Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Return of the Dead

Ever since I saw that child in white sportswear with stinky water coming out of his mouth in Su Yun's room, I have been chilling all over my body, with a persistent high fever, and have been lying in bed for three days. I only told Yang Chang about this matter, and he was silent for a long time after hearing it. He said he believed me. When he pulled me off the window sill that day, the obsidian bracelet suddenly tightened, as if it was going to embed into his flesh.He didn't see the child, but saw that the angle of the front half of my body protruding outward was very dangerous, as if I would plunge into it at any time, so he quickly gave me a hand.In that instant he heard a cry, a vicious scream.

Yang Chang stayed by my side every step of the way, and it was obvious that he was very nervous. The people in the Su family are very warm to me, and even my grandfather comes to see me several times a day.But they didn't ask me a word about what happened the day I fainted, and they all seemed to avoid something deliberately. Su Yun locked himself in the room from that day on, refusing to come out.I admire her very much, she can still live in the haunted room.The little uncle said that she was in a bad state of mind, which I can imagine. For several days, I had the same dream over and over again.

Very familiar dream, I seem to have had it when I was a child, but not so clear and frequent. It was late at night, and I was walking alone in the dark corridor on the second floor of the bathing place. The stairs curved down, and it was even darker below. Just as I was hesitating, I heard a voice say. "Chen Xue, you need to take a bath." My heart shook, yes, that was my mother's voice, there was no ups and downs in the tone. There were footsteps on the first floor, but they gradually moved away. I was in a hurry and wanted to scream but couldn't, so I had to hold on to the wall and walk down.It was very quiet all around, only the old wooden stairs made a slight sound.

I finally went down to the first floor, and it was my mother's back.A little girl held her hand tightly, and the two of them walked slowly, stiffly, toward the baths together. I still couldn't scream, and suddenly couldn't move. who is that girlIt looks familiar, I must have seen it. Her back is very similar to her mother, she is simply a miniature version of her mother.Both of them were wearing snow-white bathrobes, their long black hair draped over their shoulders, beautiful and moving. Their figures flashed, and they entered the inner corridor of the bathing place through the door of the outer hall.

At this time, my body was free again, and I quickly chased after it. For a moment, the lights were brightly lit in front of me, and my eyes were stung, so I hurriedly covered them with my hands.A pair of small hands quickly pressed on the back of my hand. It was a child's hand. The cold temperature made me afraid.I hurriedly put down my hands, only to see a little girl standing in front of me, her whole body was twitching violently, her eyes were rolled up violently, and a cloudy liquid was spitting out from her mouth. I screamed in fright——with this cry, the scary little girl disappeared immediately.

There is still a figure standing in front of me, that is the figure of my ten-year-old self. I was standing in front of the mirror in the inner corridor of the bathhouse, surrounded by a lingering fog. The mirror reflected hazyly in the water vapor, and the image of the person printed on it had already been deformed. I hesitated to wipe off the water vapor on the mirror in front of me, but it was still indistinct, with an old halo. I stared at my deformed face, a skinny face that was distorted and ugly: indifferent eyes, tight lips... suddenly felt that this face was so strange, so strange that it didn't look like my face.I stretched out my hand and slowly touched my face, and the person in the mirror did the same thing as me.

At that very moment, I let out a scream that pierced the silence, and a white shadow around me quickly jumped towards my feet.I instinctively backed away, but someone grabbed my legs. I fell to the ground violently. Thin body - a little girl about ten years old, she buried her head deeply, from my angle I can only see the top of her black head and loose long hair.She hugged my calf tightly, as if terrified.His forehead rested on my knee, motionless, and a cold feeling came over his face. I was speechless with my mouth open in astonishment, and the aisle was eerily silent. "Are you okay, what's the matter?" After a while, I found my dry voice and asked carefully.

Her face buried in my lap rubbed left and right, as if shaking her head.Her hair rubbed against the skin of my leg, and I felt numb. "Please... let me go..." I swallowed hard, trying to retract my legs. "Did I catch you?" The little girl spoke suddenly, her voice frighteningly erratic. "What did you say?" I asked uncertainly. "Did I catch you?" she repeated stiffly, still with her head buried. "Did you recognize the wrong person? I don't know you!" I reached out and tried to push her head, but I felt more exhausted than ever.Her hair was as sticky as seaweed, as if it had been shampooed but not washed, but she raised her head little by little at this moment.

