Пейзаж похож на картину - Глава 9

Глава 9

P.S.: I'm here to support you...

But balloons are too hard to release... so I'll skip it, don't blame me...

---lc7888

Reply [61]: I've finished my bath. Luckily, I didn't encounter any water ghosts. Good luck. I'm going to get something to eat (I've tentatively decided to have a big one, a chicken stew with mushrooms). Then I'll come back and continue the discussion with everyone. (Balloons are really hard to release; I usually have to refresh about 20 times to release one).

---Bifengke

Reply [62]: Mark~

---paul312326

Reply [63]: Ugh~~

---Zazopa

Reply [64]: The chicken and mushrooms are stewing, and I'm back. Let's continue!

---Bifengke

Reply [65]: Leaving my name... Will look at it again when I have time.

---A pseudonym that wanders around aimlessly

Reply [66]: I'm going to bite you to death.

Ah Liang is handsome and tall, and has many girlfriends. He currently lives with a woman named Juan, a twenty-year-old dancer. One day, after picking her up from get off work, Ah Liang and Juan went out for a late-night snack. They drank quite a bit, and Ah Liang was unusually quiet during the meal. Juan found it strange but didn't ask him anything.

In reality, Ah Liang was involved in drug trafficking. He used to use a girlfriend named Xiao Mei to deliver drugs for him as a cover. Xiao Mei was an orphan from the countryside who had suffered a lot since childhood. After meeting the charming Ah Liang, she fell in love with him. Xiao Mei believed that Ah Liang also truly loved her, so even though she knew it was a crime, she still delivered drugs for him several times with trepidation. However, she really didn't want to do such a morally reprehensible thing and repeatedly tried to persuade Ah Liang to turn over a new leaf and start a legitimate business, but Ah Liang was unwilling to give up the lucrative profits. Xiao Mei was in great pain, wanting to get rid of him but unable to make up her mind. So she told him that no matter what, she would no longer help him deliver drugs.

Ah Liang merely sneered after hearing this and distanced himself from Xiao Mei from then on. Unable to let go of him, Xiao Mei asked someone to inform Ah Liang that she wanted to see him one last time. Ah Liang arranged to meet her at their usual hotel, but secretly tricked her into drinking a drugged beverage. He then took the drowsy Xiao Mei to his car and drove to a cliffside location in the suburbs. Ah Liang feared she would expose his drug trafficking activities, so he decided to eliminate the problem completely, figuring that since Xiao Mei was an orphan, no one would pursue the matter.

There was no moon in the sky at that time, and the evening wind was blowing. Ah Liang carried the unconscious Xiao Mei to the edge of the cliff and kicked her in the lower back. Xiao Mei then fell straight down the cliff without her consent.

Before killing Xiaomei, Ah Liang was a fearless and bold man. But after pushing Xiaomei off the cliff, he had a knot in his heart. When he walked back to his car along the mountain road, he kept hearing a rustling sound behind him, as if Xiaomei was following him. He looked back several times but couldn't see her.

Although several days have passed, Ah Liang is still in a daze, as if Xiao Mei often appears around him, making him restless and uneasy. Several times he even mistook Juan for Xiao Mei, which made him secretly frightened. So sometimes when Juan tries to embrace him and win his favor, he rudely pushes her away, leaving Juan at a loss.

That night, the two drank and returned to Juan's house. Juan longed to be close to A Liang, so she took off her clothes and crawled into his bed. A Liang held her smooth, delicate body, and under the influence of alcohol, he was consumed by lust. For a moment, he forgot about his past with Xiao Mei, and the two tenderly embraced, lost in their passion. The lights in the room had been on, as was A Liang's habit; he loved to admire a woman's unrestrained behavior. But just as they were deeply in love, the lights suddenly went out.

Occasional power outages are actually quite normal, but because Ah Liang had a guilty conscience, he was startled and exclaimed, "What's going on?" Juan, in the heat of the moment, coquettishly replied, "Who cares?" She continued to flirt with him. Ah Liang, however, had lost interest and forcefully pushed Juan away, trying to get rid of her. But strangely, the delicate Juan resisted his strength, remaining firmly entwined around him. He twisted and turned, trying everything, but he couldn't shake her off—something that had never happened before.

