Cauchemar

Chapitre 7

"How do we get in?" Liu Changge looked at the two tightly closed black doors and helplessly shrugged at Su Yang.

Su Yang glanced at the gate and the wall, then resolutely said to Liu Changge, "Let's climb over the wall and go in!"

"What did you say?" Liu Changge was taken aback. "Climb over the wall? If others see us, they'll think we're thieves! Besides, it just rained, it's so slippery, how are we supposed to climb?"

“Climb up that tree.” Su Yang pointed to a crooked willow tree not far from the gate. The tree was leaning against the wall, forming a natural ladder.

Liu Changge swallowed hard. "Teacher Zhang, how about we come back tomorrow during the day? I remember there's a relative of Zhu Su's about a mile away. Maybe they have a key. We can explain to them and borrow it before we go in. Besides..." Liu Changge glanced timidly at the Zhu family's three-story building. "It's so dark at night now, it's kind of scary to go in like this."

Su Yang coughed lightly, adopting a superior tone for the first time in his life, "Hey Liu Changge, do you not want to work for me anymore?"

Liu Changge stared at Su Yang, his mouth agape, but he couldn't utter a word. With a helpless expression, he walked to the crooked willow tree, climbed up using both hands and feet, and waited for Su Yang while perched on the wall.

Su Yang quickly climbed up the wall. He looked down and, thankfully, although it was quite high, there was thick weeds growing below, so he should be fine after jumping. He said to Liu Changge, "I'll jump first, you follow."

Liu Changge nodded.

Su Yang leaped into the yard. Just as he expected, the weeds under his feet, soaked by the rain, were soft and fluffy, like a cushion. Apart from splashing some mud on his trousers, he was completely unharmed.

Su Yang beckoned Liu Changge to jump down as well. The two quickly reached the middle of the courtyard. Su Yang clearly felt a sinister aura surrounding him, causing him to shiver involuntarily.

"Do you feel cold?" Su Yang asked Liu Changge cautiously.

Liu Changge stroked his bare arm exposed outside his short-sleeved shirt, nodded, and couldn't help but reveal a hint of panic in his eyes. "How about we leave, Teacher Zhang, and come back tomorrow?"

Su Yang ignored him and walked to the other end of the courtyard, where the wall where he had seen Zhu Su's image stood earlier.

Due to long-term weathering and neglect, some of the ochre-red paint on the wall had peeled off, and scattered moss had grown on it. As Su Yang approached, a pungent, post-rain stench of vegetation wafted up, mixed with the musty smell unique to desolate paths. A strange sadness welled up in Su Yang's heart. He silently gazed at the wall, imagining Zhu Su standing before it, her face covered in blood, on a stormy night, and a wave of melancholy washed over him. What experiences had led her to such an expression and such frantic behavior? Su Yang pondered silently, his gaze drifting to the well. That was the well Liu Changge had mentioned, the one where the monstrous infant corpse of Zhu Su was buried.

Liu Changge's gaze followed Su Yang's as he turned towards the well platform. Suddenly, as if he had seen something terrifying, he pointed his finger directly at the well platform, and his whole body trembled.

"What's wrong?" Su Yang felt a chill run down his spine, as if an invisible coldness had intensified.

“Look at that bucket, that well rope…” Liu Changge stammered.

"What's wrong?" Su Yang was a little confused. There was a bucket and a well rope on the well platform, but in a small town that had not yet been connected to running water, this was just an ordinary scene.

“It’s been more than three years…” Liu Changge couldn’t help but scream, “It’s been more than three years, and this has always been an empty house with no one living here. How could there still be such a complete bucket?”

Liu Changge's words exploded in Su Yang's mind like a thunderclap. He looked closely and, sure enough, the bucket and well rope looked very smooth, not at all like something that had been abandoned for over three years; it looked as if someone used them every day. But Su Yang had lived opposite the Zhu family's house for almost two years and seemed to have never seen anyone living there, let alone drawing water. He couldn't help but feel a chill run from his feet to the top of his head. "Yes, who's using it?"

Liu Changge gripped Su Yang's arm tightly, his body trembling uncontrollably. "Teacher Zhang, let's... let's go back."

