Muro fantasmal - Capítulo 3
October 15, 1989
---Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [11]: 1989, Li Zheng? I wondered to myself if this was written by the same person as the diary Chen Penghai found in the library. But in any case, I had to explore the Arts Building.
I comforted Huang Hua for a few words, then asked, "By the way, do you have any way to sneak into the Arts Building?"
“Yes,” Huang Hua said. “In a classroom on the east side of the arts building, there’s a window with a bent iron bar and the glass can’t be closed properly. You can crawl in from there.”
"Okay, I'll go check it out tonight and see if it's really that fierce."
Not long after, the hospital called to announce that Chen Penghai had officially died on March 27, 2002. I was completely stunned. Just yesterday I saw him alive and well, and now he was gone. What is life? What is existence? I looked at Li Heng, who had been sleeping soundly in bed for a whole day, and it seemed like I understood something, but my mind was blank.
Wu Bo shouted, then walked over to me, patted my shoulder, and said, "I'll go with you tonight."
I looked at him gratefully, then shook my head and said, "I've learned a little bit of magic, so you probably won't see those things. I'll go by myself, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of you." Then I smiled helplessly.
He seemed to understand that no matter how strong he was, it wouldn't be of any use against that thing, so he could only nod reluctantly.
At midnight, I took the seven copper coin sword and flashlight that my master had given me and went out.
Speaking of these seven copper coin swords, it's more accurate to say I casually took them back than that they were a gift from my master. At the time, I didn't understand why "taking" these swords seemed like a trap set by my master, and I still don't understand its purpose. (Dear readers, this might be foreshadowing for my next novel!) Following Huang Hua's instructions, I crawled through the east window, turned on my flashlight, and headed towards the main gate. Looking out from inside the gate, it didn't feel so eerie. I stood where I had seen Ma Kexin pull her head out last night. Behind me was the staircase leading to the second floor, to my left was a wall, and to my right was the place I had come from—the path to the classroom. I activated the Heart-Clearing Mantra, clearing my mind. Then, I noticed that every part of the gate was filled with yin energy. Wisps of yin energy assaulted me, causing a sharp, piercing pain, and I involuntarily took a step back.
Suddenly, a person appeared in the middle of the gate, standing inside as if trapped by glass, covered in blood that was gushing to the ground.
I took out my seven-piece coin sword, pointed it at him, and looked closely. The blood-soaked figure standing there was none other than Chen Penghai. Chen Penghai's eyes were fixed on me, as if he had a lot to say. I took a step forward, about to speak, when his eyes began to bleed profusely, his eyeballs bulging outwards. Suddenly, with a "pop," his eyeballs sprang out. I quickly used my seven-piece coin sword to catch them, and the two eyeballs landed steadily on the sword. I sheathed the sword, letting the two eyeballs stare back at me. Strangely, they actually shed tears, and Chen Penghai, now without eyeballs, was grasping wildly with his hands, but his body was slowly rotting, thick white and red blood flowing towards my feet.
"Don't worry, I will definitely help you find out the truth and avenge you," I said secretly.
"Hehe..." A female voice suddenly rang out behind me. I quickly turned around and thrust out seven coin swords out of thin air, but missed everything. Then, I noticed a figure flash past at the corner of the stairs leading to the second floor.
"Who?" I didn't believe that anyone other than me, someone with a purpose, would dare to come here at night.
"Hehehe..." The thing only emitted a sinister laugh. It seemed to be deliberately leading me there.
"Hmph." I grunted and leaped in that direction. Anyway, I wasn't afraid of any danger in order to find out the truth.
