pozo profundo

Capítulo 14

"Sweetie, rest for a bit. I promise you'll still be able to see me when you wake up, okay?" Fang Lei comforted me, tucking my hand under the covers like she was coaxing a child. But I was utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally; I needed rest. In a daze, I drifted off to sleep again.

※※※

When I woke up again, I found that I was completely fine. My headache was gone, and I was full of energy. Li Yang thought that I must have taken some kind of magic pill behind their backs. He said that good things should be shared, and he searched me thoroughly. It wasn't until Fang Lei intervened that I was spared the misfortune of being stripped naked by Li Yang to verify my true identity. In my heart, I actually hoped that Li Yang would continue to act up. Of course, I don't have any exhibitionist tendencies.

Fang Lei told me I had slept for three days and three nights straight, and that she had also gone to Heart Lake, where nothing had happened. The next piece of news she brought me shocked me even more: my craniotomy had successfully reconstructed the skull's shape. Based on this clue, Chen Kai and his team quickly determined that the deceased was a migrant worker named Zhao Lan, and her live-in boyfriend, Gong Rong, was the prime suspect. Just before Fang Lei arrived, Gong Rong had completely broken down under Chen Kai and his team's powerful psychological tactics, confessing to the murder and dismemberment.

"He confessed that in order to avoid suspicion, he scattered the remains in various places around Heart Lake in batches, because he knew that Heart Lake was a place that everyone was very wary of, and usually no one would go there, so they would not notice any remains." Fang Lei poured me a glass of water.

"So it seems this case is independent and has nothing to do with the previous murders at Xinhu?" Li Yang asked.

"It seems so," Fang Lei replied.

"Let's put the case aside for now. I'd like to hear your explanation first," Li Hai said, looking at me.

"Explain? Explain what?" The slow-witted Li Yang looked at his brother, then at me, with a completely bewildered expression.

"Of course, we need to explain why he suddenly felt something on his wrist, and why his condition suddenly worsened!" Li Hai glared at Li Yang and said.

I sighed and put down the water I had brought to my lips. What needs to be said can never be hidden, especially from Li Hai, who is far more shrewd than Li Yang. Besides, I never intended to hide anything. Just like Li Yang said, good things should be shared, even if these things aren't exactly good things.

Book One: Tales of the Three Ghosts of the City, Chapter Thirty-Two: Tales of the Three Ghosts of the City

Book One: Tales of the Three Ghosts of the City, Chapter Thirty-Two: Tales of the Three Ghosts of the City

As I recounted my experiences over the past few days—from being taken to a mysterious old house by a mysterious woman after having a French meal with Fang Lei, to falling from the rooftop of the house at No. 77 Guhuai Street—Li Yang and the others' expressions naturally changed dramatically, from surprise to worry, and from worry to fear. Fang Lei, in particular, grew increasingly terrified as she listened, her palms sweating as she gripped my hand. Li Yang, on the other hand, gaped so wide his mouth could have easily swallowed an egg.

"Judging from what you've said, these places may have become ghostly spaces," Li Hai said first after hearing my explanation.

"The Netherworld? What's that?" I asked.

"The Netherworld is a spatial distortion that occurs when several places with heavy resentment gather a certain amount of energy, resulting in several places being connected in space. However, ordinary people cannot pass through it; only ghosts or people with magical powers can enter," Fang Lei explained from the side.

"But why these specific places?" I continued, displaying my inquisitive nature.

“This might be related to the three ghost stories of this city!” Li Yang, who had been silent until now, interjected.

"Which three?" I pressed.

"Come on, you've been here for so many years, don't you understand?" Li Yang gave me a look as if I'd seen a monster.

"Oh dear, I'm not a gossip, how would I know!" I immediately retorted.

Shaking his head helplessly, Li Yang said, "There are three places in this city that people are very wary of, known as the Three Ghostly Tales of the City: the Ghostly Woman of Heart Lake, the Deadly Ancient House, and the Avenue of Death. The Ghostly Woman of Heart Lake refers to Heart Lake, the Deadly Ancient House refers to No. 77, Ancient Locust Street, and the Avenue of Death refers to a section of the outer ring road between Anmin Avenue and Qianlong Highway, which is the place where we had the car accident."

"Wait a minute, none of these three places seem to be related to this hospital!" Cao Ying immediately asked a question that the other three of us also wanted to ask.

