Katzenanhänger 2

Kapitel 15

As she spoke, the muffled thuds emanating from the pillar grew louder and louder, and then the entire pillar began to vibrate, with the amplitude of the vibration increasing until it was visibly swaying from side to side. Logically, with such a amplitude of swaying, cracks should have appeared at the joints between the top and bottom, but when I looked closely at the place where it connected to the pool, there wasn't a single crack. It was as if the pool and the pillar were naturally grown together, like my own hand, wrist, and palm.

I sensed something was wrong, so I grabbed Shi Ping'er and started to run outside. Just as we were about to run, Shi Ping'er stopped and grabbed me, saying, "Look, something is coming out!"

Although I was anxious, I stopped and looked back at the pillar. I saw that red liquid was flowing out of the two small holes facing us. It was obviously a very thick liquid, and it was steaming and making a gurgling sound, just like boiling water. My heart tightened, and I shouted, "Run!" Then I grabbed Shi Ping'er and started running as fast as I could. As we ran, Shi Ping'er asked me if I had seen clearly what it was.

Without turning my head, I said, "It's definitely lava!"

The moment I uttered those words, Shi Ping'er pulled me back, nearly making me fall to the ground. Shi Ping'er gasped, "Lava... lava? Hmph... are you running a fever? This place isn't... it's not a volcano, how could there be... such a thing?"

I stopped, pressed my hands to my knees, and gasped for breath, saying, "Who...who said lava only appears in places with volcanoes? There's that stuff underground here."

Shi Ping'er turned her head and looked, saying, "It looks like it's flowing down from above. Lava always comes up from below, it never flows down from above. I have to go back and check again." I quickly grabbed her, "My heroine, I beg you, I regret participating in this stupid event. Now there's lava coming out, I've really seen something new. Don't go back, save your life and figure out how to get out. That pillar is connected to the bottom, maybe it's coming out from below."

Shi Ping'er broke free from me and said, "Keep your voice down, it seems to have stopped. Let's go back and check, come on!" After saying that, she ignored me and slowly walked towards the pillar. I didn't know whether to retreat or follow. After thinking for a while, I stomped my foot and thought, "Damn it, so be it. It's worth it if a beautiful woman dies with me!"

I turned around and followed Shi Ping'er. When we got close, I found that the lava was no longer flowing from the hole. After Shi Ping'er got closer, he said to me, "Smell it for yourself, is it lava?"

I frowned and said, "How could I smell it? I've never smelled it before. If you asked me to smell whether you were wearing this perfume yesterday, I could definitely tell. Asking me to smell this is like asking me to smell a bottle of liquor to determine its alcohol content."

Shi Ping'er leaned against the pool, carefully examining what was inside. The pool was full of reddish-brown stuff bubbling and gurgling, giving me goosebumps. I struggled to pull a piece of toilet paper from my bag, crumpled it up, and threw it in. It disappeared without a single bubble forming. I pointed at the pool and said, "It would be strange if this wasn't lava! See? I just threw some paper in, and it vanished instantly."

Shi Ping'er glanced at me, shook her head, and said, "Do you have any common sense? If toilet paper gets inside, it will definitely burn. I might believe you if you said it contained acid nitrate."

Just then, I heard footsteps behind me. I quickly turned around and saw several figures walking towards us, but they were blurry. I could tell there were four people, but I couldn't make out who they were. All four of them were speaking Mandarin, though not very fluently. Shi Ping'er also heard the footsteps and turned to look at the door.

A female voice said, "See if the lampstands on both sides can be lit. If they are lit, we can turn off the flashlights and save some electricity." Then I saw a blurry figure walk around the lampstands and say, "There's something inside. I don't know if it can be lit. I'll try."

Another middle-aged male voice said, "Be careful." The man on the lampstand responded and then seemed to pull out something and light the lampstand. Then he exclaimed, "It can be lit! My God! It's amazing! It's just like what happened when we came in earlier, no, it's even more amazing."

Just then, I heard Shi Ping'er mutter to herself, "Sister?"

