fragments d'os oracle

Chapitre 27

Qin Ge followed her gaze to Tan Dong's body, sighed, and said to Sha Bo, "She's too traumatized; we need to take her to a quiet place."

Shabo nodded, and the two of them struggled to support Tang Wan's arms and help her up, heading towards the circular eaves at the edge of the square. Under the eaves, there were other people, entwined together, their low moans and heavy breathing mingling. A middle-aged woman, nearing fifty, was being held by a young man; her eyes, gleaming with a serpentine light, fell upon Qin Ge and the others, while she reached out her hand to them, a grotesque temptation in her gaze.

Qin Ge and Sha Bo hurried past them. A boy of about fifteen or sixteen years old tilted his head back and downed a bottle of wine, then threw the bottle at their feet with a sharp cracking sound. The boy laughed and staggered towards them, his hand reaching out to the stunned Tang Wan as he charged forward.

With just one punch, Qin Ge sent the boy flying backward.

Everyone felt threatened. Qin Ge and Sha Bo didn't know where was safe in this Sleeping Manor. Qin Ge also noticed that when the crowd began drinking heavily, Du Chuanxiong, the owner of Sleeping Manor, disappeared from the crowd and hadn't reappeared. He must be hiding somewhere, spying on everything in the square. This was the scene he wanted to see. He had abandoned the law in his mind, so he wanted to create a completely chaotic world, even if that world only existed within his Sleeping Manor.

Escaping Sleeping Manor was the only thought in Qin Ge and Sha Bo's minds. When they helped Tang Wan around the circular corridor to the gate, they found it tightly shut, and they had no idea how to open it. The craftsmen who built this circular castle had constructed the gate exceptionally sturdy and ingenious for its security; without understanding the mechanisms, it was impossible to open it.

Helpless, Qin Ge and Sha Bo had no choice but to turn back with Tang Wan. During this time, people kept rushing towards them, but Qin Ge blocked them all.

The crowd in the square grew even more frenzied. The fight between the men escalated, and they began using any weapon at hand to attack each other. More blood flowed, and more people lay on the ground, rolling and groaning. No one cared whether they lived or died. Beside them, men and women continued to entangle, their bodies stained with the blood of the wounded. It seemed that the blood could only fuel their madness.

More and more people surrounded Qin Ge and Sha Bo. Qin Ge was agile, but his strength was waning, and with the increasing number of people, he was finding it increasingly difficult to defend himself. Fortunately, Sha Bo later found a stick, which he held in his hand and used to strike anyone who rushed at him. At first, he controlled his strength quite well, but later he became indiscriminate, striking anyone who came at him on the head. If the person didn't fall down, he would strike twice more until they collapsed.

Violence becomes the only means of self-protection at this time.

Many of the torches in the square had gone out, and the few remaining were extremely faint. Qin Ge and Sha Bo grew anxious; if all the torches went out and darkness descended, their situation would be even more dangerous. They huddled against the wall in a corner, sensing the approaching danger, but utterly helpless.

Suddenly, Sha Bo paused, nudging Qin Ge beside him. Qin Ge followed his gaze and saw the back of a woman in a white dress in the shadows ahead. The woman's back was so familiar; Qin Ge recognized her at a glance as the woman who had led them to the cemetery.

The woman moved slightly, then stopped, and seemed to glance back at them.

This woman meant no harm, and Shabo is now almost certain that she lured him to Sleeping Valley. She hadn't appeared since that night at the cemetery, and although Qin Ge and Shabo suspected she was Xue Mei, the proprietress of the Nightsleep Inn, they couldn't be sure. Her reappearance now couldn't be a coincidence.

Qin Ge and Sha Bo exchanged a glance, then without hesitation helped Tang Wan up and headed towards the woman in white.

As they moved, the woman in white moved as well, always maintaining a certain distance from them, yet never leaving their sight, as if she were leading them somewhere else. Qin Ge and Sha Bo knew she meant no harm, so they followed without worry.

There are still many gaps between the inner ring buildings and the outer ring buildings, and now they are walking through these gaps. These gaps are only about shoulder-width wide, making walking difficult, but at least they won't be attacked.

