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

Capítulo 42

"Go back? Where to?"

Meixuan shook her head: "Don't you understand? Of course, I should go back to where I belong!"

Where should you go? Where are you from?

"Are you confused?" Meixuan sighed, her voice filled with sorrow. "Haven't you realized? I returned to this world only because an unfulfilled wish bound my soul, but this world has only brought me disappointment and helplessness. Now, I must go back..."

"Meixuan," Song Xiaomo asked her hurriedly, "Did you kill Xiuzi? Tell me!"

"You ask me who the murderer is...you don't know?"

Song Xiaomo shook her head blankly.

Meixuan stared straight at him: "You really want to know who the murderer is?"

"Yes, I believe Hideko is innocent!"

Meixuan giggled, a cold glint in her eyes: "When did Xue Longzi change her name to Xiuzi?"

"Xuelongzi? You mean, she's the third party between you and Kim In-hyun?" Song Xiaomo was taken aback.

"That's right, it's been over two years, and she still hasn't given up?"

Song Xiaomo was even more puzzled: "What do you mean, 'unwilling to give up'?"

"Hehe, wasn't she going to all this trouble to get close to Kim In-hyun for that authentic Tang Bohu painting? After Kim In-hyun died, the painting disappeared. I didn't expect she was still looking for it... I thought she'd already gotten it! Hahaha..."

Section 115: Chapter Twenty-Four - Tearing Off Your Face (3)

Meixuan's reminder made Song Xiaomo suddenly recall Xiuzi's strange behavior in the storage room that night. She seemed to be looking for something. Could it really be for that painting?

"So...you're going to kill her?" Song Xiaomo stared at her coldly and said, "Have all the people who died after receiving the ghost doll wronged you? Why are you causing this bloodshed?"

"Xiao Mo, will you avenge them?"

Suddenly, a fierce glint flashed in Song Xiaomo's eyes, and she grabbed Meixuan's face with her five fingers and tore it apart forcefully...

With a scream, a piece of skin peeled off Meixuan's face!

-It's another face that looks exactly like Lee Jung-jin!

A look of unspeakable terror crossed Song Xiaomo's face: "It's you again?"

"Heh, how did you figure it out? I'm quite confident in this mask." The man's voice changed.

"Because Meixuan always mistakes me for Jin Renxuan, he won't call me Xiaomo. Also, your eyes are completely different from hers..." Song Xiaomo gritted her teeth, staring at the terrifying face behind the mask, "What exactly do you want me to do? What is your purpose?"

"Very good, she did come looking for you. It seems I didn't come to the wrong person! I think you probably already know me, I'm Li Zhengzhen's older brother—Zhao Zhengmin!"

"So it really was you." Song Xiaomo sneered. "You want revenge for your brother, so why did you come after me?"

Zhao Zhengmin grinned, revealing a ferocious expression, and said in a hoarse voice, "Because I want to help you! Don't be blinded by greed, that Meixuan is a vengeful ghost. This time it was Xuelongzi, and your next target is you!"

"Why? I have no grudge against her!" Song Xiaomo said dismissively.

"Don't forget, almost everyone who had a relationship with her two years ago is dead!"

"But what do I have to do with her?"

Zhao Zhengmin smiled mysteriously: "Alright, I'll tell you the real reason. Before you went abroad to study, didn't you have major surgery in China?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Don't worry about that. Anyway, I've investigated you!" Zhao Zhengmin said with no small amount of pride. "Besides, you had a heart transplant. After Kim In-hyeon died, his family donated his organs, and through the International Red Cross, his heart was transplanted into your body..."

Song Xiaomo listened, speechless, never imagining the inside story to be so complex and coincidental. In an instant, he suddenly understood why Meixuan mistook him for Jin Renxuan, and why he sometimes had those inexplicable dreams. It all stemmed from the heart inside his body. He recalled a news report in the Russian newspaper *Komsomolskaya Pravda* about an American woman named Sylvia Clare, whose "medical history" was also strange. The young woman had been a teetotaler and vegetarian, but after receiving a heart transplant, she suddenly craved hamburgers and beer. She only understood what was going on when she learned that the donor was Jim, an 18-year-old rock singer who loved these foods and died in a motorcycle accident. Was it purely a coincidence?

