Chapter 22: Han Ye Studio [4K]
The Shancheng Seven Stars Ridge has been a region where urban legends frequently occur since long ago, with the earliest legends dating back to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
It is said that after Zhang Jingxuan captured Tongyuan Gate and entered Shancheng, he killed many people and exposed their corpses on Seven Stars Ridge. The decomposing bodies piled up like a mountain, and the stench of decay lingered in the air for days. At night, the cries of the dead often echoed over Seven Stars Ridge, turning it into a place of fear and urban legends.
For a long time thereafter, no one dared to approach Seven Stars Ridge at night. It was not until the Anti-Japanese War that Shancheng became a temporary capital due to overcrowding in the main urban area, leading to the development of suburbs. The mass grave was filled with soil to build houses, resulting in the present-day Seven Stars Ridge.
It has proven that the horrors of poverty and urban legends are often quite comparable, and sometimes even more severe.
In modern times, Seven Stars Ridge has seen many rumors, such as urban legends driving people insane, or men mysteriously dying in rental houses with bodies highly decomposed and covered in broken yellow paper.
With the mysterious and eerie atmosphere brought on by these rumors, and the recent surge in urban legends, Seven Stars Ridge has become increasingly desolate at night, with many residents who could afford to move leaving the area. Those who cannot relocate generally do not go out at night.
Shancheng typically experiences much rain in summer. When Luxianbei arrived at the alley under Seven Stars Ridge, fine drizzle began to fall, and distant thunder rolled in the sky, announcing that a heavy rain was imminent.
Looking around, the old streets were mostly damaged, making the streetlights flicker on and off, creating an illusion of dismemberment. In the night sky, the rooftops of buildings connected in a line, undulating with the terrain like the spine of some enormous creature. The dim lights in the old buildings along the streets resembled the eyes of that massive creature, peering out into the darkness.
“Wow, this is way worse than that village in the South Suburb of Huacheng,” Luxianbei couldn’t help but exclaim as she looked at the scene before her.
Almost every city has one or two areas known for rich urban legend tales, like Seven Stars Ridge and the village near the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, which is considerably smaller than Seven Stars Ridge.
At first, Luxianbei didn’t understand why that painter would choose to open a studio in such a ghostly place as Seven Stars Ridge, but after reflecting on the words of a female university student, she understood.
The reason was simple—essentially due to poverty, just like the origin of Seven Stars Ridge!
Luxianbei learned from that female university student that the painter was struggling financially and couldn’t afford to open a studio in a prosperous area of Shancheng. The current place for his studio was simply his home, a house long rented at a very low price, transformed from a neighbor’s home.
As for why the painter was in such dire straits, it was easy to understand by merely considering the awkward circumstances faced by various artists. While famous paintings can sell for tens of millions, many second- and third-rate painters often find that their works are unsold, while at the same time, they bear the high costs of materials, paints, and research trips.
So, being impoverished was completely normal.
“But if he were willing to lower himself and draw pretty girls on Pixiv, or take on some commission work, he wouldn’t be so poor, right?” Luxianbei scoffed, “Isn’t that not considered art?”
“What pretty girls? I don’t know!”
Still looking at adult content while waiting for his girlfriend for a date? What kind of rubbish is that?
Can’t his girlfriend satisfy him?
It seems she really can’t? Well, that’s that then.
Hearing a voice from behind, Luxianbei shivered slightly, turned around, and saw a girl who was sizing her up look a bit surprised.
With sun-kissed skin, golden wavy long hair, and a black cropped jacket exposing her midriff, her short skirt had a diagonal patchwork design that showcased her long legs.
Who are you, hot girl?
Oh, Miaomiao Sauce, right?
It took Luxianbei a second to realize that Jiang Li had dressed up intentionally to match her identity as Wang Buliu after becoming urban legend-related.
“What pretty girls? I don’t know!” Snapping back to reality, she changed the subject, “Since we’re here, should we head out?”
“Sure.” Jiang Li nodded, “But now that we’re here, you can tell me where we’re going, right?”
Her work attitude has always been very serious, and now that the planned date turned into overtime, her demeanor naturally became a bit more stern and serious.
“It’s just ahead.” Luxianbei pointed to a nearby low building, “In that brick house is a painting studio.”