The woman in white had been standing about ten meters ahead of them, but after rounding a bend, she suddenly vanished. Qin Ge and Sha Bo exchanged bewildered glances, both at a loss. They looked around, hoping the woman in white would reappear, but several minutes passed, and she was still nowhere to be seen, as if she had disappeared into thin air. Qin Ge frowned and said, "Could she have led us here?"

They were situated between the inner and outer ring buildings, with the back wall of the inner ring buildings on one side and the base of the outer ring buildings on the other. At the base of the outer ring buildings were numerous large doors, arranged in an orderly fashion in the darkness. These doors were over two meters high, all tightly closed, their contents unknown. Qin Ge and Sha Bo's gaze swept over these doors, finally settling on one door not far away.

That door looked quite different from the others; in the darkness, its color was lighter than the others, and there was a cross-shaped pattern on the lintel. Qin Ge and Sha Bo helped Tang Wan walk quickly over, their eyes fixed on the lintel, and both let out a long sigh.

At this point, Qin Ge and Sha Bo fully understood the meaning of the thick cross. The thick cross was actually the hospital's Red Cross; the lack of color on the image in the emails and invitations had puzzled them.

The red cross above the doorway in front of them was no longer clearly visible, and its color had faded considerably over time. But as long as they were certain that this was the place the woman in white had wanted them to come, that was enough. Qin Ge exchanged another glance with Sha Bo, then without hesitation, went up the steps in front of the door and pushed it open heavily.

The door creaked open, much to Qin Ge's surprise; he had expected considerable trouble to get in. He immediately realized that the woman in white had probably opened the door, leading them here to tell them something.

The room was pitch black, and a strange odor, unlike anything else, wafted out. Qin Ge hesitated for a moment, and at that moment, Sha Bo had already helped Tang Wan to stand beside him. They couldn't see anything in the darkness, but the odor sent a chill down their spines. The smell was similar to formaldehyde in a hospital, but clearly different; it also carried a musty, stale odor. Combined with the intense darkness, you had no idea what was hidden inside.

Qin Ge and Sha Bo were slightly taken aback for a moment, but still stepped into the house together.

Qin Ge reached for the light switch near the door and easily found it. He pressed it, and the incandescent bulb flickered briefly, then emitted a buzzing sound. The bulb continued to flicker, alternating between light and darkness in the room. As the light flickered, Qin Ge and Sha Bo turned deathly pale, standing there frozen, unable to move. Tang Wan, whom they were supporting, let out a series of screams, as if she had seen a ghost.

Inside the room were many cylindrical bottles of varying sizes, standing haphazardly in different places. Each bottle contained liquid, and within that liquid were submerged naked corpses. The skin of all the corpses was an ashen white, and they floated in the liquid, each with a different expression; many still had their eyes open, seemingly watching the uninvited guests who had intruded.

Near the door was a small, round bottle placed on an exquisite antique shelf. Inside the bottle was an infant, whose body had been submerged for a long time and was slightly swollen. His facial features were somewhat distorted, and his muscles were large and compressed together. His eyes were slightly open, but his mouth was agape, as if he had just finished breastfeeding his mother and had been brought here.

Tang Wan hid behind Sha Bo in fear, instinctively wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

Shabo and Qin Ge exchanged a glance, feeling a chill run down their spines, and even trembled slightly.

Qin Ge was relatively calmer. His brows were furrowed, and he waved for Sha Bo and Tang Wan to stay by the door. He then slowly walked forward. The glass bottles were arranged seemingly haphazardly, but in fact, quite carefully. The outermost bottles contained mostly men and older women, while the innermost bottles, close to the wall, contained some young and beautiful women.

Qin Ge had never seen so many naked people before, except in bathhouses. He'd never seen living people, let alone dead ones. The men and older women on the outer perimeter all had exceptionally ugly bodies; their ashen white was a disgusting color that seemed to forcefully penetrate the depths of your heart, churning violently within you. Qin Ge suppressed his nausea, his gaze sweeping over the corpses, or rather, the specimens. By this point, he basically knew what had happened here, but he wanted to confirm it one last time.

