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Chapitre 8

I looked up at the rooftop and seemed to hear a fierce gust of wind, which sent a chill down my spine.

However, just as I was filled with doubt and uncertainty, my phone rang urgently again. The caller ID showed it was Su Ying; she seemed to still be at Shanghai University, but for some reason... She always manages to cause me new trouble.

"Hey, Na Duo, hurry...hurry up and come to Shanghai University!" Su Ying's voice on the phone was panicked and breathless. I was very surprised, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Strange...strange thing. How scary! Something strange is happening here, come quick!" I could still clearly hear the girl screaming next to Su Ying on the phone. Having just experienced a strange incident myself, my nerves tightened again. I rushed towards the entrance of the residential area, asking, "What happened?"

"Cockroach... cockroach! Come quick, come quick! I'm in room 308 of building number one!"

As the scream grew louder and louder, seemingly coming from afar, Su Ying hurriedly hung up the phone. I didn't have time to think about it either and quickly got into a taxi.

On the bus, I thought to myself, cockroaches are indeed disgusting, and deadly to girls, but they shouldn't cause this much chaos. Could it be tens of thousands of cockroaches appearing all at once? The thought of a massive, black swarm of cockroaches surging out from the ground, instantly filling the room and hallway, made me nauseous. Such a scene only seems to appear in Hollywood movies; it's highly unlikely. Although Su Ying exclaimed in a panic, "Strange thing!" if there really were that many cockroaches, the girls would probably have all fainted from fright. However, I couldn't help but think of that cartilaginous cat, and my mind was a complete mess. I figured I should just go to Shanghai University first. Maybe Su Ying is just neurotic and likes to overreact. Even so, I prayed that the scene of cockroaches everywhere wouldn't happen, because if I rushed there, I'd only be scared half to death for no reason. I still hoped to appear brave in front of the beautiful girls.

Fortunately, I had been to Shanghai University a few times before, and I quickly arrived at the girls' dormitory where Su Ying lived. From afar, I could hear screams, and a large crowd had gathered downstairs. Boys were constantly rushing upstairs, presumably called by their girlfriends. When I reached the entrance, the security guard was still stopping the boys trying to go upstairs. I showed her my press pass and said I wanted to take a look, and she immediately let me in. As I ran upstairs, I heard the guard still saying things like, "I've lived for decades and never encountered such a ghostly cockroach, it's really eerie!" Ignoring the fact that this was a girls' dormitory, I quickened my pace.

The entire building was brightly lit, screams filled the air, and panicked people kept running down the stairs. Many boys were holding their girlfriends' hands as they ran down the stairs, saying comforting words. Some boys could also be heard shouting, "Stomp on it! Stomp on it to death!"

I went up to the third floor. Along the way, many dorm rooms were in complete chaos, but the scene of cockroaches swarming everywhere I had imagined did not appear. A cockroach crawled past my feet, and seeing that it looked no different from an ordinary cockroach, I immediately felt relieved and even a little amused.

When I arrived at Su Ying's dormitory, Su Ying saw me as if she had seen a savior and hurriedly hid behind me. Some of her roommates also stood behind me. At this time, I saw that there were indeed three or five cockroaches crawling around on the floor in the room.

I couldn't help but laugh, saying, "What's there to be afraid of!" as I stomped down. The girls gasped in bewilderment.

However, when I stepped on the cockroach, something felt off. Instead of a crisp "crack," it felt like I was stepping on a piece of chewing gum, which was still wriggling vigorously under my foot. When I lifted my foot, it was still crawling on the ground as if nothing had happened.

I was shocked. I stomped on it a few more times, but the cockroach seemed perfectly fine, except that it crawled a little faster with each stomp. In fact, it seemed even more energetic. This scene reminded me of that soft-bodied cat, the cat that a truck couldn't kill, and the cockroach that couldn't be stomped on. Could it be that cockroaches, like cats, have become indestructible soft-bodied creatures? I felt a wave of nausea.

Just then, a cockroach crawled into an open drawer. One of Su Ying's roommates screamed and rushed forward to protect her drawer. Seeing the cockroach crawl towards a stack of envelopes or other documents, the girl grabbed a fruit knife from the drawer, screamed, and slashed it in half. The cut was precise, but it had the opposite effect. After being decapitated, the cockroach continued to crawl away at an undiminished speed, its head with several severed limbs emerging from the drawer, while most of its body remained inside, spinning. It then quickly crawled out from the other side of the drawer, not struggling as if dead, but full of energy. It was as if another cockroach had appeared.

The two halves of the cockroach crawled around separately, eventually reaching my feet. Instinctively, I stomped on them a few more times, but to no avail. However, I had to protect the girl behind me, so I kicked them away. Seeing their excited state, I felt a chill run down my spine, and Su Ying and her roommates quickly covered their mouths.

Now I'm certain this isn't a cockroach as we usually think of it; it's probably some kind of mutant cockroach. Not only has it become an unkillable soft-bodied creature like that cat, but it can even continue to live after separating its body—its resilience is terrifyingly strong. Ordinary insects might twitch briefly after separating, but that's all. I can no longer guess the cause of their mutation; I can only speculate: it's like the mutations in horror movies, or the chain reaction in thrillers where being bitten by a zombie turns you into a zombie and bites others—first the cat, then the cockroach, what will be next?

