Apartment for Rent ch 13.8 - Hallway (Final)

"I've. Had. Enough." said Old Zhang one word at a time, on the brink of a meltdown.


Guo Li didn't understand his reaction, so he said, "Alright, the three of us will take our garbage out, you... take your time."

It was as though Old Zhang didn't hear Guo Li's voice at all, he focused all his energy at starting at Bo Yan.

"It was you, wasn't it?" He sounded stern and boisterous.

Bo Yan was truly scared by that. Stunned, he looked to Guo Li and I for help.

"Mr. Zhang, you are drunk," I said warmly.

"I am not drunk!" Old Zhang was about to lose control, he shouted, "He was the one who set me up!"

"What.... what did I do! You are making shit up!" Bo Yan jumped up.

Old Zhang was outraged, his instant to attack was about to overpower the self-persevering nature of a peeping Tom.


Yes, turn on each other.

This only sped up the development in my script.


"Ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka,......"


The crisp clacking of a stiletto coming down the stairs in an uplifting pace resounded abruptly in the apartment in the middle of the night.


With every clacking sound, all four of our hearts starting beating in unison with the same damned, undisguised rhythm.

Up and down.

Up and down.

Up up down down.

In an oddly synchronized way, as though conditioned, us four newbie in the field of disposing of dead bodies slowly turned our heads around.

A slim shadow pointedly made a turn around the stairs, after the "ka, ka" sound, a faint noise of an heavy object being dragged across the floor.


Four Adam's apple rolled, each of us swallowed.


The one going downstairs was Ying Ru.

A meddler.

A spontaneously extra actress.

Stiletto, a light blue dress, a thick coffee aroma twirling around from between each crisp step; the jet black long, flowy hair made her face seemed even more light-skinned and smooth.


I took a deep breathe.


Vaguely.

I thought I heard a light, soft, silky, and thin voice, giving me an indescribable pleasant feeling.

But when I tried to focus on listening to the faint sound, I was not able to find the source of it. The almost non-existing sound was like a magical tune, it dissipated my smugness. I want to barricade my heart but I couldn't help but hum the strange melody.


From a distance, Ying Ru smiled at us warmly from the staircase.

The smile from a beautiful woman made the four of us smiled back mechanically. All of us swooned by the melody.

Then, we noticed that she was dragging a big, black plastic bag in her left hand as she slowly descended the stairs.

The creepy part was that the bag was so unusually heavy that Ying Ru wasn't able to to lift it up, she just casually dragged it behind her, not concerning herself with the fact that the bag was banging against the stairs and making an audible banging noise every step of the way.

The banging noise was unpleasant to the ears, but oddly in tune with the melody in the air. Not only did it not seem out of place, it added a melancholy feel to the melody.

Also because of its weight, the friction between the floor and the stairs caused a small rip on the black plastic bag, leaving an indescribable yet vigorous and forceful red calligraphy mark on the stairs and floor.


Dumbfounded, the four of us looked on as Ying Ru casually walked through our group, her elegant pose made us held our breath.

It was when her hair briefly touched my nose when I realized the melancholy melody came from Ying Ru; she has been humming ever so lightly.


It was only after Ying Ru disappeared from around the corner that we started slowly recover from the disorientation between the real and the surreal.

Looking down, the ostentatious red fluid trail did not disappear with the tune that Ying Ru was humming, it extended all the way to the end of the hallway, the continued down to the second floor along with the banging sound.

Right after that, I heard the metal door on the first floor being opened, a crisp "ka, ka" noise continued to echo in the dark alley in the middle of the night.


The piper entered a cave, and the giant rock silently blocked the entrance.

The horrible fable of how thousands of children from a village never saw the light of day again.


I blinked, rocking back and forth in the dim hallway.

Was I hallucinating?

The song was too pretty and too faint, I seem to vaguely remembered the sight of half a head with two pencils quietly protruding from the sockets through the crack on the bag.


The four of us made no sound for a long while. We couldn't tell you when the tension from the before disappeared, neither did we know what we could do.

It was as though we had lost a lot of our natural senses?

Such as excitement, fear, terror, nausea, pressure, anxiety.


"Let's go?" I broke the silence after a long while.


Letting out a foul breath, Old Zhang nodded silently.

With no extra verbal exchanges, everything lightened up.

Lightened up so much that none of us were progressing toward our original goal.


"That song was beautiful," said Old Zhang looking somewhat lonely.

"Yes," I agreed.

"Any one of you know what that song was?" asked Bo Yan.

"I think it's Gloomy Sunday, Gloomy Sunday?¹" Guo Li was the most knowledgeable, it looked as though he wanted to elaborated on it but finally said nothing.


Nonetheless, nobody asked anything else about the song.

Everybody went back to being silent.

In the silence, Gloomy Sunday crawled its way back into my head, slowly wrapping around every inch of my nerve and emotion. Like the abyss of an ocean, I could only sink, sink, and sink.

From the endless sinking, the elegant movement of Ying Ru's limbs, banging noises from the corpse, clanking noises from the heels, rich aroma of the coffee, a blurry silhouette, two pencils stabbing into eye sockets.

All the elements resonating with each other perfectly, continuously.

Without interruptions.


We didn't know who took the first step.

But, Guo Li picked up one third of Ling Hu, Bo Yan also picked up one third of Ling Hu, and I picked up one third as well. The three of us slowly made our way down the stairs. And Old Zhang picked up little miss Wang, who died entirely too young. The four murderers swayed on, no words were necessary.


