Les yeux d'Asura

Chapitre 27

"It must be a miscount, just ignore it."

"No, the stairs won't just be missing a step for no reason. You come back with me, and we'll start counting from the bottom again."

I was furious and really wanted to slap him. But I didn't. The stairs were so dark and there wasn't a soul in sight. Out of a sense of duty as a friend, I followed Anzi back.

"9, 10, 11..." As Anzi and I counted down to the last step, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, and my scalp tingled. The stairs! There really was one less step than usual; it had become 11 steps!

"Zhigang, you..." Before Anzi could finish speaking, I guessed that he was going to ask me to go back with him and start counting the stairs from the beginning.

In the darkness, I couldn't see Anzi's expression. But I suddenly thought of the corpses in the autopsy room.

"No, no way! I'm not going! You go by yourself!" I felt my legs starting to cramp.

I can't explain why I was so scared at the time. I just felt a huge fear fill my heart. "Don't expect me to go count these damn stairs with you again!" I left Anzi and ran downstairs as fast as I could.

Lying on my bed in the dorm, I was panting heavily. I realized I couldn't lie down or sit still at all. So I jumped up and paced back and forth on the floor. None of my roommates had returned, so I turned on all the lights.

It felt like an eternity before someone finally returned. So I immediately grabbed them and, with flashlights in hand, went to the lecture hall to find Anzi.

We searched everywhere we could think of, but we couldn't find Anzi—neither the school staff nor the police could find him. —Anzi has disappeared.

Three years after Anzi's disappearance, the medical school began expansion. When massive excavators demolished the building with the lecture hall, amidst the rubble of the fourth-floor staircase...

People discovered a pile of bones. Among the bones was a Mao Zedong badge.

I know, that's Anzi. Because I heard that if someone finds a step is missing when going upstairs, they will go and replace that step.

Even now, I still don't dare to count the stairs.

---Bifengke

Reply [157]: I'll look into it when I have time.

---SaGill loves Twins

Reply [158]: The woman in the photo

After dinner, I waited for Ping in front of the dormitory building as agreed.

We've made plans to go on an adventure tonight. Our destination is that little building at the southernmost end of campus. We all call it the haunted building.

That so-called haunted building used to be a girls' dormitory. The legends surrounding it, passed down from generation to generation by students, are varied and numerous. The most widespread one tells of a couple deeply in love during the Cultural Revolution. However, the man, for his own "advancement," deliberately denounced some of his lover's "politically reactionary" remarks. Unable to bear this, the woman jumped from the top floor of the building after a public denunciation meeting. It's said that the female ghost lingers on campus, seemingly unwilling to leave, waiting for her lover to come out and demand an explanation. While the legend is just that—a legend—it has names, dates, and places, making it sound quite plausible. However, during our year of study here, we didn't encounter anything strange. We didn't even experience the suicides that inevitably occur in universities, caused by romantic relationships or academic pressure. To us, that so-called haunted building was just a dilapidated, sealed-off, and locked old building. And it wasn't the only abandoned old building on campus.

This year, universities began expanding enrollment, resulting in an increase of almost 40% in the student body. My university recruits students nationwide, from all over the country. Even after sending all the local students home, there still weren't enough dorm rooms. With almost every available vacant room in use, the school and dormitory management started targeting the "haunted building." Yesterday, I ran into some boys from my class, and they told me that the locks and seals on the building had been removed, and people had already started cleaning inside. The freshmen are currently undergoing military training at a military camp in the suburbs for about two weeks; they'll move in when they return.

The fourth brother lowered his voice and said to me, "Girl, we brothers went exploring the haunted building last night!" His tone couldn't hide his pride and excitement. "The haunted building isn't locked at night, and there's no one guarding it."

"Oh?" I was thrilled too. "What's inside? Tell me quickly, what did you see?"

He feigned mystery, saying, "I won't tell you. Go see for yourself if you want to know. Dare?"

"What's there to be afraid of?" I said without hesitation, "I'll go!"

“Don’t just talk the talk,” the fourth brother said. “Bring back some souvenirs; there are still a lot of things inside that haven’t been cleared out.”

“A piece of cake!” I retorted with the phrase I had just learned in English class.

I really wanted to go. I'm a very curious and adventurous person, always looking for excitement in the mundane. I immediately went to ask my friend Ping to go explore the haunted building together that night. When Ping heard my idea, she turned pale with fright. "Are you crazy? I'm not going, and you shouldn't go either, it's too scary."

"What are you afraid of? I'm here," I encouraged her. Actually, heaven knows, I only dragged her along because I wanted someone to keep me company. After almost a whole day of pestering, Ping finally nodded reluctantly. She said, "It's better if I go, so I can keep an eye on you and prevent you from getting into trouble without thinking."

