L'affaire du messager fantôme - Le récit d'une âme qui quitte son corps

Chapitre 10

The figure seemed to be swaying slowly, reflecting a strange bluish light in the dimly lit dormitory. But what surprised Chunyu even more was that the figure's feet seemed to be off the ground, about a meter away, making the whole person appear to be floating in mid-air.

Looking at this strange scene, Chunyu's mind went blank, and she walked blankly into the dormitory. Finally, Chunyu saw the figure clearly.

It was a beautiful girl wearing a thin white nightgown, her entire body suspended in mid-air in the center of the dormitory. In the dim light of the bedside lamp, one could vaguely make out a long ribbon wrapped around her neck, the upper end of which was hanging from the rod of a ceiling fan, and an overturned chair on the floor.

Hanged ghost!

The girl had hanged herself! Chunyu was completely stunned. She stared blankly at the scene before her—a beautiful girl hanging from the electric fan, her white nightgown swaying like a ghost. A cold breeze blew into the dimly lit dormitory, causing the hem of the dress to flutter slowly, as if in another, ethereal world. Chunyu finally recognized the girl's face. This familiar face was shrouded in dim light, her expression a mixture of crying and laughing. But her eyes were wide open, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets—what had she seen?

What?

The second girl died.

The girl who hanged herself in her dormitory was named Sulan. She was in the same major as Chunyu and the other girls, and since their dorm rooms were next to each other, they were very familiar with each other. When Chunyu found her, Sulan was already dead. Chunyu immediately reported it to the school, but the teachers were very skeptical of her. When they actually saw Sulan hanging under the electric fan, the teachers were almost shocked to death.

After confirming Su Lan's death, the school didn't dare disturb the scene, leaving her in the same hanging position, and immediately notified the police. The police arrived before dawn. Many female students were alarmed and came out of their dormitories to see what was happening, but were stopped by the teachers. Nan Xiaoqin and Xu Wenya also quickly heard about the incident. Xu Wenya, in particular, felt a chill run down her spine, remembering that she had been hiding in the bathroom early the previous morning, and that at the same time, someone in the next dormitory had hanged themselves—someone she knew very well.

As for the dormitory where the suicide occurred, only Su-lan was present that night; the other three girls didn't return until the early morning. They were all severely reprimanded by the teacher. They said they had gone out at 8 PM the previous night, and Su-lan was sitting in the dormitory playing with her text messages at the time, appearing perfectly normal.

When the police entered the dormitory, Su-Lan was still hanging under the electric fan, her white dress fluttering, her bulging eyes staring at everyone who came in.

Based on the initial investigation of the scene, it can be determined that Su-lan did indeed commit suicide by hanging, ruling out any possibility of homicide.

Spring Rain has once again dispelled any doubts.

Within just a few days, two girls at the school died tragically, and each time Chunyu was the first to discover them. Could there really be such a coincidence? She had no reason not to be suspected.

Su-lan, whose death was confirmed as a suicide, was finally taken down from the electric fan, covered with a white sheet, and carried out of the girls' dormitory building. The security was finally lifted, and the girls ran out of their rooms. Chun-yu also came to the corridor. But she noticed everyone staring at her with fear; the news of Chun-yu's latest discovery of a dead body had likely spread to all the girls.

Amidst the horrified gazes of everyone, Chunyu could only lower her head and walk to the door of the next dormitory room. She found the door still open, but no one dared to go in. In this dormitory room where someone had just died, a man stood with his back to the door.

Suddenly, the man turned around and saw Chunyu's eyes.

The man was no more than twenty-nine years old, with a cold and stern face and a pair of sharp, deep eyes—Chunyu knew this man.

He is Ye Xiao.

If you've read "The Deserted Village Apartment," you'll definitely remember Officer Ye Xiao. During the time Chunyu was hospitalized in a mental hospital, Ye Xiao visited her many times. This female college student, who miraculously recovered, had left a deep impression on Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao immediately recognized her: "Chunyu? What are you doing here?"

Chunyu didn't dare to go in. Leaning against the door, she said nervously, "I...I'm in the next dormitory room."