"What's that stench? Oh my God, why do you all take out your garbage in the middle of the night?"

Miss Chen opened the door, an empty glass water jug in her hand.

She frowned and complained when she saw our procession.


We looked at each other, but right when we were about to continue on downstairs, I suddenly somewhat wanted to kill Miss Chen.


"Ah Choo,"

I sneezed, dropping the plastic bag in my left hand.

Ling Hu's head rolled out from the loosened bag.

Sounding like a bowling ball, it rolled all the way to Miss Chen's feet.

Miss Chen's pupil dilated, her chest lifted.

She was just about to let out a loud screen when Guo Li, Bo Yan, and Old Zhang all rushed up and six arms frantically tried to cover up her nose and mouth.


No disorganization, no heaving breathing.

One second, only one second, the water jug from Miss Chen's hand was placed on the floor in one piece.

You looked at me; I looked at him; he looked at you; you looked at her. It.

Guo Li placed the two plastic bags down onto the floor, Bo Yang picked them up, grabbing two bags in each hand.

I picked up Ling Hu's mischievous head and placed it back in the bag and reknotted it carefully.

Guo Li picked up the shapely Miss Chan.

We went downstairs together, opened the door, piled into Guo Li's car, and started it.


"Where to?" asked Old Zhang who had the plastic bag up around his chest, oblivious to the fact that little miss Wang's hair had already came out of the bag.

"I know of a place," Guo Li steered and stepped gently on the gas paddle.

Nobody disagreed; everybody sedating on their own.


The night became blurry.

The building, no longer twisted, but vast and empty like Nocturne in E Flat Major.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


We never saw Ying Ru again after that day.

Like a ghost, she disappeared from the 2AM back alley with the corpse she was dragging.

I kept the room for her. She has the keys, she could return any time.

She could bring back new toys, or take away the foul-smelling foul suitcase, or any of the huge suitcases.

This would always be your home.


Two days later, Old Zhang was the first to move away.

The note he left on the living room table said that he found a nice little room, and thanked us for everything we've done for him during his stay.

I ate the note in order to memorialize our profound friendship.


Bo Yan was the next to move away. Before the moved he picked up smoking, and sighing.

Someone capable of being sentimental, or willing to pretend to be sentimental, was a sign of growing up.

For that, I wish him all the best.

One afternoon, I ran into him at one of my frequently-visited fast food restaurant while he was placing an order. We chitchatted for a little bit and that felt good.

But I have never seen him again after that.


It didn't matter whether Guo Li moved away or not. He was never here all that much, nor did he has a lot of possessions. I planned to clear out his room for him after his lease was up.

During this time, Guo Li and I took care of all the questions from the regional manager of the convenient store, school teacher, representative from human resource, routine investigation from the cops. Piece of cake.

After the gloomy Sunday, Guo Li left behind fifty thousand dollars. How interesting.

That I didn't eat to memorialize our friendship. I planned on using them to upgrade my equipment. They would allow me to see more and see clearer, and also hear more and broader.


I think, the next batch of tenants would have even more fun.




For Rent:

Small suites. $3,000 a month (negotiable). Male or female.

Other amenities include kitchen, washer, dryer. Communal refrigerator, living room, rooftop access, elevator, and broadband internet.

I can be reached 24 hours a day.


---

1. Not a mistake on my part. He said it twice, once in English and once in Chinese. :D

---

Random translator's note: They sure sell some sturdy black, plastic garbage bags in Taiwan....

This book has a epilogue after Chapter 13 that was every bit as long if not longer than 13. I am starting to think that the author made an extra long chapter 13 just so he could end the book on chapter 13.... I will try to slowly translate epilogue to wrap this up as well.

Apartment for Rent ch 13.7 - Hallway

Third floor.

I looked at Old Zhang's door in front of me.

I wondered if Old Zhang has left his room?

What kind of unsophisticated way did he choose to dispose of the body?

Put it in a suitcase?

In a bag?

Cook it?

Blender?

And if he had left, when would he be back?

At the end of the day, he would have to come back. He wouldn't want the rampaging Mr. Wang to put the blame on him again if he was gone for the night. As long as he didn't take off to somewhere far away, I could include him in my script.



Suddenly, fate dealt me a good card.


Right when Guo Li passed his own room, Old Zhang's door creaked open and out came a shocked and pale face.

That's the guilt-consumed Old Zhang.

The strung-up Guo Li stopped in his path immediately, the somewhat at loss Bo Yan almost bumped into Guo Li's shoulder, but he was able kept the bags tightly gripped in his hands.


"Oh? Mr. Zhang is still awake?"

Guo Li's voice was short of natural, it contradicted the hospitable look on his face.

"Hrm, yeah, going to get some beer."

Old Zhang's voice was even more coarse, the surprised look on his face did nothing to cover up his anxiety.

Bo Yan, winner of the idiot competition, couldn't come up with anything to say, making the atmosphere very awkward.

I noticed that Old Zhang also had a big black garbage bag by his feet. It looked very heavy.

Ay, this guy was slow and non-creative. I found him quite disappointing.

"Old Zhang, taking out the garbage?" I asked.

"Yeah, too much clutter, thought I'd do some organizing. Figured I'd toss it into the large dumpster in the back alley next door while I am on my way to pick up some beer." He was looking more unnatural."

I knew that Old Zhang appeared unnatural because he killed little miss Wang, but since Guo Li and Bo Yan were equally anxious, they would only think whether Old Zhang was suspicious of them.

