The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

“Sigh, who exactly did I offend…”

Upon arriving home, Yu Yin directly crashed onto the living room sofa with a plop. When he thought about how he had been played around with by Yan Si, he couldn’t help but feel a bit depressed. It wasn’t that he did not want to help, but constantly being shaded like that made him feel gloomy.

The fourth floor…

Recalling that strange building he was reluctant to think about, Yu Yin began to contemplate everything he had seen there. Actually, he had seen pretty much exactly what his uncle had. There was just a bit more stuff in addition.

Back then, Yu had suddenly seemed off near that shrine table, I think.

Yu Yin had indeed seen a child, but it had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Rather than saying it had come to scare them, Yu Yin felt it was more appropriate to say it had come out to watch them.

What exactly is the reason for the repeated, pot-dropping prank?

Who are they trying to lead up there?

While Yu Yin pondered over this, the soft click of the front door being unlocked rang out. Then, the soft sounds of someone putting down their things, taking off their shoes, and carefully putting them away could be heard, before they then walked in.

Yu Yin raised his head. As expected, he saw the person that had gone out with the high school girl all afternoon. “Dad and Uncle are working overtime, so we’ll go out to eat later.”

Yu placed his backpack on the staircase and nodded before walking over.

Yu Yin sat up and turned on the TV. The news channel was unsurprisingly broadcasting about the discovery of the corpse on the balcony. The family members had already come out to claim the body, and the entire case was still in investigation.

Yu watched the news for a while before taking off his glasses and putting them down on the side. He then took out his phone and began to type a long string of words before turning the screen to the other person watching the news.

After glancing at the screen and reading what was written, Yu Yin immediately grabbed at his hand. “How did you know?”

The phone’s contents included matters he had never heard of:

“After the two children had disappeared that year, the residents below would often hear the sounds of children playing, and would frequently see potted plants being dropped. After a while, nobody could take it any longer and they all moved away, leaving behind only the residents on the sixth floor and higher.”

Yu carefully freed his hand and erased the previous text, replacing it with: “When we were heading back, we passed through the area and bumped into the missus from the ninth floor. Fang Yi Xun asked her about it. She has lived there for a long time and knows a lot of things.”

But the police had not gotten anything out of questioning.

Perhaps that missus raises her guard around the police, so she wasn’t willing to spill all the beans. Yu Yin shut off the TV and the entire living room instantly went quiet. “What else did you learn from her?” His guess had been correct; that girl wasn’t simple if she could find out so much.

“The residents on the third and fifth floors all heard the sounds of hammering on the walls. The ones on the first and second floors would often get potted plants dropped onto them, but when they looked more closely, they never saw the pots. Those people all knew the building was haunted, so the houses couldn’t be rented out or sold.” After writing everything he knew about the situation and showing it to the other person, Yu finally put his phone away.

If the neighbours all knew this too, his uncle’s people would probably be able to quickly obtain this information from their questioning.

Yu Yin figured that this matter wouldn’t be able to stay hidden for long.

He switched gears and immediately pressed down on the other boy’s shoulders. “Hey, didn’t I say you guys shouldn’t get involved? Don’t actively investigate, you’ll end up getting into accidents.” He was a living, bloody example of that. Every time he got involved, he would not only get beaten up, but often get frightened to death by ghosts.

The most tragic part was that helping never earned a lick of money. Even working a job to console himself was barely helping.

“We just happened to be near the building. She went to ask by herself.” Yu had no desire to explain too much, and as usual, he expressionlessly got rid of his cellphone after finishing what he wanted to say and fell silent.

Knowing that the “she” was referring to the person of the same occupation from that afternoon, Yu Yin let out a sigh. Actually, he didn’t have the right to criticise others since he had pretty much done the same thing. “Forget it, let’s just go out and eat! We can talk more later if we need to.”

Actually, today had been depressing and frustrating enough, so he didn’t exactly want to pursue the topic any further.

I don’t have “I’m easy to bully so I welcome everyone to come trick me” written all over my face, do I?

“Go up and get your things ready first.”

Yu Yin watched the boy sling his backpack over his shoulder and head up the stairs. He also stood up and scratched his head before walking into the bathroom, preparing to watch his face and refresh his energy a bit. Just then, he heard a strange noise.

It was the sound of a child giggling.

He abruptly spun around to see a small figure flash across outside the bathroom.