Seeing Liu Changge's timidity, Su Yang's courage suddenly surged, and a sense of masculine dignity welled up within him. "I've been through life and death before, how can a mere bucket make me so paranoid?" He patted Liu Changge's back forcefully. "Don't be afraid, let's go take a look."

"Huh?" Liu Changge's legs were almost giving way, and his tongue was slurred. "Look? What's so interesting? Let's not look anymore..."

Su Yang grabbed Liu Changge's arm and practically dragged him to the well. Su Yang then squatted down and carefully examined the bucket, while Liu Changge stood beside him, his face full of terror.

The bucket was upside down on the well platform, its surface spotless, without a speck of mud or moss. The well rope looked smooth and slippery, showing no signs of decay from long disuse. For a moment, Su Yang's thoughts were in turmoil. "Who is using this bucket? Could it be…?" He tried desperately to avoid thinking about the word "ghost," but the thought kept surfacing from the depths of his soul. He seemed to see the bucket suspended in the hands of a "ghost," swaying as it fell from the well platform into the water, then slowly being lifted up, before "floating" into the house. Involuntarily, the hairs on his body stood on end.

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment (2)

He was about to turn around and call Liu Changge to come and take a look when he heard Liu Changge let out a sharp scream. He quickly turned around, and the scene before him stunned him: Liu Changge seemed to be being dragged around by a rope around his neck. Despite his desperate attempts to back away, he was being pulled by an invisible force, staggering towards the edge of the well. If he hadn't been holding onto the edge of the well with both hands, he probably would have fallen to the bottom.

"Save me..." Liu Changge turned his head with difficulty and called out to Su Yang in a low voice. His eyes were ashen, as if he had seen the Grim Reaper, and the veins on his forehead were bulging, as if he was struggling with all his might.

Su Yang suddenly realized what was happening, rushed over, grabbed Liu Changge's waist with both hands, and pulled him backward with all his might. Suddenly, the force under his feet vanished, and the two of them fell into a heap.

Su Yang, without bothering to check for any scratches on his body, hurriedly helped Liu Changge up and asked anxiously, "Are you alright? Did you see something again?"

Liu Changge's face was filled with shock and horror, as if he had witnessed the most horrifying sight in the world. His finger stiffly pointed to the well platform, his lips turned blue, and he stammered, "There's someone in the well..."

"A ghost..." Liu Changge suddenly screamed, scrambling away from the well platform. He desperately climbed the wall, jumped over, and fled for his life.

For a moment, Su Yang was left all alone in the large courtyard. He looked at the tall grass and trees, and the well that seemed to be constantly emitting cold air. "Damn it, I'm going all in. If there really is a ghost, then you motherfucker, step forward and let me take a look." Su Yang waved his flashlight excitedly, as if he were fighting against an unseen being.

After a while, Su Yang calmed down. He silently stared at the well, pondering Liu Changge's words: "There's someone in the well..." Was there really someone? His doubts grew stronger, and curiosity gradually overcame his fear. He cautiously moved to the edge of the well, step by step, and then slowly poked his head out to look into the well. But it was pitch black inside; he couldn't see anything.

Su Yang thought for a moment, then grabbed the edge of the well with one hand to avoid being suddenly pulled down by the force that pulled Liu Changge. He then used his other hand to shine a flashlight into the well. What he saw terrified him: he clearly saw that what was being projected into the well was not his own image, but another blurry face. The face seemed to have four eyes, and it was grinning at Su Yang with a half-smile!

Startled, Su Yang nearly dropped his flashlight. In his panic, he leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst.

"Should I run away or stay?" Su Yang struggled fiercely with his thoughts. Running away meant living forever in Zhu Su's nightmare, a fate worse than death; staying, however, meant he might die of terror before even discovering the truth. Weighing the two options, Su Yang finally lowered his hand from the wall—rather than sit and wait to die, he might as well fight, for this torment was no different from being slowly sliced to death.

With a desperate resolve, Su Yang calmed down. His eyes wide, one hand holding a flashlight, the other gripping a fruit knife, he slowly made his way back to the well, wanting to verify if what he had just seen was a hallucination. Standing at the well's edge, Su Yang felt the chill emanating from the well opening again, and thinking of that repulsive face, he suddenly lost the courage to investigate further.