Ping came out a little later than the agreed time. "Did you bring a flashlight?" I asked.

"I brought it," she said. Ping was clearly scared; her voice was trembling slightly. Actually, I was a little nervous too, but mostly excited. I couldn't wait for tonight's adventure.

Ten minutes later, we stood in front of the haunted building. The old building looked even more eerie and terrifying in the night than during the day. The two doors opened and closed intermittently, but it was pitch black inside. Ping tugged at my sleeve and said, "Let's go back, I'm scared." I could feel her hands were icy cold even through my clothes.

Actually, looking at the dilapidated buildings under the moonlight, I felt a little scared. But giving up isn't in my nature. I said, "We're already here, how can we go back? If Lao Si and the others find out, they'll laugh at us to death. Come with me, it'll be alright."

I reached out and pushed open the half-closed door. The hinges creaked as if they hadn't been lubricated in a long time. I turned on my flashlight and shone it inside. The layout of the hallway was similar to our current girls' dormitory, confirming that this had indeed been a dormitory before. I walked ahead with the flashlight, Ping following behind me. The hallway was extremely quiet, except for the soft rustling of our footsteps.

Directly opposite the entrance was the water room, a row of faucets gleaming metallically in the pale moonlight. Occasionally, a drop of water would drip, the tiny sound sounding like the booming of cannons in that setting. The dormitory management must have come to repair the pipes during the day, I thought.

To the left of the water room was the toilet, and the sign above the door was askew. Toilets are the most common setting for ghost stories on campus, so of course we had to go in and check it out. I pulled Ping inside. The cramped space was almost pitch black. I scanned the area with my flashlight and saw that almost every corner was covered in cobwebs, and several brooms lay scattered haphazardly on the floor. Some of the toilet stalls were missing their doors, and those that did had only half of them missing, leaning precariously against the wall. Ping insisted on not going any further, so I had no choice but to back out.

We walked down the corridor to the right. There were rows of dormitory rooms. I pushed open the door to the first room, and the scene inside caught our eyes, which were already adjusting to the darkness. On either side of the room were two rows of bunk beds, two on the left and one on the right, with a storage locker next to them.

“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “They’ve been using the same cabinets for so many years. Look, it’s the same as the one in our dorm.” Ping clearly wasn’t interested in examining this. She said in a slightly trembling voice, “Let’s go. We’ve seen enough.”

I was about to voice my objection when a voice we heard next cut me off.

We heard footsteps! The footsteps were coming from the direction of the corridor. A soft rustling sound, but clearly audible in the silent night. It was definitely footsteps, and they were getting closer and closer to our room!

A chill ran down my spine, and I instinctively spun out my flashlight. Ping must have heard the sound too; her face was as pale as paper in the moonlight. We stood frozen, holding our breath, unsure what to do. The sound grew closer, but my limbs felt detached from my body; I couldn't move. The footsteps paused at the door, then slowly pushed it open. We watched helplessly as the door slid open. Little by little… In the instant the door was fully open, I don't know where the courage came from, but I suddenly switched on my flashlight and let out an uncontrollable scream.

I wasn't the only one who screamed; the guy who came in screamed even louder than me. In the dim beam of the flashlight, I saw a face equally filled with fear. It was Xiao Qing, a girl from my class!

"That's terrifying!" I said angrily, my heart pounding wildly as I recovered from the shock.

"Who scared whom to death?" Xiao Qing seemed quite frightened as well. "You guys came here too? Why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

Ping said, "Don't scare anyone, go back quickly." She muttered, "I shouldn't have come."

---Bifengke

Reply [159]: The woman in the photo---2

"Let's go back, let's go back," Xiaoqing said, turning and walking out. "It's just a dilapidated building, there's nothing there." Ping and I followed behind her. But when we got to the building entrance, I suddenly changed my mind. I said, "You guys go back first, I'll go upstairs and take another look."

Ping was clearly terrified by my sudden decision. She said, "Are you crazy? Don't go, please." Xiao Qing said, "I think she's out of her mind. Doesn't she care about the dirt? This building is full of dust. Ignore her, Ping, let's go. Let's go back to sleep."

Ping stood there hesitantly. To be honest, I didn't want her to leave; I was still a little scared to be left alone. But my strong will prevented me from saying anything to persuade her to stay. Besides, she was timid, and I didn't want to put her in a difficult position. Ping glanced at me; she knew me and knew it was impossible to convince me.

Finally, Ping sighed and said, "Xiao Qing, you should go back first."

"Two lunatics," Xiao Qing said before walking out of the building.

