Father, son, and the city

"Wh... what do we do? This happened before, too..." Li Xijiu's face was deathly pale, whether from blood loss or terror at the scene before him.

Qin Manjiang seemed prepared. He said quietly, "Don't talk. Don't make any sudden moves. Follow me."

With Qin Manjiang leading the way, they slowly approached the empty seats in the back row under the silent stares of the strange people in the auditorium. They sat down, then stared expressionlessly at the big screen, which showed nothing but static.

The eerie atmosphere persisted.

Just as Qin Manjiang had predicted, these "people" made no further moves. Instead, once Qin Manjiang and Li Xijiu sat down, their necks slowly turned back, their gazes returning to the static-filled screen.

Qin Manjiang and Li Xijiu both breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Xijiu lowered his voice and whispered, "What's going on? Aren't they ghosts...?"

Qin Manjiang shook his head. "They are ghosts, but they probably aren't the kind that attack and kill indiscriminately without any conditions."

"I thought it was strange when you called me earlier. Everything unusual they did in this auditorium happened after you made that call. In other words, as long as we don't interrupt their movie, we're safe for now."

"Could these people all be victims of that fire ten years ago...? I should never have tapped on that game and let it lead me into this hellhole..."

"This is a movie theater exclusively for ghosts..."

Li Xijiu seemed to regret his decision.

Qin Manjiang gave him a long, searching look but said nothing.

"We can't treat your wound right now. I'm worried you'll bleed heavily if we pull the knife out. Leave it as it is for now and give me twenty minutes," he said.

Li Xijiu nodded, seemingly unconcerned. "If I can't trust you, who can I trust? In all the time I've known you, I've never seen you panic! Hey, Qin, do you ever cry?"

Li Xijiu's question came out of nowhere.

"I remember you got drunk when Uncle Qin passed away, but even when you were that wasted, you didn't cry... Do you even have tear ducts?"

Qin Manjiang looked at him and said seriously, "Crying is the first thing humans do when they come into this world. It's a good thing. I only cry over happy things."

"But I've never seen you cry when you're happy, either."

"I've never been happy enough to cry."

"Oh... Then is it possible we came from heaven to hell, and that's why we cry when we're born?"

Qin Manjiang glanced at Li Xijiu and was about to speak when he noticed the others in the auditorium staring at them again. He quickly shut his mouth.

This Screening Room served more than just as a refuge from the towering, murderous ghost. It shouldn't have existed, yet here it was.

It was probably hiding something. That wasn't difficult to guess, and Qin Manjiang had already worked out a little of it. First, the father and son couldn't enter this place, which practically announced that its hidden secret was connected to them.

If all the "people" here were members of the audience who had perished in Hall Three ten years ago, then, apart from the father and son who couldn't enter, two people were still missing.

If Li Xijiu and Qin Manjiang took those two people's places, that would bring the audience to exactly its original size.

Once Qin Manjiang and Li Xijiu were seated and turned their eyes toward the Large Screen, sure enough...

Something strange happened!

The stark white static on the Large Screen stopped, and a faded image... began to play.

Qin Manjiang held his breath. Li Xijiu's eyes widened, too. This clearly wasn't the movie he had seen earlier. Could it really have something to do with the number of people?

Whatever the reason... the "movie" had begun.

The scene opened on a sunny summer day.

People bustled through Fu City, and traffic flowed endlessly. A refreshing breeze swept through its streets and alleys, carrying away leaves that had been barely clinging to their branches. Some fell onto the street, some onto the lake, some onto benches, and some between the pages of books. One landed on a father's shoulder.

The view drew closer. A plainly dressed father and son stood on the street, utterly unremarkable.

The father had dark skin. Though still young, he was somewhat stooped and not very tall.

He had clearly made an effort to wash himself, but he couldn't hide the black beneath his fingernails or the weariness and wrinkles around his eyes and temples.

The father and son came from a mountain village.

The black beneath his nails came from something called a rubber tree. Once its sap stuck to his hands, it easily turned black. At first, he washed it off every time, but his hands were soon stained again. Eventually, he could no longer get them clean.

This was their first time in the city.

The child was ready to start elementary school, but their mountain village had none. The father decided to bring his son to the city, leaving his work in the mountains behind to find a job there.

Along the way, the child saw a train for the first time, ate his first ice cream, and saw a mirror cleaner than his own face!

He leaned close to the mirror, carefully pressed his hand against it, leaving a clean handprint, then grinned foolishly.

"Dad, I want to watch cartoons."

His father said, "All right. I'll take you."

He had no idea where they could watch cartoons. After working up the courage to ask someone, he learned about something called a movie theater.

A father took a child who knew nothing of the world by the hand and went looking for a movie theater.

They walked from one end of the city to the other, drenched in sweat in the summer heat, yet their eyes shone brightly.

People in the city hurried past. No one noticed the father and son, as insignificant as roadside weeds.

"This is it!"

They were thrilled to find the movie theater. The father took his son's hand and wiped it on his clothes, and the two nervously walked inside.

"Hello, sir. How can I help you?"

"...We want to watch cartoons."

The ticket clerk looked them up and down, seemingly catching on. "Oh, of course. Our next movie starts in half an hour. Would you like tickets?"