As I climbed the stairs, the figure vanished again in a flash. I hurriedly chased after it, suddenly hearing footsteps behind me. I turned around, but there was nothing there. Was this some kind of trick? I quickly chanted a mind-clearing mantra, and my surroundings seemed to automatically appear in my mind, allowing me to see everything clearly, down to the smallest detail—not even the crawling of ants escaped my ears. Then, a continuous series of chuckling sounds flooded my ears. From my intuition, I knew it was coming from the dean's office on the fourth floor. But strangely, the figure was just on the second floor; how did it suddenly appear on the fourth? However, the figure didn't seem to have any ill intentions towards me; it even seemed to be trying to help me. But I couldn't worry about that now. The more I found out, the better. The terrifying scene with Chen Penghai still lingered in my mind, and I began to lose confidence in myself, increasingly afraid of the horrific truth hidden behind this.
---Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [12]: I tiptoed up the stairs to the fourth floor and found a faint light shining from the door of the dean's office. I slowly walked over, and the seven-piece coin sword in my hand trembled slightly.
The door to the dean's office was ajar. I slowly opened it a crack, and the sounds from inside reached my ears more clearly. That terrifying laughter, as if coming from hell, was dry and guttural, roaring like a tap running without anyone in it. Who could it be? Could it be that figure from before?
I opened the door a little wider and saw a person standing in front of the desk inside. He seemed to be digging at something on the desk with both hands. Since his back was to me, he was also blocking the desk surface, so I couldn't see what it was. However, the liquid that was constantly flowing from the desk surface, although it didn't make any sound as it ran down the legs of the desk, seemed to automatically enter my ears, letting me know that this liquid was very viscous.
"Blood?" I thought to myself.
About a minute later, the man suddenly stopped moving and just stared blankly at the table.
What exactly is he up to? I wondered if I should barge in and find out, but this person wasn't emitting any yin energy, which meant he was a genuine human being.
As I hesitated, the man turned around, and I quickly dodged to the side, thinking he was about to come out. After a few minutes, there was still no movement inside, so I peeked in again.
"Ah? It's Dean Li Haitao?" I was secretly surprised. Although I had never actually met him, I had heard about him from the Chinese Literature Department students. From their conversations, I knew that Li Haitao was a very good professor, respected by almost all his students. However, he looked a bit strange now; his hair was disheveled, his eyes were pale, and blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth.
His signature white robes have now turned into blood-stained garments, as if he were a messenger from hell.
I saw him staring blankly at the left wall, as if he were mesmerized by something. The left wall was just visible through the crack in the door, but even after careful observation, I still couldn't make out what was there. So I pushed the door open a little wider, and the entire desk came into view.
"Ughhhhh!" I almost threw up. On the stage was the missing Ma Kexin, now dead in such a gruesome state. Her head drooped over the edge of the stage, her body completely ripped open from her throat down to her navel. Her sternum protruded upwards, several ribs broken, her heart hanging from the broken bones, still beating faintly. Her intestines, blocked by her ripped abdomen, flowed towards the only exit, Ma Kexin's lower body, making a "sizzling" sound.
What on earth happened? Could it be that Li Haitao did all of this? I was incredibly angry. I never imagined that the seemingly respectable person was actually the mastermind behind it all, and such a perverted one at that.
Just as I was about to barge in, the dean shouted, "My God! Why won't you leave me alone?"
Then I rushed out the door. As a natural reaction, I dodged to the side, and the dean ran downstairs like a madman.
I watched the dean disappear into the stairwell, glanced into the room again, made up my mind, and was about to take a step to catch up when I heard a very soft sigh behind me.
"Sigh..." The voice seemed to carry endless sadness.
This time I didn't turn around immediately, or rather, I sensed something in the source of the sound and felt that she had no intention of harming me.
With my back to her, holding the seven-coin sword horizontally in my hand, I said, "For a young lady to appear here at this time, you must not be human, right?"
She chuckled softly, then answered in a sorrowful voice, "So what do you think I am?" Her voice, though evoking sympathy, carried a powerful, sinister aura that swept towards my back.
I gasped and said, "Are you a ghost?"
She didn't refute anything, only sighed, "Whether it's a human or a ghost, it doesn't matter anymore."