When I heard her say that, my heart jumped into my throat. Although I could clearly hear people's voices, I couldn't see any people at all, or rather, living people. I could only see blurry shadows swaying in the distance. Moreover, they didn't seem to know that the lampstands had been lit and were still repeatedly lighting them. And from what Shi Ping'er said, one of them was her sister, from Group B three years ago? Oh my god!

There's only one plausible explanation: it's haunted.

Notes VII: The Journey to the Ends of the Earth, Chapter Fourteen: Ghostly Shadows

Judging from what the person who lit the lamp said, they must have passed through the cave that required walking in reverse. Shi Ping'er gently pulled me behind the stone pillar, and then we huddled together in the corner, trying to hide our bodies in the darkness.

The four figures slowly approached, lighting lamps on the cave walls as they went. When they reached the stone pillar, the middle-aged man exclaimed in surprise, "My God, what is this?" As soon as he finished speaking, the four figures quickly stood before the pillar. One of the figures, who hadn't spoken until now, mumbled something in broken Chinese. The woman who had spoken earlier said, "That's a huabiao (ornamental column), not this. What's this pillar for?"

As soon as the woman finished speaking, Shi Ping'er whispered again, "It's my sister, it must be my sister."

The four people were now very close to me and Shi Ping'er, but all I could see were their shadows, blurry shadows. They had human shapes, but I couldn't make out their features or clothing. Sometimes they would suddenly become clear, but only for a fleeting moment. Even a good camera couldn't capture them quickly enough. I moved my body slightly outward, trying to get a clearer look at what these four people were. After all, these four shadows had been standing in front of me for so long, and the fear I felt when I first saw them had gradually disappeared, replaced by a sense of curiosity.

I shifted my position and looked closely. To my surprise, I could see the lampstand on the wall through the shadow of one of the people. I shuddered. I had heard old people say that some people die unwillingly. Although half of their seven souls and six spirits have left, the other half still wanders in the human world, unaware that they are dead, and continues to do the same things as before. Moreover, ghosts are often not clearly visible. They can only be seen in specific environments or by people with the ability to see ghosts. But basically, ghosts are seen in a semi-transparent state.

The four people were discussing something around the stone pillar. They were speaking Chinese, English, and other languages, so I couldn't understand what they were saying. But when I turned around, I saw Shi Ping'er staring intently at the four shadows.

The woman's voice suddenly said, "Why is this pillar starting to shake?"

A middle-aged man, supporting himself against the cave wall, said, "Did we accidentally trigger some mechanism? Is this place about to collapse?"

The others didn't say anything, but none of them ran away like I had. Instead, they stood firmly against the cave wall. However, I didn't feel the pillar shaking. Just then, the female voice said again, "Something is flowing out."

Chapter 43 of "Tangdun Strange Tales Notes"

Chapter 43 of "Tangdun Strange Tales Notes"

Author: Tang Xiaohao

The four people slowly surrounded the pool. Just as they reached the edge, the shadowy figure with the female voice suddenly pressed down on the shoulder of the person next to him and said, "Keep your voice down, there seems to be some noise?"

Then, the shadows seemed to turn around at the same time and look towards the door. Just as they turned, the middle-aged man's voice said, "Someone's coming in! Hide!" As soon as he finished speaking, all four of them ran towards me simultaneously. Seeing them coming, I thought, "That's it, I'm doomed." The instant the shadows reached me, I closed my eyes. After a while, when nothing happened, I slowly opened my eyes and found a shadow crouching beside me, and another shadow crouching beside Shi Ping'er. But the two shadows seemed unable to see me. As I wondered where the other two shadows had gone, I saw a hand emerge from my body. A blurry, transparent hand slowly reached out and pressed down on the shoulder of the shadow beside me.

I was startled and jumped up. When I turned around, I saw a shadow squatting where I had just been, and Shi Ping'er was also overlapping with a shadow. At this moment, Shi Ping'er was still staring straight at the spot where I had been squatting, looking at the shadow with a strange expression.

Oh no, it must be a ghost possession! Just now, a ghost was about to possess me, luckily I ran away... Shi Ping'er looked at the shadow and suddenly called out, "Sister! It's me! Sister! It's me, Xiao Ping'er! Sister!"