“A studio for drawing adult content?” Jiang Li tilted her head.
“Of course not—it’s a legitimate art studio!” Luxianbei explained, “I heard earlier that the owner of the studio saw something terrifying while sketching recently and then used what he saw as themes to create three series of paintings. Those three paintings even made urban legends with a spirit energy fluctuation level of C feel fear. I think something must be fishy here, and we need to investigate further, so…”
Pausing, she shifted the topic, “But that’s okay; we can set another date for tomorrow night!”
Jiang Li shot Luxianbei an eye roll and said seriously, “Let’s talk about tomorrow when it’s tomorrow.”
“Well, since we’re investigating, have you prepared? Have you looked into the background of that painter? Speaking of which…”
While speaking halfway, Jiang Li surveyed her surroundings and slightly furrowed her brows, “Why would anyone open a studio around here?”
On their way in the car, she had carefully read the information from the Siye Society regarding the area around Seven Stars Ridge. After the night prolonged, this area was surely not suitable for living; if possible, Siye Association operatives would even advise residents to move away.
There was widespread circulation of various legends about urban legends in this vicinity, which meant that even if the corresponding urban legend was cleared away, the time for it to reappear would be greatly shortened due to the spread of its rumors.
After several successive crackdowns, the Shancheng Siye Society had no choice but to retreat and seal off the more dangerous urban legends while regularly reinforcing those seals.
As long as there were no casualties, there was no possibility of resurrection or reappearance as mentioned in the rumors.
Sealed urban legends would no longer create urban legend events, which would naturally reduce related stories. Over time, the spirit energy fluctuation levels would decay, and when that decline reached a certain extent, they could be eradicated to significantly lower the chances of reappearance.
This scheme, apart from the resource consumption necessary for regularly reinforcing seals, had only one drawback: during the time of seal, there would occasionally be uninformed people who intruded into the sealed areas.
And those unfortunate enough to intrude into the seal would likely end up like characters in a movie who stumble upon a box holding demons or evil spirits in an attic of an old house and foolishly open it.
Hence, Seven Stars Ridge was hardly a livable place.
To live here, one would have to tolerate hearing the sounds of meat being chopped upstairs, the tragic cries of cats all night from below, the knocking on the door at midnight from an empty neighboring house, and the occasional flicker of a shadow outside the window.
“What else could it be?” Luxianbei pouted in response, “Of course, it’s due to poverty! However, according to the informant who provided me with this intel, that painter claims he opened the studio here to seek inspiration.”
“Oh, he also told my informant some strange things, and he didn’t seem quite right when he was speaking.”
“Strange things? What did he say?” Jiang Li asked curiously.
“That painter said, despite this being a real building, old and broken, what it has witnessed is far more than those tall skyscrapers, and it’s precisely the changes and tremors witnessed by these old buildings that give them unique life and charm,” Luxianbei recounted.
What the painter said was still relatively normal up to this point, but then the tone started to take a strange turn.
“He even said that he could almost hear these old buildings whispering stories from the past every night, see excellent models wandering in the secluded alleys, and smell the sweet scent wafting in the air. All of this brought him endless inspiration for his painting.”
“Is he born with hyper-sensitivity?” Jiang Li looked at Luxianbei, her gaze awkwardly lingering on her for a few seconds, “Like you…”
Luxianbei shrugged and replied helplessly, “It’s not quite the same, right? At least I see those strange things and know to run away. Probably only someone not quite right in the head would take the things captured through sensitivity as creative inspiration.”
Yes, from the description of the female university student, it seems that the painter had already been quite off even before he created those three series of paintings. And when he began to depict those paintings after seeing some kind of extreme horror, his mind probably completely broke down.
As they talked, they continued forward.
Luxianbei had originally hoped that in such a dilapidated, eerie environment, a little “suspension bridge effect” might occur to enhance their relationship with Jiang Li.
But clearly, having an A+-level spiritual ability user and an A-level spiritual ability user walking together would only create a suspension bridge effect for the urban legends hiding in the darkness nearby.
Although Luxianbei knew the detailed address of the painter’s studio from the female university student, the almost identical old buildings and high similarity of the intersections left them wandering in the twisted complexity of alleys, resembling a couple of headless flies.
