Ewige Nacht

Kapitel 2

As if laughter hadn't graced their dormitory in a long time, his laughter suddenly made the other five people in the room feel relaxed.

Composing himself, he said, "Don't get me wrong, it's just that it surprised me so much. After all afternoon, someone finally spoke to me for the first time. I'm just a little excited."

Upon hearing his words, the matter that everyone had temporarily forgotten returned to their minds. As if making a decision, they quickly exchanged glances and nodded in unison. Li Ke spoke first...

“Xu Xian, first of all, I hope you won’t stay in this room. As for the reason, I think…”

As if struck by a blow, Xu Xian lowered his head.

This made all five of them feel uneasy, because they couldn't deny that they had started to like the kid, and he seemed to have entered their lives. However, they had already talked about it in the classroom the day after the incident. They didn't want to hurt innocent people, so if any new students moved into their dorm, they would persuade him to move out.

A moment later, as if he had made a major decision, Xu Xian raised his head, the previous nonchalance gone from his eyes. He spoke seriously.

"Although I roughly know why you don't want me to live here."

Li Ke turned his gaze to the two people sitting on the bed. They shook their heads, indicating that it wasn't them who said it, and then turned back to listen to Xu Xian continue speaking...

“But I feel I should stay with you unless you really hate me. Or you should give me a reason, a compelling reason for me to move out.”

Li Ke knew that he wouldn't leave unless he was told the truth, so he told him the whole story! Xu Xian listened to every word, not missing a single detail.

"Xu Xian, this is no joke. If you stay here, you'll definitely regret it in the end," Li Ke sincerely advised him.

Xu Xian just smiled and shook his head, moved by their actions. Indeed, this was the first time anyone had cared about him. Although they had only known each other for less than five hours, their unadorned concern touched him deeply. His parents had once thought him a devil, sending him to the Shaolin Temple before he was even three years old. For seventeen years, they had never seen him. It turned out they had moved away after sending him to the Shaolin Temple, as if they had never had a son. He had grown up under his master's care, but after his master's death, he thought he would never have any friends again, but he never expected… No matter what, he had to help them.

Xu Xian grasped Li Ke's hand, and Li Ke patted his shoulder reassuringly. If it weren't for this mess, they would have been happy to have him join them. Xu Xian suddenly asked, "Without that incident, would you really have been happy to accept me?"

Li Ke didn't react immediately, still thinking to himself, "Did I just say something?"

Xu Xian smiled and said, "Don't think about it. You didn't say anything just now."

What? This guy seems to be able to read minds?

Xu Xian was still smiling: "You knew it too? Bingo, to congratulate you on guessing correctly, I've decided to stay and help you!"

The other four were completely confused. Why was that guy talking to himself? Then they turned to Li Ke, whose face was full of astonishment!

"So you agree to let me stay now?" Xu Xian communicated with Li Ke using his consciousness. Li Ke blinked hard, took a few steps back, and suddenly laughed—a very happy laugh. "You stay, you absolutely have to stay. This time you can't leave even if you want to." Then his face suddenly turned red. He realized why Xu Xian had been laughing so strangely earlier; he must have heard him. But just now, he really thought Xu Xian was gay…

The other four were genuinely confused, their faces filled with question marks. But when they shook hands with Xu Xian and heard him earnestly talking to them, their faces lit up with exclamation marks! They shook their heads, then smiled sincerely; another member had joined their group!

After a week of getting to know each other, their bond had become unbreakable. With a skilled person by their side, the dormitory was no longer lifeless, and everyone gradually started talking again.

That evening, apart from Li Ke and Xu Xian, the other four were playing cards. Li Ke was reading in bed, while Xu Xian, who had just moved in, kept looking in the mirror next to him (Note: Li Ke and Xu Xian shared an upper bunk, specifically the two adjacent beds facing south). Li Ke rarely played cards, spending most of his time reading in bed, while Xu Xian didn't know how to play cards at all. So, he spent all his time in bed either reading (not serious books) or busy looking in the mirror and combing his hair. He really couldn't stand it anymore…

"Hey, Xu Xian, you may be alright looking, but there's no need to judge me like that!"

Xu Xian continued looking at the light, this time from a different angle, facing the wall. "Hey, I have a pimple on my face, it's so ugly. I want to try looking at it more often to see if it will go away sooner."

The other five people almost died laughing when they heard what he said. "Hey, look at you, acting like a woman. It's no wonder men get pimples on their faces."

