The Mysterious Files 2 - The Bizarre and the Real

Chapter 3

"The best way to confirm whether I was also experiencing auditory hallucinations was to continue writing this error-ridden paper. But before that, I had to control my fear. So I walked along the rows of bookshelves, into all the dark corners where no light reached, into everything I thought might be hiding something terrible, and even went to the toilet."

"After inspecting all potentially dangerous areas and confirming that my safety was not threatened, I moved to a seat with my back against the wall, calmed myself down, and adjusted my breathing to stabilize my emotions. Only after I was sure that my emotions had calmed down did I continue writing my thesis."

"When I added another absurd argument to the paper, the sharp scream rang out again. I forced myself to suppress the fear in my heart and continued to add wrong arguments and evidence to the paper. However, whenever an error appeared in the paper, the scream would ring out. After a while, the psychological pressure would naturally decrease. In the end, I even looked forward to the scream, like a child who had discovered something new and interesting."

"A night has passed, and my experiment should be over. This experiment has confirmed that the sharp screams my students and I heard were not a product of mass hysteria, but they weren't actually real either, because my recorder didn't capture any particular sound. Therefore, I suspect the screams were caused by ultrasound. Perhaps after the library was renovated, some areas formed narrow pipes, and when airflow passed through, it created ultrasound waves. When writing a paper, people are more focused, so it's not surprising to experience auditory hallucinations under ultrasound stimulation. But why do auditory hallucinations only occur when there are errors in the paper, and why do all the people experience the same auditory hallucinations?"

"There are many doubts about the hypothesis of ultrasound, so I have to do the experiment again. I borrowed some instruments that can detect ultrasound and conducted tests in different locations in the library. After a whole day of work, the result was that nothing was detected."

"After that, I came up with several more hypotheses, but experiments proved them all wrong. So I had to come up with the most unbelievable hypothesis—the library was haunted. That's why I asked the police for help. Although I know the police aren't magicians or priests and can't exorcise ghosts, it's their responsibility to help citizens solve their problems..."

Professor Zhang is indeed an outstanding psychology professor. After rambling on for a while, he dropped the line, "It is the police's responsibility to solve the problems of citizens," and then he could legitimately send us off to catch ghosts.

Led by Professor Zhang, Gui Tong and I arrived at the library. It was an ordinary library, nothing special except for the lingering smell of renovations. However, as soon as Gui Tong entered the library, she quietly told me that she had discovered something strange. She said she "saw" a very strange spirit, tiny but emitting a dazzling light, possibly the soul of a cat or dog that was about to become a spirit.

I asked Professor Zhang, "Were there any small animals like cats or dogs kept here before?"

Chapter 8 of "The Mysterious Files 2 - The Critical Point Between the Bizarre and the Real"

Chapter 8 of "The Mysterious Files 2 - The Critical Point Between the Bizarre and the Real"

Professor Zhang looked puzzled and said, "How could anyone keep pets in a library? However, there were indeed quite a few 'small animals' here before. Actually, the reason the library was renovated was because there was a terrible rat infestation. They not only chewed up the books but also damaged many of the bookshelves. The school tried many methods but couldn't get rid of the rats, so they simply dismantled everything in the library, caught and killed the rats, and then renovated. But after dismantling everything, they only caught a huge rat that was as big as a cat."

Ghost Eyes and I whispered a few words to each other, and we both agreed that the culprit was the soul of this giant rat. But how could a giant rat, even one that was almost a spirit, understand words and even point out errors in a paper? I think we need to find a "professional" to answer such a technical question.

Shiya's senior, Fang Qin, teaches at a nearby middle school. I called her and explained the situation. About half an hour later, she appeared before me. She kicked everyone out of the library, including us, and then closed the door and did something alone inside.

A long time passed, and just as I was about to fall asleep, Fang Qin finally came out. She greeted us with a smile and said she'd treat us to dinner. Since we were the ones who asked her for help, how could we accept her invitation? So we asked her why. She said that the thing harassing the students was indeed a rat spirit that was almost supernatural, and she had been communicating with it inside.

