Paintings of Terror

Chapter 60: Wangfu’s Revenge ?

Translated by Eve

Edited by EB

The red whistle sounded in the night all on its own. The sound of the whistle was sharp but would also occasionally quiet down. Sometimes, it sounded like a private whisper. Other times, it sounded like a grieving shout….

Regardless, it was strange.

A bit over half an hour later, the whistles came to an abrupt halt.

The eerie silence made it seem like something was brewing within the darkness. It caused one’s hairs to stand on end.

From next door came Sha Liu’s blood-curdling scream. Mixed with her scream were the low growls of some ferocious beast. No one knew what was happening in her room.

“Help me! Help me!” Sha Liu’s piercing wails could barely be heard over the beast’s roars. Slowly, the sound of something being devoured emanated from the room.

Ke Xun listened to the chilling sounds of feeding and a cold sweat broke out. A wild beast was different from a ghost—the fear and pain brought by it was very real.

“Sounds like a canine of sorts.” Mu Yiran remained calm.

The sound of metal clashing came from the room next door. It sounded like Sha Liu had attacked back. Soon after, they heard the sound of the door open. From the small window of 411, they saw a bloody Sha Liu stagger out. Chasing after her was an enormous, vicious wolf. Ke Xun rubbed his eyes. He thought that this wolf looked a bit like a dog.

“Help me! Help me!” Although Sha Liu was yelling for help, her eyes were full of despair. Ke Xun suddenly realized that Sha Liu’s left forearm was missing. Blood gushed out from beneath her elbow.

The giant wolf didn’t seem to want to kill its prey immediately. It tore at her as if it was toying with her. It widened its large jaw, clenched down on Sha Liu and dragged her backwards. It seemed to enjoy her miserable screams.

In the end, Sha Liu managed to make her way to 411’s door and knock. This time, she didn’t scream for help. Instead, she shouted, “I hope you die! You should all just die! None of you will be able to escape this place alive!”

Ke Xun and Mu Yiran ignored her cursing. They split the room in two and waited for Room 411’s spirit to appear.

As expected, after the door was knocked on, Ke Xun saw a woman walk out from the bedroom. She was wearing the eye-catching pair of red slippers.

Although it was a strange picture, Ke Xun didn’t want to let any clues slip through the cracks. He stared at the woman unblinkingly.

The other acted like she didn’t see him. She walked over to the chiffonier with a natural expression on her face. She opened the last drawer and pulled out a bundle wrapped in cloth. Ke Xun had seen this bundle before. He opened it during their search for the signature. He only found some old clothes. As such, he had not taken a careful look at them.

The woman seemed to be looking for something within the bundle. She looked through it before putting it back into the drawer. She then walked back into the bedroom.

When Ke Xun reached the bedroom, the woman was already nowhere to be seen.

The room was once again swallowed by darkness.

Sha Liu’s screams continued outside. Gradually, her voice grew quiet. Ke Xun didn’t know if this was because she was getting further away or if her voice was weakening.

There seemed to be something left in the hallway. Ke Xun couldn’t make it out, but guessed that it was likely one of Sha Liu’s severed limbs left in a pool of blood.

“The whistle’s gone.” Mu Yiran’s gaze was at the spot where the whistle used to be.

“Who took the whistle away?” It couldn’t have been the dog/wolf-like animal.

The whistle had probably already served its purpose. It was probably meant to summon the beast….

Nearly two hours had passed but they could still occasionally hear Sha Liu’s moans. Compared to the people in the previous nights, Sha Liu probably suffered the most.

A single whistle streaked through the night sky. Once more, they heard that familiar hoarse old man voice: “Wangfu—you finally came home—”

……

When Ke Xun woke up, the sky was already bright. Mu Yiran had gotten out of bed and left a long time ago.

Ke Xun left the room and noticed that the severed limbs and blood from last night had already been cleaned up.