Clearly, Ye Xiao was surprised to run into Chunyu, but he quickly regained his composure: "Are you feeling unwell? You look so pale." "Maybe...maybe it's because I...was the first to discover Sulan's accident." "You? You were the first to discover the deceased?" Ye Xiao shook his head; the world really was small. "So the girl who walked through the corridor at dawn was you. You must have been terrified." Chunyu nodded, pointed into the dormitory room, and asked, "What did you find?" "The crime scene investigation is over. It's confirmed that the deceased committed suicide by hanging. I don't think I need to stay here any longer. However, I found the deceased's phone on the floor. There was an unread text message on the screen. I looked at the message. The content was very strange; it was an English phrase—"

?

Instantly, the English phrase surged through Chunyu's body like an electric current, and the image of the text message she saw on Qingyou's phone on the night of Qingyou's accident immediately flashed before her eyes, also containing the same phrase.

Could it be that Su Lan's death is somehow connected to Qing You's? One committed suicide by hanging, the other by biting her tongue; both died in the early hours of the morning, and both received such a mysterious text message after their deaths. None of these things are isolated incidents—Chun Yu's heart immediately raced, and she instantly connected the dots to an even more dangerous possibility.

Ye Xiao's keen eyes immediately noticed the change in her heart. He walked up to Chunyu and asked, "What's on your mind?"

His eyes always gave people a sense of security, but after hesitating for a moment, Chunyu made a different decision. She shook her head and said, "No, I'm just a little scared."

But Ye Xiao saw through her immediately; she was still hiding something important. However, Ye Xiao cleverly changed the subject: "It's been half a year. Are you doing well now?" "I—" Chunyu didn't know how to answer. Should she say, "I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown. Should I be taken to a mental hospital for a checkup?" "I hope you're alright. If anything happens, please call me immediately. I'll do everything I can to help you."

Ye Xiao smiled slightly, but his gaze was like a sharp sword pointing at Chunyu, as if a ghost was hiding in her body.

After Officer Ye Xiao left the school, no one spoke to Chunyu for an entire day. She sat alone in her dormitory, her mind in turmoil as she pondered the events of the past few days, unable to continue writing her thesis.

That evening, Xu Wenya returned to her dorm room alone. Nan Xiaoqin wasn't there. She was probably terrified by the suicide that had occurred in the dorm next door and had gone back to her own home. The dorm next door was completely deserted; the three girls, too afraid to sleep in a room where someone had died, had all made up excuses and fled back home.

During the day, the entire girls' dormitory was abuzz with discussion, but no one could fathom why Su-lan would commit suicide. She was usually very cheerful, and seemed quite normal in both her studies and family life. Some speculated that she committed suicide because of a romantic relationship, but the school firmly denied this.

This is the idea of dying for love.

What frightens these girls the most is that two people have died mysteriously in just a few days. Will there be a third one tomorrow?

The one who felt the most fear was Xu Wenya.

The cold wind continued to howl outside the window. Xu Wenya huddled in her dormitory, staring blankly ahead, like a mental patient. Chunyu had calmed down considerably and sat down beside Xu Wenya to comfort her. But Xu Wenya seemed deaf, unresponsive to anything Chunyu said. Suddenly, Xu Wenya's gaze seemed to return to normal. She looked coldly into Chunyu's eyes and uttered two words: "Monkey."

"Monkeys again?" Chunyu said helplessly, "Can't you say something else?" "Chunyu, do you think I'm crazy?" Before Chunyu could answer, Xu Wenya grabbed her hand and whispered, "No, I'm not crazy, I'm just very scared." "Don't be afraid, I'm your roommate, I'll be there for you through this."

Xu Wenya gripped her hand even tighter; it was truly astonishing where such strength came from in that small body. Then, she cautiously glanced around, as if wary of eavesdropping, and whispered, "Let me tell you a story."

If the story could help Xu Wenya relax, Chunyu thought it was a good idea: "Go ahead and tell me, I'm listening carefully."

