El misterio del periódico K

Capítulo 36

"have no idea."

"Xiao Mo..."

"Hurry up and go eat, we still have experiments to do today."

I didn't get to eat in the end. Xiao Bi kept trying to drag me to "Moonlight," but I refused.

She grabbed my arm so hard it turned blue, I'm not going.

She called Deng Fei and Jia Yanyu, and the three of them stood in front of me, but I didn't go.

When they reached out to touch me, I unconsciously grabbed a vase and smashed it. Jia Yanyu's hand was cut, and blood slowly flowed out. I suddenly felt my body lose strength, and my bones were throbbing with pain. The three of them stared at me blankly. I knew I looked terrible crying.

Later, they came over and hugged me.

Later, their tears soaked my clothes. They said, "We're not going anywhere..."

May 15, 2005 - Not sunny

Summer's waning moon has arrived.

When she found me, I knew I could no longer escape.

Xiao Bi put her arm around me and sat down beside me, listening to her slowly say, "When you came back from Bailu Mountain that day, everyone could tell something was wrong just by looking at your face. Even if they couldn't guess everything, they could guess seven-tenths of it. By the time you told Gu Ming everything, we had already prepared everything."

"You've been keeping this from me all along; that red crystal was fake, wasn't it?"

"Why would Gu Ming put the real thing in such an obvious place for you to take?" Xia Canyue said softly, her eyes moist.

"And then you did that while I was at my interview?"

"Transferring a spirit into another person is not a simple matter. My father and Daoist Cangyi accidentally saw this in an ancient book decades ago. This spell is extremely powerful. The person required must have high magical power and be willing, without any struggle or hesitation. The moment the crystal pierces is the most unbearable. The pain of ten thousand ants gnawing at the bone is no more than that. If there is even a trace of resistance in their hearts at that time, the two people being cast on will definitely die on the spot from ruptured blood vessels."

My heart clenched. I remembered Gu Ming's face turning pale instantly and the drops of blood in my dream. Did it hurt that much? Was he willing to endure such pain?

“When a spirit enters another person’s body, it will inevitably reject and resist. This requires that person to use their powerful magic to suppress it. Preventing the Blood Spirit from activating the Ten Thousand Ghosts Gathering Evil cannot be accomplished by just one spirit. Therefore… he… attached all the abilities he had accumulated over the years to that spirit.”

That's why he was so confident. That night, he even looked up and smiled at me. He smiled at me, just like before, with his eyes crinkled. He told me to take care.

Gu Ming, how can I make things right? You said waiting is more painful than death. Do you prefer me to suffer everything, or do you think I can forget you quickly?

Gu Ming, this is the first time I've ever hated you this much...

"The spirit left his body, the power of the spell and the loss of ability, plus excessive blood loss..." Xia Canyue could no longer hold back and covered her mouth, choking with sobs.

"Stop talking, I know everything."

"Do you want to go see him?"

"I'm not going."

"..."

"I'm very busy, really busy..."

At lunchtime in the cafeteria, no one spoke; the noisy environment around us seemed to be shut out by our small space. Xiao Bi and the others held their chopsticks, but didn't touch their food. I volunteered to finish all the dishes on the table.

Deng Fei kept watching me eat, his eyes darting around, concealing the glint of light that occasionally escaped his notice.

"If you think I eat so much, just say so. It's your own fault for not eating any."

Deng Fei was stunned for a moment, then gritted his teeth and endured it for a long time. Finally, he threw his chopsticks on the table and stormed off angrily...

Sandstorm on May 17, 2005

Xia Canyue called me this morning to tell me that Gao Tian was being transferred and that she and her father had also decided to leave the city. She said there were some of my things in "Moonlight" and asked if I wanted to take them.

I thought about it and realized that the things there weren't worth much money, so I shook my head and said I didn't want them anymore; I could just throw them away.

She remained silent for a while, then asked me again if I really didn't want to go.

I still refused.

She sighed deeply, then said to me, "'Moonlight' is yours; come whenever you want..."

I said, "I don't know how to do business. If I keep it, it will only go bankrupt. I might as well sell it and make a lot of money."