At this moment, Xiaomei's shadow resurfaced. In the darkness, the person in front of her seemed to be Xiaomei, because all women look similar in the dark.

Ah Liang called out anxiously, "I need to go check if the battery box is broken. Don't bother me."

There was no reply from the other party. Suddenly, he felt his earlobe being gently sucked. In a moment of excitement, he was also startled. This gentle little gesture belonged to Xiao Mei. He had never seen her use it before.

"You...you..." He tried his best to pull his head away from the other person's face, "Are you silk?"

The other person chuckled softly.

Ah Liang felt increasingly uneasy, and his heart began to race. He usually tried every means to get close to her beautiful body, but now it was so difficult to get rid of her.

Ah Liang began to roughly push the other person's waist and legs, then raised his fist and punched the other person's shoulders and back. The other person groaned in pain, but still clung tightly to him.

"You'll never get rid of me," she sighed softly.

That's clearly Xiaomei's voice.

Ah Liang was horrified and became even more violent, rolling around on the ground. But wherever he rolled, the other person rolled too; when he stood up, she stood up as well. She was like a piece of flesh stuck to him, impossible to shake off.

Ah Liang was terrified. He slammed the other woman's body against the wall and hit her head with a hard object, demanding only that her body be freed, but to no avail.

The other person said quietly, "Isn't killing one woman enough for you? Do you want to kill another one?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than she suddenly bit his ear, causing Ah Liang a sharp pain; his ear felt like it was about to be bitten off.

"I'm going to bite you, bite you to death!" the woman said softly. These were the most passionate words Xiaomei had ever spoken to him when they were deeply in love, but now they sounded like a curse. A-Liang no longer doubted that the person possessing his body was undoubtedly Xiaomei.

Overwhelmed by fear, Ah Liang, like a wild beast driven mad, used all his strength to brace himself against the other's chest and pull backward recklessly. He then let out a terrifying scream and fainted.

Hearing the terrifying screams, the neighbors immediately called the police. Half an hour later, the police arrived at Juan's house and found Juan naked and unconscious on the ground. A Liang was in the same state, but what was terrifying was that A Liang's private parts were missing, which was obviously caused by his excessive exertion.

The police rushed the two to the hospital for emergency treatment. Juan soon regained consciousness, completely unaware of what had happened, but A-Liang never woke up again. The doctor's diagnosis was excessive shock and blood loss. At the time of burial, A-Liang was not a complete corpse, because his genitals had mysteriously disappeared.

---Bifengke

Reply [67]: So many words!

---Xiaoying

Reply [68]: I wasn't blocking you, was I?

On July 14th last year, I drank three bottles of beer and wandered the streets as usual. Because I had been living alone for many years, no one reminded me of various days and taboos, and I had long forgotten that July 14th still existed.

Bored out of my mind, I stumbled into a movie theater on a dimly lit street. The neon lights illuminated a few posters on a blackboard, showing scantily clad women striking various seductive poses.

The woman who sold the tickets to me expressionlessly tossed them at me, giving me a disdainful look, as if she were giving alms to a pitiful beggar. Alas, I am a beggar, a beggar who longs for loneliness to stay away!

I walked into the dark screening room, stood at the door and looked at the figures moving on the screen. It seemed to be a domestic film. What did it matter? As long as someone was moving around on it, I could pass the time.

I quickly adjusted to the darkness. I looked around the huge space, where seven or eight people were sitting scattered about. I walked to the middle and found an ideal spot to take a nap. Under the hypnosis of the screen and alcohol, I vaguely entered the director's world.

I don't know how much time had passed when a gentle breeze carrying a faint fragrance woke me from my daze. A woman quietly sat down in front of me. I couldn't see her face clearly in the darkness because it was hidden in the shadow of her long hair when she came over.