It turns out that while the mouse was gnawing on the book, it unknowingly gained knowledge from it. After being killed, it didn't harbor resentment towards humans; it was simply annoyed that it could no longer acquire knowledge by "gnawing on books." So, it had to settle for second best and hide behind the students to look at the open books.

Normally, this wouldn't bother anyone, but when it sees students' papers riddled with errors, it gets angry and starts "pointing out" the mistakes. However, since most people can't communicate with it, its well-intentioned reminders become malicious harassment.

After talking with Fang Qin, it realized it was causing trouble for the students, but it found it difficult to watch them write nonsensical papers without saying a word. Finally, Fang Qin suggested it follow her and help with the teachers' work, to which it happily agreed.

Professor Zhang didn't go to dinner with us. He said he had to spend time thinking of a "truth" that people could accept. If he directly told everyone that the culprit was a "cultural rat," even if he wasn't sent to a mental hospital by the school leaders, he would be kicked out of the school.

During the meal, Fang Qin kept telling us how knowledgeable the "Cultural Mouse" was, how it knew everything from astronomy to geography, and how having it to help would make our work much easier.

Listening to Fang Qin's words, a thought suddenly occurred to me. The Buddha said that all things possess a spirit, and all can attain great wisdom, becoming saints or Buddhas. However, as the most intelligent of all beings, despite our innate advantages, how many humans truly dedicate themselves to learning for the sake of knowledge? Conversely, consider the "culture rat," which, despite its inherent disadvantages, still exerts every effort in its pursuit of knowledge. Under the same conditions, could humans do the same?

[End of File Four]

File Five: The Fictional World

Author: Seeking No Desire

First published on: Tianya Ghost Stories (Reposting should be done responsibly)

Memories from ancient times

The origin of creation and death

All elements of the world are reproduced here.

Light and darkness meet here

A world born from imagination

Let fictional lives dance

Building different worlds

Towards a different self

Open the door to the old world

Passage to the New World

Let me enter the fictional world I've created...

"If I said I was a god, would you believe me?" I said this to my good friend of over ten years. His name contains the character "Wei," so I usually call him "Brother Wei."

Wei Ge loves playing video games. He's proficient in almost all popular games, including StarCraft, Warcraft, King of Fighters, and Counter-Strike. If he had been born in South Korea or elsewhere, he might have become an outstanding e-sports player. However, growing up in China, no matter how outstanding his performance in e-sports is, he can only be labeled as "wasting his time on frivolous pursuits."

In real life, Viagra's life is a far cry from his brilliant performance in the game. He faces setbacks in his career, family, and love life. His addiction to video games has left him unable to hold down a job for more than six months after entering the workforce. His family is extremely dissatisfied, constantly berating him. Approaching thirty, he remains a failure, and his girlfriend of seven years has left him heartbroken.

Because I know Viagra well, when he claimed to be a god, my first thought was whether he was suffering from delusions due to excessive life stress. We're close friends, so I didn't hold back and directly expressed my concerns, suggesting he consult a psychologist. A hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and he smiled wryly, saying, "I thought you'd believe me, after all, you've encountered many strange things, and your thinking is different from most people's."

Viagra's tone and expression made me suspicious. Was he really the Viagra I knew? In the past, no matter what setbacks he encountered, he always had a carefree and smiling face. But now, he was not only unsmiling, but his words also carried a kind of dignified authority that could make people tremble.

Wei Ge lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said, "A while ago, I bought a very strange book at a street stall. Although it's called a book, it's actually a notebook, a very old and worn notebook. I originally planned to put this notebook up for auction online as an antique book and see which sucker would give me some money. But when I opened this notebook, I was deeply attracted by its contents."

"The notes describe how to create and manage a fictional world, in which the creator is God, the supreme being. His will is truth, and so-called norms may just be arbitrary settings. If he says the fictional world only has night, then the sun will never appear. Although it seems absurd, all the records are very detailed, which makes me want to try creating a new world..."

Seeing the hopeful look in Viagra's eyes, I couldn't help but blurt out, "You succeeded?"

Chapter 9 of "The Mysterious Files 2 - The Critical Point Between the Bizarre and the Real"

Chapter 9 of "The Mysterious Files 2 - The Critical Point Between the Bizarre and the Real"

Viagra shook his head slightly and said, "It's a failure. I think that apart from the person who left this notebook, no human being will be able to create a new world."

