Événements étranges dans la chambre 202

Chapitre 14

"No, I fell asleep after I got home."

"Oh, so you know that? Even though you're thin, it's quite difficult to support you."

"I'm so sorry, how did I end up looking so disheveled? Don't think I'm sick or anything, I'm perfectly healthy. This has never happened before, I really don't understand. Rose, why do I feel like a pendulum is swinging and time is stopping when I see you swaying back and forth, and then my eyelids start to move with you?"

Rose spread her hands at me: "I have no idea."

"Could you try again?"

"Whatever." She sat in her rocking chair and began to sway, just like last time in the Fairy Forest. Her face moved closer and further away from me, from clear to blurry, and then back to clear again; even her natural fragrance intensified and faded with her swaying. My eyelids were once again under her control; my vision shifted from bright to dim, and then back to bright, and in the space between the light and darkness were her eyes.

But my will is clear.

It was time. I had to say it. These two words were brewing in my heart, and finally, with vacant eyes, I whispered to Rose, "Fragrant, fragrant, fragrant."

Rose's eyes brightened; I could see something else in them. She was silent for a moment, then I heard her reply: "Listen—"

Half-asleep, I replied, "Listen to what?"

"Shh, here it comes again, listen—"

"I can only hear your voice." There was no other sound in the room. My vision was a little blurry, but my hearing was perfectly fine.

"Yes, not anymore. That person is gone."

"Who? Who went there?"

"Didn't you really hear that? It was the sound of slippers, listen—tap-tap-tap, the sound of footsteps through the mud. I heard it very clearly, how could you not hear such a clear sound?"

Good heavens, these words sound so familiar. They've been locked away in the depths of my memory for so many years, those painful memories. Yes, those are Xiangxiang's words, spoken that night by the pond, in the reeds, the night before she died.

How did Rose come out of her mouth?

She continued, "This afternoon I heard from the villagers here that many years ago, a female educated youth who came to the countryside to settle down drowned in this pond. They said that every night since then, the sound of slippers can be heard by the water, because that female educated youth drowned while wearing slippers."

What's going on? Has time really reversed? Is this not Rose's home, but a night in the reed marshes of northern Jiangsu when she was eighteen?

She continued, her voice growing softer and softer: "The country folk say that ordinary people can't hear it, and if someone does hear it, that person will die very soon."

I listened intently, my eyelids fluttering, but my ears heard everything clearly; I couldn't be mistaken. I was going crazy. I knew there was one more thing—

"Heh, I don't believe you. I was just kidding, but I really did hear the sound of slippers." Rose said the last sentence.

Then she stopped shaking.

My eyelids returned to normal, and I opened my eyes wide to look at her. Yes, it was Xiangxiang. She was Xiangxiang. Her eyes, her face, her scent, the words she spoke—everything about her was Xiangxiang.

"ROSE, what's your name?" He moved closer, his eyes fixed on her.

She pursed her lips and said softly, "My name is Xiangxiang."

"Please say it again." I was in some pain.

"Xiangxiang, my name is Xiangxiang."

I was trembling. I didn't know whether I should be happy or scared. All I knew was that Xiangxiang was dead. I had seen her body with my own eyes. She was definitely dead and had been cremated in that small town in northern Jiangsu. I couldn't understand it. I said painfully, "This is impossible."

“Nothing is impossible in this world.” She moved closer to me, her fragrance stimulating me. “I’m back. I swam out of that pond, I got ashore, I went home by myself, I got into university, I graduated, I got a job, and I met you again—the one I love.”

Hearing her last words, all my defenses crumbled, my heart broke. Yes, I admit it, she is Xiangxiang, she is definitely Xiangxiang, no one can impersonate her. My Xiangxiang, my Xiangxiang has come back to life, my Xiangxiang didn't die, she didn't die. Xiangxiang is Rose, Rose is Xiangxiang.

I began to believe her words that life can be eternal.

I believe in resurrection.

I've come to believe in the black hole of time.

Now, my Xiangxiang is right in front of me. She's close to me, she's with me, there's no one else. I've endured so much because I have a strong urge to have her. I used to think I'd never have her, but now I know I was wrong. I can still have her, possess her, right now.

Let this world collapse, leaving only me and her.

Xiangxiang, I'm here.

That night, she and I accomplished everything we were meant to accomplish.

She was very happy.

