Courriels mortels - Chapitre 8
"WHAT?"
Dingding asked in her ear, "Has Elena been so frightened that she has forgotten Chinese?"
"A television! A television!"
Finally, Elena regained her fluent Chinese and stared in horror at the television in her bedroom.
"You want to watch TV?" Yu Ling patted the dusty television set. "But there's no signal here."
"Henry...Henry...exploded inside the TV..."
This left everyone confused. Lin Junru asked, puzzled, "Are you talking about that Frenchman, Henri?"
"Yes, it exploded, it exploded!" Elena turned around again, trembling. "And—the Men in Black!"
Are you talking about an American movie?
"No, my mind is perfectly clear... but I don't know how to say it..." She grabbed her hair with both hands again, wishing she could pluck it out strand by strand. "Oh right, Tong Jianguo and I went to chase Ye Xiao and Xiao Zhi. We chased them into a big shopping mall, but I got lost and suddenly bumped into the missing Henry!"
Elena's mind became clearer and clearer. She gradually sorted out all her memories and recounted them in detail from beginning to end—from the sudden attack on the underground food court, to the suffocating death chamber, to the crazy television set, to the chilling short circuit explosion, then the strange man in black, and finally the shot that hit Tong Jianguo... She escaped on instinct, rushed to the street, found an unlocked bicycle by the roadside, and even found the headquarters.
After hearing her long explanation, like something out of a thrilling movie, everyone looked at each other, speechless. A profound despair followed, as if the oxygen in the room was rapidly disappearing, leaving everyone feeling suffocated.
"You said Tong Jianguo was beaten up in the hospital?" Lin Junru slumped into a chair in despair. "He must have been looking for the life-saving serum. Maybe he's already been killed? Then the serum is useless too."
Yu Ling immediately shook her head violently: "No, he won't die."
"It's over, everything is over, another person has died! Next up is Sun Zichu, he will definitely die without the serum."
Lin Junru lay on the body of the poisoned person, tears streaming down her face again. Elena couldn't understand what they were saying, but she could tell that Sun Zichu was on the verge of death.
After two minutes of deathly silence, Yu Ling suddenly walked to the television, frowned, and said, "You said Henry was talking to you on the television?"
"Yes."
Elena nodded blankly.
"Maybe it's in this TV set too?"
Yu Ling turned on the TV remote, and the Philips TV lit up briefly, displaying a green screen.
There's actually a picture!
The four women in the room widened their eyes in an instant. The television here had no signal before, so how could there suddenly be a picture? The green turned into a dense forest covering the steep hillside, and the camera panned down from the mountain to reveal a large expanse of emerald green water.
"Oh my god, what is this? Could it be footage from a DVD?"
Dingding couldn't believe her eyes. She immediately checked the DVD player in the TV cabinet and found that it wasn't even plugged in. The TV screen in front of her must be coming from a cable TV signal.
The footage is exceptionally clear; it must have been taken in the afternoon. The lake lingered on the green water for a moment, yet no sound could be heard. Surrounded by mountains, it features a beautiful lake in the center, like a secluded paradise.
"Where is this place?"
Just as Lin Junru raised her question, the camera zoomed in on the viewer, revealing a rocky beach by the lake. At the same time, the back of a young woman appeared in front of the camera.
What surprised them even more was that the young woman in the picture was not wearing any clothes at all.
She has a slender and well-proportioned figure with a particularly high waist, a distinctive feature of local girls. Her smooth and fair skin is the envy of many women.
Elena wondered to herself: Could it be some kind of Category III movie?
At this moment, the woman on the television slowly walked into the lake and was quickly submerged by the emerald green water.
Is she going to commit suicide?
Lin Junru covered her mouth, and Dingding replied, "It's impossible to commit suicide naked, right?"
A few seconds later, a clump of black hair floated to the surface of the water, and a mermaid appeared and disappeared—it turned out to be swimming in the lake.
She quickly swam to the center of the lake, dozens of meters away from the camera. Only then could one hear the faint sound of ripples and the rustling of leaves in the valley. The woman's face was obscured; half her body was above water, blending seamlessly with the tranquil landscape. Her slender limbs cleaved through the water, every inch of her skin alluring. Her body was like a flame, poised to ignite the entire forest.
Fortunately, apart from the dying Sun Zichu, everyone sitting in front of the TV was a woman, otherwise it would have been very awkward for everyone.
Suddenly, the camera zoomed in quickly and focused on the woman swimming naked in the lake. She turned around to face the camera—the shot was exceptionally clear from this angle, and everyone could see her face.
It was her!
Almost immediately, Dingding, Lin Junru, and Elena all turned their gazes toward Yuling.
Yes, that's the face!
She was on the television screen, her body completely naked, floating lightly in the green hills and clear waters—Yu Ling.
Facing herself in the camera's view, Yu Ling's face was already deathly pale. In fact, she had been stunned since the very beginning of the video. Of course, she recognized her own body, remembered what she had done, and wouldn't forget that mountain reservoir, or even Tang Xiaotian's death.