I asked in surprise, "You mean, the owner of the notebook successfully created a new world?"

Viagra nodded and said, "That's right, he succeeded."

"How do you know he successfully created a new world?" I asked.

Viagra gave a mysterious smile, took a drag of his cigarette, and slowly uttered three words: "I've been there." He seemed to enjoy my speechless surprise, perhaps because I had never shown such an expression in front of him before, just as I had never seen him as mysterious and unpredictable as he was now.

After I recovered from my surprise, Viagra lit another cigarette and slowly said, "Creating a new world was almost impossible for me, so I tried to use the methods recorded in the notebook to enter the fictional world created by the notebook's owner. I failed many times, but I didn't give up. I learned from my failures and gradually mastered the tricks. Finally, I succeeded. I successfully entered the fictional world created by the notebook's owner."

"In this fictional world, I am God, the supreme being. Using the methods recorded in my notebook, I can control almost everything at will. Unfortunately, this fictional world is not as perfect as I imagined; in fact, it is quite rudimentary. Here, there are no sun, moon, or stars, not even light, no sky, and no ocean. In the darkness, there is only a land, a desolate land. On this land live a creature called the 'Moth People,' who, though ugly in appearance, are the rulers of this fictional world."

"The moth-men look like babies with huge heads, about the same size as their bodies. Their limbs are bent like spiders, and they cannot walk upright. They can only move by crawling."

"Besides the locusts, there are a few other creatures in this world, but their numbers are constantly decreasing. This is because the locusts, like grasshoppers, devour everything edible. As for plants, they may have existed before, but they have long been eaten up by the locusts."

"Because there is not much food left for the moth-people in the fictional world, they will eat their own kind when they cannot find food. They will attack the weaker members of their own kind in groups, and then attack each other in the process of fighting for food. They will eat their own relatives, and even their own newborn children."

"My feelings towards the mole people gradually turned from disgust to anger, but when I tried to use the methods recorded in the notebook to eliminate all the mole people, I found that I could not directly harm any life in this world. To be precise, I could not harm the life created by the owner of the notebook. This was a rule set by the owner of the notebook, and I felt helpless about it."

"Besides this rule, the notebook's owner set many other rules, all of which I cannot change. I've discovered that most of these rules favor the mole people. For example, the mole people are afraid of light, so light doesn't exist in the fictional world. Perhaps it's because the notebook's owner is fond of the mole people, thus bestowing more favor upon them, but this excessive favor has disrupted the balance of species. The mole people are too numerous, and they'll do anything to satisfy their hunger. If this continues, the fictional world will inevitably become a battlefield where the mole people slaughter each other."

“I didn’t want to see this happen, so I wanted to create my own life, my own world. At the edge of a fictional world, on a land with relatively few moths, I created creatures. Using the methods recorded in my notes, I created new creatures in the form of humans, which I called ‘Perfect Humans,’ meaning perfect humans. I gave Perfect Humans beautiful appearances, strong bodies, and eyes that could see a grain of sand a hundred meters away in the dark.”

"To protect the perfect humans from the moth-men, I also created loyal hunting dogs to kill any moth-men who intrude into their territory. Because there is no light in this world, there is also no fire, and without fire, we cannot cook. Therefore, I created fruit trees that can grow in the dark to provide food for humankind."

"I also created all sorts of plants and animals for perfect people, and taught them writing and other knowledge, so that they could live happily..."

At this point, Wei Ge suddenly stopped, a flash of anger crossing his face, but he quickly calmed down and continued, "A comfortable life makes perfect people lazy. After they get used to being waited on hand and foot, they keep asking me to give them more benefits. They give me all sorts of nonsensical reasons every day to satisfy their greedy hearts."

"One day, a group of perfect people told me that they wanted to eat the hunting dogs that protected them. They thought the meat of the hunting dogs must taste better than the fruit on the trees, and that eating the hunting dogs didn't require climbing the trees like picking fruit. I was furious at the time. How could the perfect people I created be so ungrateful, wanting to eat even the hunting dogs that protected their lives? What's even more absurd is that one of the reasons was that they thought climbing trees to pick fruit was too tiring."

