Chapter 9: Room 1303 (Part 9)
The next morning, when Lin Banxia woke up, he didn’t see Song Qingluo but was greeted by a spirited Ji Leshui, ready to go to work.
Ji Leshui still didn’t dare to enter the apartment and didn’t even knock on the door; instead, he called Lin Banxia to meet him outside.
The two chatted as they left the apartment complex, stopping at a nearby bus stop to buy breakfast, eating it with relish. Lin Banxia asked Ji Leshui if he had seen anything unusual last night. Ji Leshui shook his head, saying he had slept well and hadn’t seen anything strange. Although he woke up groggily in the middle of the night, vaguely feeling like someone was moving around in the living room, he didn’t feel scared and soon fell back asleep.
Lin Banxia felt reassured upon hearing this, thinking that Song Qingluo did indeed have some skills.
However, Ji Leshui looked slightly uneasy as he bit into a fried dough stick and mumbled, “Brother Lin, what exactly is in Song Qingluo’s place? And why do I keep seeing strange things in our apartment?”
Lin Banxia replied, “I don’t know either.”
“Thinking about it now, it’s a bit scary.” Ji Leshui hesitated, “Brother Lin, once this is all over, you should move out with me. This apartment really isn’t fit for long-term living.”
Lin Banxia said, “I’ll think about it.”
Ji Leshui understood some of Lin Banxia’s circumstances, so when he heard Lin’s polite refusal, he sighed deeply and finally gave up trying to persuade him.
Just then, the bus arrived, and the two got on their respective buses.
Lin Banxia’s work schedule typically started from 10 a.m. to 6 a.m. the next day, with one day on and one day off. If there wasn’t much to do, he could even slip away early.
Upon reaching his workplace, Lin Banxia spotted Liu Xi, who wasn’t his usual friendly self. Instead, Liu was sitting at his desk with a grim expression, staring at his phone.
Lin Banxia walked over to him, patted his shoulder, and said, “Here so early today?”
“Holy crap!!” Liu Xi was so startled by Lin Banxia’s touch that he nearly jumped out of his chair. He clutched his chest, glaring as he said, “Brother Lin, don’t scare me like that! People scaring people is no joke!”
Lin Banxia asked, “What’s up? Why so jumpy today?”
Liu Xi said, “You don’t know, do you?”
Lin Banxia: “Know what?”
Liu Xi lowered his voice, “Wang Jinqiao died…”
Lin Banxia was momentarily stunned, recalling that he’d just seen him a couple of days ago. While Wang had a bad temper, he was quite competent at his job. How could he have died so suddenly? Naturally, he asked, “How did he die?”
Liu Xi replied, “No idea. The police are investigating it now. They say he had a sudden heart attack last night while on duty and died…”
Lin Banxia frowned deeply at this.
“And if it were just this, it’d be one thing.” Liu Xi whispered, “Do you remember the body we transported that day?”
Lin Banxia nodded.
Liu Xi said, “I heard from some unofficial sources… that the body disappeared.”
Lin Banxia was incredulous, “Disappeared? It was already at the mortuary; how could it just vanish?”
Liu Xi slapped his thigh, “You can’t believe it, right? I find it creepy too! It was already in the mortuary—how could anyone spirit it away without a trace?”
Lin Banxia asked, “With all that surveillance, surely the police reported it?”
Liu Xi replied, “Of course, they reported it! After discovering the death, the police came right away. But the strangest thing is, after the police arrived, they found that all the cameras covering the scene were broken…”
Lin Banxia fell silent, finding this whole situation too coincidental. He recalled the noises he and Liu Xi had heard in the car. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell Liu Xi what had happened, but he wasn’t sure how to explain it. Was he supposed to say that the shattered body fragments… were moving? Even if he did say it, who would believe him?
“Who would be so bored as to steal a body like that?” Liu Xi rubbed the goosebumps on his arms with a shiver. “I mean, we all saw the state of that body—what use could it possibly have?”
Lin Banxia shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.
Liu Xi sighed.
The mortuary where Wang Jinqiao worked often collaborated with their unit, and after his death, the police came to investigate and interviewed several people who’d had contact with him. Lin Banxia was also questioned. He had nothing to hide, so he told them everything he knew. The police didn’t find anything suspicious and went on to question others.
Feeling stifled indoors, Lin Banxia suggested they step outside for some fresh air.
Liu Xi, being a heavy smoker, immediately lit a cigarette, smoking it with satisfaction, while Lin Banxia looked down, typing a message to Ji Leshui on WeChat. Ji Leshui replied quickly, indicating no major issues had come up today.
As Liu Xi smoked, he suddenly said, “Hey? Look over there. Isn’t that…?”
Lin Banxia looked up in the direction Liu Xi was staring at and saw a thin figure standing beside a police car not far away. It was the woman—the only survivor of that accident. Yet in just a day, she seemed to have become gaunt, her cheeks sunken, dark circles under her eyes. She was observing them from a distance, and even from afar, her gloomy, icy gaze made Lin Banxia feel uneasy.