"So I just said maybe!" Li Yang shrugged and said.

The Ghostly Woman of Heart Lake, the Deadly Ancient House, and the Avenue of Death—ha, I chuckled to myself. I've been to all three places; what an honor!

"The ghost woman of the central lake in these three ghost stories appeared the latest, starting after the Cultural Revolution. The other two are even earlier, with legends dating back to before liberation," Li Yang added.

“You’ve got a loophole! The Avenue of Death refers to the outer ring road. This highway seems to have only been built in the last few years. It didn’t even exist before I went to America!” Cao Ying seemed very keen on finding fault with Li Yang.

Li Yang immediately gave her a look that said, "You're so ignorant," and said, "Even before the road was repaired, there were rumors that it was haunted. It's said that while other sections of the road were being built, this one was left unfinished because workers kept having accidents and dying on that road. Later, a wandering old monk came and said that the resentment here was too strong, so he performed a ritual. He even renamed two roads next to this section of the road. Do you know why they're called Anmin and Qianlong? Anmin means 'peaceful sleep,' meaning to let those wronged ghosts rest in peace. The other one is called Qianlong because this road is located to the west of Death Avenue, and the west is associated with yin, so a dragon is needed to suppress the evil energy. The streetlights on Qianlong Avenue are all inlaid with dragons. Do you think the city government has too much money to spend?!"

After Li Yang finished speaking, we all looked at each other. It seems that there are quite a few messy things in this city, not to mention this strange hospital. Why is there no legend about it?

“According to Li Yang, it seems the murder case at Xinhu Lake isn’t just about the ghost woman; there must be secrets from two other places involved. And in my opinion, this hospital is also strange. But why is everything alright here? Could it really have started acting strangely after you came in?” Li Hai asked, pointing at me.

“How would I know? But I always feel that this hospital is the strangest of all the strange things. Hey, when was this hospital built?” I turned to ask Li Yang.

Li Yang scratched his head and said, "Now that you ask, I remember. This hospital has a long history! I heard that it was a private hospital before liberation, but a fire destroyed it. It was only after liberation that it was rebuilt as a hospital, and it was recently renovated."

"A big fire?" I suddenly remembered the ghost covered in bandages and the smell of burning. Could it be that this ghost was the person who was burned to death in the hospital back then?

"Do you know who died in that fire?" I asked.

“I don’t know, my dad wasn’t even born yet!” Li Yang shook his head, but he immediately pointed to the door and said, “Maybe you can ask Dr. Yang.”

I looked towards the doorway and saw an elderly man with gray hair and a kind face. He smiled and walked into the room, asking, "What do you want to ask me? Is it your illness? Don't worry, you're fine now. You're tougher than a cockroach! Just a few days ago you were half-dead, and now you're so energetic!"

Haha, your analogy is so vivid! I chuckled a few times and asked, "I heard this hospital was burned down before Liberation. I just want to know if anyone died there?"

Dr. Yang turned his head and looked at me without saying a word. After a long while, he said, "You should focus on getting better. What's the point of asking this?"

It seemed there was more to the story, so I pressed on: "Oh, we were just curious!"

"Yes, yes! I'm so curious, Doctor, please tell us!" Fang Lei asked Dr. Yang almost coquettishly, and once again, the power of beauty proved invincible, appealing to everyone regardless of age or gender. Dr. Yang smiled and said, "Alright, I'll tell you then, it's been so many years anyway. A lot of people died in that fire, but they were all people with serious illnesses who were bound to die sooner or later. It's just a pity that the hospital director was also burned to death. I heard he rushed into the fire to try and save his seriously ill daughter, but he didn't expect to be burned to death himself instead. What a pity!"

Dr. Yang's words immediately reminded us of the girl named Lin Yiyi. I swallowed hard and asked, "Do you know what the dean's last name is?"

"What's your surname? It's the same as yours, Lin!"

With a loud bang, I felt a dizzying sensation as the world spun around me. The bandaged ghost and the little girl were most likely the headmaster and his daughter who had been burned to death.

As soon as the doctor left, Li Hai immediately said, "It seems that you ran into the hospital director and his daughter. But why did they only show up after so many years?"

"Anyway, as long as it's not because of me, it's fine." I sighed, realizing that I've really been having a run of bad luck lately. The ghost smiled at me!

