Pesadilla - Capítulo 6
Of course, how exciting it would be if I could find out the truth before Zhou Ping went up the mountain!
This possibility cannot be ruled out, after all, there is another person on the mountain who has seen the "murderous painting" with his own eyes—Hu Junkai.
At that moment, he was unaware that the situation was spiraling out of control and becoming increasingly terrifying...
Luo Fei had just finished his call with Zhou Ping when he saw Shun He rushing over. The panicked look on his face told Luo Fei that something terrible must have happened again.
"You...you should go and take a look..." The little monk could barely speak.
"What's the panic?" Shun asked with a flat face. "What happened? Tell me slowly."
“That guest… he, he’s bleeding,” Shunhe said abruptly.
Bleeding? Luo Fei's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that Hu Junkai wasn't just sick, but also injured? There was no time to lose; he had to go and see what was going on immediately. He pointed to the small house behind him and instructed Shunping, "You're in charge here. Protect the scene; no one is allowed to enter." Then he waved to Shunhe, "You come with me to the guest room."
"Director Luo, I'll go too. If anything happens, I can call the abbot." Shunde volunteered.
Luo Fei hummed in agreement, then turned and walked towards the front yard.
Shunping grunted, as if he wanted to say something, but then swallowed his words. He watched Luo Fei and the other two leave, a hint of annoyance flashing in his eyes—since Luo Fei's appearance, his authority in the temple seemed to have diminished, and he was unwilling to become a weakling who let others control the situation.
Luo Fei walked very fast, and the two little monks almost had to jog to keep up with him.
"Where is the blood coming from?" Luo Fei asked Shunhe as they walked.
“Many places…eyes…mouth…and…and fingernails…” Shunhe was a little out of breath as she spoke, whether from fear or from walking too fast.
"What? Blood coming from the eyes?" Luo Fei stopped and turned around abruptly to stare at Shunhe, wondering if the little monk had misspoke. Shunde, standing to the side, also wore an incredulous expression.
Shunhe nodded: "You...you'll see when you go and see for yourselves."
As it turned out, Shunhe was right. When Luo Fei arrived at the guest room where Hu Junkai was staying, a terrifying scene unfolded before his eyes.
The patient lying in bed was now awake. Noticing someone enter the room, he turned his head with difficulty. As if he had been severely beaten, his eye sockets were swollen high, his eyeballs were bloodshot and completely red, and a thin trickle of blood was seeping from the corner of his eye.
Despite suffering terrible torture, Hu Junkai's eyes remained clear as he looked Luo Fei up and down, seemingly trying to guess the other's identity.
"I am the director of Nanmingshan Police Station." Luo Fei walked to the bedside, and Shunde immediately brought over a chair. The timid man kept his eyes to the side throughout the process, not daring to look at Hu Junkai's face.
Luo Fei sat down in the chair, Hu Junkai's face less than half a meter away from his. Apart from the eye sockets, other parts of the face were also red and swollen, and blood was seeping from the corners of the mouth and nostrils.
Even Luo Fei couldn't help but show a strange expression when faced with such a face.
Hu Junkai seemed to realize something. He raised his right hand and gently wiped the corner of his eye with his index finger, leaving bloodstains on his fingertip.
"I... am... bleeding..." he said weakly, his voice filled with fear and despair that sent chills down one's spine.
Just as Shunhe said, his fingernails were also bleeding.
Luo Fei's heart sank suddenly. He realized what this bleeding meant: it was a symptom of ruptured capillaries throughout the body. If not treated in time, the patient would die in a very short time.
"Quick, go outside and bring in some snow to wipe his body!" Luo Fei anxiously instructed the two young monks. Applying ice could slow down the internal bleeding, which might be the only emergency measure that could work in the current situation.
"No...no need, you...can't save me..." Hu Junkai grabbed Luo Fei's hand to stop him. Although he was on the verge of death, his grip was still very strong, and there must have been some strong emotion supporting him.
The two young monks stopped by the door, looking at Luo Fei hesitantly, unsure of whose advice to take.
"You're... a police officer?" Hu Junkai stared at Luo Fei with bloodshot eyes. "Why don't you hurry up and... ask me... ask me..."
Something? I...I'm about to die..."
