Chapter 9 Chapter 8: The Baby Corpse

I remember a celebrity once said that there is absolutely no unsolvable mystery in this world, it depends on how you treat it.Perhaps, the answer lies within your reach. This sentence used to be my motto, but since I played the game of Die Xian with Xue Ying, Zhang Wen, Gou Xiong, and Duck, I began to doubt the credibility of this sentence. Strange and inexplicable things are happening around us more and more.The duck was missing, and the baby’s night cry, which had not been heard near the pavilion for several years, sounded miserably every night, lingering and echoing in the corridors and rooms of the dormitory building, making people panic, and some people even couldn’t stand it anymore. Moved out of the dormitory.

Every time I hear a baby cry in the middle of the night, of course I get scared too.But fear is fear, there is one thing that must be done. At eleven o'clock at night, I carefully avoided the dormitory administrator and slipped out of the dormitory building.And Xueying was already waiting for me around the corner. "Why are you asking me out so late?" She asked expectantly, not knowing what was going on in her mind.I looked around and whispered: "Do you still remember the story told by Lu Ying, the first-year freshman? He said that the next morning he went to the camphor forest with the ducks to find the baby's corpse, and saw them digging There seems to be a blue bag on the white camphor tree I passed by. I want to find out if what he said is true!"

Xueying's expression changed immediately: "Don't you want to go to the pavilion now? No, it's so scary! Is your mind crazy, Xiaoye? Why don't you go during the day? It's bright in the daytime, so it's much easier to find something." "Fool!" I squeezed her nose tightly and said, "You think I like to go to that gloomy and terrifying forest to climb that tall and deadly white camphor tree at night when I can't see my fingers? The school playground is just as big as a hand. People come and go in the woods during the day, I'm afraid I will be invited into the principal's office if I don't climb halfway!"

"Well, just treat it as if I said something wrong..." Xueying rubbed her nose aggrievedly and asked, "But what's the use of asking me to do that with you? I don't know how to climb trees." "I didn't expect you to climb a tree, you just need to be by my side." I said disdainfully. Xue Ying let out a "huh", she blinked her big eyes, and acted like she suddenly realized: "I know, Xiao Ye is afraid to go alone! Haha, it turns out that Xiao Ye who always pretends to be serious and fearless──is also afraid what!" I stared at her fiercely, with embarrassment on my face that my thoughts had been seen through: "It's fine if you don't go." After saying that, I walked forward quickly.

Xueying hurried over and took my arm and said softly, "Okay, I'll just accompany you. Don't be angry with me!" After passing through the playground, walk more than 100 meters to the pavilion in front of the woods.It is said that the pavilion is very old and has a history of more than two hundred years. The foundation of the pavilion was dug very high, but the first time I saw this nearly two-meter raised foundation, I felt very strange.It's not because of its strange shape, but because of the material used to pad the foundation. The large stones and sand used for the foundation of the pavilion are generally used to build dams and embankments.Although it is not impossible to use it to repair other things, but the wooden pavilion used for resting always looks very unpleasant and awkward.

The night was very dark, without stars or moon.Only the dim orange street lamps are still leaking dim and dull light, faintly illuminating the surrounding square inches of land. Under this light, the woods in the south looked even more sinister, and the branches swayed with the howling north wind, making dry and harsh monotonous sounds. Xue Ying, who was already leaning very tightly on me, couldn't help but shuddered, and squeezed against me again, her whole body was almost on my body. Feeling two lumps of soft things pressing on my arms, I was embarrassed, but I was too comfortable to pull my hands away.I had no choice but to cough a few times, trying to look around, hoping to distract my attention from my arms.

There is a road on the north side of the playground that leads to this ancient pavilion.Generally speaking, from 6:30 in the morning to 9:00 in the evening, the Guting will be occupied by the seniors and seniors from the senior high school. Their grand explanation to our elementary school students in the junior high school is that they want to study biology in this quiet place. Courses and Exam Preparation.But everyone knows that these seniors and sisters just use this to talk about love, and even occasionally study the bodies of the opposite sex. I am disgusted with this tacit secret, and naturally I seldom come here, and I never thought that one day I would sneak in here in the middle of the night.what!The world is unpredictable, and I didn't expect that I would experience this sentence deeply with practical actions so soon.