He then carefully examined the area around the well. He quickly noticed a problem: while the flagstone path leading to the house was almost entirely overgrown with weeds, a narrow section in the middle was completely barren. Clearly, this was the result of frequent trampling. Su Yang concluded that something was regularly drawing water from the well and carrying it back to the house. But who could it be? A living person, a ghost, or some other unknown entity?

Su Yang hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked along the bluestone path towards the three-story building. Perhaps due to the simple and honest nature of the local people, the door wasn't sealed with an iron gate like those in the city; there were only two ordinary, large, black lacquered wooden doors. Su Yang noticed that the brass handles on the doors were rusty, as if they hadn't been touched in a long time. He tried placing his hand on the door and pushing it slightly, and the door opened silently. Su Yang was startled: "Why wasn't it locked?" His heart tightened again. "Whatever, I've come this far; I have to brave even the most dangerous places."

Su Yang mustered his courage, pushed the door open halfway, stepped inside, and then closed it behind him, leaving a crack so that it would be easier to escape if he encountered anything terrifying.

Holding his flashlight and holding his breath, Su Yang roughly surveyed the house's layout. It was similar to other houses in town. In the center of the first floor, where he was standing, was a large hall. The owner had likely cleared it out before leaving, as the hall was now completely empty. On either side of the hall were two rooms, connected by a corridor leading to a staircase to the second floor. Su Yang walked over and tried pushing the nearest door, finding it tightly shut, the doorknob covered in dust—clearly, no one had lived there for a long time.

Su Yang thought for a moment and decided to go upstairs to check. He had just taken a step when he suddenly heard the door behind him creak open. He was startled and turned around abruptly, shouting, "Who's there?" His flashlight pierced the darkness, but there was nothing behind him; there was no one in sight.

"Could it really be a ghost?" The thought flashed through Su Yang's mind, and he involuntarily gasped. He slowly walked into the darkness behind him. The flashlight beam pierced the darkness, and he suddenly saw a sinister face embedded in the wall—a deathly pale face, blood-red eyes, and most terrifyingly, a smear of red at the corner of its mouth, as if it had just eaten someone. "Ah!" Su Yang screamed, falling to the ground with a thud. The flashlight rolled from his hand, sliding to the base of the wall. Darkness enveloped them, with only the faint beam of the flashlight shining at the base of the wall. Su Yang sat in the darkness, his mind blank. He heard his own increasingly heavy breathing, felt the air around him grow colder and colder, until it enveloped his entire body; he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. Waiting for death—this was the unbearable feeling! In the silence, Su Yang heard a deep, desperate sigh, breaking the tension between the two.

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment (3)

Hearing the sigh, Su Yang was first startled, finding the sound strangely familiar. Then he realized it was coming from his own abdomen. The sigh brought a glimmer of life back to Su Yang, jolting him awake from his daze. He looked up at the wall again, but all he could see was darkness. Yet, in his heart, he cried out, "Those eyes! Those eyes!" He could clearly feel the mockery and contempt in those eyes for his weakness. Death is preferable to humiliation! A surge of anger rose within Su Yang. He grabbed the flashlight and shone it directly at the wall. The sight before him made him both laugh and cry—the menacing face was merely a mask hanging on the wall. But its image, falling into Su Yang's overactive imagination, had a profound and unsettling effect, stirring up a deep-seated terror within him.

Su Yang scrambled to his feet, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and headed back towards the stairs at the end of the corridor. Passing a room by the corridor, Su Yang was surprised to find the door ajar, like a gaping, dark mouth, from which a strange, meaty aroma wafted. Su Yang hesitated for a moment, but curiosity once again overcame his fear. He pushed the door open completely and slipped inside.

It turned out to be a kitchen. However, it could be described as a blend of modernism and classicism. There was a gas stove and a traditional rural stove, with a small, indistinguishable pot on it. The strange aroma was emanating from the pot. Su Yang walked over and curiously lifted the lid. As soon as he opened the lid, Su Yang couldn't help but take a deep breath. "What smells so good?" He picked up a spoon from the stove and turned it over. A furry little head appeared, startling Su Yang so much that he threw the spoon away, almost knocking the pot over. It was clearly a large rat, its skin still raw! Su Yang clutched his chest, barely managing to suppress a wave of nausea. Who was eating a rat? Suddenly, the house felt even more eerie and sinister.

