double - Chapitre 8
However, there wasn't much time to think about it. The door had already opened, and Fang Lei was standing in the doorway. She had the same beautiful face, but she looked a little haggard, and there was a faint tenderness in her eyes. I wondered if the object of her tenderness could be me.
I still remember the passion in the car that night. I don't know if it was a hallucination or if my brain had rusted afterward, or if I mistook her for Yin Xue. All I know is that after she asked me to tell her about my past with Yin Xue, I don't know where I got the courage to hug her. All the desire came quickly and intensely. I think I must have been as ferocious as a wild beast at that moment, and our heroine didn't resist at all.
I could do whatever I wanted. If it weren't for Chen Kai's phone call, I probably could have stripped even more clothes off this beautiful Emei heroine.
"What are you thinking about?" Fang Lei gave me a push, went into the room, and closed the door behind her.
"No, I wasn't thinking about anything!" I swallowed hard. Of course, I wouldn't tell her that I was actually thinking about that night...
"I haven't been here these past few days because I had to attend a magic gathering." Fang Lei kept her head down and didn't look at me.
"Huh?" I didn't expect that such a thing still existed in the 20th century.
"This kind of gathering happens every three years, and the winner receives a very valuable prize. The prize is usually provided by the Magic Association, and this year's prize is..." Fang Lei looked up at me and said, enunciating each word clearly, "The Seven-Star Heavenly Dragon Pendant."
"Huh?" I was stunned. Could it be that there is more than one Seven Star Heavenly Dragon Pendant in this world?
"I know you're confused, and so am I." Fang Lei brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly puzzled as well.
"I know, that piece is fake!" I exclaimed in sudden realization.
"Impossible," Fang Lei replied seriously. "Prizes awarded by the Spells Association can't be fake. Each prize is authenticated by the elders; they absolutely cannot be counterfeit."
"That's not necessarily true!" I muttered to myself. These days, there's nothing fake that isn't there. Even beautiful women can be fake. It's not surprising that a small jade pendant could be fake too!
"If it's impossible, it's impossible. I'm starting to doubt if yours is even real!" Fang Lei rolled her eyes at me and said irritably.
"Whether it's real or fake doesn't matter to me." I shrugged. As long as it was given by Yin Xue, that's fine with me.
Fang Lei looked at me for a long time before saying, "Someone will come to see you tomorrow. He obtained the Seven Star Heavenly Dragon Pendant. I hope you won't be too surprised when you see him!"
I looked at Fang Lei, who was smiling radiantly, her pink face seemingly glowing. She was a beautiful woman, though I had known that for a long time.
"Who's so powerful that they could defeat our heroine Fang?" I teased.
"You'll see when you get here." Fang Lei smiled at me and walked out of the room.
※ ※ ※
It was already 7:45 PM. I stood in the lobby of the Garden Hotel, a four-star hotel. The lobby was... (The sentence is incomplete and lacks context).
"Excuse me, sir, do you need any help?" a waiter asked me as he approached.
"Oh, I'm here to find someone."
"Would you please go to the front desk to confirm?"
"Oh, okay." I followed the waiter to the front desk, and after confirming that I did have an appointment, I headed for the elevator.
I walked into the elevator alone. The interior was decorated with glass walls, so it felt like several versions of myself were in the same space at the same time.
The elevator doors slowly closed, but my eyes suddenly twitched again. A sense of foreboding washed over me, accompanied by a strange feeling of nausea and dizziness. I immediately grabbed the left side of the elevator, fighting off the urge to vomit. Glancing absentmindedly at the glass wall, I saw my reflection: my face was deathly pale, my lips bloodless, my eyes sunken, and small red spots were gradually appearing on my dry, wrinkled skin.
A thick, reddish-yellow liquid oozed from my seven orifices, and a stench of death, all too familiar to me, assaulted my nostrils—and the source of that stench was none other than myself. Overwhelmed by terror, I recoiled, turning my head to see, on the other side of the glass wall, my own corpse-like self grinning at me, a grotesque smile spreading across my face. On my tongue slowly crawled many white, translucent worms—maggots, the kind I often saw...
Insects were found on the already rotting corpse. Suddenly, I felt the elevator begin to descend, faster and faster, as if plummeting from a great height. The rapid descent created a sense of gravity, and I felt the images in my vision blur, as if they were no longer myself, but rather overlapping images of Yin Xue and Lao Cao. A wave of nausea washed over me; the intense urge to vomit made me feel extremely uncomfortable, yet I had no strength left.
He felt breathless; even the strength to open his mouth seemed to have been drained from his body.
Many past events were rewound like a movie. I seemed to see myself when I first entered the police station, and the tears of everyone when I graduated from university. Then came scenes from university that I remembered and those I didn't, and then the college entrance examination... If people recall the past before they die, then this must be it!
Every important moment in my life was relived. I returned to the night Yin Xue killed him, and all the memories of that moment were so clear. I could still clearly see everything in Yin Xue's room, her legs floating in the air. But why couldn't I see her face? It was as if a thick fog shrouded her face, while the surrounding scenery became clearer and clearer.
