Poussière de cœur

Chapitre 1

Title: [Repost] <<<<<Ghost--Ghost--Ghost>>> Classic Ghost Stories - September 15th "The Bridge of Helplessness" - Magpie Bridge Fairy [271 points / 61 replies] Function: New Bridge of Helplessness I. Searching for the missing eighteen people, who have disappeared as if they had vanished into thin air.

The disappearance was discovered on September 20th.

Traveling abroad and taking a "long holiday" are not strictly different.

For a foundry overhaul plant, the workday lasts six months, and the rest of the year is uneventful – it's like running an antique shop. Sending workers on "trips" only happens after the "jobs" are finished. Even when they're actually at work, it's mostly just guarding the warehouse, managing various machines, playing cards or chess, or secretly playing mahjong in their rooms – these are considered good comrades. Those who show up for work briefly, then sneak away to pursue a second job are considered "promoters." They're only seen once or twice a month when it's time to collect wages, bonuses, and benefits – that's the true characteristic of an overhaul plant employee.

So when these eighteen people didn't come to work on time, nobody took it seriously.

If it weren't for the fact that starting from noon on the 19th, the families and friends of the 18 people began calling to inquire and search, and the city travel agency was also urging them to submit the brochure, perhaps no one would have thought anything was wrong even if it hadn't been for another ten days.

The branch factory manager might not care about inquiries from others, but he couldn't ignore the inquiries from the three famous beauties associated with his factory.

He immediately made phone calls to inquire everywhere. It wasn't until noon on the 20th that he finally found the drivers of the two buses. Only one bus returned, but both drivers did. The driver of the bus that hadn't returned had just lost nearly a thousand yuan gambling; his eyes were red, and he replied irritably, "That kid surnamed Du wanted to drive for fun, did I dare stop him? What if he stabbed me in the back? Would you take responsibility? I even took the bus back! I haven't even asked you for reimbursement for the fare, and you're already asking me for the bus!"

The driver of the returning bus was even more annoyed.

"Going out for fun? -- Not at all! My car broke down at the overpass! While it was being repaired, everyone got out to wander around. Du Liu took his seventeen classmates from the second graduating class and got into a nice car, saying they'd just drive around for a bit. They disappeared! After finally getting the car fixed, a group of people from Liuzhuang wanted to collect some kind of donation, saying it was for a good deed for the dead! Five yuan per person! Everyone was confused, who wanted to go? Over fifty people crammed into one car, the crowd was unbearable! It was so uncomfortable! What kind of idiots are they! Taking advantage of the crowd, they started fighting. Look how many people have been fighting these past few days!" Pointing at the branch factory manager's nose, "You're lucky you didn't kill a few people! Losing a few lives is nothing!"

The drivers are always rude and vulgar. If you anger them, even the factory manager will dare to beat you up. What is a mere deputy factory manager in their eyes?

Fortunately, he was big-bellied and tolerant. He chuckled a few times and quickly waved the two away to end the matter.

The proverb "A generous reward will surely bring forth brave men" is absolutely true. He immediately called back more than a dozen young men and ordered them to inquire around according to the treatment given to section-level officials on business trips. By midnight, they all reported the unfortunate news.

"No. None of our people are here."

"Then let's go to the Great Burial Mountain and ask. Go there tonight! We'll send you a car!"

At noon on September 21st, the phone rang.

"Factory manager, they didn't come! This section of Dazang Mountain is closed. I heard that Wangzhuang and Liuzhuang villages at the foot of Dazang Mountain are fighting fiercely, with deaths and injuries every day. More than a dozen villages are busy fighting here and fighting lawsuits there. They haven't sold a single ticket since the 10th. All the tourists from outside have been scared away. ... I went to the parking lot, but there was no car for us. The parking lot at the foot of the mountain hasn't had a single car parked there since the 14th."

"Go to Dashishan immediately!" The deputy director of the branch factory's face began to turn pale.

The phone rang again in the evening.