"Oh, what a coincident. We were on our way to take out the garbage as well. Why don't we take yours too while we are at it?" I laughed, purposefully making him more nervous.


Old Zhang's left leg was shaking.


"Naw.... I can't trouble you like that."

His leg was shaking so much now even Guo Li noticed it.

"We are happy to help, just give it to us." said Guo Li in a hearty manner, but his leg was shaking too, as though was powered by Energizer battery.


The two looked at each other awkwardly.

If Old Zhang really went to us to take out his garbage, we would also have to toss the pieces of Ling Hu into the dumpsters to avoid him getting suspicious. If that's the case, chances are the body will be picked out by strayed cats or dogs. That would be worse than dumping the body in a shallow grave.

Old Zhang had the same conflicting thought. He couldn't just dispose of little miss Zhang into a dumpster.


"C'mon, I mean it," Guo Li put down one of his bags and reached out to take Old Zhang's bag from him.

Old Zhang blocked Guo Li's hand with his quick response, but his line of sight moved to the side, and landed on the pale Bo Yan.

"Yeah, we can take it out for you," Bo Yan felt very uncomfortable under Old Zhang's stare.

Old Zhang didn't say anything.

His look lingered on Bo Yan; it was full of strong and silent scrutiny.

The pressure he went through to take care of the body alone was far different than what we wen through with the three of us.

The lack of thorough planning, the great time constraint, the pressure of being caught, you could tell these had done a number on him by the red veins in his eyes.

Bo Yan started to tremble under his gaze.

Apartment for Rent ch 13.6 - Hallway

Back to Bo Yan's room, I continued to sit on the bed like a bystander and watched them put the separated body into six plastic bags, then wrapped them in another six plastic bags, in case the bags ripped and the foul-smelling fluid leaked out.

I looked at Ling Hu's intact head inside the toilet, "I'll get the head, it's more secure this way."

Guo Li was too scared to agree or disagree. He just gave Bo Yan a look and Bo Yan immediately wrapped the head up and handed it to me.

"Let's go," I said.

"Let's get into my car then decided where to go," said Guo Li.

"We should also get a shovel, but I'm not sure where we can find one at this hour." Bo Yan said, visibly tired. He rubbed his starving stomach, but I knew he wouldn't be able to stomach anything right now.

Guo Li looked like he was about to say something but didn't. He probably had the hole ready, that's why we didn't see any digging tools in his room?


No, Guo Li killed Ling Hu two days ago. He returned yesterday to cut up the body, he wouldn't have the time to dig the hole.

Ergo, the tools would be inside his car.


"It's too late to find tools now. Why don't we bury it somewhere shallow for now. We will go back in two days to dig a deeper hole," I pretended to make a suggestion.

Bo Yan dared not to disagree, but couldn't help but to grumble, "God, we had to go back? It'd be bad if we couldn't find the right spot."

Guo Li summoned up his courage, "I still have the tools from Tomb Sweeping Day¹ in my car, they will have to do. I only have one shuffle, we will have to take turn digging."

"That's perfect," I said, being oh so proud of myself.


The three of us picked up the bags and just about to cautiously head downstairs.


"Wait, it's safer to take the elevator. It will take us directly to the exit leading out to the back street behind the building." said Guo Li, obviously had it all planned out.

I disagreed, "The elevator is too noisy. It made a loud 'Kang Kang Kang' sound when it runs. I think we should take the stairs."

Bo Yan looked at Guo Li and I, he struggled to express his opinion, "It doesn't matter that the elevator is loud, nobody will give it a second thought. It'd be more odd to run into someone when the three of us carry all these bags downstairs."

Guo Li looked at me.

I pretended to grapple with the idea, "Okay, I admit I didn't want to use the elevator. Please, you two can leave here after this, but I will still have to use the elevator or large items. I don't want to think about this incident every time I use the elevator in the future. Would you want that if it was you?"

Guo Li had no objection; Bo Yan resentfully shook his head.

Three murderers, carrying six pieces of a dead body and headed downstairs.

In the order of level of responsibility in the murder, Guo Li was leading the pack, followed by Bo Yan, then me at the very end.


2:10 AM.


I just saw too much "red", even the light bulbs in the hallway started looking red to me.

The gruesome and surreal scene inside the bathroom continued to spiral in front of my eyes like a watching a kaleidoscope, making me dizzy. The hallway felt stuffy like a secret passage inside an air-raid tunnel, as though it'd collapse any minute.

Every gasp of oxygen was a luxury.

Of course it was worse for the two who were bombarded by the bloody scene in close range.

Bo Yan's steps were shaky. Guo Li who was leading wasn't much better, snaking his way forward.

We walked almost on our tiptoes, like a cat.


Up until now, all the events took place according to the prophecy, with the exception of Mr. Wang's part.

Mr. Wang was supposed to be in a body bag, being carried by us just like Ling Hu. But since he's got to die one way or another, I didn't mind too much to allow a more experience dead body disposer took over the task.

It made our task easier anyway.


I looked at Bo Yan who's walking in front of me.

The back of Bo Yan's shirt was drenched, sticking to his skin.

He was experiencing the biggest turn of event of his life. His body might be dehydrated, but his mental state was getting stronger and stronger.


Murder, can strengthen a coward. It's the fastest way to make a kid grow up.

"This is so gratifying," I thought to myself, as I secretly unknot the body bag in my left hand.




