Geister des alten Grabes

Kapitel 35

Upon hearing this, Niu Erqing flew into a rage and grabbed the little girl with both hands, intending to strangle her to death. However, one of his thumbs had been cut off, rendering him powerless. Seeing an opportunity, the little girl struggled even more fiercely, her strength comparable to any adult present. Moreover, Qin Lizhen, though being held back by Uncle An, still grabbed Niu Erqing's arm with both hands and kept pulling backward. As a result, the little girl was about to break free from Niu Erqing.

"Xu Chen————————" Helpless against the little girl, Niu Erqing shouted, "Come here and kill this thing, and everything will be over."

Xu Chen trembled slightly, as if she was afraid to do it herself. She hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked over. Halfway there, she saw the ox-ear knife that Niu Erqing had dropped on the ground, so she picked it up.

"Xu Chen, no." Gu Xing said from the side.

"You can leave now. From this day forward, we will never appear again." Xu Chen stared intently at Gu Xing, who seemed devoid of any soul.

"Xu Chen..." Gu Xing really didn't know what to say, and he couldn't think of a way to solve these problems, so he could only watch Xu Chen walk closer and closer to Niu Erqing and the others.

Niu Erqing chuckled, gripping the little girl tightly with both hands, and said to Xu Chen, "Hurry up, our torment is about to end today, Xu Chen..."

Xu Chen approached them, raising his knife high. Niu Erqing urged, "Hurry up and kill this little guy."

Without a word, Xu Chen plunged the knife downwards.

The room fell silent instantly.

Gu Xing, Niu Erqing, and An Bo were all stunned.

"Where are you going to insert it?" Niu Erqing asked.

At this moment, Xu Chen's knife was not stuck in the little girl's body, nor in Niu Erqing's body, but in Qin Lizhen's body.

Qin Lizhen was stunned for a moment, then released her grip on Niu Erqing's hands. She stared intently at Xu Chen for a long time before smiling and whispering, "Chongchong, it's over..."

Niu Erqing looked at Xu Chen, still confused about what was going on. He only felt that the little girl's hands were icy cold. When he turned his head, he saw that it was a doll.

Uncle An then noticed, slowly releasing Qin Lizhen's hand and looking at Xu Chen, asking, "What... what's going on here?"

Xu Chen burst into tears and said, "Aunt Qin was never pregnant more than ten years ago; it was a false pregnancy."

"What?" Niu Erqing looked at Xu Chen in surprise.

"More than ten years ago, Aunt Qin's husband had an affair, so Aunt Qin wanted to keep her husband's heart and planned to have a child for him, but she could not get pregnant. Later, she experienced a false pregnancy."

How did you know?

"Aunt Qin said it herself, but she has a mental illness and believes that she has an unborn daughter. On the one hand, she treats me as her daughter, and on the other hand, she insists that her daughter is alive."

"It was this obsession that turned all of us who came into contact with her into undead monsters, and we were subjected to terrifying torture every day."

Upon hearing Xu Chen's words, Qin Lizhen sat up straight, then forcefully pulled the knife out of her stomach, and said with a smile, "Xu Chen, Aunt Qin is sorry to you, Uncle An, Niu Erqing, I'm sorry to you all too, it's all my fault, and Xiaohua too."

Uncle Amber looked at her and asked curiously, "You know about Xiaohua's matter too?"

Qin Lizhen nodded: "Yes, I do feel guilty, but I have never been able to accept reality, accept my husband's change of heart, accept that I don't have a daughter, accept my misfortune. So I have never been able to let go, which has affected you and caused you a lot of suffering."

At this point, Qin Lizhen coughed up blood and said haltingly to Niu Erqing, "Niu Erqing, for the past ten years... I've been in a coma, but when I... woke up, I couldn't control myself... I killed people, just like you. Actually, all those people you killed were because of me. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have done this..."

Niu Erqing didn't get angry; he just shook his head with a cold laugh and said, "Forget it, I can only blame my bad luck."

“Uncle An… Little Flower… her.” Qin Lizhen slowly turned around and said to Uncle An.

Amber turned his head away in anguish, tears streaming down his face, and said, "Don't say anymore..."

Qin Lizhen then looked at Xu Chen with guilt and said, "Chongchong, you... you've been affected by me since you were little. You could have lived a happy life like a normal girl."

Xu Chen remained silent, tears streaming down his face. He glanced at Gu Xing, then choked out, "Aunt Qin, you've always... been so... good to me, and I haven't... blamed you."

Qin Lizhen reached out and gently stroked Xu Chen's face, her eyes filled with boundless tenderness: "Xu Chen... you are really... a good... child..." As she spoke, Qin Lizhen's voice grew softer and softer, and her eyes slowly closed.

Seeing this scene, Gu Xing and his group were unsure whether they should go over. Just then, Li Xu looked at Yang Mian and saw that his lips were completely white, his face was pale, he was covered in cold sweat, and his eyes were closed. It seemed that he had fainted.

