Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces

Ah Tou had finally calmed down and felt much more comfortable in her home after making arrangements for Liang Yanyan. She decided to sleep on the first-floor sofa and let Liang Yanyan sleep on her bed upstairs.

Ah Tou wasn’t being polite, she was just too scared to sleep on her bed. 

She didn’t know why the room suddenly went back to normal after Liang Yanyan came. Tintin was still on the second floor and she could instantly sense that the “ghost” was gone, but she was still afraid of going upstairs. 

As befitting of her name, Liang Yanyan hadn't stopped smoking ever since she came in (1). Ah Tou joined her and the two smoked a countless number of cigarettes.

"You can remember so many details after looking at it for just one second?" Liang Yanyan asked as she pointed at Ah Tou's sketch.

"It’s actually not that difficult. A majority of artists can do it. We practice more at memorizing spatial structures and lines than other people.”

"How long can you remember it for?"

"If I don’t work on other projects, I can always remember it. But I forget it if I completely throw myself into another piece of work.”

Liang Yanyan didn’t seem to fully believe her. She appeared to be a very assertive person who wouldn’t easily believe in anything. In fact, it wasn’t easy for Ah Tou to get along with someone like her.

Ah Tou saw Liang Yanyan fall silent and quietly asked, "Master, what is it that's following me? Is it still here? Can we get rid of it by tonight?"

"I'm not a psychic and that thing isn't necessarily a ghost. But don't worry, I'll stay here with you for a while.”

"Then what could it be?” Ah Tou looked at her own drawing and felt as if the strange, two-meter-tall man seemed to be staring back at her.

Liang Yanyan looked at the tattoo on Ah Tou’s arm and said, "In 1924, a person hanged himself in Room 327 in the attic of a hotel in the small town of Polcano, Germany. Twenty-three people have hanged themselves since the hotel opened in 1805. The reason is unknown, but it seems that whoever stayed in that room was affected by a force that made them hang themselves.

“Room 327 wasn’t even a guest room when the suicide case happened in 1924; it had long been converted into a storage room. But someone still hanged himself in the same spot in the same room. A lot of people have tried to find out what happened in the room, but to no avail.

“The hotel was completely demolished in the 1940s. The bricks from Room 327 were sold elsewhere and scattered around many buildings near Polcano. As a result, after the 1940s, the number of suicides by hanging that occurred near Polcano quadrupled."

“What do you mean?

"A force is affecting your mind and making you see things. Objects have energy. Like the force from the bricks in Room 327, there’s a force in the beams in Xie Yuchen’s house. Sometimes it has a good affect on you, but other times, it hurts you."

"I don't understand." In fact, Ah Tou did understand, but she hoped Liang Yanyan could explain it more clearly. 

Liang Yanyan suddenly frowned. "You have a cat?" She had just noticed the litter box. Ah Tou nodded, this is so off topic!

"I don’t see your cat, where is it?

“On the second floor."

Liang Yanyan turned to look upstairs and saw a cat’s head poking out of the railings. Her face immediately turned hostile. Ah Tou's heart softened when she saw the cat and she immediately made a welcoming gesture to try and call it down. But the cat didn’t move at all and just looked at them curiously.

"What’s its name? Does it usually respond to you when you call it?

"Yes, her name is Tintin."

"Tintin." Liang Yanyan called the cat's name, but Tintin didn’t move. "Do you like your cat?” Liang Yanyan suddenly asked.

"Why? She’s the only one I have now."

"Your cat is dead."

Ah Tou was stunned for a moment and then looked at Tintin again. The cat was motionless as it looked down at them. Ah Tou knew that cats had the ability to look at things without moving, so she felt that Liang Yanyan was joking. She clapped her hands in hopes of attracting Tintin’s attention, but the cat still didn’t move. Ah Tou broke out in cold sweat.

She looked at her cat's face on the second floor and slowly began to realize that something was wrong. 

She wanted to get closer to check it out, but Liang Yanyan stopped her. “It came quicker than I thought. Listen, you have to keep your emotions stable; otherwise, you’re sure to lose. Remember, your willpower is important,” Liang Yanyan said.

“What does that even mean?!”

"You'll find out tonight." Liang Yanyan pulled out a garbage bag from the side and headed upstairs while saying to Ah Tou, “Turn your head. You don’t want to see this.” 

"Tintin’s dead? Is Tintin really dead? I need to see her." Ah Tou really wanted to check on her cat, but Liang Yanyan looked at her from the stairs and said, "If you want to see, my head will end up sticking out of the railing later and I’ll be the one looking down at you just like your cat." Ah Tou had to give up, but she still refused to believe that Tintin was dead. She wanted to hear the sound of Tintin running away when Liang Yanyan approached.

But there was no sound at all. 

Liang Yanyan soon came down carrying a heavy garbage bag. Ah Tou took a look at the second floor, but she could no longer see her cat’s head. She stared at the garbage bag, her mind completely blank. “Break your easel down. I need to light a fire outside,” Liang Yanyan said. 

****

TN Notes:

(1) Liang Yanyan: The character “Yan” in Chinese is 烟, which means smoke, cigarette, or fireworks. Liang is her surname.

Ah Tou: The character “Tou” in Chinese is 透, which means thorough, clear, or transparent. “Ah” (阿) is a prefix used before monosyllabic names, just like Ah Ning, Ah Kun.