Xia Canyue stopped talking and slammed the phone down.

I ate a bread roll in my dorm, and when I got ready to go to the lab, I found the sky a hazy yellow. It turned out there was a sandstorm. It was so dirty, and the sand blowing into my eyes really hurt...

May 20, 2005 – Pie really didn't fall from the sky.

My graduation project has been going very smoothly these past few days. I've been so busy in the lab that I haven't had time to write in my diary.

Today, the school that notified me to attend the second interview called, regretfully informing me that they didn't have enough places, so I wasn't admitted. I nodded in satisfaction; it seems there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

I called my mom, and she said it was a good thing, and that I should study hard for a year to get into a better school.

That evening, I told Xiao Bi and Deng Fei about it. Xiao Bi excitedly said that he wanted to find a house at school so that the four of us could share it.

I asked Xiao Bi, "Why are you so happy that I wasn't accepted?"

Xiao Bi said, "Because this way, we won't be separated."

I smiled at her, thinking to myself, how could we not separate? What if I get a job in another city next year... or what if you and Jia Yanyan are transferred to another city for work... or what if Deng Fei goes abroad to pursue a doctorate...

People always come together and then separate, and once they separate, it's hard for them to get together again. At some point, I realized that those vows to never separate are the most ridiculous...

June 5, 2005, sunny

Today is the day of my thesis defense. I barely finished my graduation project three days ago, and the thesis was printed out on time. Thank goodness...

I put on some light makeup this morning, and as Xiao Bi was applying mascara to my eyes, she whispered, "Where did all that light go in your eyes?"

I looked at her with a smile, "It's all been worn down by that stupid experiment."

Her hands trembled slightly, then she threw herself into my arms and burst into tears. In my mind, Xiao Bi was always the image of a female bandit, but I don't know when it started, she'd become increasingly prone to crying, sometimes for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, my tears were becoming fewer and fewer, almost like a drought…

The defense went smoothly in the morning, except that I stuttered a few times during my presentation and couldn't answer a few questions from the professors...

When I turned on my phone in the afternoon, I saw a text message from Xia Canyue saying that their flight was at 12 noon. I looked up at my watch; it was already 3 pm. I couldn't see them off anymore.

The charming, handsome older man, Mr. Xia; the arrogant Xia Canyue; and the stern-faced Gao Tian—may you have a safe journey…

I died of heat on June 15, 2005.

We found a house near the school, a three-bedroom, two-living-room house. Xiao Bi and I shared one room, Deng Fei and Jia Yanyu shared another, and the third room served as a study. Of course, the study, piled with four computers and DVDs, looked just like a computer room.

Moving, moving, under the blazing sun, we were exhausted from moving and packing all day. In the evening, four corpses lay on the ground groaning, and no one wanted to get up and cook.

When my stomach growled at the highest register, Deng Fei finally got up, looking pale and exhausted, and went to cook noodles. The four of us ate eight eggs, eight ham sausages, and ten packets of noodles. Looking at the mess of pots and pans and our bulging bellies, I felt like the people lying on the ground weren't four corpses, but four pig corpses…

I graduated on July 4, 2005.

Wow, four years have passed in the blink of an eye.

I still remember the autumn when I first came to this city, the beautiful campus with its reddish grove of trees, the goldfish and the big turtle in the pond, Xiao Bi pulling me by the hand to rush to the cafeteria for food, the noon when I spilled soup all over Jia Yanyan, Deng Fei's chuckle, the hallways filled with small stools before exams, the first time I saw such heavy snow, the boy with the guitar, the pretty girl in the skirt, and the white-haired professor...

Those stories, seemingly distant yet not so distant, keep replaying in my mind. We haven't parted ways yet, but I've already started to miss them.

We received our graduation gowns, the white scarves and black tassels on the caps fluttering in the wind. Xiao Bi said that if we wore glasses, we could film Harry Potter.

Deng Fei took the camera, and we took photos at the school gate, the biology building, the dormitory, the woods, the pond, the rockery, and the garden. We even took pictures in the underpass and the cafeteria. It was very hot, and the graduation gowns were thick, but no one complained. Everyone unconsciously looked for their close friends and made victory signs.