Su Yang forced himself to remain calm and left the kitchen. He bit his lip, deciding that no matter what kind of danger he faced, he would risk going upstairs to investigate.

Although the building's exterior was constructed entirely of red bricks and exuded grandeur, the interior staircase was an old-fashioned wooden structure, long neglected and quite dilapidated. It creaked and groaned underfoot, and the cobwebs covering the stairwell added to its haunted feel in the darkness. Su Yang tried to tread lightly, his ears alertly listening for any sounds around him. Thankfully, everything was quiet; there were no unexpected noises.

The second floor was similar in structure to the first, with a hall and four rooms. The only difference was that the hall wasn't empty like the first floor; it was filled with things, all covered with white plastic sheeting. Su Yang felt like he was walking through a morgue, being "worshipped" by the corpses. Fortunately, everything was calm, and no unexpected "zombie resurrection" occurred. Su Yang's heart gradually calmed down.

At the end of the second-floor lobby was a staircase leading to the third floor. "Should I take another look?" Su Yang's mind raced. If he didn't look, he feared he'd miss some clues; if he did, he worried he'd find nothing like he had on the second floor. And frankly, he couldn't wait to escape this dangerous place and get his heart back to normal. But ultimately, courage prevailed, and Su Yang decided to continue exploring the third floor to find the owner of the "rat soup."

The third-floor staircase still carried an air of decay, but having escaped unscathed earlier, Su Yang felt slightly more relaxed and no longer tiptoed as before. This caused the floorboards to creak louder, echoing hollowly in the room, reflecting a sense of emptiness. It was like facing a skull with its mouth agape; you could almost sense it wanted to say something, but you couldn't hear anything, only letting your blank thoughts run wild.

Going up to the third floor, the flashlight beam swept through the darkness, and Su Yang suddenly noticed a pair of eerie green eyes coldly watching him from the corner. Before he could react, he heard a "meow" and a dark shadow lunged at him. Su Yang instinctively raised his hand to block, and the flashlight fell to the ground, going out instantly, plunging him into darkness.

"Damn cat!" Su Yang cursed. Although the cat's sudden attack startled him, since it hadn't hurt him and the "meow" confirmed its identity, he wasn't so afraid. However, his flashlight had been startled and fallen, and Su Yang couldn't see the situation on the third floor. He feared that something even more dangerous awaited him.

Based on the sound of the flashlight rolling earlier, Su Yang discerned its general direction, then knelt down, prostrating himself on the floor and groping with his hands. Fortunately, the flashlight hadn't fallen too far, and Su Yang quickly found it. He patted it, and the flashlight lit up again, its faint light tearing through a heavy corner of the darkness. Su Yang raised the flashlight slightly, and instantly felt all the blood in his body rush to his head, then freeze abruptly: before him lay a pitch-black coffin!

The coffin was open, and a white head, its face obscured, was slowly rising from it. At the same time, the head was making muffled gurgling sounds, which sounded incredibly eerie in the darkness!

Su Yang felt his entire body stiffen. He wanted to scream, but his teeth chattered uncontrollably; he wanted to turn around and run downstairs, but his legs wouldn't obey him, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't take a step. He could only watch helplessly as the head in the coffin floated out, staring coldly at him. Finally, all the blood in his brain rushed to his head, and he felt his entire body sink into a state of weightlessness, collapsing headfirst and losing consciousness.

Part 3 of Apartment 602 (The Man-Eating Apartment)

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment, Part 11 (1)

He didn't know how much time had passed before Su Yang slowly woke up. Everything was dark, making him forget where he was. He blinked hard, shook his head, and finally realized he had fainted from extreme fear. "Am I dead or alive?" He pinched himself hard; it hurt. It seemed he was still alive. Suddenly, he thought of the severed head again, and his hair stood on end. He looked around frantically, but there was nothing there except for the mottled whitewashed walls.

Just as Su Yang's tense heart was about to relax slightly, he suddenly heard a muffled "gurgling" sound. "Who?" Su Yang jumped up in a daze as if on cue. Caught off guard, he lost his balance and fell off the bed, rolling to the floor below.

