Vallée des Horreurs de Xishuangbanna

Chapitre 4

"Yes, so I just hope, and I also hope to catch every criminal with my own hands."

"Yes, it's my duty."

"Let's go, there's nothing to be gained here." Xiao Dong said and turned to leave.

six

Li Zu, who had taken his laptop, called home before returning to his ward, but the call went unanswered. Wu Xiaoyuan had probably gone to sleep at her friend's house again. Every time they argued, she would go to her friend's house and stay for two days, insisting that he swallow his pride and pick her up in person. This always infuriated Li Zu, but he was helpless to do anything about it.

Back in the ward, He Se was sitting silently on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the sleeping Cheng Hai, her eyes red. Li Zu said to her, "He Se, why don't you go to the sofa and sleep for a while? I'll go online. It'll be fine with me here."

He Se nodded; indeed, she also felt dizzy. Li Zu went to close the window, drew the curtains, then returned to the table, found the telephone line, plugged it into the computer, and started the computer.

Li Zu had been worried he wouldn't be able to hold on, but now he felt unusually clear-headed. As usual, the first thing he did upon going online was check his email. As always, he received over a dozen spam emails, which he deleted one by one. Finally, the email from yesterday's chain of emails appeared before his eyes. He stared blankly at the subject line: "Are you scared?" To be honest, he was a little scared. The killer was elusive, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing. And the killer probably knew them all very well; that was what frightened him most.

Then he turned to look at Cheng Hai and He Se, curled up asleep on the sofa, and the scene of making that email resurfaced in his mind.

"Aren't a lot of people doing chain emails these days? Let's make one too, and each of us can send ten emails, but not to four of us. If we all receive a returned email before graduation, it means our friendship will last forever." — He Se's voice still echoes in my ears. The email is still the same, but in the blink of an eye, everything has changed.

Li Zu sighed softly. He decided to forward ten emails, hoping that this time they could be forwarded back to Cheng Hai, He Se, and Wu Xiaoyuan's mailboxes. If fate truly exists, he hoped that Cheng Hai would wake up one day and the four of them could reunite.

After sending the message, Li Zu went to an online game arcade. Just as he was about to find someone to play Gomoku with, his phone rang. It was a call from home. He hurriedly left his hospital room and went to the corridor to answer it.

"Husband...where are you?" Wu Xiaoyuan's voice trembled slightly.

“I’m at the hospital. He Se almost had an accident today, and I’m with her,” Li Zu said.

"Come back quickly, I...I'm scared...I'm scared...I saw it...I saw it..." Wu Xiaoyuan said in a trembling, terrified voice.

"What did you see? What about him?" Li Zu was startled, his hair standing on end. Could it be that the murderer went to my house?

"On the computer...on the computer..." Wu Xiaoyuan kept repeating this phrase.

Li Zu breathed a long sigh of relief. This girl must have been downloading and watching horror movies by herself again. She loves watching horror movies, and she has to watch them at night, saying that's what makes them exciting. But she's more afraid of ghosts than anyone else. Every time she finishes watching one, she quickly crawls into his bed, hugs him tightly, and trembles uncontrollably, preventing him from getting a good night's sleep.

"You've been watching horror movies again, haven't you? Okay, okay, turn on all the lights in the house, I'm going back now." After saying that, Li Zu walked to the stairwell and asked the hospital security guard if he could sit outside Cheng Hai's ward for night duty. Since the security guard had been instructed by Xiao Dong, he readily agreed. Li Zu didn't want to wake He Se, so he went downstairs, drove home, and got in his car.

He Se slept soundly. The upheaval of the past two days was gradually fading from her mind, as was the peaceful life of the past two years. She was back on the university campus, alone on the lawn behind the library, under the dense shade of the trees. The lazy morning light was torn into fragments by the leaves, spreading into a misty white haze.

She didn't know if he would appear; she only wanted to wait, to wait forever, even for a lifetime. A short poem and a fleeting image were enough to constitute her entire life.

Morning dew

White mist

There is a lone iris.

rustling in the wind

Stop

pace

I want to take it home.

Inserted deep in the heart

...

She understood the poet's expectations. She also understood the poet's love. A single, solitary iris was printed on her white dress.

When Li Zu opened the door, it was pitch black inside. He called out twice, "Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan," but there was no answer. He turned on the light, but there was no one in the living room. So he went into the bedroom, turned on the light, and found Wu Xiao Yuan huddled in a corner of the room, her arms wrapped around her knees, her face buried between her legs.

Li Zu quickly went over to her, "Xiao Yuan, what's wrong?"

Wu Xiaoyuan slowly raised her head, her face pale, her eyes vacant and tear-streaked, looking utterly lost. At that moment, Li Zu noticed that Wu Xiaoyuan's hair and clothes were covered in wet mud and bits of grass, and her shoes were filthy.

"Xiaoyuan, where have you been? Why are you all dirty? Come on, go take a shower," he said, pulling her up.

