Sopla un viento helado, un aura fantasmal lo impregna todo, florecen lirios araña en el inframundo y uno se sienta solo

Capítulo 5

"It's getting late, let's go." He Zhiying stood up.

Song Xiaomo also stood up. As he passed the table, his gaze fell on a rectangular box. Wasn't this the girl's belongings from earlier? He thought, she's so careless; she must have been in such a hurry that she forgot them.

“Someone dropped something. Let’s take this to the service desk.” Song Xiaomo gently picked up the box and walked forward. The box was made of wood, and much of the red paint had peeled off, making it look slightly worn. However, in the center hung an exquisite brass lock, as if something valuable was hidden inside.

Upon reaching the service counter, Song Xiaomo carefully placed the box on the table and said to a female server, "Miss, this is something a girl forgot. Let's leave it here for now; she might remember and come back for it."

The waitress glanced at it sleepily, then waved her hand impatiently and said, "You should take it back. Some customers deliberately leave things behind, then come back to collect them and claim that something valuable is missing, demanding compensation from us... We don't want to cause that kind of trouble."

“But this is what your guests left behind,” Song Xiaomo said with a wry smile.

"Take it. Our manager's policy is not to keep anything for others. You should try to find the owner yourself. If you're going to help, then help to the end... We're closing time. Goodbye." The waitress coldly uttered these last words and then fell silent.

Chapter 22: The Ghost Doll Returns (22)

Song Xiaomo looked at He Zhiying helplessly, not knowing what to do.

"Never mind, just take it and keep it safe. It might be some gold or silver jewelry!" He Zhiying said.

"Well, hopefully it's not a bomb or anything." Although he felt it was inappropriate to keep a stranger's things safe, he had no other choice for now.

He Zhiying took it, weighed it in her hand, and then quickly handed it to Song Xiaomo, saying in an extremely low voice, "Could it contain ashes?"

He immediately became alert, felt a sudden jolt in his heart, and the box in his hand suddenly felt unusually heavy.

"Hehe, don't be afraid, who would use this tattered long box as an urn?" He Zhiying laughed.

Song Xiaomo took a breath and slowly walked out of the coffee shop. It was deserted outside; there wasn't a soul in sight, and the girl was nowhere to be seen. He glanced at his watch; it was already midnight.

He Zhiying glanced at the lock on the box and said, half-jokingly, "If you want to know what's inside, just pry it open and see."

“Absolutely not! This belongs to someone else, how can we do this?” Song Xiaomo said firmly.

Don't you want to know what's hidden inside?

"I'd like to, but it's not allowed in principle," Song Xiaomo replied calmly. Instantly, the girl's captivating face seemed to reappear before his eyes—her small lips, her delicate, water-like eyebrows, and her particularly mysterious eyes…

The two walked forward silently, surrounded by stillness. In the dim light of the streetlights, two long shadows were cast on the ground. The shadows swayed slowly with their movements, like black phantoms.

After an unknown amount of time, the two finally entered the campus. The entire campus was now eerily dark; all the streetlights were off, and the buildings stood silently, looking lifeless. In the garden in the center of the square stood several white marble statues, and a few fireflies flitted around them.

Looking at all this, Song Xiaomo suddenly felt uneasy, as if she had arrived at a graveyard, where the buildings had turned into tombstones in the blink of an eye, and the marble statues had turned into eerie white bones.

"It seems like there's another power outage," He Zhiying said.

"Yes, this is the second time I've had a power outage since I came to this school."

Do you know what happened the night of the first power outage?

He paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I heard that a girl committed suicide."

“No, no.” He Zhiying shook her head and said heavily, “The darkness killed her… Actually, she was a tall, slender girl with a pretty face. I often saw her charming smile and heard her beautiful singing voice. She kept many flowers on her balcony… That night, I was standing on the opposite balcony and saw her preparing to take her pink dress down from the balcony. She climbed onto a tall chair, like a lovely angel. Suddenly, the power went out, and the campus was plunged into darkness. Many people screamed. At that moment, she fell off the chair and landed heavily on the ground, not even having time to call for help. Perhaps she did scream, but her voice was drowned out by the screams of others… This matter has always been hidden deep in my heart, and I have never told anyone about it.”