When he reached the innermost part, he examined the specimens of young and beautiful women very carefully. To call them young and beautiful would only be accurate in relation to their lives; after so long of soaking, their once plump and lustrous skin was wrinkled, and their faces were deathly pale, as if they came from a ghostly hell. Qin Ge looked closely, as if searching for something. Soon, he stopped in front of a specimen, his brows furrowed, the muscles in his cheeks trembling violently, seemingly quite agitated.

He suddenly turned around and strode back to the door. Tang Wan was vomiting incessantly and was clinging tightly to Sha Bo, as if Sha Bo had become her new support.

“If you want to know the truth, you have to go inside,” Qin Ge said.

Shabo shook his head in fear, but then nodded, frowning as he asked, "Besides these specimens, what else is inside?"

“Every specimen is different. I think, if I’m not mistaken, you can find someone if you go in.”

"Who is it?" Shabo felt a chill run down his spine when he realized that there might be someone he knew inside.

"The person you came to Sleepy Valley to find." Qin Ge had to harden his heart.

Shabo was speechless, seemingly stunned. After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh, as if he had mustered his courage. He patted Tang Wan, who was hugging him, and struggled to pull her arms away. Tang Wan's face showed an extremely sorrowful and pitiful expression. Shabo comforted her, "Don't worry, I'm only leaving for a little while. I'll be right back. No one will hurt you."

Tang Wan nodded, but the fear on her face remained intense. Her gaze fell into the darkness outside the door. Qin Ge strode forward and closed the door. The incandescent light in the room continued to flicker, the buzzing sound adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Shabo followed Qin Ge, past the various specimens, and walked to the very back. Qin Ge pointed to the last row of specimens and said, "Take a close look here, see if the person you're looking for is there."

Shabo suppressed his nausea and slowly approached the corpses soaking in vulgaris.

The last row of corpses belonged to people who had died in their early twenties. They had been preserved as specimens, but it was still clear that they had all had excellent figures and beautiful faces in life. Now, this beauty only made them more terrifying. Shabo finally couldn't hold back any longer and bent over to vomit.

The beauty of these women in life must have captivated countless men. Now, though that beauty still lingers on these living corpses, the more beautiful they are, the uglier and more terrifying they become.

Qin Ge understood Sha Bo's feelings at that moment, so he didn't urge him. He just stood in front of the specimen where he had just stopped, staring blankly at the corpse inside, his face as calm as still water.

Shabo continued his search, one by one, and even took out a photo of the forget-me-not from his pocket.

He quickly stopped in front of a specimen, staring at the corpse inside. His expression changed in an instant, and even he himself was unaware of his own feelings at that moment.

The specimen before him seemed to be the most perfectly preserved. Her long hair, still intact, floated in the water like a clump of black seaweed. Her beautiful features were not deformed, only unusually pale. Her body, like the other specimens, was grayish-white, but without wrinkles. Her narrow shoulders and slender waist still tried their best to display the girl's beauty in life.

Shabo bent over and vomited again, this time he vomited uncontrollably until he collapsed to the ground.

Qin Ge came over, helped him up, and looked at the specimen in front of him: "Is she the Forget-Me-Not?"

Shabo nodded, then made some gagging sounds.

He never imagined that the girl he had chatted with online all night would turn out to be such a specimen, the beauty he had been so captivated by now only existing on a cold corpse. The daydreams and feelings he had harbored for the girl during those nights now stood in stark contrast to the body before him.

How did all of this happen?

—How could there be a room in this sleeping manor containing so many human specimens?

Qin Ge helped Sha Bo back to the door, and Tang Wan immediately came up and hugged Sha Bo. In that short time, she was so frightened that her whole body was trembling.

“Du Chuanxiong!” Sha Bo said heavily, “So it turns out that Du Chuanxiong was behind all of this.”

“You’re wrong,” Qin Ge said in a deep voice. “I now suspect that Du Chuanxiong is not the true owner of Sleeping Manor. He is just a puppet in front of the scenes. The real owner of Sleeping Manor is someone else.”

Qin Ge asked curiously, "Then who could it be?"

