Глаза Асуры - Глава 30
A word suddenly popped into his mind—sleepwalking!
It turns out Park Eun-hee also suffers from sleepwalking! This was something Song Xiaomo never expected, and perhaps even Park Eun-hee herself didn't expect it.
"Park Eun-hee, wake up..."
But he completely ignored Song Xiaomo's voice, walking stiffly down the corridor like a zombie. Song Xiaomo gasped, her immediate thought being—he'd come back to life!
Now that things had come to this, he decided to follow him and see what he was up to.
After going downstairs, Park Eun-hee wandered around a few times and then went into the school's back garden.
Looking at the dark thicket, Song Xiaomo felt an indescribable fear welling up inside her.
Chapter 145: The Doll Murder Case (145)
Park Eun-hee looked around, crouched down, and slipped through the gaps in the bushes, her figure disappearing into the endless darkness in an instant.
Song Xiaomo followed cautiously behind. The bushes had probably been neglected for a long time, so the branches and leaves were lush and thick, and the scratches stung his skin. To avoid being discovered, he kept a distance from Park Eun-hee at all times.
Suddenly, Park Eun-hee disappeared.
Song Xiaomo huddled under two banana trees, darkness obscuring his vision. He listened intently, and there seemed to be a discordant sound in the dense thicket, like soft breathing and footsteps approaching him from behind.
Why are there still people walking around so late?
Song Xiaomo trembled all over and instinctively grabbed a hard stone. He held it in his hand, trying to calm himself down slightly, but the sound grew closer and closer... Song Xiaomo even felt that Li Zhengzhen had followed him.
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
In a fit of extreme panic, he suddenly turned around and hurled the stone in his hand with all his might...
With a "snap," Song Xiaomo froze, only to find no one in front of her.
But then, that discordant sound slowly drew closer...
A nameless fear completely gripped his heart, and he began to back away. "Thump!" His back slammed against a small tree...
"Who is it?" he whispered. No one answered. He picked up another branch and thrust it forward, but it struck nothing in the darkness. Song Xiaomo simply didn't have the courage to linger here any longer; he decided to go find Park Eun-hee.
Along the way, he frequently looked back, but could not see the "people" behind him.
About five minutes later, Song Xiaomo noticed that the air was becoming clearer and clearer, and then he saw a shadow.
Park Eun-hee was sitting under an old tree, smoking one cigarette after another.
After a while, Song Xiaomo saw him kneel down. Park Eun-hee's body trembled slightly. He took out a stack of joss paper from somewhere and scattered it under the tree. Then, he lit the joss paper with a lighter. The white flames burned quickly in the night wind and then turned into wisps of smoke that drifted into the air.
Song Xiaomo was startled. He gradually saw clearly that under the old tree, there was a small mound—it was clearly a grave!
Because the graves are small and hidden deep in the dense woods of the garden, few people notice them. Even if someone does see them, they may not necessarily associate them with graves.
This psychology graduate student lit paper money over a small grave in the middle of the night—it's truly chilling.
The stack of paper money burned out quickly. Park Eun-hee stood facing the grave for a while longer before disappearing into another thicket of bushes and gradually vanishing into the darkness.
Only after confirming that Park Eun-hee was far away did Song Xiaomo dare to straighten up. He walked to the lonely grave under the old tree. Strangely, the grave had no tombstone. He wondered whose grave it was. Perhaps it contained Park Eun-hee's deceased relatives?
Song Xiaomo felt a chill run down his spine, sensing something strange about the small grave, yet unable to articulate the feeling. Countless thoughts flashed through his mind: such a small grave must contain an urn of ashes, or perhaps some remains, like those of a child…
Chapters 146-148: The Doll Murder Case (146-148)
Just then, two eerie green eyes flashed in the grass, emitting a piercing, strange meow.
The canna lilies are layered upon layered, undulating like waves.
And then, the sound got closer to him again…
He turned around hastily, about to shout, but his mouth was tightly covered by a large, cold hand.
"Don't be afraid, it's me, An Qiqi!" A voice dispelled Song Xiaomo's fear, and he relaxed completely.
"So it was you?" Song Xiaomo asked in surprise. "What brings you here?"
"I was just wandering around here when I suddenly heard some noise, so I followed. I didn't expect it to be you guys!" An Qiqi said.
"Really? You're spying on me, aren't you?"
"Don't put it so harshly, I'm actually here to see He Zhiying!" An Qiqi glared at him.
"Sorry, thankfully the stone I threw at you didn't hit you!"
"When did you throw stones at me?" An Qiqi was completely confused.
"I was hiding in the bushes when I felt something approaching me." Song Xiaomo was startled and asked urgently, "Wasn't it you?"
“No,” An Qiqi replied with absolute certainty.
Song Xiaomo's heart skipped a beat. "There's something fishy going on here! Park Eun-hee sleepwalked out in the middle of the night and crawled into this place to burn paper money. It's unbelievable. What's going on?"
"Sleepwalking? He seems fine most of the time!" An Qiqi stared at the small mound and asked, "What do you feel is buried in there? A dead person? Ashes? Or..."
"You guessed pretty much what I guessed! Maybe... it's those missing heads!" Song Xiaomo said worriedly. "Park Eun-hee looked like a completely different person just now. I couldn't sense any living presence in her; she was like a zombie!"
