Strange Story of Strange House

The forest of steel and concrete gave birth to many urban ghost stories.They exist in the streets and alleys, and they are talked about by people.

There is a building in the southwest of City K. Even if the local old people mentioned it inadvertently, their attitudes are serious and fearful.Human beings should be so humble in the face of ghosts and gods.

The history of this building can be traced back to more than 60 years ago.At that time, it was in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the whole country was vigorously seeking development and construction. City K actively responded to the call and built many new factories. Among them, the Red Star Textile Factory should be considered very famous.Almost all the workers in the factory are female workers, young and in their prime.

In that era, the clothing quality and styles of Red Star Factory were famous for their quality and style. The brand "Red Star" was also sought after by the people of K City at that time, just like the various famous brands nowadays.

However, a disaster that no one expected was staged here.That night, many female workers stayed in the factory to work overtime, preparing to complete a batch of important production targets.Maybe it was just a few sparks from unknown sources, but they set off a prairie fire in this place full of cotton and linen.

That night, the sky of K city was red with fire.The women trapped in the factory were also burned by the flames.Excluding the victims, almost all the surviving women had their faces destroyed by burning. The raging fire easily destroyed their delicate faces and rewrote their lives.

The confidante withered in an instant, and from then on, her appearance was hideous.

Later, in order to accommodate these disfigured women, the factory specially vacated a building.That building was later called Yunlou——Yun Xiang's clothes and Hua Xiangrong's appearance, alluding to the women in the building who ruined their looks.

I once heard from the older generation that there are no mirrors in Yunlou.Who can bear to let those young girls who have lost their beauty see their current faces again, so all the items that can reflect the image are replaced.But even so, people close to Yunlou can still hear the desperate wailing of the women.

Yunlou, whether it is for people inside or outside the building, is a desperate and depressing nightmare.

The end of this nightmare will be 20 years later - in the era of "how bold and prolific a person is", the big men who were so successful, ended all this with a fire and an accident.

When the flames illuminated the sky once again, the end of this nightmare was the beginning of another.

On the former site of Yunlou that was razed to the ground, a taller and more beautiful new building was built soon, and the residents moved in.

But no one could explain why the all-night singing and crying would come to this building again after the group of women disappeared.

In the first winter when the residents moved into Xinyun Building, something happened.Some people died miserably. Their faces were buried in a hot brazier. When they were pulled up, their entire faces were beyond recognition, and their ferocious faces exuded a scorching stench.

The scalded corpse that showed no signs of struggle, quietly buried its face in the brazier, broke the last string in the hearts of the residents of the new building, and people rushed to move out of the Yunlou.However, death still follows like a shadow, and the residents died one by one, with faces terribly burned by the fire, conveying the anger from Yunlou to the world.

later?

Later, the great figures invited many masters of Taoism who were suppressed at that time, and held various ceremonies, but it only delayed the tragedy, and death was still happening.

Until an eminent monk passed by here, looking at the Yunlou, he sighed: "Sins, sins, everything has a cause and effect, the cause and effect of the past, this building is not the catastrophe of this city."

After finishing speaking, he ordered the Yunlou to be emptied, and then put a lot of custom-made dolls inside, some as big as a palm, and some as big as an adult, to carry the souls of those poor women.After a period of time, no one died in the former resident. Everyone was relieved, secretly admiring the profound Taoism of the eminent monk, but they didn't know that the corpse of the old monk had rotted away in a dilapidated and unattended alley corner. ...

after that?

I heard that Yunlou has been empty for decades.

I heard that if you approach Yunlou at night, you will hear the sound of women playing...

It is said that……

"I heard that a few days ago, a boy went to live in Yunlou, and happened to be seen by the old Wang's daughter-in-law!"

"Is there anyone else who dares to live there?!"

"No, this cloud building is very gloomy. I get goose bumps just by getting close. I guess I'm from a province. I don't know about it, so I dare to live in it."

"Then if I see you next time, remember to remind people."

The aunts of the neighborhood committee chatted in the direction of Yunlou, but after a few words, they brought back the family's short stories, daily necessities and oils and salts.To them, Yunlou is just a distant rumor. The building that has been vacant for decades is located in the southwestern part of the city, but it has never shown its power.