Slowly walking up to the pavilion, Xueying looked around curiously. "It's such a dirty place, and I don't know which class is responsible for cleaning this area?" She tutted her tongue, pushed Wan Nianqing away from her eyes, turned on the small flashlight, and looked at the lingering love words carved with a knife on the pillar with relish. "Ah—that's great! So our seniors and sisters are so open!" Xueying pinched my arm excitedly.I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, I gently pulled her long hair and said, "You seem to have completely forgotten what we are here for!"

"I've never forgotten it." Xueying stared at the pillar intently, her eyes showed no signs of wavering, and she said to herself while watching: "The opportunity is rare, and I rarely come up. Now I can read enough at once. Hehe, tomorrow I have another topic to chat with my friends." "You girls are really gossipy (there are so many lines on your face...), forget it, you can watch it here by yourself." I was so angry that I was going to the camphor forest on the right side of the pavilion. Suddenly I heard Xueying's strange "Huh". "Xiao Ye, look here!!" She turned pale and turned her head to shout at me.

"What are you doing? I don't like digging into other people's privacy." I grumbled, bending down reluctantly to look at where she pointed. "I don't want to leave him, I don't want him to change his mind. Even if I die, I will love him forever..." The name on the back was scratched off with a knife. But there is nothing surprising about this, it is just a very common love story, it can be seen that this is a girl's prayer.She likes a boy, and then hopes that he will always be with her, and also hopes that he will only love herself forever. I looked at Xue Ying in surprise, and asked in doubt: "There is nothing strange about this sentence..."

