The 19th level of Hell

Chapter 19

Chunyu was still a little nervous. She first introduced herself, then placed her application materials on the table. The man didn't even glance at her, simply pursing his lips and saying, "My name is Yan Mingliang, I work for the company—"

His words abruptly stopped, for he looked up and saw Chunyu—his eyes seemed frozen, staring intently at her face, a gaze that frightened her. Yan Mingliang lowered his head again, lost in thought, and said in a deep voice, "Do you know what position you're applying for?"

Chunyu's answer became very calm: "Yes, SMS service editor, I collect the latest SMS messages every day, edit them, and input them into the company's server."

He slowly raised his head again and said coldly, "You can leave now."

Chunyu said nothing more. She didn't touch the materials on the table and silently left the room.

The air under the central air conditioning was suffocating, but Chunyu's face didn't betray her frustration. She picked up her umbrella and left. Stepping out of the towering office building, Chunyu gazed at the cloud-covered sky under her umbrella. The sound of the cold raindrops falling on the umbrella was like a melancholy song.

In the afternoon, Chunyu waited in the dormitory the whole time.

The winter rain seemed endless, filling the room with a cold, damp air that chilled her to the bone. Through the window, she saw many boys downstairs holding umbrellas to escort girls back, probably because the girls had become increasingly timid due to the recent deaths in the dormitory building.

After her failed job interview that morning, Chunyu felt even more depressed. She left the window and paced around the room until her text message alert rang. It was a text from Gao Xuan: "I'm downstairs from you, what floor are you on?"

Chunyu suddenly felt a little scared. She ran to the corridor and looked downstairs. Sure enough, there was the back of a tall, thin man holding an umbrella. She saw girls walking by in the corridor from time to time and immediately replied to him, "Don't come up. I'll be right down."

She quickly went back to her dorm to pick out a jacket, glanced at herself in the mirror, grabbed an umbrella, and rushed out. When she reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Gao Xuan, he looked grave under the umbrella, his captivating eyes filled with melancholy. This time, Chunyu spoke first: "I'm sorry, if you come to my dorm, people might gossip." "Do you care that much?" Gao Xuan smiled wryly, then waved his hand and said, "It's alright, let's talk as we walk."

If it were any other girl, seeing the prince-like Mr. Gao in the drizzling rain would surely have made her excited and coquettish. But Chunyu coldly said, "What do you want?" "Last night, I discovered something very important, about the Hell Game."

Now, Chunyu's heart trembles at the mere mention of the word "hell," but she maintains a calm demeanor: "What exactly did you discover?" "Hell Cafe—" Gao Xuan uttered the name in a daze, "In the Hell Game, there is..."

Have you ever encountered a text message chat room called 'Hell Cafe'?

They had come to a tree-lined path, flanked by dense magnolia trees. The pattering raindrops falling on the soil created a romantic atmosphere. There was a small pavilion by the roadside offering shelter from the rain, and since no one else was around, they quickly ran inside. Chunyu closed her umbrella, watching the raindrops fall from the eaves of the pavilion. Thinking about Gao Xuan's question, she grew increasingly uneasy, but she still blurted out, "Yes, I entered the 'Hell Cafe'."

Gao Xuan let out a disappointed sigh. Even his sighing was so handsome; no wonder the girls were screaming. He said solemnly, "In the Hell Cafe, did you see a lot of strange nicknames?" "Yes, those nicknames were all strange, especially..." "Don't talk to Mazzolini."

Gao Xuan unexpectedly interrupted her, uttering this inexplicable remark. But to Chunyu, it felt like she'd been caught doing something wrong by her teacher; she nervously lowered her head and fell silent. He continued in a heavy tone, "Did you hear me? Never—never—don't chat with someone with the nickname 'Mazzolini,' or you'll encounter something truly terrible, leading your hellish journey down an extremely dangerous fork in the road." "A fork in the road?"

Chunyu's heart was pounding in her throat; she could only try to keep herself from trembling.

Gao Xuan seemed to be sternly reprimanding his student, saying loudly, "The end of the fork in the road is..."

It's that phrase again—last night, "Mazzolini" also mentioned it!

Chunyu finally couldn't sit still any longer. The continuous sound of rain outside the pavilion made her thoughts a little chaotic. She murmured, "How did you know?" "Last night, I spent the whole night in 'Hell Cafe' and discovered many things I didn't know before—its horror is far beyond your imagination!"

Chunyu took two steps back. She could no longer hide it and could only lower her head and say, "I'm sorry, I spoke with Mazzolini last night."

Gao Xuan's expression froze instantly. He shook his head as if in disbelief, and after a long while, he finally spoke: "It's all too late...too late..."

His desperate tone was as if he had sentenced Chunyu to death in advance, causing Chunyu's heart to sink into an abyss. She asked blankly, "You mean I'm finished?" "No, that's not what I meant."

