Das Grab von Qin Shi Huang

Kapitel 19

No, that's not right! She shook her head vigorously. It's not this kind of switch, it should be a rope, the rope for an incandescent light bulb!

The last time I was with Lonely Cow, the light in this room was a dim, yellowish incandescent bulb that she had to pull a rope to turn on!

And! She rushed to the desk, and as she expected, it was spotless, as if it had just been ransacked by the Japanese army. Where were the stack of activity application forms? Where was the ink bottle that had been holding them down? And where was the fountain pen that should have been filled with fresh ink?

They've all disappeared.

Only dust, accumulated over the years, heavy and difficult to remove, enveloped the entire room, and weighed heavily on Yan Wuyue's heart as well.

Da Wenxuan had no idea what was going on and could only watch her go crazy in bewilderment. Something's not right! Yan Wuyue muttered to herself, "Could it be that Lonely Ox and I really did accidentally stumble into a time tunnel and go back fifteen years?" Suddenly remembering something, she rushed to the bookshelf and grabbed a magazine.

UFO Exploration, July 1999 issue.

Good heavens! Has it gone back to five years ago again? She groaned, clutching her head, desperately trying to calm herself down. Da Wenxuan, bewildered, asked her:

"Excuse me... can I help you?"

Okay, let's try again! So she told him, "Could you help me look at the magazines on the bookshelf?"

"UFO Exploration?" he asked. "Or do you have to read all the magazines?"

“No need to be so careful, just look at the publication date,” she said, clinging to a sliver of hope. “Then tell me when the latest issue was published.”

Perhaps this room was a club's archive, storing all the "UFO Exploration" magazines from the past ten years... She recalled her last memory, comparing it with what she saw now. The room was correct, the furniture was in the right place, and there was a banner standing in the corner. She remembered there were also several photos hanging on the wall... So she went closer and carefully examined them under the bright fluorescent light.

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident with Spider Lily and Ivy (Part Six)

More landscape photos, and that family portrait in front of the bronze statue of former Principal Guo Moruo… Wait, Yan Wuyue rubbed her eyes, wondering if the bizarre experiences of the past two days had severely damaged her eyesight. Why was there no one in front of the statue of Principal Guo in the photo? She clearly remembered seeing more than a dozen young students standing in front of the statue, all smiling and impeccably dressed…

But now, those dozen or so senior students have vanished from the photos?

She let out a soft gasp, and Maya darted out of her bag at the sound, only to be quickly pushed back down. She couldn't let Da Wenxuan see the doll; otherwise, she'd have to explain herself endlessly. She composed herself, thinking perhaps she was seeing things, or perhaps there really was a landscape photograph of Guo Moruo's bronze statue hanging on the wall… She heard the rustling of pages turning behind her, which reassured her considerably. So, she mustered her courage and charged at the photograph on the wall once more.

She then realized that the scenes in the photos, whether roadside landscapes or rural dwellings, exuded a chilling, eerie atmosphere from beneath the dust. Indeed, they were just two-dimensional images, yet the objects within them were so profound that they seemed exactly like reality, creating an incredibly stunning spatial effect. Look, the shadows cast by the sunlight under the ceiling of the old house seem to shift slightly with the direction of Yan Wuyue's gaze. Not to mention the "ghost city" of the Yardang landform (Yardang, derived from Uyghur, means "small hills with steep walls." Yardang landforms are formed by strong wind erosion, transportation, and deposition, often presenting wind-eroded ridges, mounds, wind-eroded gullies, and depressions. This type of landform appears in wind-swept, dried-up ancient lake basins or lacustrine plains and Gobi deserts. Lop Nur and Urho in Xinjiang, China, are typical examples of this type of landform). Whenever a breeze brushes Yan Wuyue's cheek, she seems to hear the wind-swept ghost city, riddled with holes, dancing like demons, its cries of ghosts and wolves never ceasing.

There was another photograph, showing the front of a building with red walls and green tiles, interspersed with a few ivy vines that stretched across it like hairpins in a beautiful woman's hair, exuding an indescribable charm and elegance. Yan Wuyue felt that this building looked strangely familiar. She thought for a moment, then realized, "Ah, isn't that the Ivy Ghost House?"