It followed us back?

Why?!

Yu Yin immediately dashed out of the bathroom and heard the noise disappear near the kitchen. He hurriedly walked over and turned on the hallway lights before walking into the large and tidy kitchen.

It was quiet. Not a sound could be heard.

Yu Yin began to think he had been worrying too much. After looking left and right without detecting anything wrong, he prepared to leave the kitchen. But in that moment, he heard the sound of a child running behind him.

The faint pattering of small feet bouncing across the kitchen floor sounded as if they usually played around in their home.

“This is not your home.” Yu Yin looked at the empty yet noisy kitchen and took a deep breath before quietly stating, “Go back. Don’t let anyone catch up to you.”

The footsteps behind him stopped.

Yu Yin really, really did not want to look back. Even when just standing still, he could sense a chilly wind blowing against his palms. When he lowered his head, he noticed there were absolutely no shadows generated under the shining, fluorescent lights.

Of course, it’s normal for those things to not have any shadows…

A small palm seemed to touch his finger. It was as cold as ice, and the rock-hard skin stuck to his finger before five short fingers slowly wrapped around it.

Almost reflexively, Yu Yin jerked away and retreated several steps before turning around. There was nothing behind him, but he heard the footsteps quickly bound over to the cabinets underneath the kitchen counter.

Although nobody in his family could “see” them, he really did not want to eat a breakfast that had been cooked above the little ghost’s head tomorrow morning.

Yu Yin furrowed his brows at the thought and quickly walked forwards, somewhat afraid that any sudden, head-on movements would cause something to happen. He carefully stretched his hand out to slowly open the cabinets below.

In a split second, all the kitchen lights instantly went out, and the entire room was immersed in darkness.

Before Yu Yin could even react, he felt something brush past his shoulders and run out, the string of footsteps disappearing into the house. Then, Yu Yin did not hear anything more.

And the kitchen lights suddenly lit up again.

He turned to see Yu standing at the kitchen doorway, looking at him with a tilted head.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Let’s just go.” Yu Yin thought about it for a moment before shutting the cabinet doors.

He had actually thought that the thing that had followed here had left. Two seconds right before the cabinet door was completely shut, a child’s face appeared inside, giving Yu Yin a fright.

That little ghost had not left at all.

***

“Here is your food. Please take your time to enjoy.”

It was nearly seven in the evening. After accepting the tray of food from the fast food server, Yu yawned as he walked towards the stairs heading upwards.

Because it was dinnertime right now, the fast food place was filled with people. Most were groups of friends or families that had come out to eat. The large space was filled with chatter, and the place was pretty lively.

Once he went up the stairs, the second floor was better with a bit less people. He circled around a few seats and sat at a spot next to the window, across from Yu Yin.

Yu Yin had been staring blankly out the window, and he snapped out of it to look at Yu.

“Ah. thanks.” Yu Yin grabbed the hamburger and shifted his gaze back outside.

He wasn’t sure if it was because there were too many people at the fast food place, but that thing that had followed them out in the beginning was standing outside on the other side of the street, not daring to come inside.

Considering all that, he guessed that the thing probably had a reason for following after them. When Yu saw the other person stand up, he sighed and asked the server from earlier to bring a paper bag to take away the half he hadn’t finished eating yet. Since leaving the house, the person across from him had been showing a strange expression the entire time. He just knew that it would be impossible to properly eat dinner tonight.

Before waiting for the food to be completely packed up, Yu Yin quickly flew down the stairs. The shadow outside had already disappeared and was no longer anywhere along the street. He wasn’t sure if it had really left, or if it was just playing around with him like it had before.

Soon afterwards, Yu also ran to catch up with him. Without asking, he automatically climbed onto the backseat of the motorbike.

Yu Yin helplessly shot a glance at the boy voluntarily following along but did not say anything. He knew that from experience, saying something would not necessarily mean the other would actually listen anyways.

The motorbike’s owner quickly finished getting ready and immediately began to drive down the street.

Before too long, they arrived at that hair-raising building.

Like his first impression, Yu Yin could not sense anything good about this building. The very dark outer entrance had not yet had its lights switched on. Who knew if there was something hiding there around the corner?

Perhaps because the residents on the upper levels wanted to save on the electricity bills, the first to sixth floors were all in stifling darkness. The windows were pitch-black, making it impossible to see anything through them.