***

1. A day where people go to visit and clean up ancestors' grave sides, not literally digging anything.

A Word From The Translator

When I decided to translate the remaining chapters of "Apartments for Rent", I thought it's just a peculiar book, but I was wrong. It was actually very dark and very disturbing. So read on at your own risks.

Prologue and the first 12.5 chapters was translated by Easy Going Scans, and you can find them here.

Readers be warned! This book gets progressive more disturbing as it goes on. It's not for the faint of heart. >.<

Apartment for Rent ch 13.5 - Hallway

"I don't want to know who's fingerprints are on this knife, but I am for sure not touching it. You guys will have to take care of it," I plopped myself on the bed.

"We will also need a few large and sturdy plastic bags. We should put one of the floor as well so the blood doesn't get everywhere." Guo Li had it all planned out.

"I will get some downstairs. I will be right back." I pretended I was going to get up.

Guo Li acted like he was really worried that I would change my mind, "No, I happened to have a few in my room Let me go get them."

Bo Yan worried that Guo Li would regret, "Let's just get on with it, why don't we just do it in the bathroom? We will do it together and get it over with. Let's not drag this out longer than we need to."

I concurred, "That makes sense. Why don't I wait here while you guys go cut the body up in the bathroom? But hurry, we should have the body buried before morning and be done with it." I was more worried that the two of them would have a change of heart.

Bo Yan concurred so Guo Li had to play along.

The two of them dragged Ling Hu into the tiny bathroom and thrust his head into the toilet so they could avoid the most horrid part of the body and the part that would create the most lasting memory.


Bo Yan picked up the knife and swallowed hard.

He didn't know where to begin.

Guo Li sighed, silently took the knife from Bo Yan, and proceeded to slowly cut into the meaty part of the neck.

"Tsk....." I was really afraid to look.

As it went on, the two took turns hacking at the body.

Guo Li only vomited once before he calmed down. He continued cutting indifferently.

Bo Yan had never cut up a body before, he dry vomited three times before he was somewhat more stable.

Slowly, the organs and intestines spread all over the floor, yellow and foul smelling fat got all over their clothes and the tiles. I took a quick glance and almost passed out, the smell was the worst. I pinched my nose as I waited for Ling Hu to turned into pieces of unrecognizable stuff.


I am going to interrupt you with an advice. You would jot it down if you know what's good for you.

What I want to tell you is that, if you ever want to dissect a body in a hurry, it's best to not do it. You need to come up with a less labor-intensive method, like burning the body on the patio or something.

Not only was it grotesque to cut up a body, it was even more time-consuming when it came to joints and tendons. But none of those measured up to the putrid smell.

If you think a dissected body came in nice little package of bone, skin, and muscle, think again. You are going to need to prepare many more sturdy plastic bags for the messy internal organs, on top of tying up the intestines or carefully slicing them up into small sections. After ward you will have to scrub the floor with chlorine tens of times to somewhat get rid of the adipose tissue, corpse water, and blood.

Dissecting a body is a specialty, you need a specialist for that.


When Ling Hu's dead body completely turned into a pile of flesh, Bo Yan and Guo Li were covered in small meat pieces and blood splatter.

There some sort of semi translucent substance sticking to Bo Yan's right year, ready to drip down. Guo Li took up most of the cutting; his entire pants were a oily yellow color, it wasn't a pleasant sight.

"You might want to chopped the hands and feet up some more. Should the bag break, you don't want others to be able to tell it's a corpse." I suggested.

A person's hands and feet, along with their faces and ear, nose, and mouth were the easiest part in helping with identification of a body. I trust that most folks never did any research on distinguishing human organs and muscles from other animals.

Gui Li nodded in agreement. Bo Yan, who was about to pass out, had no choice but to take over the knife and chopped off the fingers and the toes.


It is now 1:30 AM Sunday morning, the two murdered who hadn't eaten all day long were closed to exhaustion.

"You two are dirty and smell disgusting, but we don't have time for you to bath, just wipe yourselves down with a towel. We will go get the plastic bags from Guo Li's room for the body, then drive into the mountain to get rid of it."

The two of them wiped their bodies down with a wet towel. Guo Li got a set of change of clothes from Bo Yan, then the three of us stealthily sneaked downstairs.

Slowly, when we approached the outside of Guo Li's room, he suddenly remembered all the tools he had prepared earlier. So he gestured Bo Yan and I to wait out in the hallway to be on the look. He went inside by himself and returned with a few sturdy, black plastic bags.

I watched Guo Li entered his from from the hallway then looked at Old Zhang's door across from us.

I could hear some small noises coming from the inside, like something was going o.

"Let's go," Guo Li had more than enough plastic bags with him, then the three of us tiptoed back upstairs.

***

A word from the translator:
None of my training in translation, as an autopsy assistant, a tissues harvester, (and an accountant) had prepared me for translating something so gruesome. Let me reassured you that there is no such thing as "corpse water", and you don't want to know what kind of image I ran into when I Googled it. Some sort of a warning would have been nice. >.< Now I see why the previous translator stop short of finishing this book. >.<

Apartment for Rent ch 13.4 - Hallway

"Well... Wuqi Harbor is only 10 minutes or so away. All we have to do is to toss him into the ocean and be done with it! The body might float to the US all by itself, even better if it ends up in Africa." Soon as he was done he realized he probably shouldn't have said that.

Not only did he killed Guo Li's lover, now he just want to casually get rid of the body. He didn't want Guo Li to get angry and go back on the deal.

