pozo profundo

Capítulo 45

“But don’t forget, the entire building is built against the mountain wall. There should actually be a mountain wall behind it.” Li Yang climbed out of the wardrobe and pushed it hard, but there was no reaction.

"Maybe the mechanism is inside." I crawled back into the wardrobe and started groping around. Soon, I found a small protrusion in the corner. After pressing it down hard, the wardrobe silently moved to the right.

The wardrobe slowly opened, and a biting gust of cold wind immediately blew in from the dark cave. A staircase leading downwards appeared before us. It was truly an ingenious design; perhaps it utilized some principle of mechanics, because the hidden door opened without a sound. Even more mysterious was the design of this secret passage, which was seamlessly integrated into the entire pavilion. I truly admire the architectural skills of the ancients; to be able to build a temple and a secret passage on such a cliff face.

I took a flashlight from my bag, and the three of us—I in front, Abao in the middle, and Li Yang at the rear—went down the stairs. Under the light, we noticed the stairs were covered in dust, but this also revealed two clear rows of footprints. One row went up, and the other down, presumably the marks left by someone walking up and down.

I shone my flashlight on the wall again; it was smooth and finely crafted, as if it had been carefully sculpted. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, a stone door blocked our path. A smiling face was carved on the door, identical to the one on the mask of the dead. Feeling a chill, I shrank back, glanced back at my two companions, and then pushed the door again—nothing moved.

"Are there any mechanisms nearby?" Li Yang asked.

"Let me see." I carefully examined the area around the door, but there was nothing there.

"Look, this mask has a right eyeball!" Abao suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the mask relief on the stone gate.

Ah! It really is there! Although the eyes on this mask are also empty, if you look closely, there's a slightly protruding eyeball in the right eye socket. I reached out and touched it, and found that the eyeball could actually move. Overjoyed, I pressed the eyeball down.

Silently, the stone door opened to our anticipation, revealing a stone chamber of about ten square meters. We stared in astonishment at Xizhen, who was also looking at us with equal surprise, speechless for a long time.

It felt like an eternity. Suddenly, Xi Zhen smiled at us with a hint of helplessness and said, "We were discovered so quickly!"

*******

Even after the four of us sat down around a stone table, I still felt like I was dreaming. The argument between Abao and Li Yang had such an unexpected and effective outcome.

"Do you want to take me back? I didn't kill those three people!" Xi Zhen had recovered from her surprise and panic and said calmly.

"How did you get here?" I had no intention of arresting her; I was more curious about how she ended up here.

“You came in from there!” Xi Zhen pointed to another door and said, “That door leads to the other side of this mountain. As for why I know about this secret room, I discovered it by accident when I was playing in a temple when I was a child.”

"You're quite frank!" Li Yang mocked her.

Xi Zhen smiled indifferently and said, "Because we have the same goal."

“We’re here to find the murderer who killed those three people. What’s your purpose?” Abao asked.

“Really? I’m also here to find the murderer, but not the murderer who killed those three people, but…” Xi Zhen paused, then said, “I’m here to find the murderer who killed my brother and sister-in-law back then.”

"So, you really are An Zhengxi!" I looked at her and asked.

“You guys know quite a lot!” Xi Zhen glanced at us with a smile.

"Why did it take you so many years to find the murderer? Do you think the murderer would wait all these years for you to catch him?" I asked curiously. If the goal was to find the real culprit, why did it take so long?

Xi Zhen—no, it should be An Zhengxi now—glanced at us and slowly began to speak: "Thirty years ago, on that night, I was waiting for Xu Li at the village entrance. We had agreed to elope together that night because my brothers disapproved of our marriage. But after waiting for a long time without seeing him, I couldn't bear it any longer and went to Xu Li's house to look for him, only to find that he wasn't home at all, and his clothes and everything else were gone. I thought he might have already gone to look for me, so I went back to the village entrance, but still, he wasn't there. I wanted to go home, but then I remembered that I had already left a letter saying I was leaving home, and by now my brothers should probably have seen it." I simply didn't have the courage to go back. Remembering Xu Li's repeated instructions to escape that very night, I figured he must have been held up by something, so I fled to the provincial capital alone that very night. But the next day, news came that our house had burned down, and the police had issued arrest warrants for Xu Li and me, identifying us as suspects. I was terrified. I genuinely believed Xu Li was responsible, because he had once said he would kill my brother. Torn between family and lover, I had no choice but to flee back to the city where Xu Li and I had planned our escape, hoping to wait for him there.

"Did you wait for it?" I asked.

