Le 19e cercle de l'Enfer

Chapitre 3

Behind the memorial tablet was a large bed, with the blankets neatly folded. Under the bed was a red trunk, and next to it was a pair of red slippers. Next to the bed was a small cabinet, piled with books and some personal belongings. The largest piece of furniture was a large, brown wardrobe, easily reminiscent of the mysterious wardrobe in the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia"... The layout of the entire room was simple, yet it didn't appear cluttered.

"Check if anything is missing?" the policeman asked the female administrator.

"It seems like there isn't much, that's about all the stuff." The female administrator looked around.

"Why is a mourning hall set up in the dormitory?" the tall policeman asked, puzzled.

“Because… Meixuan was an orphan, she was a pitiful child. I was afraid she would be lonely down there, so I secretly set up this mourning hall, hoping to help her pass on and let her rest in peace… And… And she died so tragically, I was worried that her resentment after death would be too strong, so I kept her here, so that she would have a final resting place…” the female administrator sighed, her eyes filled with turbid tears.

The tall policeman frowned, his expression cold as he surveyed his surroundings, and asked again, "Does the school know about this?"

"I...I don't know..."

"It seems you treated her well. You must have had a very good relationship with her when she was alive, right?"

The female administrator nodded.

"How did she die?"

"Hanging".

Just then, the short policeman exclaimed, "Look, what's this?"

Chapter 13: The Ghost Doll Returns (13)

Several people ran over and saw the short policeman holding a Teru Teru Bozu doll. Unlike other dolls, all its expressions were drawn with blood. A small note was attached to it, bearing the five words: "The Ghost Doll Returns." Judging from the handwriting, it had been written within the last two days.

The atmosphere in the room froze instantly.

The female administrator took the small note and examined it very carefully, but immediately dropped it as if she had been electrocuted, staggered back several steps, and showed a desperate and painful expression on her face.

"Ghost...ghost doll! Why? Why did you come out? Isn't it nice there?"

"A ghost doll?" The group was startled by her sudden strange remark.

"Auntie, what's wrong? What does this mean?" He Zhiying grabbed her arm in surprise.

At that moment, the female administrator seemed possessed by some kind of spirit, desperately shaking off her hand, chuckling softly a few times, and finally saying in a low voice, "She's back...she's back. Beware of the curse of the ghost doll...the curse...she's here to take me away, to summon me...we...we will all die..." Her voice sounded like it came from hell.

Suddenly, a dazzling bolt of lightning streaked across the sky outside the window, followed by a deafening clap of thunder, which seemed to make even Shen Meixuan's portrait tremble.

Could this be an ominous sign? He Zhiying's heart sank.

The three people looked at each other, none of them speaking, but each of them felt a deep fear of this place.

After a long while, the female administrator calmed down and said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I haven't been in a good mental state lately. It might be because I've been thinking about sad things from the past. I hope you won't take it too seriously."

"It's okay. Nobody wants something like this to happen. Don't be too sad."

"An Qiqi, what do you think about this?" The short policeman turned to his tall colleague. He Zhiying only now realized that this handsome, tall policeman was named An Qiqi.

An Qiqi scratched her head and said seriously, "Judging from the scene, I think someone must have been here. I looked at the ground and found footprints. Some things around here also seem to have been touched. Look, there's dust all around, but the portrait and memorial tablet are clean, obviously they were wiped clean recently. And this note is even more suspicious, the handwriting is so neat, it must have been written by a girl..."

"You, the rookie in the police force, have finally made some progress." The short policeman laughed.

An Qiqi was a little annoyed, but he didn't say anything. After all, he had only been in the police department for two years. In those two years, he spent a year undercover, working with a henchman of a yakuza boss, but not only did he not get any intelligence, he almost lost his life. The following year, he rejoined the police force, but his overall skills didn't improve. For almost a year, he dealt with trivial cases, often being ridiculed by his colleagues and called "the police force's number one rookie." However, An Qiqi worked very hard in private, reading many books on detective work, dreaming of one day becoming a great detective like Kindaichi Kosuke.

Chapter 14: The Ghost Doll Returns (14)

"But I can't figure out who came here? What is their purpose? If it's really a thief, why would they come to this mourning hall? Is there anything worth stealing here? What is the meaning behind those words she left behind?" An Qiqi stroked her chin, her brows furrowed in worry.