Bo Yan paused for a bit and said to himself, "Ever since last night, I have said the Buddhism prayer several hundred times already. Judging by the time, brother Ling Hu has probably reached heaven right about now... so, I figured he really didn't need this body anymore. Plus he would have much more freedom being in the ocean..."

"What kind of nonsense are you rambling about?" I cut off Bo Yan who was in a trance and scolded him, "It's not safe to toss the body into the ocean. Sooner or later it will get washed ashore. It will very likely trace back to you if that's the case. I suggest burying him in a grave. The more desolate the location the better."

Guo Li nodded wordlessly.

He was quite different from the seemingly liberated Bo Yan. Even though his thought process was still jumbled up, but his age and self-possession made him appeared much more reserved. Presumably he already had the location picked out.

"But... but he's huge, that means...." I purposefully avoided looking at Ling Hu's body, pretending that I couldn't stand the sight of it at all, "That may cause some difficulties, do you guys have a suitcase large enough to fit him inside?"

Bo Yan replied right away, "There's no suitcase big enough to fit in an adult his size! Naturally we will need to...."

Bo Yan stopped himself just in time. He looked up at Guo Li.

"I was thinking, we might have to cut him into pieces first," said Guo Li cautiously.

It's not like he didn't already have all the tools prepared.

Troubled, I said to them, "I don't think I will have the stomach for this part. You think you two can handle this on your own?"

Guo Li and Bo Yan replied together, "Of course."



Once a crazy idea got set into motion, logical discussion naturally entered into the dialog between the three murderers.


"What kind of tools do we use to cut apart a dead body? Can we just use a regular knife?" asked the naive Bo Yan.

"Probably something on the sharper side that would likely be.... more suitable and more efficient," Guo Li tried to downplay his answer.

"I wonder if we could use the knife that's already here. Eh? Isn't this the knife from the kitchen downstairs?" I made a fuss as I pointed at the knife protruding out of Ling Hu's body, pretending that I really wanted to know who took the knife but also as the same time didn't want to know the truth.

"This tool.... I will get something, let's not use this knife." Guo Li probably had the scalpel  he prepared in mind. He just hadn't brought it up yet because he didn't want to anger Bo Yan.

He didn't want Bo Yan to know that he was planning on slicing up Ling Hu all along. If he was too overly candid about it, he worried that the seemingly unusually happy Bo Yan would regret.

"No, I agree with Mr. Landlord's suggestion. Let's not waste any more time. The sooner we can wrap this up the better. The longer this drag on, the more likely something else will go wrong. Let's just use this knife. If it could be used to kill someone, it's sharp enough."


Guo Li glanced over at Bo Yan, he felt progressively more baffled.

Guo Li was definitely the one who killed Ling Hu, yet somehow he became the passive participant in this incident.

Perhaps, Bo Yan was in such foul mood that his personality just changed? Or Bo Yan had psychological issues all along?

Apartment for Rent ch 13.3 - Hallway

"Wait!"

I willed myself up, yanked out the key that's still in the keyhole and closed the door.

Guo Li was baffled, took a step back; even Bo Yan who had already abandoned all hope looked up at me.

I looked at them, dropped down to my knees, and kowtowed at them three times. *Bang bang bang*

"I beg of you! Please don't tell any one about this. I don't want to know what happened between the three of you, whether it's murder or an accident. I... I don't want to know any of it, but just please don't call the cop....." My voice was that of apprehension.

I continue to kowtow at them repeatedly.

When I finally looked up, Guo Li's face was covered in complicated lines, he didn't know what to think.

And the idiotic Bo Yan suddenly turned into an entirely different person, almost ecstatically he shouted, "No Problem! But what do you think our next step should be?"

A second passed, he suddenly remembered that Guo Li hasn't settled all his scores with him yet, so I certainly wouldn't be able to make any decisions. He cast a look in Guo Li's direction.

Guo Li looked at Bo Yan in disbelief.


Didn't this guy hold the body hostage for the sole purpose of negotiating with him? Although it was quite obvious the fact that he was holding the body meant he wasn't going to call the cops, but would rather settle this privately. But just a few words from the landlord were able to excite him as much.... this just seemed a little too easy!


"I think that is a good idea, but...." Guo Li looked at Bo Yan, not sure how to convey his confusion.


I decisively announced, "Let's stop with the discussion! Since we all agreed to keep quite on this, we should now figure out a way to get rid of the body. Never mind that I really don't want to know how Ling Hu.... how he died! That will only bring me more trouble. So I am going to ask the two of you to sear that you will never speak a word of what happened here, even when the three of us were alone. Even if the cops are onto one of you one day, you still won't drag me or this apartment into the mix. This is my only condition."

Guo Li frowned and sneaked a few looks at Bo Yan.

Of course Bo Yan just nodded non-stop, usually high spirited.

"I swear," said Guo Li, pulling himself together, "I will never speak of a word about this, not in the future, nor drag mister landlord into this."

"Me too! I swear also!" Bo Yan was delirious, "If I ever speak of a word about this, or drag you into it, I will be stabbed forty-nine times and die a horrible death!"

"Good!" I was relieved, "Now what should we do with him?" I pointed at Ling Hu. He probably never imagined that he would turn into some sort of bargaining chip and got involved in some ridiculous transaction after his death.


You could say the next item on my agenda was very easy, but you could also say that it's very arduous.

That was to bring both murderers' focus onto destroying evidence of the crime rather than second guessing why the other party was being so cooperative.

