parasitisme veille

Chapitre 8

After going around in circles, the problem has returned to its starting point.

Qin Ge and Lei Ming remained silent, but both of them showed deep confusion and anxiety in their eyes.

The young woman had woken up, her body half-lying on the table, still trembling uncontrollably. The scene from just moments ago was clearly still haunting her, causing her gaze to wander, her body to tense, and the fear on her face to seem to have seeped into her very bones.

Last night, even though she was terrified when she got upstairs, she chose to sleep alone in a room. She thought she wouldn't be able to sleep at all when she first lay down, but in fact, she fell into a deep sleep very soon after. She was so tired; even before she started her journey after getting off the bus, she felt exhausted, her body weak and listless. After walking for so long in the rain, her legs felt like they didn't belong to her anymore. As soon as she lay down on the bed, her eyelids began to droop.

Even sleeping was exhausting. In her dream, she kept running, not knowing what she was hiding from. She could sense that what she was hiding from was right beside her, but she couldn't see it. She kept running, through the mountains, in the rain. She was completely exhausted. She closed her eyes and thought she should take one more step and then stop, even if it meant falling into an abyss of no return.

There was a knock at the door, not very loud, but she immediately opened her eyes. She lay quietly in bed, her eyes open in the darkness. An oil lamp, lit the night before, was still burning; though the light was dim, it allowed her to see everything in the room. Suddenly, she remembered where she was, and a wave of panic washed over her again. Her legs felt heavier than the day before, and her head was spinning. She wondered if she was sick, but even if she was, she had to get up and go outside to face what she was being subjected to by some unknown force.

Asi's Hell: 773 Horror Series 12 Part 2 Chapter 30: The Dead (3)

She answered the man outside from the bed, saying she would tidy herself up a bit and then go downstairs. The man outside seemed to say something else, but she didn't hear it clearly. At that moment, her head throbbed with a splitting pain, as if a needle was piercing her temple. She groaned softly, touched her forehead, and found it unusually hot. Being sick at this time was obviously adding insult to injury. She sat blankly on the edge of the bed for a while before barely managing to stand up, intending to walk to the door.

Just then, she suddenly heard some faint noises. She stopped and listened intently. The sounds were in the room, very faint, like cracking happening somewhere in the darkness. She looked around the room, her body grew cold, and the needle in her temple pierced deeper. The cracking sounds disappeared, and the room returned to silence.

She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it must be her imagination.

Just as she took another step towards the door, the sound suddenly came again. This time she heard it more clearly, and she was certain that the sound was coming from inside the room. She looked around; the dark walls were shrouded in shadow, and a bed, a table, and a chair were the only pieces of furniture in the room. Where were those sounds coming from?

She slowly walked towards the wall by the window and pressed her ear against it.

The cracking is happening slowly.

The wall suddenly burst open, and a shadow rushed towards her from inside.

She was tackled to the ground by a dark figure, and at the same time, a pungent stench made her gag twice. She tried to push the dark figure off her, feeling something soft and sticky to her touch. Only then did she realize that what was on top of her was a man's corpse.

The man's ugly, twisted face was very close to hers, his dead fish eyes filled with indifference, resentment, anger, and all the hatred that the world could contain. He didn't seem like a corpse at all, but rather like a messenger from the underworld, a soul-reaping being, about to take her to that cold, hopeless world of no return.

The scream rang out at that moment, and she felt her soul leave her body, beginning to drift in the boundless darkness...

“The body wasn’t standing upright inside the wall. It should have been leaning slightly outwards, which would have put pressure on the plasterboard wall. After a while, this pressure would have caused the plasterboard wall to crack, and the body would have fallen out.” Qin Ge’s voice was somewhat feigned calmness. “What I’m most worried about now is what the person who planned all this is trying to do.”

The young woman stared at Qin Ge in terror, desperately trying to grasp something. Her gaze darted around before settling on Huang Tao, who sat beside her. Now she knew that Huang Tao was the one who had carried her downstairs, the first person she saw when she opened her eyes after waking up, and now he was sitting right next to her. However, Huang Tao's face was stiff, his gaze fixed on some unknown corner of the room, not even glancing at her.

