Strange Tales

Chapter 10

"Speaking of which, I just remembered!" Shin's voice suddenly exploded. His booming voice was more powerful than a ghost story, and it took everyone a while to recover. They all laughed and tapped Shin's shoulder. Shin dodged them as he spoke, "It's true. A third-year student on the swimming team told me that during winter break, he and his classmates arranged to meet at the school swimming pool. Because the school gates were closed, they had to climb over the wall to get in. As soon as he got to the pool, he noticed someone in the water. You know how dirty the pool is during winter break—plastic bags, firecracker debris, and withered leaves all floated on it. And it was so cold, so he wondered, 'Who's swimming?'"

"Was it the person he invited?" Moe asked quickly. Ichishin shook his head. "He also thought it was the classmate he invited who was acting crazy. He was about to go over and yell at him when he saw the person swimming towards him. Even as a key member of the swimming team, he had to admit that the speed was incredibly fast, and there was no splashing or splashing. Just as he was admiring him, he suddenly noticed that the person's movements were very strange—except for the head, the person's hands and feet never left the water. It was almost... almost like the person was floating on the surface of the water."

I immediately knew who it was. This guy was the one who made me afraid to go to swimming class and almost offended the PE teacher! Suppressing my displeasure, I rubbed my temples and sighed, while Icefin was desperately trying not to laugh.

The oblivious Ichishin didn't notice our reaction at all. His eyes widened as he said, "That swimming team member went closer to the edge of the pool to see what kind of swimming style the person in the water was using. As soon as he got close, he saw the person in the water smile at him, as if inviting him."

"Did he go swimming too?" Truth asked tremblingly.

"How could he dare!" Yi Shen unconsciously raised his voice. "He turned around and ran for his life, and when he climbed over the wall, he bumped right into the classmate he was meeting! Both of them fell pretty badly! But that guy from the swimming team thought he was lucky! He would never dare to go to an empty swimming pool alone again—because he clearly saw that there was only one head swimming in the pool!"

"Let's get those two together sometime! It'll be a good deed!" Icefin whispered in my ear as everyone was making a fuss, his tone anything but joking. I immediately snapped, "You go if you want, I'm not doing it!"

As the commotion gradually subsided, Truth habitually pushed up her glasses: "Um... is it my turn?... I wanted to talk about the specimen room. It might not be very interesting..."

Moe immediately chimed in, "Is it about mannequins walking in the middle of the night? Has anyone actually seen that? Don't make things up to fool us!"

Truth hurriedly and hastily began to explain: "Although it's roughly the same, it's not made up! It's about that skeletal model in the specimen room window. That specimen was said to have been made from the body donated by a priest when the school was first established before liberation..."

Lianju agreed: "I saw it when I was researching the school history to prepare for a speech. It was donated by a foreign priest."

Truth immediately gained confidence and spoke a little louder: "No wonder some people say that on Sundays this skeletal specimen mutters to itself, as if it's praying, saying things that are incomprehensible. It turns out it's a foreigner!"

I immediately turned around and glared at Icefin. He looked completely unconvinced. Sure enough, it was this guy who spread the word. He even promised me he wouldn't tell anyone! Just as I was glaring angrily at Icefin, someone patted my shoulder hard. I was startled and turned around to find everyone looking at me expectantly: "It's your turn, Firewing!" They were deliberately mimicking Icefin's way of calling me.

Before I knew it, cold sweat had crept up my back. This empty, dark environment had never stopped making me uneasy. "Ah...maybe I shouldn't..." I said with a wry smile, but everyone's eyes clearly indicated that they weren't going to let me off so easily.

"Firewing, tell me why you don't like going to evening self-study sessions," Icefin reminded me.

“Oh, right…” I nodded, then hesitated before speaking, “It’s about that… I heard someone forgot their textbook at school… Because it was a very important textbook, she had to come all the way back to get it late at night. She got the key from Grandpa Zhang at the gatehouse, but when she opened the door, she found the classroom lights were on and there were quite a few unfamiliar people sitting there. The school building was completely dark when she arrived… She assumed it was an evening tutoring class just about to start, so she didn’t think much of it and went to her seat. It turned out the person sitting in her seat politely offered her a seat next to them, and she smiled and thanked them. Then she started looking for her textbook in her drawer…”

"What?! Get to the point!" Moe became impatient, and Ichishin nodded in agreement.

I sighed. "But when she pulled out her textbook, a bunch of red and white paper flowers came out with it. She was so startled that she dropped the book. Because of the loud noise, everyone in the room looked at her. She quickly bent down to pick up the book, but then she found, but then she found..." My words trailed off into the sound of swallowing. Why did I have to recount such an unpleasant memory! That unlucky person, that's me!