Everyone stood around the corpse covered by a white cloth in the atrium, including Xin Miao, who had lost her mind. She was currently happily dancing around Sha Liu’s body.

Old Man Li Taiyong pulled Xin Miao to one side and gave her a lollipop.

Wei Dong was retching on the side. When he saw Ke Xun, he said, “You’re lucky you got up late and didn’t see the body parts strewn all over the building….”

Ke Xun frowned. Although he hadn’t seen it, he could imagine it.

Qin Ci said, “I just don’t get why her corpse turned white. Even her hair turned snow-white.”

“Because she incurred the wrath of her own room when she knocked on it.” Zhu Haowen answered Qin Ci. “The original tenant of 410 is the albino woman. That woman died because of her disorder. That’s why her body changed after she knocked on the door.”

Wei Dong started to dry heave again. “I was wondering why the body parts were so pale….”

In the end, Sha Liu’s corpse was carried out. The stretcher toddled as it was moved, causing the group to grow concerned that the dismembered limbs would fall out….

The gatekeeper uncle walked over, waving the chain of keys. “Everyone’s here. Let’s talk about what happened in Room 307.”

At long last, they would hear about Room 307.

“The previous tenant of 307 was Cripple Liu. Old Liu was a good person. Although he hadn’t been able to find a wife because of his leg, he was diligent and capable. He was also very compassionate and conscientious. He spent his savings on impoverished elementary students. When talking about Old Liu, we can’t not talk about Wangfu. That’s the little stray puppy Old Liu had taken in. He raised that dog for seventeen or eighteen years. The two of them relied on each other.

“When the bastards from the factory came to expel us, they thought that Old Liu would be easy pickings. They wanted to make Old Liu an example, to make him the first to move out! When Wangfu saw that Old Liu was being pushed around, he panicked. He bit down on the factory’s vice director’s leg. At this moment, trouble began. Although the vice director had on thick clothes and his leg was unharmed, he wasn’t going to let this go just like that….

“The vice director didn’t say anything at the time, but the next day, Wangfu went missing. Old Liu completely panicked. Wangfu was like a child to him. The next few days, Old Liu searched for Wangfu day and night, his voice growing hoarse from all the screaming. In the past, Wangfu would scuttle over to him as soon as he heard Old Liu’s whistle and the banging of his food bowl….

“Many days later, someone found Wangfu in the space between the tube-shaped apartment and the cement wall. The old dog had been killed by someone. Someone had hacked him to pieces and tossed the remains on the ground.

“None of us dared to tell Old Liu of this news. We were afraid he wouldn’t be able to take it. Even on his deathbed, Old Liu never found Wangfu. That is probably his only regret.”

It turns out that the vengeful being wasn’t Old Liu but Wangfu.

As for why the red whistle appeared before Room 410, that was a mystery.

Was it because Old Liu had sensed the murderous air from the room? Sha Liu had coerced Qiu Lu to die. To put it another way, Sha Liu could be considered Qiu Lu’s murderer.

“But why did the dog appear in Room 410?”

“Because the window facing outside was open. The dog’s corpse was dumped in the space between the building and the cement wall. therefore, Wangfu’s spirit had to climb up from there…” Ke Xun said.

The Gatekeeper uncle suddenly looked upwards. Because the top of the building was closing in, the tube-shaped apartment was no longer as bright as it used to be. Actually, the opening above the atrium was only five or six metres wide right now. It made everyone feel like they were trapped in a small pot.

The gatekeeper uncle looked gratified. “Looks like things are developing rapidly. We might be able to break through the ground by tomorrow! You guys should hurry and eat! Breaking through the earth is a good thing! We’ll finally be able to leave!”

The gatekeeper uncle then beckoned for Xin Miao. “The window in your room, Room 215, needs to be fixed. We’ll have it replaced for you in two days!”

Xin Miao didn’t understand. She simply smiled at the gatekeeper uncle.

No one was in the mood to eat now. Qin Ci looked upwards. “Have things been pushed forward?”