Zhang Xiaodi took out her 'Zeping Acne Cleanser' and handed it to Xu Xian, "Hey, handsome, just apply it and it'll be fine. Try it, and you can return it if it doesn't work."

Xu Xian didn't stand on ceremony and took the mirror, wiping it off. "Ugh, the lighting is really bad. I'd better get down and look at myself under the light." He then turned and jumped off the bed, grabbing a mirror and searching left and right until he finally found good lighting, then smiled with satisfaction. Seeing that it was almost time, they all packed up and went to sleep.

Chapter Two

Xu Xian paused for a moment, then continued, "Actually, on my first day here, I realized that the powerful resentment here was definitely not caused by a new ghost. So I burned exorcism talismans and pasted door gods, but that was only a temporary measure. It might work for new ghosts, but for ghosts who died unjustly and couldn't be reincarnated for many years, it was just a drop in the ocean. So on the second night after I arrived... Oh, by the way, according to what Li Ke told me about the girl's death time, the next day was exactly her 'first seven days after death.' Generally speaking, starting from the first day of a new ghost, there's a limit every seven days. If a ghost died a natural death, it will be reincarnated on the 'first seven days,' but if it died a violent death, it won't be reincarnated. So every seven days is an opportunity to absorb its essence, and the resentment intensifies accordingly, until it fully grows after forty-nine days. So that night I found that female ghost, hoping to influence her to be reincarnated, but..." Xu Xian didn't continue.

"But what? Hurry up and tell us! Don't keep us in suspense, it's driving us crazy!" Zhang Xiaodi urged Xu Xian anxiously, after all, he was the first person involved. The others were also eagerly waiting for Xu Xian's answer. "Just say it already, no matter what, things are already like this, there's nothing to hide." Li Ke realized that the reason Xu Xian stopped talking might be because things weren't as simple as he had initially thought.

Xu Xian glanced at Li Ke, then looked at everyone else as if he had made a great decision, and sighed, "Alas, but she told me that she didn't actually jump off the building during the day, but after 11 p.m.

"Impossible, we saw police cars parked downstairs at her dormitory with our own eyes..." "Yes, and we also heard her roommates say that she ran away from the building..." Zhang Xiaodi and Liu Bin exclaimed at the same time.

"What you saw and heard is true, but did you actually see the body?" Xu Xian countered.

"Huh!?..." Everyone was stunned.

"She told me that the police car came that day because of a burglary in their building. She used her connections to find out your real information and planned to teach you a lesson. Since the police car was there that day, she took advantage of it and conspired with her roommate and friends to play a prank on you. Because they had important classes the next day, she went to bed early after calling you that night. But after turning off the lights, she vaguely heard someone calling her name. By the time she realized what was happening, she was already dead. Her body was found the next morning, but you were too distracted by what happened the night before to notice what had happened in the girls' dormitory." Xu Xian paused again, seemingly waiting for them to process what had happened.

"So that means the ghost that night wasn't her? What exactly happened? Can you just tell me all at once?" Compared to the others, Li Ke was the calmest.

"I don't know... and I've finished speaking."

"have no idea?"

"Huh? You're done talking?"

"You mean, you're just going to finish talking like that, without any beginning or end?"

"Yes, that's all she told me, and then she disappeared in a hurry. I didn't have time to ask her about many things. But one thing is certain: there was a strong resentful energy coercing her, as if forbidding her to speak. She certainly didn't intend to harm you. However, what was that other strong resentful energy? And what did that female ghost want to do? We don't know. So you all need to be careful during this time, and it's best not to be alone." After saying that, Xu Xian jumped back onto his bed for a nap. Seeing that there was no result, the others dispersed, and the atmosphere in the dormitory, which had just improved, became heavy again.

"Then can you tell me when you put your rotten... um... demon-revealing mirror under my pillow?" Zhang Xiaodi suddenly realized that Xu Xian hadn't explained this question yet.

"Hehe, it was just last night, a little trick, don't take it to heart." Xu Xian smiled innocently and habitually scratched his hair. Then, he turned over and went to sleep, no longer saying anything, leaving Zhang Xiaodi there looking completely bewildered, muttering something to himself.

Xu Xian's words left everyone confused, casting a deep shadow over their hearts. That's how things are; you either know nothing at all, or you know everything. The worst situation is this ambiguity, where you know absolutely nothing.

