Unterwelt

Kapitel 11

"Zhu Hua, what are you dawdling for? You must be starving after holding it in for so many days, right? Hurry up and go. Make sure you recognize her. She's that tall, ugly woman that everyone calls Teacher Wang. Hurry up!"

As Sister Zhu spoke in a sarcastic tone, she picked up a straw and held it to the big-headed turtle's mouth. The turtle immediately took the straw in its mouth and began to suck loudly. The sound of the turtle sucking was so loud that a loud gurgling sound came from my second sister's empty stomach. Sister Zhu's eerie face suddenly turned around, startling my second sister so much that she tripped and fell to the ground. She quickly scrambled to the corner of the wall and pretended to be asleep, afraid that Sister Zhu would come in and cause her trouble.

My second sister climbed around in the corner for a while, feeling sleepy and hungry, and fell asleep without realizing it.

That night, the Wang family waited for a long time but the second sister didn't come, so they stopped waiting, ate dinner, and went to bed.

In the middle of the night, Little Fatty, who usually slept peacefully, suddenly started crying loudly, waking Teacher Wang. Teacher Wang muttered to herself as she sat up and reached out to pat Little Fatty beside her, trying to calm him down. However, Little Fatty's crying grew louder and louder, until it was almost a desperate scream. Only then did Teacher Wang realize something was wrong. She hurriedly asked her wife to get out of bed and turn on the light. She sat up herself, held Little Fatty in her arms, and gently patted the child's back to comfort him.

Old Wang's wife got out of bed, fumbled for the light switch by the door, and turned on the light. Then she turned around, rubbing her sleepy eyes, about to ask her wife and child why they were crying, when suddenly she froze, her eyes filled with terror as she looked at Old Wang. After a long while, she pointed at the child in Old Wang's arms and screamed shrilly:

What are you holding?

Teacher Wang had been looking down at the child, but because the light had just been turned on, the bright light made it impossible for her to see anything clearly. When that terrified scream rang out, she also saw what was in her arms at the same time. In a moment of panic, she couldn't help but let out a terrifying scream.

6)

In the middle of the night, a series of howls and cries for help came from Mr. Wang's house. The faint sounds traveled through the window into the dark night sky and finally woke up the neighbors.

The neighbor, who was also a teacher, heard the continuous cries for help and quickly put on his clothes and went out to knock on the door of Teacher Wang's house.

No one opened the door for him. All that could be heard from inside the room were the screams of Teacher Wang and his wife, as well as Little Fatty's shrill cries. In addition, there was a sinister laugh that occasionally rang out. The neighbor pressed his ear to the crack in the door and was surprised to hear a strange slurping sound, as if someone was sucking up some liquid with a straw.

Later, several neighbors, disturbed by the disturbance, also got dressed and rushed over. Together, they broke down the door of Mr. Wang's house. Inside, they found Mr. Wang wearing only pajamas, his legs dangling on the bed, and his head hanging on the floor. He had already stopped breathing.

Teacher Wang's wife is still alive, but her mental state is very unstable. In a trembling voice, she tells people about the strange things that happened at home at night. She talks about the family eating dinner, about the baby crying in the middle of the night, about her wife getting up to pick up the baby and comfort him, about her getting out of bed to turn on the light, and about how, when the light came on, she was horrified to see that what her wife was holding in her arms was not their baby, but...

And what is it?

When people asked what Teacher Wang was holding in his arms, the man's eyes widened suddenly, filled with uncontrollable fear. He slowly squatted down, grabbed his hair with both hands, and screamed desperately until the hospital arrived and injected him with tranquilizers, which calmed him down.

After the man regained consciousness, people questioned him further, but when they mentioned what Teacher Wang was holding, he fell into a delirious state, squatting on the ground and screaming incessantly in terror. In the end, they had no choice but to send him to a mental hospital.

During the subsequent autopsy, another horrifying discovery was made. Old Master Wang's head felt weightless; his brain matter had been completely drained.

What exactly happened at Teacher Wang's house that day, and what she was holding in the darkness, has become an eternal mystery.

Our teacher, Mr. Wang, passed away. The school held a memorial service for him. Many students cried at the service, and my second sister wailed loudly. She was truly heartbroken because she had lost a family member who truly cared about her in this world.

