Seeing that Fan Yu's aunt was being so cooperative, Chen Ge stepped forward and picked up the drawing from the floor.
On the white paper was a black house, packed with small red figures. In the one spot that none of the red figures wanted to approach, there stood a single, strikingly conspicuous black figure.
"This is what you meant by saying the drawing contains me? How can you prove it?" Chen Ge wasn't about to trust someone based on a single drawing.
"The figures in Fan Yu's drawings have always been red. This is the first time I've seen a black figure appear. I thought about it for a long time before deciding that this black figure must be you, because in the past month, you're the only outsider who's set foot in my house." Fan Yu's aunt stood in the corner of the bathroom, raindrops sliding off her body and pattering onto the floor.
"That's all? Then what do these red figures mean? What's the difference between the black figure and the red figures?"
Fan Yu's aunt stood in the darkness, silently watching Chen Ge. Just when he thought she wasn't going to tell the truth, she suddenly spoke: "The red figures represent ghosts. The black one I'm seeing for the first time—it probably represents a living person."
"Ghosts?"
"I know you don't believe it, but some things really can't be explained." Fan Yu's aunt's voice was calm, as though she had rehearsed these words long ago. "Before Fan Yu's parents had their accident, I already knew that Fan Yu could see things that ordinary people couldn't. His parents knew about it too, but they didn't believe in ghosts or anything like that."
"If Fan Yu's own parents didn't believe, why would you?" Chen Ge's curiosity was piqued.
"At first, no one knew Fan Yu had this ability—until my husband and two children died in a car accident. That was the darkest period of my life. I would break down sobbing every time I looked at their photos. Whenever that happened, Fan Yu would always come running to me with one of his drawings—a black house with two red figures inside. He said those two red figures were his little brother and little sister."
A rare hint of warmth entered Fan Yu's aunt's gaze. "I didn't believe it at first. I thought Fan Yu was just trying to make me feel better. But as he kept drawing more and more pictures, I wavered. I found Fan Yu and asked him what his little brother and little sister were doing right now. He described it all in extraordinary detail, including some little habits that were unique to my children—things only their mother would know."
"So you came to believe that Fan Yu could see ghosts?"
"Yes. Maybe on some level I wanted it all to be true. Sometimes I even imagined that my children had transferred themselves into Fan Yu's body."
"Even if that's all true, a single drawing still doesn't prove anything. Does everyone who appears in Fan Yu's drawings end up dead?" Chen Ge still hadn't let his guard down.
"You can look at the other side of the drawing."
At Fan Yu's aunt's prompting, Chen Ge flipped the drawing over. On the back, the white paper depicted a dry well. Inside it, several more vividly colored red figures were climbing outward. A black figure stood at the edge of the well. Interestingly, the position of the black figure on the back of the paper corresponded exactly to the position of the black figure standing on the front.
"There's supposedly a well in this school where many people have died. The ghosts inside are about to break free, and you're standing right at the mouth of the well. They've already set their sights on you. If you stay here any longer, something terrible will happen." Fan Yu's aunt spoke with apparent sincerity, as though she truly had Chen Ge's best interests at heart.
Chen Ge touched the paper and stared at the drawing for a long time, his brow furrowing slightly. He compared the figures on the front and back of the paper, and an answer crystallized in his mind.
"Seems I misunderstood you." Chen Ge casually tucked Fan Yu's drawing into his pocket, showing no intention of returning it. "I was actually getting ready to leave anyway. We can keep each other company on the way—this place is way too creepy."
"Indeed." Fan Yu's aunt nodded and walked toward Chen Ge.
Chen Ge appeared to have completely bought into her act. He turned and walked away, exposing his undefended back to Fan Yu's aunt's line of sight.
The two of them harbored their own thoughts, one following the other.
Chen Ge walked slowly, his tool hammer gripped tightly in his hand. Behind him, Fan Yu's aunt seemed afraid of being alone and gradually quickened her pace. If anyone could have seen Chen Ge's expression at that moment, they would have discovered that the man walking in front had eyes of terrifying calm.
The distance between them shrank steadily. Just as Fan Yu's aunt was about to overtake Chen Ge, the gaunt woman's expression underwent a complete transformation—the veins on her face bulged taut, and the hand hidden beneath her raincoat suddenly shot out, plunging something toward Chen Ge!
"I knew there was something wrong with you from the start." Chen Ge's reaction was faster than hers, and his strike was fiercer. The tool hammer swung around in a vicious arc, followed immediately by a kick.
*Bang!*
Fan Yu's aunt slammed into the back wall of the bathroom, and whatever had been in her hand clattered to the floor with a sharp ring.
Chen Ge walked over and finally got a clear look—it was a boning knife. Not a large blade, the kind used in slaughter to sever tendons and cut through cartilage. Extremely sharp.
Hair disheveled, Fan Yu's aunt rose from the ground like a vengeful spirit, but Chen Ge didn't give her a chance to attack. He simply "helped" her back down to the floor.
"I had my suspicions about you ever since I was at your house. I just couldn't prove it. Now I finally get to see your true face."
The gap in their strength was vast. After several failed attempts to stand, Fan Yu's aunt fixed Chen Ge with a look full of loathing: "How did you figure it out?"
"I never believed you from the very beginning. And this drawing—the image on the back is something you forged yourself. Did you think a child's drawing would be easy to imitate? Don't look at me like that. You're the one who made the mistake. If you don't want people to know, the only way is to not do it in the first place." Chen Ge picked up the boning knife and studied its chilling edge. "You killed Fan Yu's parents, didn't you? No matter what your motive was, you murdered your own blood relatives—how are you any different from a beast?"
"I never wanted to kill anyone! You have no idea what happened that day!" Fan Yu's aunt's face twisted with menace, as though some horrible memory had surfaced.
"I don't know what happened, but I know you must have been one of the killers." Chen Ge was considering how to temporarily incapacitate her.
"The one who killed them was Fan Yu's father!"
"Shifting all the blame onto a dead man? You think that's enough to wash your hands clean?" Chen Ge relaxed slightly only after confirming that Fan Yu's aunt had no other weapons on her.
"It's the truth." Fan Yu's aunt lay on the floor and finally spoke the memories she had buried deep in her heart. "My brother had a particular obsession. Right here in this bathroom, he drove a girl to madness. That girl later took her own life, or so I heard. After that incident, my brother became even more unhinged—paranoid, constantly saying someone was out to kill him. My sister-in-law couldn't take it anymore and decided to divorce him, but my brother absolutely refused. So my sister-in-law had no choice but to threaten him—she said if he wouldn't agree to the divorce, she would expose his obsession and his crimes to the world."