Histoires de fantômes

Chapitre 175

Perhaps she had too much faith in the power of the "Tower of the Dead," so she was willing to risk disappearing again to make one last gamble. I turned around with difficulty, suddenly pushed off with my feet, and leaped out of the water, taking three steps forward. My toes touched the water's surface twice, and when I landed again, I was already inside the tower.

The water level on the first floor of the pagoda was more than half a meter deep. I put Guan Baoling down and stood in the water with her. The water reflected the bright sunlight, constantly rippling, and countless light and shadow danced on the roof like some kind of mischievous sprites.

"Thank you." Guan Baoling smiled weakly, steadied herself, and faced southwest.

I looked around warily. The three steps leading to the second floor were submerged. The ground under my feet was very flat and everything was normal. It had not been replaced by any glass floor.

"Give me five minutes, it will be over soon." She closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, bowed her head slightly forward, and began to pray devoutly.

The interplay of light and shadow never ceased. As I looked up at the roof, it seemed as if behind every patch of white light lay a hidden opening, capable of instantly launching me into a distant, mysterious world. My feet remained icy cold, my soaked trousers clinging tightly to my body, growing ever tighter.

The water is so clear that one can see the smooth ground and the straight, slender cracks in the stones without any obstruction—"Where does the water come from? Could it be from the huge dome under the meditation hall or some body of water related to the glass box? The key issue is that all the water is freshwater, which is incredible for the Muwan Zhoushan area, which is isolated and extends into the sea."

I wonder if climbing to the top of the tower now will lead to some kind of adventure? I'm not in the mood to try it. I'd better leave this research to the Japanese scientists. But I should warn them to bring enough compressed food.

Xiao Keleng and Xiao Lai climbed onto the wall at the same time, no longer shouting, but silently watching the commotion. I was standing to the side and behind Guan Baoling. Although we were in extremely harsh conditions, my joints were constantly tense. If anything happened, I would grab her waist and rush out of the tower.

Scientifically speaking, the instantaneous transformation of alternate dimensions is beyond human control. Even if I could move at a speed comparable to the initial velocity of a gunshot, hundreds or even thousands of meters per second, carrying Guan Baoling, my reaction would still be far too slow compared to the interval between those miraculous changes. For example, when I rushed down from the top of the tower last time, I entered the glass box without even realizing it. Since I couldn't detect it, how could I possibly make an escape attempt?

Often, people can only do their best, which is why there is the brilliant Chinese saying, "Man proposes, God disposes."

Five minutes passed quickly. Fortunately, there was no unusual change or spatial transformation in the tower, and the water level even seemed to have receded somewhat.

"Wind, take me to the 'Well of Spirits'." Guan Baoling opened her eyes, let out a long breath, and looked much better. However, her clothes were soaked through, and in this cold weather, she was afraid she would catch a cold. We glanced at the stairs almost simultaneously, shivered at the same time, and quickly looked away.

"What are you thinking about?" Her lips trembled slightly, and she crossed her arms, her long, icy hair shimmering with a strange light as she swayed her shoulders.

I smiled and said, "I was wondering if the water gushing out of the courtyard floor was a sign that the glass box was about to float or sink? In any case, there is definitely some strange connection between the two—unfortunately, we have important business to attend to and don't have time to go to the top of the tower to take a look."

Guan Baoling forced a smile: "Yes, we have more important things to do. Mr. Ye's health is more important than anything else. Can we go now?"

I didn't say much, after all, I wanted to see the result of my prayers and what method could break the curse of "black magic." Since the prayers in the pagoda were so effective, couldn't I also pray earnestly and ask heaven to tell me how to remove the curse of the fanged demon from Guan Baoling's body?

The Fifth Undersea Mystery

— Chapter 5 - Water Illusion (Part 2) —

"Mr. Feng, please come out quickly, it's dangerous inside—" Xiao Keleng finally couldn't hold back any longer. He gathered his inner strength and shouted loudly. With the help of the reflection on the water, his voice went straight into the tower, forming a huge echo that made my ears ring.