“The NPC wouldn’t lie. It’s probably because we triggered some condition and caused the timeline to advance.” Nevertheless, Mu Yiran could not think of the reason for this.

Wei Dong said, “If this building is completely sealed off before the building completely breaks out of the ground, we’ll probably die from suffocation. Why aren’t these people afraid?”

Mu Yiran looked at Xin Miao, who was standing nearby. “Xin Miao is now one of them. That’s why she’s not afraid.”

Wei Dong suddenly realized that Xin Miao had changed into a red dress at some unknown point in time. “It can’t be that…the people living in this tube-shaped apartment are all….”

“People of the earth.” Zhu Haowen replied straightforwardly.

“If it’s as the NPC says—that the process of breaking through the ground will be completed tomorrow—that means that the building will be completely sealed off today.” Ke Xun analyzed the situation before their eyes. “If we don’t find the signature today, our corpses will probably grow cold here.”

There were six people left: Mu Yiran, Ke Xun, Wei Dong, Qin Ci, Zhu Haowen and Old Man Li Taiyong.

Old Man Li Taiyong walked over. “I’ll search with you.”

But no one moved. They had searched every viable place. They didn’t know where to go now.

Zhu Haowen was the first to speak up: “I think that it has something to do with the opening of the atrium. After all, it’s going to become the tip of the bamboo stalk.”

“But it’s not like it’s a rooftop for us to climb up on. It will be difficult for us to get up there.” Qin Ci was skeptical.

“Once its transformation has reached a certain degree, the windows on the sixth floor that face the outside will become the tip of the bamboo. We can break the window to get on top!” Zhu Haowen shared his thoughts.

“There’s no time to lose,” Mu Yiran suddenly spoke up. “You guys head to the sixth floor. Ke Xun and I will return to Room 411. We saw an apparition last night. Perhaps it’s related to the overall situation.”

Ke Xun looked at Old Man Li Taiyong. “Grandpa, come with us. After all, the sixth floor is too high up.”

Therefore, the six of them split into two teams. Three people went to Room 616 while the other three headed to 411.

Mu Yiran asked Ke Xun on the way: “What did you see last night?”

After all, they couldn’t know for sure if it would be safe or not to discuss the apparition openly last night. That’s why they waited until day time.

Ke Xun told the other about the woman he saw last night. He then looked at Mu Yiran. “Did you see something different?”

“Yes. I saw the woman enter the bedroom from the living room. She pulled out paper and a pen and began to draw a self-portrait by using the mirror.” Mu Yiran also spoke of what he saw last night.

“That woman can draw?” Ke Xun felt like drawing was a delicate thing inside the painting.

“Yes. It was a professional grade sketch.”

Old Man Li Taiyong said, “I’m slow. You two should head over first!”

As such, Mu Yiran and Ke Xun sprinted over to Room 411. They first pulled open the drawers from the chiffonier and found the large cloth parcel. As expected, there were several hand woven wool sweaters and pants. They also found handsewn satchel. There were letters stuffed in the bag.

This was a matter of life and death. It was not the time to worry about invading someone else’s privacy. The two of them divided the letters and started to read them.

The majority of the letters came from abroad. The two of them gradually learned that this woman’s husband had left to study abroad. He studied oil painting.

Because of financial reasons, the man had not come back for many years. The woman raised their son on her own. They lived in Room 411 of the Spring Bamboo Dormitory.

It was obvious that the couple was deeply in love. Ke Xun faintly realized what the engraved ‘return’ character on the desk meant.

The two of them finished reading all of the letters. There was no letter in the bottom-most envelope. Instead, there was a large pile of notes. Ke Xun poured all of them out and looked through each one. Most of them had been written by the couple when they had been students. It seemed like they had been high school students at the time. They had been deskmates so they frequently passed each other notes.

Eve: The old man and Wangfu break my heart. I feel so sad for them. We are nearing the end of this arc~