She sat right in front of me, not at all crooked, which annoyed me. I thought to myself, why is she sitting in front of me and blocking my way in such a big space? If she weren't a woman, I would definitely have started yelling at her.

Her dark head kept bobbing nervously in front of me, and my initial attraction to her slender figure was slowly fading. I couldn't hold back any longer and coughed lightly, saying, "Miss, could you please move your head? I can't see the screen." The woman in front of me didn't turn around, but chuckled, the sound echoing in the air, making me a little uneasy: "What are you laughing at?!"

"Am I blocking you?" she answered me softly. Her clear laughter was like the tinkling of bells. I imagined what she looked like; how wonderful it would be if her voice were as beautiful as hers.

"It really blocked it!?" Her voice was a little sharp.

"It really blocked it!?" "It really blocked it!?" She kept repeating this sentence without turning around, her voice a little shrill. I couldn't help but feel a little flustered, and I glanced at the other moviegoers in the distance like a thief. They seemed oblivious to our conversation.

"It really blocked it???" The voice started to rise in volume, and I felt it echoing in all directions. I panicked and quickly covered my ears with my hands, shrinking into the chair.

I saw her raise her right hand; her skin was pale, and blue veins were faintly visible beneath her skin.

Her pale hand stroked her jet-black hair, then suddenly she began to pull her hair violently, frantically shouting, "It's blocking you...it's blocking you...!"

I was stunned, staring blankly as strands of hair flew through the air...

"Pfft..." Her beautiful head was ripped off like a ball by her own hand. Dark liquid gushed from the wound, spraying coldly onto my face. With a flick of her hand, the dark head arced through the air, landing precisely between my legs. I finally saw her face: no nose, only a dark, empty cavity; no eyeballs, only the whites of her eyes; countless nameless maggots wriggling beneath her pale, translucent skin; her thin lips parted slightly, and as the maggots emerged, she spoke: "Hehehehe, this won't block your view, will it?"...

"Ah..." I screamed like a woman, because I had no other way to express my only thought: a ghost! ...A ghost! ...Terrified, I sprang up from my chair and scrambled through the darkness towards the back rows. A few people were scattered around in the back rows. I grabbed the man sitting near the aisle and cried out in panic: "Ghost! There's a ghost!" He didn't seem to react at first; I could only see his small eyes staring blankly at me behind his thick glasses. I shook him desperately, shouting: "There really is a ghost!!"

As I shook him, "plop," a dark, blurry thing fell from under his glasses onto the back of my hand. Upon closer inspection, it was an eyeball! I froze. "Plop," another one fell, followed by his nose, ears, teeth... like when I was a child shaking dates off a tree, they all fell off his face, until finally his entire head! Thump, thump, they landed on the ground with a crisp sound like wood.

My heart sank into an icy abyss. I stupidly backed away step by step, suddenly stepping on something soft. My balance crumbled, and I collapsed to the ground like a sandbag. A cold, damp sensation hit the back of my head, followed by excruciating pain. I endured the agony and rolled over to see a woman lying in the middle of the aisle—the ticket seller from earlier! Her eyes were rolled back like a dead fish, and blood from her seven orifices stained a large patch of dark red on the ground. I couldn't bear the shock any longer; my vision went black…

I don't know how much time passed before my consciousness slowly returned. My eyelids stung from a certain light, and I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying in a side alley. Damn alcohol, damn nightmare... I think I drank too much again...

The night was still so dark, but the streetlights overhead emitted an eerie glow in the darkness, dim and indistinct… I got up from the ground, enduring the pain in my back, and looked around. The alley was deserted, except for a flickering fire at the corner. The silhouette of an old woman was faintly visible in the firelight, and ashes from paper were flying everywhere in the air… I could vaguely hear her muttering: Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, do not block the way… do not block the way… do not block the way…

I suddenly laughed. Oh, it's Ghost Festival today! I glanced at my watch—oh dear, it's past midnight! Time to hurry home! Suddenly, someone whispered behind me, "Excuse me, you're blocking my way." "Oh," I replied, turning to the side. I saw a person standing by a streetlamp, bald, reflecting the light. No facial features, just four dark holes staring at me… Ah… Ah… My piercing scream echoed through the city…

---Bifengke

Reply [69]: Wow! Big Sparrow, you scared me to death! I'm so cold. 555

---snowshadow

Reply [70]: Midnight Corridor 1

I live on the ninth floor. For a while, the lights in the stairwell were broken, so every time I got off work late at night, I had to walk up those hundred-plus steps in the dark.