Unlike the real-life "Ivy League" buildings, the "ghost house" in the photo lacks the imposing aura one would expect. Instead, it exudes an indescribable peace and tranquility. Although the photo was taken during a sunny day, every room on both the first and second floors was lit, and several blurry figures could be seen reflected in the windows. Unfortunately, the distance was too great to discern who they were.

"Have you found it?" Without any warning, Da Wenxuan suddenly appeared behind her and asked anxiously.

He always appears and disappears so mysteriously, and doesn't he think he's getting too close? Yan Wuyue reflexively shrank back to avoid his soft breath brushing against her neck.

"Nothing's wrong for now, how about you?"

Da Wenxuan held up the crumpled magazine in his hand. "It only has the latest issues from 2000, whether it's UFO Exploration or Science Pictorial. Maybe this place just has some old magazines." He asked her, puzzled, "Are these magazines related to the disappearance?"

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, maybe... She paced anxiously in the room, lightly patting her head as if to try and recall the events more clearly. 2000—exactly five years... The disappearance case that Senior Brother Qiao Yongfa mentioned also happened five years ago. What a coincidence, both five years ago? If we were to make a bold assumption, these magazines belonged to the club that collectively disappeared five years ago, then it wouldn't be surprising if no one renewed their subscriptions after all the members vanished. So, does this mean that this room possesses some mysterious, unknown power, capable not only of reversing time but also of devouring humans? This would also explain the disappearances of An Lin and Lonely Ox; they were both "eaten" by this room. The reason Yan Wuyue was unharmed was simply because she and Lonely Ox drew the lucky lot when assigning tasks.

It was terrifying! She felt as if countless eerie eyes were watching her every move. She heard a girl's giggles, faint yet clearly audible. She heard a man's soft, almost imperceptible breathing softly near her ear. Startled, she jumped back, but this time, it wasn't Da Wenxuan. The voices of the man and woman continued to follow her, like a curse that wouldn't leave. They seemed so close to her ear, whispering and chanting; their magical voices relentlessly pressured her nerves, suffocating her, causing her pain, and making it difficult to breathe. Yan Wuyue began to hallucinate. She seemed to see an enormous human face appear from the ceiling to the wall, grinning maliciously as it opened its blood-red maw. The mouth grew larger and larger, bigger and bigger, until it was as tall and as big as a person. She tried to run away in a panic, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground and she couldn't move them—she looked down and saw that she was standing squarely on the lower lip of that giant mouth, and a bright red, dripping tongue nimbly extended from that blood-red maw and wrapped around her feet...

"So, it was Maya who saved you?" the astrologer asked calmly. Yan Wuyue covered her face with her hands in frustration, her cheeks burning red with shame.

"That tomboy is so stupid!" Maya proudly stuck out her little belly. "She was so scared she didn't dare to move! If I hadn't been clever and quick-witted and pinched her hard in time, she probably would have been eaten by that ghost house too!"

“But I didn’t have time to warn Da Wenxuan…” Yan Wuyue let out a series of mournful cries, “Although I escaped, he must still be inside! Why was it me who was saved again… why…! I’ve hurt someone again…” Although she covered her mouth tightly with her hands, everyone could hear the sobs in her voice.

"I'm so useless!" she cried.

The astrologer remained silent, waiting for her to finish venting her emotions before gently adding a comment:

"Then, would you like my magical wish?"

Yan Wuyue raised her head, her eyes, still glistening with tears, exceptionally bright and beautiful.

"wish?"

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident with Spider Lily and Ivy (Part Seven)

On a crisp, almost dry afternoon, a man in black stood outside the iron gates of the Ivy Haunted House. Tall and imposing, his oversized coat collar concealed his excessively pale face, with only a wisp of silver hair occasionally peeking out from under his hat. He stood motionless, like a marble statue, amidst the dappled sunlight dancing through the trees, letting the sun gradually lengthen, extend, darken, and thicken his black shadow until it completely swallowed the daylight, and moonlight replaced the faint sun, softly floating above the Ivy Haunted House. At that moment, he knew perfectly well that his appearance was neither too early nor too late, but perfectly timed.

He strode confidently through the iron gate, his flowing black clothes quickly blending into the darkness of the haunted house. Without hesitation, he rushed straight to the room at the end of the corridor, that eerie room that resembled a time tunnel and had once swallowed more than a dozen students.