“Anger made me want to punish the perfect people, to teach them a lesson, so I agreed to let them eat all the hounds and let them become the perfect people’s flesh without resistance. When the hounds completely disappeared from the fictional world, the mole people began to attack the perfect people. Without the protection of the hounds, the perfect people were like lambs to the slaughter.”

"The perfect beings felt fear and panic, and they turned to me for help. Although I wanted to punish them, they were, after all, my children, and I did not want them to disappear from the fictional world. So, I gave them claws and fangs, and also the courage to forge ahead."

"I endowed the Perfect People with great power, so they could easily repel the Moths. However, in the process of slaughter, the courage I gave the Perfect People turned into ambition. They wanted to expand their territory and kill all the Moths. I praised their ideas because I hate the Moths very much, and I cannot directly harm them. It is a good idea to let the Perfect People do the work of completely eliminating the Moths for me."

"In order to eliminate the moth people as quickly as possible, I granted the perfect people an almost insane ability to reproduce, causing their numbers to explode instantly. The power I had previously given them made it as easy for them to kill the moth people as to crush ants. After the frenzied slaughter, the moth people disappeared. Just when I thought I could make this world a better place, a new problem arose."

"The insane reproductive capacity caused the number of perfect people to expand uncontrollably, even exceeding the number of moth people in the past by several times. They consumed everything edible, and even though I kept creating food for them, I still couldn't satisfy them. Hunger made them degenerate, and they killed and ate their own kind like the moth people."

"I felt angry again and wanted to take back everything I had given to the perfect people and eliminate most of them. However, at this moment, I realized that I was not omnipotent. No matter how many times I took back everything I had given to the perfect people, I could not kill most of them, because for every perfect person I killed, two more perfect people were born."

"So I had no choice but to educate them through religion, instructing them to restrain their sexual desires to slow their growth, and teaching them skills such as farming so that they could renew themselves. However, they refused to work, demanding that I give them food directly, and even relying on the great power I gave them to rebel against me."

"Rage made me lose my reason. In order to give the perfect people the greatest punishment, I touched the core of the fictional world. The earth cracked as a result, the whole world trembled, and the cracks all over the ground were like the gaping maws of a savage beast, almost swallowing up countless perfect people. I thought that this catastrophe would not only give the perfect people a heavy lesson, but also give this world a chance to be reborn, but the reality was not as perfect as I imagined."

"Because I touched the core of the fictional world, making it unstable, causing space to distort, tear apart, and then collapse. I tried everything but couldn't stabilize it, and just before its destruction, I had no choice but to flee back to the real world..."

I know that nothing Viagra said was a lie, but I still find it hard to believe that everything he said was true. Therefore, I hoped that he could provide evidence, and the best evidence was the notebook he mentioned. However, when I mentioned the notebook, he said helplessly, "That notebook has disappeared. Just as I returned to the real world, it was engulfed in black flames and burned to ashes in an instant."

Since that meeting, Wei Ge has never contacted me or any other friends. He has become taciturn and often locks himself in his room. Strangely, although he doesn't work outside the home, he still sends his family a considerable amount of money for household expenses every month. Moreover, his family told me that sometimes he doesn't leave his room for an entire week, without eating or drinking anything.

I discussed this matter with Tian Shu, who believed that the world created by the notebook's owner was a purely spiritual world, in which the creator was omnipotent. He created the mole-people in his preferred form and bestowed upon them excessive favor. However, the mole-people did not develop according to the creator's wishes; they became greedy and corrupt. By the time the creator discovered the problem, it was too late to salvage the situation, because his excessive favor had disrupted the balance of the species.

When the creator grew weary of the chaotic world, he decided to leave. Before departing, he recorded the methods for creating and managing fictional worlds in a notebook. Perhaps his records were incomplete, intended to allow anyone who obtained the notebook to create countless new worlds, only to take over the worlds he created. Because he didn't record the complete management methods, the abilities of the successors were limited, allowing them to manage their worlds only according to his rules. Unfortunately, the creator didn't anticipate that Viagra, the successor, would ultimately destroy the fictional world.