The sudden and mysterious death of Teacher Wang dealt a fatal blow to my second sister. Her mind became even more confused, her consciousness more disoriented, and she often had blank spaces in her memory. She had no idea who she was or what she was doing. She often got lost on her way to and from school, and even after class, she wouldn't know to go back to the classroom when she heard the bell. She was in a daze all day long, in a state of mental confusion.

For a while, my second sister walked unsteadily. Now we know it was because she was severely sleep-deprived, but others didn't think so. They preferred to attribute her unusual simplicity to intellectual disability and gave her a nickname, "Silly Girl."

However, there was still one person who treated her kindly, cared for her, loved her, and looked after her without prejudice.

This person is my second sister's deskmate, a boy named Shuang Dehui.

Shuang Dehui was a smart and sensible boy. Because my second sister had been bullied for so long that she had lost control of her abdominal muscles and became incontinent, she was ridiculed by her classmates. Shuang Dehui used his pocket money to buy sanitary napkins from the mall and secretly slipped them into my second sister's desk. He also somehow found out that my second sister often didn't have enough to eat, so he brought steamed buns and pickled vegetables from home and quickly handed them to her when no one was looking during class.

My second sister was deeply moved by Shuang Dehui's thoughtfulness. She looked at Shuang Dehui with teary eyes, her eyes filled with humiliation and fear, grateful for his care and affection. However, she dared not accept Shuang Dehui's invitation to go to the movies, fearing that she would be beaten again if Sister Zhu found out.

Shuang Dehui refused to give up. He continued to care for my second sister with the enthusiasm of a junior high school boy. To be honest, although my second sister was pale and thin, a little neurotic, and had bedwetting, she was still a very beautiful girl. Shuang Dehui liked her timid eyes. He said that her eyes were like those of a pitiful little deer, full of fear and panic, which made him feel sorry for her.

Although she was afraid of the torment and humiliation that Sister Zhu, that devil, would inflict on her, my second sister ultimately could not resist the allure of youth and fell in love with this young man who was devoted to her.

From then on, my second sister began skipping school frequently to go shopping, watch movies, and watch videos with Shuang Dehui. She especially loved having this clumsy little boy hold her in the movie theater; that's when she felt safe and experienced the love and affection she had always lacked in her life. When she was with this boy, she became exceptionally intelligent and beautiful, and many people simply couldn't believe that she was the same silly girl who had fallen into the latrine.

However, she never dared to tell Shuang Dehui about her family's affairs, simply out of instinctive fear.

As their relationship deepened, Shuang Dehui gradually noticed her unusual behavior. She rarely mentioned her family, and when asked about her family situation, she always claimed that Sister Zhu forbade her to talk about it. This puzzled Shuang Dehui, so he patiently pressed her for details and finally learned some information from my second sister.

When Shuang Dehui first heard about these things, he found it hard to believe, because such things were too abnormal and bizarre. Once, after he dropped my second sister off near her home, he quietly followed her upstairs. After my second sister went inside, he went over and knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was Sister Zhu, with a kind and gentle face. She asked the boy who he was looking for.

Shuang Dehui replied, "I'm looking for He Jing."

Sister Zhu's face suddenly turned vicious. She replied in a harsh tone, "She doesn't live here!" and slammed the door shut. Shuang Dehui was, after all, just an immature child. Suddenly faced with such a situation, she didn't dare to knock again and sheepishly went back home.

Back inside, Sister Zhu revealed her terrifying, beast-like nature. She searched my second sister's schoolbag and found a stack of love letters Shuang Dehui had written to her. As she flipped through these childishly written letters, Sister Zhu grinned wickedly and hurled the most filthy insults at my second sister: "You filthy bitch, you slut, you trash! You're only this young and you already know how to seduce men! None of you in the He family, men or women, are any good! The men are all hooligans and the women are all sluts..." Amidst the vicious insults, her fists rained down on my second sister's head.

The filthy insults and brutal beatings still couldn't quell the resentment in Sister Zhu's heart. She forced my second sister to kneel on the ground and write a crudely worded letter of severance. The next day, Sister Zhu personally went to the school, and under her watchful eye, my second sister had no choice but to reluctantly hand the letter to Shuang Dehui. Then, she ran away crying and didn't dare go back to school for several days.

She was afraid to see Shuang Dehui again, afraid to face the anger and accusations of that innocent boy.

But Sister Zhu told her with a sinister laugh, "Stop dreaming, you rotten bitch. You little slut who's been trampled on by thousands, he's already been punished. You'll never see him again."