"Now, you should understand your situation, right? She loved Kim In-hyun deeply, but she never imagined that he would not only betray her but also drag her into hell... Can she endure such deep-seated hatred? As Kim In-hyun's substitute, will you have a good ending? Kim In-hyun is dead, but his heart remains!"

"No, I'm not his double!"

"Also, you seem to have a good relationship with a girl named He Zhiying, right?"

Song Xiaomo asked urgently, "Where is she? Do you know?"

"Heh, maybe she's already been controlled by Shen Meixuan, or maybe she's already been murdered..."

"You're talking nonsense! I saw her just a few days ago!"

"Alright, calm down! Your He Zhiying has been missing for so long, and the police can't find her. She's most likely hidden somewhere by this female ghost! As for why you're targeting her, I think you probably know—women are very jealous. If Shen Meixuan can see you as Jin Renxuan, then He Zhiying is probably a rival in love. Do you think she'll have a good ending?"

Song Xiaomo couldn't help but shiver: "Why did you look for Meixuan?"

"She killed my brother, and I want revenge! That's why I need you to lure her out."

"No, I won't agree to that."

Zhao Zhengmin stared at him silently for a long time before chuckling, "Wherever you go now, people will die. The police will target you, and if they can't solve the case, you'll inevitably become the scapegoat. Don't you want to put this matter to rest as soon as possible?"

"The murderer is definitely not Meixuan!"

"Don't be silly. How many more people do you want to die because of you? I heard a mysterious woman appeared by your side. I suspect she's Shen Meixuan. They're the same person, their purpose is to bewitch you, guide you, and plunge you into an abyss of eternal suffering... Think about it, if I can make a mask, can't she?"

"Song Yun'er... Mei Xuan... Mei Xuan... Song Yun'er..." Song Xiaomo repeated the two names blankly. The past was too bizarre; the scenes at the cemetery and in the dormitory had shattered into fragments of memory, appearing piecemeal in his mind. For days, he had been unable to clearly recall every detail of what had happened. Now, Zhao Zhengmin's words awakened his fragmented memories, and the past appeared clearly before his eyes... It was Mei Xuan, it could only be Mei Xuan!

He had never understood why Song Yun'er had scared away the Tibetan Mastiff. Only now did he realize that Song Yun'er had a dog's eyeball inside her right eye socket. Imagine how terrifying it would be for a dog to see another dog's eye inside a human's eye socket!

The mystery that lingered in her mind gradually dissipated like the morning mist. Song Yoon-ah cried and paid her respects at the murderer's grave. Now it seemed no wonder that the grave contained none other than her own "previous self".

"No, why should I believe you?" Song Xiaomo still refused to accept this reality.

Zhao Zhengmin chuckled, "You don't need to believe what I say. You can go ask her yourself. This female ghost seems to still care about you. Women, they're truly unpredictable... I'm leaving. Take care of yourself!"

Song Xiaomo stared at the window, which was gradually turning white, and silently murmured in her heart, "Peach Blossom Island..."

"Last year on this day, within this very gate, a face and peach blossoms reflected each other's rosy hue. But the face is now nowhere to be seen, only the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."

Could the poem that He Zhiying recited be a hint?

Section 116: Chapter Twenty-Five - The Master of Peach Blossom Island (1)

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Master of Peach Blossom Island

After a night of deliberation, Song Xiaomo decided to go to Peach Blossom Island to get to the bottom of the matter. Before leaving the villa, he instructed the landlady to take good care of Tongtong.

To avoid the police, he hid in a small hotel. He spent the entire day online, searching Google for 369,000 results related to Peach Blossom Island, then filtering them one by one. Frustratingly, he couldn't find any information about Peach Blossom Island in South Korea online.

"If Peach Blossom Island really exists, it must leave traces." Song Xiaomo couldn't think of any other way to find it. In the end, he could only sneak back to the villa late at night and enter the room where he had been with Meixuan, hoping to find clues in some drawers and corners. However, he was still met with extreme exhaustion and disappointment.

