The 19th level of Hell

Chapter 23

However, instead of leaving the school gate, he went to another place on campus—a place called the Haunted Building.

Since it was Sunday, Ye Xiao could only go to the school's duty teacher first. Although the duty teacher thought Ye Xiao was a bit unreasonable, he was, after all, a police officer, and still took him to the haunted building. The teacher seemed to have a fear of the haunted building as well, and couldn't wait to leave as soon as they arrived at the entrance, only telling Ye Xiao to come out as soon as possible.

It was already 4:30 PM, and it would be dark in another hour. Ye Xiao looked at the ordinary teaching building, not noticing anything unusual. He then looked at the second-floor window; Chunyu had said she had captured ghostly figures inside in the photos, but now there was nothing inside the window.

Ye Xiao saw that the main door on the ground floor was locked. He walked around the side and found the side door, which seemed to have been used by someone not long ago.

He slowly walked into the haunted building; the corridor was as dark as a basement. So he took out a flashlight from his bag, the beam illuminating a path that led him to the stairs. There was a little more light on the second floor, but he only glanced around and didn't check all the rooms.

When Ye Xiao reached the third-floor stairwell, he suddenly heard a faint sound from upstairs—his heart immediately jumped. Could there still be "people" upstairs in this ghostly building that had been empty for many years?

Ye Xiao calmed himself down and then tiptoed up the stairs. In the dark corridor on the third floor, all he could see was a thick layer of dust.

Suddenly, the strange sound rang out again. Instantly, it felt as if something landed on Ye Xiao's head—fuzzy, warm, and with a hard core. He even felt the furry thing stroking his face. Ye Xiao immediately jumped up, only to find that the thing on his head was gone. Still shaken, he looked around and finally spotted the pair of eyes in the corner of the corridor. They were real cat eyes.

A cat, or more precisely, a black cat.

The cat stared coldly at the panicked Ye Xiao, its eyes wide open. The black cat had yellow eyes that shone with a ghostly light in the dim light—perhaps it was a ghost?

Ye Xiao boldly took a step closer to it, and the black cat immediately turned and jumped into a doorway. He quickly followed into the room, only to find it empty.

Where did that cat go?

He slowly walked to the window of the room. Looking out from there, it was already getting dark. There seemed to be a parking lot outside the wall, and beyond that were dozens of high-rise buildings.

Stepping out of the room, Ye Xiao glanced back at the third-floor corridor. He didn't bother searching room by room anymore, but instead went straight down the stairs. He exited the building through the side door, and looking back at the haunted building, he finally understood the feeling he had when Chunyu and Qingyou came here together that day.

So what is the connection between the haunted building and Qingyou's death?

At that moment, a cold wind howled, and Ye Xiao quickly left this land of the dead.

Night falls in the girls' dormitory.

The text message alert rang again. Chunyu glanced at the time; it was only ten o'clock. Who could it be? She cautiously pressed her thumb and discovered it was another spam message. It said that a certain company was holding a mobile phone number lottery, and her number had won a Mercedes-Benz as a grand prize. She was urged to call someone immediately, and so on.

She receives many similar text messages every day, and she always deletes them hastily. Replying to them would cost her money.

Now, her phone still had over a dozen text messages stored in it. She reread them, most of which were from Qingyou in the past. These saved messages were mostly humorous jokes and holiday greetings. Although they usually shared a bunk bed, they still liked to send each other these messages—it only cost a penny! A few of Qingyou's messages were particularly funny, making Chunyu laugh for a long time when she first received them. But now she couldn't laugh at all; instead, she felt a pang of sadness, after all, the sender was dead. Looking at the messages Qingyou left behind, Chunyu suddenly felt that they were like some kind of last words, forever preserved in her phone. Yes, if someone were to die now, then the text messages left in someone else's phone would become their last words. If these humorous and funny words served as last words, it could be considered a special way for people in modern society to say goodbye to the world.

It's said that there are now even text message novels, serialized in 70-character increments, which people can read on their phone screens. But what if it's a horror novel? Imagine how thrilling it would be to read a daily horror text message in the dark of bed!

At least she has personally experienced hellish text messages.

While it wasn't too late, she tidied up her bookshelf and found a book with a blue cover among a pile of moldy old books—a Chinese version of "The Divine Comedy" published in an unknown year.

Chunyu didn't remember owning this book. Perhaps she read it during her sophomore year when she took an elective course in foreign literature. It was a book about hell, or more precisely, a long poem. The cover prominently displayed the author's name—Dante.

Chunyu certainly knew who Dante was—the last poet of the European Middle Ages and the first poet of the Renaissance. He was born in Florence, Italy, the "Firenze" mentioned in Xu Zhimo's poems. It was almost 11 p.m., and Chunyu climbed onto the top bunk and snuggled under the covers to read the book.