But the four shadows seemed not to hear her at all; they just gestured to each other and squeezed into the darkness. I mustered my courage and turned on my flashlight. When I shone it on the shadow, I couldn't see anything. The shadow seemed not to feel the light shining on it either. I turned it off and clearly saw a semi-transparent shadow huddled in the corner.

I stood there, stunned, in front of Shi Ping'er and the four shadows. At that moment, Shi Ping'er seemed to realize what was happening and stood up beside me, saying, "They seem unable to see me. I'm almost certain now that they are the four people from Group B, but how did they become like this?"

I shook my head. At that moment, the middle-aged man spoke up: "Why are so many people coming in?" The others didn't speak, but they all turned their heads towards the door. Then the middle-aged man spoke again: "What are these things... How... How come I can't see what they look like? They all seem to be shadows?"

Upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, Shi Ping'er and I were both startled and looked towards the doorway. However, apart from the flickering dim light from the lampstand, we couldn't see anything else. Shi Ping'er and I exchanged a glance. Shi Ping'er then slowly approached the four shadows. Once very close, she waved her hand vigorously in front of them. After a while, the four shadows still didn't react. Then, one of the shadows stood up and slowly walked towards the door. The middle-aged man said anxiously, "Miss Shi, come back! What are you doing?"

The passing shadow simply waved its hand. Shi Ping'er called out "Sister!" but the shadow didn't react. Shi Ping'er slowly followed, and I quickly followed as well. When we were a short distance from the door, the shadow slowly circled around, seemingly avoiding something. After dodging for a while, it started walking in a straight line again. The shadow would squat down, then stand up and wave its hand, then shout loudly. After shouting for a while, the shadow shouted back, "Come and see!"

I looked back and saw the three shadows slowly approaching, but they all seemed hesitant. One of them was saying, "Oh my god, what are these? Ghosts?"

At this moment, the figure at the front took out something and put it to his mouth, saying, "Headquarters, this is Clover Group C. We spent 5 hours entering the deepest part of the cave. This should be the deepest part because we can't find any other way to go further in. We saw some things, very strange things. We are not sure what these things are yet. We need to conduct an on-site investigation. We hope that headquarters will send us more manpower as soon as possible after receiving this message. Call ended."

As soon as the shadow finished speaking, I grabbed Shi Ping'er and was about to ask her a question when she stopped me and simply nodded to indicate that she understood.

The shadow's words reminded me of a communication that Shi Ping'er told me about her sister's group entering the cave, which Tianya headquarters received three years later. The shadow's words were exactly the same. So, this shadow really is Shi Ping'er's sister, Shi Mei? But why does she refer to her group as... Group C? Shi Ping'er told us that we were actually Group B, and her sister's group was Group A, but Shi Mei just called herself Group C. Did this group already send in two groups beforehand?

I made up my mind that I must ask Shi Ping'er for clarification later. How much else is she hiding from me? This cave is definitely not as simple as I imagined, just a simple treasure cave. There must be something else hidden inside.

Notes VII: The Journey to the Ends of the Earth, Chapter Fifteen: Another Group of People

The remaining three shadows moved closer. Shi Ping'er pointed to a relatively taller person and said to me, "The one who sounds like a middle-aged man is probably the leader of the Thai Baiga organization." She then pointed to a person leaning against the cave wall and said, "This person should be the Cambodian retired soldier they hired." The last shadow squatted on the ground, seemingly examining something. Shi Ping'er walked behind him and said, "He's definitely the Korean. The one in front is my sister."

I looked at the four shadows and asked Shi Ping'er, "Can you explain to me why they turned out like this?"

Shi Ping'er shook her head and said, "I don't know how things turned out this way. I'm not sure what they are now either. I'm completely confused."

Just as I was about to ask why Shi Mei claimed to be from Group C, Shi Mei stood up and said to the Thai man, "We can't contact headquarters anymore, and the communication has been completely cut off."

"What's going on?" the Thai man asked. "Weren't you just on the phone a moment ago?"

Shi Mei shook her head and said, "I don't know, the contact was suddenly cut off."

The Thai man nodded: "Keep in touch. I'll try to save these things, preferably with audio and video recordings."