In the corridor of the heated bath, the cold air surged in. Don't look up!Don't look up!I don't want to see her face!I don't know why, I subconsciously shouted like this. But why can't I close my eyes?I seem to have seen the girl's pale forehead skin, which is as thin and transparent as an amphibian, and the flesh and blood can almost be seen. "Chen Xue, come quickly, you need to take a bath." Suddenly a woman's soft voice came from the end of the aisle, it was my mother. The little girl and I turned our heads to look at her at the same time. Mom's back was to us, her face and body pressed against the wall.

The little girl didn't move, but turned her stiff head towards me little by little, and I could hear the sound of bones breaking. "Chen Xue, be obedient, come here, you need to take a bath." The woman called out softly again. The little girl's movements stopped again.She seemed to hesitate for a moment, but stood up anyway, her white bathrobe dragging on the floor, covering her feet. She moved slowly towards her mother, until she was beside her, facing the wall like her. The two of them "moved" towards the ladies' bath on the right hand side together, and finally disappeared before my eyes.

Mom didn't call me just now, but her. Why did my mother call her my name? And when my mother called her Chen Xue, I didn't feel strange, as if it was a matter of course. I stood up in confusion, not knowing whether I should follow into the women's bath, or go back to the second floor to sleep. In the end, I walked slowly towards the direction where my mother and little girl disappeared, and stopped by the tightly closed door. My hands have already touched the thick curtain, and with a little force, I can enter the bath. But at that moment, I lingered, feeling an inexplicable fear in my heart.It was as if there was a bloody mouth on the other side of the curtain, just waiting for me to break in, and then swallow me in one bite. "Chen Xue, leave the bathing place and never come back." From the other side of the curtain, mother's voice came. I can't move again.Facing the curtain, the faces of an adult and a child pushed up from the other side, forming protrusions on the cloth, wandering up and down, left and right at will. The voices of both of them came over at the same time. The little girl seemed to have something in her mouth, sometimes resentful, sometimes painful, sometimes shrill, constantly changing her tone of voice: "Give me back my things... this time I won't let you escape again... I'll catch you...it's no use hiding...it's your turn, it's your turn to catch me, you can't be stupid...you can't escape, I'm going to get you, I'm going to get you It's..." The mother's voice still did not fluctuate, but it was extremely sad and bleak: "Chen Xue, leave the bathing place, and never come back...Leave the bathing place, never come back again..." Their voices kept spinning in my ears until I woke up, sweating and crying. I have a very ominous premonition, what does this dream imply? Should I find out the answer?But I was faintly resisting in my heart, and I always felt that the answer was like a bottomless abyss, which would drag me into the endless hell, and I would never be able to turn over. After such a thing happened, I began to think about whether I should leave Qingshui Town. Originally, I stayed here because I wanted to have a good time with my uncle, but he always avoided me, hesitated to talk to me, and stayed in the bathhouse every day to work from morning to night. The reason for my stay seemed to lose its meaning. I haven't seen Su Yun for a week. I have tried to knock on her door, she would be very careful to ask who?When I announced my name, there was no response from the room.In fact, I don't want to go to her room at all, not only because of the child, but because I always feel that Su Yun's voice has changed, and she is very nervous, and the rancid smell is gradually coming from her room.Once when I went to the toilet in the middle of the night, I even saw muddy liquid seeping out of her closed door, winding towards me, and I immediately turned around and ran away. In the past few days, Suni has not been quite right. There are a lot of strange things hanging on the door of her room: the portrait of "the king of ghosts" Zhong Kui, the Eight Diagrams, and Buddhist beads.After being seen by my grandfather and my aunt, I had a big fight over it.Although Suni has a straightforward personality, she has always been jealous of her grandfather, but this time she will not compromise on anything and must hang up.After my grandfather scolded her a few words, he didn't insist and left her alone. When eating in the morning, I found that Suni's hands were very strange, and it was inconvenient to hold chopsticks.So I paid special attention, only to see that her ten fingers were densely packed with small needle holes. In the afternoon, I even saw Suni secretly drinking raw water in the kitchen. "Su Ni, what are you doing?" I walked up to her and asked casually. "I'm very thirsty, I don't know why, I always feel