"Ouch—" Wu Xiaoyuan screamed, lost her balance, and fell to the ground again.

Li Zu stared in astonishment at her leg, a large swelling on her ankle. "What happened to your leg? I'll get some medicated wine to rub on it for you." Just as he was about to get up, Wu Xiaoyuan grabbed Li Zu's clothes tightly. "Don't leave me, don't leave me."

"Alright, alright, I won't leave you. I'm just going to get the medicinal wine," Li Zu said softly, trying to comfort her. Wu Xiaoyuan then slowly let go of his hand.

While fetching the medicinal wine, Li Zu brought a cup of hot water to Wu Xiaoyuan.

Li Zu poured a little medicinal wine into his palm, pulled Wu Xiaoyuan's injured leg over, and gently rubbed it. "Xiaoyuan, tell me, where did you go just now? How did you get like this?"

Wu Xiaoyuan gripped the hot water cup tightly with both hands. The hot water she drank warmed her from her throat all the way to her stomach. Her gaze was still unfocused, but her emotions had calmed down considerably. She murmured to herself, seemingly unresponsive, "I received it, I received that letter..."

"What letter?" Li Zu asked while rubbing his hands.

"It's that letter, that ghost letter..." Wu Xiaoyuan's voice began to tremble again.

"What kind of letter is this?" Li Zu glanced at her and asked, puzzled.

"On the computer...on the computer..."

Li Zu turned to look at the computer on the desk. It was already off, and the screen was completely black. "Tell me what message? Okay?" Li Zu said softly.

Wu Xiaoyuan looked at Li Zu, her vision blurring as if a layer of mist had formed before her eyes. "That face... and then I saw that face... I could see it as soon as I closed my eyes... It was smiling... smiling at me..."

"What face? What face did you see?" Li Zu's heart skipped a beat, as if he had a premonition of something, and he quickly asked.

"It's it...it's it...the blue eyes..." Wu Xiaoyuan's whole body began to tremble slightly.

"Who is it? What is it?" Li Zu asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"A ghost face... the ghost face in the letter... I saw it... I saw it as soon as I closed my eyes... I heard it too..."

"What did you hear?" Li Zufa felt a chill run down his spine, as if a cold wind was suddenly blowing from behind.

Wu Xiaoyuan stared at Li Zu with dead eyes, her body trembling more and more violently, her breathing becoming increasingly rapid and heavy.

Li Zu suddenly felt a chill run through his body. He recognized Wu Xiaoyuan's breathing; it was exactly the same as the one he had heard that night—rough, heavy, and labored. He stared at Wu Xiaoyuan's face in surprise, the bottle of medicinal wine in his hand clattering to the ground.

Wu Xiaoyuan's face turned from white to gray, then slowly darkened. Her pupils began to flicker, like a camera flash, and then turned blue... eerie... terrifying.

Li Zu was terrified. He tried to run, but couldn't. He could only stare at Wu Xiaoyuan's face as it slowly changed and distorted.

Suddenly, Wu Xiaoyuan said, "It's here..." Then her body stopped trembling abruptly, and her breathing became increasingly heavy. Li Zu took a step back in terror, "Xiaoyuan, Xiaoyuan, what's wrong? Xiaoyuan—"

Wu Xiaoyuan's face was expressionless, her eyes fixed on him. One hand had already reached for the medicinal wine bottle on the ground, which she suddenly grabbed tightly and smashed against Li Zu's face.

Li Zu couldn't dodge in time and was struck hard on the forehead. However, Wu Xiaoyuan showed no sign of stopping, lunging at him frantically and smashing bottles all over his body. Her sprained ankle seemed completely unaffected; she moved with remarkable agility. Terrified, Li Zu dodged left and right, shouting, "Xiaoyuan, it's me! Stop! Xiaoyuan—"

Wu Xiaoyuan seemed to be completely deaf to Li Zu's words at this moment, and kept chasing and hitting him. All Li Zu could hear was her heavy breathing and the sound of furniture being knocked over.

Li Zu suddenly realized that Wu Xiaoyuan at this moment might not be her. She seemed to be under the influence of a mysterious external force. Could it be that she was possessed by a ghost?

Li Zu's skin crawled with goosebumps. A thought flashed through his mind: he had to subdue her as soon as possible!

Li Zu quickly ran out of the living room and walked behind the sofa. Wu Xiaoyuan, her eyes shining, chased after him with her arms raised high. Just as she reached the sofa, Li Zu suddenly shoved it. Caught off guard, Wu Xiaoyuan tripped over the sofa, tumbled over it, and landed headfirst on the floor. Li Zu rushed forward, intending to hold her down, but found she was already motionless.

Li Zu dared not be careless and continued to hold Wu Xiaoyuan's body firmly. After a long time, Wu Xiaoyuan's heavy breathing slowly subsided, and she uttered a weak sound, "Ugh...it hurts..."

Li Zu quickly released his grip and turned her body around. Wu Xiaoyuan's face was ashen, her eyes were tightly closed, and she was covered in sweat.