"There's no Da Shi Shan either! We even bought a dozen packs of Hongtashan cigarettes and a case of Moutai to treat all the 'gods'. They checked everything. There's no sign of our car! Factory manager, something seems off. Could we have been abducted by aliens and locked up in their zoo? Maybe we should report it to the police. By the way, we've already issued the invoice, look at the money..." "All of you, get back here!" The deputy factory manager roared.

Before he could even call the factory to ask whether to report the incident, the police had already come looking for him.

"You have a vehicle that crashed about five kilometers southeast of Xiaoshi Township. There were eighteen people in the vehicle, and they're all charred. Go and send someone to identify the bodies."

His heart condition relapsed as a result, and he was taken to the hospital.

He had survived, but he cried like a newborn baby. "Oh God!—Why did you let me live!"

"Dad, don't cry. Those weren't people from your factory. The autopsy report is out; they were all elderly people and children."

"real?"

"real."

"Really? -- Haha!" His heart attack struck again, and this time, he couldn't be saved.

On the morning of the 23rd, a formal report was filed.

At noon that day, someone found a camera worth over a thousand yuan in a crevice of a deep pool at the top of Dazang Mountain. Because it was in the pool wall and the camera was of good quality, it wasn't soaked. There was film inside the camera, and someone recognized it as a public camera belonging to the city's foundry repair factory. After the film was recovered, even the police officers were terrified.

The first fourteen photos are of individuals or groups, taken between morning and 3 PM. They depict scenery from Daizo-san Mountain. One extra photo was taken, but the last three are group photos in front of the waterfall.

First picture: Everyone is all smiles, their faces clearly visible, with the waterfall in the background showing a beautiful scene, and the deep pool also radiating dazzling light.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [4]: Second picture: The waterfall's water flow is only half left, the pool is empty, and the human face is blurry and double-image.

The third photo: There is no waterfall, but the waterfall walls are scarlet, as if stained with blood. The water in the pool also seems to be full of blood. The facial features of the people are blurred and difficult to recognize, but each of them is bleeding from all seven orifices. Judging from the photo, it seems that no one knows that they are bleeding from all seven orifices, and they are even smiling. And this smile appears especially eerie and terrifying against the backdrop of blood-soaked faces.

The person who found the camera was immediately detained, and all the gatekeepers and ticket sellers at the burial site that day were also detained. The police withheld the last three photos from the public, but showed the rest to prove that they had been to the burial site.

The search team began searching that evening, and shortly after nightfall, relatives and friends of the eighteen missing persons arrived to join the search.

That night, the burial site was brightly lit with torches, and the lights of flashlights and miners' lamps shone like fireworks in the night sky. People found strips of cloth, cigarette butts, handkerchiefs, empty water bottles, discarded batteries, loose playing cards, instant noodle bags, sausage casings, bread bags, empty beer bottles or fragments... but no one was found.

The search focus was undoubtedly on Dazang Mountain. Search teams were also dispatched to Dashi Mountain, and search and investigation personnel were also sent to the secret forest area between the two mountains, but they found nothing.

Daylight broke. Another piece of compelling evidence had been discovered.

It was a diary, or you could say a novel, titled "Those Gentle Little Hands," written by A Ding—Ding Dada!

On the 23rd, the province issued a clear document:

—You have three days to find it!

"If you can't find a living person, look for a corpse! If you can't find a complete corpse, look for fragments! If you can't find anything, then you should submit your resignation."

This is a polite notification from the immediate superior to the head of the Public Security Bureau.

In return, an armed police corps and the entire regiment of a garrison participated in the search. Nearly a hundred police dogs, dozens of police rats, and hundreds of people worked day and night on every inch of the burial mountain and its surrounding land.

At dusk, a commotion broke out outside the "command center," and dozens of burly men, surrounding two fierce-looking young men, suddenly burst in.

"Who is the police chief—come out here!" Li shouted from the left.

"Who are you...?" The police chief asked, puzzled.

"Can't find him! You'll be lying dead in the street in two weeks!" The man on the right pointed at himself and sneered. He then added, "—Believe it or not!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the two turned and left, followed closely by dozens of burly men, but before they left, they all glanced at each other.