Chapter 23: The Ghost Doll Returns (23)

Upon hearing this, Song Xiaomo was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Then... then why did the school say it was suicide?"

"Maybe they're afraid of taking responsibility. Many of the dormitories here are old, and there aren't any safety nets on the balconies. Plus, with the power outage, the school definitely bears undeniable responsibility, so they're insisting that the girl committed suicide. It's so pitiful that the girl died a particularly gruesome death. Her body was hanging upside down from the iron railing below, and her whole body was stabbed with several large, bloody holes... One night, I actually dreamed about her. She was wearing that pink dress, and she came back. She kept crying and kept sewing up the bloody holes on her body with a needle and thread..." He Zhiying gasped, her voice filled with fear.

"Sigh, who knows how many things we can't see are hidden in the darkness. Okay, let's not talk about this anymore," Song Xiaomo quickly interrupted her. At that moment, he seemed to see a small, thin figure slowly swaying on the building ahead, then falling like a wounded bird. He even heard the sounds of bones breaking echoing in the air…

He Zhiying clung tightly to his shoulder, her body trembling slightly. He tried to slow his pace, desperately trying to control his racing heart so she wouldn't sense his nervousness. For a moment, He Zhiying nestled against his broad, strong chest, and he didn't reject her, gently embracing her with his right hand.

As they approached the girls' dormitory, He Zhiying stopped and said, "Great, the dormitory building isn't locked yet. Usually, it's locked at this time."

"You're lucky. It's getting late, you should go upstairs now. Remember to get some rest tonight, you have class tomorrow!"

"Okay, thank you for keeping me company tonight. I'll give you this teru teru bozu doll." He Zhiying handed over the small white doll.

"This...this, okay...okay, thank you." Song Xiaomo hesitated for a few seconds, but still pretended to be happy and accepted it. He could hear the sincerity in He Zhiying's voice, and he had no reason to refuse this girl's gift. But he knew even more clearly that he was holding a dead person's belongings.

Seeing that Song Xiaomo had put the teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll made of teru teru bozu), He Zhiying hesitated for a moment, lowered her head, and slowly said, "No matter what happens in the future, will you... will you stand by my side?"

"no problem."

"If I were in any danger, would you be the first to stand up for me?"

"I swear, I will," he said, patting his chest.

"Okay, goodbye." He Zhiying waved her hand, smiled as she walked up the steps, then turned back and said, "Be careful tonight, don't think about things you shouldn't. Also, don't open that box, it might give you a fright."

"Thanks for the reminder, goodbye." He watched her retreating figure as she gradually disappeared into the depths of the building entrance.

The empty campus was now empty except for Song Xiaomo. He wrapped his trench coat tighter around himself and walked forward with his head down. The men's dormitory building was only two hundred meters away.

Not far away, he could faintly hear footsteps sounding intermittently, which then quickly disappeared.

Chapter 24: The Ghost Doll Returns (24)

Beside a French building, he lit a cigarette. The flame flickered as he silently stared at the box he held in his hands, and the teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll with a wicked smile) on it.

Why do these things have to bother me?

Is it really a ghost doll?

In that brief moment of stunned silence, a strange sound drifted into Song Xiaomo's ears again. This time it wasn't footsteps; it sounded like a woman's voice. The voice was like a lament, carrying a melancholic and sorrowful melody that sent chills down his spine. He pricked up his ears, trying hard to discern the sound, and finally he recognized it: it was a Japanese folk song.

"Sunny doll, sunny doll, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it is, I'll give you a golden bell; sunny doll, sunny doll, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it is, I'll give you delicious wine; sunny doll, sunny doll, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it's not, I'll cut off your head..."

Song Xiaomo's hair stood on end, and he felt his breathing become increasingly rapid. He didn't know what to do; his legs were almost numb, and he couldn't run. He could only stare in terror, searching for the source of the sound. The direction of the sound grew increasingly blurred, intermittent, as if it came from the air, or perhaps from all directions. Finally, the sound turned into a mournful cry, as if from another world. Instantly, the image He Zhiying had described flashed through his mind: a girl crying incessantly, constantly sewing up the bloody holes in her body... Then, it quickly shifted to another scene: Shen Meixuan hanging in mid-air, her right eyeball sticking out a chopstick, bloody... Then, the box seemed to open automatically, and the head of a dead infant emerged...

