Histoires de fantômes

Chapitre 212

This statement was quite unexpected for Gu Qingcheng. I was the one most concerned about Su Lun's whereabouts; normally, I should be frantic with worry, not daring to delay for a moment. Why go to sleep so early, just past noon?

She showed surprise for only a moment before recovering and closing her notebook with a smile: "Okay, let's go back to camp. Anyway, the people who go into the cave won't come to any conclusions in the short term."

The inner ring of tents, arranged in a circular pattern, was prepared for us, while the outer ring was reserved for the Nepalese mercenaries.

The military-grade air mattress was flat and dry, and I fell asleep within a minute of crawling into my sleeping bag. I hadn't slept all night, and my energy was completely depleted. I felt my mind was filled with a ton of useless information, and I needed to calm down and sleep to clear away all those rubbish thoughts.

I slept soundly and deeply. When I opened my eyes again, it was already pitch black outside the tent. The searchlights set up by the mercenaries were slowly sweeping across all the tent tops, the snow-white lampposts repeatedly cutting through the endless darkness.

"If the compass fails, we can deploy five-poison smoke bombs at the tunnel entrance and then set up high-powered blowers to blow directly into the tunnel. In winter, the prevailing wind is from the north, so the smoke will enter the tunnel in a forward direction and drift towards the exit. We can follow the direction of the smoke flow and avoid getting lost again." This is my latest theoretical understanding, and with the logistical support from Gu Qingcheng's team, it's entirely feasible.

I crawled out of the tent; my watch showed it was past 1 a.m. I'd slept for almost twelve hours. It was probably just that my body had accumulated too much fatigue and needed a complete rest. Ever since I received the call about Suren's disappearance, I hadn't had a single peaceful night's sleep, but now I was finally free from tossing and turning.

Twenty paces to the side, a tent still had its lights on, the snow-white light shining straight through from under the curtain.

I walked to the tent, lifted the curtain to reveal Gu Qingcheng's bright eyes: "Feng, please come in quickly, I have some charts that I need your help to look at." When she was fully focused on her work, she was very similar to Su Lun, only more mature, wiser, and more insightful.

On the folding table inside the tent, there was a thick stack of white paper. The top sheet was covered with horizontal black dots, and next to it was a simple label: 40 meters wide, 25 meters wide, 33 stone pillars, about 25 meters high, and half a meter in diameter.

Gu Qingcheng, wearing a smoky gray coat, held a drawing pencil in her right hand and pointed to the numbers: "Feng, Uncle Wei and his team's latest exploration results show that they have reached a position forty meters from the cave entrance. There are thirty-three stone pillars arranged horizontally, reaching a considerable height of twenty-five meters, which is about the height of a five-story building. I've been thinking that these strange stone pillars are completely meaningless to humans, especially since they are hidden deep inside the tunnel."

On the other side of the table lay an open notebook, on which were drawings of the two ancient zithers engraved with the seal script character "雎鸠".

I sat down in the chair, and within minutes Gu Qingcheng had brewed a very strong Brazilian coffee. The aroma dispelled the last vestiges of my weariness.

"I suspect that the staggered arrangement of those stone pillars can amplify and alter the sound, or perform other post-processing effects. Actually, we should go back to the tunnel entrance in the dead of night and see if we can hear Suren's sigh again in the complete silence—of course, this time, it might not be a sigh, or perhaps it's a heartfelt outpouring of longing, right?"

She raised her glass to me in greeting, and a smile suddenly appeared in her eyes and brows.

I flipped through the stack of papers. The meticulous Gu Qingcheng had already made a statistical chart, which detailed that there were twenty rows of stone pillars from the entrance to the forty-meter mark. The number and diameter of each row of pillars were different, but the colors were exactly the same.

“The row with the most pillars has thirty-three, and the row with the fewest has only three. These pillars are not arranged according to the principles of architectural mechanics, but are arranged haphazardly, as if the builder did it on a whim, doing whatever came to mind without any plan.” Gu Qingcheng put down her pencil, held her white coffee cup in both hands and took a small sip, her gaze falling on me again.

