Part 2 Chapter 37 The Burnt Room
Qin Yiheng was pointing at a bathing pool in the center. I didn't notice it when I came in just now, and then I saw that the pool was already full. I guess what I heard upstairs before was the sound of water being released here.
I don't know if he sprinkled something on the water, or if it was already in the pool, but there was a layer of something floating on the surface, and I couldn't see the water below. I didn't dare to reach out and touch it, so I turned around and asked him, "What's weird?"
He leaned over and fished something out of the water. It was quite large and looked like a mess.
Qin Yiheng told me: "This thing is a straw raincoat. It is very hard to buy now. I spent a lot of money to make one."
I was quite curious when I heard it was a straw raincoat. But before I could touch it, he put it back into the water, scooped up some floating things and said, "These are wheat bran."
After listening to his introduction again, I became even more confused.
I know what a straw raincoat is, although I have never worn it myself, but I have seen it in some martial arts dramas. It is a raincoat worn by people in the old days. Wheat bran is the bran of wheat, which is the raw material of many feeds and is also used in brewing wine. It's just that I don't understand the combination of these two things.
I asked Qin Yiheng: "What kind of therapeutic effect does this bath have?"
He explained to me that he had learned about the origins of the bath center and had come in to check it out, and found that the things inside had not been taken away. The bath center was too big, the filth was in the dark, and people were in the light, so in order to ensure safety, he planned to use this method to draw out the filth.
This is called seduction in the art of magic. Seduction is not a magic, but a means. The explanation is just what it means literally. If the filthy person is greedy for money, use money; if the filthy person is greedy for sex, use sex. Anyway, just give in to the person's preferences and lure him out.
What he is using now is also a kind of lure. Usually, the souls of people who died suddenly will instinctively avoid the things that caused their death. This is the opposite of many folk speculations. It is almost impossible for a person to become a ghost and steal food after death, as shown in some Hong Kong ghost movies. Similarly, people who were burned to death in the bath center will actually avoid flames or heat sources after death. But because they died suddenly, they can only stay in the original place, and there will be lingering marks on the wall.
This was actually a torment for them. So, he put the water in place, sank the old raincoat that was full of yin energy and had been exposed to rain for many years, and sprinkled wheat bran that was full of yang energy and had been exposed to the scorching sun on the surface of the water, hoping to lead these filth into the water and give them a safe place temporarily. If they really came, they would definitely find clues on the wheat bran on the surface of the water. However, he watched here for more than ten minutes and found nothing.
Listening to what Qin Yiheng said, it really is a bit strange.
According to past experience, his methods sometimes backfired, but they were not ineffective very often.
I asked, “So what’s next?”
He actually came up with a second plan very confidently and asked me to help set up a small steel rack. He placed a piece of solid alcohol on a tray under the rack. Finally, he got out a large piece of meat skewered with an iron rod from somewhere and put it on the rack, ready to start a fire and roast it.
While he was fiddling with the meat, I heard the sound of shaking off the plastic sheet. The noise was very loud, so I didn't go to check. It sounded like he brought quite a lot of meat. This actually found the source of the noise I heard upstairs before. It turned out that he really knew how to enjoy himself. Was he going to barbecue on the spot or something? Seeing that he was in such a hurry, I could only go out to buy some beer and side dishes. I was just about to say something to him: You are worthy of being in this business. Others go to the beach or the grass, and you come to a haunted house to barbecue. Before I could open my mouth, Qin Yiheng told me not to move and to pay attention to my surroundings. After that, he explained to me while grilling the meat: "The inducement didn't work just now, so this time I can only drive it away."
This is the same as the reason explained before. The smell of barbecue smells good to people, but they are unwilling to touch the filth of burnt corpses. If you force it like this, see if those things will show up.
At this time, Qin Yiheng's searchlight had been turned off, and the only light in the bathroom was the solid alcohol in front of him. The light reflected on his face, making him look particularly strange. In addition, there was a strong echo in the bathroom, and I moved a little, and the footsteps were particularly clear, and I began to get nervous.
Qin Yiheng might be really good at grilling meat. I had never eaten a self-service barbecue with him before, so I didn't notice it. After a while, I really smelled the aroma of meat. But the stronger the smell of meat, the more uneasy I felt, so I moved closer to him and felt a little more comfortable when I was closer to the light source. If it weren't in this ghost place, I'm afraid I would really be a little greedy.
Qin Yiheng waited for a while, lit a cigarette, looked around, and shook his head at me, probably not noticing anything. The pain of waiting is really hard to describe, not to mention that the person you are waiting for is a ghost. I also lit a cigarette, turned around and looked at the bathing pool, but saw nothing.
Time passed by, and we didn't notice anything unusual when we saw that the solid alcohol was about to burn. The meat was cooked, and Qin Yiheng handed me a piece, telling me not to waste it. I didn't take it, and said to him, "Eat it yourself. It's obvious that there is no seasoning on this meat. It smells good, but tastes tasteless." He was quite unhappy to hear that, thinking that I thought he was not good at cooking. Just as we were pushing each other for the meat, we suddenly heard a noise outside the bathroom. The noise was not loud, and it sounded like it came from a relatively far place.