Although unwilling to accept it, Luo Fei knew that Hu Junkai was telling the truth. In this desolate mountain with no medical facilities, such a fatal illness meant the patient's death was imminent. The ice packs were merely symbolic. Facing Hu Junkai, a key party in the case, it was truly meaningful to ask him a few crucial questions now. Of course, from a humanitarian perspective, abandoning any form of medical care for the patient was cold-blooded. But under the current circumstances, clarifying the truth and giving the victim justice was a way of giving the deceased some closure.
"No need to look for Xue anymore, just call your Abbot Kongjing here." Luo Fei waved to the two young monks, who seemed eager to leave and immediately ran off.
"You're going to...make me...make me die..." Hu Junkai mentioned his death, and a smile actually appeared on his lips, as if it were a relief for him.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you experiencing these symptoms?"
Hu Junkai's chest heaved, as if he could no longer suppress the hidden emotions.
“It was me…it was me who opened it…that sealed demon…I released it…it…it’s finally going to destroy me…” Hu Junkai said excitedly.
"What?"
"It was me... I opened it myself... I couldn't escape it, I couldn't possibly escape it..." The intense emotions even brought tears to Hu Junkai's eyes, the tears mixed with blood, making his face look even more terrifying.
"You mean that 'cursed painting'?"
Hu Junkai nodded weakly, took a deep breath, and seemed to be trying hard to control his emotions.
"What exactly is drawn on it?" This is the question Luo Fei is currently eager to know.
A brief silence fell over the room. Hu Junkai was panting, a hesitant expression on his face, as if the question was difficult to answer.
At this moment, Shunde hurriedly returned to the house with Kong Jing. Hu Junkai's thoughts were interrupted by the noise of them entering the house. He turned his head and his gaze fell on Shunde.
“Headless ghost…” He blinked hard at Shunde a few times, then suddenly uttered these three words slowly, while giving a strange smile.
Shunde was so frightened by his actions that his legs trembled, and he lost his balance and fell against the door. Kong Jing, seeing Hu Junkai's terrifying face, was also momentarily disoriented.
"What did you say?" Only Luo Fei remained clear-headed. "Are you talking about the content of the painting?"
After another moment of silence, Hu Junkai said in despair, "I can't see anymore."
Luo Fei was taken aback by his nonsensical words, then he realized something and waved his hand back and forth in front of Hu Junkai's eyes twice.
Hu Junkai didn't react at all; his pupils were dilated, and he had gone blind. No wonder he blinked at Shunde like that earlier; it meant his vision had started to blur from that moment on.
Luo Fei knew this was a harbinger of death for Hu Junkai; soon, his consciousness would also fade, yet he hadn't gotten any useful clues from him.
Luo Fei decided not to dwell on the matter and changed the subject: "How did Chen Jian fall off the cliff?"
"I...I didn't see it, I...I don't know either." Hu Junkai opened his lifeless eyes wide in a daze, trying to concentrate the last bit of his clear thinking to answer Luo Fei's question.
Hu Junkai's answer matched Zhang Bin's description, but Luo Fei was still somewhat disappointed with the answer.
What were you doing outside at the time?
"Look...at the painting."
"Is it that 'cursed painting'?"
"yes."
Where is this painting now?
"I fell off the cliff with Chen Jian..." Hu Junkai's voice grew weaker and weaker.
He fell off a cliff? Luo Fei frowned; things always seemed to present him with the worst possible outcome.
"What exactly is depicted in the painting?" Luo Fei was unwilling to give up, and he made one last effort.
However, Hu Junkai was no longer able to answer; he had fallen into a coma.
"Director Luo, what should we do?" Kong Jing muttered with a worried expression as she saw the scene, "What if another one dies..."
"What happened here?" Shunping shouted as he walked in from outside, interrupting Kong Jing. Seeing Hu Junkai's condition, he paused for a moment, then said, "He's like this, what are you doing keeping him on the mountain? Get him to the hospital quickly!"
Kong Jing shook her head: "With such heavy snow, even healthy people have difficulty going down the mountain. It's simply impossible to bring a patient like this."
"We can't let someone die in the temple!"
Shunping's words clearly implied a desire to shirk responsibility. Luo Fei frowned in displeasure and said, "Why are you here too? Who's going to watch over the scene at Kongwang's place?"
“I sent Shunhe.” Shunping’s tone was not weak. “Something happened here, so I had to come and deal with it.”
Luo Fei sensed the provocation in Shunping's words. He frowned and looked at the other party with sharp eyes.