"The person bent down to pick up the book, but found nothing under the table." Seeing that I couldn't continue, Icefin coldly took over the conversation, "She thought she was seeing things, so she looked up at the table. Many people were sitting there properly, but under the table, she couldn't see even half a person's legs!"

"...That's why I hate going to evening self-study sessions!" I said through gritted teeth.

"So cute!" Menghui laughed. "You actually believed a ghost story? Huoyi, you're so stupid!"

"What's there to be afraid of!" Ichishin laughed heartily. "If you run into one, just shout! Strong classmates will come to your rescue!"

Renju and Riya smiled, thankfully they were speaking up for me: "If we knew about this, we'd be afraid to go to evening study too!" But no matter what, I couldn't smile at all.

"And another thing! There's the legend of this old archive room!"

I immediately felt an overwhelming aversion to this topic that was so close to us. Yet everyone else showed great interest in it.

"A long time ago, six students gathered here, just like us, to tell seven strange tales about the campus. But they could only ever tell six; they couldn't come up with a seventh. These six students thought and thought, so engrossed in their thoughts that they forgot about time, and from that moment on, they never left this archive room again. Just like that, they disappeared..."

Moe laughed again, but her laughter was a little hurried: "It's...it's really funny! Really?"

"Of course it's true! Sometimes you can even hear their sighs as they ponder deeply through the locked door, which is why this place is called the 'Sighing Archives'!"

"Oh no! How many ghost stories did we tell in total?!" Shin, with his linear thinking, immediately exclaimed in surprise.

"Six." Lianju's tone remained gentle and calm, but her answer was very quick; it seemed she had been thinking about this question just now as well. An uneasy feeling spread through me: "Six already...?"

There are six of us: Moe, Renju, then Ichishin and Mari, and finally me. How come there are already six ghost stories? Icefin, we haven't told it yet!

Truth, who doesn't talk much, said solemnly at this moment: "There are six, which I wrote down: Moe's missing examinee, the shadow under the wisteria of Koiju, the swimming head of Ichishin, the white bones of my prayer, and the stranger in the evening classroom and the Sighing Archives of Firewing!"

"Wait!" I shouted, "The Sighing Archives... I didn't say that!"

“But…that was clearly a girl’s voice…” Mari murmured haltingly. Moe and Renju exclaimed almost simultaneously, “That wasn’t me either!”

It wasn't a boy, nor any of the three girls, but the one speaking... could it be a seventh person? Could it be an unseen seventh person who told this suggestive sixth ghost story, the "Sighing Archives"?

An ominous silence, like icy water, instantly filled the entire archive room. I looked around at the empty space once more. Unlike Icefin, who possesses ears that can hear the voices of the other side—only the voices of tangible beings can reach my ears—my eyes are better able to spot those from beyond the shore than Icefin. But now, I can see nothing; yet everyone here can hear the sixth ghost story! Where is this seventh person hiding?!

"Quick, open the window!" Suddenly snapping out of my daze, I yanked open the curtains, only to gasp in shock—had it been that long already...? It's dark!

"What's going on?!" Meng Hui almost burst into tears. "I told you not to tell ghost stories in such a scary place!"

"It was you who kept insisting on telling the story!" Ichishin roared.

Koiju tried to keep her tone calm as she tried to stop Ichishin: "Instead of arguing, let's think about how to get out of here!"

"How are we going to get out of here?!" Ichishin shouted in frustration. "How are we going to get out of this weird mess...?"

This is bad... "There's always a way! Don't panic!" I whispered, but it had no persuasive power. Yi Shen shouted even louder: "What do people who don't even dare to go to evening self-study know!"

I was speechless for a moment. I couldn't very well tell him that Icefin and I often encountered this kind of thing, could I? I turned around and glared at my cousin, who was a month younger than me. He wasn't helping me at this time. He was just frowning in a troubled way, as if he was thinking about something.

"It's awful!" The usually silent Matthew beside me suddenly spoke up in a suppressed voice, "Ichishin! There are girls here!"

"What did you say! Four-eyed!" Shin's anger shifted, but perhaps because he lacked courage, he didn't seem scary at all. Mari bit her lip and lowered her head: "At least... at least protect the girls... Aren't we... aren't we boys?" I watched Mari clench her fists tightly as she said these words; it seemed she had used up all her courage...

"It's so lonely, so lonely being alone..." The seventh person spoke again, letting out a soft sigh, "So none of you can leave, everyone has to stay and keep me company..."

