A terrifying story that took place in an abandoned apartment

Chapter 8

How did he die?

"A preliminary autopsy was performed this afternoon, and the cause of death was myocardial infarction."

"So it was a natural death? At least we can rule out homicide."

“However, the deceased had no history of heart disease, and the deceased’s expression was very strange, as if he was extremely terrified.” Ye Xiao frowned again. “That expression was so terrifying that it still seems to be flashing before my eyes.”

"Could he have seen something in the middle of the night?"

“That’s what I thought at first too, but his roommates all testified that from the time he returned to the dormitory and went to sleep in the early hours of the morning until the hours when his death was discovered, none of the four roommates heard or saw anything unusual.”

"So, he died in his sleep?" I shook my head vigorously. "That's too bizarre."

"Yes, the forensic doctor also believes that his cause of death is very strange, because the deceased had no organic heart disease and nothing else happened at the time of death, so the only possibility is that the deceased was scared to death by himself while having a nightmare."

"Having nightmares?"

I've never heard of anything like this before—having a nightmare and scaring yourself to death.

"This is just my speculation. Even forensic doctors don't really believe in this kind of thing. It's possible that the nightmare was too terrifying and severely stimulated the heart during sleep, causing a sudden myocardial infarction, which instantly stopped breathing and led to death."

"That's terrifying, like someone suddenly being startled and their heart stops beating immediately."

Ye Xiao nodded: "Yes, sometimes the frights in dreams are more terrifying and more deadly."

"Yes, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and find myself covered in sweat and my heart is pounding. I think many people have had this experience, right? It's just that I haven't been scared to death by myself yet, but I still can't quite believe it. It's like I've never had anything like this before."

“Yes, I’ve never heard of it before either. So I think this is too bizarre, and the college student’s death is too suspicious. There must be some secret behind this.”

"What secret? Have you investigated it?"

Suddenly, Ye Xiao looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yes, I investigated—I found his call records on the deceased's phone. At midnight yesterday, his phone made a call. And what I never expected was that the number that was dialed was my cousin's—your phone."

My heart plummeted to the bottom of a well, shattering into countless pieces. I sat down helplessly and stammered, "What was the deceased's name?"

"Huo Qiang."

"Oh my god, it's him—" But I suddenly held back.

Ye Xiao said coldly, "I knew you must know the deceased, that's why I came to find you."

"How could he have died in his dorm room?"

According to Huo Qiang's four roommates, Huo Qiang went out of town a few days ago and only returned to the dormitory at 2 a.m. yesterday. He went to bed as soon as he got to the dormitory and it wasn't until his classmates got up in the morning that they found that Huo Qiang was dead.

I remained frozen in place, unable to believe it. Huo Qiang had called me at midnight just yesterday, but a few hours later, he died in his dorm room—did he really die from a nightmare? Or was the nightmare just beginning?

Ye Xiao clearly noticed something in my eyes, and he pressed, "What's wrong? Did you remember something?"

I sat in the chair and nodded blankly.

"Okay, the students said that Huo Qiang went to another city a few days ago. Do you know where he went?"

After a long silence, I finally uttered those two words—

“A deserted village”.

Ye Xiao was slightly taken aback: "A deserted village? Isn't that a place from your novel?"

"Yes. Ye Xiao, didn't I tell you? Four college students came to me once. They were determined to explore an abandoned village. A few days ago, they actually found the village and even called me several times."

"I understand now, Huo Qiang is one of those four college students, right?"

I nodded hurriedly: "At midnight last night, I received a call from Huo Qiang on my cell phone. He said he had just returned to Shanghai and was at the long-distance bus station on Hanzhong Road, preparing to go back to school with his classmates."

"Don't be nervous, you've provided an important clue."

Although Ye Xiao was only three years older than me, he looked much more mature. Next, he asked me for details about the four college students, and I told him everything I knew without hiding anything.

Ye Xiao seemed satisfied with my answer, and we chatted for a while longer. He told me to stay calm, not to worry about it, and not to get too caught up in the matter, just like I wrote in my novel—fear stems from the unknown.

Ye Xiao left my house at nine o'clock in the evening.

I was left alone in the room, staring blankly at the darkness outside the window. Even now, I still couldn't accept the news Ye Xiao had brought. I subconsciously reached for my phone; it seemed Huo Qiang was still on the phone with me. But he was dead. In the hours after our call ended, what had he been dreaming about?

Thinking of this, I gasped, a strong premonition filling my heart, instantly erasing all traces of Ye Xiao's concern. No, I must know the truth—why did Huo Qiang die?

Driven by this strong impulse, I could no longer suppress my inner urge and hurriedly ran out of the house under the cover of night. I hailed a taxi on the street and sped towards the university where Huo Qiang was.

Around ten o'clock, I finally arrived at my destination and barely managed to fool the security guard and sneak into this nationally renowned university. I already knew Huo Qiang's class from Ye Xiao and quickly found his dormitory building.

The four-story dormitory building looked very old. I walked up the stairs with my head down. In the dim and narrow corridor, I could see a few dark figures and hear some soft sobbing.