"I've found a way to get through the stone formation!" I laughed. Regardless of the significance of the stone formation's arrangement, as long as I can get through it quickly, it's equivalent to breaking the formation.

“I have some too. I wonder if we’re thinking of the same thing?” She took out a short black incense stick from her backpack, lit it slowly with a lighter, and a scent of wormwood wafted out, filling her nose with a faint, astringent aroma. This black incense, made from plant extracts, is an Indian creation. It burns extremely slowly but is known for its effectiveness in repelling snakes and insects.

For a moment, I felt that my method of throwing smoke bombs was a bit of an overreaction, or that if everyone held an incense stick and watched the smoke drift, that would be the other side of the tunnel.

"Why don't we write our thoughts down on paper and see if we can have a tacit understanding?" She placed another pencil next to me, quickly wrote a few words on a piece of paper, picked it up, and hid it behind her back.

I hastily wrote eight characters on the paper: Everything is ready, except for the north wind.

She showed me what she had written: "South wind turning to north wind," which meant we were really on the same page. As long as the wind direction changes, passing through the stone pillar is an easy task.

In an instant, we felt a connection, and the immense oppression caused by Su Lun's disappearance over the past few days suddenly eased considerably. I straightened my back and let out a long sigh: "Miss Gu, I must say to you—thank you."

Too many frustrating mysteries have entangled me, leaving me unable to escape. From Hokkaido to this strange tunnel, everyone I've encountered has only brought me a growing sense of melancholy, and the endless rounds of bloody slaughter, yet the killer remains elusive, leaving me utterly bewildered.

Fortunately, Gu Qingcheng arrived in time, becoming the powerful assistance I had been longing for, and I was finally able to relax a bit.

“Feng, you’ve changed so much. Actually, Miss Suren’s disappearance is a thing of the past. All we need to do is try our best to find clues and then try our best to rescue her. Too much self-blame will cause great damage to your health, and it’s not worth it. I believe Miss Suren would have advised you the same way if she were here.”

She poured me another cup of coffee, added four more spoonfuls of milk, and placed it in front of me.

"Why are you going to such lengths to help me?" I looked up at her smiling face, her long hair cascading in the light and shadow, as gentle as a waterfall after the rain.

"Why not? You can spend a fortune to give me the 'Five Lakes' guqin, so of course I have to be allowed to reciprocate, right? However, let's be business. I've spent nearly three million US dollars preparing for this operation. If those sixteen guqin are discovered during the expedition, they're all mine as my reward. How about that?"

She smiled slyly, the two diamond studs in her earlobes sparkling brilliantly.

That reason is barely plausible. Since we met, I've deliberately kept my distance from her, simply because I didn't want to get involved in any romantic entanglements. She's so outstanding; it's too easy for someone to develop feelings over time. I already owe Su Lun so much; I shouldn't disturb someone else's world any further.

Part 3: The Square-Eyed Monster

— Chapter 4 — The Song Echoing from the Tunnel —

On the mattress to the right of the table sits a Sony laptop, its screen densely covered with images of dozens of guqin (a traditional Chinese stringed instrument). Next to the computer are blank sheets of paper and a pencil, covered with long passages of text and a series of huge question marks.

"Uncle Wei's tent has a wireless sound acquisition device set up, capable of recording, compiling, and refining all sound signals emitted from the tunnel. If he hears human voices again, he'll notify me immediately. He's very meticulous and will never miss any subtle clue. Feng, I hope you can adjust your emotions as soon as possible; your current state is very worrying—"

I smiled and nodded. Indeed, the state of human beings under pressure is like a giant rubber ball; when pressed to a certain point, the ball explodes, and the person completely collapses. An outsider's perspective is often clearer; her words were like a wake-up call, waking me up.

Suddenly, Uncle Wei's voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Miss, we have a lead, please come over."