He switched on the light, and the fluorescent light, like lightning flashing in the sky on a stormy night, cast a pale, flickering light that reflected in his eyes. The man patiently waited for it to fully illuminate, too lazy to do anything else until then. Finally, the fluorescent light stopped its twitching startup process, and the white light illuminated the strange room in every detail. The astrologer slowly scanned every plant and tree in the room, his icy green eyes devoid of any light. Maya poked her little head out of the hidden pocket of his coat, her cat-like eyes wide with curiosity, even more interested than her master.

"Still the same, no scent of the undead or living, sir." Maya's delicate eyebrows furrowed. "But I really don't understand what's in this room that could scare this tomboy like that?"

She truly didn't understand, because she hadn't seen anything at all.

There was no giant face on the wall, no gaping mouth on the floor, and certainly no enormous tongue capable of tearing Yan Wuyue apart... No! What Maya witnessed was that after Da Wenxuan told Yan Wuyue about the magazine, the tomboy's pupils suddenly dilated, beads of cold sweat poured down her face, and her teeth chattered. Her gaze was filled with death and fear, wandering madly and desperately across every corner of the room, including the floor. She opened her mouth wide, wanting to scream, but it was as if some invisible black hand was gripping her throat, and she couldn't utter a sound. She gasped for breath, staring intently at her feet, as if she had encountered a monster, with an unprecedentedly terrifying look in her eyes. However, in Maya's eyes, everything was as transparent as air.

So she pinched Yan Wuyue hard, and the latter screamed miserably like a pig being slaughtered, finally escaping from the shackles of the illusion.

"But that boy wasn't so lucky!" Maya was still savoring the thrilling scene. "There's nothing we can do about it. If it were Mr. [the author], he would probably prioritize the tomboy with the 'Star Mark' on her!"

The astrologer smiled noncommittally. "I am a gentleman, Maya. It is my lifelong honor to serve a beautiful lady."

"Huh? You call that flat-chested, no-butt, fierce tomboy a beauty?" Maya's eyes widened in shock, her face filled with utter despair. "Your taste is absolutely terrible, sir! I really misjudged you! You've disappointed me so much! How could you, how could you..."

“…Let’s get down to business first.” The astrologer coughed awkwardly, interrupting her rambling. He walked straight to the photos on the wall, seemingly already suspicious of those strange pictures.

Behind him, where he couldn't see, a pair of mysterious eyes quietly emerged, silently watching his every move.

Yan Wuyue was extremely distressed; she didn't even know what to do. Three people, including Lonely Ox, also disappeared five years later. The astrologer made a demand of her in exchange for rescuing those people—

"What is the price you're talking about?" she asked. "If I have it, I'll give it to you, as long as you help me rescue them."

The astrologer calmly sipped his yogurt. "Of course you have it," he said, his meaningful glance clearly revealing what he truly wanted. But he refused to say. He savored the pleasure of teasing her, trying to prolong that enjoyment as much as possible. Seeing Yan Wuyue frantically trying to figure out the price of the deal, a cold smile enveloped his heart.

One life for three lives is a good deal no matter where you look at it, of course, when it doesn't concern you... Humans are such selfish and contradictory creatures. When they are in a safe place, they loudly proclaim that life is equal and everyone is equal. But once their own interests are involved, who wouldn't treat their own life as priceless and trample on others like dirt? People who are truly willing to sacrifice for others are extremely rare... Even Yan Wuyue is no exception.

“You’re afraid of death,” he bent down, picked up a strand of Yan Wuyue’s short hair, and his sarcastic smile broke the ice in his eyes. “At least that proves you’re living comfortably right now.”

"Very well." He didn't even glance at her, turned around and walked out of the astrology shop. "Come find me again when you've lived to the point of no return, when you're so desperate and disgusted that you just want to die."

Yan Wuyue had a dream. She dreamt of the first time she met Lonely Cow. At that time, she had just entered K University. Having just been weaned off her parents, she felt she needed to find someone to rely on for peace of mind and to meet a group of like-minded friends to be happy. She couldn't wait to go on the BBS to find like-minded people, and by chance, she saw a post where the poster suggested organizing a meeting under the Guo Moruo statue to discuss astrology.