After all, the conflict existed from the very beginning. All I could do was to reorganize the scenes, I would not be able to make the conflict go away.

It was ludicrous how the three murderers each of us involved at various level were all sitting around the corpse.

I looked at Bo Yan.

Apartment for Rent ch 13.2 - Hallway

Guo Li dragged out the cold and stiff Ling Hu.

Flies that could get into just about anywhere were actively jumping around and laying eggs on the corners of his mouth, nostrils, and eyeballs.

The dead Ling Hu only lost his soul. What he left behind was nutritious protein for random organisms to hatch on and eaten from the inside.

In the spirit of spreading the love, we really should ban cremation.

The atmosphere was awful, yet it made an actor feel obligated to throw out an ambiguous line in response. It didn't matter who, else even the bystander's soul was going to lose control.


"I am sorry."

Bo Yan mechanically spit out these three words before he buried his face into his body all over again, as though he was a hermit crab who couldn't find a shell to settle in. This was his concise line.


Guo Li was bewildered, but immediately understood what Bo Yan was trying to say.

Bo Yan was apologizing for stealing his lover from him.


"No... we... we were both wrong.... it was me who had too often neglected his feelings of being alone, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now." Suddenly Guo Li felt sorrow, finally guilt was starting to consume him.


This kind of backlashing would bring out the good side of someone who has lost his conscience. I couldn't let such moral conversation continue. The situation would become unpredictable.

"They were on the right track, why switch gear now?" I remembered a line from a Head & Shoulder commercial. I changed into clothe shoes and hurried downstairs.


"I ruined everything, everything... no matter how things unfolded, I should have done this....." Guo Li was truly regretful, I heard him throwing himself onto the floor.

Bo Yan was speechless, he probably thought Guo Li went overboard on his break down.


Gently I twisted the door knob with the key still inserted, pretending to be shocked by what I was seeing.


"Oh my god!" Guo Li was started and jumped straight up.

Bo Yan had no idea what happened and dashed out of the bathroom. But owing to the fact that he has been squatting for too long, he tripped over the dead body as soon as he left the bathroom.

My feet were weak. I lowered my body slowly as I gripped onto the door frame.

"What... what happened here?" I was shocked, pointing at Ling Hu's body on the floor.

The shiny knife still protruding from his chest.

Guo Li was breathing heavily, completely stunned b the unexpected development of events, just like how I was insta-killed during my first encounters with Ying Ru.

Soon as Bo Yan realized it was me, he passively collapsed onto the floor, as though he was saying "just arrest me and stop this torture already."

A fitting and cliche description that they would to describe this moment would be "it was as though the time had stopped and a century had passed". But me, as a bystander, practically counted seconds in my head.

At the eleventh second, the real killer Guo Li finally tried to open his mouth to either explain something or admit to something, but all the words were tangled up in his brain. All I could make out was some garbled up noises rolling around inside his mouth "EEEEE EEEEE OOOOO OOOOO."


____

Translator's Note: Did you all know that this was made into a movie? I thought the book was disturbing enough. Not sure I have the stomach to watch the movie. >.<

Apartment for Rent Ch 13.1 - Hallway

Needless to say, Bo Yan was not able to fall asleep under such pressure.

However, Bo Yan,  the person who effortlessly won the first place in the idiot competition, has been cowering on top the of toilet since Guo Li entered his room, his head pressed between his knees, his eyes half opened and half closed.

Guo Li walked slowly and with great caution. His two hands formed into fists and randomly blocking in front of his chest. His squinted and blinked non stop as thought he was looking straight into some bright light source.

I knew that's the natural reaction when one was worried that you would suddenly bumped into a corpse, even though that was Guo Li's intent.

Standing in the middle of Bo Yan's room, Guo Li stopped panting. Slowly he turned his head and made eye contact with Bo Yan who was still squatting on top of the toilet.


Guo Li swallowed.

Bo Yan shuddered.


For a long while, maybe two minutes or so, neither one spoke.



I pushed my face closer to the monitor, the scene resemble that of a comedic, low quality theater performance. As thought both actors forgot their lines at the same time, so all they could do was look at each other awkwardly.

But the show must go on, and as the director and the only audience of the show, I could do nothing but to wait unwillingly.



Finally, Guo Li, who came for the purpose of negotiating, was the first to break the silence.
"I... want to... ask for your forgiveness."

Guo Li didn't know what to say, he must thought that the battered and exhausted Bo Yan was mourning for the loss of his lover, Ling Hu, with a broken heart.

"....." Bo Yan wasn't able to speak at all, nor could he comprehend Guo Li's words.

Suddenly Guo Li burst into tears.

He was bawling, but there was no tears. Like a withered tree, he had lost all his vigor.


I understood, he was not crying because of regret or guilt, nor was he trying to gain someone's pity. This was a nervous break down.

A complete and total nervous break down.

That's why, even though there were no tears, his look was that of the deepest despair and hopelessness. He had completely given up, without reserve, except.....


"All I am asking is for you to give me a break. Just give me back Ling Hu's body.... I will give you anything you want...."

He wailed, his voice hoarse.


Bo Yan shuddered, but quickly returned to his loser face.

I knew it... he knew "the other me" killed the damned homosexual....

Bo Yan pointed mechanically toward the bottom of the bed. He said not a word to defend himself.

What use is there to say anything? Only judges and jurors in a Hollywood movie will believe in "multiple personality disorder."

