20demayo Chapter 9: Little Bear
Chapter 9: Little Bear
"You did die in real life. You bought a cursed painting, and about a month later, you died. Now your wife is keeping vigil for you."
"Take a look for yourself, this is your diary."
As Zhang Ze spoke, he handed Lao Zhou his own notebook.
Before entering the door in the painting, Zhang Ze put the notebook into his shoulder bag, just in case.
Old Zhou looked through it for a while, his expression strange.
"It is indeed my handwriting."
"But I really don't remember any of these things."
"I can't recall any of my past memories. All I know about this world is like a dream, or perhaps it's as if I originally belonged to this world."
"This world?"
Zhang Ze seized upon a clue.
Old Zhou is definitely dead, that's a certainty.
It's understandable that his current memories are incomplete, with only memories of the world behind the door remaining.
"Yes."
"The prototype of this world should be that children's cartoon, I think it's called... Boonie Bears, the cartoon I mentioned in my notebook."
"The entire site is a forest called Bear Ridge. Besides this tree hole, there is a small wooden house at the far east end of the forest, which is the residence of the bald lumberjack in the animation."
Zhang Ze pointed to the corpses outside. "What were those crows just now?"
"There are bears, squirrels, monkeys, owls, groundhogs, and foxes in cartoons, but I've never seen a crow."
Speaking of crows.
A hint of fear appeared in the eyes of both Lao Zhou and Li Yang.
When they talk about something that frightens them, their pupils constrict slightly and their breathing pauses a little—these are all subconscious reactions.
"I don't know. This crow seems to appear suddenly and then disappear just as suddenly. You must not get caught by the crow. Crows eat people, and there is only one fate for those who are caught by crows: death."
"Whenever a new person enters, crows appear, attack our people, kill one, and then disappear."
"We have always kept our numbers to four people."
"Before Xiao Zhou came in, there was a little girl. After Xiao Zhou came in, the little girl was taken away by crows. After you came in, the woman was taken away, and we buried her body under a century-old pine tree."
hiss……
Zhang Ze recalled the crow that had just swooped into the tree hole.
These crows were different from ordinary crows; their eyes were completely black, their feathers had an ink-like texture, and they made no sound when they flew.
Is this the ghost and monster in the world behind the murderer's painting?
Zhang Ze thought of the third ward, Men Nan's door, and the monsters behind the door were all materializations of Men Nan's fears.
Including the long, thin, dark shadow that jumped onto him.
A ghost with a long, thin neck.
The sinister hand at the bedside...
The ghosts and monsters in the painting are quite interesting.
It was a crow.
Besides the crows, there are also creatures resembling "Little Bear" and "Bald Qiang".
It was incredibly lively.
"Have you ever encountered a woman in red, or rather, a female ghost?" Zhang Ze asked again.
"have."
"If you spend some time with those crows, you'll see a woman in red... But none of us have seen her with our own eyes. I heard it from that little girl before, but she's dead now, so there's no way to verify it," Old Zhou said.
The atmosphere was somewhat somber.
Zhang Ze looked back at the door he had entered through.
The door is already closed.
Inside the tree hollow, besides the four of them, there were only a few stinking honey jars.
The air remained extremely murky, constantly oppressing one's nerves; the heat and humidity felt like a lump in one's throat, as if deliberately set at an unsettling temperature.
They were all aware of the situation they were facing.
This world is not for the living; those who stumble upon it may be killed by its monsters at any moment.
Once you die, you will also die in reality.
The longer you stay, the greater the risk, since no one knows if the crow will suddenly return; the tree hole is not always safe.
"Xiao Zhou told me that I am already dead in reality."
"But Xiao Zhou can't die."
Old Zhou looked at Zhang Ze and pleaded, "You came here voluntarily; only you have a chance to leave."
"Please, take Xiao Zhou out of here. He can't die here. I can give you money, lots and lots of money. Although I can't remember many things, I remember I should be very rich, and I can give you all of it."
Zhang Ze remained silent for a moment.
What he really meant was that entering the door in the painting meant that there was a high probability that one would never be able to leave again.
Unless the door is reopened.
But such opportunities are rare and hard to come by; who knows when the door will open again?
What if someone in real life sees this painting as too dangerous and burns it or throws it in the trash?
The chances are too slim.
"Old Zhou, don't make things difficult for him. He can't even protect his own life, how could he possibly take your son out?"
"Instead of relying on him, let's find the rules of survival and try to let Xiao Zhou live a little longer."
Li Yang said.
Old Zhou was a little unwilling.
Seeing the two of them like this, Zhang Ze knew he couldn't count on them, so he turned his attention to Xiao Zhou.
Xiao Zhou's contact with the woman in red was probably longer than Zhang Ze had imagined.
After all, Xiao Zhou had mentioned that the woman in red would teach him to draw every night and was quite friendly to him.
While Xiao Zhou was still alive and hadn't lost his memories, Zhang Ze squatted down, trying to keep his tone as steady as possible:
"Xiao Zhou, do you know how to get out of here?"
Xiao Zhou glanced timidly at Zhang Ze, "Brother, I can't leave."
Why?
"My sister said that if I leave, she will bring my mother here. Only if I stay can I protect her."
Zhang Ze: ?
He now suspects that the female ghost might have some strange fetish.
"Has he seen her before?"
"Yes, Little Bear and I are good friends. We often play together. My sister doesn't like Little Bear, but she's often seen with him," Xiao Zhou replied.
Little bear.
Mentioning this, Zhang Ze suddenly remembered something.
"The place we're in, I think it's called a tree hole, right?"
"According to the animated film, this place seems to be... a bear's den?"
The words fell.
All four of them felt a sense of dread.
They didn't even realize it.
They've been in the tree hole for far too long. The little bear is a product of the painted world; even if it's different from the crows, it's not much different.
Even crows can kill people.
Do we even need to think about what a bear will do?
"Let's hurry up and leave. If the bear comes back, more people might die," Old Zhou said hastily.
Zhang Ze and Li Yang also agreed with this view.
However, Xiao Zhou suddenly raised his head, widened his eyes, pointed behind the stone bed where Zhang Ze had been hiding, and said in an innocent voice:
"The little bear was already in the tree hole."