The monks around us were just indifferent onlookers, not caring about the life or death of Guan Baoling and me. Only Xiao Keleng and Xiao Lai were anxious and worried, thinking of us in every way.

I picked up Guan Baoling a second time, leaped out of the tower gate, and once again used the "Floating on Water" lightness skill, lightly touching the water's surface with my toes more than ten times before rushing out of the courtyard.

Guan Baoling's body was light and soft, like a sleepy kitten, lying quietly in my arms.

Even in my frantic run, I could still sense beneath her soaked clothes that she possessed remarkably well-proportioned flesh and bone, her smooth skin as soft as satin or more like the "congealed fat" often described by the ancients. Bai Juyi once used the phrase "the hot spring water smooths the congealed fat" to describe Yang Guifei. Although there wasn't a hot spring beneath my feet, I could imagine that truly beautiful women in the world possess such perfect skin, unlike American girls whose skin is rough, with large pores and a prominent bone structure, devoid of any aesthetic appeal.

"And what about Reese, codenamed 'Silver Dandelion'? She's a typical girl..."

As I rushed towards the "Tower of the Dead," the image of Resica flashed through my mind. Perhaps she has long since perished at the bottom of the river and been devoured by fish. No matter how many illustrious achievements she had before, they will all turn into a stack of black-and-white files in the Pentagon's archives with this disappearance.

Regardless of her purpose in coming to Hokkaido, and regardless of what methods the spies Oscar and "Pompeii" will use to search for her, I think Resica's life should be put to rest.

"Are you distracted? What are you thinking about?" Guan Baoling closed her eyes because of the bright sunlight, her eyelashes trembling incessantly.

I quickened my pace, not wanting her to guess what was on my mind.

"I thought of the missing Resica. What about you?" She sighed with a bitter smile.

To avoid being disturbed by the nosy monks, I stepped over the wall as soon as I left the water, not even bothering to go through the moon gate. I figured the water on my body must have frozen by now; as I bent and straightened my legs, my clothes became stiff and made a cracking sound as the thin ice broke.

"During my trip to Hokkaido, the only person connected to 'black magic' was her. Perhaps my time with her was too short, and we didn't have time to talk in detail. I always felt there was some kind of connection between us, because even after she disappeared, I felt as if I could constantly sense her presence, somewhere far away. The wind is really strange; I feel that she didn't die, but rather entered that huge underwater structure..."

I couldn't help but look down and gaze intently at her face.

"Really? Why don't you draw her?" With her drawing skills, she should be able to depict her thoughts quite vividly. I had this thought when she had that strange dream last time.

“No, I can’t see her, I just have a vague feeling. I can feel her when she walks, when she sits, when she runs—” Guan Baoling opened her eyes, sighed in confusion and bewilderment, and suddenly asked, “Tell me, who is she?”

At this moment, we have entered the courtyard of the "Well of Spirits". Guan Baoling's hair hangs stiffly behind her shoulders, as if she has been given a new "steel wire straightening" hairstyle.

I reluctantly let her land, and at the same time answered her question: "She is a journalist, an ordinary American journalist."

The true identity of "Silver Dandelion" exists only in the top-secret files of the Americans. There is no need to tell Guan Baoling, as doing so would only increase unnecessary danger.

Guan Baoling wiped the water from her forehead, looked into my eyes, and suddenly gave a bitter smile: "Feng, don't hide it from me. Actually, I can sense her true identity and know her goal in coming to Hokkaido, but I'm not sure—I'm not her, so why can I sense some of her thoughts?"

I paused for a moment, but then shook my head and smiled, "Let's get down to business first. We can talk about these things later."

The well water was calm, without the strange, turbulent scene she had expected. Guan Baoling felt somewhat disappointed. She circled the well a few times, muttering to herself in confusion, "What? Was my prayer not sincere enough this time? Did it fail to move Heaven?"