With Bo Yan's permission to touch the body, Guo Li let out a sigh of relief.

Of course he figured out that the body could either be under the bed or inside the closet, assuming he hasn't cut it up into pieces. But there would be no negotiation without Bo Yan's consent.

An inexplicable boost of energy entered Guo Li's half starved body. He scrambled over to the side of Bo Yan's bed, moved aside all the miscellaneous items and shoe boxes used to conceal the body, and hastily dragged out Ling Hu's body. This was no time to be afraid of a corpse.


***
Translator's Note:

I am going to be honest. The word counts in this book went from 2K in chapter one to 6K in chapter 12, and 9K in chapter 13. I don't know how many subchapters I will be splitting chapter 13 into, but thought I will just continue to post when I reached a break point so y'all can continue to enjoy.

Apartment for Rent ch 12.3

I stood outside of Bo Yan's door, looking at the stairs at the end of the hallway.

Guo Li could be here any minute, I need to figure out a new path for my sudden change of plans.

My mind was racing as a mad speed.

Tak.

Tak. Tak.

Guo Li walked at a slow pace purposefully, inching closer one step at a time.

I bit my lower lip with my teeth and ran my hands from my temple to my neck. Adrenaline roiling inside of me.

How was I going to explain the whereabout of Mr. Wang to Guo Li?

How was I going to make Guo Li focus all his attention on Bo Yan?

The sound of the shower coming from Ying Ru's room stopped.

Bang.

A silent, obviously one-sided "face off", had ended in Ying Ru's room.

I widened my eyes, an extremely radical idea climbed up my spine like vines growing out of control

Since I have already altered my plan, I was just going to ignore it. I doubt Guo Li would notice the disappearance of Mr. Wang.

Guo Li's face off would be much easier. All I need to do was to help bring the negotiation over the corpse onto the table.

Tak.

Tak. Tak.

Before Guo Li reached fourth floor, I took out my key and gently thrusted it inside Bo Yan's key hole.

I took off my slippers and carried them in my hand. Then I rushed upstairs and returned to my control room, monitoring all seven battle fields simultaneously.

I gasped for air in front of my TV. My rash decisions made my heart pound vigorously inside my chest.

This room has no shortage of hearts ready to explode.

Guo Li finally arrived between Ying Ru and Bo Yan's rooms, a little confused at the key inside Bo Yan's door.

His shaky hand hesitated in mid air, like a scene paused on an old VCR.

Bo Yan, who noticed all the bustling outside the door, had nevertheless adopted the strategy of giving up. He simply closed his eyes and forced himself to go to sleep. Most likely he was hoping his other unpredictable and terrifying personality will surface and take care of the unbearable upcoming chain of events.

As I have mentioned previously, nowadays the college student acceptance rate is 120%. Their products are a bunch of sons of bitches who couldn't take any responsibilities.

The entrance of hell.

The mouth of a monstrous creature looked no different than a regular room.

Mr. Wang now sat on the chair that's more horrifying than an electric chair. His eyes closed, he looked so familiar, so serene. It was as though hymns sang by a church choir was playing in the background, so melodious and mellifluous.

The dripping Ying Ru was quiet and exude an air of superiority as usual.She did not waste time on figuring out how Mr. Wang could just walk into her room, or tried to figured out why. She was not interested in those answers.

As though it was nature to a predator like her, she produced a bunch of ropes and tied up the unconscious Mr. Wang and opened up the little wooden box she had been hiding her bed.

The naked little miss Wang laid in the middle of the bed. Under the bed, expired milk jugs scattered all over the floor. Old Zhang was covered in tears. He knelt with his hands together, continuously bowing down the little miss Wang on the bed.

I zoomed into to the image.

Little miss Wang laid there motionlessly, her eyes closed.

From my experience of looking at thousands of pictures of corpses on the internet, I believed little miss Wang was suffocated.

Peeping Toms were always best at protecting themselves, this principle was always right.

If you have a highlighter nearby, you should highlight this sentence.

"In your mind, only one person could intrude into others' rooms -- Bo Yan" I asked wisely, like a game show host to the special guest.

"Do you want to take care of Bo Yan first? or get rid of little miss Wang's body first? Sure, Bo Yan tied up little miss Wang and tossed her into your closet, that was awful, but after all, she was alive when he handed her over to you. You were the one whose responsible for her death."

"If you don't get rid of the body fast, once Mr. Wang called the cops, an investigation will be launched, you may not have another opportunity to take care of the dead body. What are you going to do then? Surely you can't blame it on Bo Yan a second time. Your finger prints are all over the body!"

I asked questions after questions. Naturally old Zhang who has been bowing to the dead body on his knees did not respond to any of them.

But the answer was already obvious.



Old Zhang stood up blankly, pushed over a dresser to block his door. He didn't want "Bo Yan the culprit" intruding into his room again. Then he went and got a wet towel from the bathroom and to carefully clean little miss Wang's body.

Tears streamed down old Zhang's cheek as he wiped down little miss Wang's small and innocent body. I wondered if he had given some serious thought to the transportation and location to abandon the body.


Back to Guo Li.

I was not sure whether he recall that Mr. Wang was still looking for his daughter, nonetheless...



He had already swung opened the door.

Apartment For Rent ch 12.2

"Mr. Zhang, if you don't open the door soon I am going to knock the door down!" Threatened Mr. Wang.

"No no no! Don't be rash! Old Zhang, please open the door!" I begged.