The once lively dormitory suddenly became quiet.

Li Ke still lies in bed reading his book every day. Xu Xian is still looking in the mirror; it's unclear whether he's using ghost-catching as a pretext to conceal his vanity.

The other four continued to idly twirl their cards.

After a month, everyone's tense mood gradually relaxed. Since they were going to die anyway, frowning wouldn't solve the problem, and they should take some measures.

On Saturday afternoon, everyone decided to split up and investigate. Liu Bin and Liu Quan went to the police station to inquire about the girl and see if there were any new discoveries. Xu Xian and Wu Xi went to the girls' dormitory to find out about the circumstances surrounding the girl's suicide.

Zhang Xiaodi's parents had just returned from the United States, and he was called home early in the morning.

Li Ke went to his "Modern Chinese History" class, and afterwards dashed into the library to study. The dorm was empty in the afternoon, and he didn't want to go back alone. Xu Xian had told everyone that it was best not to be alone. Zhang Xiaodi had gone home and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. Xu Xian said that after finishing his business, he and Wu Xi would go to the library to find him, and then they would go back to the dorm together.

At 8 PM, Xu Xian and Wu Xi finished talking with several girls and rushed from the student cafeteria to the library. Wu Xi waited at the library entrance while Xu Xian went inside to look for Li Ke. He knew Li Ke was always in the study room on the third floor, but surprisingly, he couldn't find him there. He had to search the entire building. Although their school's library was large, there was only one staircase connecting each floor, and this staircase was specially designed in a spiral, hollow shape, so that from any point on the staircase, one could see the rest of the staircase. Therefore, it was impossible for Li Ke to leave the library within his sight. After searching the entire library without finding Li Ke, he ran outside to meet Wu Xi, but Wu Xi hadn't seen Li Ke either, and there was only one entrance to the library. They waited until the library closed for ten minutes before leaving. When they arrived at the dormitory building, they looked up and saw that their dormitory lights were already on, and some people had already returned. The two ran up the stairs, saying that they could never forgive Li Ke this time and would make him throw up a McDonald's meal, a five-person meal at that.

As they walked down the stairwell, they felt something strange, like a fog, that made them shiver involuntarily.

The building where Xu Xian and his friends lived was quite old, a timber-framed structure. Not only was it dilapidated, but the hallways were also dark and damp, with lights on intermittently during the day. Especially in summer, it reeked of mildew. The wooden floors had excellent acoustics, making it sound like dribbling a basketball in a courtyard when you walked by. At night, it was eerily quiet; you could hear the dripping of the shower faucets. At the end of each floor's hallway were a shared washroom and a shared drying room. The drying room, which should have been overflowing with clothes, was now piled high with clutter, mostly belongings left behind by previous graduates who couldn't take them or dispose of them. The mountain of miscellaneous items almost blocked two-thirds of the windows. When they first entered the university, Zhang Xiaodi joked that their place was perfect for filming a ghost story. Recently, for some unknown reason, water has started seeping from the ceiling and walls of the hallway. To be precise, a thin layer of dark yellow moisture has condensed and is seeping and eroding the walls relentlessly. New and old water stains are intertwined and merging, and it doesn't seem to be stopping. Nobody is trying to figure out what's going on; everyone thinks it's probably because the upstairs apartment is flooded.

Chapter Three

They rushed into the dormitory, where only Liu Quan and Liu Bin were inside. Liu Quan looked at them and asked curiously, "Why are there only two of you? Where's Li Ke?"

It was almost ten o'clock, and everyone looked at each other, completely bewildered. Xu Xian took a peace talisman, placed one of Li Ke's clothes on the ground, lit the talisman, and the ashes fell onto Li Ke's clothes, burning small charred rings.

Xu Xian breathed a sigh of relief and said calmly, "Li Ke is fine. We'll go to the door to meet him. He'll be back soon."

Everyone nodded and was about to leave when there was a loud knocking on the door: "Open the door quickly, it's me, Li Ke."

Almost reflexively, Xu Xian opened the door with lightning speed. Li Ke's hand was still mechanically knocking on the door when Xu Xian grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. He immediately launched into a tirade of abuse!

"Hey, Li Ke, what's going on?"

"Do you know how worried everyone was about you!"

"You promised to wait for us at the library so we could come back together, but you were gone by eight o'clock!"

"Where have you been?!"

"Yes, we will give you an appropriate punishment depending on the severity of the offense!"