A straight distance of about one kilometer took a full twenty minutes and still no destination, as the roads of Shancheng were quite unfriendly to outsiders.
The rain grew heavier and thick white mist began to swirl around, making the already oppressive alleys seem even gloomier and hazier.
Just as Jiang Li and Luxianbei were feeling frustrated due to the complicated terrain, pondering whether to “walk on the eaves and walls,” a child’s weeping voice suddenly came from behind them.
“I lost it, I can’t find it, I can’t find it…”
Hearing this, their footsteps faltered and they perked their ears to listen to the source of the voice, but the sound seemed to move erratically left and right, up and down, as if it were coming from the dense fog rising with the rain.
[Is it an urban legend?] Luxianbei frowned and exchanged glances with Jiang Li.
Jiang Li gently shook her head.
Luxianbei looked back at Jiang Li, nodded. She wanted to tell Jiang Li that if it were a spiritual ability user or urban legend with powers like the Solar Eclipse Association President, they might not be able to detect spiritual energy fluctuations. But in the end, to avoid worrying Jiang Li, she kept silent.
[True, if there’s no detection of spirit energy fluctuations, then maybe we could ask a passerby for directions?]
Jiang Li hesitated for a moment and lightly tapped her chin.
At that moment, a burst of giggling suddenly rang out behind them.
“Hehe, I found it, I found it!”
The laughter was strange, as if something was held in the mouth, inviting a sensation of a sticky, slippery insect crawling across the back of the neck.
Both of them quickly turned around, and a white shadow flashed swiftly across their field of vision.
Once they focused to see what that white shadow was, the prepared duo instantly relaxed, but their eyes turned strange.
Luxianbei watched as a girl in a white dress crawled on all fours in the alley ahead, muttering to herself as if searching for something.
[No spiritual energy fluctuation; she should be human. Why is she crawling on the ground?]
Perhaps treating her lumbar disease? But more likely, she’s not quite right in the head. “Jiang Li said lightly.
However, someone wandering around Seven Stars Ridge at this hour was the unusual part.
“Well, we can ask her about that Han Ye Studio.” Luxianbei’s words were cut off as the crawling girl suddenly emitted a sound resembling a dog’s whimper, exploded with energy, and dashed forward.
That frantic retreat gave the impression as if she was fleeing for her life.
Han Ye Studio was precisely their destination.
Did she know something important?
After a brief consideration and communicating with barely a word, the two of them tacitly gave chase.
However, within just a second or two, the girl vanished around a corner of the alley, and she did not emit any spirit energy fluctuations. After missing the first opportunity to cast a sealing spell on her, she became increasingly difficult to locate.
She seemed to have blended into the surrounding white mist.
That strange girl, like the fog and rain of Shancheng, appeared without warning and left quietly. Helplessly, the two could only continue forward.
Uncertain if chasing the oddly behaving girl had led them accidentally in the right direction, after five minutes they finally reached their destination.
Ahead stood a five-story row building with four units. Perhaps due to the typically humid climate in Shancheng, the gray-black outer walls were coated in dark green moss.
The night blurred their vision, further darkening the hue of the moss, unintentionally evoking thoughts of the discoloration that appears on the skin of dying people.
Luxianbei looked up and roughly counted, realizing the entire row building probably had about forty households, with only the top floor of one unit lit, while the rest of the building was pitch black.
The painter’s studio was located on the first floor of the fourth unit, with a very conspicuous sign in front saying “Han Ye Studio” in large letters.
Although the lights around the sign were off, the high-quality materials and exquisite craftsmanship, along with its splendid colors, contrasted sharply with the dilapidated buildings behind it, creating an absurdly comical feeling.
Standing in front of the small building, after surveying for a while, Luxianbei turned her head toward Jiang Li and softly asked, “Shall we go in now?”
“Yeah, let’s go in.” Jiang Li nodded.
As soon as she finished speaking, she witnessed a somewhat surprising situation.
Luxianbei actually rushed ahead of her, boldly stepping into the dark hallway.
In the past, she would never have been the first to step into such potentially dangerous places without knowing what lay ahead.
Watching Luxianbei’s back, a look of appreciation appeared on Jiang Li’s face, and her slightly squinted eyes seemed to say, “You’ve finally grown up, little cub; your sister is very happy!”