“We’ve examined the body, and it’s clearly different from the one downstairs. The downstairs body had no injuries, making it difficult for us to determine the cause of death. But the upstairs body had multiple stab wounds on its chest, clearly indicating it was stabbed to death repeatedly. Each wound was potentially fatal, yet the killer still stabbed so many times. This can only mean that the killer and the victim either had a deep-seated grudge, or the killer had a psychological disorder, exhibiting mental abnormalities.” Qin Ge’s brows furrowed deeply. At this moment, he knew he needed to let everyone know what had happened to keep them on their toes. Moreover, he suddenly had a premonition that the person who orchestrated all of this had a reason for choosing them. In other words, there must be something in common among these fourteen people on the bus, or a thread connecting them all. Finding this thread was crucial to uncovering the truth.

He glanced at Dong'er, who was propping her head up and staring intently at him, then at Su He with a worried expression, the six model girls, the indifferent Lei Ming, the dull Zhang Song, and Tong Hao whose gaze never left Su He. A sense of helplessness welled up within him. Now, these people had to rely on him to continue facing this bizarre reality, and he truly didn't know if he had the ability to lead them out of this predicament. His pleading gaze fell on Huang Tao. If anyone could lend him a hand at this crucial moment, it would undoubtedly be Huang Tao. But Huang Tao's current dejected appearance was a stark contrast to his demeanor the night before.

Qin Ge sighed heavily in disappointment and sat down beside Dong'er. Dong'er quickly grasped his hand, so tightly, her fingers trembling slightly. At that moment, Qin Ge felt a profound tremor, accompanied by intense pain. He wasn't afraid of any danger; having chosen the profession of police officer, he had long prepared himself for potential harm. But how could he let it happen to Dong'er? Dong'er was always like a child, she should live happily like other innocent girls in the city. The worry on Dong'er's face, the barely suppressed fear in her eyes—these were things he had sworn never to appear on her. Now, they were a deep pain in his heart, and he couldn't help but want to hold Dong'er in his arms, to hold her tightly, to let all the impending misfortune fall upon him.

Qin Ge suddenly stood up again, still holding Dong'er's hand.

As Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 2, Chapter 31: The Dead (4)

"Regardless of what else the person who orchestrated all this has prepared for us, and regardless of their ultimate goal, what we need to do now is work together to get out of this predicament," Qin Ge said emphatically. "According to our original plan, we should have gone to find a way out of the mountains today, but since the person who orchestrated all this has gone to such lengths, they certainly won't let us leave easily. Moreover, they aren't harming us, and the reason for this might be the key to the problem. So, no matter what happens now, we must not panic or lose our composure. Even the strangest things have a reasonable explanation, and what we think is impossible might have a very simple reason. I have a feeling that these unusual events are just the surface, and the real core hasn't been revealed yet. However, if we don't step into this core, the person who orchestrated all this will definitely not give up; they will create more bizarre events to force us into it. Therefore, we should remain calm and composed, that is, no matter what happens, we should treat it as our illusion. If we stay still, we won't be the ones who are anxious in the end."

He turned to look at the torrential rain pouring down outside the door, paused, and then said, "It's raining heavily outside, and there are high mountains all around. Whoever orchestrated all this must have calculated that we wouldn't be able to get out."

"Then shall we stay here and wait for him to appear?" Dong'er asked.

Qin Ge hesitated for a moment, unsure whether his actions were right or wrong. At that moment, another thought lingered in his mind: to lead everyone out of the mountains. The mountains were majestic and endless; no matter how capable the person orchestrating all this was, they couldn't possibly monitor every part of the mountains. Perhaps this way, they could escape his control. This thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately knew it wouldn't work. Since that person had gone to such lengths to plan this, how could they easily let them out of his sight? Even if they did escape his control, who could guarantee they would actually make it out of the mountains?

“There are buildings here to shelter from the rain, and food to fill our stomachs. Staying here is better than running around aimlessly in the mountains.” This time it was Huang Tao who spoke. He still looked lost and dejected, but when he spoke, he exuded an undeniable firmness.