7)

Sister Zhu's sinister face sent chills down my spine, and her evil curse terrified me even more. That night, she was forced to kneel under my mother's bed to wash Sister Zhu's clothes. The icy water chilled her hands to the bone. In her extreme exhaustion, she unconsciously lowered her head, her consciousness fading, and she drifted into a coma, half asleep and half awake.

In the hazy state between sleep and wakefulness, a mournful scream drifted from afar, its clear and vivid sound stimulating her eardrums and waking my second sister from her deep sleep. Terrified by the scream, she looked around in panic and blurted out, "Dehui!"

Suddenly, Sister Zhu, who was lying on the bed, let out a terrifying scream. The grinding of her teeth sounded chilling in the middle of the night: "Absolutely right, you rotten bitch!" Her sinister mockery was like a needle, cruelly piercing my second sister's heart: "It was that little slut of yours, he has already gotten his comeuppance."

My second sister suddenly jumped up, rushed to her bedside, and screamed, "What did you do to him?"

This was the only time in my second sister's life that she had ever resisted Sister Zhu's brutal tyranny. Her boldness and courage greatly surprised Sister Zhu. She sat up abruptly, her evil eyes flashing with cruel light. With a "slap," she suddenly slapped my second sister across the face: "You rotten bitch, do you think you're talking to me? Do you want to die? Take off your clothes and kneel on the balcony. Humph, how dare you offend me?"

My second sister glared at her angrily. Suddenly, she shoved her hard. Caught off guard, Zhu Jie cried out and fell to the ground. Then my second sister turned and rushed out of the house.

Sister Zhu jumped up in a rage, chased after me to the door and cursed, "You rotten bitch, you don't know what's good for you! This time I'll make you regret it for the rest of your life!" After cursing, she suddenly burst into a sharp, eerie laugh. That sinister laugh was permeated with a dirty and evil black power, which made my bedridden mother feel inexplicably terrified.

In utter terror, my mother heard Sister Zhu's shrill, eerie laughter as she paced angrily back and forth in the room: "You shameless slut!" Her vicious insults terrified my mother: "You shameless woman who's willing to let men ride you? Fine, this time I'll let you be ridden to your heart's content! Hahaha!" That strange and terrifying laughter echoed through the room, sending chills down my spine.

My second sister ran out of the house. All she could see was the vast darkness of the night. She cried in a daze as she ran towards Shuang Dehui's house. One afternoon, she had followed Shuang Dehui to his house when his parents were not home. That route was like a knife carved into her heart, and she could never forget it.

She stumbled and fell several times, scraping her face on the pebbles on the ground, but she didn't bother to wipe it off. She ran until she reached the vicinity of Shuang Dehui's house, and only when she saw the light shining from his window in the distance did her tense heart relax a little.

Shuang Dehui's home was on the fourth floor, not a tall building, but in those days, the average building height was only four or five stories. From a distance, my second sister could see the curtains hanging in Shuang Dehui's bedroom; they were the simple kind of green fabric curtains printed with bamboo leaves.

Inside the curtains, several figures moved about. My second sister stood downstairs looking up. For this boy who was devoted to her, she had rebelled against the tyrant of fate and fled here, hoping only for his warm embrace.

But she couldn't possibly go up and knock on the door. Even if she did, Shuang Dehui's parents wouldn't allow her in, much less provide her with lodging. They were both just minors lacking independence; their love and friendship held no place in the eyes of adults. All my second sister could do was stand downstairs in the biting wind, her thin body hunched over, constantly breathing on her pale, frozen hands to warm them. She had only one wish: to feel the sunlight and warmth from her lover's window in this starless, moonless night.

In the distance, a group of slovenly young men carrying bottles of liquor walked over, cursing and swearing. They threw the bottles at the roadside telephone poles, and listening to the sudden sound of shattering glass breaking in the silence of the night, they laughed unrestrainedly.

My second sister hid herself in the darkness out of fear, trying to avoid being discovered by these people.

My second sister is afraid of these people. Not just my sister, almost everyone is afraid of them. They are the scum of society, idle and unproductive, spending their days fighting and causing trouble. These are all confused teenagers, tormented by their desires, only able to express their youthful will through bloodthirsty brawls. Their strong self-destructive tendencies make them disregard the value and dignity of life.