Many people eagerly signed up, but when Yan Wuyue braved the blizzard to reach the Guo Moruo statue, she only saw a lone boy standing there. The boy hunched over, stamping his feet to keep warm in the snow, yet, with the help of his glasses, he kept hoping for the arrival of his fellow astrology enthusiasts. Even so, in the end, he only saw a short-haired girl and an umbrella she had opened. This alliance between the two under the umbrella was the initial prototype of the astrology section.

From then on, he was called Lonely Ox.

The images of that day kept replaying in Yan Wuyue's mind. The Guo Moruo statue, the blizzard, the lonely ox, the umbrella… Why were the images in her mind so vivid, as if she had actually seen something similar somewhere before? The Guo Moruo statue, the smile, the photograph… In the darkness, she suddenly woke up from her dream, jolted awake by her own memories. A flash of lightning ignited in her mind, illuminating her dim eyes as well.

She had seen a familiar face in the photos on the wall of the Ivy House.

The first thing to disappear was Anlin's face!

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident (Part 8)

And then there were Da, Wen, and Xuan, with their old-fashioned hairstyles and black-rimmed glasses.

When Yan Wuyue rushed to the Ivy Haunted House, it wasn't too late. She saw the astrologer's tall, slender black figure reflected in the glass window, half of his silver hair shimmering under the fluorescent light. Behind him, a darker, more expansive shadow seemed to appear, slowly eroding him. "No—!" she screamed with all her might, gritting her teeth and accelerating again. Just as her fingertips touched the threshold of the "fluorescent" room, and she collapsed from exhaustion, a large, snow-white gloved hand deftly caught her.

"Are you alright?" The two blurted out almost simultaneously, one's voice calm and confident, the other panting and filled with anxiety. Then, a slight smile appeared in the astrologer's eyes:

"You arrived half an hour earlier than I estimated."

Yan Wuyue finally managed to calm herself down, and before she could even catch her breath, she impatiently grabbed his hand:

"I've discovered the secret of the photograph!"

She rushed to the photo, carefully pointing to the family portrait with Guo Moruo's bronze statue. This time, the dozen or so senior students reappeared, standing in a row on the steps in front of the statue, smiling at the unseen photographer across the fountain. Yan Wuyue stretched out her index finger and began counting their heads.

"One, two, three..."

Her trembling voice echoed in the haunted house of Ivy, like a pebble thrown into stagnant water, creating ripples in the dark, haunted dwelling.

“11, 12… 12.” She swallowed hard, looked at the astrologer with a pitiful expression, and repeated, “12 people.”

"Is there something wrong with it?" the astrologer asked in return.

This is a big problem… Yan Wuyue’s finger slowly slid towards two people in the back row. Only half of their faces were visible from the crowd in front of them, and they looked very happy leaning against each other. The two were clearly a young couple.

Lonely Cow, Anlin.

“If I’m not mistaken, the other ten people should be the members of the ‘Science Exploration Society’ who went missing five years ago…” Yan Wuyue said. “If Senior Brother Qiao Yongfa comes, he should be able to recognize them.”

"Ten people?" the astrologer asked nonchalantly. "Including your two friends, that makes twelve?"

"Yes, that's right." For some reason, she had a creepy feeling, as if she were being watched by an invisible pair of eyes.

"But how do you explain that person?" the astrologer asked casually, pointing behind him. "You kicked him out of the game?"

Yan Wuyue felt as if she had been doused with snow water, instantly becoming frozen to the bone. That person! How could she forget him! She had clearly seen his smiling face in a photograph, and had also chatted happily with him in the Ivy Ghost House—she dared not turn around, afraid of seeing that disgusting, gaping maw on the wall again—how could she be so stupid as not to recognize that it was his giant face!

The invisible pressure vanished, and Yan Wuyue instantly felt a sense of relief, as if she had been freed from a long-standing constraint. "He's gone," the astrologer whispered to her, "go back to where he belongs." Indeed, when Yan Wuyue examined the photograph again, Da Wenxuan was already sitting in an incongruous posture, surrounded by a crowd. His upturned eyebrows seemed to give her a sinister greeting:

"Junior Sister!"

"Da Wenxuan!" she shouted angrily, "Don't run away if you dare! Come out and fight me one-on-one!"

“It’s no use,” the astrologer told her. “Instead of exchanging insults across the river, why not storm his stronghold and turn the world upside down?”

