Facultad de Humanidades

Capítulo 5

It turns out that the memorial tablet belonged to her daughter, but the photo... it seems he deliberately changed it.

It turns out that the reason I've been in a coma for the past two days is because he drugged my food...

It turns out I had already fallen into his carefully laid trap...

Suddenly, Lü Fei seemed to see something, abruptly raising her head, her eyes widening, her breathing rapid. Her gaze swept past Zhou Jun, and she said, "You...you're behind you...Mrs. Zhou is behind you...No, don't come any closer..."

Zhou Jun was taken aback. He hurriedly turned around.

There was nothing there. Looks like this woman's gone mad too. Good riddance!

Before Zhou Jun could even feel happy, he suddenly felt a force pull him into the room around the neck. The door was then closed.

Then he felt a chill on his neck, followed by a gush of warm liquid. It entered his mouth, smeared on his face, and seeped into his lungs. Foamy mucus continued to flow from his mouth, taking away all his body heat.

“You…” Zhou Jun pressed his hand against his neck and squeezed out a single word.

“I didn’t want to hurt you, you forced me to. If you hadn’t brought the police with you, I might have spared your life.” Lü Fei’s face was colder than the moonlight. “Do you know why I believe in ghosts? Because I’ve done something wrong…”

Moonlight streamed into the kitchen, falling on the snow-white refrigerator, inside which lay a sallow, frost-covered man's head and two partially dismembered thighs, frozen silently.

A stiff smile appeared on the cold face of the skull.

Finally, I have company.

Dark Cave

My right arm hurts so much!

However, I feel that it is not broken, but just stuck in the stone wall, which hinders blood circulation.

If I were to ask what I am doing now, or why I am stuck in the stone wall...

I really regret it so much...

At 1:40 PM, I joined the tour group and entered the crystal cave located in the back mountains of Qingcheng Mountain. The cool, clear air instantly calmed our bodies and minds, which were already feeling the heat. Everyone praised the wonders of nature. We felt the water droplets falling from the ceiling and admired the bizarre shapes of the stalactites. We touched and looked around here and there, and before we knew it, we had wandered deep into the cave.

As we rounded a bend, we discovered a closed-off area fenced off with padlocks. It was a side passage, small and dark, with no lighting. There was only a sign that read "Danger, Do Not Cross."

Usually, notice boards only pique people's curiosity. People are eager to see what's going on.

While the tour guide and cave management staff were turning a corner, another girl, three men, and I quietly left the group, crossed the iron lock, and began to explore with small, hesitant steps.

In the dim light of my phone, I could see a natural rock wall ahead, with a deep, unfathomable crevice between us. We didn't know how deep the cave was, and dared not venture forward.

We stuck our faces out, but all we could see was an even deeper, denser darkness in the crevice. We couldn't tell how deep it was; we couldn't see clearly at all. I'm sure even with a powerful flashlight, we couldn't reach its bottom.

Bone-chilling gusts of cold air rose from the cracks in the rocks, lashing against us. So cold!

Is it a direct route to the Earth's core? Or an underground river? Or perhaps the netherworld...?

I started to back down.

"Forget it, let's go outside. There's no lighting, be careful not to fall!" The girl named Xiaolan was the first to back down.

I've always considered myself daring, but I'm never reckless: "I also think we should get out. Knowing it's a crevice is enough. These kinds of crevices are common near mines in Shanxi. They're ruthless! The rock face is like it has barbs on both sides; once someone falls in, it's very difficult to pull them back up..."

“Since both ladies have spoken, let’s go out.” A fat man in the group took the lead and hurried back.

I chuckled to myself. I think the person I'm most afraid of is you, fat guy, walking in front of the girl.

We were only a few steps away from the fork in the tunnel, but the truth is: even if it's just one step, if you can't cross it, you can't cross it!

Suddenly, the earth shook violently. Everyone lost their footing.

"Earthquake!" Huang Lang, the first person in the group to react, shouted as he rushed forward and grabbed my hand and another girl's hand. "Quick, put your hands together! Crouch down, crouch down!"

The violent shaking made us feel like we'd lost our cerebellum, completely unable to find our center of gravity. We finally managed to pull the five of us together, but before we could even squat down, Xiaolan let out a scream—she'd rolled into a crevice in the rocks.

That was bad enough; we were already unsteady on our feet, and with that pull, we all fell to the ground. Then, like winnowing beans, we were all shaken into the crevice of the rock.

The earthquake lasted for at least two minutes before it stopped.

The cave echoed with the rumble of the earth, the screams of tourists, and perhaps even screams of agony. The streetlights in the main cave had gone out a minute ago. Darkness enveloped us like long, wet hair.