I was on the verge of a retreat when I heard her sigh. I kept looking for an opportunity to turn around, but her answer left me at a loss.
"Since you are already dead, why not seek the opportunity to be reincarnated? Even if you have any grievances, they can be resolved through the cycle of reincarnation." "It's not that I don't want to be reincarnated, it's that hell won't accept me," she said softly.
"Ah!" I turned around and saw a woman in white standing there. Blood was streaming down her face, making it impossible for me to see her face clearly.
---Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [13]: When she saw me turn around, she suddenly became angry and her voice became shrill, "I didn't tell you to turn around, why did you turn around?"
Suddenly, she was filled with a surge of yin energy, and with a flick of her right hand, a jet of blood shot out from it.
Ghosts are indeed different from humans; they strike without any warning. I was startled and quickly dodged to the side, but I was too slow, and my right hand was already stained with blood. The blood seemed to have a life of its own, seeping into my body through my pores. I suddenly felt a chill in my heart, and without thinking of anything else, I rushed downstairs, stumbling towards the classroom I had climbed into.
The ghostly laughter echoed throughout the entire School of Humanities. I quickened my pace, the chill in my heart growing stronger until it almost suffocated me. Ignoring my fear, I hurriedly climbed out of the window.
I had only climbed halfway when a sharp pain shot through my right hand, as if I had completely lost all feeling in it. My right side lost its balance, and I fell to the ground, the fall sending shivers down my spine. I didn't care about anything else and ran about ten steps away, but suddenly my right leg also went numb, and I fell to the ground again.
Then, by the moonlight, I looked at my right hand and discovered that the mysterious female ghost's blood seemed to have come to life. Some of it spread out to the side, while the rest seeped into my pores. The body that had been infiltrated began to swell, the pores enlarged, and blood began to flow.
"A blood curse?" Could this be the blood curse? Zhang Xue, Huang Jing, and Chen Penghai all died like this? The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became. I remembered my master saying when I left the mountain that I was clever enough but lacked magical power, and shouldn't meddle in worldly affairs. Alas, it seems my master was prescient back then. I watched the ghostly blood slowly move upwards, almost reaching my neck. In a panic, I hurriedly tried to brush it away with my left hand. The moment my fingers touched the ghostly blood, it first scattered in all directions, then surged into my left hand. The sudden increase in speed of the ghostly blood climbed to the back of my left elbow and then slowed down. Alas, it seems I'm doomed.
Just as I was in despair, a voice suddenly came from behind me, "Don't speak, eat it." At that moment, I could only turn my neck, but I couldn't see his face; I only felt that the voice was very familiar. He put a pill-like object to my mouth, and without hesitation, I swallowed it.
He spoke again behind me, "It's very similar, really very similar."
"What?" The pill went in and immediately made my entire mouth feel numb. The numbness kept spreading outwards, so I couldn't hear what he was saying at all.
“I said you look a lot like my brother.” He slowly walked towards me.
"Ah? It's you, Li Xie." This guy was actually the policeman I met at noon.
“Yes, I was shocked when I saw you today,” he said.
"What is it?" My hands started to move again. This pill really works. Li Heng... "You look a lot like my brother, Li Zheng."
"Li Zheng!" Isn't that the senior brother who uncovered some of the truth back in 1989?
"Is he your brother?" I exclaimed.
"Huh? You know my brother?"
"Well... how should I put it? Anyway, I roughly know that he's there now, and I have a lot of questions to ask him."
"Haha, if I had arrived a moment later, you would have seen him." He laughed loudly, then his expression darkened.
"I'm sorry for dying."
"..."
"Why did you come here?" I wanted to break the awkward silence.
"Because I noticed the way you looked at Li Heng today, it seemed like you also noticed something was wrong with him. So I'm guessing that you know magic. If that's the case, then you must have sneaked into the Arts Building at night."
Oh, I see. Oh no, if Li Heng has also been afflicted by the blood curse, then we're in danger.