This glance, however, did not frighten the police chief. He frowned, summoned several of his men, and said, "—Find out their identities immediately!"

"

Twenty-four hours later, the mayor and deputy mayor of the city, who had suffered a setback, were severely criticized by a provincial leader. Half an hour later, threatening phone calls and letters arrived simultaneously. A bomb exploded in the mayor's office—luckily, no one was inside, and the bomb skillfully only made a hole in the desk, without even knocking down the telephone on the edge of the desk (but this only further demonstrated the high level of skill of the bomb's maker). Two hours later, six foreign investors who were about to sign formal investment contracts changed their minds and decided to withdraw their investment; the owners of the city's three largest private enterprises jointly submitted a polite notice of "prepared relocation."

But the most unfortunate were the secretary of the municipal youth league committee, the president of the travel agency, and several key leaders of the repair shop. They not only had to endure mental pressure and the wailing of the missing persons' families, but also suffered physical pain.

At noon, police dogs discovered the entrances to nine underground caves; police rats discovered thirteen hollow stone walls inscribed with the words "No Entry".

By midnight, the search team had thoroughly searched every inch of the caves, their breathtaking beauty rivaling any other cave in the world. Unfortunately—there was no trace of the missing person.

On the morning of the 25th, the first hollow stone wall was carved through, and by evening, the remaining twelve were also breached. Inside, there were all sorts of sights, just like the legendary Great Burial Mountain, filled with lifelike images of various gods and demons. Unfortunately, the person they were looking for still hadn't been found.

"Were they kidnapped? After all, some of these people are children of celebrities."

Inside the "command center," the opinions of various leaders, including the police chief, the armed police squadron leader, the garrison commander, the regimental instructor, the search team leader, as well as the vice governor, the municipal party secretary, and the mayor who were nominally in charge and in unified command, gradually came together.

But at that moment, the two stern-faced youths barged in again.

"fart!"

"Who dares to kidnap our people here?! -- Try and try!"

"Your people?" the armed police captain asked politely. "We understand your feelings. However, of these eighteen people, which one is a family member?"

"Is it necessary to know? -- Pshaw!"

"Your attitude is very bad." The police chief did not get angry. He smiled and looked at the armed police captain. The captain smiled and waved his hand. More than a dozen armed police officers with live ammunition rushed in immediately.

“Please—” The two youths sneered, extending their hands without resistance.

Not only did they not resist, but none of their thirty-odd followers also resisted. The resistance to arrest proceeded exceptionally smoothly.

Everyone was taken into custody and detained.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [5]: Half an hour later, a phone call came in.

"If anyone is harmed in your hands, your family members will be..." The voice on the phone sounded polite, but what followed was a series of pitiful and familiar cries. Every leader had at least one family member held hostage in their hands, without exception.

Half an hour later, the order from the superiors was issued.

They were released.

People understood that until the "gangster alliance" was completely eradicated, any unprovoked offense against a high-ranking figure would be met with severe retaliation. The difficulty lay in the fact that those at the "gangster" level were almost entirely free of criminal activity, making them virtually impossible to punish legally. Furthermore, it was said that the individuals controlling the gangster alliance all possessed foreign passports, and their businesses appeared to be legitimate. (See the "Gangster" series.) "There will always be a way to eliminate them," the police chief said.

The armed police platoon leader smiled slightly, "Not bad. It should be... soon."

On the same day, Wang Ma received visitors from her two sons' workplaces.

"If there is indeed something wrong at home, please contact your workplace. We will do our best to help. However, it would be best to go back to work as soon as possible, or at least apply for leave."

"...You see, the security situation in this area is quite chaotic, and the joint defense team is short-staffed. Can you go back to work quickly? Otherwise, you will be fired according to regulations."

Wang Ma was stunned.

She only knew that both her sons had holidays, and when they went back home, they said that if they were busy, they should stay a few more days and come back before the holidays ended. She never imagined that their holidays had already ended.

She immediately took a car home.