Shi Mei picked up what she was holding and continued calling out, "Headquarters, this is Group C. Can you hear me? If you can, please let me finish. I'm recording this message while I'm communicating with you. If anything happens to us, and we can find our...our bodies, remember to look for this recording disc in the third pocket inside my clothes."

After finishing her story, Shi Mei turned to the Thai man, who nodded to her. Shi Mei picked up the phone and continued, “After entering the cave, we proceeded along the straight path as planned. We passed through a strange place where everything was upside down. We found our way through using previous records and symbols. We can see everything in the professor's video, but I won't go into details because the tape is almost out of power. We reached the deepest part of the cave and found a passage. The passage's construction method was similar to a tomb passage, but we had never seen a tomb passage built like that. The style was very strange, a fusion of architectural styles from several Chinese dynasties, and the materials used were very expensive. There was also a door here, whose style and construction materials were basically the same as the passage—very mixed. At the deepest part of the door, we found a round stone pillar. At the bottom of the pillar, we found a pool. We also found ‘oil’ here; almost every lampstand here contained that stuff. When we approached the pillar, it vibrated. We don't know why it vibrated. After the vibration, we heard a sound, so we hid. Then we heard footsteps…”

Shi Mei paused for a moment, picked up something that looked like a kettle, took a sip, and squatted down, examining something as she continued, "After we hid for a while, we discovered a large group of people entering, more than twenty in number. But strangely, these people were just semi-transparent shadows." When Shi Mei said this, Shi Ping'er and I were startled again. Weren't the people they saw exactly what we were seeing now?

"As we approached these people, we found that they seemed to be unable to see us at all. They also seemed to be unable to hear us when we spoke to them. These people were carrying some large boxes, which appeared to be from the late Qing Dynasty. Although the people's appearances were blurry, we could still make out their clear features intermittently. The clothes they wore were very similar to those of the White Lotus Sect as recorded in the literature. I'm not sure if they were members of the White Lotus Sect... After all, we are in the 21st century now. This is really incredible."

"These people have been carrying those big boxes in front of us, but strangely, we can only see the boxes when their hands touch them. If their hands don't touch us, we can't see the boxes at all. We can't see what's inside either. These people... let's call them people. They don't open the boxes; they just move them here, put them down, and leave. Now there aren't many people left in front of us, only five. These five seem to be the leaders. They're discussing something, but we can't hear what they're saying; we can only see their lip movements. Damn it! If Professor Yao were here, he could understand lip movements, but the professor has recorded it all. If you could get this tape and give it to Professor Yao, you should know what they're saying. Now the last five people have left. What's going on? How come there's a door?" Shi Mei stopped talking, and four shadows ran outside at the same time. Shi Ping'er and I quickly followed. When we reached the door, the four of them ran towards the middle of the door at the same time. When they got to the middle, they all seemed to be turning sideways. We ran past the door, and as soon as we passed the door, the four shadows completely disappeared...

Shi Ping'er and I stood at the doorway, looking at each other. The outside was exactly the same as when we came in; there was no trace of anyone having been there. All that remained was darkness and the sound of our breathing echoing back and forth in the cave, which sent chills down our spines.

Just as Shi Ping'er and I were looking at each other, not knowing what to do, the whole cave began to shake. Shi Ping'er grabbed me and said, "It looks like it's really going to collapse this time. Let's get out of here quickly."

Chapter 44 of "Tangdun Strange Tales Notes"

Chapter 44 of "Tangdun Strange Tales Notes"

Author: Tang Xiaohao

We started running quickly. Shi Ping'er kept telling me to throw away everything I had, to get rid of anything I could, so we could go faster. Although I felt that running like this was pointless, since the cave entrance was already sealed off and we wouldn't be able to get out even if we reached it, I still held onto the last glimmer of hope and ran back as fast as I could. When we reached the entrance of the egg cave, we stopped at the same time and were dumbfounded.

The entire Egg Cave has become much larger, with a vertical drop nearly ten times greater than before. Moreover, the stalactites on all sides of the cave are emitting a strange light, illuminating the entire cave. In the area directly in front of us, the cave entrance has multiplied from one to ten, and each entrance is now clearly visible. The strangest thing is that each entrance is exactly the same, both in terms of the stalactites inside and the pattern on the cave wall that is now completely visible.