Hearing Song Xiaomo's words, An Qiqi couldn't help but shudder. The conclusion he had been trying to avoid guessing was now laid bare before him. To suddenly discover that he knew nothing about an old classmate he had known for many years was a source of unsettling anxiety that kept him up at night.
"Alright, dig!" An Qiqi's face was dark, his expression unreadable. "If it turns out he's the murderer, I won't hold back. No matter how big his secret is, I will find out!" With that, he rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a branch from the ground, and started digging.
The vegetation on both sides was dark and gloomy, making it look very eerie.
A cold wind blew in gusts, the leaves rustled, and some joss paper fluttered overhead...
Song Xiaomo also joined the excavation.
After a while, the two finally dug out a dark, deep pit, like the entrance to hell...
"Strange, we've dug so deep, but there doesn't seem to be anything inside." Song Xiaomo sat down on the grass, staring at the pit in disappointment.
An Qiqi didn't say anything, stood up and stretched, then looked around warily.
At that moment, Song Xiaomo's heart suddenly jumped into his throat. He touched something thin and long, and then slumped back down.
"You're quite timid! What scared you?" An Qiqi asked.
"No, I touched hair... there's someone's hair in the ground..."
The countless stars scattered across the sky silently cast their cold, eerie light upon them. They looked at each other, noticing the interplay of light and shadow in each other's eyes. An Qiqi quickly bent down, squinted to examine closely, and then slowly, with effort, pulled the "hair" out of the soil like a radish…
Song Xiaomo shuddered—in the dim light of the night, he could vaguely make out a person's head.
The damp, earthy smell seeped out from all sides, mixed with the scent of graves.
"This isn't hair at all!" An Qiqi ripped off the thin rope wrapped around a round jar and breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just a jar."
The jar was gently opened...
A gust of wind blew, and they smelled the odor coming from the crematorium chimney...
But whose ashes are inside?
Whose death anniversary is it today?
After leaving the small grave, Song Xiaomo followed An Qiqi back to dormitory 519. Strangely, the "Li Zhengzhen" statue that had been hanging in the room was gone.
The story has entered a new labyrinth.
"Are you dreaming again?" An Qiqi looked around. He suspected that Song Xiaomo's delusions had flared up again. After all, he had personally examined Li Zhengzhen's body, and besides, the deceased's head was long gone.
"Today is truly unbelievable!" Song Xiaomo's mind was a complete mess.
"You look really tired lately, you need to get some rest!" An Qiqi glanced at her watch and said, "It's getting late, I should go!"
"Has He Zhiying been found?" Song Xiaomo asked.
When the topic came up, An Qiqi became a little nervous and casually replied, "No...no, I will definitely investigate with all my might! Don't worry, it'll be fine!"
"Could she already be..."
An Qiqi coldly interrupted him, "Don't talk nonsense, maybe she just went out to clear her head and wanted to be alone for a few days!"
"But why doesn't she contact me?"
An Qiqi couldn't answer and turned to leave.
Back in dormitory 520, Song Xiaomo leaned against the door, looking up at the ceiling, recalling his recent experience. A chill ran down his spine; he felt as if someone was standing behind him, an invisible person breathing on his neck, their bony fingers wrapped around his eyes and Adam's apple, grinning maliciously and grinding their teeth…
His mind was blank; the more he tried to think about it, the more his heart ached. He felt uneasy; this intense heartache seemed to be more than the first time. He clutched his chest, gasping for breath, but his mind stubbornly kept trying to think.
Only one word came to his mind: "Escape!"
The next day, Song Xiaomo decided to move out of the dormitory and rent an apartment off-campus. He posted a rental ad online and left his contact information.
At noon, someone called him.
"Is this Mr. Song?" an old lady's voice came through the receiver.
"Yes, it's me!"
Are you looking to rent a one-bedroom apartment with an ensuite bathroom and kitchen?
"That's right!"
"Well, I happen to have a house here, but I don't know if it would suit you!"
"Tell me what happened!"
"I've seen your profile. You're a university student, right? The apartment is a bit far from your school... no... actually, it's only a 20-minute bus ride... If you come, I can give you a discount..."
"How's the house?"
“It’s a villa, originally intended for my son’s wedding, but he’s gone abroad now, so I’ve decided to rent it out… The rent is negotiable, mainly because I’m a lonely old woman living alone…” the old lady explained, repeatedly assuring, “The price is definitely not expensive, I’d be happy to rent it to you university students!”
Song Xiaomo was somewhat tempted and said, "Please leave an address, I'll go take a look later!"
"No. 14, Muluan Avenue!"
"Okay, see you later!"
The bus took nearly 40 minutes to reach Muluan Avenue, almost twice as long as the old lady had said.
Song Xiaomo discovered that Muluan Avenue was actually just a small road in the suburbs, located in a slightly remote area. Number 14 Muluan Avenue was a European-style building, three stories high, occupying a large area and resembling a large warehouse. Due to its age, the white walls had turned dark gray. Green vines climbed all over the exterior walls, tightly enveloping the entire villa. Under the gloomy sky, this green building stood alone, much like an ancient ruin in a wasteland.
Song Xiaomo walked across the soft lawn toward the green villa.
A hunchbacked old woman was standing downstairs, squinting at him.
"Hello, I'm here to rent a room!"
"You must be Mr. Song?"