The water remained crystal clear, seemingly possessing some kind of magical purifying power, maintaining its equally clear and captivating appearance at all times. I personally witnessed drops of plague-infected blood being diluted more than twice as quickly as in ordinary water.

Xiao Keleng was the first to follow, followed closely by Xiao Lai. Both of them had the safety on their guns off, ready to fire accurately at any moment.

I quickly went to meet them and whispered, "Block the moon gate and don't let a single monk through."

I hope that if a divine oracle truly appears, it will only be seen by Guan Baoling and me, and not spread throughout the world, lest we lose the initiative. The tycoon has friends all over the world, but the number of enemies is also maintained at a ratio of one to one with his friends. Friends naturally hope that the tycoon can break the curse and regain his former glory, while the enemies have the exact opposite wish; they would rather the tycoon remain impotent for life and never recover.

If the oracle tells us the only way to save the tycoon, it would be something we should be extremely careful to keep secret.

Xiao Keleng called out in a low voice, "Mr. Feng, please be careful. Don't let a disappearance happen like last time! I can't explain this to Sister Su Lun. Please! Please!" The muscles on her face were strangely distorted due to excessive anxiety, and she kept biting her lip, leaving a row of shocking bloodstains on her lower lip.

Before I could answer, Xiao Lai also gasped and whispered, "Mr. Feng, if anything strange happens, let me go first. Please don't risk it alone. Otherwise, what use is a brother like me? Mr. Sun Long also said that if one of us has to die first, it will definitely be me. Even if I manage to survive and return, he will kill me with his own hands!"

I know that I am not only facing Xiao Keleng and Xiao Lai, but also many other people who are watching me.

Xiao Keleng retreated to the front of the Moon Cave Gate, glanced at Guan Baoling several times, and sighed helplessly, all his accusations, dissatisfaction, and resentment towards me contained in his sigh.

The wind was bitterly cold, and I struggled to circulate my internal energy to resist the chill, but I wasn't sure how long Guan Baoling could hold out in this state. Her fox fur coat, black dress, and shoes were all soaked through; perhaps in half an hour, all her clothes would freeze into an icy armor, tightly enveloping her.

"What happened to her amazing martial arts skills? What happened to her lightness skill?"

I was secretly considering whether I should expose her to the extreme of cold to force her to reveal her martial arts skills once again.

The monks didn't dare rush in. They were still wary of the guns the two young men were carrying. Besides, during the peak tourist season, there were countless people coming to the tower to pray, so they wouldn't risk their lives to come and watch the spectacle.

After waiting for a full twenty minutes, the well water remained unchanged, and Guan Baoling's face darkened again. Her body was definitely frozen solid; her long hair was glistening with tiny ice crystals. If this continued, she would surely fall seriously ill.

I approached her and whispered, "Miss Guan, should we change our clothes first before coming back? Be careful not to catch a cold."

Guan Baoling shook her head without hesitation: "No, since I have heard the call of heaven, the divine decree will surely be conveyed. Perhaps I should return to the tower again—"

Just as I was saying this, the well water churned, and a dozen or so strings of white bubbles rose to the surface, making varying "poof" sounds as they burst.

Guan Baoling let out a soft cry of surprise, stepped onto the well platform, and clenched her fists tightly, as if she were channeling all her strength into her eyes. The well platform was so slippery, and she was wearing delicate high heels, so of course she couldn't stand steadily and was in danger of slipping into the water at any moment.

I took a step forward, fully alert, afraid that she might slip and fall into the water.

The bubbles visible to the naked eye appear at a depth of about eight to ten meters, but anyone with basic physics knowledge should know that under normal circumstances, all bubbles originate from the bottom of the water. In other words, if nothing strange happens in the water, these bubbles must have come from the bottom of the "Well of Spirits" and traveled a long distance to reach the surface.

In an instant, I remembered Shao Hei's "remote sensing" realm, where I stood outside two doors on the seabed and saw bubbles rising from underwater and then surging towards the infinitely high top of my head.