Ignoring the pain, he struggled to his feet, clinging to the edge of the bed. The moment his head peeked out, he saw a white head right in front of him. With a scream of terror, Su Yang collapsed to the ground, terrified.

"Hehe, kid, did I scare you?" A dry voice came from beside him, and then Su Yang felt a pair of hands, like withered branches, waving in front of him. What kind of hands were they? Thin, chapped, without a trace of flesh or blood vessels, just a layer of extremely rough skin covering a bunch of bones—Su Yang had only ever seen similar hands in photos of mummies before.

"What are you doing?" Su Yang trembled and backed away, almost burying himself under the bed. But Su Yang finally saw clearly that the white head was pressed against the neck of the withered-handed person. It was an old woman. But what kind of old woman was she? All the marks that time could accumulate were piled on her face. Her hair was white and messy, disheveled like a pile of exploded bird droppings. The deep furrows on her face could hide any expression, and her sunken eye sockets held a pair of lifeless pupils. Equally sunken were her lips, dry as a dried-up pond, devoid of any life, only a foul stench churning within. Su Yang noticed a thin gray hair remaining at the corner of her mouth—a mouse hair! So the pot of soup in the kitchen was what she had cooked. The thought of that toothless mouth tearing apart the rotten, boiled body of the rat and swallowing it along with its fur made Su Yang feel nauseous.

"Child, where did you come from?" The old man brought his head close to Su Yang, with a strange smile that made Su Yang's heart tremble. He wondered if the old man also regarded him as a cooked rat, or a rat that was about to be cooked.

"Then who are you?" Su Yang subconsciously groped his body, looking for his fruit knife, but found nothing.

"You're looking for this knife, aren't you?" The old woman smiled as she looked at Su Yang, a knife appearing in her hand at some point. The cold blade emanated a deathly aura in the old woman's claw-like hand; Su Yang could even feel the crisp cracking sound of the blade slicing through his skin.

"What do you want to do?" Su Yang stared intently at the knife, his nerves on the verge of collapse.

The old man grinned, stretching out the wrinkles on his face, and smiled at Su Yang, slowly handing him the knife. "Here you go."

Su Yang gripped the knife tightly, feeling a sense of calm wash over him. Perhaps it was the weapon in his hand that gave him courage, or perhaps the old man's act of discarding the knife lessened his fear; his voice trembled slightly less: "May I ask who you are?"

The old man seemed not to hear, only looking at Su Yang with his cloudy eyes, and asked almost to himself, "Who are you looking for?"

"I..." Su Yang quickly thought through several ideas. Since this old man was at Zhu Su's house, he must have a great relationship with her. So he might as well just state his true purpose directly, "I'm looking for Zhu Su."

"Zhu Su?" A strange light flashed in the old man's eyes. "What do you want with Zhu Su?"

Su Yang swallowed hard and lied, "I'm her boyfriend. We had a fight, and she ran away in a huff. I couldn't find her, so I came to her house to look for her."

The old woman squinted, scrutinizing Su Yang closely. Su Yang felt extremely uncomfortable under her gaze, as if countless needles were pricking him. He desperately wanted to push the old woman away and run away.

"Is Zhu Su still alive?" The light in the old woman's eyes dimmed, replaced by her withered expression. "But there's no one else here except for this old woman like me."

"Even if there were someone there, they would have been scared to death by you long ago," Su Yang thought to himself, but he had to force a smile. "Then, may I ask who you are to Zhu Su?"

"I am her grandmother, that beast's mother!" The old woman suddenly raised her voice, and her expression became extremely ferocious, startling Su Yang.

"Please don't get agitated, sir." Su Yang swallowed again, barely managing to overcome his fear, and reached out to help the old man sit down on the edge of the bed. "Could you tell me something about Zhu Su?"

"It's a long story," the old man sighed heavily, a heavy cloud gathering in his eyes again. "That child really had a hard life. Her mother died before she was five, and that beast of a father never treated her like a human being..."

Su Yang couldn't help but interrupt the old man, bringing up the doubt that had been lingering in his mind: "Why is her father so unkind to her? Isn't she his biological child?"