******

The dim streetlights shone on the mottled walls, and the shadows were stretched at the corner of the street. The boy at the alleyway wrapped his coat tightly and walked quickly into the dark alleyway.When get out of class was over today, the monitor stopped him and ordered him to participate in the class activities this weekend, so he was delayed for some time.It was already dark when he left the school.He walked through the alley, took a shortcut to Yunlou, and wanted to go back as soon as possible.

But before the alley came to an end, the boy heard heavy panting, accompanied by the sound of swallowing saliva.He knew that he was probably being targeted by something unclean again.

He didn't look back, he estimated the distance between his current location and Yunlou in his heart, gritted his teeth, and ran all the way towards the alley.The shadowy thing behind him seemed to be taken aback by him, and he paused for a few seconds before chasing after him, but these few seconds were enough for him to shake off the thing.

He has been easily provoked by these things since he was a child, and has been chased by them for more than ten years. Among other things, this ability to escape is a real deal.The distance between the laneway and the Yunlou was not too far, and the young man with slender hands and feet rushed into the Yunlou in a short while.

The thing following behind probably didn't know how powerful Yunlou was, or maybe the boy was really a delicious meal for it, so it didn't give up, but chased after it.At the moment of entering the gate of the Yunlou courtyard, a slender white hand suddenly touched its shoulder. Those hands were as soft as bones, but firmly fixed it in place.It didn't even have time to struggle, a sudden severe pain came from its heart, it lowered its head in disbelief, looking at the slender knuckles stretching wantonly in front of it from behind its chest...

Why?what happened……

It didn't even have time to see the face of the person coming, and it just lost its breath.The owner of those hands exerted a little force in the posture just now, easily tore it in two, and threw it on the ground.Soon, the remnants on the ground were eaten up by several black shadows...

For those who experience death, the process of death is always slowed down infinitely, but in fact it is only a moment.When the boy heard the movement and turned around, everything came to an end.I saw the long black skirt swaying past, and the large canna green afterimage at the hem of the skirt was reflected in the pupils.He stopped to catch his breath, and after a while, he raised his voice towards the woman's back, "I'm sorry, Aunt Yun, I have caused you trouble again."

The woman waved her pale hand, then pointed to Yunlou.The young man responded, and walked towards the cloud tower.

The first floor of the Yunlou is a huge showroom. Numerous display cabinets are placed in a mess in the center of the hall. On the cabinets are placed large and small dolls, staring at the only entrance of the Yunlou uniformly and gloomyly.

No matter how many times he walked by, every time he passed by here, he still felt subconsciously terrified.He knew that those dolls who were silently staring at him and smiling could stand up and walk up to him whenever they wanted...

Next to the stairs leading to the upper floor is an old-fashioned mahogany chair, on which sits a beautiful puppet in a red dress. She turns her delicate and realistic wooden head, facing the direction of the boy, and opens her mouth: "Xiao Chi... hungry... hungry..."

He ignored her, skipped her and went straight upstairs.Living in Yunlou for so many years, he only heard two sentences from the puppet, one was hungry, and the other was his name, which he didn't know where he heard it.

His name is Lin Chi.

When his mother was pregnant with him, it was several days past the due date, but he was still lingering in his mother's womb and refused to come out, so his father named him this, which means belated treasure.

But later, he really wanted to delay him, right?Sometimes he would also think, if he hadn't been picked up by the delirious Huaiyin back then, would he have starved to death on the street?

When he came back to his senses, he was already standing at the door of the house.A not too big room on the second floor of Yunlou is his and Huaiyin's current home.

The sound of the key opening the door woke up the man who was napping on the sofa.Huaiyin rubbed her eyes and sat up, her alluring face was still half asleep and half awake.

"I'm back." Lin Chi closed the door and hung up his bag. "The monitor told me that there was a class reunion this weekend, so I came back late."

Huaiyin didn't care: "It's time to participate in more group activities and always watch what I do." He looked up at the time, "It's already here, go eat quickly, or it will be cold."

