CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 44: THE LIAR (10)

All the paintings have black and red as their base colors, occasionally mixed with glaring cold tones, creating an unspeakable eerie and bloody feeling.

Xu Yichao pressed his ear against the door, listening for the outside noise. Sang Que surveyed the room, not seeing any suspicious shadows, before flipping open the sketchbook on the table and shining her phone light on it to see.

On the first page, there’s a group of children playing soccer, each one a distorted pure black silhouette with sinister blood-red eyes. In the corner of the drawing is a sad face.

On the second page, a black cat with its eyes and abdomen smeared with a gruesome red as if it’s been split open. In the corner of the drawing is a smiling face.

On the third page, in a hallway, stands a woman in colorful clothing with an obvious matchmaker mole on her face, leaving a blood-stained trash bag in front of door 202. In the corner of the drawing is a child’s face making a shushing gesture.

Sang Que furrowed her eyebrows, vaguely realizing something.

On the fourth page, a tall and thin woman in a white dress stands with a twisted pure black tall man, whose eyes are smeared with a ghastly blood-red. The corner of the image has a crying face.

On the fifth page, the woman in white dresses is in pain, lying on the pure black background, with blood red spreading around her head and body. In the corner of the image is a smiling face.

These images made Sang Que extremely uncomfortable. Turning the page revealed blank sheets, with no additional content.

Most of the paintings on the walls were of small black animals, with large amounts of red smeared over them.

There were also some green doors, black walls with red locks hung on them.

And black window bars against a blood-red sky.

"Sang... Mulan, it seems like the security guard went upstairs." Xu Yichao came to Sang Que’s side and frowned at the pictures on the wall, "What is this? It’s enough to make one’s skin crawl."

Xu Yichao flipped through the sketchbook, "This matchmaker mole, could it be drawn by Xu Chunxia?"

Sang Que took a deep breath, easing the heaviness in her chest, "Probably."

Xu Yichao quickly skimmed through the pages, thinking for a moment before realizing, "Could the cat killer be that lying trickster, and then Xu Chunxia blamed it on Uncle Fatty? Also, the liar’s mother used to wear white dresses and was the most beautiful woman in the village."

"Could she indeed have had someone outside, and the liar didn’t actually lie to her father? This last drawing, and this house, looked like it was ransacked, could it be the liar’s father hit her mother and smashed the house?"

Sang Que seriously replied, "Not necessarily someone from outside, they might just be standing together in the drawing. What if it’s an ordinary friend, relative, or the child’s teacher? We shouldn’t rashly infer things just because a woman is pretty."

"Sorry, sorry, that was my mistake." Xu Yichao immediately apologized and returned to the main subject, "Looking at the paintings on the wall, it seems the liar was often locked in by her mother and frequently killed small animals. She was only... six years old? So vicious!"

"What happened to this little girl and her mother later?" Sang Que rarely showed a bit of curiosity.

"According to my grandma, they moved away early on. The mother and daughter shouldn’t be dead, right?"

Sang Que pondered for a moment, "The resentment and memories left in this building should be from those times, not necessarily the souls of the dead. Let’s go, let’s check 202 again."

"Wait, there are more drawings at the end here."

Xu Yichao called Sang Que, flipping the sketchbook to its final pages, revealing a pure black background, a green wooden door, and a woman in a red dress with long hair walking down the hallway with her head down.

"404!" Xu Yichao pointed at the number plate on the green door in the painting.

Sang Que’s eyes brightened, noticing some small spirals drawn around the head of the woman in the red dress.

"That’s the sleepwalking woman from 705, maybe following her will lead us to 404."

Xu Yichao felt a bit strange, "But that lying trickster tends to lie habitually, could she be setting us up?"

Sang Que was startled, "That possibility can’t be ruled out. We should search floor by floor, starting with finding Grandma Xu."

If it weren’t for Xu Yichao’s reminder, she might really have followed the little girl’s tip.

Sang Que still took the lead, listened at the door for a while, and after confirming there was no sound outside, she instinctively reached out her right hand to pull the door and stopped when her hand was on the handle. She glanced at Xu Yichao behind her, then switched to her left hand.

Could she bring others with her, in addition to herself, to travel to Black Mountain Village?

Just as the door opened, Sang Que stepped on a piece of drawing paper. She moved her foot to look, her pupils suddenly narrowed.

The drawing depicted her wearing a black baseball cap, maintaining the posture of opening the door, with Xu Yichao behind her, wearing a red vest and raising a long knife with a grim smile, ready to slash at her.