"The words above are indeed very common, but the key point is here, take a closer look—" She pointed to a group of teeny boys below. I casually put my head closer, and said softly: "Xuequan Township No. 1 Middle School, Li Pingliu—it's nothing." Just as I was about to raise my head and scold her for making a fuss, a strange thought suddenly entered my mind. Immediately, his whole body stiffened in surprise. "Li Ping".The senior high school girl who was said to have been raped by the principal's son more than ten years ago and then suddenly disappeared is also called "Li Ping". Could she be the same person as the girl who wrote on the pillar in the ancient pavilion?No!It shouldn't be such a coincidence.The name Li Ping is really very common. There are many people with the same name and surname as her in the school, and there are almost every grade. I shook my head, dismissing the thought.Xueying seemed to have seen my thoughts, and asked without thinking: "Now we live in Xuequan Town, right?" "Not bad." I didn't know what she wanted to say, so I nodded. "So do you still remember when this place changed from 'Xuequan Township' to 'Xuequan Town'?" She smiled meaningfully, and the expression on her face seemed to reveal: "See if you dare to Dare to think that I only have a face but no brains" silent laughter. I suddenly understood what she meant: "Ten years ago." I gave her a thumbs up appreciatively, and said, "I know what you want to express to me, but it doesn't mean anything." "But it's very consistent in time! I think the girl who carved the words on the pillar should be the missing Li Ping in the school legend." Xueying said unconvinced. "Miss, I believe this message was engraved at least ten years ago, but Li Ping's name is too common. And even if she engraved it, so what? It just means that she is caught in a love triangle. The person she likes is starting to change her mind. This doesn't help what we are investigating now!" I scratched my head in frustration. "No! A woman's intuition tells me that there is definitely something to be said about this line." Xue Ying said stubbornly. "Well, even if you're right, can we just put this aside?" I surrendered.When a woman becomes stubborn, there is no reason to argue with her, it is better to agree with her intelligently. "Your tone is too forced, you don't believe me at all!" Xueying said angrily, while spreading her right hand to me, she said, "Give me the key to the library reference room you copied." "What do you want to do?" I froze. Xueying turned her head and said angrily: "Of course I'm looking for evidence to show you. I want to find out how many Li Ping there were ten years ago!" "Does it make sense for you to do this?" My head got big, alas!Sensual creatures like women are indeed not something that a junior high school student like me can understand. "Of course I have, at least I can vent my anger." Xueying snorted at me. I smiled wryly and said nothing, then pulled her straight to the right of the pavilion.If I continue arguing with her, maybe it will be dawn, and I will find a fart by then! Before I knew it, the wind started to blow harder and harder.As soon as I walked into the camphor forest, there was a cold and humid air rushing towards me. I tightened my coat and walked forward carefully.It was very dark all around, and the withered yellow light emitted by the street lamp more than ten meters away seemed powerless when it hit our feet. Those two solitary tombs were not far away, rising quietly in the darkness of the forest, giving people an inexplicable sense of vicissitudes and strangeness. Xue Ying, who was still angry with me, was so scared that she stuck her whole body to my side again. "What an uncomfortable place," she murmured in my ear. I didn't answer her, just looked around all the time, constantly recalling what Lu Ying told me about that night, and all the details.Walking slowly to the first grave, I dug a handful of soil with my hands, rubbed it vigorously in my palm, threw it away, and looked carefully at the six white camphor trees in the north. "Do you still remember the story I told you? Under which white camphor tree did Lu Ying say they dug up the baby's body?" I turned my head and looked at the two graves intently, and asked Xueying. She thought hard and replied, "He said it's a place with good soil quality and won't be exposed to light." "That should be the fourth plant from the left. Only that plant is just sandwiched between the shadows of two street lamps. If you dig it up, it will not be easy to be found." I frowned, and said: "It's just I don’t know if the soil there is very soft.” After speaking, he walked over and dug up the root of the white camphor tree with his hands. "No, the soil here is as hard as hell, just like the dry soil next to the grave." Disappointed, I withdrew my aching hand from digging and wiped it on my clothes: "And there are indeed no trees around the tree. Any traces that have been excavated, strange..." "What's so strange?" Xue Ying asked curiously. "Do you believe that there will be mass hypnosis in this world?" I shone the flashlight on the top of the tree, let the light circle move slowly inch by inch, and searched carefully, while softly asking her. "Collective hypnosis?" Xueying pouted her lips and said, "You mean it's often mentioned on TV that a large group of people have the same hallucination at the same time? To be honest, although those radicals boasted about it, I don't know much about it. letter." I laughed: "I don't believe it either. I remember a well-known psychologist once said that everyone's way of thinking is different, and the thinking waves in their brains are also different, which causes two people to fall into the same hallucination or hallucination at the same time. The possibility of dreams has become very small. If an illusion is felt by more than three people, it can only explain one situation: what those three people felt has indeed happened!" I looked down at her, and my voice became dry: "Lu Ying once swore that his group had dug under this tree, and they had worked hard to break away a layer of hard concrete. Wait until the next day. When he came here again, he found that there was no trace of excavation under this white camphor tree...What do you think about this?" "Didn't you say that people are stupid, how can they guess such a profound question?" Xue Ying glared at me. "There are two possibilities." Seeing that she was inexplicably angry again, I had no choice but to ask myself: "One is that they did dig a certain place, but that place is definitely not under this tree. The other is that they excavated because of some There are various reasons to lie collectively." Suddenly, Xueying felt her whole body tremble, she pulled my coat vigorously, pointed to the top of her head and said: "I think it is unlikely that they are lying, if you don't believe me, take a look at the above." I raised my head and looked at the place illuminated by the aperture of the flashlight. The dense branches were dark green reflecting the light, and in the depths of the branches and leaves, I could faintly see a small blue bag.My throat became dry and my nerves tensed up. I exchanged glances with Xueying, took a deep breath, and I said, "It seems that this is our goal for