"you……"

They cursed for a full ten minutes, but Li Ke remained smiling and silent the entire time. He knew they cared about him, and that warmed his heart. Only after they finished cursing did he speak, saying, "Alright! They didn't do it on purpose!" The feminine tone in his voice drew a burst of laughter from everyone. When had Li Ke become so amusing?

Li Ke waited until everyone had finished laughing before revealing his discovery.

"After finishing my Modern Chinese History class today, I was supposed to go to the study room on the third floor of the library to review my notes. I happened to run into Professor Chen, the library director, who was leading the 00 Property Management class on a tour of the entire library. I figured it was almost time, so I was going to wait for you guys downstairs. They came down too, so I followed them. But when they got to the first floor, they didn't leave through the door. I found that strange, so I kept following them. And guess what I found?"

The four men shook their heads violently, as if they had taken the currently popular ecstasy!

“It turns out that in addition to the original six floors, our library also has a basement. I pretended to be a member of the property management team and followed them on a tour. I discovered that the basement was actually an abandoned archive room. There was also an iron door at the end of the basement, but it was locked. Even Professor Chen didn’t know where that door led.” Li Ke picked up his water glass and gulped down some water.

"Did you go into the archives room to take a look?" Xu Xian asked, stroking the stubble on his chin and frowning.

Li Ke put down his water glass, wiped the water from the corner of his mouth, and shook his head: "No, the door to the archives room is locked too."

After a moment of silence, Xu Xian suddenly said, "By the way, how was everyone's harvest today? It's all Li Ke's fault; he forgot about the important matter."

Everyone suddenly realized what was going on and began to report the results of today's investigation.

"Wait a minute," Xu Xian said, "Do you have a flashlight? Let's prepare one in case the lights go out later."

Li Ke laughed and said, "Do you know how the old sow died? You've been living here for two months, and you still don't know that the lights are on every Friday and Saturday?"

Then everyone remembered that tomorrow is Sunday, so the lights won't be turned off tonight.

First, Liu Bin and Liu Quan recounted their visit to the police station.

"As soon as Liu Quan and I arrived at the police station, we found Captain Jiang Yu, who was in charge of the case. Actually, Captain Jiang didn't pay any attention to us at first. We really have to thank Liu Bin for getting us to ask these questions."

Liu Bin shook his head: "Actually, it's nothing. I just ran into my high school classmate's older sister."

“Through this connection, we figured out the girl’s time of death, probably between 9 pm and midnight. Moreover, according to the forensic examination, the girl might not have died from the fall; she might have been dead before the fall. We also found out that the girl’s body hasn’t been taken away by her family for cremation yet; it’s still in the police station’s morgue. So I lied and said I was the girl’s boyfriend and that I wanted to see her one last time,” Liu Quan said, eating a preserved plum. “Although the freezer can control the rate of decomposition, a body that has been dead for more than two months will still have a bit of a smell, but luckily I held my nose.” He spat out a plum pit. “The girl was covered by clothes, so we couldn’t see any injuries, but her hands were placed in a strange position.”

Xu Xian quickly interjected, "What's so strange about it?"

Liu Quan waved his hand, signaling Liu Bin to continue. Liu Bin then began to explain while gesturing.

"Like this, pinch your thumbs and forefingers together, forming a circle with each hand. It feels like the movement when dancing the peacock dance, except that the circles of the two hands are interlocked, like a chain."

Xu Xian pondered for a long time, but still couldn't figure out the reason.

"and……"

"And what else?

"As if to preserve the integrity of the action, the girl jumped with her back to the ground, so she died face up."

Xu Xian was still thinking. "Xu Xian, tell me what you asked."

Xu Xian shook his head. "That girl's roommate said that she kept having the same strange dream before she died, but the strangest thing is that she only remembered having the dream, but couldn't remember the details at all. Humph! It's like she didn't say anything at all, making me waste my time!"

The dormitory fell silent. Everyone was pondering the special meaning behind that gesture.

Suddenly, Li Ke's face turned fierce as he glared at Xu Xian: "Xu Xian?!"

Xu Xian was taken aback. "Huh?"

"My Adidas?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? What Adidas?"

Li Ke held up a piece of clothing: "The brand, the brand of this clothing. I wore it less than three hours ago. Where did these burn holes come from?"

Xu Xian said with a grin, "Oh? You mean these little holes?"

"That's right!"