"No, it can't be, how could this be?" He covered his ears with his hands, desperately trying to resist the sounds. The sounds were relentlessly devouring his heart. He gasped for breath, his palms and soles instantly covered in sweat.

After an unknown amount of time, he slowly released his hands.

The sound vanished, and deathly silence returned. He gazed into the depths of the night, the boundless darkness still shrouding the campus, everything subtly brewing...

"Is this just my own imagination again?" He shook his head, his mind a blur, like a fog.

The night grew deeper.

(8)

Her name is Chi Huimei.

Her current job is as a dormitory manager for girls, and few people know or care about her real name. In the eyes of the girls, she is a plump woman with a perpetually cold and unsmiling expression. Apart from cleaning the corridors and checking the cleanliness, her only pleasure is staying in her room knitting sweaters.

At exactly 10 p.m., she made her rounds in the corridor and then opened her small room.

The room was cold and quiet, the light flickering. A gust of cold wind swept in from outside the window, and she gently closed it, then habitually picked up the unfinished sweater from the bedside. The moment her hand touched the sweater, she realized something was wrong.

Chapter 25: The Ghost Doll Returns (25)

Suddenly, she touched something round... a child's head... This, this is...

She threw down the sweater as if she'd been electrocuted, her mind buzzing.

Then, a small rag doll rolled out of the sweater. The teru teru bozu looked up at him, its eyes gleaming with an evil light.

"No..." Chi Huimei closed her eyes in pain, tears streaming down her face. Her chest ached terribly, as if something was violently tearing at her heart, and the intense pain made her feel like she had returned to the past.

Many years ago, she was a beautiful and pretty girl.

She lived in a harmonious and happy family, with a father who was a sailor, a hardworking mother, and two older brothers. Later, her brothers also became sailors, following in their father's footsteps. Influenced by her family, she longed for the sea and dreamed of one day becoming a bird and flying freely. On her twentieth birthday, she finally had the opportunity to go out to sea with her father to see the outside world; by then, her father had already bought a small steamboat.

Their boat was a small transport vessel, frequently traveling to Japan for business. Although the work was arduous, the family lived a peaceful life. During one of their journeys, she met a Japanese boy and quickly fell in love with him. Ignoring the strong objections of her parents and two older brothers, she eloped with the boy to Japan. The boy lived in a small town called Okushiri in Hokkaido. It was a beautiful place, and the boy was a handsome and skillful fisherman. Whenever it rained, he would make small white cloth dolls and hang them on the eaves; these dolls had a cute name: Teru Teru Bozu (Sunny Dolls). Locals believed that Teru Teru Bozu could protect people from disasters and illnesses.

In the days that followed, the two lived a very happy and fulfilling life, and their daughter gradually grew up.

One day in 1993, her parents and two older brothers came to Hokkaido to visit her in their own boat. They finally forgave her; family is family, and blood is thicker than water—that much is undeniable. The whole family sat together joyfully and took their first family photo. She remembers that she smiled especially sweetly that day.

However, Chi Huimei never dreamed that this day would be etched in her memory, becoming a nightmare for the rest of her life. That family photo was the first and the last.

That day, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Hokkaido. The residents of the small town of Okushiri were completely unaware of the impending tsunami. Three minutes after the earthquake, the tsunami struck the town, killing 190 people. Among them were Emi Ike's parents, two brothers, and husband. When she awoke in the hospital, she discovered that her loved ones had already passed away, never to return. Police subsequently recovered their bodies.

Surprisingly, her daughter, Ai Ozawa, disappeared, and her body has not yet been found. Some speculated that she drifted into the sea or was swallowed by a shark. However, Emi Ike remains convinced that her daughter is still alive. Because whenever she closes her eyes, she sees her. The grief is palpable, inescapable, and unbearable. The thought of her brings excruciating pain.