An Zhengxi bit his lip, almost choking as he said, "No! No! I haven't seen him since then, even though I've been trying to find him for the past thirty years. But I waited for so many years and never saw him again. Seven years later, my heart died, and I accepted Zhu Zhenhua's marriage proposal. At first, I thought he was ashamed to see me because he killed my brothers, until I met someone."

"Is it Xu Li?" A Bao suddenly interjected, his eager expression clearly hoping that the lovers could be together forever.

“No!” An Zhengxi shook her head sadly and said, “I accidentally discovered that my husband, Zhu Zhenhua, was actually secretly doing business selling cultural relics to Japan, and the person who provided the cultural relics was An Yi.”

"An Yi?" I frowned. Who is this?

“He claims to be the illegitimate son of my younger brother, An Zhengbei,” An Zhengxi replied.

"Is this the person?" Li Yang suddenly pulled out the crime puzzle from his pocket and asked.

“Yes, how could you…” An Zhengxi looked at us in confusion.

“I’ve met him before,” I explained. “He showed me an exhibition of abstract paintings by An Ran.”

“An Ran?” An Zhengxi frowned at her two delicate eyebrows and said, “He is my elder brother An Zhengdong’s child!”

"So that means An Ran and An Yi are cousins!" Li Yang nodded and asked, "Are they both involved in tomb raiding? And what did An Yi tell you before you came back?"

“I don’t know if An Ran did it or not, but An Yi is definitely the leader of the An family’s tomb raiding group. As for what An Yi told me,” An Zhengxi took a breath and said, “he said that it wasn’t Xu Li who killed my brother and sister-in-law.”

"Your nanny told me you received a painting before you came, is that right?" I remembered the painting and asked her.

“Yes! It’s a painting that Xu Li painted more than thirty years ago. It depicts a woman at Longyi Temple.” An Zhengxi replied, “At the time, only Xu Li and I saw this painting.”

Is that so? I glanced at Li Yang, who was deep in thought. So, the identity of the mysterious man at the art exhibition is confirmed: An Yi, An Zhengbei's illegitimate son. Then, what about the masked man? Is he An Yi? Or Xu Li? If it's him, why hasn't he contacted An Zhengxi all these years? Also, if the painting An Zhengxi mentioned is the same as the one we found in the partition wall of the unfinished building, who painted it and hid it in the partition wall? According to the contractor's testimony, it should be An Ran, but didn't they say only she and Xu Li saw it? Could it be that the skeleton in the partition wall is Xu Li, and the painting is Xu Li's?

Lost in our own thoughts, we sat there silently, completely unaware that a pair of eyes were watching us intently through a corner of the stone wall.

After a long while, just as I was about to ask An Zhengxi another question, a mournful and desperate cry came from afar, seemingly from a temple...

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Eighteen: The Return

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Eighteen: The Return

I jumped up from my seat, the shrill scream still echoing in my ears. I frowned and looked around at the others, who were looking at me with strange eyes.

"What are you doing?" Li Yang asked.

"Didn't you hear that?" I pointed to the door and said, "I think I heard screams."

"No!" Abao shook his head and turned to ask An Zhengxi, "Did you hear that?"

"No!" An Zhengxi and Li Yang shook their heads at the same time.

The screams had stopped, but the despair and fear in them lingered in my mind. After thinking for a moment, I said to them, "Let's go up and take a look. An Zhengxi, I don't think you need to hide here anymore, right?"

"Alright!" An Zhengxi shrugged helplessly. Since his hiding place had already been exposed, there was no point in hiding here any longer. He might as well go up openly!

After saying that, everyone returned to my room from where they had come down. Just as I stepped out of the closet, I suddenly turned back and asked An Zhengxi, "Why did you put a dead person's mask on my desk?"

"The mask of the dead?" An Zhengxi feigned complete ignorance, saying, "I didn't let it go, did I?"

"What?" I stopped immediately and asked, "But there are clearly your footprints going up and down the stairs!"

“I did come up here!” An Zhengxi explained, “But just as I was about to come out of the closet, I heard someone open the door and come in. I was afraid of being discovered, so I went back into the secret room.”

Strange? Who put it there? An Zhengxi has already confessed a lot to us; there's really no reason for her to hide the fact that she put the mask of the dead there. She shouldn't be lying. Looking at Li Yang, who also looked puzzled, I had a bad feeling. I had a feeling that this temple was not simple.

Without further discussion about the dead man's mask, we hurried down to the second floor, where Old Man Gen was staying in the first room. I was genuinely worried that the scream I'd just heard might have come from him.

"Old Gentou, Old Gentou!" I pounded on the door, and after quite a while, the door finally opened slowly. The white mask of the dead, illuminated by the candlelight, exuded an eerie and demonic aura, shining brightly.