I hurriedly asked Li Xie, "Do you still have those pills? I need to save Li Heng'e." "Yes, I have two. Here, take them both." He took two more pills from his pocket. I took them and examined them carefully. Actually, these pills seemed quite ordinary, except they were a bit darker than regular pills.
"What is this?" I asked, a little curious.
“My brother’s ashes,” he said calmly.
Seeing Li Xie's gloomy expression, I knew I had stirred up painful memories for him. I was about to apologize when he waved his hand and said, "What did you see when you sneaked out of the Arts Building tonight?"
---Magpie Bridge Fairy
Reply [14]: "I first met Chen Penghai... He died horribly in the glass of the door. Before he died, his eyes were still staring straight at me, as if he wanted me to help him with something."
"Hmm, is he covered in blood?" Li Xie asked.
"Yes, how did you know?" I was increasingly convinced that Li Xie hadn't just been dragged into this by chance.
"Yes, it's the same as before. What else did you see?"
"Later, I was led to the dean's office by an unknown dark figure, only to find that the dean was actually, ugh... actually dismembering Ma Kexin."
"Yes, I'll tell you the rest. Then the dean said, 'Why won't you let me go?' and ran away. You were about to chase after him when you noticed a woman behind you. So you turned around to look at her, but you were wounded by her blood arrow, right?"
"Huh? That's right, you're absolutely right." I looked at him with suspicion, because he knew too much, as if it wasn't me but him who was investigating the liberal arts building.
"Haha, don't look at me like that. Is it because I feel like I'm actually there?"
"Huh?" I looked at Li Xie again. Although he saved me, all I knew so far was that he was a policeman, and nothing else.
He looked me over carefully and then said, "It really looks like you. I know you must have been sent back by my brother. Okay, I'll tell you everything I know."
He paused, then continued, "My brother, Li Zheng, was admitted to the Chinese Literature Department of Sun Yat-sen University in 1988. I can say that he is a very outstanding person and very popular with girls. But my brother never dated because he thought that all women in the world were superficial. However, his charm kept getting him into trouble. As soon as he entered university, several people fell in love with him. One of them was a woman named Shan Liang."
"What? Shan Liang?" I was surprised. It seemed that things were far more complicated than I had imagined.
He glanced at me, smiled, and continued, "Haha, you really are an extraordinary person, knowing more than I imagined. You must know Zhang Xue and Huang Hua now, right?"
I nodded without saying anything.
He stopped, suddenly looked up at the sky, and said, "If there were no love in the world, perhaps we would all live much easier lives." He paused, then turned to me and said, "Weren't you scared? I'm not really suited for relationships, and now I'm acting all sentimental. But my brother died because of love."
"That……"
He interrupted me and continued, "You might find this a bit boring, but I have to make it clear that Zhang Xue, Shan Liang, and Huang Jing are in the same dormitory, but they all fell in love with my brother at the same time. Because they were in the same class, my brother didn't avoid them like he would avoid other people. Later, after getting to know them better, he fell in love with Huang Jing."
"Huh? That's impossible," I said.
“Oh, why?” I had no choice but to tell Li Xie about the diary that Chen Penghai had seen in the library. He thought for a moment and confirmed that the diary was written by Li Zheng. “Because,” he said, “my brother never writes his feelings out, so in his writing, everyone is equal.”
"Okay, go on."
"But my brother has never loved anyone, so he doesn't know how to express it. Until one day, Zhang Xue disappeared."
"Yes, judging from his diary, Zhang Xue must have died from a blood curse."
"That's right. My brother and I both had what's called 'ghost eyes' since we were little, and we were also very interested in Taoist magic. So we often secretly discussed things like gods and ghosts."
From his letter to me, I could tell that he somewhat suspected Shan Liang was behind it, because his brother had realized that Shan Liang actually possessed magical powers.
"Then, a day later, even Huang Jing disappeared, so your brother began to suspect Shan Liang?"