Gu Qingcheng's expression changed, and she immediately lifted the curtain, pointing hurriedly to the south: "The first tent."

She was wise; knowing her lightness skill was inferior to mine, she made way for me to buy time. The tent flap was drawn low, revealing a faint green glow. I leaped to the front of the tent and immediately heard a series of sonic noises hissing.

"Squeak—twist," was the sound of a heavy door opening and closing.

"Ding-dong," that was the sound of water droplets falling from a height into the pool, with long intervals and lingering echoes.

As I entered the tent, I was immediately enveloped in fluorescent light. On the long table to my left, four laptops were neatly arranged, each displaying a constantly fluctuating sine wave on its screen. Four cables ran from the back of the laptops to a military-grade oscilloscope located under the south window. The oscilloscope was in turn connected to four or five black military cables that extended out from that small window.

Uncle Wei frowned as he looked at me, took off the headphones from his head, and tossed them to me: "Listen to this. It's a strange human voice, about three minutes long, playing on repeat."

He spoke very little, and his eyes and expression were cold, as if everyone owed him a lot of money.

I put on my headphones and immediately heard a deep, slow song.

Uncle Wei put on another pair of headphones and kept adjusting the knobs on the oscilloscope. The rhythm of the song kept speeding up, and I gradually understood that it was a very popular English song, "Auld Lang Syne".

Gu Qingcheng rushed in, panting, her long hair disheveled, and quickly picked up the third pair of headphones on the table.

"The sound collector is placed at the intersection of the diagonal lines connecting the tunnel entrances... It's made by the American company Antey, it's stable, and has extremely high sensitivity, and I've assigned four people to monitor it. Therefore, the sound can only be coming from deep within the tunnel. A girl singing? An English song? Wouldn't that be very strange?"

Uncle Wei didn't see any utter shock on my face, and was slightly disappointed.

The singing was mixed with the sound of dripping water, slightly interfering with my ability to accurately determine if it was Su Lun's voice. I walked to the oscilloscope and gently rotated the channel separation button, hoping to minimize the interference, but without success. The two sound sources were too close together and were being received by the collector simultaneously, making complete separation impossible.

Uncle Wei's single eyelids drooped, and he also had an expression of inexplicable frustration.

"Is it Su Lun?" Gu Qingcheng tossed her long hair, her violently heaving chest slowly calming down. On her left wrist was a new Omega diamond-encrusted watch, its luminous hands glowing faintly.

I shook my head: "I can't be sure."

At this moment, I must ensure that every word I say is 100% accurate so as not to mislead either of them.

Uncle Wei and Gu Qingcheng exchanged a glance, then immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and whispered, "Listen up, people at the cave entrance, immediately explore inside the cave, pay attention to any suspicious clues, reinforcements will be here soon."... This decision was not wise, but Gu Qingcheng did not object, so I had better remain silent and not overstep my bounds.

"I'll go check." Uncle Wei made an unconscious movement, clapping his elbows together, then reaching down to press on his left and right trouser pockets. This series of actions undoubtedly indicated that weapons were hidden in those four places, a checkpoint he always made before setting off.

His hands were fair and slender, which was quite incongruous with his rough and cold appearance.

Gu Qingcheng nodded silently, took a step back, and made way for him.

"If only that were Su Lun—" After Uncle Wei left in a hurry, Gu Qingcheng put down her headphones with a worried expression and sighed softly.

I really hoped it was her. I put my headphones back on and listened to it repeatedly, but I still couldn't be sure. If it was her, why would she sing this English song? Before this, I rarely heard Su Lun sing English songs. On the contrary, as a disciple of the master Guan Nan Wulang, she sang old Japanese songs in a deep and melodious voice, which I had the opportunity to appreciate before.

Gu Qingcheng lightly tapped her nails, muttering to herself in confusion, "What exactly is going on?"