"No!" Moe and Ichishin shouted in unison. Mari and Renju instinctively moved closer to the window. I could only hear this seemingly omnipresent voice; I still couldn't see where the seventh person was hiding!

A cold laugh reached my ears; it was Icefin's voice, the one that had been silent until now. I couldn't care less about anything else: "Icefin, did you see that? Where is the seventh person hiding!"

Icefin dusted himself off and stood up. "Whether I can see it or not is not important!" This guy is still so particular at a time like this; his clothes aren't dirty at all!

Slowly walking to the center of the room, Icefin raised its head: "Don't play with fire, Seventh Person! Let us go now!" Moe and the others turned their surprised gazes to Icefin, while the unseen Seventh Person let out a short chuckle: "Outrageous talk!"

Icefin shook her slightly brownish short hair: "Then don't blame me... Didn't you say that those six people were trapped here forever because they couldn't come up with a seventh ghost story? But can it really be told—the seventh ghost story!"

"What...do you mean..." A slight wavering came from the seventh person's voice. At that moment, my vision blurred, as if a gray veil had fallen from the ceiling, making the entire room indistinct. Moe and the others were still staring blankly ahead, completely unaware. Was it that my eyes could "see," or was I just seeing things?

“You were originally harmless, a little guy who would disappear as soon as someone recognized you. I was even wondering if I should be so ruthless, but you just wouldn’t listen!” As Icefin spoke, layers of chaotic gray veils fell from the ceiling. Although I couldn’t determine what they were for a moment, I could tell from Moe and the others’ reactions that only I could see these layers of gray veils—Icefin’s words had worked, and that guy was about to reveal his true form!

Icefin's voice was utterly devoid of emotion: "You're lying, Seventh Person! What six people disappeared in the archives, what sighs of deep thought—the one who truly sighed was you! You are..." The Seventh Person suddenly cried out in panic: "Stop talking! I'll let you go, I'll let you go!"

In that instant, the hidden seventh person was clearly revealed before my eyes. "So big!" I blurted out. It was indeed a very large creature, almost filling the entire archive room, but for some reason, its presence was very faint, as if it were very weak.

"Don't you think it's too late!" Icefin maintained its usual cold laugh. Whether the other party was harmful or not was irrelevant, because I knew Icefin was already angry.

The light of truth pierced through the gray fog in the room like a sharp blade, and I heard the seventh person's panicked and painful cry: "I finally waited for six people, I finally got this opportunity! But why won't you let me go? I just don't want to be here alone anymore, I'm so lonely!"

Because it is too weak, it cannot leave this archive room. Because it cannot leave this empty archive room, it cannot absorb life force to become stronger. Of course, it must seize this opportunity. No one wants to wander in loneliness forever...

"What loneliness? Does loneliness give you the right to do whatever you want? You're being far too naive!" Icefin waved its arm to disperse the tattered gray veil before its eyes. "You are the seventh ghost story, mingling among the crowd, using the name of ghost stories to devour people's delusions!"

In an instant, a pale blue light shone directly in from behind me—the light of daylight reflecting off the tender leaves of the willows! As if scorched by an invisible flame, the layers of gray gauze covering the archives billowed up, and a musty smell began to fill the air. The presence of the seventh person vanished…

"It can't be this bad!" I blurted out, "Icefin! Can't you just let it go? It's just a little thing!"

"Stop nagging!" Icefin's tone was unusually harsh. "Since you're such a little thing that you can't even leave the archives, don't come out and cause trouble for others!" I was speechless for a moment: Come to think of it, Icefin didn't do anything wrong... He's always been more principled than me, so he wouldn't be confused in a situation like this... I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

But at that moment, Icefin's low murmur reached my ears: "So it's better to just disappear, since it's so lonely..."

This guy! Is that what he's thinking...? Perhaps, this is Icefin's unique gentleness...

Suddenly, like a raging flood finding its course, bright sunlight rushed in with a powerful roar, washing away the gloom from the room—even the last trace of shadow vanished. I heard Menghui and the others scream in surprise; the sunlight must have been too intense, stinging their eyes. The door had been opened. "What are you doing with the door closed?!" the teacher's scolding voice came from the doorway, quickly turning into exclamations of astonishment, "My God! How did you clean this?!"

As my eyes gradually adjusted to the bright light, I was finally able to see the state of the archives room clearly—no wonder the teacher had scolded us: the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and even we ourselves were covered in a thick layer of dust—a layer that must have been there for decades!

"How could this be! It was perfectly clean when we came in!" Moe, now refreshed, raised her voice again, and Ichishin and the others echoed her. It seemed their delusions had dissipated, and they had completely forgotten what had just happened. I finally understood—no wonder I couldn't find the seventh person hiding there, and the last thing I saw was so faint and loose; it had been using the ubiquitous dust as a cover!