A deep voice came from beneath the dead man's mask, asking, "What is it?"

"Oh!" I blinked, a little stunned. Although I knew perfectly well that the mask revealed Old Gentou's ugly face, I still felt something was off. There was a strange feeling, something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Oh, is that so?" Seeing that I didn't speak, Li Yang pointed to An Zhengxi and said, "This is a friend we just met, An Zhengxi. Could you let her stay here too?"

"Okay." Old Gentou didn't even ask about An Zhengxi's background or where we met her before he readily agreed.

"We might have two more friends coming to stay overnight tomorrow, is that alright?" Li Yang asked on behalf of Fang Lei and Li Hai, who would be returning to join us tomorrow.

"Okay," Old Gentou replied somewhat impatiently, then slammed the door shut without saying goodbye, leaving us all embarrassed.

Reluctantly going upstairs, An Zhengxi decided to stay in the room closest to the toilet and was about to leave when Li Yang insisted on keeping him there.

“We still have some questions to ask!” Li Yang said, standing at the door of my room.

"I've said everything I need to say, what more do you want?" An Zhengxi said, a little angry.

"I think there are some things you haven't mentioned, such as the fact that your An family is a family of tomb raiders." I leaned in as well, determined to find out some things tonight no matter what.

“It’s true that we come from a family of tomb raiders, but because I’m a woman, my father never talked to me much about tomb raiding before he died.” An Zhengxi said, looking like he had nothing to say.

“Alright!” Li Yang compromised and asked, “Now I only want to know two things. One is who your family members are. The second is to tell us about this village and the temple.”

An Zhengxi glanced at us, knowing we wouldn't let it go if we didn't tell him tonight, so he straightened up and said, "There are four children in my family: my eldest brother An Zhengdong, my second brother An Zhengnan, and my fourth brother An Zhengbei. Only my eldest brother An Zhengdong was married and had children before the fire; his wife is Mu Wanrong, and his son is An Ran. As for An Yi, he claims to be my fourth brother An Zhengbei's illegitimate son, and he now completely controls the entire An family's tomb-raiding group. As for this village, I don't know much more than you do. My family only moved here when I was ten years old. As for why we moved to such a remote village, you can probably only ask my father and brothers, who are now gathered in the underworld."

"But no matter what, you must have heard of the Moonshadow Clan, right?" I asked.

“Of course I know that. It’s a branch of the Yi people that was wiped out more than ninety years ago. It’s said that it was done by bandits, but I once overheard my brothers talking about it, and it seems that it was done by the warlords at the time!” An Zhengxi replied.

"Warlords? Why did they wipe out the Moonshadow Clan?" Abao asked curiously.

“Because of the treasure! People are always greedy!” An Zhengxi smiled self-deprecatingly and said, “The Moonshadow Clan has another custom in their burial practices, which is to bury a large amount of gold and jewelry with them.”

"So, this is the treasure of the Moonshadow Clan's dead?" I subconsciously glanced at the window beside the bed. Could there really be gold inside the black hanging coffin?

"As for this temple, it seems to be a sacred place of worship for the Moonshadow Clan, and the goddess Senluo enshrined there is their idol," An Zhengxi said, glancing at the window by the bed.

“By the way, Old Gen once said that the goddess of the underworld gouged out her left eye to atone for her sins. What sins did she commit?” I asked, as images of the goddess’s face without her left eye and drops of blood on her fingers appeared before my eyes.

“She was atoning for the sin of loving the wrong person!” An Zhengxi sighed and said, “In the legend of the Moonshadow Clan, Senluo was a princess of the Moonshadow Clan. She fell in love with a man from another tribe, but unfortunately, that man only coveted the tribe's treasure. After using Senluo's feelings, he heartlessly abandoned her and later even brought a group of bandits to rob the treasure. As the princess of the tribe, Senluo resolutely broke with this man and led her people in a fight against him, finally driving them all away and even killing that despicable man with her own hands. Unfortunately, after killing her lover, Senluo was heartbroken and ashamed to face her people. Grief and pain made Senluo feel that she could no longer live in this world, so she gouged out her left eye in front of her people to show that she was blind before jumping off a cliff to her death. Later, her people worshipped her as the goddess Senluo to commemorate this fierce princess. And a rule also arose that any unfaithful woman can only be forgiven by gouging out her left eye.”

Gouging out one's left eye—is that a punishment only unfaithful women receive? But those three victims were clearly men; the murderer couldn't have gotten the genders wrong! So, why did he do it? To punish unfaithful men? No, that reason is too far-fetched. I shook my head, rejecting my previous thought.

