‘Desolate Girl and Saka’ was created in 1725, in a Western country that had been ravaged by war and the Black Death. The pinnacle of human suffering was the pinnacle of human creation. The theme of this painting was evil and obscenity. The ugly and lustful demon Saka encountered a girl playing by a tree and intended to take her away by force.

The girl struggled desperately with a fearful face. Her golden hair was messy, her limbs were plump, and her skin was soft and filled with vitality in contrast to the dark and ferocious demon. The painting was gruesome and eerie, full of a paradoxical and despairing medieval atmosphere.

This had always been a famous painting because of the beautiful human body and the excellent modeling of light and shadow. When I studied oil painting in Russia and graduated, I copied this painting under the guidance of my teacher.

The painting won me a prestigious award that year, so I brought it back and hung it in the gallery on the second floor.

The lights in the villa were turned off at some point, and darkness now completely envelopes the house.

When studying this painting, although I understood the despair of the artist who created it on his deathbed, what I valued was the artist’s technique, the same as the other students. It is only now that I truly empathize with the girl in the painting, feeling firsthand her despair and pain, as well as that of the creator.

“Ah…..ugh!” I fall down the staircase in a state of disarray. Regardless of the severe pain in my body, I struggle to get up and escape downstairs. I see this painting when I pass through the hallway on the second floor, and tears flow uncontrollably from my eyes.

I had copied and painted the girl’s frightened and desperate expression, and at this moment, we are in the same darkness. My expression is probably exactly the same as hers. I am like a cornered lamb, pleading helplessly: “Help me…..s-save me…..”

I don’t know how I struggled out of his arms. It’s possible that he let me go in a playful way, enjoying the sight of me escaping in embarrassment.

But I have to run. I don’t even know if he is right next to me, watching my miserable appearance with a smile.

The light in the rooms is completely gone, as if it has fallen into a ball of ink. I hold onto the hallway handrail and go downstairs as fast as I could, hoping to escape from the house.

But just when I’m on the last flight of stairs, due to the lack of vision, I fall down again.

I instinctively hold my head, expecting to endure the coming agony, but this time I don’t fall to the floor.

“A-Zhen…..”

I fall into a cold embrace.

Someone calls to me in my ear, as soft as a sigh.

It turns out that he really was next to me all along.

I’m stunned for a few seconds, and then give him a hard shove.

What I don’t expect is that I actually push him. In the darkness, I see his body falling down the stairs. The sounds of a human body impacting the stairs are heard one after another, and I even hear a cry of pain. 

The world goes silent after the last thud.

I gasp violently. Opening my eyes as wide as possible, I stare blankly at the darkness below.

Nearly half a minute passes without any sounds from downstairs. The only thing in my ears is my own chaotic breathing.

Is he…..dead?

Can ghosts die so easily?

Is he waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs? Waiting for me to fall into a trap?

I can’t help but recall that when I pushed him just now, the body that my hands touched was as warm as a human being. Even through the shirt, I could still feel the sensation of flesh that only a human could have.

Reason tells me that I should flee quickly at this time, but as a human being, I begin to doubt myself emotionally…..in my mind, I begin to imagine my lover Mingcheng falling down the stairs.

No! I immediately dismiss my doubts.

He is not Mingcheng!

I emphasize this to myself before the heartache can arrive.

He is not Mingcheng, he is the demon that has taken over Mingcheng’s body. This is a trap! This is a bad joke!

I turn around resolutely and run upstairs. There are only my own footsteps in the empty hallway. Running quickly in the darkness, I find an inconspicuous room to hide in.

The mobile phone signal is very chaotic. I don’t know what time it is now, how long it will take until dawn, or even if all of this will turn around after dawn.

I don’t know if the gentleman opposite saw my plea for help. I hope he called the police. Although I don’t know if calling the police will be useful, I don’t have any other options.

In this state, I have no concept of time and don’t know how many minutes, seconds, or hours have passed.

But nobody comes to find me. The imposter I pushed down doesn’t appear by my side again.

I hide in the corner of the closet until my legs are numb. A long time passes, and there is no sound of anyone else in this villa other than me.

Have I escaped successfully?