Shunping and Luo Fei exchanged glances, but their words offered a way out for both of them: "Don't worry. I gave the order not to let anyone in, so there's no way anyone will go in!"
Under the current circumstances, Luo Fei didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble. He nodded and took the initiative to change the subject: "Yesterday, Hu Junkai went down the mountain with you to carry out the rescue, right? But you got separated later?"
"I'd like to ask that too. We left the temple together, and he disappeared from sight after walking for a short while. When did he return? How could he have changed like this?"
“He really didn’t go very far.” Shunde confirmed Shunping’s statement. “He came back around 3 a.m. When I saw him, he was resting on a mountain path not far from the temple gate. He said he got separated from the group as soon as he set off, and then got lost. It took him a long time to find his way back. He looked exhausted at the time. I helped him into the temple, and soon after he started to have a fever. I don’t know how he ended up like this. It was Shunhe who took care of him.”
Under everyone's gaze, Shunhe appeared somewhat nervous and stammered, "I...I don't know what happened. I just saw...his face getting redder and redder, and a little swollen. I thought he had a fever, but then...blood started flowing from his eyes. I was terrified and ran out immediately..."
After listening to everyone's stories, Luo Fei pondered for a moment, then took out his walkie-talkie and began calling Zhou Ping.
"Commander Luo, this is Zhou Ping, please speak." The walkie-talkie was filled with the sound of heavy wind and snow.
When will the backup arrive?
"We can't go up for now; we've already started heading back."
"What?"
"The wind is strong and the snow is too deep, so people cannot go up the mountain."
"Hu Junkai is critically ill, and the situation on the mountain is very complicated." Luo Fei's tone was urgent. "No matter what method we use, reinforcements must come up immediately!"
After a moment of silence, Zhou Ping's helpless voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Director Luo, unless we can get a helicopter, there's no way we can get up the mountain before the snow stops."
Having said that, Luo Fei knew very well that Zhou Ping must have done his best. He regained his composure: "Okay, I understand. Keep in touch."
Luo Fei turned off the walkie-talkie, and the expectation in everyone's eyes turned to disappointment. They understood that, at least for a while, no one would come to help them. Furthermore, the fact that those at the foot of the mountain couldn't get up meant that those at the top couldn't get down either. In reality, everyone was trapped in this isolated temple by the heavy snow, and strange and bizarre things were happening there.
If they knew that what had happened was just the beginning, their expressions would probably be even more unpleasant.
The crowd remained silent, having lost any possibility of providing assistance. They could only watch helplessly as Hu Junkai, lying on his sickbed, slowly walked towards death.
Half an hour later, the suffocating wait finally came to an end: Hu Junkai stopped breathing. At this time, his face was swollen beyond recognition, and blood was seeping from all seven orifices.
Luo Fei was furious. As a police officer, a life had vanished right before his eyes. He was not only helpless, but he couldn't even figure out the cause of death.
Luo Fei felt the deceased's pulse and breath with his hands. His face was so close to the deceased's, and his focused expression showed that he was unwilling to accept such a defeat.
Suddenly, Luo Fei's eyebrows twitched slightly. He seemed to have made a discovery, and then he made a very strange move.
He brought his nose close to the deceased's body and sniffed hard.
Everyone present was stunned, and an unnamed fear rose in their hearts.
Kong Jing stammered, "Director Luo... what are you doing...?"
Luo Fei didn't answer. He closed his eyes to sharpen his sense of smell. A faint scent was invading his nostrils, intensely assaulting his thoughts like a mystery. The scent was like some strange medicinal herb, or perhaps cheap tobacco, exactly the same scent he had smelled on Kong Wang's corpse not long ago.
A terrifying atmosphere froze the hut, and a brief silence fell. Kong Jing looked at Luo Fei with fear and unease, Shun Ping frowned in confusion, and the two young monks instinctively shrank towards the door. Although they were afraid, their gazes seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force, unable to look away.
Finally, Luo Fei left the body of the deceased. He opened his eyes, looked at Kong Jing, and then beckoned: "Come and smell it too."
"What?" Kong Jing looked troubled, finding it hard to accept this absurd request.
"Come here and smell it, then tell me if you know what this smells like."
Luo Fei's tone remained calm, yet it carried an undeniable air of authority. Kong Jing hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself and stepped forward, mimicking Luo Fei's earlier actions by sniffing Hu Junkai's corpse. The strange scent immediately seeped into his brain, finding the corresponding memories within.