I felt like there was nothing I could do to get along with her. Perhaps I should try flattery sometime. "Hey Lulu, are you doing anything tonight?"
Lulu didn't even bother to look at me, she reached out for Xiao Lingdang's hand and said to her "Xiao Lingdang, I'd like to go with you."
Xiao Lingdang was overjoyed and to be honest, so was I. Lulu was very powerful and a great helper; and though I had no idea why she was always cold with me, I knew that she would never harm me.
Unfortunately, that night we ended up not being able to make it out to the site of the arson. My mother called and asked me to come back home. From the sound of her voice, it sounded like something urgent must have happened. My family's safety was my number one priority, so I hurried back. For some reason, Xiao Lingdang and Lulu came with me, except they both entered the blood-red bracelet that Lulu had given me.
I quickly went back home, but to my surprise, there was nothing wrong. It seemed I was worried the entire ride over here for no reason. Xue'er had already gone to sleep and was curled up on the pillow.
Mother and Witch Yan sit opposite each other. A familiar white envelope had been placed on a tea table between them. I walked over, looking at Witch Yan with some concern. My mother had already received these letters more than once. She would not ask me to come back just because she had received more. If my mother was so anxious to call me back, I was certain that Witch Yan had found something.
Witch Yan pointed to the letter: "Take a look at these first."
I picked up the envelope and skilfully removed the photographs from the opened envelope. The photo was just as it always was, the only difference was that this time, the subject was no longer a person.
The first photo appeared to be in a scenic spot. The background was full of endless mountains. A man and a woman had an outstretched hand, pulling a child between them. It looked like a family. All three of them laughed sweetly in the photo.
The second photo was really out of the ordinary. If it had been anything like all the other photographs I'd received, it should have been one that represented death, but it was not so. It was still the same three people. Just nobody knows whether it was due to the shooting. All three figures in the picture appeared to be partly overlapping each other. It made the picture look a little bit chilling.
The third one was also strange. There was only one person in this one. It was the man from the first picture. He was standing in front of a snow-white wall, with a strange smile on his face, and it seemed like there was nothing wrong.
I knew these photos were completely different than any of the other ones I had seen before. Except for the first one, the other two didn't show the same overall themes than the previous ones. I didn't know what to make of these sudden changes.
"Auntie Yan, these picture are very strange compared to the others. What could that mean?"
Instead of answering my question, she reached for the photos and looked at them carefully, as if she had never seen them before. I'm sure she must have looked over them many times already.
Although I didn't know why she stayed looking at these photos so carefully, I didn't disturb her. I just sat next to my mother, quietly waiting.
It was a while before Witch Yan sighed and looked at us with a serious expression: "little Wu, you don't go to any strange places for the next few days, or at least until we receive the next set of photos."
I was surprised by Witch Yan's words. I thought about what she said carefully. I felt as if I had already seen the ghosts in these photos before. They had absolutely nothing to do with me, so why was Witch Yan telling me to stay safe? I was about to nod and agree, when I suddenly remembered the disappearance of Wu Jian and Huang Xiaolong. I made an incognito gesture to Witch Yan so we could chat privately.
Even though Witch Yan was just an average rural woman, she had been through many significant events in the real world. It was very apparent that she held years of wisdom in her head, and I respected that. Seeing my gesture, she stood up and told my mother that she would like for me to go do some groceries with her.
Mom didn't doubt anything, she just kept telling me to help Witch Yan carry her bags. I answered respectfully and went outside with Witch Yan.
We hadn't walked far beflre Witch Yan picked a roadside bench for us to sit in. "What's the matter, child?" I told her everything I had learned so far about the arson case. Witch Yan did not say anything the entire time. Her eyes fell on the bracelet around my wrist: "You may go if you have considered everything to do with the matter. I will take care of your mother, but heed my warning: you should not go anywhere else. These photos are too out of the ordinary, which complicates things."
I nodded. I had nothing to do with the people and things in the photos, and I really didn't want to deal with it, since I still had a bunch of things to deal with on my own.
The only thing I was interested in was investigating the arson, so after chating with Witch Yan for a while about the photos, I randomly bought a few things so I wouldn't go home empty handed. I was sound asleep shortly after I got back home. At 10:00 in the evening, I was up and ready to head for the arson site.
The yellow cordon was still there, and there was an extra sign outside, saying, "No entry allowed." The police must have raised their guard since two people had already disappeared in there. There were two policemen guarding the area now.
I asked Xiao Lingdang to make a noise in the distance to draw off the police, so that I could secretly enter the scene. To be honest, just knowing that three people were burned to death here made me heart feel flustered, even with Lulu still in the bracelet as back up.
The room wasn't particularly large and when I looked through the blackened walls I could see that it was a house with two rooms and one hall. Each room was quite spacious, I was pretty sure you could easily accommodate two big beds in it and still have some space left.
I stood in the hall, moving the flashlight around, carefully inspecting every corner the light would reach. It was pitch black with a lot of burned debris gently swaying in the blackness. The whole room gave off off an indescribable stench.
I carefully walked over towards the bedroom. I had heard that the three of them had died in their beds without any sign of struggling. It was presumed that they were asphyxiated to death by the carbon monoxide produced before they were burned to death.
The first place that I entered was a smaller room. As a general rule, this was the kid's room, but it was burned everywhere, and I couldn't gather anything from it.
After looking around the room, I didn't find anything unusual. I didn't know if it was because of the smell, I wanted to leave here as quickly as possible. So I turned and entered the other bedroom, but just as I was turning around, I heard a very distinct and clear sound of water splashing.
I was frightened, and hurriedly turned around the rest of the way. I noticed that the water on the ground was scattered in circles. It was as if something had just fallen into the water.
The sewage on the ground was murky and an opaque black. I looked at it, but found nothing. So I slowly moved the torch up, and saw the black bed that had been completely burned. I shined the light higher still, and saw a black strip hanging from a half burnt fan on the ceiling.
What the heck was that?