The spot where I was standing unexpectedly coincided with the place where my older brother had stood before. Facing due north, I could clearly see that the bubbles formed a huge clerical script character for "sparrow." The bubbles kept rising, and the character became clearer and clearer. In the end, it looked as if someone had used a large silver brush to write on the water's surface, with each stroke exceeding twenty centimeters in width.

“The character ‘雀’ (sparrow), right?” Guan Baoling grabbed my left arm, looking nervous.

I nodded, and then the position of the rising bubbles changed. The character "雀" disappeared, and what appeared on the water's surface was a pattern of a flying bird—a sparrow swiftly searching for food, its beak pointing due north, its wings spread wide, and its tail pointing due south. I couldn't help but blurt out, "Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sparrow Killing Formation!"

The sparrow's beak, the center of its forehead, the base of its wings, the tips of its wings, its claws, and its tail are nine prominent points in the field of vision. If the surface of the pool is divided into a nine-square grid, its heart is located in the center of the nine-square grid. Its head, wings, claws, and tail form the four gates of life, death, fright, and injury in the Bagua formation.

"What does that mean? Wind, do you know what that represents?" Guan Baoling didn't understand Qimen Dunjia, so she couldn't analyze the hidden meaning in a simple bird pattern. She just gripped my arm tightly, extremely tense.

After the sparrow pattern disappeared, four lines of small Han-style characters appeared on the water's surface: "Nine birds struggle for their lives, a great calamity befalls the world; dismantle it into a sparrow canal, and all curses and resentments will vanish."

The way the bubbles formed the writing was very similar to the laser water screen on National Day. If Guan Baoling's body hadn't been trembling with extreme tension, I would have thought it was a huge joke someone was playing on me.

“The oracles that have appeared before were just like this, just these four sentences!” She kept shaking my arm.

The four lines of text lasted for thirty seconds, with thousands of tiny bubbles rising to the surface, sustaining the twenty-four words. The sheer eeriness of the scene was comparable to David Copperfield's magic tricks. Luckily, it happened at midday under the bright sun; had it been in the eerie middle of the night, it would have terrified anyone.

The Fifth Undersea Mystery

— Chapter 6 — Gu Qingren City (Part 1) —

When Guan Baoling mentioned the writing that appeared in the "Well of Spirits" last time, I was still taking it with a grain of salt. But this time, when I saw the large characters made up of those bubbles with my own eyes, I was extremely shocked and filled with doubt. Without hesitation, I bent down and reached out to smash the writing.

The icy water seemed to possess a tremendous attraction. As soon as my hand dipped in, I suddenly felt as if there was an invisible whirlpool below the surface, trying to pull my body in rapidly. I quickly pulled my hand out with a "whoosh," splashing up a spray of water.

Bubbles continued to float to the surface. Guan Baoling asked again, "Did you understand? I consulted Master Shenbi at the temple about the meaning of these words. It was his answer that helped me find a clear path to break the 'black magic'."

The phrase "nine birds struggling for their lives" clearly refers to Xunfuyuan Villa. Unfortunately, Master Shenbi has died a violent death and can no longer tell me the meaning of these words in person. I plucked a handful of round, withered leaves from the bushes on the left and scattered them onto the water. As expected, dozens of leaves were immediately controlled by the undercurrent, spinning rapidly, and then being pulled to the bottom one by one.

Within five seconds, all the dead leaves disappeared, the water surface returned to its clear and bright state, and the bubbles stopped rising.

"If we demolish Xunfu Garden and rebuild it into a bird-shaped irrigation canal, the tycoon's illness will be cured—that's what Master Shenbi said?" I needed to get confirmation from her.

“Yes, he said this is the only way. Since Heaven has given me a divine decree, as long as I follow it, it will definitely work. Feng, after so much time, the content of the decree has not changed, which shows that Master Shenbi's answer is completely reasonable. This time, no matter what, you have to help me, okay?”