She turned to the first few pages, which were filled with verses written in separate lines, making them very difficult to read. Dante's *Divine Comedy* was written during his exile; the long poem is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, each containing 33 songs, plus the overture, totaling 100 songs and 14,232 lines. Like other medieval European literature, the *Divine Comedy* employs a fantasy journey narrative, which Chunyu found somewhat reminiscent of popular fantasy novels today.

Dante, using himself as the protagonist, describes how, at the age of thirty-five, he became lost in a dark forest, where three wild beasts approached him.

Just as he was about to be attacked, Beatrice, the girl he had secretly loved in his youth, entrusted the ancient Roman poet Virgil to rescue him, and took him on a journey through Hell and Purgatory. The Hell described in *The Divine Comedy* is like a large funnel, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, divided into nine levels. The souls of sinners are subjected to different tortures at different levels according to the severity of their sins in life. Purgatory is also divided into nine levels, where souls who committed sins in life but could be forgiven repent and cleanse their souls according to the seven deadly sins. This naturally reminded Chunyu of the American film *Seven*.

Spring Rain suddenly realized that if Hell is divided into nine levels and Purgatory is also divided into nine levels, then wouldn't that make a total of eighteen levels? So what is the nineteenth level of Hell? The poet Dante didn't seem to answer this question; perhaps he had never even considered it.

Suddenly, her text message alert rang, and she realized it was already midnight.

She quickly put down her copy of "Divine Comedy" and opened the text message from hell—"You have entered the 10th level of hell. Starting tonight, you will enter the lower 9 levels of hell and have a brand new wandering experience. You will choose 1: Make a wish; 2: The mystery you most want to solve; 3: The person you most want to see."

These were no longer the terrifying places, and the feeling was completely different from the previous days. It seemed to be a truly "brand new travel experience"? She wondered what else this "lower nine levels of hell" would bring. She stared at the screen for a long time before finally choosing "1: Make a wish".

She quickly received a reply—"Take a deep breath, silently say 'hell' in your heart, then write down your wish and get back to me."

A wish? What could she possibly wish for? Chunyu subconsciously took a deep breath, silently repeated "hell" several times in her mind, and then typed on her phone with her thumb: "Let me get the job."

Isn't this a rather cliché wish? But she really needs this internship opportunity.

My right thumb involuntarily tapped a few times before replying to the text message.

Then, Chunyu stared quietly at her phone screen, but after a full half hour, not a single message returned. The text message she sent, praying for her job application to be successful, seemed to have fallen into an abyss, leaving no trace.

Chunyu shook her head helplessly. She thought she should at least receive the text message that said, "You have passed through the first level of hell." If she didn't even receive that message, did it mean that she hadn't passed through this level of hell?

Instantly, an English phrase popped into her mind—perhaps Qingyou and Sulan were also for this reason? No, Chunyu dared not think any further, feeling cold sweat all over her back, almost falling off the top bunk.

She was so frightened that she quickly turned off her phone and even removed the battery. Hopefully, that way she wouldn't receive that text message.

Turning off the bedside lamp, Chunyu crawled back into bed, trying to calm herself down, but her heart was still pounding wildly, and she couldn't calm down no matter what.

And what about the long, dark night? Will hell come?

Spring rain is still alive.

She opened her eyes at seven in the morning. Seeing the dawn light streaming in through the window, she thought to herself, "Hell can't be this bright, can it?"

When she got up and saw her dormitory room clearly, she realized that she was not there and was still in this world she couldn't bear to leave.

Perhaps I've already died once?

Chunyu got out of bed in a daze, only to realize that her phone didn't even have a battery installed. She reinstalled the battery, but hesitated for a moment before pressing the power button.

But she turned her phone on anyway. Sure enough, half a minute later, the screen showed an unread text message. Could it be a blank message?

Since it was already on her phone, reading it or not made no difference. So, Chunyu opened it without even looking at the sender's name—finally, she slumped down, feeling utterly defeated. It was just a pointless spam message, yet it had made her feel like she was facing a major crisis. She didn't delete the message; she kept it on her phone, at least it wouldn't hurt her.

Chunyu didn't know when she fell asleep last night, probably only sleeping for three or four hours, but she still felt dizzy and lightheaded. Since she was alone in the dorm, she decided to go back to bed for a nap. A few hours later, Chunyu was awakened by the ringtone of "Dong Feng Po" (East Wind Breaks). Perhaps she hadn't slept enough, she groggily opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar number on her phone screen. Exhausted, Chunyu answered the phone, only to hear a sweet, girlish voice: "Is this Miss Chunyu?" "Yes, who is this?" Chunyu's voice was dry. "We are Mingliang Mobile Information Service Co., Ltd. You have been hired by our company. Please report to the company this morning."

It took Chunyu several seconds to react. She practically jumped out of bed: "Are you kidding me? Did I really get the job?"