Chapter 24: The Murder of Crows with Blood-red Eyes
Warm sunlight spilled into the room, Lisa leaned against the window, her Walkman playing music softly, while mellifluous melodies wafted from the headphones.
"Sis, where did you get that Walkman?" Lorna saw the Walkman on the table and bounced over to Lisa's side.
Lisa reluctantly took off her headphones, glanced at her sister, five years her junior, and answered helplessly, "It was a birthday present from Xu Yi."
Lorna looked at Lisa, her face a portrait of envy and resentment as she pouted, "Why do you get to be the older sister, and I'm the younger one? If I were born before you, Brother Xu Yi would be mine!"
Lisa shot her cunning little sister a glare, "Keep talking nonsense, and I won't let you listen to it!"
"I'm sorry, sis, I was wrong," Lorna apologized, hugging Lisa's arm and shaking it incessantly.
At that moment, their mother's voice came from downstairs.
"Lisa, could you please take some flour over to Aileen Auntie's house!"
"Got it!" Lisa called back, put on her shoes, and walked out—children of poor families were accustomed to taking on responsibilities early, and she had started doing chores from a young age.
Lorna quickly took over Lisa's seat, "Sis, lend me the Walkman to listen!"
"Don't break it!" Lisa said, leaving the words behind as she went downstairs.
......
Lisa, carrying a bag of flour, made her way step by step towards the outside door.
Her family ran a grocery store, mainly serving the local neighborhood with familiar faces and also providing home delivery services—some orders were even long-term with agreements to deliver goods at the end of the month.
Aileen's house wasn't far from theirs, just one house over and coincidentally, right next to Xu Yi's house.
Carrying the flour upstairs, Lisa suddenly remembered that she hadn't seen Aileen Auntie for a long time.
The most recent encounter was at the Rose Street antique market, where they had chatted briefly in passing.
"Could it be that Aileen Auntie has been busy with something lately?" Lisa wondered.
Knowing how much Aileen loved roaming the streets and alleys, it was indeed unusual for her not to have seen her for so long.
Lisa stood before the door and knocked gently, "Aileen, I've come to deliver the flour!"
There was no response from inside the house.
Maybe she's out? Lisa knocked harder, "Aileen! Aileen!"
She increased the force of her knocks, only to push the door open unexpectedly, nearly losing her balance and stumbling into the house.
The door was actually unlocked!
Could it be that Aileen had opened the door for her, but why wasn't she responding?
Lisa, steadying the bag of flour with one hand, pushed the door open with the other and walked inside.
A black shadow suddenly darted out from behind the door, startling Lisa, who almost dropped the flour from her shoulder.
Upon identifying the shadow, Lisa let out a sigh of relief—it was just a black cat.
The black cat bared its teeth at Lisa, its hackles raised as if it intended to drive her away.
"Alright, alright, calm down, Black Carp, I'm busy at the moment. I'll find you something to eat later," Lisa comforted the cat, recognizing it.
This black cat was a stray from the neighborhood. Lisa and Xu Yi often fed it, and over time it had become familiar with them. The name "Black Carp" was given by Lisa herself.
The name's origin was quite simple; the cat's black, sleek appearance, coupled with Lisa's liking for the sweet and sour carp made by Xu Changrong, led to naming it Black Carp.
Black Carp wasn't relenting, growling at Lisa.
Lisa didn't understand what was wrong with Black Carp today; though normally wild, it had always been tame around her and Xu Yi.
She planned to deliver the flour quickly and then tend to Black Carp's agitation afterward.
"Aileen, are you in there? I've brought the flour." Lisa headed straight for the kitchen, having delivered to this house many times and knowing the layout well.
She put the flour into the cupboard in the kitchen, and as she was leaving, she happened to pass by Aileen's bedroom.
Aileen's husband had passed away when he was just over fifty years old, leaving her to live alone.
The door to the room wasn't closed, revealing a sliver of an opening.
Lisa had no intention of going inside. Delivering flour to the kitchen was one thing, but how could she just barge into someone else's room?
However, a gust of wind suddenly blew the door open, and at the same time, Lisa heard the sound of birds.
Why would there be birds in the room?
She instinctively looked through the doorway and was stunned.
The room was filled with a dense swarm of crows, hanging from the ceiling like bats, occasionally swooping down only to swiftly fly up again.
The noise at the doorway startled them, and all the crows turned their heads, their blood-red pupils fixed on Lisa.
Lisa felt as though she had fallen into an ice cellar, her whole body cold and her feet unable to move.
The scene was so eerie that she wanted to leave immediately, but she hesitated when she saw the silhouette inside.
In the center of the room, Aunt Aileen lay on the floor, motionless.
After a moment's hesitation, the kindness in Lisa's heart overcame the fear, and she stepped over the threshold.
"Aunt Aileen!" Lisa called out softly.
Still, no one responded to her, but as she entered the room, she finally saw the full picture.
On the floor was a liquid, like flowing blood, drawn into a strange pattern surrounded by a circle of red candles.
The candles had long been burnt out, with red wax spilled all over the place.
Aunt Aileen lay at the center of the pattern, her complexion pale without a trace of color.
A strange breeze blew through, and Lisa's head suddenly grew heavy and foggy, her legs moving inside of their own accord.
Just as she was about to step over the circle of candles, a sharp meow came from outside the door.
Lisa snapped back to awareness, frightened into a cold sweat, and she turned to flee!
But the cat's meow also startled the crows on the roof, and they cawed loudly, their cries piercing like the howls of ghosts.
As she turned, Lisa saw Aunt Aileen sitting up from the floor. Before she could rejoice, blood began to ooze thickly from Aileen's eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears.
In a daze, Aileen suddenly opened her eyes and flashed Lisa a sinister smile.
"Found you!"
A scream from a woman sounded suddenly behind Lisa. Instinctively, she looked back only to see a surge of crows approaching, and the next second, she collapsed to the ground.
......
The sun set in the west, and Xu Yi followed the crowd out of the doors of the painting exhibition.
The exhibition lasted for three days, and today was the last. Xu Yi had arrived early in the morning and stayed until it closed.
After being busy for most of the day, he was exhausted but the outcome was satisfying.
[Painter Entries, Current Progress: 79/100.]
A great harvest of Painter Entries!
He felt as if the career entry for "Psychic Painter" was waving at him.
Xu Yi sighed, "Unfortunately, it gets harder to gain entry experience the closer I get to the end. It seems I'll need to continue to find ways to farm Painter Entries."
Passing by a second-hand boutique, Xu Yi suddenly stopped.
"Boss! Got any kerosene lighters?" Xu Yi called out to the shopkeeper, who was reading a newspaper behind the counter.
"Pick one yourself!" The boss brought over a basket full of lighters and pushed it towards Xu Yi.
Xu Yi carefully selected three kerosene lighters, all of them detachable with carved metal casings.