"Alright, that's all I know. Goodnight everyone." An Zhengxi gave us a graceful bow before turning to leave.

"Wait a minute," Li Yang called out to her, and asked, "That An Yi, did you keep in touch with him afterward?"

"It's a pity, he's gone. I'm looking for him now!" An Zhengxi shook his head, pushed open the door, and left.

Only Li Yang, A Bao, and I were left standing there dumbfounded, staring at each other. After a long while, Li Yang said helplessly, "My mind is a complete mess right now. How about we wait until Li Hai and the others come back tomorrow to discuss this in detail? It's getting late, everyone should go back to your rooms and get some sleep!"

"Great! Great!" Upon hearing that he could finally sleep, Abao's eyes lit up immediately, and he was almost ready to shout "Hooray!"

Looking at Abao, who was acting like a child, I nodded, feeling a little amused. Everyone was indeed tired that day, so let's wait for Li Hai and the others to come back before talking about it. Tomorrow, I will be able to see Fang Lei, whom I haven't seen in a long time. Just thinking about it warmed my heart. It's been so long since I've seen her smile and smelled the fragrance of her hair. I wonder how she is doing.

After Li Yang and A Bao returned to their room, I lay in bed but couldn't fall asleep. My mind was filled with Fang Lei's image. There had been so many things going on lately that I barely had time to think about her. Now, thinking about it carefully, the feeling of longing really came over me like a tidal wave.

I sat up and opened the window beside my bed. The moonlight tonight was a dim, grayish light, making the black hanging coffin on the cliff appear even more indistinct, as if it were floating and moving. A slight drowsiness washed over me, and I blinked. The discomfort in my left eye almost appeared at the same time as the woman in white. I struggled to get a closer look at the woman floating above the coffin. Unfortunately, my brain gave me a sleep command at that moment, making every cell in my body drowsy, and the aching feeling made me feel weak all over…

In the dim light, I found myself walking in that secret passage, yet it didn't feel quite right. The surrounding scenery felt familiar yet strangely unfamiliar. I quickened my pace. There were no windows in the passage, but a strange, faint light emanated from it. Suddenly, the downward-reaching stairs straightened out, making it hard to breathe. Gradually, the stone door came into view. The relief of the dead man's mask was now slightly distorted, revealing a sinister, demonic smile.

Pressing my eyeballs, the stone door opened silently. Four figures stood in the room. The moment I entered, they all turned around at the same time. They were Zhang Yuqiang, Hu Rui, Jiang Tao, and a pretty young woman. Each of them had a bloody, mangled hole in their left eye, and bright red tears of blood were horribly glaring against their bluish-black faces.

"We are all offerings to the Goddess of the Underworld." The four men's low, chilling voices echoed in the secret chamber. I opened my mouth, but the sound was ripped from my body. The four men slowly extended their blackened tongues, and a red and white eye coldly stared at me from between their tongues.

"This must be a dream!" I reassured myself, shifting my body slightly backward. Suddenly, I bumped into a soft body. Before I could turn around, a delicate, snow-white hand reached out from behind me and gently pressed against my left eye.

"This is punishment for your infidelity!" Yin Xue whispered in my ear, and suddenly, sharp red fingernails sprouted from the tips of her fingers that were pressing against my left eye. For a moment, all I could see with my left eye was the blood-red fingernail tip, followed by a sharp, intense pain, as if it had been gouged into my brain. When I opened my eyes again, all I saw was sunlight filling the room and an unknown little bird perched on the windowsill.

Lying in bed, panting heavily, Yin Xue's words chilled me to the bone. Was I an unfaithful man? I shielded my eyes from the glaring sunlight, but my body felt no warmth whatsoever.

"Lin Xiao, are you up?" Li Yang's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "We're going to pick up Li Hai and Fang Lei."

I glanced at my watch and realized it was already past eight in the morning. There was no breakfast in sight! I struggled to get out of bed and called out to Li Yang outside the door, "I'm coming right now!"

Standing before the wardrobe, I hesitated, glancing inside. Should I go down into the secret passage and check? No, it was just a dream. Who was that young woman? Why did Yin Xue say that? Lost in thought, I put on my coat, opened the door, and there stood Li Yang, looking impatient. As soon as he saw me, he said, "You overslept today!" and threw something at me.

I caught it; it was two steamed buns. I gave Li Yang a grateful look and said, "I guess I didn't sleep well last night! Wait for me a moment, I'll be done washing up right away."

"Hurry up!" Li Yang called out from behind me. I waved and quickly walked towards the restroom.