Cursed Memories: The List of Doom - Chapter 4
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Chapter 4: Jingou Village
[Translation By Divinity]
Jingou Village, a collection of about 300 households, was situated in the suburbs, far removed from the city center. Its economy remained underdeveloped, leaving most of its residents with a relatively low standard of living. It was one of the poorer areas in B City.
Lu Cheng’s friend was named Lu Shiran. He had always found Shiran’s name peculiar and wondered why his father had chosen it. They were childhood companions, having grown up together in a remote town twenty years ago. Somehow, they both ended up moving to B City.
Two other families had also relocated at the same time. The four families had been close neighbors in the old town, sharing a building and a strong bond.
Lu Cheng’s family had been relatively well-off back then, allowing them to move to the city center. Lu Shiran’s family, however, faced financial difficulties and had to settle in the rural outskirts.
Lu Cheng hadn’t visited the village in years. He remembered Lu Shiran’s family lived on the west side in a traditional courtyard house with a tiled roof. He quickly located the house but was surprised to find it replaced with a beautiful two-story building.
This new structure stood out starkly against the surrounding single-story, tiled-roof houses, like a crane among chickens. It felt somewhat incongruous in its surroundings.
It was noon, and Lu Shiran, his wife Chen Ye, and his father Lu Yuanshan were having lunch.
They were surprised to see Lu Cheng. Lu Shiran quickly rose to invite him in and offered him a seat at the table. As old neighbors, Lu Cheng didn’t stand on ceremony and joined them for the meal.
During the meal, Lu Cheng noticed an undercurrent of unease in the Lu family. Everyone’s faces were clouded with worry, and they ate in silence.
It was clear something significant had happened, but Lu Cheng felt it wasn’t his place to inquire.
After hurriedly finishing his meal, Lu Shiran led Lu Cheng upstairs to his room.
His brows were furrowed, his expression grave. He locked the door firmly behind them, as if he had something of great importance to share.
“Shiran, what’s going on?” Lu Cheng asked, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart.
Lu Shiran remained silent. He poured Lu Cheng a cup of hot water and then sat down on a nearby chair, staring blankly at a landscape painting hanging on the wall. His gaze was vacant, lost in memories.
This silence made Lu Cheng uneasy. He glanced at Lu Shiran, puzzled. Unexpectedly, he saw a deep-seated fear and immense pain reflected in Lu Shiran’s eyes.
Lu Cheng’s heart skipped a beat. What could have caused such profound fear and pain?
After a while, Lu Shiran seemed to wrest himself from his thoughts. He pursed his lips a few times but struggled to speak, his face etched with anguish.
“Shiran, what happened? Tell me, maybe I can help.”
Seeing the torment on Lu Shiran’s face, Lu Cheng sensed the severity of the situation.
“No, you can’t help me.”
Lu Shiran suddenly dropped his head in despair, his hands clutching his hair tightly.
“How can I help if you won’t tell me what’s wrong?”
Lu Cheng’s anxiety grew, and he stamped his foot in frustration. The more Lu Shiran refused to speak, the more uneasy he felt.
After a long silence, Lu Shiran finally raised his head, his face seemingly calmer, as if he had just emerged from a suffocating web of terror.
“I… I saw…”
“Saw what?” Lu Cheng’s breath hitched, anticipating the answer.
Terror flooded Lu Shiran’s face once more, his voice trembling, “I saw the blood-soaked mask!”
The words hung in the air, heavy with dread. Lu Cheng’s face was drained of color.
The Blood-Soaked Mask
The very phrase pierced his heart like a shard of ice. He shuddered, the water glass slipping from his grasp and shattering on the floor.
Lu Cheng fought to maintain his composure, his voice betraying a hint of unease as he asked, “When and where did you see the blood-soaked mask?”
Lu Shiran, in contrast, seemed to have regained a semblance of calm. He lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, and exhaled a thick plume of smoke before slowly recounting his experience.
“The night before last, around one or two in the morning, my phone suddenly rang for no reason. My wife answered the first time, but there was no one on the other end. After a while, it rang again. I was a bit annoyed, thinking, ‘Who would be so inconsiderate in the middle of the night? This is just asking for trouble.’ So I got up and answered the phone, ready to give whoever it was a piece of my mind.”
“But again, there was only silence on the other end. Just as I was about to hang up in frustration, a strange woman’s voice suddenly came through the phone. It was incredibly low and terrifying, sending chills down my spine.”
“Even stranger, she only said one cryptic sentence before hanging up.”
“What… what did she say?” Lu Cheng’s voice was strained.
“Tonight at the stroke of midnight, the evil spirit appears…”
“Ah!!!” Lu Cheng froze, his mind reeling.
Lu Shiran hadn’t expected Lu Cheng to react so strongly. He thought to himself, ‘Look at how scared you are, and you said you’d help me?’ But he didn’t dwell on it.
He continued, “At the time, I was also startled when I heard that. But then I thought, maybe it was just some prankster. So I dismissed it and went back to sleep. However…”
A flicker of fear crossed Lu Shiran’s eyes, and his hand holding the cigarette trembled. He took a deep drag, fighting to suppress the rising panic.
“However, not long after I lay down, I suddenly heard a woman crying. The sound rose and fell, drifting, filled with sorrow and resentment. Sometimes it seemed to come from the living room, other times it felt like it was coming from the wilderness outside.”
Lu Shiran paused, his hand holding the cigarette trembling slightly.
He tried to mask the fear on his face and continued, “The crying terrified us. My wife told me to go out and see who it was. So I grabbed a flashlight and went downstairs. I didn’t find anyone, and the crying had stopped. I securely locked the courtyard gate and went back inside.”
Lu Shiran paused again, stubbing his cigarette out in the ashtray with a shaking hand, nearly knocking it over.
He took a deep breath and continued,
“When I got back inside, I needed to use the bathroom. After I was done, I was about to wash my hands when I suddenly saw a terrifying, blood-soaked mask on the bathroom mirror! I was petrified. I screamed, waking up the whole family.”
“We tried everything to wipe the mask off the mirror, but nothing worked. Thankfully, it disappeared on its own at dawn.”
By now, beads of sweat had formed on Lu Shiran’s forehead, his face etched with distress.
He lit another cigarette, inhaled sharply, and continued, “I thought that would be the end of it. But, but last night, I heard the woman crying again, and I saw the blood-soaked mask again!”
Lu Shiran hung his head in anguish, one hand clutching his hair, taking deep drags from his cigarette.