Qin Ge immediately knew that his idea was correct, and Huang Tao's words gave him a sense of strength.

“We can finally take a good rest and use this time to introduce ourselves. I think the person who orchestrated all of this must not have chosen us randomly. There must be some kind of connection between us, a connection that may only exist with him. But at least, we can look for common ground among us. This will greatly help us uncover the truth of the whole incident.” Qin Ge’s gaze fell on everyone’s faces one by one. “At this point, I think everyone should be more honest.”

No one spoke, and some people even looked timid.

“Since neither of you is saying anything, I’ll go first.” Qin Ge sat back down next to Dong’er and gently put her arm around her shoulder. “This is our honeymoon. We just got married ten days ago. Our destination was a tourist area in southern Xinjiang, where we had a great time. On the last day, we took a bus to a neighboring provincial capital, and then flew home. Our last memory is of that bus to the provincial capital; we fell asleep and woke up here.”

Qin Ge paused, and seeing that no one had spoken yet, continued, "I'm a police officer, a criminal investigator. I received rigorous professional training at the police academy. My strengths lie in shooting and logical reasoning." He touched his waist, giving a wry smile, "Unfortunately, I don't have a gun on me right now, otherwise, I could demonstrate my shooting skills for everyone." He then changed the subject, emphasizing, "But I also have four years of investigative knowledge from the police academy and ten years of experience as a criminal investigator. I also know that police officers can never abandon their responsibilities, no matter when or where. Therefore, I ask everyone to trust me, and to trust yourselves. As long as we work together, we will definitely overcome this predicament."

Silence remained; no one spoke. Qin Ge was slightly disappointed and looked at Huang Tao, hoping he would support her and set a good example. But Huang Tao's gaze was fixed on the rain outside the door, remaining silent as if he hadn't heard Qin Ge's words.

Qin Ge suddenly felt that Huang Tao was somewhat unfathomable, and perhaps he was not as simple as she thought.

Asi Hell: 773 Horror Series 12 Part 2 Chapter 32: The Dead (5)

“Then let me tell you about myself.” It was Su He who spoke. Her voice was calm, with a maturity that seemed out of place for her age. “My name is Su He, and my biggest hobby is traveling. Sometimes, when I look at a place on a map, I tell myself, I want to go there. Then, I actually go out alone with just a backpack. Some people online call people like me ‘backpackers.’ This time, I wanted to go to Tibet. I chose to travel from Chengdu to Tibet via the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. I followed a tour group through Ya’an, Luding, and Kangding, and arrived at a place called Xinduqiao. The rest of my experience was the same as Qin Ge’s. Because I was exhausted from the journey, I slept very soundly, and when I woke up, I found myself already on the bus.”

Su He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping around, avoiding Tong Hao: "My hometown is in Shandong. After graduating from university, I stayed in a city in Jiangnan. My major was landscape architecture, but I didn't do it properly. I only worked at an architectural design institute for a year before resigning. I hope that one day I can go to all the places I want to go, and then settle down."

"So where does your travel expenses come from?" Qin Ge asked.

Su He paused for a moment, and Qin Ge noticed a hint of indifference in her eyes.

"Inheritance," Su He said calmly. "My mother died young, and my father died in a car accident a few years ago. I sold our house in my hometown, and that money is enough for me to live on for a few years. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Qin Ge stared at her for a long time before shaking his head.

“Then let me tell you about us.” This time it was Xu Juan, the leader of the model team, who spoke. “We are all from Chengdu. We went to Shenzhen to perform this spring. We had been away from home for several months, and we wanted to go home and rest for a while. We were supposed to fly directly from Shenzhen to Chengdu, but thinking that everyone’s money is hard-earned, we decided to take a bus instead, which would save us a few hundred yuan. On the night before the bus arrived in Chengdu, we suddenly fell asleep, and when we woke up, we were here.”

Xu Juan glanced back at her teammates and continued, "Last night, we checked our belongings and nothing was missing. But when we woke up in the car, we all felt tired and hungry, our bodies were weak, and we couldn't muster any energy."