A cold wind blew at the back of her neck, and Sang Que suppressed the urge to counterattack, swiftly sidestepping to stick to the nearby wall, her entire body tense and alert.

Xu Yichao was startled by her sudden action, immediately drawing back, peeking out with half a head.

"What happened? What happened?"

The drawing paper on the ground was gone, and Sang Que’s face darkened. She walked over and kicked the wobbly rocking horse under the railing, saying nothing as she headed towards 202.

Bang!

The rocking horse toppled down the stairs, and a girl’s cry suddenly echoed.

Between walls of 201 and 202 began to seep large amounts of blood, slowly pushing out a human-shaped black shadow, exactly like the security guard Old Tian.

Oh shit! Xu Yichao inwardly cursed, quickly following Sang Que.

Sang Que glanced at the black shadow on the wall, methodically prying open the door to 202, pulling Xu Yichao inside before the security guard Old Tian fully emerged, and shutting the door.

"Isn’t it stated in the tenant rules not to enter others’ rooms at will? 201 could be considered an invite since they opened the door, but we’re breaking in this time." Xu Yichao was a bit worried.

Sang Que calmly replied, "It says ’do not enter other tenants’ unlocked rooms at will.’ This room was locked, I pried it open, and if there’s any problem, we’ll take the consequences."

Xu Yichao was taken aback, "Is this even feasible? Did you mess up your reading comprehension skill tree?"

The layout of room 202 was similar to that of 201, but much neater. Although there were signs of wear and thick dust from time, it was clear that the person living here knew how to maintain a good life.

The sound of keys clashing hovered outside the door; security guard Old Tian hadn’t left, so they couldn’t go outside for now.

Sang Que briefly checked; there was a sink with a brick stove counter, a gas tank, a gas stove, and all necessary pots, plates, and bowls by the door. Next to them was a large plastic bucket big enough to fit a person.

Inside the room was a wooden bed against the wall, a large wardrobe with a mirror in the middle pressing against the other side, and a desk by the window at the head of the bed.

The bedding on the wooden bed was neatly folded, with a very large suit and a red tie on top, indicating they were for a wedding.

Sang Que walked to the desk. Under the glass tabletop was a photograph of a man and a woman.

The man appeared honest and easygoing, smiling warmly. The woman’s features were clear and pleasant, with two braided pigtails and a sweet smile.

On the desk was also a notebook covered in grease, the type often distributed by elementary schools as workbooks.

The handwriting inside was very neat and orderly, recording the daily pork purchases, the cost, and the sales, as well as the earnings from selling marinated products.

It was detailed enough to include who in the village bought what, and there were small notations next to them. For instance, if a family was having a celebration or someone was sick, they would receive two extra ounces of meat, with the reduction in price marked in red pen for easier calculation.

"Let’s see," Xu Yichao grabbed the notebook, quickly flipping through a few pages, "Xu Chunxia, the selfish woman, often bought meat at Uncle Fatty’s stall but always paid less."

Upon Xu Yichao’s words, Sang Que noticed there was a consistent loss entry every few days in the notebook’s records, with the purchaser being Xu Chunxia.

"Look how angry it made Uncle Fatty."

Xu Yichao turned to a later page, showing Sang Que how the writing was hard-pressed and slightly messy, showing the anger during writing.

[It’s the same every time! How can there be such shameless people! She always lets me cut and marinate the meat for her, I repeatedly ask if she’s sure she wants it, repeatedly tell her the weight and price, and she nods, only to demand a discount after it’s prepared, or else she won’t take it!]

[Absolutely shameless! The meat is already prepared and she doesn’t want it, leaving me unable to sell it. Out of consideration for the neighbors and her being a local, I, an outsider, can’t afford to offend her, so I give her a discount, resulting in this happening every time!]

[Today I refused to sell to her, refused to swallow this grievance, and in front of her, dumped the meat to the alley cats. At least feeding the cats helps with the rats, while feeding her never earns a word of thanks! Cursing me to die young? I’d like to see what kind of fate awaits someone like her!]

Sang Que glanced at the date recorded on this page, it was September.

"When did the village start spreading rumors about Li Dafu molesting children and abusing and killing cats?"

Xu Yichao furrowed his brow, trying to recall, his eyes scanning around, "I can’t remember the specifics well, but it was when I first started elementary school. Before it got cold, Uncle Fatty dealt with Xu Chunxia... Oh my gosh!"

Xu Yichao suddenly gasped, looking behind them in terror.

The suit that was neatly folded suddenly stood up as if someone were wearing it!

The bright red tie dripped blood, quickly dyeing the pure white shirt red.