The latest audio data no longer contained the singing, leaving only a strange rustling sound. After listening for a minute, Gu Qingcheng's expression suddenly changed drastically: "Wind, this sound... it should be the movement of snakes crawling... Could it be that the snakes in the cave... are stirring? It's not even past the Awakening of Insects in the Chinese lunar calendar yet, the hibernation of snakes and insects hasn't ended, how is this possible?"

It wasn't just a rustling sound; there was another hissing sound, the rapid flicking of the forked tongues of nimble snakes. Judging from the sound, it was an astonishingly large group of snakes, conservatively estimated at seven or eight hundred, or even over a thousand.

Things were getting increasingly bizarre. Outside the cave, the Dragon Witch was relentlessly pursuing them; inside, there was a labyrinth of stone pillars, and at the end of the labyrinth, a large group of venomous snakes blocked their path—

Gu Qingcheng turned on the light and looked at me with concern. Not wanting her to worry again, I immediately put on a bright smile: "It's just a minor problem. We're sitting in an armored jeep; even the fiercest snake can't reach us, right?"

She's thought things through thoroughly and already has a way to deal with venomous snakes; I'm just explaining it to her.

Gu Qingcheng smiled, her white teeth like newly blooming peonies, and her lips like painted vermilion, exuding indescribable charm.

"Feng, I'm so happy to see you cheer up again." Her smile, like a warm current in the winter night, continued to warm my heart. When I gave her the "Five Lakes" guqin, I never imagined I would need her help someday. By sheer chance, she has become my only strong ally in this predicament. ... Hurried footsteps sounded outside the tent. Looking out the small window, I saw Uncle Wei leading four people rushing towards the tunnel entrance.

My mind raced for a moment, and I immediately made a decision: "Miss Gu, I'll go with you—no, we'll go together. Perhaps with your intelligence, you can discover something of more value."

Girls love to hear compliments. Even someone as deep and wise as Gu Qingcheng couldn't help but smile sweetly when I said that: "Okay, let's go."

The night wind was icy cold. The campsite was about fifty meters from the tunnel entrance. By the time we came out of the tent, Uncle Wei was already almost at the entrance.

I concealed the real reason why I wanted Gu Qingcheng to come along. If the Dragon Witch were to make a comeback, would the people in the camp be able to protect her? With me by her side, at least I would do my best to protect her. As long as I am alive, I will shield her from danger.

"The south wind won't last long; it might turn north tomorrow, and we'll definitely get through the tunnel smoothly. Hmm, my brother once said that the collective bid for the sixteen guqin exceeded two hundred million. I hope we can come back with a full load this time, and that we can both get something. What do you say?" She pulled her collar tighter, full of anticipation.

I don't believe she's a greedy person; she's completely different from the vulgar Gu Zhijin. However, I wouldn't covet any jewelry on the other side of the tunnel; I'd rather give it all to her, provided she can successfully transport it back to Hong Kong Island through the underground passage.

"No problem," I answered readily.

In an instant, she felt a little lost: "Feng, are you not tempted by money and wealth at all? Last time you dared to give away your priceless guqin so easily, and this time you're asking for a favor without asking for money. In the 21st century, there's really no one as generous as you."

The wind whipped her long hair, sending it fluttering like smoke and mist. If a hawk were to witness this, it would surely be overcome with desire and launch a fierce romantic offensive.

I smiled and said, "Money is only a part of life. There are many things in life that are more precious than money."

Gu Qingcheng laughed loudly: "Many people say that, but a man who truly keeps his word and acts in accordance with his actions is one in a million, just like you. Most men are just all talk and no action. When it comes to profit, they don't care what they promised. They hold onto their money tightly and won't let go, like my brother."

Hearing my sister praise and criticize her brother like that, I couldn't help but sigh: "Wouldn't Old Gu be heartbroken to hear you say that?"

"That's the truth. As long as he has money, he won't be hurt. Or rather, he's seen it all, and he's become invulnerable. He's the one who hurts others, and no one can hurt him anymore." When she mentioned her brother, Gu Qingcheng's speech quickened, and her face returned to a smile.