“We’re missing three days from our memories. Nobody knows what happened during those three days, but everyone went without food or water and came to this valley from different places. Even if we were unconscious, it must have been incredibly tough,” Qin Ge said with a wry smile.

Xu Juan stopped talking, clearly having said what she wanted to say. Qin Ge looked around; no one continued, and the room fell silent. Su He suddenly turned her head, and her gaze met that of Tong Hao, who was staring at her. Tong Hao sensed the encouragement in Su He's eyes; his face flushed, he gave an awkward laugh, and then stood up.

“My name is Tong Hao. I just graduated from university this year and haven’t found a job yet. I came out on this trip to clear my head because something really sad happened to me not long ago.” Tong Hao hesitated for a moment, glancing timidly at Su He. “I thought that traveling around might make me feel better, so I came out alone without telling my family. Now I don’t know when I can go home, so I’m most worried about my parents. They must be worried about me. But I don’t regret this trip at all, not at all.”

The young man was very shy, his face flushed red as he spoke. He seemed to want to say something more, but after a moment of hesitation, he swallowed the words back. Meanwhile, Dong'er leaned close to Qin Ge's ear and whispered, "It seems you guessed right. He must have been heartbroken. Only heartbreak could make this young man, who hasn't fully grown up, so sad. Now, he's seen someone else he likes, so he doesn't regret this journey."

Qin Ge squeezed her hand, nodded, and gestured for her not to speak.

Tong Hao sat down, head bowed, somewhat uneasy. He stole a glance at Su He beside him, and their eyes met. Su He smiled gently, and he stared at her, momentarily stunned, feeling a sharp pain in his heart again. His gaze became unfocused, and lingering shadows began to flicker in the dim room. Then, the woman who had once illuminated his entire life gradually became clear in those shadows.

He shook his head, wiping his already moist eyes. The light and shadow faded, and the woman named Su He was staring at him with some surprise. He realized his lapse in composure, forced a smile, but tears welled up in his eyes again. He lowered his head, silently murmuring a woman's name, and more tears appeared in his eyes.

Later, Su He saw two tears slowly fall from the eyes of the dejected young man with his head down.

Su He suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for the young man. What an innocent young man he was, she thought.

Ashe Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 3, Chapter 33: The Soul Bottle (1)

Zhang Song first conceived the idea of going to Sichuan a year ago. On that occasion, a friend dragged him to an antique-style street to buy jade. Zhang Song picked out two Xinjiang Hetian jade pendants for him. On the way back, he was suddenly attracted by a strangely shaped pottery jar.

The antique-style street is lined with shops selling antiques and calligraphy, but most of them sell fakes. Even the occasional genuine piece is from the late Qing or early Ming dynasty. Zhang Song, who used to work in a museum and now works for the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, is well-known in the industry, and many antique shop owners recognize him. These owners dread Zhang Song's visits. Fakes are meant to fool nouveau riche and corrupt government officials, and they'd be exposed as soon as they encounter someone like Zhang Song with a shrewd eye. Zhang Song is gentle and easygoing, and a bit reserved in social situations, but he understands these shop owners' minds. Whenever he accompanies someone to the antique-style street, he tries to remain silent as much as possible. If a friend pesters him to help appraise something, he tries to be tactful.

This time, he intended to buy jade for his friend and leave, but the strangely shaped pottery jar made him momentarily dazed. And, after walking quite a distance, he turned back.

On the antique-style street, you'll often see disheveled people squatting by the roadside, usually with a newspaper spread out in front of them, on which rests an object that appears to be ancient. Many people in the city know these are poorly made handicrafts, made using various antiquing techniques to give them a vintage look. Therefore, most people passing by these disheveled individuals will give them a disdainful look.

Now, what attracts Zhang Song is a ceramic jar displayed on a newspaper by the roadside.

Strictly speaking, there should be five pottery jars: an oval-shaped, deep-bellied jar with four smaller, dish-mouthed, pot-shaped jars encircling its neck. The central large jar transitions from plain to sculpted from bottom to top, with a few hand-molded pieces, all decorated with simple, rustic figures and animals.

Zhang Song had only seen such a pottery jar in books; it was called a five-linked jar.