Everyone turned their attention back to the television. Yu Ling's face was even clearer in the water. Her wet black hair clung to her scalp, and her dark eyes were bright and clear. Her chest rose and fell playfully with the water, splashing up many water droplets from time to time.
Yu Ling hid in a corner of the room, bowing her head in anguish, her hands tightly covering her chest, as if she had been stripped naked and exposed to everyone's gaze—just like she appeared on television.
Yes, just as described in the first season of the book, they discovered a reservoir and power station deep in a valley on the eastern edge of the city. Like all Thai girls, Yu Ling naturally loved nature, so she took off her clothes and jumped into the lake for a swim, but the result was—
Suddenly, she on the television began to tremble, her whole body seemed to be struggling, and then she was almost completely submerged in the water, with only one hand sticking out of the lake and grabbing wildly.
Just when everyone thought she was having a cramp, a man appeared in the scene. He quickly ran to the reservoir, took off his shirt, and jumped into the water.
The camera quickly focused on his face, revealing a young and handsome man—Yang Mou!
It was Yang Mou, one of them! This documentary director from the TV station, who was on his honeymoon with his bride and was also the most handsome guy in the tour group—had just died yesterday at the "Butterfly Cemetery".
Back on the television screen, Yang Mou had swum to the center of the lake, but for some reason he started trembling, struggled for a few moments, and then sank into the water.
Just as everyone looked at Yu Ling in astonishment, Yang Mou suddenly surfaced again, still holding Yu Ling in his arms. The camera quickly zoomed in on the two of them, their faces filled with fear and pain, as they desperately swam towards the lake. They trembled as they struggled to reach the shore, scrambling out in a disheveled state, especially Yu Ling, who was completely naked.
Among the few "viewers" in front of the television, only the "female lead," Yu Ling, knew that she had been attacked by piranhas underwater. At this critical moment, Yang Mou risked his life to save her—the camera captured Yu Ling's body, her beautiful form displayed beside the clear lake water, making her heart race.
Both Yu Ling and Yang Mou looked embarrassed in the scene. Yu Ling quickly wrapped her sarong back up and painfully touched her arm, seemingly unaware of the danger she had encountered in the water. Yang Mou had his arm around Yu Ling's shoulder, and their expressions were very ambiguous, like a couple having an affair.
Yu Ling covered her face, unable to look any longer. She felt three pairs of eyes fixed on her, all of whom had already concluded that she was having an affair with Yang Mou, and even further connected it to Tang Xiaotian—the only reason why Yang Mou's bride angrily fled in the middle of the night and ended up dying tragically under the claws of the mountain demon.
Although Yu Ling hadn't done anything wrong, the undeniable images on the television left her no room for explanation. She had no idea where these images came from. Could Yang Mou have filmed them himself? Only Yang Mou would be filming with a DV camera all day long, but the last part couldn't have been filmed by him; the camera was clearly following his movements. So who filmed it?
Even more unbelievable is how this footage ended up on the television signal in Nanming City.
When these questions remained unanswered, the television screen suddenly disappeared, returning to a static display.
"What's going on!"
Like watching a great movie that was suddenly interrupted, Lin Junru frantically pressed the remote control, but all the channels were just static; she couldn't receive any signal at all. She checked the signal cable and plug, but they were still fine.
"Where did this image come from?"
Elena muttered something suspiciously, then turned to stare at Yu Ling.
Poor Yu Ling closed her eyes, bowed her head in anguish, and said, "No, don't look at me, I don't know, I don't know anything!"
"Forget it, don't make things difficult for her."
Dingding smoothed things over.
Although the damned television screen filled the four women with both fear and suspicion, they didn't turn it off. Instead, they let the static continue flashing on the screen. They simultaneously turned the volume down to the lowest setting and waited quietly for the signal to reappear.
What will appear on the TV next?
17:00
Nanming Hospital.
Silence returned to everything; from the registration desk to the intensive care unit, from the radiology department to the injection site, from the morgue to the emergency room, everything had become a graveyard.
Ye Xiao lay on a small bed in the emergency room, his upper body bare, with iodine smeared on his chest muscles—a bed specifically used to save critically ill patients, having taken countless lives.
Xiao Zhi turned on all the lights, boiled a kettle of clean water, and brought it over to quench his long-parched throat. The wolfhound "God" was still lying at the doorway, vigilantly watching the silent corridor, wary of any potential intruders.
"You—you really remember?"
Xiaozhi sat down gently beside him and asked tentatively.
"Yes." Ye Xiao opened his eyes again, sat up with difficulty, his arms and knees were covered with medicine, and his joints were not as painful as before. "How long did I rest?"
"About several tens of minutes."
"My head—" He touched his head, which was still tightly wrapped in gauze, but he felt no pain at all. Instead, his mind was unusually clear, and the images of his memories filled the entire white wall like a movie screen. "Good job hitting it!"
"What’s wrong with you?"
Xiaozhi suspected that he might have lost his mind after being hit by the car.