After everything was over, in the dim, soft light, I looked at her, and she looked at me. When my gaze fell on her smooth abdomen, I saw a faint scar, pale red, like a straight line embedded in her white skin.

I rested my head on her soft belly, inhaling her fragrance, and fell asleep like a newborn baby.

I slept very soundly, very soundly.

February 18th

I heard birds chirping, all sorts of birds. I woke up; I knew it was morning. I opened my eyes and saw the blue sky.

What a beautiful sky!

I sensed something was wrong. Why was it that when I opened my eyes this morning, instead of seeing the ceiling, I saw the sky? I sat up and saw that I was lying on a green bench, surrounded by trees, with a forest path in front of me. I was dressed, with a blanket over my clothes. I noticed that I was a little wet, and when I touched myself, I found that I was covered in morning dew.

"Xiangxiang," I called out. No one answered, only the birds chirped.

What's going on? I stood up and looked around. There wasn't a soul in sight. I checked my watch again; it was only 6:30 in the morning.

I remembered what happened last night. I went to Rose's house, and she admitted that she was my Xiangxiang, and I had her. Then, I fell asleep with my head on Xiangxiang's body.

All of this is real, not my imagination, but something that actually happened last night.

But what's going on now? I should be lying in Xiangxiang's bed, looking at her, looking at the ceiling and windows of her house. But now, when I wake up, I find myself lying alone on a bench in the woods, covered with a blanket, like a homeless person.

I'm going to find Xiangxiang.

I grabbed my blanket, left the grove, and walked along the forest path, startling several birds into flight. They flapped their wings, making a rustling sound as they soared into the sky. A thin mist shrouded the woods in the early morning. I stepped onto a wider, pebbly path, my feet wet with dew. There was a pond there, with some red fish swimming in it. I crossed a wooden bridge over the pond and saw a wall. Through the wall, I could see several tall buildings beyond. Thankfully, at least now I was certain I wasn't in the middle of nowhere.

Along the wall, I saw a gate, but it was closed and I couldn't open it. I realized this must be a small park in the city. I waited in a grove of trees for over an hour until the park finally opened. I walked out through the gate, and the park ticket seller was clearly taken aback. Before he could tell me to stop, I was already on the road.

I looked at the street sign; this should be Xuhui District, not far from Xiangxiang's home.

I arrived at the place I had been to last night, a wide alley, the third floor of a small building, and I knocked on the door.

No one answered the door.

I knocked again, for a long time, until the whole building could hear my urgent and forceful knocking. Maybe she went out?

Suddenly another door next door opened, and an old woman in her sixties came out.

"Stop knocking, you're here to rent a room, aren't you?" the old woman said.

"No, I'm here to find someone."

"You mean that little girl? She moved out this morning."

"How is that possible? Last night—" I didn't dare say the last part, "I even spent the night here."

“She moved out, that’s it. The moving company came at eight o’clock this morning, and she even settled my rent. If you don’t believe me, I’ll open the door and show you.” As she spoke, the old woman took out a bunch of keys and opened the door.

I rushed in, but the room was empty, nothing was left, only a faint fragrance remained. Yes, I can't be mistaken, I still remember the walls and ceiling here, this is the place.

Why did she move away?

"Grandma, do you know where she moved to?"

"How would I know?" the old woman replied impatiently.

"So when did she rent this house?"

"Last September, I think."

"Shouldn't she register her rental at the police station?" I know that's unlikely, even though there is such a regulation.

"Hey, what do you mean? Are you here to check my household registration? Go away, go away," the old woman pushed me away, then muttered, "You little rascal, you're not serious."

I knew I wouldn't get any answers here, so I walked out of the building and looked back at the small balcony. Suddenly, I felt helpless.

Xiangxiang, where are you?

February 19th

Today, all I can think about is Xiangxiang.

I was restless, pondering everything that had happened the night before last and yesterday morning, but I couldn't understand why Xiangxiang would do such a thing. She was like a mystery, suddenly solved, then suddenly becoming another mystery.

I turned on my computer and went online. I first went to a large domestic website that I frequent, but there wasn't any special news; it was just some stuff cut and pasted from various sources. As I was about to leave the homepage, I suddenly noticed four characters in regular script in the friend links section in the lower left corner: "Ancient Tomb Ghosts".