Xu Wenya took a deep breath, as if she had been preparing for a long time: "This is a true story—during my summer vacation during my freshman year of college, I went to Huangshan with some high school classmates. It was indeed a beautiful place. We went with a tour group and visited almost every scenic spot around there. Our hotel was in the mountains, and the environment was very quiet. After returning from the scenic spots that day, I went for a walk on the hillside behind the hotel. I saw an iron cage on the ground with a small monkey inside. The little monkey looked very pitiful, like an unweaned child, looking at me with its big eyes. I noticed that the little monkey was actually crying. It was clinging to the bars of the iron cage with its paws, and a terrible cry was coming from its throat. Suddenly, I heard another frightening scream. It turned out that there was another large monkey on the hillside, perched on a big tree, seemingly staring at me with a fierce gaze."

Out of a girl's unique compassion, Chunyu couldn't help but say, "It must be the baby monkey's mother, right?" "That's what I thought too. It must have been very sad and angry to see its child locked in a cage. I was terrified by the monkey's roar and quickly ran back to my hotel room. That evening, our tour group had a local specialty meal, one of which was called 'Golden Brain'."

We each took a small bite, and it tasted strange. We wondered what it was made of. "Golden Brain?" Chunyu's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and she immediately guessed what it was.

Xu Wenya said with a pained expression, "After we ate it, we found out that the dish called 'Golden Brain' was actually monkey brain—" "The little monkey?"

"Yes, the thought of eating that little monkey's brain made me vomit immediately."

That night, I almost vomited up my stomach acid, but I still felt incredibly nauseous. I think it was mostly guilt I felt. What was even more terrifying was that in the middle of the night, a chilling roar came from outside the window. I opened my eyes and saw a hairy face pressed against the windowpane, with a pair of large, red eyes and a pair of gleaming white fangs—it was that big monkey! It had actually climbed onto the hotel window and was roaring at us frantically.

Date added: 2005-02-18 12:36:45

Instantly, a terrifying image flashed through Chunyu's mind. "That night, everyone in the tour group was terrified. They decided to leave the place the next morning. Early in the morning, we left the hotel in a tour bus. As the bus wound its way along the mountain road, a monkey suddenly appeared in a tree by the roadside. It jumped onto our bus and barked at us from outside the window. Everyone was terrified. The driver tried to throw the monkey off, turning the steering wheel several times, but accidentally drove off the road, and the entire bus overturned into the woods—perhaps it was my fate to survive, in the thousand..." At the critical moment, the window next to me shattered. Because of my small size, I managed to escape through the broken window. Everyone else was trapped in their seats. As I crawled onto the road to call for help, the tour bus exploded in the forest—it was a nightmare. Besides me, who miraculously survived, the other thirteen people died inside the bus. "It's unbelievable, caused by a monkey," Chunyu thought. It turns out that the maternal love between animals is similar to that between humans, and animal revenge is often more terrifying than human revenge. "But I don't hate that big monkey, because we ate the baby monkey's brain and committed such a heinous crime, so it came to avenge its offspring. After that incident, everyone said I had survived a great ordeal and would surely have good fortune, but I was still terrified. That monkey howling in the night became my eternal nightmare. More than two years have passed, and I've kept it buried deep in my heart, not telling any of my classmates at university." "If that's the case, why tell me now?"

Xu Wenya's face showed despair: "Because I have no other choice. I know that big monkey isn't dead. Everyone who ate that monkey's brain must pay with their life. Even if I escaped last time, it will come back for revenge sooner or later. I've seen that big monkey several times these past few days. It hangs outside the window and smiles at me; it's the most terrifying smile in the world." "Don't think nonsense. Monkeys can't possibly come to campus." Chunyu felt that Xu Wenya's thoughts were getting a bit chaotic again. Suddenly, she remembered the scene in the bathroom early this morning. "Xu Wenya, can I see your phone?" "What do you want?" Xu Wenya immediately gripped her phone tightly, alert. "I've noticed that you've been texting day and night these past few days, haven't you?" "That's my business, it's none of your concern." She turned her head away, no longer looking at Chunyu's face, and the atmosphere in the room became tense.

Spring Rain simply sighed softly, utterly unaware of what else might happen.

At that moment, a strange wind swept past the window, and a dry branch broke off and fell onto the windowpane with a crisp sound.