Yin Xue's face was visible, but it was impossible to see it clearly.
Suddenly, a sharp pain spread from my chest. The heat emanating from the jade pendant was enough to burn my skin, and I could even smell the pungent, burnt odor of charred skin.
Perhaps the intense pain stimulated my optic nerve, for I noticed the mist on Yin Xue's face was rapidly dissipating. Then, I saw a face that chilled me to the bone—not the face of Yin Xue I remembered, but the face of my sister, Lin Yao. This was what I saw before losing consciousness.
Chapter Sixteen: The Victims of the Heart Lake Murder Case
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My whole body was burning with pain. I slowly opened my eyes, feeling as if my body had just been taken apart and put back together.
"Are you alright?" A pleasant female voice came from behind me. I looked up and saw Cao Ying.
"How did I get here?" I struggled to sit up and found myself lying on a large bed, probably in a hotel room.
"The waiter found you unconscious in the elevator. I happened to be passing by, so I carried you back to my room." Cao Ying handed me a glass of water. "Have some; you don't look well."
It's normal to look pale. After all, who could remain normal after seeing their own corpse? I sighed. Could it be that I've been having mental problems lately? How could I suddenly have such hallucinations? Especially that last scene, it still gives me chills.
"Are you alright? Should we go to the hospital to get checked out?" Cao Ying asked kindly, noticing my hand still trembling as I held the cup.
"No, no need." I gave a wry smile. Going to the hospital would definitely not help. Should I tell the doctor what happened in the elevator? I'd probably end up being sent to the psychiatric ward.
Cao Ying didn't insist. She silently pulled up a chair and sat down on the edge of the bed, staring intently at me.
"Miss, haven't you ever seen a handsome man before?" I felt uneasy under her gaze, so I had no choice but to tease her a little.
"Your eyes hold a lot of things." Cao Ying's tone was calm, revealing no emotion whatsoever.
"I know you studied criminal psychology, but please don't use your methods for dealing with criminals on me, okay? Do I look like a criminal?" I finished the water in my glass in one gulp, and the cold water temporarily relieved the burning pain in my body.
"The less a person seems like a criminal, the more likely they are to commit horrific crimes. I think you should be well aware of that!" Cao Ying took a thick stack of papers from her drawer and tossed them to me. "This is some information I've collected about the Heart Lake murder case."
I opened the bag and saw a large title written in red pen on a piece of paper: List of the Dead of Xinhu Lake.
The first victim: a woman.
Identity: Unknown.
Cause of death: unknown.
Time of death: unknown.
The second victim: Yu Zhongguo.
Gender: Male.
Identity: Member of the Second Red Guard Team at the time.
Cause of death: drowning.
Date of death: September 1967.
The third victim: Mao Aijun.
Gender: Male.
Identity: Member of the cultural troupe.
Cause of death: drowning.
Date of death: March 1968.
The fourth victim: Gu Zhaodi.
Gender: Female.
Identity: Member of the cultural troupe, girlfriend of Mao Aijun, the third victim.
Cause of death: hanged (on a tree by the Heart Lake).
Date of death: May 1969.
The fifth victim: Wu Dayong.
Gender: Male.
Identity: Ordinary farmer.
Cause of death: drowning (two words were written in blood on the ground on the shore: "There is a ghost.").
Date of death: March 1972.
The sixth victim: Cheng Ming.
Gender: Male.
Identity: Ordinary farmer (neighbor of the fifth victim, Wu Dayong)
Cause of death: drowning.
Date of death: April 1983.
The seventh victim: Zhou Zhifeng.
Gender: Male.
Identity: Forensic doctor at the Municipal Public Security Bureau, apprentice of Liu Fugen.
Cause of death: drowning.
Date of death: June 1983.
The eighth victim: Liu Qin.
Gender: Female.
Identity: Daughter of Liu Fugen, wife of Zhou Zhifeng.
Cause of death: hanged (on a tree beside the Heart Lake)
Date of death: July 1985.
The ninth victim: Shen Jian.
Gender: Male.
Occupation: Sanitation worker.
Note: The sole survivor has gone insane and is currently residing in the West City Mental Hospital.
I flipped through the materials at the back, which were all clippings. I think the contents of those clippings have been condensed into this list.
"Very thorough." I put the documents down. It seems someone had already noticed these things. But what puzzles me is why there are nine people. I clearly remember Li Yang saying there were only eight! Moreover, the situation of the first victim is very vague, almost as if he had nothing.
"Aren't you curious about this first victim?" Cao Ying asked.
"Indeed, the victim's information is very puzzling. I doubt whether this person even exists." I told the truth. There was no information about this woman in the subsequent clippings. All the information indicated that Yu Zhongguo was the first victim of this series of strange events.
"I'm also puzzled. That's one of the reasons why I wanted you to help me investigate."
"Did you collect these?" I asked curiously.
"Didn't you notice that these documents are dated very early? I wasn't even born then!" Cao Ying rolled her eyes at me. It seems my intelligence is starting to be underestimated.