"I don't care if it's a ghost or what, we can't just sit here! We need to get moving!" Li Yang patted me, as if to encourage me.

"Action? How do we take action?" Cao Ying asked.

“Of course, we should start by investigating the existing clues!” Li Yang paused and said, “I’m being discharged from the hospital tomorrow, and I’m going to investigate the Kunqu Opera Peony Pavilion.”

Looking at Li Yang's resolute face, I knew nothing could stop his determination to investigate the truth, regardless of the danger. I thought about myself, wondering if I could persevere, if I could hold on until the truth was revealed.

Book One: Tales of Three Ghosts in the City, Chapter Thirty-Three: A Glimmer of Hope After Darkness

Book One: Tales of Three Ghosts in the City, Chapter Thirty-Three: A Glimmer of Hope After Darkness

I don't know what happened, there shouldn't be this much rain this time of year, but for two days in a row, it's been pouring down on and off, shrouding the city in a misty haze. I looked out the window at the heavy rain, the water blurring the glass so I couldn't see clearly. I sighed and buried my head in the yellowed old newspapers again; even after all these years, the smell of ink on the paper was still so strong.

This was the second day that Li Yang, Cao Ying, and I had spent at the library. After my strong protests, and because they were already worried about leaving me alone in that strange hospital any longer, Fang Lei and the others finally discharged me. Then, under the pretext of recuperating at home, I asked Chen Kai for a week's leave. Unexpectedly, Li Yang dragged me here. The weather outside was gloomy, but the library was brightly lit. The spacious library was nearly empty; occasionally, you could only see people moving through the gaps between the tall bookshelves, their footsteps soft and fleeting, as if we were in a giant maze.

Li Yang sat opposite me, but Cao Ying was nowhere to be seen. Looking at the mountain of old newspapers beside me, I couldn't help but sigh. It turns out so much of the past can be recorded, yet true history is often only mentioned in fragments, or even long forgotten by time. I unfolded another newspaper, trying to find the words "The Peony Pavilion" from the Kunqu Opera. If everything was truly as the old man said, and this play had once been performed in this city, then there would surely be traceable records. But the problem is, until now, we haven't found any reports about this play.

"Are you sure it's not that old man trying to fool you?" I asked Li Yang softly.

"He won't benefit from lying to us!" Li Yang didn't even look up, continuing to work diligently.

There was no other way, so I had to give up the idea. The smell of ink made me a little dizzy, and my eyes were stinging from overuse. It seemed like I would be wasting my day. I had already examined these newspapers very carefully, even the notices in the margins.

"No need to investigate." Cao Ying appeared behind me without my noticing, which startled me.

"Why?" Li Yang looked up at Cao Ying and asked.

Cao Ying pulled up a chair and sat down next to me, saying, "Didn't you notice the date on this newspaper?" As she spoke, she pointed to the upper right corner of the newspaper.

"What do you mean?" Li Yang asked, looking at it.

"There are no newspapers from July 10th to July 13th, 1965!" Cao Ying pointed to the July 9th newspaper, then flipped it over and pointed to the date on the next newspaper: July 14th. Indeed, four newspapers were missing. If this newspaper was published daily, where did the other four go? And 1965 was exactly the year the old man mentioned the Kunqu Opera "The Peony Pavilion" was performed. It couldn't be such a coincidence that they were missing!

"You're really observant!" Li Yang praised.

“Now is not the time to praise me.” Cao Ying stood up. “If those four newspapers were borrowed from here, there should be a record. Let’s go ask!”

"Okay!" Li Yang and I agreed in unison, after all, sitting in a seat reading a newspaper all the time is not a pleasant task.

The newsroom clerk was a pretty young woman with long, smooth hair; she looked like she could be in a shampoo commercial. Li Yang's lecherous nature kicked in again; he stared intently at the young woman, practically drooling, severely damaging his image as a police officer. I secretly gave him a stomp on the foot and asked, "Excuse me, do you still have the lending records here?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" the manager asked.

“Oh, is that so?” Li Yang ruthlessly pushed me aside and said, “We wanted to check the newspapers from July 10th to 13th, 1965, but we couldn’t find them. I think they were probably borrowed by someone else, so we wanted to ask when they could be returned.”