The yellow tape on the balcony of seventh floor that had just been involved in an incident could be faintly seen. It had either been blown outside by the wind or had not been properly set up.

After stepping on the brake, Yu Yin instantly knew he was doomed today. There was not a single breeze in any direction today, and it was not yet winter season, so it was slightly hot.

Yet he could feel goosebumps form all over his body.

“?” Yu saw that the person at his side was not moving at all, and he tugged at the person’s sleeve in confusion.

“Let me mentally prepare myself first…” I’ll be seeing at least two things here…

Yu Yin tilted his head up to look at the streetlamps on the side, somewhat reluctant to relinquish that warmth. He finally turned around, just barely resisting the urge to say “Amen”.

He should have come during the daytime.

A woman on the seventh floor balcony was looking down in his direction. The wind was blowing her hair all over the place. Her face was blurry, making it hard to discern any of her facial features.

There were two children crouching on the fourth floor balcony, gripping the iron bars tightly. Their pale greenish white faces had visible purple-blue streaks across them, and their muddy eyes were focused completely on him.

With a bunch of grey eyes staring straight at him, Yu Yin felt the urge to turn and flee. He swallowed hard and continued to get himself mentally ready.

Just because your numbers are greater doesn’t mean that you win!

He was the living one, so he shouldn’t be afraid of them. It was that little ghost that had led him here.

Also, is this place really still suited for living? It’s way too terrifying. Its original state was already so bad, with this many “residents”. If it were him, he would have glided out of this place as soon as possible. Yet the people on the upper levels were somehow still staying here.

It must be because the rent is super cheap.

He had heard before that haunted places were typically extremely cheap. Or perhaps the homes had already been bought and they were not able to move out. In general, there could have been plenty of possible reasons, but he still found it unfathomable as to why anyone would choose to stay.

Judging from this situation alone, he felt that the yin energy in this place was too strong.

“Ok, let’s go up.” He patted the side pocket of his bag and found the amulet from before. Pulling it out, he hung it instead on Yu’s bag. Then, while shaking in trepidation, the two of them began to tread up the staircase shrouded in darkness.

The stairwell was dead silent. All they could hear while walking was the faint whir of the elevator waiting for commands. They could also see the sliver of light from it amidst the darkness.

The instant they entered, Yu Yin turned on the public lights, instantly brightening their surroundings.

Although they had come several times before already, he had never studied it closely. The space itself was a bit narrow, and it was filled with dirt and filth. There were footprints all over the place, likely from the recent going about from them and the police, which made the place seem even messier.

They gradually neared the fourth level, which was also lit up. Finally, Yu Yin and Yu stood in front of the door. The eerie home was quietly staring back at them.

Yu Yin reached out to try pushing down on the doorknob. As expected, he wasn’t as luck as last time; the door had already been securely locked by someone. No matter how much he tried it, it did not open.

“Weird…” If they had called him over, why not open the door?

Yu looked at him with an expression of doubt as well.

After contemplating for a moment, Yu Yin decided to directly knock on the door.

Less than two seconds later, a series of bangs loudly knocked back from behind the door, as if someone else was on the other side.

However, the door did not open. The sound only echoed throughout the building.

Yu Yin, who had nearly been scared out of his wits, immediately took a step back.

Before he could even think of how to respond, the elevator suddenly let out ding from behind. The unoccupied elevator slowly opened its doors behind them.

Yu Yin and Yu spun around and exchanged a mutual glance. Because of what had happened before, neither of them liked to take unfamiliar elevators. Obviously, they had not been senseless enough to have run over to press for the elevator the moment they had entered the building.

The strange part was that the elevator doors did not close. Like a creature with its mouth wide open, it remained in place, as if waiting for them to enter, prepared to instantly devour them.

After standing frozen in place for a while, the first one to move was Yu, who had been the one to initially run into elevator troubles last time. He carefully began to move forwards and entered the open elevator. A cold wind blew down from above, causing him to shiver.

Since someone had entered, the elevator doors began to close in satisfaction.

Before the doors could completely shut, Yu Yin quickly flashed inside too. “So reckless! Don’t just randomly accept invitations from others. If the elevator breaks right now, the two of us will probably become scapegoats.” And perfectly killing two birds with one stone, too.

He suddenly realised that this guy was deliberately taking this risk. Why was he choosing to court death together with this person?