"No. He hasn't been back. ... Oh, I think I've seen Tiezi's wife before."

She rushed to Wang Tie's house.

On the bed, Cai Yin lay unconscious, occasionally muttering incoherently, "Earthquake...earthquake...Wang Jia and Wang Mu...swallowed..." "Huh? Auntie's back?! Sit down! Sit down!" Wang Tie looked haggard, and his voice sounded weak and feeble.

"What's wrong with Yin'er?" Wang Ma asked with concern.

Wang Tie rubbed his hands. "She's possessed. Those days, I was busy going to the township with Liu Zhuang to discuss some matters. I think it was the seventeenth. When we came back, we couldn't find her. Even at night, she hadn't returned. We were afraid she'd run into someone from Liu Zhuang, so we searched everywhere. We searched for two days before finally finding her in the graveyard in our village. She's been unconscious ever since. The doctor said she was frightened. The shaman said she's possessed. She keeps shouting that there will be an earthquake. Where's the earthquake? Oh, where's Jia Mu? Why didn't she come over?"

Aunt Wang sighed. "Look, we're looking for them right now. They came back on the 17th. They said they wanted to fill in the graves. Their father came back in a dream saying that the house collapsed and cracked. I guess it's because their father's and grandfather's graves cracked and sank. Who would have thought that these two good-for-nothings would disappear as soon as they came back. Now, their workplace has found their way to our house. I rushed back to check."

Wang Tie was taken aback. "They... haven't come back, have they?"

“Earthquake…Tie, our house didn’t collapse, did it?…Jiamu is buried underground…The ground cracked…swallowed them…Quick…quick, find them…” The murmured voice rang out again, this time with unparalleled clarity. Wang Ma stared blankly at Wang Tie, “My two sons, buried there…?” Her voice was soft and low, as if afraid of disturbing or frightening someone. However, Wang Tie was still frightened. A hint of fear suddenly appeared in his eyes. He stared blankly at Cai Yin, then blankly at Wang Ma, finally forcing a smile: “Really?” But his voice was clearly strained. “There’s another long crack on our grave. I don’t know how it got there. But…there really wasn’t an earthquake. Auntie, don’t panic, she probably got sunburned while working in the fields. She’s been talking nonsense for days…” “Tie, I beg you for a favor. Find a few people to dig up his father’s grave and take a look.” Wang Ma’s voice was even softer. “I was thinking, his dad told them to come back and build a house, and so many days have passed, the house should be finished by now. They… can’t just keep building there forever, can they?”

"Look where you've gone! You don't even go down to the ground to build a house. Hey! Don't cry...don't cry! I'll go find someone right now!"

Inside the grave, there was nothing but clothing and an urn containing ashes.

Wang Ma's gaze gradually became vacant. Her eyes focused on the wide crevice, about eighteen centimeters wide, that ran through the Wangzhuang cemetery; then gradually shifted, moving towards the Wangzhuang ancestral graves, and looking at the large round hole.

She walked over and looked at the round hole. Her eyes were blurred with tears.

“My children…are you there?…Stay put and don’t move around…Mother will go and bring you back…to switch you with her.”

That night, the people of Wangzhuang held a ceremony to invite the gods and the dragon in the incense-burning ground.

Willow branches drew three elegant Yan-style characters on the sand altar: --Underground---Magpie Bridge Fairy replied [6]: *** *** *** The act of releasing people is absolutely correct.

"First, we don't have enough evidence to arrest them. None of the people who came here have any criminal record. They have clean backgrounds. If we release them, it will be very difficult to find so many gang members in our files within two or three years."

"Secondly, there is information confirming that among the eighteen missing people is a woman named Huang Zilan, whose husband's name is Lei Zhenyu, the second-in-command in the province. Based on past experience, it is unlikely that the relatives of a gang leader would be kidnapped by other gangs. In other words, we can rule out the possibility of kidnapping or abduction. At the same time, according to analysis, several of these eighteen people are targets that gangs are trying to recruit. Who they are and what their motives are for recruiting them are currently under investigation."