I was so glad Ping stayed with me. She's always been timid, and she usually avoids listening when we tell ghost stories. I was really touched that she sacrificed herself for friendship today, although I guess it might also be because she's afraid to walk back to the dorm alone at night. Xiao Qing lives in a different dorm building than us.

Ping was clearly reluctant to stay. As she went upstairs, she complained to me about why I hadn't made enough of a scene. I said, "Xiao Qing, a woman, dared to come. There are two of us, so we've already lost to her. She didn't even bring a flashlight."

“Besides, I promised Lao Si I’d take something back as a souvenir,” I said. Ping stopped abruptly. She looked at me pleadingly. “Don’t do that,” she said. “I heard that disturbing something that’s supposed to be haunted will disturb her.” Ping’s words sent a chill down my spine. She had just uttered that word so bluntly, and in that context, that word sent a shiver down my spine.

"Haha," I chuckled awkwardly, trying to cover it up. "I thought you were an atheist. Don't worry, there are no ghosts. It's all just people scaring themselves, like when they met Xiao Qing earlier." She sighed, and I took her hand and we continued upstairs. Both of our hands were ice-cold.

The building has four floors, and I dragged Ping to the top floor. Looking at Ping's pale face, I suddenly wanted to scare her. I said, "Do you know why we came here? I heard that the female ghost jumped off this floor." As soon as I finished speaking, I regretted my cruelty because I saw that Ping was almost scared to tears, and her eyes were filled with tears.

She grabbed my arms with both hands, pleading, "Let's go, I don't want to stay here for another minute. Let's go." Her pitiful look softened my heart. But since we'd already come this far, wouldn't it be a waste if we didn't get something in return?

I comforted her, saying, "Just go, just go."

I pointed to the dormitory room at the end of the corridor and said, "Go take a look in that room and then leave." That dormitory room was the one where the girl supposedly jumped off the building.

Ping clearly knew as well. She looked fearfully at the door of the room and said, "Let's not go in."

Of course I wouldn't listen to her, and I pushed open the door and went inside.

After the frightening encounter with Xiaoqing downstairs, I became a little braver. I shone my flashlight around. The layout of this room was almost identical to the one downstairs, except for the orientation. A messy, dirty four-poster bed, cabinets, and a table. There were a few old posters on the walls, their contents obscured by thick dust, revealing only their extreme age. I searched the room thoroughly, trying to figure out what to take with me.

Ping was clearly uncomfortable with everything in the room, standing there with a stern face. "Have you had enough? Let's go." She was obviously a little angry with me. "Okay, okay." I also felt that I had gone a bit too far. "This is pointless, let's go."

But just as I turned around, something under the bed caught my attention in the beam of my flashlight. "Look," I exclaimed, "what's that?"

It was a notebook, lying quietly in an inconspicuous corner under the bed by the window. Like someone who had discovered treasure, I jumped over and grabbed it. Ping pleaded, "Please don't touch anything in this room. I'm saying this one last time, please put it back." She reached out as if to snatch the notebook away and throw it away.

"What are you afraid of?" I let her pass, afraid she would try to snatch it again, and turned my back to her to start flipping through it. But to my great disappointment, it was a blank notebook, without a single word in it.

I felt frustrated, but then I thought, no matter what, taking this back to show Lao Si wouldn't be a wasted trip. Just then, a piece of paper floated out of the notebook like a butterfly. I grabbed it with lightning speed.

It was a photograph! My heart pounded with excitement at this unexpected discovery. "Ping, look! It's a photograph!" I exclaimed. On the back of the photograph were two lines of text, written in pen: "Respectfully presented to Huaiwu," followed by the signature: "Ling." Then came the year: 1969.

Huaiwu! Ling! Aren't these the names of the man and woman from the legend?! And the year, 1969, everything matches up! It's amazing! I'm overjoyed with my discovery. If I take this photo back to Lao Si and the others, they'll be incredibly impressed!

I carefully turned the photo over. It was a black and white photograph, carrying the distinctive atmosphere of that era. It was a group photo, with a man and a woman standing side by side.

I said, "Ping, look! This is a photo of the girl who jumped off the building and her boyfriend. It's definitely true!" I moved the flashlight closer so I could see the two people in the photo more clearly.

“Look, their clothes are so dowdy, but this guy looks quite dashing. This woman is pretty too. She…she…wait,” my tongue suddenly became uncontrollable, my hands began to tremble, and the flashlight beam flickered, “This woman, this woman, how come she looks…”

Ping's voice rang out behind me. In the empty room, her usually gentle voice became shrill and sinister. She said, "How come you look exactly like me, don't you?"

---Bifengke