Liu Xi’s gaze met hers for a moment before he quickly looked away, uncomfortable, his scalp prickling slightly. He murmured, “Lin-ge, that woman is so scary.”
Beside him, Lin Banxia didn’t respond.
“Lin-ge?” Liu Xi glanced at Lin Banxia out of the corner of his eye, noticing that he was frowning and intently staring at the woman with a peculiar look, as if he had discovered something.
“Lin-ge?” Liu Xi called again.
Only then did Lin Banxia come back to himself, asking casually, “What is it?”
“What did you see?” Liu Xi asked.
“Nothing,” Lin Banxia replied. After saying that, he mentioned going back inside and turned to leave. Of course, he had seen something: the entity that had been following the woman, like a shadow, was no longer trailing behind her. Instead, it had taken on a twisted position, clinging to the woman’s back. Its head hung over her shoulder, its long black hair mixing with the woman’s, making it look like a person with two heads.
When Lin Banxia looked at her, the woman also raised her head, casting a gaze at him. Her eyes were lifeless, yet oddly manic, sending a wave of discomfort over him.
After Lin Banxia left, Liu Xi quickly followed him inside, leaving the woman standing alone, staring at the spot where they had disappeared for a long time.
Once inside, Lin Banxia casually asked the police officer still taking notes why the woman was outside. Without lifting his head, the officer replied that she hadn’t been called by the police; she had insisted on coming to the funeral parlor herself after hearing her relative’s body had gone missing, wanting to see the situation for herself. Since she wasn’t breaking any laws, there wasn’t much the police could do to stop her.
It seemed logical enough, Lin Banxia thought. If he were in her place and discovered a family member’s body was missing, he’d also be searching everywhere.
But Liu Xi seemed unsettled. After entering, he was visibly anxious, frequently peeking out the window and muttering, “Why hasn’t she left yet?”
“What are you looking at?” Lin Banxia asked.
“Why hasn’t she left?” Liu Xi rubbed his hands nervously. “Every time I see her, I feel uneasy. Lin-ge, do you feel the same?”
“Maybe a bit,” Lin Banxia replied.
“A bit?” Liu Xi snorted. He stood by the window, lighting another cigarette, mumbling, “Why did she come here? The body didn’t disappear from here.”
Lin Banxia patted him on the shoulder, trying to reassure him.
They had little work all day until evening when they received a call about a jumper, asking them to send two people to clean up the scene.
Two colleagues who were on shift with them went to handle it, leaving only Lin Banxia and Liu Xi in the office.
Liu Xi leaned back in his chair, scrolling through videos on his phone, while Lin Banxia, having nothing to do, dozed off in his chair.
The room was quiet, with no sound at all. Just as Lin Banxia was sleeping soundly, Liu Xi suddenly jerked violently in his seat. The next moment, he let out a shriek and threw his phone straight onto the table in front of Lin Banxia!
The phone landed directly on the table, the noise jolting Lin Banxia awake. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he looked over, puzzled. “Liu Xi? What’s wrong with you?” This was Liu Xi’s new phone, which he usually treated with extreme care, covering it with a case and screen protector. Why was he suddenly tossing it around today?
Lin Banxia picked up the phone, intending to hand it back, but as soon as he held it out, Liu Xi jumped back as if he’d seen a ghost, shouting, “No, no! Don’t show it to me!”
“What?” Lin Banxia asked.
“Look, look at the screen! The phone screen!” Liu Xi stammered.
Confused, Lin Banxia flipped the phone around to check the screen. A video was paused on it. The resolution was high, clearly showing an indoor scene without anything seemingly frightening. But when he hit the play button and watched for three seconds, Lin Banxia realized why Liu Xi was so terrified.
The video was taken by a camera inside the funeral parlor.
In the video, a man sat resting on a chair. Though the image was a bit blurry, Lin Banxia could recognize him by his clothing—this was Wang Jinqiao, the man who had died violently in the funeral parlor the previous night.
Lin Banxia was slightly stunned. “Isn’t this footage from the funeral parlor? How did it end up on your phone?”
“I… I don’t know!” Liu Xi’s voice trembled. “And didn’t they say all the surveillance was destroyed? How could this video be on my phone?”
“Should we call the police?” Lin Banxia murmured.
“The police?” Liu Xi echoed. “But if we do, I’ll have no way to explain it! Won’t they just arrest me on the spot?”
While the two of them were discussing, in the video, Wang Jinqiao seemed to hear something, standing up from his chair and looking around.
Liu Xi’s voice trembled, “He… did he hear something?”
Lin Banxia didn’t respond. Both of them stared at the screen in silence, watching to see what would happen next.
—
Author’s Note:
Lin Banxia: Why does that woman’s gaze make me so uncomfortable?
Song Qingluo: Why indeed?
Lin Banxia: Could it be…
Song Qingluo looks on encouragingly.
Lin Banxia: She looks down on poor people?
Song Qingluo: …
Woman: That’s not true! I don’t. Please don’t misunderstand.