Lin Chi nodded, went to the kitchen to fill a bowl of rice, and sat next to Huaiyin with it.Huaiyin reached out and rubbed his head, and asked with a smile, "Why are you so clingy to me today?"

"Six years..." Lin Chi paused while eating, and looked up at the squinting man beside him.

"Huh?" Huaiyin was taken aback, obviously not following his train of thought.

"I mean, it's been six years since you picked me up."

"According to the calculation, it has indeed been six years." The man frowned with a smile, "Xiao Chi needs to celebrate his anniversary?"

"No, no need."

"Speaking of which, it's been so many years since I picked you up that I haven't heard you call Dad, what a pity." The man complained half-truthfully, got up and entered the room.He was originally a fierce ghost, although he was nourished by the yin energy of Yunlou and was able to appear during the day, but the prime time for activities was still at night.

Therefore, he usually prepares Lin Chi's breakfast before going to bed, and prepares Lin Chi's dinner when he wakes up.And at noon, just let this cheap son be dismissed in school.The only one who can get along with Lin Chi is the time when Lin Chi comes home from school in the afternoon and before going to bed.But today, he can't even accompany Lin Chi for this period of time. He has to go out and get some little ghosts back for Yun Jing to pay for Yunlou's rent.

The fact that Huaiyin was going out made Lin Chi feel a little nervous.For one month every year, Huai Yin would be in a state of confusion.He would cover his alluring face with thick makeup, wear a long red wedding dress, and wander around every corner of the city, picking up some inexplicable creatures.For example, the black cat that died just last month, the yellow dog that died last year, or Lin Chi.

Yunlou's yin energy is too heavy to be suitable for ordinary creatures to survive, so the creatures Huaiyin picks up will die soon.Lin Chi, as the only special case, received full love from his "father".

In the third year after being picked up by Huaiyin, Lin Chi determined that Huaiyin's abnormal time was around October every year, which was also the time when Huaiyin picked him up.At first he didn't understand the reason for this rule, until Aunt Yun slipped her mouth once, and he didn't know that it was the time of Huaiyin's death.

To this day, Lin Chi can still recall very clearly the night six years ago when Huaiyin picked him up and brought him home——

The night at the end of autumn was chilly, it was the sixth day after he was kicked out of the house, suffering from hunger and cold, and was blocked all the way by a kid who died in a car accident, blocking him in the deepest part of the alley.

At that moment, he was unwilling, but also thought about giving up.

It doesn't matter if it's eaten by ghosts, right?Better than being homeless now.

He closed his eyes resignedly, but did not meet the expected pain.After being puzzled for a few seconds, he opened his eyes suddenly, and the grinning kid was thrown not far away like a rag doll.The person in front of him was wearing a long red dress, covering his graceful figure, with heavy mourning make-up on his beautifully contoured face, looking at him expressionlessly.

Lin Chi suddenly rushed over and grabbed the man's cuff.At that moment, he refused to think about whether the person in front of him was a human or a ghost. He only knew that "she" saved him and did not hurt him.

Later, Huaiyin carried Lin Chi with one hand and dragged the little ghost with the other, and returned to the residence at that time.A long time later, Lin Chi reviewed himself, and felt that Huaiyin's habit of picking things up by hand probably started when he picked him up.

The delirious Huaiyin didn't hurt Lin Chi at that time, but just took him back to the broken house and continued his journey of unconscious wandering.Fortunately, when Lin Chi was picked up, it was only a few days before he woke up.So after waking up, he was able to rescue Lin Chi in time who was left in the dilapidated house, hungry and cold, with a high fever and almost died.

Later, after waking up, Li Gui tried his best to drive away the child, but I don't know if it was because the child looked at him too persistently, or because he was alone as a "ghost" for too long, the child finally died. was left behind.He even moved into Yunlou in order to raise that child, and hunted a few little ghosts for Yunjing, the owner of Yunlou, every month as rent for renting a residence.

This rent is six years.

Children who just entered junior high school have now entered the university gate.Lin Chi, who was not used to leaving Huaiyin, chose the university closest to Yunlou, Sanzhan Road, took a small road and crossed two streets, and he could reach the school from Yunlou.