We stood there, not knowing what to do. I took a step forward to see if anything had changed below, and if so, I could climb over. But when I bent down to look down, I saw another hole below, and a head was sticking out of it, looking down. That head looked incredibly familiar. The clothes, the hair… Oh my god, wasn't that me?

I immediately pulled my head back in, but in that instant, I felt something was wrong. So I slowly stuck my head out again and looked around. That's when I realized that there were holes above, below, left, and right of my hole, and from each hole, a head was sticking out... my head.

I plopped down on the ground and kept gesturing towards the stone bottle, but I didn't know how to describe it to her. She looked at me speechlessly and had no choice but to stick her head out herself. Just like me, she stuck her head out and then pulled it back in again and again. Then she leaned against the cave wall, panting heavily, and pointed outside. I nodded.

"What's going on?" It took Shi Ping'er a long time to finally say something. I shook my head vigorously. If what I saw just now was a hallucination, how do you explain that both of us were hallucinating at the same time?

The opposite side looks like a beehive, and the side we are on should be similar. If the opposite side is a mirror, our reflection should only appear on the opposite side when we stand at the cave entrance. How can an exact copy of myself appear on this side of our cave?

Could it be that I've been possessed? This cave was already so haunted, and not only did I just see a ghost, but now there's been a case of people encountering ghosts, and ghosts encountering ghosts, and the ghosts who are encountering ghosts don't even know they're ghosts? What kind of nonsense is this? I couldn't help but shout loudly at the cave entrance, but I didn't expect that my shout would be so incredibly loud, as if many people were shouting the same thing at the same time.

At that moment, the entire cave stopped shaking, and I started yelling at the entrance, "Are you trying to scare me into a mental breakdown? I'm already terrified! What do you want? What are you people?! Come out! Come out!"

After cursing for a while, I felt much better, but the feeling of fear and despair was still there. I discussed it with Shi Ping'er and we decided that we should go back to that cave. Shi Ping'er said that she had just seen her sister, or rather, her sister's ghost, make the last contact with headquarters from there. Now we should go back and try to contact headquarters from there to see if we can get in touch. If we can, we can ask them to take measures to locate us and open a hole in the surrounding area so that we can get out.

I've thought about it, and this is the only way for now.

On the way back, I kept complaining that Shi Ping'er's lousy company hadn't even figured out how to get out, and had just let us in so recklessly. Now, apart from the two of us, the fate of the other five people was unknown. Shi Ping'er didn't say a word, letting me rant and rave. When we walked out of the cave and reached the entrance of the passage, we were dumbfounded once again.

Notes VII: The Journey to the Ends of the Earth, Chapter Sixteen: No Way Out

A stone door had appeared where there had been an entrance. I tried touching it, and it was definitely a real door, not an illusion. I slowly reached towards the right side of the door, but halfway there, I tripped over something. I jumped up with a start, and Shi Ping'er's flashlight shone in that direction. I looked down and saw a large backpack on the ground. It was clearly not the backpack that Shi Ping'er and I had just dropped, because it was much bigger than mine and had a camouflage pattern on it. I shone the light around and found three smaller backpacks around the larger one, as well as some other things scattered around.

After Shi Ping'er came over, she looked at the items and said, "These are the things my sister and the others left behind. When these items were distributed, there were files left behind, and they all have numbers. You see, this larger backpack is number 4, and there is a large Chinese character '肆' on it. The file records that this backpack belongs to that Cambodian."

I glanced at the backpacks; they were brand new, you couldn't tell they'd been there for years, it looked like someone had just left them there. Shi Ping'er picked up the things and looked at them, but couldn't figure it out either. She just piled them up in a corner, leaned against the stone door, and took out some food to eat. I took out the compressed biscuits and ate a couple of bites, finding them really awful. Who made these orange-flavored compressed biscuits? Shi Ping'er searched through the backpacks and found a can, opened it with her dagger, and tossed it to me. I opened it and ate some; it was still hot. An automatically heating device? Pretty advanced, I'd only ever seen those in magazines before.

While eating, Shi Ping'er tried to contact headquarters. After a while, she looked up at me and said, "It's strange. The communicator shows that the signal is very strong around here, but no one answered my calls."