I always have to work the night shift. Every month, I spend more than ten days walking through this pitch-black corridor after midnight. I've bought and installed lights, but it didn't help. I suspect there's a problem with the wiring. Some neighbors suggested I get a flashlight or carry a candle. I didn't agree to either—carrying a flashlight to and from get off work is just awkward. A candle is smaller, but I don't want to walk around the building in the middle of the night holding one; I know what my face looks like in candlelight. Sometimes I bring my girlfriend, Xiaorong, home for the night. She seems braver than me, showing no fear whatsoever. Sometimes I ask her why she's not afraid, and she says, "With me by my side, I'm not afraid of anything."

Walking through the pitch-black stairwell, my eyes were always wide open, but I couldn't see anything. I would occasionally hallucinate; the faces of the deceased would flicker before my eyes, old and young, men and women, appearing alternately. Their expressions varied, but most smiled peacefully at me, their teeth unusually white. The moment I blinked, their faces turned blue. Sometimes I would hear footsteps behind me, which would cease abruptly when I stopped. These hazy, dreamlike hallucinations were relentless, never ceasing, whenever darkness appeared. Even when Xiaorong and I lay in bed with the lights off, their peaceful faces would appear on the ceiling. Their tranquility and composure only intensified the chills; they were so vivid, almost lifelike. Whenever this happened, I would close my eyes tightly, holding Xiaorong close. She would giggle, patting my back and saying, "Coward."

On the third floor lived a solitary woman in her thirties. She rarely went out, and I seldom saw her. Her hair was long and curly. Every evening after get off work, as I passed the third floor, I would see light squeezing out from the crack under her door, the light falling close to the ground onto the tops of my shoes. This was the only light in the entire dark corridor, scarce yet vibrant, because the light it emitted often changed. The shifting light made me feel that there was more than one person inside.

One midnight, as I passed the third floor, I noticed that the light shining through the crack under the door had become indistinct, sometimes bright, sometimes dim, and that there seemed to be liquid wriggling in the crack. The next day, I learned that the woman had been murdered; there was a hole in her neck, and the wriggling liquid I felt that night was her blood.

I still work my night shift, still walking punctually through the dark corridors at midnight. No more light shines from the third-floor doorway, but I still feel as if someone is following me. When I stop and turn around, the footsteps cease; when I continue upstairs, the footsteps resume. Unlike before, this time it seems like two people are behind me. Sometimes, when I reach the fourth floor, I hear whispers behind me. I quickly turn around and go downstairs to see what's going on, but when I reach the first floor, I find no one there. The moonlight is like snow, and the distant trees look as if they are covered in frost.

For several days, there were no footsteps behind me. I continued groping my way upstairs, but it was still so dark. The hallucinations came as expected: the dead people made various gestures towards me, their faces turning blue the moment I blinked. I was used to this. I just wanted to get home soon, to see the light, and use the light to drive away the hallucinations. When I reached the third floor, I heard a woman's sobbing, as if it came from the first floor, yet also from the upper floors. I held my breath and continued upstairs. Suddenly, I felt something like hair brushing against my neck. I reached up and grabbed a handful of hair. Startled, I quickly let go and turned around, shouting, "Who's there?" Another voice echoed in the stairwell—"Who—who—," each voice weaker than the last. I strained my eyes, but saw nothing. I reached for the hair again, but there was nothing there. I hurried upstairs. As I opened the door, I heard a woman giggling behind me. Suddenly, the laughter sounded familiar.

⚙️
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