Now it's October again, and Lin Chi is as nervous as usual whether his "father" will be in danger in this city that has wandered around for an unknown number of years. Taoist monks suffered from injuries.

The man who knew what he was thinking, rubbed his hair and showed a comforting smile.When he is sane, Lin Chi usually doesn't worry about him. Huaiyin will occasionally leave Yunlou to visit rich people's homes, eat the evil spirits at home, and earn a large commission to support Lin Chi from childhood to adulthood. tuition fees and living expenses.

******

When Huaiyin entered, Yun Jing was looking out the window in a daze.

It wasn't until Huaiyin threw a few little ghosts in front of her that she came back to her senses and looked sideways at that beautiful man.

"Rent." Huaiyin kindly reminded his landlord of the purpose of the little ghosts, then closed the door neatly and left.

Yun Jing tilted her head, looked at the struggling soul on the floor, and raised the corners of her mouth.She didn't really take in that person and one ghost for the sake of a few souls. She was probably too lonely at first, and the ghost with a human child seemed too interesting to her, so she used the soul as an excuse to keep them in the cloud. in the building.

Unexpectedly, that man really sent her soul every month, which has never stopped for six years.

She got up, picked up those little ghosts, and threw them down the hallway from the second floor.Then leaning on the railing, with a quiet smile on his face, he watched those quiet dolls move in an instant, rushing forward to tear up those poor souls, and devoured them clean in a short while.

The puppet in the red skirt on the mahogany chair raised her wooden head and looked at Yun Jing upstairs.Yun Jing wore a long black dress with fair skin, and she couldn't tell that her body was made of wood like hers, but now she couldn't think about such a complicated problem, she just opened her mouth and murmured to Yun Jing: " hungry……"

"How pitiful. Look, you are so weak that you can't even maintain your human form." Yun Jing smiled at the puppet, thought for a while, and said, "Maybe, I should let you eat something. This will probably help you Many people have talked with me. Let me think about the last time you talked to me, when was it... Hongxiu, you see, this person has been dead for a long time, and even his memory has faded."

The days after death were really too boring, Yun Jing looked at the red sleeve of the puppet, lost her mind again.

My thoughts flew back to more than 60 years ago.At that time, she hadn't encountered the accidental fire, she was still in her [-]s, she was pretty, she was serious about her work, and she was a good worker in the Red Star Factory.Hongxiu is also such a beautiful age.At that time, they never expected that such a devastating disaster would befall them.

Even on the evening of the day when the fire broke out, when they rushed to the factory, they were still talking about the handsome guy in the factory next door and looking forward to a bright future.

When the fire started, Hongxiu dragged her to run outside.To this day, she still clearly remembers the door blocked by burning materials, the dazzling red fire, the heat that burned the skin, and the crying and shouting, which seemed like a dream at this moment.

Later, she thought of the terrible scars on the faces of the workers, the despair in their eyes, the speech made by the factory manager at that time, saying that they would be well placed, the mother's crying and the father's silence... She still remembered, The man who had been waiting outside the factory when she got off work was never seen again.

Yes, she remembered her dead love.Who would love a hideous woman?She will never forget the moment when the gauze was just removed from her face, the ugly face that appeared in the mirror was enough to frighten her.She couldn't accept this fact.Despair and grief tore at her sanity all the time. She smashed all the mirrors in the house, crying and screaming frantically...but she quickly resigned to her fate, and her heart was corroded by despair and numbness.

The factory manager came to her home in person and asked her if she would like to be arranged to a special resettlement site.She couldn't remember the situation at that time clearly, but she only vaguely remembered her mother crying fiercely, and her father silently holding the old chimney.There are younger brothers and sisters in the family, and her current situation can only increase the burden on the family.So she nodded and smiled at the factory manager with half of her burned face.

The old dormitory was quickly vacated, and they were also quickly placed in. There were more than thirty women, with a closed iron door.Every day someone brings them food and some light work for them to do.It's just that after entering the building, they never went out again.

Some people injured their legs and feet because of the fire and couldn't go out.But some people, because they don't want to.After all, no one wants to be someone else's talking point.