Chapter 26: The Ghost Doll Returns (26)

Since then, she has been searching for her daughter, who is her only motivation to live.

Ten years have passed, and she has searched countless cities and towns along the coasts of Japan and Korea, but to no avail. The passage of time has completely robbed her of her youth and beauty, turning her into an ordinary woman.

During this time, due to immense grief and long-term stress, she developed serious mental health issues and was admitted to a mental hospital twice. She told her story to everyone she met, hoping to gain their sympathy and help her find her daughter. However, no one was willing to help her until she met a girl.

A girl's heart is as beautiful as her appearance.

She still vividly remembers the first words that girl said to her: "I am an orphan, and from now on I will be your daughter."

Chi Huimei knew in her heart that the girl wasn't her daughter, but she felt much relieved. The two quickly developed a deep bond and became like "mother and daughter," perhaps it was their shared hardships that brought them together.

That "daughter" is named Shen Meixuan, and she is a student at HY University.

Every weekend, Shin Mi-hyun would visit Chi Hye-mi, chatting and having meals with her. Chi Hye-mi's condition gradually improved, and her mood brightened considerably. She even taught Shin Mi-hyun how to make white teru teru bozu (Japanese teru bozu dolls). Sometimes, Shin Mi-hyun would bring her boyfriend, Kim Hyun-in, along. The three of them would make many teru teru bozu dolls with different expressions, hang them on the eaves, and then sing that Japanese folk song: "Teru teru bozu, teru teru bozu, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it is, I'll give you a golden bell; teru teru bozu, teru teru bozu, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If it is, I'll give you delicious wine; teru teru bozu, teru teru bozu, I hope tomorrow will be a good day. If not, I'll cut off your head..."

As life gradually settled down, Kim Hyun-in helped Chi Hye-mi find a job as a dormitory supervisor at HY University. Coincidentally, Shin Mi-hyun also lived in that building.

Chi Huimei's work in the girls' dormitory went smoothly; she took care of everything meticulously and quickly won the girls' praise. In her spare time, she would also go to Shen Meixuan's single dormitory to help her clean and make her bed. Subconsciously, she treated Shen Meixuan like her own daughter.

Two years ago, one night, her peaceful life was shattered once again. A man in black wearing sunglasses suddenly approached her. He was a young man with a handsome face, even somewhat dashing, and didn't seem like a bad person.

The young man took out a string of silver bells and handed them to her. She was stunned, hardly believing her eyes. It was the only ornament her daughter had worn on her wrist before she disappeared, a gift from her father to his niece. For over ten years, she had seen these bells countless times in her dreams, hearing their melodious tinkling. These bells were the only keepsake to confirm her daughter's identity, and they were forever etched in her heart.

She gripped the bell tightly, stared into the young man's eyes, and asked excitedly, "My daughter...is my daughter still alive?"

“Your daughter is doing very well now,” the young man said casually, then added, “but…”

Chapter 27: The Ghost Doll Returns (27)

"Just what?"

"There's just a little trouble going on right now, and I need your help."

Overjoyed, she wept and pleaded, "Please, I want to see my daughter, I want to see my daughter..."

"Okay, but you must agree to a very simple request. After you do it, you can see your daughter. Otherwise..." The young man revealed a sly smile.

Eager to see her daughter as soon as possible, she didn't hesitate and eagerly agreed to the young man's request. She had lost her daughter more than ten years ago and didn't want to give up this rare opportunity, no matter what the consequences might be.

The young man whispered everything in her ear. She was very puzzled, but also relieved, because the request was nothing serious; it wouldn't involve murder or arson, and it wouldn't harm anyone.

One day, she did as the young man suggested.

She finally saw her daughter. A mother and daughter reuniting should have been a moment of tender sharing and affection, but her daughter, adorned with dazzling jewelry, was unusually cold, showing not a trace of emotion. Her daughter spoke to her only briefly before making an excuse to leave. At that moment, a chill ran through her. She lamented the passing of time and the indifference of the world. Ten years of torment and waiting had come to nothing; perhaps this was fate.

Just as she was immersed in grief, Shen Meixuan had an accident.

She suddenly remembered the young man's request and had a bad feeling.