"Oh, okay. Wait a moment, I'll check for you." The young lady smiled gently and lowered her head to check the computer. Li Yang, meanwhile, was admiring the beautiful woman working diligently with a look of pure delight.

"Are all your friends like this?" Cao Ying asked softly beside me.

"He's an exception!" I hurriedly explained, not wanting the beautiful woman to think I was in cahoots with Li Yang. But Cao Ying suddenly laughed, her face full of ambiguity, as if to say, "You're pretty much the same." Oh no, it seems I've made things worse by explaining! Looking at Li Yang's pathetic state, I had an urge to stomp on his face.

"I'm so sorry," the building manager said apologetically, "I'm afraid the newspaper you're looking for won't be here yet."

"Oh, why?" I asked hastily.

"Because they have been loaned out for almost thirty years and have never been returned."

"Huh? What?" Li Yang and I both shouted at the same time. The only clue, just like that, died?

The librarian frowned, clearly displeased with our loud noise. Cao Ying quickly stepped forward and said, "How can we know who borrowed it?"

"That's probably difficult. Our library is newly built, and some of the original materials and lending information are still in the old library!" the librarian replied.

“Then…” Cao Ying thought for a moment and said, “If we go to the old library, is it possible to find out who the borrower is?”

"I can't guarantee that, but how about this, I'll call and ask for you!" The manager said before walking into a small room.

After a while, the librarian came out and said to us, "I just asked, and the person who borrowed it is named Gu Zhaodi. I don't know anything else."

Gu Zhaodi? That name sounds familiar. I glanced at Cao Ying and suddenly realized—wasn't she the fourth victim in the Xinhu murder case? Was this just a coincidence, or was there more to the story? If there really was more to the story, wouldn't it further prove that the Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion," which had once been performed in this city, was closely connected to the Xinhu murder case? We were gradually finding a way to unravel the mystery. That was a good thing, but conversely, if she really did borrow it, then there was definitely no way she could check it again. She'd been dead for so many years; the things she borrowed must have disappeared somewhere!

"How about we look for Gu Zhaodi's old address? Maybe we can find something there?" Cao Ying asked for our opinion.

“Okay, maybe we’ll find some clues.” Li Yang nodded in agreement.

I looked around, thought for a moment, and said, "How about this, you guys go check her address, and I'll keep looking around here. Maybe we can find out something else."

"Alright then! Be careful yourself." After saying that, Li Yang told me to be careful and then pulled Cao Ying away.

※※※

This library is truly enormous. I leaned against a bookshelf, casually flipping through a book. The vast library felt like I was the only one there. It was unusually quiet; the only sound was the rustling of my pages. Some books on the shelves were new, while others were quite old, probably moved from an older library. I put the book I was holding back. Now I was in the drama section, hoping to find some books about the Kunqu Opera *The Peony Pavilion*—maybe they would be helpful.

I glanced at my watch; it was already 5:45 PM. I figured I'd better borrow a few to take home. Looking up at all those books, I was suddenly at a loss for which to choose. "Never mind," I thought, "I'll just grab a few at random." Without much thought, I simply took a few books from the shelf—they were all about Kunqu Opera anyway. So, carrying this huge pile of books, I headed to the checkout counter.

※※※

When I got home that evening, my older sister, Lin Yao, wasn't there again. What's wrong with her? Her brother is in the hospital and she doesn't even come to visit! I angrily threw all the books I was holding onto the bed.

With a clatter, several books fell from the bed to the floor. "Damn it," I cursed, crouching down. One of the fallen books was quite old; perhaps to protect it from damage, it was wrapped in kraft paper, but due to its age, the edges were torn, as if it were about to fall off. I picked it up and tossed it back onto the bed. Clapping my hands, I was about to turn and go eat dinner when I suddenly noticed something strange—a yellowed piece of paper peeking out from the book's wrapping. Perhaps my clumsy handling had torn the wrapping, revealing what was inside.

Driven by curiosity, I immediately forgot about eating and pulled the piece of paper out of the book cover. To see if there was anything else, I completely removed the book cover from the book, but there was nothing inside. Holding the paper up to my eyes, lines of neat handwriting immediately came into view.

Book One: Tales of Three Ghosts in the City, Chapter Thirty-Four: Clues on the Paper

Book One: Tales of Three Ghosts in the City, Chapter Thirty-Four: Clues on the Paper