I fainted from shock.

I don't know what happened in between. When I woke up, I only felt an uncomfortable pressure on my chest, and my right arm was stuck tightly on a protruding rock. I tried to move my arm, and besides feeling the pain of my skin being rubbed, I also felt as if my radius bone had been deformed by the pressure, and it was very painful and numb. I could only move my head and left hand. My buttocks were also stuck tightly, and I could move my calves and feet slightly. I tried to move my calves, stepped on a protruding rock, and straightened my body upwards. This relieved my chest a little, and my buttocks were not so squeezed anymore.

"Hey...hey! Are you all alright?" Everything was pitch black; I had no vision, no sense of distance. I didn't know if I was injured, or how deep I had fallen.

The fear and discomfort in the darkness are oppressive. Only when there is absolutely no light do you realize that light is as soft as down, while darkness is as thick as chocolate sauce. I felt my breathing becoming increasingly erratic, and the icy air rising from my feet seemed to be freezing me solid. I felt as if someone was breathing on my cheeks, blowing ice cubes into my mouth. Every breath seemed to penetrate to my very bones.

"Miss Jiang, is that you...? Are you hurt?"

Just when I was completely at a loss, someone answered. I recognized the voice as Fatty's; he was above me.

"I'm okay. I'm just stuck and can't move." I wanted to ask Fatty if he was stuck too, but then I thought it would be a rhetorical question. "Did you fall down too? What about the others?"

"Yes. I was also stuck tight, but thankfully I wasn't injured. I'm just dizzy..."

Judging from the fat man's voice, he didn't seem to be in good condition either; he sounded weak and breathless. But what I found strange was that although his voice was very close to me, I couldn't touch his body when I waved my left hand. Moreover, it felt like he was right above me, no more than a meter away.

"Miss Jiang... are you alright? Why aren't you saying anything... are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's just that the cold air coming up from below is making me feel unwell. By the way, how is everyone else?"

"Xiaolan was the first to fall, right... I heard her scream. But after that scream, I haven't heard her make any other sound. She probably... probably fell to the bottom. Maybe she was knocked unconscious..." The fat man tried to sound optimistic.

Hearing him say that, I began to feel as if the cold wind rising from below carried the faint moans of a woman, but I couldn't quite make them out. It was cold and eerie, seeping into my body from my feet.

I thought of the other two brothers: "What about Huang Lang and Huang Qiang? Why haven't we heard anything from them?"

"Huang Qiang seems to have broken his leg. He talked to me for a while but then ran out of energy to speak. I just heard him whimpering... I haven't heard his voice for a while... He should be to your left. Huang Lang... either he didn't fall, or he fell even lower. I don't know."

A wave of sadness washed over me. These two brothers had always been the life of the party in the group. They were cheerful, generous, and caring towards the women. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel a lump in my throat and almost cried.

"Hey Fatty, how long have we been down here?"

"Um... I don't know either. I'm trapped between rocks, and I can only turn my head a little... My head is throbbing..."

As he spoke, I felt something stretched into a line and float onto my face. It was cool and wet. But when I rubbed it with my hand, it didn't seem like blood. Since it wasn't blood, it should be alright; at least he wasn't injured.

I don't know how long it's been since it fell, or what time it is now... How much longer until it's found by rescuers?

Time... Right, my phone should be in my left pocket. I tried feeling it with my hand, and sure enough, it was there.

I took it out and turned on the screen: 2008-5-12, 15:53. It had been about an hour since we fell.

Just as I expected, my phone had no signal at all. I quickly put my phone into offline mode to avoid wasting battery power by constantly searching for a signal.

Then I held up my phone and shone it upwards. That's when I realized why I couldn't touch the fat man's body even though he was talking so close to me.

He had fallen in upside down. His head was facing me, and his eyes and cheeks were badly swollen. His mouth couldn't close, and saliva dripped down, forming glistening threads in the air.

He seemed much relieved to see the light: "Miss Jiang, it's so good to see you."

"Me too." I finally understand how pitiful people living in darkness are, and how much they deserve care. "Fatty, are you alright? Your face looks really uncomfortable. Are you sure you're not hurt?"

"I don't think so, I didn't feel any bleeding. It's just that being hung upside down is uncomfortable..."

Yes, hanging upside down for an hour, the blood vessels in his head must be stretched to their limit.

I suddenly thought of the two Huang brothers. So I touched my phone.