**Near Icefin, whispering, "Speaking of which, there are still only six ghost stories—the missing examinee, the shadow under the wisteria blossoms, the swimming head, the white bones of the praying, the stranger in the night classroom, plus the unseen seventh person. The ghost story of the six missing people in the archives doesn't count; that was made up by the seventh person to fool us. No matter how you count it, there are still only six!"

Icefin laughed, pointing indoors where decades of accumulated dust lay lazily in the spring sunshine; utterly helpless.

Looking at the dust that we absolutely couldn't handle with our own strength, all I could do was offer a helpless, bitter smile...

"How tasteless! The seventh ghost story is just dust that suddenly appeared!"

The Seven Ghost Stories (End)

Fox Wildfire

As the intense sunlight streaming into the corridor was replaced by the tinged orange glow of the setting sun, my cousin Bingqi and I finished our cleaning duty and emerged from the classroom. The school was nearly empty by then, with only the occasional farewells drifting through the soft music playing at dismissal. Perhaps because it was springtime, the sky was still bright, carrying a refreshing, slightly intoxicating quality.

As we walked out of the teaching building, Icefin suddenly stopped, as if drawn by something. His gaze turned to the courtyard between the two teaching buildings. Although he was a month younger than me, Icefin surprisingly lacked curiosity. Yet, something had managed to pique his interest. I couldn't help but follow the direction of his gaze—the tall cherry tree in the courtyard was half-empty, and the remaining petals were still falling in a stunning display. What drew Icefin's attention was a boy standing amidst the snow-like rain of petals.

Wearing a simple sweater and jeans, the boy looked to be a middle school student, with slightly long, light-colored hair. He was holding a piece of paper, looking around in bewilderment, his helpless smile utterly beautiful. It might seem strange to describe a child like this, but I couldn't think of a more fitting adjective than "beautiful." This boy seemed to have grown up drinking only water, possessing an ethereal, almost transparent quality. Perhaps realizing we were watching, he looked up from the paper and turned towards us. After a slight surprise, a bright smile bloomed on his face. If it weren't for that fleeting moment, from a certain angle, the boy's eyes reflected the thin blue light of the setting sun, I would have almost thought I'd seen him somewhere before.

The ice fin beside me made a sound like it was talking to itself: "Hmm...it looks familiar..." It seems I'm not the only one who feels this way.

"No...it can't be that..." I whispered anxiously. Our school is old, and strange things always lurk here and there. Unfortunately, Icefin and I inherited the superfluous ability of our grandfather, who passed away long ago, and we often see these things. This strange-looking boy under the cherry blossom tree might just be one of them. Icefin didn't answer my overly anxious question, but simply pointed to the boy's feet. The setting sun cast his shadow on the ground—a perfectly ordinary shadow. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then, as if he had made up his mind, the boy walked towards us.

"Excuse me, where is Building 13?" The boy looked up and smiled, handing the note to Icefin. "It's this address... I'm looking for someone..." His attitude wasn't exactly polite, but his frank friendliness was impossible to dislike.

“Building 13?” I looked at the boy suspiciously and leaned closer to look at the rough diagram drawn on the paper. “Xiangda Affiliated High School… this is the place, but Building 12 is an office building, and Building 14 is a laboratory… I’ve never heard of a Building 13?”

"Yes," Icefin decisively denied my statement. "Building 13 is the dormitory for single teachers!"

"Oh, there!" I suddenly remembered. Normally, students wouldn't notice the dormitory numbers.

As Icefin and I continued talking to ourselves, the boy complained in a small voice, "Where is that place..." Even when he was troubled, he had a gentle smile. This boy gave people a very lovable feeling, and I gradually became enthusiastic: "Icefin, let's take him there. We can also see Mr. Samurai!" Surprisingly, this time Icefin didn't blame me for meddling.

"Warrior," who lives in the open space in front of the faculty dormitory building number 13, is the school's German Shepherd and is very friendly to me and Icefin. Despite his advanced age, he's like a respected elder to the students. Because of his imposing presence and exceptional intelligence, we often add "Sir" to his name. Thanks to his protection, the area around building number 13 is always remarkably clean.

Speaking of which, Building No. 13 is one of the older buildings in our school, a gray two-story Soviet-style building nestled among lush green trees. Although it looks a bit cramped, the number of single teachers is limited, so it's not too crowded. In summer, the trees completely isolate it from the outside world, but now, through the still-not-fully-blooming branches and leaves, you can vaguely see various clothes hanging haphazardly in front of the building. Following the cracked brick path, turning past a patch of low holly bushes, I saw a warrior reclining majestically beneath several blooming bauhinia trees.