At that time, Yunlou was not called Yunlou, nor was she called Yunjing.

When Yun Lou was an old dormitory building without a name, Yun Jing was still called Chen Jing, a flower in ten miles and eight villages, with an appearance and temperament praised by everyone.Who would have thought that a fire would cause a flower to wither and wither at its best time, and become the object of everyone's pity.

Yunlou was mentioned by my sister when she came to visit me later.Yun Xiang's clothes are Hua Xiangrong, that's how the people outside the building describe them.They don't even understand the true meaning of the line.And at that time, she was so obsessed with this poem taken out of context.

There is no mirror in Yunlou, and the madness of those women when they saw their faces is beyond her description.She will never forget the moment when Hongxiu saw her own face in the mirror - the long nails dug into the flesh, and the face burned by the fire was slashed with bloodstains with the nails.

Hongxiu said, this is not my face, not mine!Tears flowed down her face accompanied by blood, and her screams hurt people's eardrums.

Yun Jing covered her ears and walked past her, numbly passed the blood-stained woman on the ground, picked up a chair and smashed the mirror on the wall.She lowered her head, looked at her ugly face reflected in the broken mirror on the ground, and twitched the corners of her mouth mockingly.

She looked indifferently at their despair, and watched the despair pervade the entire Yunlou.Before I knew it, 20 years had passed.Time can't leave any traces on those corroded faces, and those crazy Yunlou women naturally don't care about time.If there is no "accident" 20 years later, they will probably live like this year after year, day after day. The reason why that day can be remembered 20 years later is probably because of the splendor of the second fire, which burned lives and ended the tragedy.

Yun Jing's impression of the fire was lingering on the brilliant colors.She remembered the orange-red fire, how gorgeous the last color of life was, people who were in a hurry to escape would not pay attention.Yun Jing didn't choose to escape, she stayed quietly in her room, listening to those women crying and screaming like the previous 20 years.

Life is too boring, so this indifferent woman finally chooses to go to destruction with this building.

When she woke up again, she was still in the same place, but the Yunlou was not the previous Yunlou.Many people have moved into Yunlou one after another. They are full of happy smiling faces, and their happiness is an eyesore.

But at that time, she couldn't do anything to them, she could only watch them occupy the place that belonged to her, with that unsightly happiness.

Although Yunlou is gone, the despair gathered for more than 20 years still lingers in place.This pile of resentment is a rare tonic for her. She devoured it hard, devoured... After endless devouring, she finally had the strength to push the person who occupied her room into the brazier.

Later, when she saw Hongxiu and the others, those women did not leave Yunlou, but wandered around Yunlou, devouring those negative emotions.Later, when the negative emotions were not enough, they began to snatch food and even each other's souls.

At that time, Yunlou was more like a Shura field, where ghosts devoured each other, she didn't remember how she spent that time, she just remembered that she kept eating, eating, eating...

Finally, when she felt full, only her ghost was left in the whole Yunlou.Most of the rest were stripped of their strength and turned into remnants.

Well, there is also Hongxiu. Although her soul was shattered badly at that time, she was not completely reduced to a remnant soul. With the power of a ghost, she followed her instinct and felt hungry every moment, wanting to devour...

later?

Later, a very powerful old monk came to this place, drove away those obtrusive people, and put many dolls in the building for them to live in.She chose a life-sized puppet and lived in it.I don't know if it's because of the strengthening of her abilities, but after she entered the puppet, the puppet actually had soft skin like a real person...

She felt satisfied, so she spent a long time stuffing the remnant souls in the building into puppets one by one to keep her company.It's just that the situation of those dead souls after entering the puppet is not quite the same as hers. They can only move around at midnight when the yin energy is at its heaviest, while Hongxiu can barely move and speak, but she has been teaching patiently for several years, and she can only repeat it over and over again. Talk about being hungry.

Oh, and later, after the ghost on the second floor brought the child to live, Hongxiu seemed to have learned the phrase "Xiao Chi".When did you teach her?As Yun Jing was recalling, she was thinking that if she would feed Hongxiu with some little ghosts later on, she might be able to learn a few more words, right?