Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces

Everything happened so fast. Boss Xie’s flashlight disappeared as he walked out of the house and the whole room suddenly plunged into complete darkness. There was only a dim light shining in from the street lamp outside. Ah Tou immediately broke out in goosebumps. 

For the first few seconds, she was still a little confused as to why she had to be left alone. Then, immense fear came flooding back as she realized that she was alone in the house. She almost lost control and wanted to escape.

Then she wondered if it was a prank. Maybe Boss Xie and the first party had left her here alone on purpose and had already driven away.

The house was too far from the city, so she wouldn't be able to find a taxi. She didn’t even know if there was a bus stop nearby.

Where’s the breaker?

Is the breaker here a two-way switch? Do I have to manually flip it on when the power comes back on?Oh wait, it’s such a high-end house, so the breaker shouldn’t be that stupid. 

But how did Boss Xie know I’m looking for someone?

She had hardly told anyone about this matter and had actually been looking for that person all by herself. Was it the first party? No way. They weren’t close enough to share this matter. 

She had been looking for that person for a long time, but didn’t have any luck. Was this purported information worth her drawing a ghost here? After all, finding that person was at most a hobby to her.

As Ah Tou was thinking all of this, there suddenly came the sound of a plastic bag being moved in the darkness. She almost jumped in fright.

She pulled out her phone and turned the screen on, facing it towards the sound of the plastic bag. There was nothing in that direction.

The living room was very large and square with a long table in the middle that was a kind of Western dining table that could seat a dozen people. To the left was an open kitchen with a breakfast bar. There was Western kitchen equipment (1) and a walk-in fridge along one side of the wall. To the right was a den with a big TV and lots of bookshelves.

The sound had come from the kitchen. Under the dim light coming from her phone screen, Ah Tou saw a lot of plastic bags sitting on the breakfast bar. They're probably groceries.

Boss Xie said he’s been living here recently. Does he cook for himself? That’s quite frugal of him. No, no, there should be a housekeeper. Maybe the housekeeper bought all of this food. His hands don’t look like a cook’s hands. 

When did I even start noticing his hands?

Wait, why aren't they in the fridge? Are they fruits?

What the hell am I thinking?!

Ah Tou took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, but at that moment…

There was a “beep” and a “click”.

It wasn't a loud noise, but it was still frightening. Then, the power came back on.

The air conditioner started running again and all the lights came on in an instant. She had to squint at the sudden brightness.

Fortunately, her eyes hadn’t adapted to the darkness just now, so she didn’t feel totally blinded when the lights turned back on. The whole room was very bright now and the warm glow of the lights in the living room immediately swept the haze away.

It’s so big. Ah Tou took a look at the living room again, surprised that she still felt the same as when she had first arrived. She suddenly felt very shallow. 

No monsters or ghosts appeared in the living room and everything was the same as before. She scanned every corner of the living room twice, but still didn’t find anything.

She breathed a sigh of relief and looked outside. Everything was pitch black and looked a little creepy, but the huge stream of warm light made the room feel safe.

She calmed herself down and walked into the kitchen. One of the plastic bags fell on the ground, so she picked it up and found that it contained instant noodles.

Ah.

Nissin Demae Ramen (2).

She looked into the other bags and found that they were also filled with instant noodles.

Junk food. Ah Tou sighed. Rich men and poor men are all the same. 

But before she could think about it any further, there was another “beep” and all the lights went out again.

Ah Tou panicked and accidentally knocked a lot of the plastic bags onto the ground. She stuck her back to the refrigerator, not even daring to take a single breath. 

The kitchen was even worse than the living room. 

In the living room, she could still see that dim light coming in from outside, but now that she was in the kitchen, there wasn’t a single source of light at all. Ah Tou was in absolute darkness. But before she could even react, the power came back on again. This fucking electricity, she silently cursed as the lights in the living room came on again. 

But it only took a second before they went off again. At that moment, Ah Tou decided to give up. Screw it, I don’t want to look for that person anymore. Screw the first party and screw that forty thousand yuan. I’m out of here. It doesn’t matter if I don’t have a car. I can just hitchhike.

Staying any longer was going to drive her crazy. 

Ah Tou slowly began making her way through the dark towards the door. Three minutes later, the lights came back on again. But this time, it was only a flash that lasted a second. And in that second, Ah Tou saw a man standing on the breakfast bar about an arm's length in front of her.

Sketch artists had a habit of looking at a person’s face first, so Ah Tou reflexively raised her head during that second and searched for the man’s face.

But she suddenly lost all sense of perception. This man was taller than normal—at least two meters tall—so he seemed inhumanly tall when standing on the breakfast bar. Ah Tou couldn’t get a good look at his face. 

It suddenly turned dark again, so she couldn't see anything at all. 

Although it was scary, Ah Tou never thought that everything Boss Xie had said was true. She had heard ghost stories before, but she never expected to actually see a ghost in real life.

That was the first thing. The second thing was that she never expected to see a ghost so close to her.

Fuck, it’s literally right in front of me!

The third thing was the question of why he was standing on the bar. It was too creepy!

Ah Tou couldn’t help herself and screamed. Please don’t let the power come back on again. But before she could even finish her thought, the lights suddenly turned back on. She saw that thing bend down and look at her. 

The lights went out again and Ah Tou immediately opened the fridge, pulled the shelves out, and hid inside. 

****

TN Notes:

(1) Think along the lines of a dishwasher and an oven with a stove.

(2) It’s a brand of ramen.