Click, click, as if trying to capture everything in the tiny camera.

I think these four years of youth, which passed by so quickly yet were so beautiful that we can't let go, have different meanings in everyone's heart. Our experiences may not be exactly the same, but the feelings and emotions will be the same. Perhaps we all think that one day when we are very, very old, we can still take out these photos with happy smiles to recall that beautiful youth.

We had a farewell dinner that night. We didn't eat much food, but we drank a lot of alcohol. Then, I don't know who started crying, but one after another, the young voices from the speakers sang, "The day we knew you were leaving, we didn't say a word. When the midnight bells tolled, piercing the heart of parting, they couldn't break my deep silence. The day we saw you off until the very end, we didn't leave a single word. When the crowded platform squeezed the people seeing you off, it couldn't squeeze away my deep sorrow… As you shoulder your baggage and lay down that glory, I could only keep my tears in my heart, waving goodbye with a slight smile, wishing you a safe journey. As you step onto the platform and walk alone from now on, I can only deeply bless you, deeply bless you, my dearest friend, wishing you a safe journey…"

With red eyes, I returned to the dorm for my last night. Lying in bed, I smiled slightly, thinking of the female bandit Xiao Bi, the pretentious Deng Fei, the energetic and cheerful Jia Yanchang, the carefree Cuihua, the vain Huang Ying, the tall leader, the big-butt Nan Nan, the hairy Yue Zi, the unbalanced Gao Di, the clumsy and careless Lili, the skinny Xiao Li, the incredibly cute Linlin, the cheerful Zhang Ji, the arrogant Hao Rui, the handsome superstar Jay, the fellow villager Ge Peng who sang well, the big-mouthed, bespectacled turtle, the seemingly gentle Wang Yuting, the truly gentle Chun Yu, the kind-hearted Wang Hongjian, and the Sichuan girl Xue Mei. The eccentric villager Liu Jia, the big-eyed Kainan, the happy Keke, the dark-skinned Jin Xiuwei, the strong-willed village secretary, the Mongolian Chao Mao, the beautiful Bai Lu, the adorable Mi Li, the pretty Hao Shengnan, the hair-refusing Xiao Long, the sunny-smiling Shuai Gang, the skinny Wang Bin, the skipper Wu Xianda, the carefree Huang Wei, the fun-loving Zhang Shixin, the silent Xu Chao, the computer genius Sui Dong, the incredibly dark-skinned Zhang Yongchen, the resourceful Southerner PK, the hyperthyroid Zhao Enlin, the chubby Ma Biao, the ever-smiling Ren Chuanbao, Zhang Hong with his tall girlfriend, the kind Teacher Meng, and many, many more…

Like an old lady, I thought about each of these people's faces one by one, wondering where you would work and live in the future. I am so grateful to God for letting me meet you all. In these four years, each of you holds laughter in my memory. I haven't told you yet, but I really love you all. I am so happy to have met you all...

Later, I thought of another person, the one who suddenly appeared in my life and then disappeared. Back then, he secretly plotted to make me do more work. He drove me to investigate the case of the decaying corpse. He went to Er Gou Manor to help Aunt Gao deal with the suddenly appearing female ghost. He pretended to be unconscious in the hospital and then secretly went to eat in the middle of the night. He had a fierce battle with Xiao Bi at West Lake. His sudden confession. He watched the stars with me in the mountains. When I woke up, that sweet song was playing. He hummed softly, "Don't want to wake up, find you ain't here by my side..."

Gu Ming, I miss you so much. I'm so glad I failed the re-examination and can stay in this city where you used to live. I actually think about you secretly and carefully every day, but I don't dare to look at you. I would rather you always be the one who is vividly smiling at me in my memory. I'm afraid to see your pale face and your lifeless body. I feel that you are still alive, living well in a place where I can't see you.

Gu Ming, I've graduated. You didn't see how silly I looked in my graduation gown, it really was...

Don't get heatstroke during summer vacation, July 10th, 2005!