I steadied myself and smiled at her, "I promised you this before, so of course it's no problem."

The "nine-headed bird struggling for its life" layout at Xunfuyuan is obvious to anyone, and it really should be changed. The scalpel's exploration of the villa as a whole yielded no results, so at least through the process of dismantling it brick by brick, I can better understand the meaning behind my elder brother's original construction.

"Really?" A look of joy flashed across Guan Baoling's face.

I nodded: "A gentleman keeps his word. Let's go back to the villa right away. I will definitely keep my promise."

Before we got back to the car, Guan Baoling and I started sneezing one after another, making a loud noise. It was inevitable that we would catch a cold. In order to get back to dismantle Xunfuyuan as soon as possible, she even refused Xiao Keleng's kind suggestion that she go back and change her clothes first.

Xiao Lai quickly started the car and drove along the winding mountain road to the villa.

The last mystery left to me during my time at Fengge Temple was the martial arts skills Guan Baoling displayed when she got rid of me.

Guan Baoling and I sat in the back, while Xiao Keleng sat in the passenger seat, constantly turning her head to look out the window, her silent and gloomy face reflected in the glass. The atmosphere in the car was too oppressive. Xiao Lai pressed the switch on the record player, and suddenly, the frenetic voice of Japanese "little queen" Ayumi Hamasaki burst out, the loud rock music seeming to burst the car apart.

Xiao Lai quickly turned down the volume apologetically and said embarrassedly, "I didn't expect that a Japanese monk would also be a fan of Ayumi Hamasaki. It seems that Buddhism is not a completely pure land after all."

Guan Baoling sighed, "In this world, no matter where a person is, whether they are a Buddhist or a layperson, their heart will never change." Hamasaki Ayumi's fame is far inferior to hers, like the difference between a firefly and a bright lamp.

Xiao Lai smiled enviously in the rearview mirror: "Miss Guan's words are profound and philosophical. No wonder she's become famous all over the world and a source of pride for the Chinese community. The brothers in our association have 100% support for Miss Guan. Even Mr. Sun Long, Master Guan, and the Five Good Masters are your fans. Once you've recovered, please remember to sign autographs for everyone, okay?"

If it weren't for the twists and turns at Fengge Temple, how could the members of the Divine Gun Society have gotten close to a superstar like Guan Baoling? Therefore, Xiao Lai's words were absolutely sincere and contained no deliberate flattery.

A faint smile appeared on Guan Baoling's lips, and she nodded silently.

Xiao Lai deftly switched to another CD, which played a live version of Kenny King's 2004 Tokyo concert. The melodious saxophone music replaced the noisy and boisterous Hamasaki Ayumi, immediately soothing the mind.

His hit song "Going Home" was playing. Xiao Keleng suddenly seemed to realize something and muttered to himself, "Going home, going home? Are we going home now?"

I suddenly realized that from her days of wandering to being hired by Scalpel to manage the Xunfuyuan villa, this was her home, except for distant Pyongyang, South Korea. If it were demolished and rebuilt as a water channel, wouldn't she lose her home altogether? With Scalpel gone, even if Su Lun and I trusted her completely, we would still be living under someone else's roof. Especially regarding the fate of Xunfuyuan, whether it was demolished or not was entirely up to me; she had no say whatsoever, at most she was just a "senior housekeeper."

Thinking about it this way, I really should apologize to Xiao Keleng.

Silence fell over the car again. Except for Xiao Lai, the three of us turned our gazes out the window and looked at the undulating mountain ridges that were covered with thick white snow, making the rugged mountains appear gentle and kind.

After driving out of the winding mountain road, it wasn't long before we saw the dark town of Shentou. It seemed to be the only place in the world that could not be completely covered by snow. The black wall facing the sea stood coldly and indifferently.

Xiao Lai whistled softly and muttered to himself, "This godforsaken place, the owner is really strange. Why don't they sell it quickly? It's really annoying to leave it here!"