I listened carefully and thought it should be a wild cat because the sound it made was very similar to the mating call of a wild cat.
Qin Yiheng was also stunned for a moment, and even walked to the door to listen for a while. When he came back, his face was not very good. He asked me to put out the fire and said, "The sound seems to come from upstairs. We have to go and take a look."
Seeing how serious he was, I became nervous too.
After putting out the fire, Qin Yiheng turned on the portable searchlight and took me upstairs.
He walked very slowly, from the first floor to the second floor, stopping and starting, and it took him about five minutes. During this time, the noise did not stop, but became louder and louder. It sounded like it was upstairs, but not on the second floor, it should be on the third floor. We stopped briefly on the second floor and whispered to each other. I asked, "Can you tell what it is? I still suspect it's a wild cat. After all, this house has been abandoned for so long and it's not completely closed. It's normal for a cat to come in."
Qin Yiheng thought for a moment, shook his head, and asked me, "Do you know what's upstairs?"
I was completely confused by his question. So he hadn't come upstairs for such a long time since he came in? No wonder he walked so slowly before. It turned out that he was observing the terrain while walking.
I told Qin Yiheng: "I have never been to the third floor before. According to my experience, there should be small massage rooms up there." He thought for a moment and told me to wait there while he went up to check and call me when he was sure there was no danger. After that, he took the searchlight and moved up the stairs.
I didn't have to follow him up, which was exactly what I wanted. But when he left, he took the light with him, and the surroundings suddenly became dark, so I had to lean against the wall to feel at ease.
He went up for a long time, and I didn't hear him making any noise. But the sound similar to a cat's meow gradually disappeared. Because I had been paying attention to this sound, I could clearly feel it. So it was a wild cat, and now that it heard someone coming, it naturally ran away. With this in mind, I simply squatted down and relaxed.
After waiting for about ten minutes, Qin Yiheng walked down step by step with the searchlight.
He stood there for a long while without saying anything. He took out a bottle of mineral water from his bag and drank half of it before asking me to follow him. He then turned around and went upstairs again. This time he walked very fast and I could hardly keep up with him. When I went upstairs, I found that, just as I expected, there was only a very deep and long corridor left on the entire floor, and the rest of the space was built into small single rooms. I roughly counted them and found that there were quite a few single rooms, which shows that the business of this bath center must have been very good before. Because of its purpose, this floor is also covered with thick carpets, and the decoration and furnishings give people a very ambiguous feeling. There are no windows as well, and it is more claustrophobic than the second floor. It feels a bit depressing to walk inside.
Qin Yiheng didn't stop, and took me along the corridor to the innermost part. At the end of the corridor, there was only one room, and the door was different from the other rooms. I guessed it was the employee lounge, but there was no sign on the door, so it could be the bathroom. He opened the door and walked in first, and I followed closely. I was shocked when I saw the room.
Qin Yiheng took the searchlight and slowly shone it around, probably wanting me to see the room clearly.
The room was not very big, and the light was very bright, so I could see clearly. But the more I looked, the more confused I felt, because the room was pitch black, and both the floor and the walls looked like they had been burned by a fire.
Moreover, there was something in the middle of the room that looked like a bed but not a bed, and a table but not a table. The reason for this description was that it looked very large, and judging from its shape alone, it should be a bed; but it was also very high, probably at the level of my belly button, so it looked like a table.
The material should be steel, it looks very heavy, and it should have been burned by fire, it has changed color. I reached out and touched the wall, confirming that my guess was correct, this room really had a fire. I thought to myself: "Is this the legendary room where people were burned to death? But after the people were burned to death, wasn't it renovated again? Why is it still like this?"
I stepped out of the door and touched the wall outside. The wallpaper was intact and looked new, and it looked like it had not been used for long.
I walked back and asked Qin Yiheng, "Could it be that there was another fire here? Otherwise, since they renovated it, it's impossible that they left this room alone. Or is it that the boss likes to be different and keeps this room as it is, and organizes employees to come and observe it every now and then as a warning to prevent fires?"
He didn't answer. He pointed the searchlight at the thing in the middle of the room, then came over and touched the wall, saying, "I'm afraid this room was really preserved specially." As he said that, he pulled me to the side of the searchlight and pointed at the ceiling and asked me to look.
The ceiling is very white, and with the strong light shining on it, it is a bit dazzling at first glance.
After getting used to it, I realized that there were no signs of fire on the ceiling. It must have been replaced later.
Moreover, there was a table on the ceiling that was neither too big nor too small, facing the thing below, and there were patterns on the table. I looked closely and immediately remembered that I had seen these patterns before. The one painted on the Fang Family Residence that Qin Yiheng and I bought in Long Street a few days ago was also this thing!