Just when he was at his wit's end, he unexpectedly saw a poem on the back of a photograph.

Last year on this day, in this very doorway, faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's rosy hue.

The face is gone, I know not where; but the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze.

The front of the photo shows Meixuan standing on a cliff. Song Xiaomo seemed to hear the sound of violent waves and the crashing of seawater against hard rocks.

"Could this be Peach Blossom Island?" He remembered that He Zhiying had also mentioned this poem. Could it be that she was also on Peach Blossom Island? What connection does this island have with this poem?

He pondered the poem carefully, concluding that it simply used "face" and "peach blossoms" as a connecting thread, contrasting the different people in "last year" and "today" despite the same location and scenery. The poem then expressed the poet's feelings about these two different encounters in a cyclical and nuanced way. After a full half-hour of agonizing thought, Song Xiaomo still couldn't figure it out and had to return to the small inn.

He turned on his computer and typed the poem into Google. Instantly, the title of the poem appeared in his view: "Written at the South Village of the Capital".

South Village of the Capital?

On a whim, Song Xiaomo entered "Ducheng Nanzhuang" and "Korea" into Google. Immediately, a page appeared in the search results. His heart skipped a beat. He clicked on the webpage and found it was a blog by a Korean traveler. It contained a modern poem about "Ducheng Nanzhuang"—

Stunned by a peach blossom

Step into an island of one

Encounter with the woman from my dream

Wandering in the secret peach garden

Sometimes I see her smile blooming

Sometimes petals drift down onto the flowing water.

Like the sky that always suddenly bursts into tears.

I can't help but feel heartache.

Unable to stop dancing under the wings of the night

I cannot escape the spell of a peach blossom.

...

"So, this person has been to Peach Blossom Island and even met a girl. Could this girl be Meixuan?" After reading the poem, Song Xiaomo tried to find the blog owner's contact information, but upon checking, she found that there was no information on the blog, and the last update was a year ago.

Next, Song Xiaomo pulled up a South Korean online map and pointed at the screen, searching for Ducheng Nanzhuang. South Korea isn't a large country, but the map was incredibly detailed. Finally, her efforts paid off, and a small black dot marked "Ducheng Nanzhuang" suddenly appeared. This location was roughly situated along the coast east of Zhaoyang Lake.

Section 117: Chapter Twenty-Five - The Master of Peach Blossom Island (2)

After a long train journey of nearly six and a half hours, followed by a bus transfer, Song Xiaomo finally arrived at the seaside.

Stepping off the bus, he put down his bulging travel bag and gazed at the shimmering sea and the seagulls circling overhead, feeling a sense of bewilderment.

"Whoosh..." A small airship stopped beside him, and a little girl poked her head out: "Sir, where are we going?"

"Excuse me, is there a Peach Blossom Island around here?"

"There are thousands of islands in the surrounding waters, but I don't think I've ever heard of this one!"

Song Xiaomo thought for a moment and said, "Do you know about Nanzhuang in the capital?"

"South Village of the Capital?" The little girl immediately stared at him with a strange look, as if she were looking at a mental patient. After a long pause, she finally said, "There is no South Village of the Capital here."

"What? No?"

"Yes, no!"

Song Xiaomo felt a chill in his heart. Had he traveled for more than six hours by train just to hear this? No, that was impossible. He clearly noticed the little girl's uneasy expression when he mentioned the words "Ducheng Nanzhuang". Was there some hidden story behind this?

"What exactly are you doing in Nanzhuang, the capital?" the little girl asked again.

Song Xiaomo was overjoyed; it seemed that such a place really did exist.

"I'm going there to find a friend."

"Go away, don't go there, that's not a place for humans."

"Why?" Song Xiaomo suddenly felt a cold wind blowing from the water.

"...Anyway, I heard from my dad that it's a place where people are buried! That island is called Ducheng Nanzhuang, and there are almost no people there. It used to be a cemetery, but after some people went up there, they saw many dead people come back to life. After that, no one dared to go there anymore. People in our area are quite superstitious about that place. I advise you not to go..."

"No, now that I'm here, I'm determined to go," Song Xiaomo said stubbornly.