After the group of thugs walked away, my second sister breathed a sigh of relief and turned her gaze back to the window of Shuang Dehui's bedroom. To her surprise, she saw that the curtains in Shuang Dehui's bedroom were shaking violently for some reason, as if someone inside was pulling them forcefully.

The curtains shook more and more violently, and suddenly, they were pulled off the window. My second sister immediately saw Shuang Dehui's figure.

My second sister was able to see him by looking up because he was sitting on the windowsill with his back pressed against the glass and his hands pushing something forward. Then his body was suddenly turned around and his face was roughly pressed against the glass by something behind him.

It was a face filled with terror and shock, its features distorted by extreme fear and squeezed by the smooth glass plate, making it indescribably eerie and terrifying.

In shock, my second sister staggered back a few steps and involuntarily let out a desperate scream.

The scream startled the group of thugs who had just walked by. They turned around in surprise and saw a lone girl standing downstairs. They exchanged a strange look, and a kind of bestial brutality and excitement slowly rose in their eyes.

My second sister didn't notice them at all. Her eyes were fixed on the window upstairs. She clearly saw that because the force used to hold down Shuang Dehui was too great, there was a loud crash and the glass window shattered. Sharp shards of glass embedded themselves in the boy's cheek, and bright red blood gushed out.

The boy struggled desperately and cried out for help. He kept calling for help, but his cries were blocked by the transparent glass. The moment the glass shattered, my second sister could clearly hear that faint, pitiful cry.

Suddenly, my second sister let out a heart-wrenching scream. She ran desperately towards the front of the building, calling out Shuang Dehui's name. Shuang Dehui seemed to hear her screams. She saw a desperate and helpless smile on the boy's face. His upper body had already been pushed out of the window.

Shuang Dehui desperately grabbed the window frame, trying to save herself in this most dangerous moment. Suddenly, a huge head appeared out of the window. Because of the backlight, my second sister could not see the facial features of the head clearly. She only saw a huge mouth open, and the chaotic light reflected a dazzling light on a row of sharp teeth.

The row of teeth viciously bit at Shuang Dehui's hand, which was tightly gripping the window frame. The sound of bones cracking and the beast-like swallowing echoed clearly in the midnight. Shuang Dehui's five fingers were bitten and swallowed by the monster. His bald hand, bleeding profusely, could no longer hold onto the window frame. The young Shuang Dehui let out a final, unwilling scream and fell from the fourth floor.

Bang! The shock of her falling body was so terrifying that my second sister felt everything go black, and the sunshine in her life was gone forever.

8)

That night, Shuang Dehui's parents had already gone to bed. In the middle of the night, they were awakened by a strange noise from their son's room. Shuang Dehui's parents asked groggily, "Who is it?" They didn't hear a reply, so they closed their eyes again, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Another loud crash rang out as porcelain shattered. Shuang Dehui's father snorted, a reminder to others that this audacity was pushing his patience to its limit.

But the clattering and commotion grew louder and louder, making it impossible for anyone to sleep. Shuang Dehui's father got angry and yelled, "What are you making such a racket in the middle of the night? Can't a person get any sleep?" This yell had a slight effect, and the noise in his son's room quieted down.

But this calm lasted only a short moment. The rustling sound started again, and Shuang Dehui's father sat up angrily. He listened carefully and was greatly surprised. He clearly heard a strange, snickering laugh coming from his son's room. The laugh was ambiguous and carried a sinister and eerie atmosphere.

Shuang Dehui's father was a hot-tempered manual laborer who worked as a foreman on a construction site, managing over a dozen men. He disciplined his son using the same methods he used on his workers—a harsh but effective approach, often described as "spare the rod and spoil the child." He would slap his son whenever he disliked him; his hands were large, and a single slap could knock Shuang Dehui to the ground, leaving him unable to get up for a long time. One night, his son was making a ruckus in his room, enraging his father. He stormed to his son's door, said nothing, and kicked it open.

With a loud crash, the wooden door remained unmoved, but a strange, mocking laugh echoed from inside the room, as if laughing at how useless the kick had been. This made Shuang Dehui's father somewhat incredulous, and at the same time, he became even angrier. He took two steps back and kicked the door several times in quick succession. The hard door panel shook so hard that his toes ached, and dust flew down from the walls. Several cracks appeared in the door after being kicked.

However, the door remained closed, tightly shut.