Gu Zhijin, once a wealthy and dashing bachelor, was one of Hong Kong's four most eligible bachelors. However, after repeated setbacks in love, he was heartbroken and, after much reflection, decided to abandon the concept of "relationships," focusing only on "sex" and refusing romantic relationships. He eventually achieved an undefeated status. Successfully navigating both love and business, he remained successful in both fields year after year, becoming a role model for young people in Hong Kong.

He and I are from completely different worlds, with nothing in common, so most of the time we only talk business and not about friendship. Gu Qingcheng, on the other hand, gave me a completely different feeling. Talking with her was very pleasant, and I almost forgot that we were in the remote and impoverished southwest border region.

Looking back at the camp, the powerful beams of searchlights swept away all the darkness, occasionally illuminating the sentries carrying submachine guns. The saying "to do a good job, one must first have the right tools" is absolutely true. The men Flying Eagle originally led were unprofessional in every way; they were merely a hastily assembled motley crew.

When we arrived at the tunnel entrance, Uncle Wei was pacing back and forth with a grim face, holding a walkie-talkie.

He was accompanied only by the four people he had just brought; the original four team members had already entered the cave ahead of time, as instructed by him.

"No response, no lights, where did they go?" he muttered to himself, then... called out again, "Where have you gone? Answer me now, come out! Come out!"

Four spotlights hung on the stone wall beside the tunnel, their white light extremely dazzling. The four people inside the cave couldn't have gone too far; even without walkie-talkies, they should have heard him shouting.

The cave was pitch black, and there was no light from any flashlight, which was even more unbelievable.

“Uncle Wei, something must have happened inside…” Gu Qingcheng pondered.

Uncle Wei raised his hands high, like a gorilla about to erupt in anger: "You four, immediately notify the people in the camp to take emergency action and go into the cave to find the people." He must have been regretting why he had given the order to "go into the cave." Losing four people for no reason was definitely a blow to him.

I reached out and stopped the four people who were about to run towards the camp: "Uncle Wei, it's no use. They disappeared without a trace in a minute. In my estimation, what happened in the cave was definitely not the work of human beings. Acting blindly in the middle of the night will only cause greater losses. It's better to wait until dawn to carry out our operation."

The missing persons were truly out of our sight for just over a minute. If it weren't for the sudden and powerful external force, they would at least have had a chance to fire a warning shot.

"Uncle Wei, calm down. Feng's words make sense." Gu Qingcheng took the flashlight from one of the team members and shone it into the tunnel. The huge stone pillars stood silently in the dark, and there were no traces of a fight on the ground.

Uncle Wei, as expected of a seasoned veteran, quickly shifted from fury to calm: "Alright, you four go back to camp and join the other sentries. We'll temporarily abandon the guard duty at the cave entrance and discuss everything at dawn." He stroked his chin, squinting as he gazed into the cave.

I was acutely aware that something far more sinister lurked behind the stone pillar. Just as ancient sacred herbs were always guarded by venomous pythons and monsters, the place we were heading towards would undoubtedly be fraught with peril. Without Gu Qingcheng's intervention, this expedition would have been aborted long ago. Based on this, she was undoubtedly my best partner on this journey.

“Feng, let’s go back to camp first. I’m contacting the North American Ancient Musical Instrument Association about the strange array of stone pillars. We might get some inspiration.” Gu Qingcheng’s lips were slightly pale. The night wind was too cold. I was really worried that she would catch a cold on her first night in the tunnel, so I immediately took off my coat and draped it over her shoulders.

From this moment forward, we shall become comrades who understand each other and fight together against the unknown dangers in the darkness.

When it comes to solving the puzzle, Xiao Yan should be our most capable helper, so as I walked with Gu Qingcheng towards the camp, I dialed Xiao Yan's number. ... It was the early hours of the morning, Xiao Yan's most alert time of day, and she answered the phone with great energy: "Good evening, Feng."