Just as he was about to warn Yu to not randomly act again, the elevator doors opened behind them. He had not even sensed the elevator move up or down just now, and the scene revealed behind the open doors was identical to the fourth floor from earlier.

When Yu Yin raised his head, he noticed that the indicator lights had changed.

“The sixth floor?”

***

What were they doing here on the sixth floor now?

After taking a step out and confirming it was an actual floor, Yu Yin exited and looked down the stairwell. He could still see the lights they had turned on earlier. But it was just a difference of two levels, why go through all the trouble of bringing them up here?

Yu followed him out of the elevator and stood in front of the sixth floor residence’s door. He didn’t notice anything wrong there, so he bent down. He then immediately knit his brows together.

“What’s wrong?” After turning on the floor lights, Yu Yin just happened to see the slight change in expression on Yu’s face.

Yu stood back up and pinched his nose.

“Is there a weird smell?” Seeing his manner, Yu Yin immediately bent over as well. A volatile smell was faintly flowing out from the crack under the door. If he had not bent down, he would definitely not have sensed it.

It was a bit pungent, and also very familiar. Although it wasn’t something he smelled often, it was obvious the moment he was in contact with it.

This is…

“Paints?” Yu Yin instantly recognised the somewhat irritating odor. He quickly straightened back up and pressed the doorbell a few times. However, there were no movements on the other side.

There’s no way I can jump down from the seventh floor like Uncle did, right?

He resolutely concluded it as impossible; he would just end up straight on the first floor, resulting in reports tomorrow of another jumping case. Then, his uncle would definitely lash him until his flesh turned to dust. Just the thought was terrifying.

“Is there nobody inside?” Yu Yin hammered at the door, an unsettling feeling suddenly forming in his heart.

It was still silent.

Yu Yin took out his phone. For some reason, there was strong interference with his signal here, making it impossible to dial out. He turned to face Yu and tell him, “Quickly find someone to help you use a public phone to call Uncle or this person.” He pulled out Li Zi Hong’s business card and pressed, “There is something wrong with this place, something might have happened.”

As soon as he heard this, Yu immediately grabbed the card and swiftly raced down the stairs.

As the series of footsteps disappeared below, Yu Yin turned back to continue pounding on the door, the clamour instantly filling the entire area.

Typically speaking, painting would fill the entire place with its odor. However, the smell of paint flowing out from here was too unnatural, or more specifically, too faint. He felt that something was fishy here.

Then, he heard the sound of someone opening the door upstairs. Following that was the sound of footsteps slowly dragging themselves down the staircase, accompanied by a metallic sound. He sensed a chilling gaze from behind him, silently looking in his direction.

In that instant, his scalp began to tingle, and he shuddered. Even without turning around, he knew what it was.

“Your boyfriend…I know. If he is inside, could I trouble you to help me open the door?” Yu Yin continued knocking as he said this, just barely suppressing the shivers going down his body.

He knew that compared to his own fear, a living person was more important.

Just then, Yu Yin felt something seemingly brush past his shoulders from next to him. A grey hand slowly reached out from behind him, a stiff finger slowly drawing something out on the surface of the door.

Because his entire back had frozen, Yu Yin didn’t even dare to take a breath. However, he still watched the finger trace out the words on the door:

“Let him die.”

“He killed you?”

The hand stopped and slowly retracted itself.

“Wait, if he didn’t, you shouldn’t let him die like this after being together for so many years!”

As if it did not hear him, the cold intent from behind him quickly grew distant.

Yu Yin immediately turned around and saw white feet disappear around the corner to head up the staircase with its metallic sound. Then, the door on the seventh floor was closed.

What am I supposed to do now!

He really felt a fire blazing in his heart just then. Yu Yin had the strong urge to charge up and kick the seventh floor door open and rage at the person inside.

A mess of sounds then came from below. He soon saw the elevator go down and stop at the first floor. Upon opening again, it revealed Yu, who he had pressed to go down earlier. Behind him was an uncle in his forties.

“What’s wrong, what’s going on here?” The uncle was clearly very bewildered about being dragged out of the elevator by Yu. “He wrote something about not being able to open the door. You two young friends are…?”

Seeing the toolbox the other person was holding, Yu Yin quickly understood what this person had come to do. “You came to unlock it?”