I said with a wry smile, "It's probably because we all went missing and didn't get any news, that the police eventually tracked down your company and have now surrounded all your people."

Shi Ping'er glared at me and said, "We're just looking, not destroying or taking anything, so it doesn't count as breaking the law."

I patted my face and said, "Sister, I'm alive and well, and I'm about to die. Isn't dying a crime? You could drag all those people from your company out and shoot them twenty times over. I don't even know where Lao Fu and Lai Bao are now. They're probably not doing much better. Maybe they've already kicked the bucket. If several of them die at once, that's a massacre. You're definitely finished this time. Knowing Lao Fu's personality, if he really gets out alive, he'll definitely organize a team of lawyers to sue you to death!"

"I estimate that this stone door was originally there. It was just not open when we came in. We probably touched something while we were going out, and the vibration was probably caused when the stone door closed."

I closed my eyes, ignoring the stone bottle. I was full; it was time for a nap. It had been a whole day since I entered this cave, and I hadn't eaten properly, spending the entire day in panic. I desperately missed my beloved bed, my comfortable blankets. Even though I only washed them once a month, they still smelled like me… And my computer, my QQ account—what would happen to my QQ if I died? What would happen to my MSN? My forum, my moderator position… It was all over. My life was completely ruined. If I died here, my family wouldn't even be able to choose a specific time to burn paper money for me…

As I was closing my eyes and letting my mind wander, the communicator rang. I jumped up and saw Shi Ping'er holding the communicator and shouting. A man on the other end said, "Group C, Group C, this is headquarters. Reporting your situation? We can no longer determine your location. You have completely disappeared from the positioning system. Report your location."

Group C? I was taken aback. Shi Ping'er didn't care about that. She picked up the communicator and reported a general location. Then she told headquarters that she had strengthened the communicator's signal, but the battery was almost dead. If they couldn't determine our location within half an hour, there would be no hope. She told headquarters to hurry.

A moment later, someone called out again, "Shi Mei? Is that you, Shi Mei? How are the professors? We'll organize another team to search for you as soon as possible."

Shi Mei? I was taken aback again. Shi Ping'er was also a little stunned. After a moment, she quickly said, "I am Shi Ping'er. There are only Tang Dun and I left in our group. The others have disappeared and their fate is unknown. We need to quickly locate us and rescue us by means of explosives. I have first-hand information, which is very detailed."

After a moment of silence, the male voice replied in a suspicious tone, "Shi Ping'er? Shi Mei, what are you talking about?"

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I pressed the communicator to ask Shi Ping'er, "Three years ago, after your sister's group came in, when did you lose contact with them?"

Shi Ping'er was stunned for a moment, then said, "I said that we would lose contact after 24 hours."

I chuckled and said, "24 hours without contact? But before that you said your sister and the others said in the communicator that they had been inside for 5 hours after three years. That doesn't seem right, does it? Although I'm not good at math, I can still do basic addition and subtraction. There's a big difference between 24 hours and 5 hours, isn't there? They didn't contact you for 24 hours, and then three years later your sister said they had been inside for 5 hours. According to the previous statement, didn't your sister have a sense of time during those 24 hours? Did she think that only 5 hours had passed after 24 hours? Even if your sister and the others made a mistake with time in the cave, you outside wouldn't have been unaware of it, would you?"

Shi Ping'er didn't speak, so I continued, "There's a loophole in what you're making up. No wonder I felt there was something wrong with what you said earlier. It turns out it's about the timing. I want to know, after your sister and the others entered the cave, they should have informed you every hour. Five hours have passed in your time, so what exactly did your sister and the others say to you?"

Shi Ping'er remained silent. I placed the communicator against the stone door and said, "Should I call you Shi Ping'er, or Shi Mei?" As soon as I finished speaking, Shi Ping'er suddenly looked up at me and said, "What are you saying?"

I smiled and said, "Even now, you still won't tell the truth?"

Shi Ping'er snorted and said, "Those idiots at headquarters... how did you find out?"

Chapter 45 of "Tangdun Strange Tales Notes"

Chapter 45 of "Tangdun Strange Tales Notes"

Author: Tang Xiaohao