Li Xu immediately shouted, "Yang Mian, what's wrong? Everyone look, Yang Mian has fainted!"

Following Li Xu's shout, everyone realized Yang Mian's condition. Zhang Bei shouted, "Quick, get him to the hospital!"

Zhang Da and Li Xu immediately helped Yang Mian up and hurriedly left the house. Gu Xing wanted to follow, but then remembered Xu Chen. When he turned around, he saw that Xu Chen was still standing there, motionless. Niu Erqing next to him stretched out his injured wrist to Uncle An, and the cut artery wound on it had actually healed.

"Is Qin Lizhen really dead?" Uncle An didn't know who he was asking, but he reached out and felt Qin Lizhen's neck, finding no pulse. Uncle An smiled through his tears and said, "It seems my estimate was about right. We've become the source of the plague too."

"Really?" Niu Erqing showed no surprise. "Even if Qin Lizhen dies, it won't remove the power from us?" Niu Erqing then smiled and said, "Never mind, I have nothing left to hold on to anyway."

Hearing their conversation, Xu Chen wiped away her tears and then tightly closed her eyes, as if it were a ritual to accept this established fact. When she opened her eyes, she still couldn't help but look at Gu Xing.

Gu Xing's clothes still bore traces of Yang Mian's blood. He forced a smile, slowly approached Xu Chen, and whispered, "Xu Chen, is it all over?"

Xu Chen slowly stepped back, shook his head, tears welled up in his eyes again, and his voice changed, hoarsely uttering broken words: "No... no, the power hasn't disappeared yet."

Gu Xing seemed to know what was going to happen. He rushed forward and tried to grab Xu Chen, but Xu Chen was faster. He picked up the oil can that Anbo had prepared nearby and poured it over himself.

Meanwhile, Uncle An rushed over and tackled Gu Xing to the ground. Taking advantage of this moment, Xu Chen took out a lighter.

"No, Xu Chen, isn't Qin Li really dead?"

"No..." Xu Chen coughed as she spoke. Perhaps the gasoline fumes were too pungent. She reached out a hand to wipe away the liquid around her eyes, which she couldn't tell was tears or gasoline. She said, "I know better than anyone else that Aunt Qin's power hasn't disappeared. It's still growing within us. I haven't been able to control it since I was a child. Those excessive pranks weren't my intention. Gu Xing, I'm sorry... Back then, I... I didn't mean to scare Yang Mian."

"It's alright...it's alright..." Gu Xing said repeatedly, struggling to push An Bo away, but An Bo held him firmly to the ground, preventing him from moving.

The others, standing to the side, were quite far from Xu Chen and dared not make any rash moves. Only Zi Yuan stepped forward and said to Xu Chen, "Xu Chen, don't do anything foolish. In psychology, this is just your self-suggestion. Perhaps what we are seeing is all an illusion."

"No, Sister Ziwan, this is not an illusion. I know it very well because I have been doing it since I was a child. I know it much better than anyone else."

Xu Chen looked at Gu Xing and said, "It's really unbelievable. When people are too obsessed, they become like this. All along, I've been like Niu Erqing and Uncle An, tormented by those forces to the point of madness. Even the people around me suffer the same way. So, no one played with me when I was young, and I didn't even pay much attention to my parents. I often ran away from home alone, actually because I didn't want to implicate them."

As Xu Chen finished speaking, his body seemed to have lost all its bones, and he collapsed to the ground, but he still held the lighter firmly in his hand.

"You know what? Gu... Xing, I've really... worked so hard...!"

“Xu Chen, I know, I know you’ve had a hard time,” Gu Xing said, choking back tears. He then struggled to break free from Uncle An, but Uncle An held him tightly, saying, “Don’t move. Xu Chen and we must die. If we don’t, we will lose our minds like Qin Lizhen, and then the people around Xu Chen will also be in trouble.”

"Didn't you say you wouldn't die?" Gu Xingchong roared at An Bo.

"Back then, it was Qin Lizhen who influenced us. Now that she's dead, that power has transferred to us. We are the source, influencing others. It's like we've taken over Qin Lizhen's role, and you will take over ours. So, before anyone else is affected, we must eliminate the source, which means we must die."

As Gu Xing listened, he couldn't accept the truth and cried out to Xu Chen, "Xu Chen... no... I beg you."

"I don't want to drag others into this," Xu Chen answered loudly, then added in a voice only he could hear, "especially you."

“That’s not right.” Gu Xing said, then suddenly chuckled foolishly, “I know, it must be your prank. Ha...ha.”

Xu Chen remained silent, lit the lighter in his hand, and the gasoline fumes from his body touched the lighter.

The fire on the surface burst into sparks, and Xu Chen's body was on the verge of igniting at any moment.

Gu Xing was startled and hurriedly said, "No, I'm sorry, Xu Chen, it's my fault. You must still be blaming me, blaming me for blaming you, blaming me for slapping you. I'm sorry..."