"Maybe this thief had the same curiosity as me. But after coming in and seeing what was there, he was disappointed. In the end, he just took a few teru teru bozu dolls and left a scary message. I think it was all a prank." He Zhiying blinked.

"Hehe, that makes some sense. It would be a loss for the country if a smart and beautiful woman like you didn't join the police force," the short policeman joked.

Just then, a chilly, eerie wind blew in from behind the mourning hall, causing several teru teru bozu (Japanese teru bozu dolls) hanging from the ceiling to sway in the breeze. Shen Meixuan in the portrait seemed to come alive, staring at them with a strange look. He Zhiying's heart pounded, and she silently murmured the word "ghost."

"Well... it's best if nothing's missing here. Let's call it a day." The short policeman walked out of the room nervously, afraid of alerting anything. The others followed suit, and the door was locked again.

"Meixuan, I'm sorry to bother you." The female administrator bowed solemnly to the door.

"Senior, I live right next door. If I've ever offended you in any way, please don't blame me. I haven't done anything wrong, so please don't knock on my door in the middle of the night..." He Zhiying also bowed respectfully.

An Qiqi smiled slightly and said, "Alright, that's settled then. Please feel free to contact us if anything comes up." With that, she politely presented her business card with both hands.

"Okay, goodbye." He Zhiying took the business card and then slipped into her room.

"Could you please keep it a secret that this room was set up as a mourning hall? I know I did something wrong, and I'll take it down later..." the female manager whispered to An Qiqi.

"Okay, you need to hurry. It will be a big problem if the school finds out." An Qiqi looked at her expression and knew that she must have her own unspeakable reasons, so she couldn't refuse.

"Okay, thank you." The female administrator turned around and gradually disappeared into the corridor.

In the somber room, He Zhiying stared at the teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll shaped like a sunny day) hanging on the curtains, her heart heavy with unease. To be honest, she felt afraid, because the woman who had died had once lived next door to her. And now, that room had become a chilling mourning hall.

Who was that "ghostly figure" next door last night? Was it a person or...?

What do the words "The Return of the Ghost Doll" symbolize?

What secrets are hidden in that room where the mourning hall is set up?

What exactly is the relationship between the female dormitory manager and the deceased Shen Meixuan?

The mystery only grew bigger.

The girl was so curious that she almost forgot her fear.

Perhaps this is just the beginning.

The light outside gradually dimmed, and the whole world seemed to be shrouded in a hazy mist.

Chapter 15: The Ghost Doll Returns (15)

A few minutes later, in another corner tower downstairs from the girls' dormitory, An Qiqi lit a cigarette and looked up at the room she had just left.

"Qiqi, in that room, did you smell anything?" the short policeman asked.

"What? It's just the musty, damp smell, isn't it?"

"There's also the smell of corpses, the smell of death, the aura of ghosts..."

"Alright, stop joking. Are you scared by a funeral hall?" An Qiqi quickly interrupted him, asking, "Don't you think that female administrator is hiding something?"

The short policeman shook his head and said, "Crimes usually have a motive, and I can't imagine what motive that woman would have for a dead man's room. Did she hide something? I mean something from a long, long time ago."

"I don't know either, but intuitively, I feel that this matter is definitely not that simple. The administrator's eyes were always darting around. You know, setting up a mourning hall in a girls' dormitory is such a terrifying and unbelievable thing. There must be a purpose behind it."

"Hmm, maybe you're right. Let's go back and report to Team Leader Jin properly."

An Qiqi took a deep drag on her cigarette and said, "Let's go."

"By the way, don't you have a high school classmate studying psychology here?"

"You mean him, right? I think his name is Park... Eun-hee. I haven't seen this guy for years."

(6)

It was quiet all around, the air so stuffy you could hardly breathe. Song Xiaomo lay slumped over the table, anxiously staring at the telephone. "She" hadn't called yet. But he figured "she" was watching him from the shadows, a constant, ever-present presence, making escape impossible.

He sat there motionless until night fell and the room became dark.

Suddenly, the phone rang.

He jumped to his feet, panting heavily as he answered the phone.

"Xianshan Road... No. 733." A sentence came through the phone intermittently.

"Hello...hello..." Song Xiaomo called out a few times, only to find that the other party had already hung up.

He sighed deeply, stood up, and washed his face. In the mirror, he saw that his forehead was grayish, his face was deathly pale, and two days of insomnia had left his eyes sunken and dark, and his lips were chapped. He saw the shadow of a ghost in himself.

