been married and has children. For someone like me, finding a young man is unlikely; I don't want to be treated like an ATM. Young men are immature, and older men are cunning—neither is reliable. But what can I do? I'm a woman, and without a man's care, a woman isn't a woman anymore…

That's settled then. I'll call him tomorrow morning.

On the towel rack, there was a neatly stacked pile of towels. This was a habit she had as head nurse; everything had to be washed clean and folded meticulously, which was something Zoe admired about her. An Ruohong took a large white bath towel, wrapped it around herself, and let it absorb the water. The soft towel rubbed against her skin, stirring a faint sexual urge within her…

What does it taste like?

A faint odor lingered in the air, which An Ruohong immediately recognized as the smell of 8424 disinfectant, used in the clinic to soak instruments. Strange, why would this smell come from inside the house?

She checked and quickly found the source of the smell—it was coming from the washing machine. It was a Haier, a fully automatic front-loading washing machine; the glass door was always half-open to allow moisture to escape.

I have never soaked my washing machine in disinfectant!

The washing machine's drain hose is connected to the sewer. Could the water be coming from the sewer?

Thinking about it, An Ruohong glanced at the bathroom mirror, a glance that she would never forget.

There was a person in the bathroom mirror standing behind her, wearing a light blue dental coat, without a mask. His pale face looked bluish under the light of the Philips white energy-saving light bulb. His eyes were staring at her with a strange look in them, not resentment or anger, but a hint of mockery.

How could it be... her?!

An Ruohong felt as if she had been electrocuted, and she quickly retreated. Behind her was the bathtub, and she fell onto the edge of the tub with a thud. Her body leaned back due to inertia, and she fell into the tub full of water, like a cannonball exploding in the water, bang! Water splashed everywhere.

An Ruohong tried to climb out of the bathtub, but the large white bath towel on her body instantly soaked up water and became extremely heavy. The towel, which had been soft and aroused her sexually, now seemed to have turned into a piece of metal armor, tightly wrapping around her and invisibly dragging her into the water...

An Ruohong subconsciously reached out and turned on the valve of the bathtub drain.

It's called a valve, but it's only about the thickness of a little finger. Normally, with just a gentle turn, a whole bathtub full of water would be swallowed up by the drain in less than two minutes, and it would even let out a wheezing sound, as if it hadn't had enough. But now, no matter how she tried to turn it, she couldn't budge it; it was as if it were riveted shut.

Stay calm, you must stay calm at a time like this! An Ruohong repeatedly told herself.

She strained to lift her head out of the water so as not to choke. Her gaze fell on the towel rack. What was going on? The neatly stacked towels seemed to be moving, as if they were about to dance and take flight.

It turned out that the water in the bathtub had a magnetic effect on the stack of towels, drawing them in one by one, causing them to fall into the tub with a series of pats. The towels gathered on the surface, quickly absorbing water, and as they sank, they inexplicably tangled together, forming a resilient net that trapped An Ruohong tightly beneath them. Several times, An Ruohong struggled to surface, only to be mercilessly pulled back down by this "net" as soon as she took a breath.

At times like these, the will to survive often unleashes tremendous energy. An Ruohong struggled desperately like a fish trapped in a net, churning in the bathtub, causing water to overflow.

As long as the water level drops, I won't drown!

The dying An Ruohong suddenly felt a surge of confidence, and her body twisted wildly, as if she were experiencing a final burst of energy before death.

The bathtub immediately activated its alarm! Whoosh! The faucet and showerhead both started running simultaneously, rapidly replenishing the overflowing water and the water absorbed by the towel. The volume and speed of the water were so great, it was like water spraying from a fire hydrant. I'd never seen such a surge of water before!

Soon, the bathtub was filled again. An Ruohong felt as if she were locked in a water tank, experiencing the taste of drowning for the first time in her life. It was ten times, a hundred times worse than accidentally choking on water while swimming...

In her struggle against the water and the towel, An Ruohong gradually lost her strength and her mind began to wander. Through the flowing water, she saw Zoe standing in front of the bathtub the whole time, watching her drowning, so calm and indifferent.

Those eyes were typical East Asian eyes. At first glance, they appeared to be single eyelids, but upon closer inspection, a double eyelid was hidden within them. These eyes had once fascinated and made An Ruohong jealous. She had consulted a plastic surgeon who charged her five thousand yuan for a double eyelid surgery. However, the surgeon clearly told her that the natural effect was something that could never be achieved with a scalpel.

Oil painting No. 51: 773 Horror Series 13

Section 92: Breakfasts like this are gone forever.

Zoe, if you just reach out and pull me up, I'll be saved.

But I know you won't do that.