"If I'm not mistaken, he's someone we all know."

Sha Bo frowned and thought for a moment, then blurted out, "Jiangnan?"

Qin Ge nodded: "Jiangnan is not his name. His real name should be Hua Xiong."

“Hua Xiong?” Sha Bo thought for a moment; it was a very unfamiliar name.

“You may not have heard of Hua Xiong, but you will definitely remember his father, Hua Zhaoyang.”

Shabo thought about it again and realized that he seemed to have heard of Hua Zhaoyang's name before, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Hua Zhaoyang is the head of one of the most powerful securities investment groups in the south. He has seven or eight listed companies under his control. He has launched several major financial storms in China. He is also listed on the Forbes Rich List, a prestigious American financial magazine."

Shabo was speechless.

“Although Hua Xiong is Hua Zhaoyang’s son, he is an illegitimate child. Before Hua Zhaoyang became wealthy, Hua Xiong and his mother lived a very ordinary life in our city. Later, Hua Zhaoyang found them and made it clear that although he could not give them a formal status, he could help them financially to the greatest extent possible.” Qin Ge revealed a somewhat sarcastic expression. “For those billionaires with assets of tens of billions, money is just a number. Therefore, the money he left to Hua Xiong and his mother is an astronomical figure in our eyes.”

"How could the son of a billionaire stay in such a remote place?" Shabo asked in bewilderment. "It's really unbelievable that the son of a billionaire would run a small inn in Sleeping Valley."

Qin Ge paused for a moment, as if some past events had weighed heavily on his mind.

"Hua Xiong was an exceptionally ambitious man. Hua Zhaoyang tried several times to get him a senior position in one of his listed companies, but he refused each time. Hua Xiong studied medicine, and his ambition was to become an outstanding doctor. The money Hua Zhaoyang left him did not change his life. He kept the money in the bank and continued to go to work at the hospital every day. No one knew that the person who worked diligently in the ward and on the operating table every day was the illegitimate son of a billionaire."

Hua Xiong's life could have continued peacefully, but what happened later not only completely changed his life, but also his destiny.

Qin Ge paused for a moment, then continued, "One day, Hua Xiong returned home to find his wife telling him she was pregnant. This would be a joyous occasion for any family, but Hua Xiong couldn't feel happy at all. He was a doctor, and he knew before marriage that he would never become a father. Now that his wife was pregnant, there could only be one explanation: his wife was having an affair."

Hua Xiong lived with his mother when he was young. His mother often mentioned Hua Zhaoyang, who had abandoned them. At that time, Hua Xiong harbored a deep hatred for Hua Zhaoyang, a hatred that later became deeply ingrained in his mind. He could never tolerate betrayal in marriage.

He began secretly following his wife and discovered that she had many male friends. In his eyes, every man was suspicious, and every one of them could be the father of the child in his wife's womb. Hatred thus festered in his heart, and this hatred grew stronger as his wife's belly grew larger.

A month before his wife's due date, the hatred became unbearable for him. So, one night, while his wife was asleep, he used a scalpel to cut open her abdomen and took out the baby…

Sha Bo and Tang Wan both wore extremely miserable expressions.

"Because he had given his wife local anesthesia, when she woke up, she saw that her stomach had been opened and that Hua Xiong was holding a baby covered in blood and amniotic fluid. She was so frightened that she fainted on the spot. Hua Xiong, however, disregarded his wife's life or death, put the crying baby in a bag and took it to the hospital. He then drew a blood sample from the baby and conducted a paternity test. The test results showed that the baby was indeed his child."

In that instant, Hua Xiong was struck dumb. All his previous assumptions now seemed utterly ridiculous. He knew he had wronged his wife and rushed home, only to find her already dead from shock. Hua Xiong truly loved his wife; during that time, hatred born of suspicion had clouded his judgment. Now, knowing he had wronged her and that she had died because of it, he was overwhelmed with grief and lost his mind, blaming the newborn baby for everything. He threw the infant out of the sixth-floor window, and the shock drove him insane.

He was in his room, holding his wife's body, and wasn't discovered until many days later. By then, he had already dissected her and made her a specimen.