Upon seeing us, Mr. Samurai sat up alertly, but unlike usual, he didn't wag his tail and approach us docilely. Locked to his doghouse, Mr. Samurai suddenly sprang to his feet, letting out a threatening growl from deep within his throat. A large dog like Mr. Samurai, when on guard, is truly terrifying. We instinctively stopped in our tracks: "What's wrong, Mr. Samurai! It's us!" Ignoring me, Mr. Samurai suddenly leaped up, letting out a deafening, terrifying roar. The violent movement made the doghouse shake as if it were falling apart.

Perhaps it was because he saw us with strangers that the samurai was so agitated. Although I knew he was chained up, his imposing presence made both Icefin and me hesitant to approach. The boy was even more terrified, his face deathly pale. He trembled as he clutched Icefin's sleeve, hiding behind him and not daring to look at the samurai. Although it was somewhat inappropriate, I was still captivated by the fear flickering in those slightly bluish eyes.

I was truly in a dilemma… But just then, I felt an unexpected tap on my head. I reflexively covered my head, only to find that Icefin beside me was doing the same thing. “I told you not to mess with Mr. Samurai!” A cheerful voice came from behind us, with little reproach but plenty of amusement. I immediately recognized the speaker as Mr. Longshu, the homeroom teacher of Class Two, who taught math. Having recently graduated from university, he not only taught with remarkable clarity but was also completely approachable. If he weren't so fond of teasing people, this tall man with striking features would be quite likeable.

Turning around, we saw Teacher Longshu with his arms crossed smugly. But the moment he saw the boy behind Icefin, he suddenly stopped, unable to hide his surprise, as he was about to tease us. "No way... could you be—Su Fang?"

The boy peeked out from behind Icefin and looked at Teacher Longshu. He blinked his thin, slightly bluish eyes and nodded timidly, "Yes... I am Hua Sufang..."

"Stop barking! Samurai!" At Teacher Longshu's powerful command, the huge wolfhound immediately stopped moving, lay back down on the ground, and growled in dissatisfaction. Because it was the weekend, the single teachers were either out traveling or had gone home, and the whole building was extremely quiet. But Teacher Longshu led us, who were walking on thin ice, across the open space in front of the building and knocked on the door of a dormitory room on the first floor without any politeness.

The sound of rustling footsteps came from inside the room, followed by the sound of the door opening and a complaint from the person inside: "Don't you have a key, Longshu..." The complaint suddenly disappeared into a hurried whisper: "Su Fang? What are you doing here? You... came from Chunshan!"

The person standing at the door possessed the appearance of a grown-up boy named Su Fang—no, it should be said that Su Fang possessed the boy's appearance in his youth. "I just came from Chunshan by car..." Su Fang, still hiding behind the ice fins, revealed a gentle, feather-like smile, "Dad." However, his voice was quickly drowned out by my frustrated shout: "What?! Teacher Hua already has such a grown son!"

The person who opened the door was biology teacher Hua Fanliu. His appearance answered the questions that Bingqi and I had been asking—no wonder we both felt that the boy's smiling face looked so familiar. It turned out that it was exactly the same smile as Teacher Fanliu's, a warm smile with an almost poignant compassion.

Hearing my words, Icefin frowned in displeasure. How could that idiot Icefin know what I was thinking? Actually, I like Teacher Fanliu the most in the whole school. This teacher, who was recently transferred here, is a bit slow-witted and clueless, but his seemingly suppressed sadness in his smile has an incredible warmth. Plus, he looks quite young. Now, his son, who's about our age, is standing right in front of me—how could I not be shocked!

Mr. Fanliu seemed no less surprised than I was; he widened his slightly upturned eyes and said, "You...aren't you..."

Class One...

"Firewing and Icefin!" Just as Teacher Fanliu was about to call out our names, Icefin suddenly interrupted him loudly, announcing our nicknames. These two names, given by our grandfather, symbolize powerful mythical beasts, said to protect us. Therefore, Icefin and I never addressed each other as siblings, and gradually, people around us got used to calling us by our nicknames. But why did Icefin specifically announce these names at this moment?

Mr. Samurai's threatening growl came from behind us again. Professor Fanliu quickly ushered us into the house. I heard Professor Longshu scold Mr. Samurai briefly, and then he whispered to his colleague by the door, "Why did you let the dog bark like that when you were clearly there?"

After a moment of silence, Ms. Fanliu's somewhat troubled voice came through: "I'm on the phone... something else has happened..."