Behind the five cans stood an old man with white hair and beard, his face deeply lined like parched land. He wore a stained blue long gown and had a long-stemmed pipe dangling from his mouth. He sat leisurely in front of a roadside lightbox advertisement, his expression relaxed, occasionally exhaling a puff of smoke, his eyes squinting, seemingly oblivious to the passersby and unconcerned about whether his goods would sell.

Zhang Song walked up to the old man, squatted down, and took the five-canister set in his hand to examine it closely.

Zhang Song immediately recognized the five-linked jars as modern artifacts. The book described this type of jar as an antique from the Han Dynasty, and pottery making in the Han Dynasty differed significantly from modern methods. Nevertheless, Zhang Song still wanted to buy it; even if it was a modern fake, such pottery jars were quite rare.

He had expected that haggling would require a lot of talking, as most people selling counterfeit goods on the roadside were incredibly foolish, stubbornly believing their items were indistinguishable from the real thing. But the old man in the blue robe, smoking a long pipe, was surprisingly frank; when Zhang Song asked the price, he held up one finger.

"A thousand yuan?" Zhang Song asked tentatively.

The old man chuckled, exhaling a puff of smoke that made him appear somewhat enigmatic. He replied in a difficult-to-understand dialect, "If you're willing to pay this price, I don't object, but all I want is one hundred yuan."

Zhang Song paused for a moment, then smiled and asked again, "Do you know what kind of jar this is?"

“How could I not know what I made myself?” The old man chuckled, looking at Zhang Song with a hint of mockery. “This is the soul bottle I made. I’ve made it my whole life. People in my area call me Suni, so they also call my jars the Suni Five-in-One Jars.”

Without hesitation, Zhang Song bought the jar. He had wanted to chat with the old man a bit more, but the old man took the money and immediately rushed into a small roadside inn. His friend, who had bought the jade, approached Zhang Song, asking with some doubt why he would buy such cheap, counterfeit goods from a roadside vendor. Zhang Song smiled but offered no explanation. His friend was also a writer, albeit a young one, who had written several horror novels that sold quite well. But in Zhang Song's eyes, he didn't even understand the basic difference between a story and a novel. Could you really expect someone like that to know what a soul bottle was?

The soul bottle is a vessel used to prepare food for the deceased's soul. It is a resting place for the soul, a bridge for communication between the living and the dead, and a passage for the soul to return to its ancestral home and ascend to heaven. Simply put, it is a type of funerary object unique to the agricultural peoples of China, and it had different names and shapes in different historical periods. After the Yuan and Ming dynasties, soul bottles gradually became rarer, but the custom of storing food or grain in bottles or jars and placing them in tombs for the deceased's soul to eat still remains among some Han Chinese and ethnic minorities who practice burial.

Ashe Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 3, Chapter 34: The Soul Bottle (2)

The five-linked jar is a unique soul bottle shape from the Han Dynasty. The old man selling the jar said he has made these soul bottles all his life. This means that in some parts of China, the custom of using soul bottles as burial objects for the deceased is still in use. There must be many other burial customs preserved along with the five-linked jar. If one could go to that place to investigate, there would surely be unexpected discoveries.

Ever since a piece of this pottery appeared in his home, Zhang Song has become somewhat absent-minded. He often takes the five-piece jar to his study late at night to examine it closely, gazing at it for long periods of time, as if the jars could tell him where their home is.

Zhang Song studied the sculpted and molded details on the pottery jars, but the simple and unrefined images offered him no clues. He recalled the old man selling the jars; his blue robe and long-stemmed pipe provided no further clues. He could only deduce from the old man's broken Mandarin that he must be from some ethnic minority, but he couldn't quite pinpoint which one.

And so, the five cans sat in Zhang Song's house for more than half a year.

One night, Zhang Song dreamed of the old man selling jars again, this time on the sidewalk of the antique-style street. The old man said, "People in my area call me Suni, so they also call my jars Suni Five-in-One Jars."

Zhang Song suddenly opened his eyes, and he was so excited that he almost jumped out of bed.

The five-canned jars from Suni. Suni is the old man's name. Ethnic minorities have their own traditions and customs regarding naming; based on this clue, it shouldn't be difficult to determine the ethnicity of the old man selling the jars.