Qin Ge's voice trembled slightly, clearly indicating that he was also deeply terrified as he recounted this part. Sha Bo and Tang Wan felt their hair stand on end. Listening to Qin Ge's story, facing the gruesome human specimens in the room, and the constantly flickering incandescent lights, they were filled with extreme fear.

"In court, Hua Xiong confessed to what happened, but he was exempted from criminal punishment because of a pathology report on his mental illness. Shortly after that incident, he disappeared from the city where he lived, along with the human specimen he made from his wife."

Qin Ge sighed deeply: "Over the years, he seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. No one has seen him again, and no one knows where he went. Until two months ago, Hua Xiong's mother passed away. Before she died, she kept uttering three words, and many people took a long time to recognize them as Sleeping Valley."

“That’s why you formed this self-guided tour group to Sleepy Hollow,” Shabo said. “You’re a policeman, you’ve concealed your identity, and you came to Sleepy Hollow to find Hua Xiong.”

Qin Ge paused for a moment, then nodded: "If Hua Xiong is really in Sleeping Valley, I am alone and he will easily find me. Therefore, I must use you to cover my identity."

Sha Bo frowned: "There's another question. Why are you interested in Hua Xiong and travel all this way here? Hua Xiong's case should be closed now, and it has nothing to do with your identity as a police officer."

Qin Ge paused for a moment before slowly saying, "Hua Xiong's wife is named Qin Fangrou."

"Qin Fangrou." Sha Bo repeated the name, then exclaimed in shock, "She also has the surname Qin!"

Qin Ge said heavily, "She not only has the surname Qin, but she is also my own sister."

Shabo stood frozen in shock, while Tang Wan, engrossed in the story, had also forgotten her fear. Shabo now knew why Qin Ge had come to Sleeping Valley and concealed his identity, but he still had two questions: "Since Hua Xiong was once your brother-in-law, why didn't you recognize Jiang Nan when you first arrived in Sleeping Valley? And when did you find out that Jiang Nan was Hua Xiong?"

Qin Ge addressed the second question first: "I suspected that Jiangnan was Hua Xiong. It was that night when we came back from the internet cafe. I went back to the inn first and saw Jiangnan reading alone, so I went over and chatted with him for a while. At that time, I found a financial magazine on the table, and the cover of the magazine had a picture of Hua Zhaoyang on it. In this Sleeping Valley, who would pay attention to such a financial magazine, except for Hua Xiong? So, at that time, I concluded that Jiangnan was Hua Xiong."

"You mean Hua Xiong looks different than before?"

“I think he must have had plastic surgery. Since he wanted to live in anonymity, he would have severed all ties with his past. However, there are two things he can’t let go of: his wife and mother. That’s why we were able to find him here.”

Qin Ge paused for a moment, then continued, "These specimens are all in Sleeping Manor, so Hua Xiong must have some kind of connection to this place. He once told us that life here only changed dramatically after the owner of Sleeping Manor came to Sleeping Valley. These changes require enormous financial support, which is impossible for ordinary people. If Hua Xiong gets Hua Zhaoyang's funding, all of this will be a piece of cake for him."

"So you conclude that the true owner of Sleeping Manor is Hua Xiong, not that Du Chuanxiong."

"Du Chuanxiong must be a figure not to be underestimated. His hatred of the law and all order must have a story behind it. The crazy behavior of the people in Sleepy Hollow tonight is probably the result of his manipulation."

"What is his purpose in doing this?" Shabo asked, puzzled.

“Everyone has some repressed power in their heart. Most people will never release these power in their lifetime, but some people will do anything to release these power, even if these things are unorthodox and unacceptable by secular laws and morality.”

Shabo paused for a moment, having grasped the meaning behind Qin Ge's words. History is replete with such examples: some people will stop at nothing to satisfy their own desires. These individuals may be petty scoundrels, but more often they are powerful and ruthless figures.

Qin Ge said, "Now that we know the secret here, all that's left to do is find a way to leave. Although Sleepy Valley is in a remote location, it's not a legal loophole. If Hua Xiong did do these things, he will definitely not escape the punishment of the law."