Chapter 11: The Curse Within the Videotape
Xie Qiming and Li Ruonan stood at the entrance of the courtyard, arguing heatedly. Even from several dozen meters away, the content of their conversation was faintly audible.
Chen Letong had vehemently expressed her desire to stay with Li Ruonan, then turned her head and ran into the house in tears.
Xie Qiming and Li Ruonan were still locked in a tug-of-war over custody.
Not long after.
Li Xuan, who had been observing the situation from the bay window, suddenly widened his eyes. He saw Chen Letong climb onto the third-floor balcony, holding a camcorder and giggling foolishly...
Her body swayed, she tilted to one side, and plummeted from above.
Thud!
She crashed onto the courtyard lawn!
The sight horrified all three of them.
Frowning deeply, Li Xuan quickly left his rental unit, appearing before them as if he were merely a passerby.
Li Ruonan’s mind was in total chaos. When Xie Qiming questioned Li Xuan’s identity, she replied distractedly that he was just a photographer who had recently moved into the neighborhood.
Li Xuan helped lift Chen Letong into the van Xie Qiming had driven, and they rushed her to the hospital.
At the hospital, overcome with emotion, Xie Qiming was certain that Li Ruonan no longer had the capacity to raise Chen Letong. He decided that once the child’s condition improved, he would report the matter to the court and take custody of her.
On a bench in the corridor.
Li Ruonan gripped her hair with both hands, exhausted. The woman from the welfare agency who had accompanied Xie Qiming had already left.
Li Ruonan’s eyes flickered with complex emotions. The hair gripped between her fingers pulled tight; the pain in her scalp was both a torment and a proof of life.
She lifted her head, looking at Xie Qiming with bloodshot eyes, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Mr. Xie, do you believe in the existence of ghosts and gods?"
Li Xuan frowned. What was this woman trying to do?
What happened next infuriated him instantly.
Li Ruonan took the camcorder—which Chen Letong had been clutching even after falling from the third floor—and placed it directly into Xie Qiming’s hands, saying solemnly, "When I was still pregnant with Duoduo, she was cursed by an evil god. Her father, Chen Lidong, and his cousin, Chen Zhenyuan, all died on that night six years ago..."
Xie Qiming looked wary and asked, "Li Ruonan, has your psychiatrist evaluated your condition recently?"
Li Ruonan knew Xie Qiming thought she was insane and was about to speak.
Just then, her phone pinged—a private message from a video platform app.
She opened it, and the message read: 【Spreading the curse will invite severe punishment!】
Was that person here?
Li Ruonan instinctively looked at Li Xuan, who was sitting on the same bench with his hands in his pockets. Their eyes met—his gaze was clear and perplexed...
It wasn't him.
Never mind. The curse was nearly impossible to break; it could only be diluted.
She gritted her teeth and said, "This camcorder stores the cause of Duoduo's father's death six years ago, along with many recordings of the Chen Village's sacrifices to the evil god."
Xie Qiming pressed the power button on the camcorder.
Bang!
The camcorder flew out of his hand, smashing against the wall and shattering into pieces.
It was Li Xuan who had acted.
Although he disliked Li Ruonan, this woman was indeed suffering from terrible luck due to the curse. Since he had come to this world, he wanted to see if he could shift her mindset and alter the outcome.
He had originally intended to warn her to seek out the elderly couple, "Uncle A-Qing," the ritualists who had helped seal the camcorder years ago.
The couple possessed genuine power. If Chen Letong could persist for "seven days and seven nights" without eating or drinking, the curse would be broken. However, seeing her daughter feverish and in agony, Li Ruonan had taken her to a doctor. Hearing that the child couldn't receive an IV drip on an empty stomach, she fed her pineapple, which only caused Chen Letong more suffering...
It was precisely Li Ruonan’s actions that led to the elderly couple being brutally murdered in their own home.
Li Xuan’s original plan had been to follow the original plot; once they met the elderly couple and successfully performed the ritual for Chen Letong, he would have immediately kidnapped the child to force her through the "seven days of fasting" to break the curse.
Unfortunately, Li Ruonan had been disobedient and delayed things at home. Her poor mental state drew Xie Qiming’s attention, and now she was actually trying to show Xie Qiming this camcorder, which had once been inside the underground tunnels of Chen Village!
Xie Qiming was a good man. In the original plot, upon learning of the curse, he took the camcorder and planned to travel to Yunnan to find a way to break it.
Sadly, he couldn't withstand the curse of the camcorder. During a video call with Li Ruonan on the way, the curse erupted, and he smashed his own head open, dying in front of the camera...
Li Xuan’s decision to move near Li Ruonan was partly driven by a desire to save Xie Qiming.
As the line from a movie in reality went:
Should a good man be held at gunpoint?
In the corridor outside the operating room, the scene was silent. Li Xuan slowly retracted his foot.
Seeing the camcorder destroyed, terror and rage surged within Li Ruonan. She grabbed Li Xuan’s collar, her voice shrill as she roared, "How... how could you? That contained the only clue regarding the curse..."
Li Xuan tore Li Ruonan’s hands away.
He coiled his strength into his right hand and backhanded her!
Slap!!!
The crisp sound of the slap echoed through the hallway.
The heavy blow landed on Li Ruonan’s face, causing her vision to black out for a few seconds. Her head buzzed; she nearly passed out on the spot.
Her cheeks swelled with blood, the pain arriving a moment later.
"You!!!"
Li Ruonan tried to speak.
A second slap of equal force landed on her face immediately...
Li Xuan looked at the symmetrical swelling on her cheeks and felt a bit more at ease. He said:
"Li Ruonan, the little girl told you back then that this camcorder recorded evil scenes from the Chen Village tunnels. It stores a 'curse' that will kill many people...
"The two police officers from that year, as well as your parents who tried to help you investigate the truth, all died miserably!
"Your mental breakdown is simply because you are terrified that the curse will kill you at any moment. You sent your newborn daughter away because the Mother Buddha likes her, didn't you?
"This camcorder has already killed several innocent people, and now you were about to show it to Mr. Xie.
"I gave you two slaps as a reminder; that is already an act of mercy. You should be grateful!"
Li Ruonan collapsed onto the bench, forgetting the pain in her face. She stared blankly at Li Xuan and said, "Who are you? Are you from Chen Village? You must have a way to save me! Please, save me and Duoduo!"
First me.
Only then, me and Duoduo.
The priorities in her heart were now clearly ranked.
Xie Qiming looked on in a daze. Li Xuan admired this man, who was not only kind but dared to face the truth despite hearing that a curse actually existed.
He proceeded to explain in detail the traditional customs of the Chen Village's evil god sacrifices, how Li Ruonan, her boyfriend, and his cousin had broken into the ritual six years ago, and how the camcorder had subsequently caused several deaths.
Xie Qiming broke out in a cold sweat.
The camcorder was so terrifying, and Li Ruonan had just shoved it into his hands, claiming all the answers were inside...
He felt as if countless insects were crawling over his hands. His stomach churned violently, and he felt nauseated but unable to vomit. Fortunately, this photographer named Li Chegan had intervened.
Li Ruonan...
You are so cruel...