Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven

June 19, 1995, Xinsi Day in the Renwu month of the Year of Yihai, May 22 in the lunar calendar, is the time of Haishi. I died at Haishi. Every Qingming and Winter Solstice, I visit my mother's grave, and each time I deepen my understanding of death.If there are still people who remember you after death, it is not really dead, at least you are still living on those people.Even if you lie in an unowned grave, at least you are still living in the DNA of your descendants.Even if you didn't leave even a trace of blood, at least you still have your name and photo, ID card, student ID card, household registration book, library card, swimming card, essay book, graduation exam paper... I'm afraid I will be forgotten by everyone what!My name is Shenming, and I used to be the head teacher of Class 3 (2) of Nanming Middle School.

I just killed someone and got killed by another. In the Witch Quarter under the abandoned factory building, a knife was stabbed into my back. Wearing a black gauze with a red cloth, I believe that my eyes are always open, the legendary death is not closed, but I did not see the face of the murderer who killed me. Did you stop breathing?Do you have a pulse in your wrist?Is the carotid artery still beating?Is the blood no longer flowing?Oxygen not supplying the brain?Eventually brain death occurs?I don't feel like I exist at all. If you can't feel your own existence, is it dead? People say that death will be very painful, whether it is hacked to death, strangled, suffocated, poisoned, drowned, bumped to death, fell to death, or died of illness... followed by endless loneliness.

When I was in college, I read a popular science book from the school library, and the description of the death process was impressive—— Pale and rigid: usually occurs 15 to 120 minutes after death. Plaque: Blood deposits in the lower parts of a corpse. Corpse cold: A drop in body temperature after death.Body temperature generally decreases steadily until it is equal to the ambient temperature. Rigidity: The limbs of a dead body become rigid, making it difficult to move or swing. Decay: The process by which a dead body breaks down into simpler forms of matter, accompanied by a strong, unpleasant odour.

I have a good memory. Suddenly, a light penetrated the dark ground.I saw a strange corridor surrounded by white marble stones, like the tunnels in the Witch's Quarter, and also like an ancient underground palace.Under the light, there was a little boy wearing patched thin clothes, crying and weeping on his dead mother, with tears and snot running down his nose. The man next to him was smoking a cigarette indifferently—then the clear gunshot sounded, and he also became A corpse, the hole in the back of the head was emitting fireworks, and the blood slowly flowed all over the ground, covering the soles of the little boy's feet.A middle-aged woman took the boy by the hand and walked into a quiet street, with the vaguely written "Rest of Peace Road" on the house number.This is an old house. The boy lives behind the window in the basement. Every rainy day, he looks up at the road where the rain is running, people's shiny or dirty overshoes, and occasionally there are secrets in women's skirts.The boy had melancholy eyes, never smiled, his face was as pale as a ghost, only his cheeks were rosy, and he was terrible when he was angry.One night, he was standing by the window in the basement, and in the big house across the street, there were miserable screams, and a girl rushed out, sat on the doorstep and wept...

I want to cry too. But I'm just a corpse, no tears, only pus. soon i Will be turned into ashes, lying in a small mahogany or stainless steel box, sleeping deep in the loess three feet below.Or, lying on the dark, cold ground of the Witch's Quarter, it was highly decayed into a mass of dirty matter, even mice and bedbugs didn't bother to eat it, and was eventually swallowed up by microorganisms until it became a young skeleton. If there is a soul... I think I can leave my body, see my dead self, and see the murderer who killed me, and have the opportunity to avenge myself—become a ghost, with strong resentment, and imprint it in the witch area for a long time , and even within a few kilometers of Nanming Senior High School.

The world after death probably has no concept of time, I think this resentment will be forever. And people can't live forever, only dead. Isn't it just to wait for death from the moment of birth?However, I waited a little too short. Perhaps one of you will find out the truth about the plot against me and catch my murderer some morning or night in the future. Who killed me? If there is an afterlife?If there is an afterlife?What if you could do it all over again?What if all mistakes and sins could be avoided?Well, the dean is strict, although I just killed you, if I meet you in another world, I still want to say "sorry" to you!

It seems that after a long sleep, the body regained consciousness, but the whole body became very light, almost a gust of wind could blow it away, and my heart was inexplicably joyful—is this a miracle of resurrection? Standing up involuntarily and leaving the Witch's Quarter, the road in front of me is so strange, there are no dilapidated factory buildings anymore, it is more like the picture in the embroidery of ancient books.After walking in a daze for a long time, there is a dark path under the feet, with bleak woods on both sides, bones are faintly exposed in the mud, and there are sparkling will-o'-the-wisps in the summer night.The wailing of owls sounded overhead, and birds with human faces flew by from time to time, and even their bodies were in the shape of women. Is it the legendary Guhuo bird?

There was a river blocking my way, the water surface was terribly blood-colored, a hot wind full of fishy smell hit from the opposite bank, and the rolled up waves could vaguely hide figures and hairs, I am afraid that several boat people had just been drowned.After walking a few steps along the river without any fear, I found an old stone arch bridge.Under the cyan bridge railing, sat a white-haired old woman with a stooped body, I don't know how old she is, it reminded me of my grandmother who died only two days ago.She was holding a broken porcelain bowl filled with steaming hot soup.She looked up at my face, with some kind of special surprise in her muddy eyes, then she shook her head regretfully, and said in a miserable and dry voice: "Why are you?"

The old woman stuffed the bowl in front of me, and I looked at the grease on the layer of soup with disgust: "What is this place?" "After drinking this bowl of soup and crossing this bridge, you can go home." So, I picked up the bowl suspiciously and forced myself to drink it.The taste is not bad, just like the tofu soup my grandma cooked for me. The old woman stepped aside and urged: "Hurry up and cross the bridge, or it will be too late." "Is it too late to reincarnate?" This was my mantra when I was studying in Nanming High School. "Yes, child."

In between words, I have walked across this ancient stone bridge, looking down at the river under the bridge, covered with tangled water plants like a woman's long hair.As soon as he stepped on the icy iron-cold land on the other side, he felt an inexplicable nausea, and he knelt down and vomited involuntarily. What a shame, I spit out the whole bowl of soup. Before I came back to my senses, the river behind me suddenly rose, engulfing me to the bottom in an instant. At the bottom of the dark water covered with aquatic plants and covered with bones, a strange and cold light came from somewhere, illuminating a person's face.

It was the face of a dead man, and it was also the face of twenty-five-year-old Shen Ming. And I'm about to become someone else. In the past, I didn't believe what was said in the ancient books-after death, people have to go through the gate of ghosts, walk on the road to Huangquan, and before arriving at the underworld, there is a boundary of Wangchuan water.After passing the Naihe Bridge on the river and crossing the Wangchuan River, you can go to reincarnation.There is an old woman sitting beside the Naihe Bridge. Her name is Meng Po. If you don’t drink the soup in her bowl, you will not be able to cross the Naihe Bridge, let alone cross the Wangchuan River. All memories of previous lives will be forgotten. Wang Chuan, Po Meng, the next life.Will you really forget everything? "What if there was a tomorrow? How would you like to dress your face? If there was no tomorrow? How would you say goodbye?"