Then I saw a pair of feet about three meters above the fat man. One shoe had fallen off, and the other was still hanging on the foot. I recognized the shoe; it belonged to Huang Lang. And above the feet, the rock face had closed in…

Tears welled up in my eyes uncontrollably. I tried to cover my mouth with my hand, but I was powerless to do so.

"Waaaaah...waaaah...Huang Lang...waaaah..."

The fat man probably guessed what I had seen and quickly comforted me: "Don't cry...please don't cry...crying at a time like this will consume a lot of energy. Miss Jiang, you must be strong and live until the rescue team arrives!"

I managed to stop crying, but tears kept streaming down my face. This was different from hearing the news of Xiaolan falling into the abyss; we always try to comfort ourselves with optimistic scenarios. Even without a definite outcome, there is hope.

No sooner had I waved my phone than I saw Fatty's face change drastically. I quickly shone the light back at our previous spot and looked in the direction of the light. Huang Qiang was indeed to my left, only two or three meters away. His eyes were tightly closed, his neck tilted to one side, as if he were sleeping peacefully. His glasses had slipped to the side, but he didn't bother to adjust them. He looked so peaceful, without any external injuries. Until I shone the light on his lower body… his abdomen had been pierced, forced open, torn, and rubbed raw by sharp rocks. Intestines, feces, and blood had flowed down the rock face for an unknown distance. Both his legs were broken, and his protruding intestines swayed gently in the wind. Because the wind was blowing upwards from underground, Fatty and I hadn't smelled any strong odor of blood.

"Waaah...ah...waaaah..." The fat man finally broke down, bursting into uncontrollable sobs. "Waaah...waaah..."

Upon hearing him cry, I couldn't hold back any longer and burst into loud sobs myself.

The fat man's tears, snot, and drool were all splattering onto my face, but I didn't care. It was as if the harder I cried, the more it would disappear; as if the harder I cried, the more time would turn back; as if the harder I cried, the dead could be brought back to life...

Little did they know that the more they cried out in anguish, the more they disturbed the restless souls who were unwilling to leave this world.

This bout of weeping ended with another tragedy—my phone fell as I wiped the fat man's drool off my face.

Just as I realized my hands were empty and knew I was in trouble, it was too late.

My gaze followed the phone downwards, and I saw it bouncing around on the rock face for a while before...poof...it disappeared.

The world was plunged into darkness once more. The cold wind seemed to grow biting.

Fear triumphed over grief.

The fat man gradually calmed down and swallowed hard: "When I looked at the phone when it fell, it seemed that the crevice wasn't very deep... and the sound of it hitting the ground seemed a little different."

I was already regretting my recklessness when I heard Fatty say that, and I immediately started analyzing our surroundings: "Yes, I noticed it too, it seems...right, that sound should be the sound of water! No wonder the air here is so cold, there must be an underground river down there!"

Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck me. And my idea was approved by the fat man.

“No wonder there was a faint whimpering sound in the air. I thought someone was groaning. And from what I observed, this crevice seems to be funnel-shaped. It widens as you go down.” The fat man pondered for a moment. “I think if we want to survive, we probably have to go down. My body is stuck, and my calves are particularly tightly blocked. I guess the rock wall above has closed up, right?”

I nodded. Suddenly remembering that he couldn't see, I said, "Yes... it's already closed up. What I saw just now was Huang Lang's legs being trapped between the closed sections."

The fat man sighed.

“Miss Jiang, why don’t you try moving down a bit… Although it might not be a way out, judging from the current situation, if we’re discovered in this side cave, we’ll have to wait for them to break through the rock wall to rescue us… The hope is too… too slim.”

The fat man made a lot of sense. But I suddenly realized that his voice was getting softer and softer.

"Fatty, are you alright? Why is your voice getting softer and softer..."

"I'm fine... I just feel dizzy and sleepy... I'm sleepy..."

I know what wanting to sleep means at times like this. I also know that once he falls asleep, there's absolutely no way I can wake him up!

"Fatty, you can't fall asleep! If you do, who's going to help me climb down? You don't want me, a girl, to go through all that danger alone, do you?"

"Hehe... I, Fatty Li, am not the kind of person who's afraid of trouble. I won't let a woman clear the way! It's just... it's just that I really can't move..."

At this moment, what I fear most is that he will lose confidence!

"By the way, Fatty, what are some good places to eat and have fun in Hunan? When we go out, you have to take your little sister to eat, drink, and have fun... I've always heard you say Hunan is great and has a lot of delicious food. I won't believe it until I've tried it!"

"Absolutely! If you go out, I'll cover all your expenses when Miss Jiang comes to my place! Hehe!"

"Hey Fatty, do you have a girlfriend?"