Chapter 12

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 12 - Roommate

Death is the loneliest thing. A deadly but lonely ghost, after hundreds of years of silence, waiting for someone to finally sense its presence.

How tragic yet oddly optimistic.

“It’s ridiculous to accompany a ghost into death. Is there anyway to make him leave willingly?”

A-Yan laughed suddenly. He didn’t know why that the indescribable smile was so strange that is made people’s hair stand on end. He whispered, “What if I told you ‘no’?”

Lin Yan was stunned. If he wouldn’t leave, what would his life be like? He was being watched at all times, when he was sleeping, eating, going to class, driving, going to the bathroom, and even masturbating under a pair of watchful eyes. He checked the calendar every day, counting down the days until his death. He was scared he was going to go crazy in a few days. Lin Yan put the carved cat back on the table and silently sifted through his thoughts. If he had to, he might still go to that small temple.

How was he supposed to satisfy this ghost’s wishes?

“I don’t think ghosts are much different from people, but survival is human instinct. Everyone wants to live, right?” Lin Yan said helplessly.

“I understand.” A-Yan replied softly.

“This wish is keeping the ghost from being reborn. Ghosts with unresolved wishes are unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Over time, the spirits become ghosts and nothing can be done about their wish. In fact, this ghost was just a poor man before his death. If they fulfill their wish during their lifetime, nothing will happen. If you can fulfill his wish, his hostility will naturally dissipate and he will reincarnate.”

“The ghost’s wish?”

A-Yan smiled weakly: “Yes. Some want revenge, some want retribution, some can’t let go of their wives and children, everyone has a reason not to leave the world. I have seen so many ghosts, but this one following you has the deepest obsession I’ve ever seen.”

As he spoke, a chilly breath came up, snaking up Lin Yan’s ankle. His whole body felt like he had been submerged in icy water. Lin Yan shuddered. He didn’t expect the ghost to appear during the day, although there wasn’t much difference between day and night in this basement. Sitting opposite of him, A-Yan’s face changed. He stared at something behind Lin Yan and drank in the monster standing there. He wanted to reach the peach wood sword on the cabinet. However, he was unfortunately a step too slower. The coldness turned into invisible brute force in an instant. It grabbed Lin Yan’s wrist and dragged him up from the sofa. He staggered forward then he was dragged so hard by the ghost he almost didn’t touch the ground. He was pulled through the living room and dragged harshly to the right into a back room. With a bang, the door slammed behind him, and the metal sound of the door locking rang through the darkness. Yin Zhou and A-Yan rushed after them and banged against the door desperately outside. Lin Yan reached for the lock with trembling hands, but there were no windows in the basement, and the room was completely dark when the door was closed. For a while, he couldn’t find the door handle.

Unhappy with Lin Yan’s resistance, the strange force grabbed his ankle and yanked him back. Lin Yan couldn’t stay upright, and fell flat on his chin. He was dragged into the middle of the room by the hand firmly holding the ankle. His face was rubbed against the rough concrete floor, hot and painful.

“You’re fucking crazy! This is someone else’s house!” Lin Yan kicked his legs hard to get rid of the force entangled around his ankle. In a flash, a cold body was pressed up against his, and his long hair bushed against Lin Yan’s neck. His lips fell across his face, his tongue licked back and forth on the wound on his chin, and finally he kissed his lips. It wasn’t not so much a kiss as it was a bite, full of irritable emotions and strong desire to claim his territory. He ravaged his mouth; it was totally different from the obedient being that was in his car last night. His cry for help was blocked. Lin Yan could only shake his head and moan, his sensitive jaw stimulated by his touch. He wanted to curl up into a ball, but the ghost had him restrained from his thigh to his upper arm. Lin Yan turned his head in the direction of the door in despair. In the dark, he felt that he was no stronger than a leaf, forced to lie in a fire, crackling and roasting away, not being able to do anything.

Bang bang bang!

“Open the door! Lin Yan, are you okay!”

“Hah…” He didn’t even have the strength to call out for help. His face was pulled back and the ghost continued to kiss him deeply and even intensified. It sucked on a small bit of his tongue and bit down. Lin Yan whimpered in pain, the smell of rust filling his mouth. The ghost sucked deeper as if he had been encouraged by something. It forced him to respond violently, like he was being hunted and chased all at once. All that echoed in his ears was the magnified ambiguous sound of water in the dark.

Bang bang! Bang bang!

“Say something!”

“Brother Lin Yan!”

During the stalemate, Lin Yan had cold sweat dripping off his forehead. He used his to knee to push against the ghost but it remained unmoved. After kissing Lin Yan all over, he turned his target to kiss against his earlobe. The wet sound and touch made Lin Yan tremble like he’d been shocked and he couldn’t help getting goose bumps. Regardless of the time or place, the ghost’s intrusions and being forced into submission made Lin Yan feel like he was on fire. He thought he was a patient man, but this thing was like a fucking wolf cub, always searching for warmth and touch. He couldn’t help but kick out his legs and scolded fiercely: “Get away!”