Or…..is he dead?

Can it really be that easy for him to die?

After the violent fluctuations of emotions and panic, my mind becomes dull and blank.

What in the world went on tonight?

The demon took off his disguise.

Or is this a mentally ill person’s…..self-fashioned nightmare?

After briefly feeling safe, I begin to doubt myself again in this boundless darkness and soundless silence.

I try to control my thinking and tell myself that what I saw was real, but whether it is due to human nature or my own mental illness, I find that I can’t control my random thoughts.

I keep rubbing my hands, trying to avoid the skin where I had pushed him down the stairs. I feel the sensation, but that cry of pain keeps drilling into my brain, torturing my already fragile nerves.

I stealthily open the closet door a bit, and unexpectedly find that the room is not as dark as I had imagined. Bright moonlight filters through the window, shining off-white onto the floor.

The moon is still in the center of the sky at this time. It should be midnight.

Time really has passed.

The moon passes little by little under my sight, and so does time.

In the end, my chaotic and tangled spirit takes over my brain.

I come out of the closet.

The painting of the girl and the demon is still hanging in the gallery on the second floor. I walk forward, holding onto the wall. This house is really too big. I only now feel that such a big house is not suitable for two newlyweds to live in.

I walk in this long hallway for what seems like eternity, and finally stand at the stairs on the second floor again.

“Mingcheng…..”

I seem to be talking to myself, using the softest tone, but I unexpectedly discover that the darkness that can’t be penetrated by the moonlight actually conveys my voice very well.

This small sound echoes faintly through the house.

Until the sound completely dissipates.

No one responds to me.

I press my fingers so hard on the staircase that my fingertips hurt. “Is anyone there…..”

“Mingcheng…..”

“Sure enough.” Someone chuckles in my ear. “You really care about me.”

I turn around in horror, and immediately afterwards, the “person” forcefully turns my face and kisses the side of it. Before I can regret my actions, the person next to me disappears again.

Then I exhaust all of my strength to resist as I am held by my feet and dragged into the darkness…..

. . . . . .

One o’clock at night.

In the guard room of the Nanshan Villa area, a very young guard has just clocked in for the night shift. He puts on his work clothes and secretly pours hot milk tea into the water container hanging on his hip.

After everything is ready, he takes his baton and flashlight and prepares to join his work colleagues. At this moment, somebody knocks on the door of the guard room.

The young guard opens the door to find a middle-aged man.

The man is wearing pajamas and seems to have climbed out of bed, his hair messed up into a chicken coop. He is smoking a cigarette, and looks hesitant: “Um…..before I went to sleep, I seemed to have seen my neighbor asking me for help.”

The guard wears a respectful look: “Please make it clear.”

The man scratches his head and says: “I’m not sure if he was asking for help. He was lying in the attic window and waving to me. I thought he was cleaning at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more strange it seemed. How could anyone be cleaning in the middle of the night? Also, nobody answered when I called him, and there are several locks on his courtyard door…..

This is indeed very off. After the young guard asks him to leave, he tries calling the owner of building 127.

“The other party has no signal.”

No signal?

He confirms that Mr. Wen, the owner of building 127, has paid the property fees for one year at the beginning of the year, and that there is no possibility that service is not being provided to the property, then calls again.

“The other party has no signal.”

This is really not right!

“Hello? Captain, it’s me, Xiao Nan. I won’t be on duty for the moment, one of the owners seems to have encountered some difficulties. Yes, yes, I’ll take a look…..”

At 1:15 in the morning, there are no lights on in Villa 127. The people inside seem to be completely asleep.

The young guard checks the locks on the courtyard door that is locked from the inside, and after much hesitation, climbs over the wall and enteres the courtyard.

“Chirp, chirp, chirp!”

The sudden chirping of a bird startles him.

Looking over, he sees a little white bird. It chirps at him, probably complaining that he has disrupted its sleep.

Everything looks cozy and peaceful.

The guard doesn’t dare to relax his vigilance. He holds his baton tightly and walks to the main door, pressing the doorbell.

Ding-dong.

“Is anyone there? I’m a patrol guard……”

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Chapter 12 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 14