Gao Xuan seemed to realize his slip of the tongue and quickly tried to make amends, but Chunyu asked directly, "You mean, as long as you've spoken to that Mazzolini, you'll end up like Qingyou and the others?" "I don't know, but I think behind that nickname, there's probably a ghost." "A ghost? A ghost from hell? Then why is it called Mazzolini? Isn't that the name of an Italian painter?" "I don't know why either. Mazzolini has been dead for almost a hundred years; he is indeed a painter famous for his depictions of hell in art history." "Could this hellish game be related to Mazzolini, who died a hundred years ago?"

The air in the pavilion was cold and damp. Gao Xuan hesitated before nodding. "There must be a connection, otherwise so many things wouldn't be so coincidental. These past few nights, I've been living in hell, actually researching the secrets of this game. What is its most fatal flaw? What is the most terrifying secret behind it?" "Have you figured it out yet?" "Not yet, but I think I'll have results soon. You must be patient. If you can bear it, don't pay attention to those text messages."

Chunyu nodded with a touch of warmth: "I understand what you mean, and I will try my best to do so."

Amidst the patter of the winter rain, the two remained silent for a while in the pavilion. Suddenly, Gao Xuan asked, "What's your nickname in the game?"

Spring Rain softly uttered a name: "Xiaozhi." "Xiaozhi?" Gao Xuan smiled slightly. "I've heard the story of this girl." "Xiaozhi has a special meaning for me."

But Gao Xuan didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he smiled meaningfully and said, "I'm sorry, I've taken up your time. Let me take you home."

They opened their umbrellas and walked out of the tree-lined path, returning to Chunyu's dormitory building.

Chunyu didn't say anything more and ran straight back to her dormitory. Gao Xuan stood alone in the rain and quickly walked back under the gazes of the other girls.

The night rain is fading.

Ye Xiao sat in front of the computer, searching for keywords related to "hell".

Today he went to the university again to investigate and found that in the past month, including Su-lan who hanged herself, a total of two senior female students had committed suicide, and another one had been sent to a mental hospital. Coincidentally, these three girls were classmates in the same dormitory building, and the first girl who committed suicide and the girl who went insane were roommates, and their dormitory room was right next to Su-lan's.

These discoveries naturally surprised Ye Xiao greatly. He recalled Chunyu, whom he had seen at the scene that day; she must have been a classmate of those three girls. Moreover, the first girl who committed suicide died in a very strange way—she bit off her own tongue. This was truly unbelievable and might be related to Sulan's death in some way.

Since both deceased girls have been ruled suicides, it's impractical to use police resources to investigate. Now, Ye Xiao can only investigate on his own in his spare time, just like he has done with other mysterious cases in the past. The only clue in this case is this mysterious text message, but finding the real owner of the phone number is very difficult.

If they wanted to continue the investigation, the only way was to enter "hell." "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," Ye Xiao repeated to himself several times, listening to the sound of the night rain outside, forcibly calming his nerves. He picked up his phone and typed a text message: "741111 = ?"

Then, the text message was sent to "741111".

Just like the last time he used Su Lan's phone, after waiting a few seconds, he received a reply from the other party—"Do you know what the 19th level of hell is?"

Ye Xiao was already mentally prepared, and he replied with another text message: "Do you know?"

The other party quickly replied: "Welcome to hell."

Before Ye Xiao could react, another text message arrived: "Your nickname?"

This time he was caught off guard. Why was there a "nickname"? Was it really just a game? Ye Xiao thought to himself, why would I be afraid of a game? So he simply entered his real name, "Ye Xiao".

After sending "Ye Xiao" as his nickname, he quickly received a new text message: "You have entered the first level of hell and will choose from the following: 1. Dracula's Castle; 2. Lanruo Temple; 3. Jamaica Inn; 4. Ghost Inn; 5. Desolate Village Scholar's Residence."

He had heard of most of these strange place names, especially the last one, the abandoned village of Jinshi. But after much hesitation, Ye Xiao chose "2: Lanruo Temple".

He knew this was the setting for the love story of Nie Xiaoqian in the Liaozhai tales, and also a terrifying place haunted by ghosts who harmed people. Then he received a text message informing him that he had entered "Lanruo Temple".

Then, following the instructions in the text message, Ye Xiao ventured deeper and deeper into this ghostly world filled with spirits and foxes, and met the captivating Nie Xiaoqian... Midnight, girls' dormitory.

Spring Rain's text message ringtone sounded as scheduled, and a text message jumped into view—"You have entered the 7th level of hell. After leaving the pet cemetery, you will choose 1: Midnight Bell; 2: Lanruo Temple; 3: Dracula's Castle; 4: Hell Cafe."

Unlike yesterday, this floor also has "The Ring," isn't that a classic Japanese horror movie? Chunyu carefully pressed "1" to reply.

Soon, Chunyu received a reply from hell. She had traveled from the cold and gloomy pet cemetery to an island covered with volcanoes. On the island lived a woman named Yamamura Shizuko, who had a beautiful but introverted daughter named Yamamura Sadako.