Chapter 6 The Painting

Zuo Jing moved away from the position closest to the door. The three of them didn't huddle together for warmth; instead, they immediately scattered, each occupying a position, maintaining a certain distance from one another.

According to common sense, a ghost would likely only attack one person at a time, but if they were grouped together, it was hard to say. No one wanted to be the one dragged down.

Holding their breath, the three of them fixed their gazes on the door and the tightly closed window.

"Sha—"

"Sha—"

The sound of a heavy object being dragged became more and more obvious, and the distance was getting closer and closer. Judging from the sound, the thing had arrived at the door, but... under the faint moonlight, the thing at the door didn't leave a shadow on the paper window.

After Qin Jian died, the thin mist on the lake and the dark clouds that had shrouded the sky dissipated.

Tonight was a rare full moon.

But at this moment, no one was concerned about the moon. Shi Liaozhi, Zuo Jing, and Chen Qiang all had exceptionally ugly expressions.

Especially Shi Liaozhi. His eyebrows were tightly knitted together, and blue veins bulged on the back of his hand.

A terrifying idea surfaced in Shi Liaozhi's mind.

Could the guy outside have crawled all the way from the lake, which is why...

"Bang!"

The sudden sound of knocking on the door was like a cleaver, directly severing his train of thought.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

...

Several more times, the door shook violently. The sound of knocking gradually moved upward from the bottom, as if something that had been lying on the ground was gradually getting up.

The next moment, Shi Liaozhi's pupils couldn't help but tremble, and then he gasped.

On the door less than three meters away from him, a bloody handprint appeared.

Fresh blood dripped around the handprint, gradually soaking the paper pasted on the door. It was hard to imagine what kind of injury would leave so much blood. What was even more terrifying was that blood was also flowing in along the ground, tight against the door seam.

In the dim candlelight, it shimmered with an eerie luster.

A shadow about the same height as an ordinary person quietly appeared on the door.

Shi Liaozhi's throat bobbed silently. He could even imagine the actions of the guy standing outside. A bloody hand was pressed against the door, and the fragmented body was bleeding everywhere...

"It's me." The person outside spoke, accompanied by constant coughing, as if their throat was filled with blood, "Open... open the door quickly."

Shi Liaozhi was stunned. It was actually... actually Qin Jian!

He seemed to be seriously injured, and his speech was breathless, and sounded like he wouldn't last long.

How could it be Qin Jian?

Wasn't he already dead, with a ghost pressing on his back, breaking his spine alive?

Could such an injury... allow him to come back to life?

No, impossible, the one outside must be a ghost!

Shi Liaozhi pursed his lips tightly, not saying a word.

The Qin Jian outside seemed to know what they were worried about. He gasped for breath, his voice intermittent, like a broken old bellows.

"I... I'm not dead." He leaned against the door, speaking with difficulty, "You... you must believe me, I was attacked by a ghost, but... but the ghost has already killed You Qi, so I... cough, cough..."

"I survived..."

Hearing this, Shi Liaozhi was first stunned, and then an indescribable chill rose from his heart.

You Qi?

Could it be that the one who died was You Qi?!

"I hid by the lake and saw the ghost kill You Qi and transform into his appearance..." Qin Jian's voice couldn't suppress the fear, "I saw him find you with my own eyes, but I... but I didn't dare to go over..."

"I didn't dare to go back either, so... cough, cough..." The blood foam he spat out stained another patch of bright red on the white paper window, "You... please, you must believe me."

"Otherwise... otherwise, you'll be next..."

Qin Jian's last sentence directly stabbed into Shi Liaozhi's heart. The painting had already appeared in their room. Although Chen Qiang said they wouldn't die immediately, how persuasive could a newcomer's words be?

After Shi Liaozhi realized that the female ghost in the painting was staring at him, he immediately realized that he was also being targeted by the ghost, although he didn't know why yet.

Almost subconsciously, he turned his head to look at the location of the painting.

But the next moment, he could no longer look away.

The color drained from his face completely. Shi Liaozhi felt as if a cold wind was rushing out from the back of his head, and the blood in his veins seemed to be frozen, filled with ice shards.

He opened his mouth slightly, but no sound came out.

The woman in the painting was very different from what he had seen before.

No longer was she in that beautiful dancing posture. Instead, she was swollen all over, making her large red opera costume bulging. Especially her face, which was completely blurred. Rotten flesh hung down uncontrollably, and a pair of eyes buried deep in the rotten flesh emitted a terrifying light.

What was even more terrifying was that the swollen woman's hands were stretched outwards, and one leg was striding out, as if she was about to squeeze out of the painting.

And the direction her face was facing... was precisely Shi Liaozhi.

糟糕... (Zao Gao - "Terrible!")

Qin Jian was telling the truth! Shi Liaozhi's eyes widened. That... that You Qi was the ghost!

And now the ghost knew that he had been exposed and was coming to kill him!

Without hesitation, Shi Liaozhi immediately rushed towards the door. He wanted to escape, as far away as possible. It would be best if... if no one could find him!

He didn't need anyone's help. He himself, he could survive on his own.

But just as he was running towards the door, he suddenly tripped over something, and then fell to the ground.

Making a "bang" sound.

This fall was very serious, but Shi Liaozhi didn't care about any of that at the moment. He struggled, desperately crawling towards the door, shouting as he crawled, "Don't! Don't touch me!" He shouted hysterically, "Let go of me!"

Finally, just before he was about to touch the door, everything went black, and he lost consciousness.

"Hoo—, hoo—"

It was Chen Qiang who was breathing heavily. He was pressing down on Shi Liaozhi's body, and even so, he couldn't hold him down. Fortunately, Zuo Jing made a decisive decision and knocked Shi Liaozhi unconscious.

Raising his head, staring at the door less than a meter away from him, Chen Qiang licked his lips and said in a low voice, "It's that painting..."

"Yeah." Zuo Jing nodded. She slowly stood up, removing the knee pressing on Shi Liaozhi's back. Wearing this wide opera costume restricted her mobility; otherwise, there would have been no need for such a mess.

They had both clearly seen that the anomaly occurred after Shi Liaozhi looked at the painting.

But the strange thing was... when the two of them looked at the painting, they didn't see anything wrong, at least on the surface.

"Don't look at it." Zuo Jing said softly, "Wait until dawn, and call everyone over, together."

Chen Qiang wasn't surprised by Zuo Jing's choice. Since everyone was aware of the painting's existence, then it was no longer a secret that needed to be kept.

It was more like a tacit understanding to some extent.