“People and ghosts have different paths. It doesn’t matter what you want, I can’t accompany you in death as a living person!”

The ghost’s movements stopped. Lin Yan could feel him shaking slightly, and the weight on his body slowly moved away. There was a long sigh in the darkness. The face of the ghost appeared in front of him, looking desperate to protect him and keep him close. Lin Yan couldn’t bear it. He lowered his voice and said to the darkness in front of him: “Listen to me, it’s time to go.”

“I won’t bother you, you don’t bother me, we don’t owe each other anything, what do you say?”

After no response, Lin Yan stretched out his hand and didn’t touch anything.

Was it really gone? Lin Yan rolled over and sat up. He rubbed his back, sore from lying on the ground. The bloody smell lingered in his mouth. He stretched out the tip of his tongue and touched it with his fingers, sending a small shock of pain. At the same time, there was a strange knocking sound from the other side of the room, almost like knuckles knocking against an object like a water tank. There was a repeated muffled sound resounding with a buzzing echo: “Dang-dang, dang-dang…”

There was almost no light in the room. Lin Yan opened his eyes wide and still couldn’t see anything.

“Is that you?”

“Clang clang clang…” The noise sounded anxiously. It seemed impatient and a little anxious.

“… What are you trying to tell me?”

There was only another quiet knock in response. Lin Yan let out a sigh. He stood up and patted the dirt off his pants. He went to the door and pulled on the handle. The knocking sound stopped abruptly when the door opened, and the lights poured in. A-Yan and Yin Zhou stood there with a peach-wood sword and a yellow talisman coated with cinnabar, their faces drained of colour.

“Damn, I was scared to death. I thought you would be a pile of bones when we got the door open!” Yin Zhou grabbed the yellow talisman and waved it in front of him. A-Yan muttered something, and rushed a few steps into the room. Lin Yan followed him, glancing back.

“A-Yan, forget it.” Lin Yan said softly, “He was no big deal. I’ll think of another way.”

A ghost who had been dead for hundreds of years still holds so much obsession and resentment for the world. Even after reciting the Buddhist scriptures 300,000 times or spending 7749 days in a Daoist temple could disperse it. What kind of goal can make people not find peace? Lin Yan slowly turned his car into congested traffic. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the whole street was filled with warm yellow light. The car smelled of fresh air from the air conditioner, the air freshener had been used up, the light green paste dried at the bottom of the bottle. He remembered that when this bottle was first bought, Weiwei was sitting in the passenger seat. She had straightened her legs, unscrewed the lid and plugged the fragrance bottle under Lin Yan’s nose. She smiled and said that he seemed like the type of person to like the smell of mint.

“What the hell are you doing?” Lin Yan glanced at the empty passenger seat and couldn’t help sighing.

He hasn’t thought of Weiwei in such a long time.

More than half a year ago, there was a clean girl sitting in the same position, with short hair scattered, her voice sounding like beans hitting against a plate as each word rang out. She still kept her slippers and coral velvet nightgown at home, and the bodhi beads and ring that Lin Yan bought for her were carefully packed in a box, but she didn’t take them with her. Lin Yan remembered returning that night. When she walked in, Weiwei stood quietly in the living room, lightly kissed Lin Yan’s forehead, and went out after saying goodbye. Lin Yan chased her downstairs and stopped in front of her to ask her what went wrong. Weiwei put her hand in her jeans pocket and smiled freely. She said that he did nothing wrong, he just never truly loved her.

She thought it was insulting to look at her only as a suitable option for a marriage partner. She took off the ring and returned it to Lin Yan. In the night, her face resembled a gardenia blossom that had just bloomed. Her tone was very soft. Lin Yan, you are a good boy. One day you will find someone that you can’t resist no matter what the conditions are. Then you’ll understand.

The night wind ruffled her coat like a sail, and Lin Yan stood by the flower bed and watched her walk away, and finally did not chase her. In fact, he always knew that Weiwei had just been a safe choice for him. He lacked companionship, and that Weiwei was just right, nothing more.

He had his own secret pain, which he buried carefully for many years.

It was dinner by the time he made it home, the sky turned dark. He didn’t know which family was cooking sweet and sour pork ribs, but the delicious sauce aroma was enough to make him drool. Lin Yan parked the car in the garage of the complex and took out a shopping bag from his back seat that was stuffed to the brim. A stack of talisman paper painted with bright red text on the dashboard was particularly eye-catching. Lin Yan stared at it for a while and folded it into his pocket. He shook his head and closed the car door.

He has tried his best to avoid mentioning the ghost’s sexual obsession and desires, but he felt that A-Yan was still aware of it. When he left, the little Daoist have him the pile of yellow paper, He stuttered that burning it to ashes and flushing them away with water could prevent evil from getting close, and stick one to the door to keep the house safe. Each one could last about a day. Lin Yan took out a box of instant mushroom chicken rice from the shopping bag, made a few holes in the plastic film and threw it into the microwave. When the rice was cooked, he took out the charms and looked through them. The cinnabar was scribbled into some incomprehensible text. The blood stains dried into small brown spots from when A-Yan bit his tongue and sprayed on them.