"Gu Xing, I'm not that petty," Xu Chen said with tears streaming down his face, smiling like a child.

“Yes, Xu Chen isn’t that kind of petty person.” Gu Xing also calmed down for a moment and said in a tone as if coaxing a child, “Xu Chen isn’t that kind of petty person, so put down the lighter and come back to my side.”

“Uncle An is right, we’re all going to die. Gu Xing, listen to me, go.” Xu Chen said, moving the lighter in her hand closer to her upper body. Gu Xing’s eyes widened when he saw it. He didn’t know where he got the strength, but he finally broke free from Uncle An and was about to rush to Xu Chen’s side. He had already thought that even if he couldn’t save Xu Chen, he would die with her.

Gu Xing had just taken a step forward when his collar was grabbed and pulled backward, sending him flying several meters before landing next to Da Kai.

It turned out that the person who dragged Gu Xing away was Niu Erqing. He walked over, blocking Gu Xing and Da Kai's view, and said, "Damn it, Xu Chen is doing this for your own good. If you don't leave, you'll end up like us, seeing terrifying hallucinations every day."

"I don't care!" Gu Xing shouted, trying to rush out again, but Niu Erqing slapped him across the face, knocking him to the ground. Da Kai was furious and wanted to fight back, but Uncle An, who rushed over, blocked his way. Uncle An said, "You should leave quickly and take him with you. Do you want to become like we used to be?"

Da Kai hesitated for a moment. He looked at Gu Xing and saw that he was struggling on the ground again, so Da Kai had no choice but to hold him down first.

"Open up, damn it, let me go!" Gu Xing shouted.

"Don't be like this, Gu Xing," Xu Chen said, watching Gu Xing's frantic state from a distance. "Forget about me."

Ziyuan wanted to go out and stop Xu Chen, but Zhang Bei grabbed her arm and wouldn't let her go. Ziyuan could only glance at Zhang Bei and, without bothering to talk to her, called out to Xu Chen from afar, "Xu Chen, there might still be a way to save things. You're still young. It would be such a pity if you died now."

“Sister Ziyuan, you’re wrong. There’s no way to salvage the situation, and I don’t feel sorry for it. I’ve lived a life worse than death since I was a child, but I feel calm whenever I think of Gu Xing. Besides, I’ve been very happy spending the past month at university with Gu Xing, Yang Mian, and the others. So, I’m already very content.”

After Xu Chen finished speaking, she used the flame from the lighter to ignite the gasoline on her upper body. The gasoline was extremely pure, and flames instantly covered her entire body, making it appear as a large fireball. A mournful voice could be heard saying, "Gu Xing, forget me..."

"No----------------"

Gu Xing, hoarse and exhausted...

...

Valley line. . . . . .

Valley line. . . .

who?

It's me, Chongchong.

"Are you... are you alright? You're not dead?"

Do you want me to die?

"No, that's not what I meant. Thank you, you know how worried I was about you?"

What are you doing here? Why don't you come over?

"I...I can't see anything."

Gu Xing, open your eyes, Gu Xing...

"What? Bug, what did you say?"

...Open your eyes...Gu Xing...

"I can't hear you..."

Valley line——————

Gu Xing opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the hospital ceiling.

"Gu Xing, you're awake?" Zi Yuan's voice came from beside him. Gu Xing looked around and saw that Da Kai, Li Xu, Zhang Da, Zi Yuan, and Yang Mian were all around him, greeting him all at once when they saw that he was awake.

When he propped himself up, he felt waves of pain coming from his head. He touched his face and found that half of his face was swollen.

Yang Mian, with his hand wrapped in gauze, came out and said to Gu Xing, "This was done by Niu Erqing. He knocked you unconscious because he was afraid you would do something reckless."

"Where's Xu Chen?" Gu Xing looked around but couldn't see Xu Chen anywhere. "She was just here a moment ago."

The hospital fell silent; no one answered his question.

After a long while, Ziyuan said to Gu Xing, "Gu Xing, you need to calm down. At that time, Xu Chen had already set himself on fire. When Niu Erqing saw that you seemed to be about to rush over, he knocked you unconscious."

Gu Xing stared wide-eyed at Zi Yuan, staring straight ahead without any reaction. Zi Yuan looked at him for a while, then said, "Da Kai carried you out. At that time, Xu Chen was already burning up."

As Ziyuan spoke, she glanced down slightly, avoiding Gu Xing's gaze, and said, "I'm sorry, Gu Xing, things are so strange. I had no idea how to handle it. I didn't know whether to save Xu Chen or just let her go..."

"Where is Xu Chen?" Gu Xing seemed not to understand and stared intently at Zi Yuan as he asked her.

“When we came out of the house, Uncle An locked the door from the inside. I called out for a while and then I saw thick smoke pouring out of the door, and I could also see flames inside. It seems that Uncle An, Niu Erqing, and Xu Chen have all burned to death.”