"Xiaoyuan, Xiaoyuan," Li Zu gently patted her face and called out.

Wu Xiaoyuan's wandering soul was slowly brought back to its senses. She half-opened her eyes, looked at Li Zu in front of her, and said weakly, "Is it gone?"

Yes, they're gone.

"I'm so scared... I never want to see it again..."

“No, it’s gone. You’ll never see it again,” Li Zu said repeatedly.

"I'm sleepy."

"Let me carry you to bed," he said, and carried her to the bed. He helped her change her clothes, and Wu Xiaoyuan fell into a deep sleep with even breathing.

Li Zu was wide awake. After settling Wu Xiaoyuan in, he went to the living room to smoke. He needed to sort out his chaotic emotions by himself.

He poured himself a glass of wine, the potent alcohol rushing down his throat and reigniting a burning passion in his veins. His fingers, holding the cigarette, continued to tremble. What had Wu Xiaoyuan encountered? What had she seen?

She mentioned a letter! Li Zu quickly stubbed out his cigarette, rushed into the room, turned on his computer, and found Wu Xiaoyuan's inbox.

Are you scared?

Sure enough, it's that letter again! The dark brown coffee bean suddenly popped up with a funny face, flashed for a moment, and then immediately returned to that paragraph of text, the words he had drafted.

Li Zu slowly began to read:

"Did I scare you? But I also want to tell you, my unfortunate soul, that upon seeing these words, you've already fallen under the curse hidden in the image. You'll see that ghostly face repeatedly in the days to come, and you'll experience hallucinations. In these hallucinations, the most brutal and authentic parts of your nature will be revealed, leaving you nowhere to hide and no place in society... Of course, we have no intention of harming a complete stranger like you, so I will definitely tell you the way to break the curse at the end. The method is: forward this letter verbatim to ten people! Simple, right? Just as simple as falling under the curse. Hurry up and act, or you'll become the simplest person in the world..."

Could the problem lie in this letter? Did my own nonsense actually come true?

"In your hallucinations, the most brutal and authentic parts of your nature will be revealed." — Li Zu read this line repeatedly. Impossible, this was just his own fabrication, not a curse. He knew this very well; he couldn't possibly possess magic.

But I did indeed experience hallucinations during that period when my memories were erased!

Fear gripped him instantly. Only Wu Xiaoyuan and he had received the letter, and they had both witnessed the same hallucination, including He Se's attack. The breathing she heard was the same as what he had just heard, as well as what he had heard in the car that night—all the same. Wu Xiaoyuan said she heard it too, before she started hallucinating.

Whose breathing is that? Is it our own, or someone else's? And who is it? Is it a ghost?

Who sent us this letter?

seven

Li Zu slept soundly on the sofa for several hours. He didn't know when he fell asleep. When Wu Xiaoyuan woke him up, she looked at the mess in the room and asked him, "What happened at home? What happened?"

Looking at Wu Xiaoyuan's blank expression, Li Zu thought for a moment and said, "It's nothing, I caught mice last night."

"Ah—are there mice in the house?" Wu Xiaoyuan exclaimed.

“Yes, but I chased it away. I told it that my wife doesn’t welcome it and that it shouldn’t come back, or I’ll kill it. It agreed and left,” Li Zu said with a smile.

Wu Xiaoyuan breathed a sigh of relief, but then immediately exclaimed in surprise, "You have a big bump on your forehead!"

Li Zu reached out and touched it. "Isn't it something I touched while catching mice?"

Wu Xiaoyuan scolded, "So careless, it's like a world war." After saying that, she started to tidy up, but as soon as she took a step, she suddenly cried out, "Honey, my ankle hurts so much."

"You forgot? Last night you slipped and fell when you got up to go to the bathroom in a daze." Li Zu had no choice but to make up a story.

"Did that happen? I can't remember." Wu Xiaoyuan lowered her head and rubbed her ankle vigorously.

Looking at the clueless Wu Xiaoyuan, Li Zu sighed softly and got up to brush his teeth and wash his face.

As Li Zu came out of the restroom, he received another call from He Se at the hospital, saying that people from the police station and someone claiming to be an acupuncturist had arrived. Li Zu was taken aback. An acupuncturist?

When they arrived at the hospital, Xiao Dong and several uniformed police officers were already sitting inside. There was also an elderly man with white hair, a youthful face, and a ruddy complexion, carrying a small black bag; he was probably the acupuncturist. Li Zu greeted Xiao Dong, and Xiao Dong stood up to introduce the old man to Li Zu.

"This is the uncle of one of our officers, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. I specially found him for you this morning," Xiao Dong said.

"Oh, hello, hello," Li Zu quickly shook hands with him, then pulled him to Cheng Hai's bedside. Just as he was about to speak, the old man spoke up, his voice loud and clear: "You don't need to say anything. I have just checked his physical condition, and to be honest, I am very optimistic."