Song Xiaomo put on a gray trench coat, turned up the collar, wrapped himself up tightly, and then nervously walked out of the dormitory. Now, he no longer wanted to run away from anything. He, Song Xiaomo, was not a coward. Generally speaking, when fear reaches a certain level, people either become numb or go insane. Song Xiaomo was clearly somewhat numb.

The sky had darkened, and the large clock downstairs in the dormitory building lazily struck ten times. The sound vibrated continuously in Song Xiaomo's ears and brain, making him suddenly think of a death knell.

Xianshan Road is located at the back gate of HY University, separated by two streets. Compared to the bustling main street, this place is relatively deserted, with few people living here. Most of the houses are used as warehouses for storing goods, and there are also many houses slated for demolition.

Chapter 16: The Ghost Doll Returns (16)

Half an hour later, Song Xiaomo approached his destination. The intersection of Xianshan Road appeared before him like a deep black hole, with a few cold glints flashing against the dark night sky.

This should be the road. Using the dim streetlights, Song Xiaomo carefully tried to make out the house numbers. The problem was, most of the numbers were blurry and unclear. Where exactly was number 733?

Then he saw a plump woman walking over with her head down, carrying a basket in her hand.

"Auntie, where is number 733?" Song Xiaomo asked.

The fat woman raised her head, revealing frightening eyes, and pointed behind her withered finger, saying, "Keep walking straight back until you see a lot of people, that's..."

"Oh, thank you." Song Xiaomo quickly thanked her, secretly glancing at her basket.

Instantly, his heart tightened again.

The basket contained tin foil and ghost money.

Under the white streetlights, the woman's face turned deathly pale.

Song Xiaomo gasped a few times, unable to bear it any longer, and started running wildly.

In the distance, he smelled a burning odor in the air. The fat woman had probably lit the tinfoil. For a fleeting moment, the image of a crematorium's tall chimney flashed through his mind…

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Song Xiaomo still hadn't seen a place with many people. He noticed that the road was so narrow and long, seemingly endless. There were very few pedestrians on the road, and even the streetlights were flickering due to poor connections. Every now and then, a few stray cats would dart out from the corners of the walls, their eyes gleaming eerily. He felt extremely panicked, and the surrounding silence made him feel suffocated.

It was almost 11 p.m. at this point.

Just as Song Xiaomo was feeling scared and helpless, he suddenly heard a lot of noise coming from ahead.

"A place with lots of people? That must be it," he muttered to himself, quickening his pace without realizing it.

The sounds became clearer and clearer, including the sounds of children playing and, faintly, some...crying.

Crying in the middle of the night?

Soon, Song Xiaomo saw many people. Most of them had black armbands wrapped around their arms, and their faces were filled with sorrow. Nearby, some innocent children were chasing and playing at the entrance. Rows of flower baskets and wreaths were placed in front of the door, and in the hall inside stood a large, black-bordered portrait of a deceased person, behind which was a crystal coffin. An old woman was kneeling below, wailing loudly; her face was obscured, but she was likely the deceased's mother. At that moment, Song Xiaomo was somewhat stunned, because he saw the man in the portrait smiling at him, as if they had known each other before, his expression as if he were greeting him.

A moment later, a young woman dressed in mourning clothes walked past him; she was probably the deceased's wife. The instant their eyes met, her eyes widened, almost bulging out, her expression one of extreme terror.

What exactly did she see? Song Xiaomo felt something was wrong.

"No, that's not right. The dead person in that portrait looks like myself." Suddenly, he felt his heart turn cold, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Chapter 17: The Ghost Doll Returns (17)

"Am I really dead? If I were dead, how could I be here? This is impossible. I should be lying in a coffin, unless I am..." He pinched himself hard, afraid to think any further. He was almost terrified by his own chilling imagination.

At this moment, funeral music began to play in the hall, and the crowd split into two lines, one after another bowing to the deceased in final farewell. Song Xiaomo unconsciously followed the flow of people and mingled into the line.

The deceased lay peacefully in the crystal coffin, as if fast asleep. Many people sighed, their eyes red. He was a handsome man, in the prime of his life, yet he left this world so young. Alas, life is so short, soon to turn into a wisp of smoke… Song Xiaomo stared blankly at him for a long time, until the people behind him urged him to leave, and he slowly moved away. Another person patted him on the shoulder, comforting him, “Don’t be too sad.”