"We better get in soon, this guy is a monster, Mr. Wang's daughter is endangered if he has her." Having one arm akimbo, another one covering the bruises on her nose, but failed to cover up her exultation.

The door slowly opened, standing behind it was a sleepy looking Mr. Zhang, giving a big yawn.

The foul smell of alcohol.

"Oh my God, what the hell is going on?"

Old Zhang looked drowsy, he was such a good actor.

Mr. Wang shoved Old Zhang aside and rushed into his room, kicking the two empty beer cans to the corner of the room, making a clinking noise.

I was even more anxious, rushing in behind Mr. Wang and looking around while saying, "It reeks of alcohol. Why did you drink so much in the middle of the day, Old Zhang? No wonder we had a hard time waking you!"

Old Zhang naturally played along, "You know, the bitch angered me, gave me the hang over. Oh? You are here too?" He gave Miss Chen a deadly stare.

Miss Chen ignored him and took a step back, having the bitchy look of a gossiper.

Mr. Wang opened the closet doors. There were only a few items of clothing and some miscellaneous items. He looked under the bed, it was Mr. Zhang's precious collection of expired milk.

I helped Mr. Wang up, flustered, "We made a mistake. Like I said, why would Old Zhang kidnap your daughter? It doesn't make sense!"

Old Zhang stared at Miss Chen, "Fuck, this bitch set me up!" He swaggered over to Miss Chen, raised his right arm in an unruly manner, ready to strike.

"What are you going to do?" Screamed Miss Chen and ran back downstairs, not a trace of her arrogance remaining.

Mr. Wang walked out of the room looking defeated. I blocked the door and said to groggy Old Zhang, "Old Zhang, it's not that I want to turn on you, but you found my keys and never turned them in to me, what's up with that?"

Old Zhang burped, reached into his pocket apologetically, but still pretending to be half drunk and half dazed, "Oh, so sorry. But I will let you in on a secret, okay? I wasn't the first person who picked them up. The college student was the first one. Okay? He probably made a copy, so he has a set of everyone's key as well, alright?"

I hurriedly asked, "Have you ever seen him entering any one's room?" I took my keys back from him.

Mr. Wang shouted from the side, "Did that bastard ever enter my room?"

Old Zhang hesitated for second, "That I don't know. All I knew was he stripped naked and hid under the downstairs bitch's bed yesterday and scared the shit out of her. Hahahahaha. That boy is a funny one. But I don't know what transpired this afternoon. I drank some and fell asleep, okay? If there's nothing else...."

Excellent!

Mr. Wang did not wait for Old Zhang to finish his sentence before dashing upstairs.

Unexpectedly, the door across from Old Zhang swung open. An unkempt Guo Li almost falling out. Mr. Wang and I jumped out of his way, we didn't want to get knocked over by his smoked-permeated body.

"What... what did you guys just say? Bo Yan really have everyone's room keys?" Stumbled Guo Li.

Mr. Wang did not respond to him, beelining toward the upstairs. I ignored him as well, just reprimanding Old Zhang, "I will deal with you later this key incident! But I am starting with doubling your rent next month!" I said angrily, still following behind Mr. Wang.

Old Zhang scratched his head, mumbled something resembling an apology and closed his door. He's got an incomplete art of contraption to finish up.

Guo Li, on the other hand, still frozen in the hallway like a statue, hollowed on the inside.

Following Mr. Wang's lead, I took each step of the stairs with excitement.

No matter what everyone's rhythms were carrying out their tasks, none of them could deviate from my script.

My pituitary gland started secreting some strange substance. I was sure there's an official medical term for it. I think it is the type that is responsible for adhoc plans.

I wonder what would happen if Mr. Wang tried to force Bo Yan to open his door. How long could a brainless college student like Bo Yan withstand this kind of pressure? With a group of us condemning Bo Yan outside his door, would the other murderer Guo Li just sit tight and do nothing?

Guo Li had already missed his chance to confess. Judging by his personality, he had no other options.

According to my original plan... my original "Ying Ru-free" plan, all I needed to do was exercising a few minutes of psychological warfare to lure Guo Li into assaulting Mr. Wang with me. After we've shared the guilt of committing a crime, we would then form an alliance with Bo Yan, and then....

Nevertheless, soon as I reached fourth floor and took a glance at Ying Ru's front door, another peculiar thought crossed my mind. I thought I could still hear the shower.

I recalled that the introverted Mr. Wang had never set foot on the fourth floor.

The only reason Mr. Wang knew that Old Zhang wasn't in the unit directly above him was because every time Guo Li made love with Ling Hu, the feet of their bed rocked directly above his head.

And right now, by chance Guo Li did not follow us upstairs.

As expected, Mr. Wang stood in the hallway. Sweating profusely, he waited for my arrival.

"Which one is that Bo....'s room?"

Mr. Wang looked at me, his slightly out of shape body gasping for air.

I fished out the keys that I just got back from Old Zhang and pointed to the room on the right. I shook my left hand gently above my lips, with extreme caution I said to him, "You sneak in there quietly, don't give him a chance to run off."

Mr. Wang got the message. Looking gravely, he took the keys from me.

I took a step back and gestured Mr. Wang to go inside by himself.

Mr. Wang opened the door and sneaked in like a ninja.

The sound of the shower grew louder.

I stealthily closed the door from the outside, sealing Mr. Wang in eternal darkness.

The door was now closed. I didn't feel a shred of fear.

Here.

This here.

This here was hell.