Part Two, Day Seven, Section 14, Day Eleven (2)

In this seemingly surreal scene, I mustered my courage and walked into the middle of those terrifying shadowy figures. Suddenly, the lights in the hallway turned on, a soft scream rang out, and the pale light illuminated those young faces.

I immediately called out their names: "Han Xiaofeng? Su Tianping? Chunyu?"

It turned out to be the three companions who had gone to the deserted village with Huo Qiang. They all looked at me with pale faces. Su Tianping asked tremblingly, "You... how did you get here?"

I looked at their grim faces and said, "I already know—"

"Huo Qiang is dead, he's dead..."

Chunyu cried softly again, and Han Xiaofeng hugged her tightly.

"Can I go to Huo Qiang's dorm room?"

"certainly."

Su Tianping nodded and opened the door behind him. I cautiously stepped into the room and looked around at the room, which was about twenty square meters in size. There were bunk beds on both sides, and a lot of miscellaneous items were piled up by the window, giving off a strange smell that was unique to boys' dormitories.

Where are the other people in the dorm?

"Someone just died this morning, who would dare live in this house? They've all moved out."

Su Tianping pointed to the lower bunk of a bed and said, "This is where Huo Qiang sleeps."

The bed had clearly been made, and there was nothing of value to be seen. I turned around and asked, "Did he leave anything behind?"

"The school collected everything; nothing was left here."

The room felt suffocating; I wondered if it was the smell of a dead body. I hurried back into the hallway, leaned against the railing, and took a deep breath. I turned to Han Xiaofeng and asked, "Were you two going back to school together last night?"

"Yes, we went back to school together and immediately went back to our respective dorm rooms. Nothing else happened."

Strangely, Han Xiaofeng seems so calm now, unlike the panic she showed when she called me that day. Chunyu, meanwhile, is still sobbing on Han Xiaofeng's shoulder.

“You know—” I began to ask them loudly, “You know why Huo Qiang died, don’t you?”

The three of them trembled slightly, looked at each other, and none of them answered my question.

I sighed softly, nodded, and said, "You do know."

But they still didn't answer. The hallway was deathly silent, and the light shining on their faces made it look as if they had been painted with white paint.

"Then can you tell me—what happened to you in the deserted village?"

Another long silence followed.

Finally, Chunyu raised her head. The petite girl whispered, "No, we didn't see anything...we didn't see anything..."

I shook my head and said to Han Xiaofeng, "Han Xiaofeng, didn't you say on the phone that you saw it? What did you see?"

"No, it was a nightmare, just a nightmare."

"But Huo Qiang died in a nightmare."

Han Xiaofeng's lips trembled, but he could only murmur without being able to speak.

Suddenly, Su Tianping cried out in frustration, "Enough! Please stop interfering. We'll take care of ourselves."

"No, why hide it? Is it out of fear?"

Su Tianping turned his face away, and the three of them fell silent.

I sighed again; it seemed there would be no more gains tonight. I softened my tone and said, "If you need my help, you can call me anytime."

After saying that, I quietly left the dormitory building and wandered through the dark campus for a while before finally leaving.

By the time I got home, it was almost midnight.

I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, and suddenly sniffed hard, as if I could smell the scent of that boys' dormitory room again.

The smell of nightmares?

Perhaps it was fate that I was destined to get involved in this matter, because it all stemmed from my novel "The Deserted Village." If this novel hadn't attracted them, would Huo Qiang have died? Yes, now I'm in a bind.

Suddenly, my cell phone rang.

I immediately answered the phone, and a trembling female voice came through: "Hello... this is... Han Xiaofeng..."

Is it her? I immediately calmed myself down and asked in a calm tone, "Han Xiaofeng, is there something you need?"

"I'm very sorry, we weren't telling the truth just now, and I don't dare to say it in front of everyone—something did happen to us in the deserted village."

I could tell she was still very nervous, and since she didn't dare say it out loud, she could only call me secretly.

"I knew it! What exactly happened?"

"It's a long story, and I can't explain it over the phone. Could you come to the school to see me tomorrow morning?"

Then, she told me the location of her dorm room and that she would be waiting for me downstairs at the girls' dormitory at nine o'clock the next morning. It was too late today, so I didn't ask any more questions and ended the call abruptly.

I took a deep breath. Finally, I could find out about their situation in the deserted village. But why were Su Tianping and Chunyu hiding it from me? Perhaps, there were more unexpected things to come.

Part Two, Day Seven, Section 15, Day Twelve (1)

The next morning, I left home on time.

I took a taxi to Han Xiaofeng's school, carefully slipping into the campus and arriving at her girls' dormitory. It was exactly nine o'clock, and the sunlight shone on my forehead. The awkwardness of being outside the girls' dormitory made me quietly retreat to the shade of a tree. I watched as the girls came out of the building, their expressions somewhat flustered, whispering among themselves. As they passed by me, some couldn't help but glance at me, making me quite embarrassed.

I waited for over ten minutes, but Han Xiaofeng still didn't come out, so I called her cell phone, but it rang for a long time without being answered. Growing increasingly suspicious, I mustered my courage and walked to the building entrance, cautiously peering inside—

Suddenly, a hand landed on my back, and I immediately jumped up. But to my utter surprise, the person who patted my back was my cousin, Officer Ye Xiao.