That evening, Zhang Song discovered that the word "Suni" was a Yi word, but it wasn't a personal name; rather, it referred to an ancient profession. The Yi people call their tribal shaman "Suni."

The old man selling jars was actually a Yi ethnic shaman.

Xichang, in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, is the capital and naturally the largest Yi-populated area. Once there, one could certainly trace back to regions where this type of five-linked jar is still in use. Besides the local customs, Xichang's natural scenery and Yi culture also began to draw him in, and this longing grew stronger with time. The Yi people, descendants of the hero "Zhige Aru," whose blood and spirit fell upon a pleated skirt, extended a distant call to Zhang Song from thousands of miles away.

By the following summer, Zhang Song could no longer contain himself and finally took leave to embark on his journey to Sichuan. However, before he even reached his destination, he found himself in this unfamiliar valley.

"That's about it for me." Zhang Song looked around nervously; everyone was still staring at him, seemingly wanting more. Although Zhang Song was a bit dull, a writer is a writer; he could talk a good game, making even the most ordinary events sound full of twists and turns in his words. Everyone was now filled with curiosity about the five-linked soul bottle, but he stopped there.

Qin Ge shook his head in disappointment: "The person who brought us here is really despicable. If I had to find you, I would have asked you to figure out the Soul Bottle matter first."

Dong'er and the other young models chimed in. Zhang Song smiled awkwardly, his face full of helplessness, and said repeatedly, "This isn't my fault, it's not my fault."

Qin Ge let out another long sigh, looked at the young models, and then at Su He and Tong Hao, who had already shared their experiences: "After listening for so long, I realized that none of us have anything in common, and I can't find any connection between us."

"So does that mean the rest of you don't need to waste everyone's time anymore?" Lei Ming replied coldly.

"Of course, the clues may be hidden in the most inconspicuous place. Maybe if we find a common ground between two people, we can follow the clues and find out something we haven't noticed yet."

Lei Ming fell silent, but at that moment, everyone's eyes were on him. He hesitated for a moment, then stared coldly at Qin Ge: "Isn't it my turn to speak now?"

Qin Ge forced a smile: "If you're willing."

There was an invisible killing intent emanating from Lei Ming, which Qin Ge had sensed more than once. Now, that killing intent was beginning to gather and take shape again. Qin Ge felt uneasy; he couldn't discern the ultimate destination of this killing intent.

“My situation is very simple, nothing particularly exciting. I’m a programmer working for an internet company. In the spring, I worked with a few colleagues to write a program for customs. We spent three whole months in one room working on it. When the job was finished, I received a bonus, which made me very happy. I bought my wife a lot of gifts and also signed up two travel agencies. I wanted to take my wife to Lijiang Old Town, which she had been wanting to visit for a long time, during a vacation after the job was finished.”

As Lei Ming's murderous aura intensified, Qin Ge immediately realized that something unexpected had definitely happened in his life.

"My wife had been wanting to go to Lijiang for a long time. She collected many articles and pictures about Lijiang online and even dragged me to watch a TV series called 'A Meter of Sunshine.' Lijiang is truly beautiful. Gradually, I also became interested in that place. The mysterious Naxi tribe, the ancient Dongba culture, the beautiful Spruce Meadow, and the majestic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain—it's a legendary ancient city where even the air is filled with the scent of love. I didn't tell my wife that I had booked a tour to Lijiang through a travel agency. I wanted to surprise her and then enjoy the romance that magical ancient city had to offer us."

Lei Ming spoke emotionally, but his gentle narration made everyone feel uneasy.

"At that time, I was only thinking about how to make her happy and how to make her never regret marrying me. But I never expected that when I returned home, she would be gone. She had gone with another man."

Everyone had already guessed that something must have happened between Lei Ming and his wife, but this ending still felt regretful. Although Lei Ming seemed a bit sinister, when he mentioned giving his wife a surprise and taking her to the Lijiang Ancient Town she had always longed for, everyone could hear the deep love he had for her.

Ashe Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 3, Chapter 35: The Soul Bottle (3)