The father hurriedly nodded. "Yes... That one."

"Certainly. Tickets are thirty-six yuan each, so that's seventy-two yuan altogether. Thank you."

The child glanced at his father in confusion. He had just felt his father's grip on his hand suddenly tighten.

"All right... Seventy-two... seventy-two."

The father took the money from his trouser pocket. There were notes of all different colors. Though they weren't new, they were neatly kept.

"We also have a fast-food restaurant and a clothing shop here. You can have a look around while you wait."

The ticket clerk pointed them out with a friendly smile.

"All right... all right..."

The father held his son's hand awkwardly, glanced at their clothes, then looked at the clothing shop.

"Come on. I'll buy you some clothes!"

In the auditorium, Qin Manjiang watched everything on the big screen in silence.

That wasn't a movie. It was the story of the father and son's lives.

The father held his son's hand uneasily. They entered the fast-food restaurant, only to discover that he didn't know how to use the self-service ordering system, and ultimately left in embarrassment.

In the clothing shop, the owner picked out some clothes and persuaded him to try them on. Afterward, he was too embarrassed to hand them back and say he didn't want them, and he didn't dare bargain, so he forced himself to buy them.

They had indeed reached the city, but clearly, this city didn't belong to them.

Wearing their newly purchased matching outfits, the father and son stood bewildered outside the movie theater, waiting for the movie to begin.

They stared blankly at the bustling traffic.

The city was noisy, yet somehow silent. Only the summer breeze passed through the treetops, making the leaves sway.

"We'll get to watch cartoons soon."

"Mm-hmm."

"Dad, money's so expensive in the city..."

"It's not expensive. I can earn more."

"Okay!"

The images sped past.

Though Qin Manjiang watched intently, he was also keeping track of the time. Less than ten minutes remained.

The fire had started at midnight.

If they couldn't escape before midnight, it would all be over.

The auditorium appeared on the screen.

It wasn't what they had been promised.

The Large Screen wasn't showing cartoons, but the child was well-behaved and didn't cry or fuss. Instead, he held his father's hand and watched quietly.

Halfway through the movie, he whispered, "Dad, I need to pee."

The father and son went to the restroom and chose the last stall so they wouldn't disturb anyone.

The scene shifted. Screams rang out, and flames soared.

The father, waiting outside the stall, panicked and pounded on the door.

Well-behaved as the child was, he could no longer contain his fear and burst into sobs.

The door was broken. It wouldn't open.

The father rushed downstairs, searching everywhere for a tool to open the door. In the end, he found only a knife.

He took the knife upstairs and hacked at the door, but no matter what he did, he couldn't break it open.

In his desperation, he noticed a gap above the stall! If he could climb up and jump inside, he could lift his child out.

But... the gap was too narrow, and too high.

He tried everything, but the city's sturdy door kept his child trapped, and trapped him as well.

If only... I were a little taller, a little thinner... A little taller... a little thinner...

Other people dragged him away from the restroom. He cried out in despair, pleading with everyone to save his child. His child was still inside.

He struggled desperately. Years of physical labor had given him astonishing strength, and they couldn't hold him.

But in the next instant, the ceiling above them suddenly collapsed.

The kindhearted moviegoers had no time to dodge. They were all crushed beneath it and burned alive.

He alone, struggling fiercely and having just broken free, escaped that fate.

He knelt on the floor, tears streaming down his face, and sobbed.

Unless something unexpected happened, he would burn to death, too.

The collapsed ceiling blocked the passage. Flames filled the way downstairs. Sparks snapped and crackled, the moviegoers who hadn't yet died moaned in agony, his child cried, and scorching smoke choked the air...

His skin, his blood, his organs all felt as though they were about to catch fire.

He didn't want to leave anymore.

He went to the last stall and sat quietly outside it as tongues of flame spread everywhere, burning ever more fiercely.

"Don't be afraid. Daddy's here. Daddy's staying with you..."

He murmured the words.

But in the next instant, the window beside the last stall shattered with a crash!

A figure wearing a safety harness and fire-resistant gear jumped inside.

"Found a survivor!"

They strapped him into a safety harness, preparing to send him out the window.

"Wait! There's someone else! There's still someone inside!"

"I know! I'll rescue them! You get out first!"

The firefighter grabbed him and shouted. At last, he stopped struggling and cooperated. He had just jumped through the window-

When the ceiling collapsed again.

His eyes flew wide. Firelight shone on his dark face as he stared at the collapsed restroom ceiling. Every sound caught in his throat. He couldn't utter another word.

It was all my fault...

Why did I come to a place like this...?

If we hadn't come, if this place didn't exist...

None of this would have happened...

The scene shifted again.

Not long afterward, a report appeared, taking up only a small space in the corner of a newspaper-

[On Fu City East Road, a man living alone took his own life with a knife. The man was reportedly a migrant worker...]

The images on the Large Screen ended.

This wasn't a movie, merely a hurried series of flashbacks to real events.

The screen went dark, and the lights came on.

The eerie audience had vanished from the auditorium. Only Qin Manjiang and Li Xijiu remained.

"If only it were just a movie..."

Li Xijiu murmured.

(End of chapter)