"No, all my memories have returned! It's because of the fall from that height, which hit the exact spot in my head. During the violent shock, the part that was blocking my memories was shattered. My brain became unobstructed, and all the original memory chains were reconnected!"
"So you're going to thank this fall?"
"Yes, I also want to thank you, thank you so much! Xiaozhi."
Ye Xiao nodded with a wry smile, though there was still an unspoken message: "But I will never trust you again."
“No, don’t say that,” she said, clearly feeling embarrassed, and took a step back as she asked, “What did you remember?”
“I remember why I came to Thailand for tourism,” Ye Xiao frowned again, narrowing his sharp eyes as if he saw himself from a few weeks ago. “Yes, I remember it all!”
"What is it? Tell me, I'm very curious."
Sitting on the bed of a critically ill patient, he painfully recounted: "It was during the last few days of summer when I encountered an extremely difficult case. To gather evidence against the suspect, I spent dozens of hours lying in wait, and finally, after obtaining the evidence, I apprehended him through a fierce struggle. But during the struggle with the criminal, I accidentally shot and wounded his wife—I deserve to die! In fact, I hadn't used a gun in a long time, and although I still trusted my marksmanship, I couldn't avoid an accident, which made me extremely regretful and guilty. So, I voluntarily requested the bureau to discipline me and applied for a two-month suspension."
"Is this where you started to forget?"
"Yes, from the time I regained my memory on September 24th until just now, I haven't thought about that terrible thing again. During my suspension, I was extremely depressed. Perhaps it was the pent-up emotions that had been building up for so long that finally exploded. I felt listless and couldn't do anything. I was always woken up by nightmares at night, and in the morning, my whole body ached so much that I couldn't get out of bed. I even shut myself off, turned off my phone, unplugged the internet, and stayed home, trying to completely forget all those cases that had haunted me and those unbelievable events that made my heart pound. After a few days, I was so emaciated that I was practically a dried-up corpse when I found a small booklet under my door. When I opened it, it was a brochure about tourism in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I don't know which damned little advertisement it was, but I threw the booklet into the trash can."
"Aren't you interested at all?"
Ye Xiao took a big gulp of hot water, shook his head, and said, "I always throw away these little ads that are slipped into mailboxes or under doors as trash. I didn't expect to find another brochure slipped under my door the next morning, also an advertisement for Chiang Mai, Thailand, from the previous day. I found it very strange, so I opened it and flipped through the travel information. It was nothing more than famous historical sites and local customs. The advertisement had a special recommendation for Lanna Royal Tombs, along with detailed background information, which looked quite tempting. But I've been in such a bad mood lately that I really don't feel like traveling, so I threw the brochure in the trash again."
Xiao Zhi nodded mysteriously and said, "According to the plot of the novel I've read, the advertising brochure came again on the third day?"
"That's right! Just like in the novel. On the morning of the third day, when I saw the Chiang Mai tourism advertisement slipped under my door again, I angrily opened the door and rushed out to find the person who slipped it in. But there was no one outside; the person had vanished like a ghost! After calming down, I felt something was amiss. Holding the brochure, I had a strange feeling, as if it would come back to me. I didn't throw the brochure away; instead, I put it on my bedside table, but I didn't want to think about it anymore, including about distant Chiang Mai, Thailand. However, that night I had a strange dream. In the dream, I arrived in ancient Chiang Mai, where the people were all dressed in ancient costumes, elephants carried heavily armored soldiers through the streets, and a beautiful and dignified noblewoman walked out of the palace surrounded by slaves—she was the Lanna Queen of the 13th century."
"Queen?"
"And even stranger, the queen in my dream smiled at me and grabbed me from the crowd. Then, she invited me into her palace, and behind the fragrant pearl curtain was Xue'er, the one I had been longing for!" Ye Xiao's eyes were wide open, still immersed in the dream. He remembered everything, even the most easily forgotten dream scenes, which were vividly recreated before his eyes. "Xue'er's expression was very sad. I rushed over and hugged her tightly, kissing her passionately and calling her name. Although 'ten years have passed and we are separated by life and death,' I will never forget her eyes—now they are filled with tears. Her face in the dream remains unchanged, but my youth is gradually fading away."
Xiaozhi felt her cheeks growing cold, as if she had been dragged into Ye Xiao's dream. "Did she speak to you in your dream?"
"Yes, I remember that dream very clearly now. Xue'er told me, 'Come to the world of Tianji, and you will see me!'"
Did you see it?
“I don’t know.” He grabbed his hair again, unable to shake off the deadly dream. “After she said that, she disappeared from my sight, and then I felt the floor beneath my feet open and I fell into a dark abyss. Just as I was about to fall to the bottom—like I was falling from the stadium stands—I woke up from the dream, covered in sweat and with tears in my eyes.”
Perhaps, from the moment he entered the world of Heavenly Secrets and lost some of his memories, it was an incredibly absurd dream, until now, when he regained his memories and woke up from the dream.