“That’s right, is this your younger brother? He suddenly charged into my shop without saying anything, with just a piece of paper saying that the door couldn’t be opened, and that it was an emergency. Did you guys forget to turn off the gas when you went out, or did the electric lines catch on fire inside for it to be so urgent?” The middle aged man asked in a mix of Taiwanese and Mandarin as he wiped away his sweat.

“It’s paint poisoning. Hurry up and help us open the door!” Yu Yin pushed the locksmith forwards and urged him, “Quickly, quickly, or else someone will die.”

“This little shrimp is so damn…stop pressing, I’m opening it, I’m opening it.”

He took out a master key and began to fiddle with the tightly shut door. In just a few turns, the iron door let out a series of clicks and the door opened.

With a guess of what the situation inside was already, Yu Yin pulled the locksmith back and pinched his nose shut while kicking open the door. The instant it opened, the heavy, pungent smell of paint instantly gushed out.

The locksmith choked on the smell, and while cursing, ran over to open the small window in the stairwell to stick his head out and take deep breaths of the fresh air.

Although Yu Yin had already anticipated the situation, he couldn’t help but also stagger from the strong odor that momentarily made him lightheaded. He then saw that a bunch of cloths that had originally been stuffed in the door crack were now all over the floor after the door had been kicked open. The room was dark. With the outside light shining in, he saw the paints emitting volatile vapors all over the floor. The fumes were extremely strong inside the room, as the balcony and windows were tightly locked. Even the cracks had all been blocked off by tape, making it impossible for any air to pass through.

“Damn, you can be poisoned by this kind of thing…” the locksmith still inhaling the fresh air from outside protested.

Yu Yin stabilised himself and coughed a few times. The person next to him passed him a handkerchief. He spun around to see Yu also choking, with tears coming out of the corners of his eyes as he tightly covered his nose with a tissue.

“Go over to where that uncle is.” Yu Yin took the handkerchief and pressed it against his nose and spoke with an oddly muffled voice. He then pushed the person over to the side while stepping into the room and quickly running over to the balcony to pull at the tape with all his strength.

Luckily, there weren’t too many layers stuck on. He easily ripped off most of it before he quickly opened the balcony door. The heavy smell of paint immediately flowed outwards.

Yu Yin, who had nearly reached his limit, raced out to the balcony to take some deep breaths of fresh air.

He then saw someone standing on the balcony above looking down at him, its pale and blurred face hiding behind black hair. Startled, Yu Yin choked mid-gasp and broke into a cough as he retreated a few steps.

After a period of time, the smell in the room was no longer as concentrated. He found a faucet on the balcony and soaked the handkerchief, covering his nose with it and walking through the room once more.

After turning on the lights, the entire home became a lot more visible. A single glance was enough to tell that it was a simple male’s residence. There were several pairs of jeans tossed on a chair, and the floor was covered in paints and paint buckets, with the purposefully opened lids tossed all over the place. There was a white, still wet paint that was particularly conspicuous. He saw a picture that had been dropped on the ground; its glass frame already shattered. The photo contained a couple, with the female being the one from the seventh floor, and the male…

For some reason, although Yu Yin did not know the male, he felt the face was extremely familiar, as if he had seen the person somewhere recently.

He then looked to his side, and abruptly saw two legs had appeared outside the bedroom door.

“Damn it!”

He quickly ran over, and as expected, saw a male collapsed against the door. There was also a glass bottle of some kind of drug that was now shattered all over the floor, the white powder scattered everywhere.

After flipping the person over, Yu Yin noticed that this person was still breathing and had a heartbeat, although just barely.

After hearing the unnatural sounds inside, Yu and the locksmith also ran inside. As soon as the locksmith saw the person collapsed on the floor, he immediately began to shout, “Quick, quick! Bring him over to a place with better ventilation. Damn! Why is there someone here—”

The two people scrambled to clumsily drag him to the balcony.

After looking around for a while, Yu found the phone inside the room. He originally wanted to dial for an ambulance, but all that came from the picked up receiver was static. It was impossible to make a call, so he could only abandon the phone. After looking outside from the stairs, Yu wordlessly charged back downstairs to search for someone that could help him make the call from a public phone. After reaching the balcony, Yu Yin closed its glass doors to avoid breathing in any more of the paint fumes. The chilly night wind outside blew past the three people’s faces.

When he looked back inside, he saw two children staring at them with their faces plastered against the glass from the other side. They then ran off while clapping their hands.

He could hear the sound of them giggling off into the distance.