And the sudden appearance of all the mutated cockroaches reminded me of the cat's unexpected attack on me. Could they all have acted strangely for the same reason?

Before I could even make any connections, the doorman's voice came from the corridor. Apparently, the school had reacted extremely quickly, already having insecticide prepared for spraying the entire building. However, the insecticide was highly toxic, and everyone was ordered to evacuate immediately. So everyone scrambled out. Looking at Su Ying's pale face and tightly biting lower lip, I guessed she was terrified. I wanted to say something to comfort her, but I couldn't think of anything to explain this bizarre incident.

Su Ying and I took a taxi back to Zhidan Garden. The whole way there, my mind was filled with the image of the cat being run over by a truck and the cockroach being cut in two and crawling around separately – it was disgusting. However, the real reason remained a mystery, making me feel uneasy. Then the car stopped, and I saw the archaeological site not far from the entrance, vaguely sensing that there must be some hidden secret connection between them.

Everything was normal before I moved into Zhidan Garden, but in just these few days, so many strange things have happened. The only thing I can connect it to is the archaeological event. This should be a gut feeling, but now I think it's also a bad habit of asking for trouble. But there's no indication that these strange things are related to archaeology; I should probably consider the potential connection between cats and cockroaches.

As we walked downstairs, Su Ying, who had been silent the whole way, suddenly spoke up: "Na Duo, could you come upstairs and sit with me for a while?" She seemed to be still shaken, and in this situation, I certainly couldn't refuse, so I accompanied her to her home.

The first thing that caught my eye as I entered her house was the huge aquarium, but today only a few fish swam listlessly inside. Perhaps she hadn't been feeding them these past few days, and quite a few had died. But that was irrelevant, and I didn't want to ask Su Ying. We sat down, and I noticed Su Ying's expression had calmed considerably. I decided to tell her about the cat, partly to help her think about it, and partly because I needed to relieve some of my own stress.

"So many strange things happened today," I said, shaking my head.

"You mean cockroaches? Yes, they're disgusting," Su Ying replied.

“That’s not all. I also encountered a strange cat today,” I said, looking at her intently.

"how?"

“It’s strange. It’s similar to a cockroach. It can’t be run over by a truck or fall from the twelfth floor. I’ve even touched it. It’s a boneless, cartilaginous cat,” I explained to Su Ying.

Su Ying looked disgusted: "So that means the cat is just like a cockroach."

"I think they've all undergone a mutation. They've become like mollusks, changing shape and never dying; their vitality is terrifying."

"Yes, that's possible," Su Ying agreed, looking somewhat shaken.

"And all of this happened so close to us, don't you think it's too much of a coincidence?"

“I think all of this is related to the Zhidanyuan archaeological site. Although we don’t know for sure yet, I believe that the Zhidanyuan archaeological site is the only one that might have some connection with them recently,” Su Ying suddenly said.

I was taken aback. I had considered Su Ying's idea, but had already rejected it, so I couldn't help but shake my head somewhat dismissively.

"Why do you think that?" I asked her. Even so, a thought did cross my mind; perhaps she had some novel ideas…

"Just like you said, it's too much of a coincidence, so there must be some connection."

“Although these strange things have all happened in this area, they may not be caused by the same reason, and there is no evidence to support them, so I think these two things have nothing to do with archaeology,” I said with a sigh.

"Actually, it's not that simple. Things aren't so straightforward." She said as if drawing a conclusion, "The archaeological work at Zhidanyuan is still related to the underwater people."

They are still underwater people.

I was somewhat disappointed because Su Ying disagreed with my point of view and brought up the old idea of the so-called underwater people, which made me unhappy. However, Su Ying's confident expression aroused my suspicion.

"Do you know something?" I asked, staring at her.

She immediately became somewhat uneasy, yet revealed an undisguised smugness.

"What secrets do you know, or what have you discovered that makes you so insistent on finding the underwater people?" I pressed.

Su Ying bit her lip again, then said loudly, "Some things are my secrets, and I absolutely cannot tell you. Don't ask."

Seeing that she was getting agitated, I stopped talking.

Su Ying hesitated for a moment, but seeing my sincere expression, she said again, "There is a legend about the underwater people that I can tell you in secret."

"What?" I asked, still somewhat skeptical.

“Yes, according to legend, the people of the deep sea can transform into humans. Originally, the people of the deep sea look different from humans, but they can transform into our appearance and live on land through some kind of ritual. I think the Zhidan Garden site is very likely related to the rituals performed by the people of the deep sea. Maybe it's the place where they held their rituals,” she said with certainty.

I was a little confused. I stared intently at Su Ying, but the confident expression on her face made it impossible to tell if she was joking or imagining things. I suddenly blurted out something that immediately made me feel incredibly stupid: "How did you know? You wouldn't... be someone from the sea, would you?"