tonight." Passing the flashlight to her, I rubbed my hands together and was about to climb up the tree. "You really want to climb? It's too dangerous, and there are so few branches under this tree!" Xueying became anxious. I looked up and said with a wry smile, "I don't want to climb either, but if I don't take off that bag tonight, I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep for a long time." But to be honest, this tree is really not ordinary difficult to climb. Generally speaking, camphor trees are short and bloated trees with many branches, but the few white camphor trees in the school are rare and different. Not only are they more than 20 meters tall, they have almost no branches, straight The trunk rises toward the sky like a bamboo, almost mistaken for a poplar from a distance. But the most extreme thing is that I don’t know which worker is so wicked. He killed all the thin branches of the white camphor tree that were less than eight meters high and could be easily climbed by people, and shaved them clean. It made me very laborious to get up. If you move up two meters, you will be tired and out of breath, so you have to stop and rest for a while. "Hey, Xiao Ye, would you like me to throw a towel to wipe your sweat, huh?" Xueying stood leaning against the tree, wrapping her coat tightly while still teasing me. I glared down hard, and cursed softly: "Fix the lamp for me, and be careful that I fall and crush you to death!" While speaking, my hands and feet were not idle, I clamped the trunk's legs and kicked vigorously, Finally caught a tree trunk. After crossing the dangerous eight-meter distance, the rest of the place was relatively easy. After climbing up cautiously for more than ten minutes, I finally came to the branch where the blue bag was hanging. My heart was beating continuously and rapidly due to excitement. I swallowed hard and lifted the bag. In hand.My body began to tremble, and I unscrewed the small flashlight with trembling left hand. I couldn't wait to look at the blue bag in my hand. very light.That's the first feeling I get when I mention it. The bag was made of blue sackcloth, and from the dust and discoloration on it, it must have been hanging on the tree for a long time.The bag is not big, and there is a flat round object with a diameter of about ten centimeters inside.Squeeze it with your hands, it's soft, but you can't feel what's inside. The chill in the wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the top of the tree was shaking in the summer night wind, almost making me unable to stand still.I carefully hung the bag down with the nylon rope I brought with me, and then quickly slid down the tree.Xueying was squatting down and looking at the cloth bag curiously. She wanted to open it, but felt that it was disgusting, so she carefully poked the bag with her index finger, but she retracted it immediately as if she had been bitten by something. hands. She frowned and said to me: "Do you think the body of the baby in the school legend is in this disgusting cloth bag?" "I don't think I will be so lucky." I shook my head, carefully untied the outer layer of blue linen, and said, "Do you know that many villages have a strange custom?" "What custom?" "Many people in the countryside believe that living things have souls. If you kill pigs, ducks and other livestock and poultry, you should cut off their livers, put them in bags and hang them on trees, lest their souls come to find you." Pulling out the inner layer, I said, "In some places, the placentas of babies who died after birth are hung on the trees to reassure the soul. They think that if the soul of the dead baby is not disturbed, the dead baby will die." Babies will return to their parents every night to suck the yang energy of their relatives." "Stop talking, it's scary!" Xueying looked around and couldn't help shivering. I laughed: "These are just superstitions, there is nothing to be afraid of." Finally untied the last knot, I opened the blue linen, revealing the things inside. Inside was a bundle wrapped in a large piece of gray-blue cloth.I unfolded it, and a mass of rags from clothes unfolded before our eyes. "What are these?" Xueying exclaimed in surprise, "There isn't a single bone inside!" "These should be the school uniforms of our school more than ten years ago." I flipped through the rags and looked carefully: "It's a women's school uniform. The girl is about 1.6 meters tall. There are still pieces of underwear here? Well, look Come on, her boobs should be big..." Feeling my head being knocked hard, I raised my face in surprise, Xueying glared at me angrily: "Why are you boys so lustful!" "Miss, I just said what I saw!" I yelled wronged. Xueying snorted: "Although I know you very well, there are some things that cannot be said in front of a lady." "This guy is not inferior to the owner of this pile of rags..." I muttered in a low voice. Forget about her who was making trouble out of no reason, and started to look through it again. "Hey, what is this?" Carefully pinching the rag, I accidentally found a piece of cardboard the size of a business card, took it out and looked carefully, it turned out to be a very old school card. I suddenly became excited, and hurriedly moved the light of the flashlight, trying to see the words on it clearly, when suddenly I felt the surroundings became very quiet.Xue Ying, who was still whispering in her ear just now, stopped talking. She leaned on my back, trembling all over her body. "What's wrong with you?" I asked strangely. "Listen, it sounds like a baby is crying." She began to tremble in fear. I pricked up my ears and listened carefully for a while, but I didn't find anything unusual: "Where is it? Why can't I hear it?" As soon as the words fell, a chill crawled from my back to the top of my head.From the bottom of the feet, a faint cry began to sound, and it became louder and louder. It was the cry of a baby, crying in pain! The sharp voice echoed in the camphor forest, and seemed to resonate with every tree.The empty cry was dry, with strong penetrating power, even if you cover your ears, you can clearly hear the chilling fear it brings. In fear, reason can no longer play any role.The primitive instinct allowed me to wake up quickly from the extreme shock and fear. I grabbed the bag with my left hand, held Xue Ying with my right hand, and ran out of the forest with all my strength. My thoughts started to become chaotic, and while I was running, my brain was trying to suppress the fear, and at the same time, I was dealing with a lot of doubts rushing into my mind at high speed.In the glimpse just now, I clearly wrote down the information left on the school card. ──"Zhou Jian, Class 3, Senior 3, No. 1 Middle School of Xuequan Township, Class 62." It can be seen that this is a school card of a boy in the third year of high school. Although he doesn't know who he is, there is one thing that is very strange: why is there a school card of a boy in a pile of girls' clothes?Are these things directly related to the legend of the baby corpse on campus?It feels as if I've grasped something, but can't articulate it into a valid thread. I vaguely feel that the legend that has been circulating on campus for more than ten years seems to have some plots distorted...