Flick. The flame of the lighter rose.

The eerie chill in the room visibly moved, as if reluctantly took a couple steps back.

Lin Yan suddenly hesitated when the corner of the charm was about to reach the flames and send away a ghost who was beyond loneliness. He raised his head and looked at the direction of the cold spot. After a moment, he asked softly, “Are you there?”

The thing got closer, and the cold feeling grew again. Lin Yan knew that this was a sign of his anger. At this point, if he showed even a little resistance, the ghost would pounce on his body ruthlessly, as if it were mad.

“You have nowhere else to go except to follow me. If I don’t use this, then you won’t touch me, will you?”

Lin Yan put the lighter aside and spread his hands in the direction where the cold spot was.

There was a crisp ding from the microwave. The chicken and mushroom rice was cooked, and the tempting aroma of the food made Lin Yan feel like he was worlds away. It felt like he hadn’t had a good meal for a long time. He turned on the kitchen faucet and soaked each of the talismans in the sink. Lin Yan picked them up and crumpled them into a trash can. The cinnabar was wet and it ran off of each of them like blood stains.

The thin cold air had shifted closer. Lin Yan was a little nervous, and subconsciously gulped. He didn’t know if there was any use in negotiating with ghosts, and he was even more worried that showing weakness would give the other more opportunities to attack. The icy hands caught Lin Yan’s wrists, and his soft lips pressed on his forehead. Lin Yan froze for a moment, and when he was about to retreat, the coldness retreated first, floating away but staying nearby.

For dinner, Lin Yan took two cups from the cabinet and poured some juice. He also put two pairs of chopsticks in the rice bowl. There was a hollow ceramic antique lamp hanging above the dining table. The warm light was projected from the carved flowers on the porcelain wall. The whole room was shrouded in a quiet atmosphere. Lin Yan picked up the cup and raised it to the empty chair opposite of him. He reluctantly smiled, and said softly: “You’ll let me live for three more months, right?”

“Cheers then, for being roommates for three months.”

Lin Yan felt that it was almost worse to laugh than cry in this situation. For so many years, there has been something more terrifying to him than the threat of ghosts. It was hidden for too long and too deep, and when he had almost forgotten it, it was dug out again. Lin Yan didn’t want to admit it. He was also ashamed to admit that he was shuddering to an erection because a man sucked and kissed on his earlobe. It felt like a worm had crawled in his heart, and every twitch made it itchy and unbearable. He finally broke down halfway through the meal, put down his chopsticks and rushed into the bathroom without closing the door. He knew that closing the door would not even leave him a shred of dignity. For the first time in the ambiguous darkness, he indulged himself between his hips. The stiffness of his legs made him crazy. Lin Yan leaned on the wall and groaned, his face flushed, and the tip of his nose was wet with fine sweat. He panted and stroked his front end to comfort him.

For once, the shadow in the mirror did not approach. He just stood not far away and watched Lin Yan go from hesitation to struggle and finally abandoning himself. When he climaxed, he slid along the wall and sat on the ground, looking at the person in the mirror helplessly. He let out a loud whimper.

Why do you have to force me to do this?

You let me go.

Who hasn’t done a dirty act behind closed doors and walked out pretending everything was normal? Leave the ugliest side of you to me, give me your darkest desires, hold me tightly at your most miserable moments, even if you die, let your soul belong to me, and neither time nor fate can separate us from now on.

Lin Yan took out more things from the shopping bag; rice paper, inkstones, stone ball, ink ingots, writing brush. He spread a piece of soft felt onto the table, cut the rice paper into two pieces and flattened it with the ball. The hot water melted the soft glue of the wolf hair pen tip, and the wetted tip brushed against the inkstone. There was only a table lamp in the room, and everything seemed otherworldly in the dim light, as if everything had changed through a milky white veil. The carved frame, the sandalwood case, the lake gauze tent embroidered with butterflies and flowers, and the white-clothed man listened to the wind by the window, grasping a lake pen, with a copy of “Taiping Guang Ji” in hand. The yellowed pages of the book turned and rustled when the wind blew, the story mostly false with a little truth; gods and monsters are obsessed, but they can’t write about the love of the world like humans can.

“Do you remember your name from when you were alive?”

The brush actually stood up in the air under the dark shadow of the lamp. It seemed to think for a while. A drop of ink fell on the paper and turned into an irregular round spot, and a faint water mark was drawn from the edge.

It was nice and clear calligraphy.

Xiao Yu.

“Your unresolved wish… What is it?”

The tip of the pen hung on the paper but there was no more writing that came.

For the first time since the strange incidents began, Lin Yan had a good night’s sleep and had no dreams all night.