Shuang Dehui's father shook his head in disbelief. He knew the power of his kicks; he had kicked open the iron gate at the construction site before. How could he not kick open this wooden door? Unless something was blocking it from the inside.

Why would a son lock the door when he's alone in his room? Unless he's doing something naughty behind his father's back!

The brutish man was furious because he had to work a full day of hard labor at the construction site the next day and needed a good night's sleep. His son's antics were clearly meant to embarrass him.

He looked around and saw a hammer he'd brought home from the construction site on the windowsill, so he grabbed it without thinking. His wife panicked and rushed to stop him, saying, "Hey, honey, what are you doing? The child is so big now, talk things out." Like most families like this, the domineering father inevitably has a weak-willed mother, and this weakness and helplessness become increasingly futile when it's necessary to argue.

"Get out of my way! It's all your fault for spoiling this child, and you still have the nerve to say that!" Shuang Dehui's father raised his arm and threw his wife aside. He raised the iron hammer in his hand and was about to smash it down on the door when he suddenly heard his son's faint cry.

The cry was very strange, like the sound of someone having their mouth covered, or like it came from deep underwater. The sound was distorted and had a strange tremor.

Shuang Dehui's father frowned and roared, "What the hell are you messing with me for? Get out here right now!"

The room suddenly fell silent. Shuang Dehui's father picked at his ear with his finger in surprise, then yelled, "Did you fucking hear me? Open the door right now!"

Inside the room, the son shouted something again in that strange tone, followed by a crash—the windowpane had clearly been smashed.

Finally, Shuang Dehui's father noticed something was wrong. He pressed his face against the door and called out, "Xiao Hui, what are you doing blocking the door?" A mournful cry suddenly echoed from inside the room, a cry so tragic and helpless:

"Dad...Dad...Help!"

The sound reached the father's ears, causing him to shudder violently. Without thinking, Shuang Dehui's father suddenly raised the iron hammer and smashed it down on the door. His strength was astonishing; he smashed the door in just a few blows. However, there was still something blocking the door from the inside, preventing him from getting in. His son's cries for help grew weaker and weaker. Most terrifyingly, a sinister laugh could be heard coming from inside the room from time to time.

Hearing his son's cries for help, the father, overcome by the bond of blood, went into a frenzy. He threw down the hammer and used his own body as a mallet, pounding desperately on the door. One blow after another, until finally, with a crash, the door and the iron bed that was propped against it were smashed to pieces. Shuang Dehui's father roared and rushed inside.

Inside the room, the son was nowhere to be found, but the entire window had been smashed by a force, and the cold night wind blew in, chilling one to the bone.

After a brief moment of shock, the father finally came to his senses. He roared and rushed to the window, desperately calling out his son's name downstairs.

However, Shuang Dehui downstairs could no longer answer his loving father.

Overwhelmed with grief, the father screamed, burst through the door, and rushed downstairs. There he saw his son lying on the concrete floor, his body twisted beyond recognition, blood and limbs splattered everywhere. The father wept in despair, trying to help his fallen son up. He grabbed his son's arm, only to find that all the bones in his son's body were shattered, his arm severed from his body, and there was no hope of recovery.

In an instant, this strong man, as robust as an ox, looked up to the sky and let out a long, mournful cry, then collapsed to the ground, overcome with grief.

Shuang Dehui's parents insisted that their son was pushed down the stairs, but the boy was alone in the room. Who used that iron pipe bed to prop open the door? And who pushed him down the stairs? Moreover, Shuang Dehui was just an innocent boy, how could he have formed such a deep grudge with anyone?

Shuang Dehui's parents couldn't answer these simple questions.

Afterwards, a letter of farewell was found in Shuang Dehui's room.

The letter was written in extremely crude language, subjecting Shuang Dehui to unwarranted humiliation and insults. The words were full of sarcastic remarks and insults. Finally, the letter informed Shuang Dehui in a resolute tone that their love was over and that she should not bother her anymore.

The letter was written to Shuang Dehui by a female classmate named He Jing, a haggard and disoriented girl. Classmates testified that He Jing and Shuang Dehui had indeed been in a relationship. The whole story was now clear: this was a suicide stemming from early romantic love. The Taizhou Evening News devoted half a page to this tragic case to warn middle school students that early romantic relationships are dangerous and can be fatal.

While the news of Shuang Dehui's suicide by jumping off a building was making headlines, another important party involved, He Jing, mysteriously disappeared. Even her nanny didn't know where she had gone.