What I find most puzzling is why the notebook would automatically destroy itself after the fictional world was destroyed. The Heavenly Book believes that although the fictional world is a purely spiritual world, it still needs the support of physical objects, and the notebook is likely the physical object that supports the fictional world. Therefore, when the fictional world is destroyed, the notebook will naturally be affected.

As for Viagra's bizarre behavior, the author believes he must have gleaned some truth from the notes, and perhaps from a certain perspective, he truly became a "god." For example, if you were to start a fire by friction in front of primitive people who couldn't make fire, you would be considered a "fire god" to them. If Viagra truly gleaned knowledge of unknown technology from the notes, then in a sense, he too could be called a "god."

I suddenly had a thought: is the real world, like the fictional world, a world abandoned by its creator? If it wasn't abandoned, then where is "God," and why doesn't He appear before His people? If the creator truly abandoned this world, then when the successor appears, will He, like Viagra, slaughter the old life in order to bestow more favor upon the life He created? Will He destroy this corrupt world out of anger?

[End of File Five]

Chapter 10 of "The Mysterious Files 2 - The Critical Point Between the Bizarre and the Real"

Chapter 10 of "The Mysterious Files 2 - The Critical Point Between the Bizarre and the Real"

File Six: Knocking on the Yin Door

Author: Seeking No Desire

First published on: Tianya Ghost Stories (Reposting should be done responsibly)

"Knock knock, knock knock, knock knock..."

A girl named Xiaoxia kept knocking on the door rhythmically, but no matter how hard she knocked, no one would open the door for her because she was in a ward in a mental hospital.

According to the doctor's diagnosis, Xiaoxia suffers from severe schizophrenia. She will go crazy if she is not allowed to knock on the door, but she will be very quiet if she is allowed to knock. The reason I approached her is because she is suspected of killing her parents.

After greeting my colleagues outside the ward, Nurse Huang, who had led the way, took out the key and opened the door. Behind the door was Xiaoxia's ward. As soon as the door opened, Xiaoxia, who had been knocking, didn't rush out as I had expected. Instead, she retreated in terror, curling up into a ball by the bed and trembling uncontrollably.

Nurse Huang gestured for me to enter the ward. After we were all inside, she immediately closed and locked the door, and we stepped aside. After closing the door, Xiaoxia glanced at us tentatively, then focused her attention on the door again, tiptoed to the door, and knocked rhythmically on it once more.

Nurse Huang whispered in my ear, "You can ask her questions, but it's best not to ask her directly about her parents, as that will upset her."

I nodded to indicate that I understood, then walked up to Xiaoxia and said in the gentlest tone, "Can we chat for a bit?"

Xia glanced at me, didn't say anything, just nodded slightly, but then focused her attention on the door again, without stopping knocking.

I figured if I directly asked her why she killed her parents, she'd go crazy, and Nurse Huang would just kick me out. So, I decided to start with something she was interested in, and naturally, the first thing I'd do was knock on the door. So I said, "Why are you knocking on the door? Is it fun?"

Xiaoxia suddenly stopped knocking on the door, a strange smile appearing on her face. She grabbed my hand and said, "It's very interesting, really very interesting. Come on, let me tell you how to play..." She grabbed my hand and knocked on the door, knocking twice each time.

Although I felt like I was mentally ill myself, knocking on the door with a mental patient made me feel like I was mentally ill too, I had to play the part to find out the truth. After knocking randomly with Xiaoxia for a while, I pretended to be puzzled and asked, "How do you play this game? Are we just going to keep knocking like this?"

Xiaoxia smiled mysteriously and said, "Of course, I won't just knock on the door like that. I'm just letting you practice first so you can master the tricks."

"Is there a trick to knocking on a door?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

Xiaoxia, like a master, said to me, "Of course, everything can be divided into yin and yang, and knocking on the door is the same. One knock is yang, two knocks are yin. If you want to knock on a yang door, knock once; if you want to knock on a yin door, you have to knock twice."

"What's this about Yangmen and Yinmen? I don't understand!" I asked Xiaoxia, pretending to be crazy, while glancing at Nurse Huang out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, I saw her smirking.