Wu Xin: The Monster Killer

Chapter 76 Finding a Way to Survive the Winter

Autumn, 1943, Shanghai.

Wu Xin spent the entire summer in a nameless, desolate mountain, where there were few people and plenty of food. For three months, he ate a lot of field mice and bats. His only misfortune was when a wild boar bit him while he was sleeping.

After summer ended, the mountain weather gradually became unsuitable for habitation, so he carried a canvas travel bag down the mountain. He took whatever was available—cars or boats—and somehow ended up in Shanghai. The War of Resistance against Japan had been raging for six years, the situation unclear, and unrest was everywhere, though the metropolis seemed safer. He found refuge in a small apartment.

An apartment building with three rooms was rented to three down-on-their-luck bachelors. One was a Jewish man with no state; another was an old White Russian with no homeland; and the third, Wu Xin, had no property.

He had earned a large sum of money last year, but his life was boundless and impossible to plan or manage, so he adopted a "live for today" attitude. Now, he handed over his last bit of money to the landlord, took the key, and went into his small room. He carefully closed the door, slowly sat down on the creaking iron-framed bed, finally feeling utterly destitute.

There was a small Western-style stove in the room, its firebox quite clean, clearly unused for three seasons, just waiting for winter to arrive. Although Wuxin had spent a long time in the mountains, he hadn't lost touch with the realities of society. With the war intensifying and coal prices changing daily, he couldn't even afford food with his meager resources, let alone coal.

The mere thought of his basic needs made him wish he could disappear underground and hibernate like a python. Sitting motionless on the bed, he was neither breathing nor showing any expression, not even a thought in his mind. Staring blankly at the white wall, he aimlessly whiled away the endless hours.

He sat there like a wooden statue from afternoon until the following evening, but finally, the unbearable hunger spurred him on. He lazily stood up, thinking that simply sitting wouldn't do; he had to get moving and find a way to survive the winter.

He groped his way to the light bulb and turned it on, holding one hand up to it. Prolonged hunger had emaciated him, but his flesh hadn't dried up; instead, it had gradually hardened, seemingly merging with his bones. In the light, his thin palm appeared waxy and translucent. Slowly raising his other hand, he cast a shadow on the wall. The shadow was a soaring eagle. He chuckled contentedly, then joined his hands together, projecting a blurry dog's head.

Then he reached into his robes and pulled out a paper talisman. With a gentle tap on the light switch, he gripped both ends of the talisman in the sudden darkness and tore it in two with a "snap." A chill ran through him with the cracking sound, and his henchmen materialized as shadows in the darkness.

The henchman looked to be only eight or nine years old, dressed as a primary school student in a white shirt and overalls. The shirt was so white that the pool of blood on his chest looked very red, and his ear and neck on one side were also covered in blood and flesh, never to heal.

His name was Xiao Jian. On his way home from school, he misbehaved and ran onto the main road to dance for his nanny. A tram couldn't brake in time and ran him over. The world is full of wonders. He was one of those wonders; after death, he became a wandering, homeless ghost, and his spirit wouldn't dissipate. He lacked the ability to do evil, but his ideas for pranks were endless. A week ago, he tried his best to move a small flame, intending to scare Wu Xin, but Wu Xin used him as a guinea pig instead. Wu Xin had spent ten years learning to draw talismans, with very poor results, but he still managed to seal him inside a paper talisman.

For seven days, Wuxin was busy finding a place to stay, and could only occasionally let him out, treating him like a child. Xiao Jian was very unwilling to be imprisoned by him, but he still immediately recognized him as his older brother, because Wuxin could see him and talk to him. Since he was run over by the tram wheels, no one had paid attention to him for two years.

Xiao Jian slapped a bloodstained little hand against Wuxin's thigh, then looked up with a grin: "Big brother, you have a house to live in now?"

The small hand was merely a pitiful shadow, still frozen in the state of its violent death. It swept unimpeded across Wuxin's body, leaving only a faint chill.

Without a thought, he turned and walked to the small window, pushed it open, and peeked out. Below the window was a bustling little street, and the smell of fried stinky tofu wafted up to the third floor, reaching his nostrils.

Across the street stood a towering building. From Wuxin's vantage point, he could see countless brightly lit balconies. Inside, there were apartments, but they were extremely valuable, only the wealthy could afford to live there. Maids stood on the balconies washing rice and preparing vegetables, while gentlemen sat reading newspapers and drinking tea. Wuxin, smelling the faint aroma of food in the air, suddenly felt a urge to rob the rich and help the poor.

Of course, with his skills, robbing someone was out of the question. Turning to look at Xiao Jian perched on his shoulder, a wicked idea bubbled up in his mind. He bent down and picked up an empty wine bottle left by the previous tenant from the corner, placing it horizontally on the windowsill and spinning it. After spinning a few times, the long, narrow spout pointed towards the window. Wuxin glanced at the spout and saw a large glass window right next to the back balcony. The curtains weren't drawn, revealing bright lights inside—clearly a wealthy family.

Wuxin nodded, thinking, "This is it!"

Meanwhile, the Ma siblings, enjoying the brilliant lights in the building across the street, inexplicably shivered together.

The Ma siblings were twins, a boy and a girl. When their mother was pregnant, experienced mothers, observing her appearance and demeanor, all believed she was carrying twin girls. However, one of them was rather cunning and disguised himself as a girl in the womb. Mr. Ma, on a whim, came up with ambitious names for his daughters beforehand. When the children were born and the truth was revealed, he was momentarily disappointed, but decided to go with the flow. Thus, the baby girl was confidently named Saiwei, meaning "to surpass Queen Victoria of England"; the baby boy, feeling ashamed, was named Shengyi, meaning "to surpass Queen Elizabeth of England."

