C10 (1/2)

My parents had just moved to California from Philadelphia in 1988.

After reading it, the fear in my heart couldn't be increased any further. Before this, the worst I could imagine was that I would be able to contend with the power of the country and the power of advanced weapons, even ghosts and spirit bodies.

No, the fear of power did not come from the physical, but from the air.

This kind of struggle had long surpassed the metaphor of an ant tripping an elephant.

After all, ants and elephants belong to different species on Earth. Although ants could not trip elephants, at least there were other species on Earth that had the ability to do so, such as dinosaurs and whales.

If it was an analogy, it would be like an ant trying to change the rotation of the Earth. This was not an opponent of the same dimension and level.

I still decided to write down this diary in the first person (the contents of which had been sorted and modified by me, but without changing the plot):

6 February 1988

Until the taxi pulled into downtown Los Angeles, I had no idea what was going on.

Even though he had been prepared for the worst when he left Philadelphia, the fact that he had rented an apartment in the center of the city for such a low price was, in and of itself, bizarre.

Lina's face also revealed anxiety. She looked up at me and shook her head.

We got out about a mile from the apartment and the Indian driver wouldn't go back in.

The city was completely different from what we had imagined. The streets stank of garbage, the abandoned buildings had been converted into a minority wholesale market, and a group of Mexicans stood at the corner and gave us strange looks.

Two blocks down, a neo-classical building loomed up in front of us.

Typical of the modern American buildings of the 1920s, with stained-glass doors on the first floor, and probably wire nets for poor security. Although the brass was stained with rust, one could still see the glory of that year.

Lina and I walked to the door, which was carved on the granite front floor tile: JOSEYA HOUSE, Built in 1924.

”Hey, WelcometoCalifornia. IhobeIdidn 'keepyouwaiting. ”

Lina and I turned around. It was the real estate agent who called himself Tom.

”Sorry to keep you waiting, but you know there aren't many parking lots in this area.” Tom passionately took Lina's luggage and said, ”Please follow me.”

Just as Lina and I were about to open the door, a hand suddenly grabbed Lina.

It was a zombie-like hand, covered with centipede-like veins beneath its shriveled skin, its gray fingernails covered with dirt.

An old Gypsy lady who wore a hood held onto Lina's wrist. Her eyes were completely covered by a layer of white mist.

”Leave quickly! You don't belong here!”

”What do you mean?” Lina was so scared that her face turned pale.

The old Gypsy didn't answer Lina's question. Instead, he gazed at Lina's face with his empty eyes and muttered to himself:

”The door you see is a wall, the wall you see is a window, and the Anfey Bina has two faces. The number of times you have to lie is the same as the number of times you have to tell the truth …”

”Hey, lady, we don't have any change.” Annoyed, Tom pushed the old gypsy woman away. ”My God, why can't these people get to the relief center?”

Tom pushed us into the lobby. I looked back at the Gypsy woman, who was still there. She raised a finger to the sky.

”...” You spied the hunter in the forest because you were his prey. ”

The security guard sat in the surveillance room surrounded by a layer of security nets. He stuck his head out to look at Tom, then handed him a brass key.

”604.”

There was a strong taste of wine in his mouth.

Tom led us to the only old elevator in the building. He kicked at the fence and the elevator creaked.

”You know that for an old thing to last for decades, it must be of good quality …”

Before Tom could finish, the elevator lurched to a stop on the fourth floor.

The fourth floor was completely abandoned. Even the decorations had been destroyed, and there was not a single light in the dark corridor.

”Tom, this doesn't look like a place to live.” I suddenly felt cheated by the intermediary and fought back my anger.

”Oh, sir, I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear, but the residents on the fourth floor have all moved away.” Tom had a fawning smile on his face.

”To be precise, no one lives on the third, fourth, and fifth floors. Esteemed guests usually choose to live on the top floor — the sixth floor used to be the most luxurious apartment in this building, and even Yi Lisa, Bethel and Kathleen Hepburn used to be tenants here. ”She's too beautiful, as beautiful as your wife …”

The elevator finally reached the sixth floor in Tom's endless stream of words.

Walking out of the elevator, he found that the wallpaper on the sixth floor was mostly peeling off. Through the arched panes of glass in the corridor, it could be seen that it was indeed very luxurious when it was first built.

When we turned on 604, the musty smell that assaulted our nostrils rendered us speechless.