Is there some mistake? How come there's a link to "Tomb Raider" here? This major website gets millions of views daily, and its links are usually to equally important and well-known websites. "Tomb Raider" is at most a personal homepage. Could it be another website with the same name? I clicked the link, and yes, it was indeed the "Tomb Raider" website I'd visited.

No, I have to stop them. Placing Ghost in the homepage of a famous website will definitely attract many netizens to log in, and perhaps more people will meet with misfortune. I immediately sent an email to the website, hoping they would stop linking to Ghost immediately.

Next, I visited another well-known domestic website, and to my surprise, this website also had a link to Tomb Raider on its homepage. Then I switched to another large domestic website, and it was the same as before.

Suddenly, I saw a news report on this website: "Mysterious Virus Attacks Major Websites, Homepage Links Tampered With." I opened the news and read the content: "According to news from major domestic websites: Recently, major comprehensive portal websites in China have been attacked by a mysterious virus. The content of the homepage links of all attacked websites has been tampered with, and a link site called 'Ancient Tomb Ghost' has appeared. According to experts, this website belongs to a personal homepage in this city, with the theme of ancient Chinese tombs. The public security organs have been requested to intervene in this matter. Specific details are unclear, but it is at least certain that the virus is spread through hacker intrusion. Although the compromised websites have strict anti-hacking systems, the intruders have more advanced technical means and easily modified the internal systems of each website. The technical staff of major websites are working hard to repair the tampered homepages, but so far, they have not been successful. However, netizens should not worry, only the homepage links have been tampered with, it will not affect other content, and netizens' personal information has not been stolen by hackers."

Oh no! I had long suspected that Tomb Raider had some kind of extremely advanced technical means, but I didn't expect it to start attacking major websites with viruses. In this way, it can greatly increase its page views, to the point that it is practically ubiquitous.

Just as I was lost in thought, the doorbell rang.

It's Ye Xiao.

I could tell from the first glance that he seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today. As soon as he came in, I told him about the virus incident that had occurred online. He calmly nodded and said, "I already know. It happened a few days ago. We used all the advanced technology available, but we still couldn't find out who planned the Ancient Tomb Ghost. I even tried to delete its content, but that failed too. Although the address should be in this city, we can't get close to it at all. We just can't find it. It's like a phantom."

“It really does seem like a phantom. You once said that those mysterious suicides were like people infected with some kind of contagious virus. Now it seems like it really is a virus,” I said worriedly.

"Yes, the situation is very serious now. It seems that the technology of Tomb Ghost has been improving in recent days. Now Tomb Ghost can tamper with homepage links through viruses. In the future, it will be able to directly tamper with the webpage content of major websites. When that happens, it will be very scary."

An image instantly flashed through my mind: on a famous domestic website, the screen suddenly went black, revealing a skull, a tombstone, and a portrait of a Qing Dynasty emperor, followed by the words, "She's in the underground palace." All netizens, like those who commit suicide, became addicted, and in the end—I can't even imagine it.

It's true what they say, "The devil is always one step ahead of the saint." I thought I should think of something else. "Did you come here just to tell me this?" I asked Ye Xiao.

“Of course not. Last time at Nanhu Middle School, Teacher Yu gave us a list of Red Guards who went to the basement in 1966. I checked the names on that list at the household registration department today. I made a copy for you to see.” As he spoke, he took a piece of paper out of his briefcase and handed it to me.

"Liu Weizhong, male, born on March 17, 1950, committed suicide by taking rat poison at home on the evening of October 15, 1966."

"Zhang Hongjun, male, born on January 26, 1950, committed suicide by taking pesticide in the playground of Nanhu Middle School in the early morning of October 17, 1966."

"Mu Jianguo, male, born on November 6, 1949, deliberately ran into a speeding truck and died on the evening of October 18, 1966, on Nanhu Road."

"Wu Yingxiong, male, born on May 15, 1950, committed suicide by hanging himself at home in the early morning of October 19, 1966."

"Zhang Nanju, male, born on September 27, 1949, committed suicide by jumping into the Suzhou River and drowning in the early morning of October 19, 1966."

"Xin Xiong, male, born on February 10, 1950, committed suicide by poisoning himself at home on the evening of October 19, 1966."

"Feng Kangmei, male, born on June 18, 1950, committed suicide by cutting his wrists in his father's workplace in the early morning of October 20, 1966."

"Fan De, male, born on December 2, 1949, committed suicide by hanging himself at home on the evening of October 23, 1966."