The Ma family was a prominent family in Beijing, with a rather diverse membership. Saiwei and Shengyi, being siblings, were exceptionally close within the extended family. Time flew by, and they entered puberty. Despite their comfortable lives and ample nutrition, they were both uniformly thin, like stray dogs. Saiwei entered a Belgian girls' high school, her grades falling between average and terrible. Her only pursuit was playing volleyball, her thin arms flailing about. She had no boyfriend, only girlfriends. Shengyi, despite her bean sprout-like physique, possessed a precocious and restless spirit, constantly loitering outside various girls' schools. Unfortunately, his chick-like charm was utterly ineffective in winning the hearts of the girls. He tirelessly searched the area around the girls' schools, but not only did he never experience any romance, he earned an unflattering nickname: "Ma the Playboy."

This brother and sister, neglected and forgotten, drifted aimlessly until graduating from middle school. From then on, they did nothing and became increasingly idle. After loafing around at home for a year and a half, they conspired to extort a large sum of money from their father and, under the pretext of visiting their aunt, left Beijing for Shanghai.

Sitting on the wool rug under the chandelier, Saiwei was settling accounts with Shengyi. The two had been recklessly extravagant in Shanghai for a while, and now they were facing an economic crisis. Saiwei considered himself smarter than Shengyi, so he wanted to separate from him, each spending their own money, and whoever ran out of money first would go back to Beijing. After all, they had rented the apartment for six months, which would be enough for them.

Saiwei had short, ear-length hair, previously permed, with yellowish ends visible after the cut. Wearing trousers, she sat cross-legged, confidently counting money in front of her brothers. The Ma family children, though raised in luxury, were all greedy for money, facing competition far more intense than most orphanages could match. Her eyes gleamed as she stared intently at the banknotes, muttering to herself; Shengyi craned his neck, watching her rapidly moving fingers.

After quickly counting the number, Savi bent down, picked up a pencil, and wrote something down in her notebook. After finishing, she sighed, "Mother said in her letter that Father bought a silver fox fur cloak for the fourth son last month."

The fourth daughter refers to the fourth daughter of the Ma family. She doesn't share the same mother as them and has been their enemy for ten years. Master Ma spends a lot of money on his fourth daughter, which makes Saiwei and Shengyi extremely jealous. They completely forget that they also asked their father for a huge sum of money, otherwise how could they have come to Shanghai to live such a comfortable life?

Savi split the banknotes in two, intending to continue speaking, but before she could open her mouth, the chandelier above her suddenly flickered. They both looked up and heard a hissing sound of electricity rising from above. The light stabilized for only a few seconds before flickering again, coinciding with the sound.

Neither Saiwei nor Shengyi had any common sense; they didn't know what was wrong with the chandelier, and just craned their necks to look at it. Then, in the brief darkness, they both caught a glimpse of a small figure in the corner of the room!

He abruptly turned his head, but as the lights came back on, the figure vanished without a trace. Savi, clutching a wad of banknotes, turned to Sheng Yi, mouth agape. Sheng Yi craned his neck, his dark eyes wide and round: "Sis, did we...see something?"

Saiwei glanced at the corner again; it was empty and spotless.

She rubbed her eyes and asked Shengyi, "Are we seeing things?"

Then they both nodded, admitting they had indeed misread the money. Saivi reluctantly clutched the banknotes, plotting to squeeze some out of Shengyi's share. Shengyi, however, held out her hand: "Sis, the money—"

Before the words were even finished, all the chandeliers suddenly went out!

Sheng Yi's hand froze halfway, and at the same time, she felt a chill run down her spine. Accompanied by the noise of electricity, a ring of light bulbs flickered on and off. Each time darkness enveloped them, the silhouette of a small child would flit across the edge of their vision. Saiwei and Sheng Yi screamed and huddled together, falling to the ground. Turning their heads to face the four short legs of the sofa, they jerked violently, and saw, indistinctly, the lower half of a child's face appear beneath the sofa—a pointed chin, a tender face, but unfortunately, one cheek was a bloody mess, even revealing pale bone. A soft corner of the mouth curled up slightly, a ghastly smile at them.

Saiwei and Shengyi froze for a moment, then let out a terrifying scream. A light bulb exploded automatically with the scream, and with a "crack," shards of glass scattered everywhere, landing all over the two men's short hair.

At midnight, Xiao Jian floated back home through the glass window. Wu Xin, who wasn't asleep, was squatting on the floor tidying up his signboard. Xiao Jian circled around him, then said smugly, "They have an older brother and an older sister at home, and they're crying right now."

He raised an eyebrow noncommittally and said, "Hmm."

Xiao Jian added, "Their house is covered in banknotes."

Wuxin looked up at Xiaojian and smiled.

Xiao Jian landed on his head: "Big brother, I don't think you like me very much."

Wuxin finally spoke: "If you were a human being, I would like you."

He folded up the tattered cloth banner and continued, "I haven't made any friends in a long time. I really want to talk to a living person; even if we don't talk, just touching them would be nice. Once I get some money, I want to get a dog. Xiao Jian, do you want a black dog or a white dog?"

Xiao Jian felt a little sad after hearing his truth and whispered, "Spotted Dog."

Wu Xin nodded seriously: "Okay, once I've bought enough food and coal, I'll get a little spotted dog."

(End of this chapter)