A single, cloudy tear rolled down the old man's cheek. "What a tragedy! It's all a misfortune for the family. That beast raped Zhu Su's mother and forced her into marriage. But who knew that Zhu Su's mother already had someone she loved? Neither of them could bear to part with the other, so they secretly met behind that beast's back. One day, that beast caught them in the act, and he shot the man in the head. The body was later buried under a tree in the backyard."

Su Yang was somewhat horrified. Although Liu Changge had told him about Zhu Su's father's brutality, he hadn't expected him to be so callous with human life. He suddenly realized something and quickly asked, "So you mean, Zhu Su isn't her father's, um, that beast's...beast's biological daughter?"

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment, Part 11 (2)

The old woman was lost in her own emotions, seemingly trying to recall something, or perhaps desperately trying to banish those tragic memories from her mind. After an unknown amount of time, she seemed to suddenly wake up, her whole body trembling, and she grabbed Su Yang's hand, asking, "What did you just say?"

Su Yang felt the old man's hand was icy and hard, a chill running from his palm straight to his heart, making his blood freeze. He pretended to brush the dust off his clothes, pulled his hand out of the old man's palm, and forced a smile, "I'm asking if Zhu Su is the biological daughter of her policeman father?"

The old man shook his head, then nodded, and sighed heavily. "No one knows whose flesh and blood that girl is. That beast once hit Zhu Su's mother with a stool, beating her until her face was covered in blood, demanding to know if the child was born from her affair with that man. But the woman just wouldn't say, only repeating the same sentence over and over: 'You'll get your retribution someday. Retribution, oh retribution...'" The old man fell into his own memories again.

Su Yang had to break the silence again, "Then... I heard that Zhu Su later had a child, is that true?"

The old woman's face twitched, revealing the endless pain this question had stirred within her. "That beast wasn't human. It was Zhu Su's destined calamity. Ever since Zhu Su turned thirteen, that beast had taken advantage of her. The poor child, I often heard her screams in the middle of the night. I went to curse that beast, but he kicked me unconscious. I really don't know how that child survived. The freak Zhu Su gave birth to was that beast's bastard. It's all sin; it's Heaven's punishment for not being able to bear it, that's why such a freak was born." Tears streamed down the old woman's face.

"Then..." Su Yang asked tentatively, "What happened to the child afterward?"

"He was thrown into the well and drowned!" The old man's voice was filled with anguish. "That beast must have believed some rumor that the child was a demon, invulnerable to swords and spears, and that only by throwing him into the water could he be drowned. And only by drinking the well water with the child still inside could the curse be lifted. That inhuman beast actually did it. It's just that Zhu Su is even more pitiful, drinking the water with her own child's corpse inside her every day, it drove her insane..."

Su Yang felt as if countless ice worms were crawling through his body, spreading chills little by little. He had been somewhat skeptical when Liu Changge mentioned the corpse soaked in well water, but now, hearing it confirmed from the old man, the shock he felt was indescribable. He simply couldn't imagine what kind of person Zhu Su's "father" was, capable of such bloodthirstiness and cruelty!

"I heard that Zhu Su's mother appeared to him and saved his life. Is that true?"

The old man stared blankly at Su Yang, then gave a sinister smile. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Su Yang's heart skipped a beat. He felt that the old man's expression was indescribably strange. If one were to identify ghosts in this world, he would definitely include the old man in front of him without hesitation.

Seeing Su Yang remain silent, the old woman smiled smugly. "So you believe in ghosts?" She drew out her words, "I've lived this long, and I've long since stopped caring about people or ghosts. Ghosts aren't necessarily scary; people are the scariest. People believe in ghosts because they don't believe in people. And people are afraid of ghosts mostly because they have something to hide. That beast hasn't touched Zhu Su since she gave birth. He probably suspects that Zhu Su is his biological daughter, and that his incestuous behavior resulted in such a monster. A few years later, he was forced to leave because he killed someone, and I don't know where his family went or if they're still alive..."

"By the way, why didn't you go with them?"

"Me?" The old man grinned, revealing his toothless mouth. "What would I, an old man with one half buried in the earth, do with them, leaving my home? Besides, what would those beasts care about my life or death? I'll just sit at home and wait to die."