“…The hideout?” She was stunned, and stammered, “You mean, you mean…this photo?”

“Of course!” the astrologer grinned menacingly. “We’ll crawl into the photo too!”

His finger lightly touched a spot on the photograph; right next to Da Wenxuan's smiling face, his right hand rose up, holding something like a string in his palm. The other end of the kite string pierced through the photograph's membrane, peeking slightly out into the real world.

Even though Yan Wuyue had sharp eyes, she didn't immediately notice what the blackened line was. It wasn't until the astrologer encouraged her that she boldly reached out and touched the line—

It was slightly cool to the touch, neither too soft nor too hard. After she carefully wiped it with her fingertips, a faint silver shimmer appeared beneath the black of the line, a shimmering silver shimmer like ripples on water, and it looked so familiar.

Anlin's silver bracelet...

Ever since An Lin disappeared from this room, Yan Wuyue and Jimo Niu only found her silver bracelet in the room. Then, Jimo Niu also disappeared without a trace, along with the silver bracelet he was clutching tightly in his hand. Yan Wuyue had almost forgotten about the bracelet's existence, but now, Da Wenxuan was holding the silver bracelet in one hand and waving at them with the other, seemingly eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Come in, come into the photograph. She seemed to hear Da Wenxuan whispering in her ear, "Come, here is everything you want to know, the answers to all the mysteries are here."

She straightened her back involuntarily, slowly inhaling a large breath of air through her nose, letting it gently sink into her lungs. As her fingers gripped one end of the silver bracelet, she felt her entire palm was drenched in cold sweat, sticky and slippery. "Am I afraid?" she whispered to herself. Perhaps this departure would mean never returning to the world of the living, like those who had disappeared. If she died in the photograph… her chaotic mind conjured up scenes like this: teachers and classmates frantically searching, their anxiety palpable; a long line of police cars driving into K University, conducting a thorough search like well-trained police dogs; and her elderly parents, supporting each other's frail bodies, stumbling off the plane, tears streaming down their weathered faces… Yan Wuyue's hand suddenly recoiled as if electrocuted. No, she couldn't die now! Perhaps she should forget everything that happened in the "Ivy League Haunted House," pretend she knew nothing, continue her peaceful and happy campus life, and never set foot in the haunted house again! As for the mystery of the "ivy," let future generations unravel it slowly! It's not worth risking your life for meddling in other people's business!

The astrologer gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know exactly what you're thinking right now."

“You regret your recklessness and meddling, which led you to get involved in this bizarre disappearance and can’t get out; you want to escape everything you’re facing and abandon those missing classmates.” The astrologer stared at her with such a stern look for the first time, his icy green eyes seeming to burn with two will-o’-the-wisps. “Yan Wuyue shouldn’t be like this.”

Volume Two: The Haunted House Incident (Part Nine)

Even when faced with the fangs of ghouls, she stood up to protect her roommate; even trembling with fear, she didn't forget to tightly cover the unconscious Linna beneath her. Only a woman like this could have the stars shine on her forehead... and only a woman like this was worthy of him carving the "Star Mark".

He sighed and pretended to leave; at that moment he felt a stubborn force stop him. Yan Wuyue grabbed his arm, her eyes, no longer confused, were so bright and piercing.

"Who said I was going to run away?" She raised her eyebrows and gave a sarcastic smirk. "I think you're even more timid than I am!"

"This old lady is going all out!" Yan Wuyue rolled up her sleeves high and roared at the photo with great spirit, "You surnamed Da, see how I deal with you!"

She held the astrologer's arm with one hand and gripped the silver bracelet tightly with the other. This time, she vowed never to let go, no matter what. A beam of white light shot out from the photograph, spreading along the bracelet—a dazzling, pure white light… She felt her entire being melted and drawn in by this white light; she couldn't breathe, she couldn't control herself… The only thing she could feel was the astrologer's firm presence in her arm; that touch clearly told her she was still alive…

When she awoke, a soft light emanated from somewhere, enveloping her. She was in excruciating pain all over her body, as if she had suffered a serious illness; every joint ached terribly. Strangely, she could sit up, but she couldn't see her feet. Her head seemed fixed in place, unable to move freely; only her eyeballs could rotate two-dimensionally within their sockets, allowing her to see a very limited field of vision.