very thirsty." She looked up at me, her eyes were bloodshot, her cheeks were visibly thinner, and her hungry eyes were like those of a drug addict. I was frightened by her appearance and quickly avoided her gaze. "If you are thirsty, you can drink the water in the thermos bottle. Drinking raw water will cause diarrhea." "I drank all the water in the thermos. I've been boiling water, but it's so slow, I can't wait, I'm really thirsty." I suddenly discovered that not only Su Yun, but also Sun Ni's voice had changed, and it was also a creepy, nervous voice that couldn't hear the inner feelings. Suni walked out of the kitchen slowly. She walked with her head bent low, her arms did not swing, and she hung strangely. When she walked out of the kitchen, Yang Chang happened to come in, turned around and looked at her back, and asked strangely, "What's wrong with her?" "You think she's weird too?" I asked. "Yeah, for several days in a row, her complexion is very strange, and her voice and walking posture are also strange." "It turns out that it's not just me being paranoid." There was still boiling water on the stove.There are many Su family members, and there are also many thermos bottles. There are eight of them on the table. I picked them up one by one, but they were all empty. All this water was drunk by Suni—I don’t know why, but I had this ridiculous idea, and then laughed at myself, how is that possible?Suni is a human being, not a buffalo.But the uncomfortable feeling is lingering, and Suni's greedy and unfocused eyes are all over her mind when she drinks raw water. Suni's grotesque behavior made me fall into complicated cranky thoughts again. In the evening, Yang Chang rode his bicycle and took me to Mrs. Lan's restaurant, saying that he wanted to take me to relax. I hugged Yang Chang's waist and looked at the residents of Qingshui Town walking on the road, they were still expressionless.I don't know why, but I suddenly had a very strange idea: there seemed to be more people in Qingshui Town, and there were not so many people on the road before.But even so, not only did it not add to the lively feeling, but it was even colder, and the content of yellow sand in the air seemed to be twice as thick. Outside Sister Lan's small restaurant, an old man drew a white circle on the ground and squatted down to burn paper money. After all, small restaurants open their doors for business, so burning paper money here is not a good idea, is it?I am puzzled. Yang Chang pulled me away from my husband and walked into the restaurant.I only heard the old man's hoarse voice shouting harshly: "Ashes to ashes, ashes to ashes, I burned paper money for you. Hurry up and reincarnate, don't make trouble anymore..." I looked back, and my husband was also looking at me.The gloomy gaze made my heart palpitate, and I hurriedly turned around. Sure enough, there were no customers in the small restaurant. It must be that seeing the old man burning paper money felt unlucky, so no one came. I immediately discovered something was wrong: In the empty restaurant, every table was covered with wine and food, three dishes and one soup, and chopsticks stuck straight on the white rice. Sister Lan sat blankly behind the toll booth. Yang Chang also noticed the abnormality, and quickly rushed over to shake her: "Sister-in-law Lan, what's wrong with you? Are you all right?" Sister Lan seemed to have discovered our existence, and smiled at us with a tired expression. "You guys are here, I'm sorry, I can't entertain you today, the restaurant is closed for a week, I hung a sign at the door, didn't you see?" We really didn't pay attention, we were just looking at that strange old man just now. "Sister Lan, the food on the table..." I stretched out my hand to point. The old man outside the door shouted angrily: "Don't be disrespectful!" I was taken aback by him, and Mrs. Lan had already grabbed my finger: "Be careful what you say, don't disturb them to eat." them?Who are they? "Sister-in-law Lan, don't scare us, there is no one in the restaurant, what do you think, Chen Xue?" Yang Chang said tremblingly. I shook my head: "There is indeed no one in the restaurant except the three of us. Who do you think is eating?" Sister Lan smiled wryly, and murmured: "What you can't see, only I can see. Hehe, but what's the matter? I've also survived the hardest days, so what's the matter now? You go away." , this restaurant is not clean anymore, don't come here again. I don't want you to have an accident. " Yang Chang and I looked at each other. But suddenly, Mrs. Lan's eyes widened.Her gaze was looking around, we looked in the direction she was looking, but there was still nothing, this scene made me and Yang Chang shudder. "All gone, really all gone! All gone!" Sister Lan exclaimed ecstatically. The old man also came in at this time, and Mrs. Lan went over and grabbed his hand: "Meng Gong, I knew it would be useful to find you, thank you, thank you for helping me drive them away. If they are in the restaurant again If I stay here, I will go crazy sooner or later." "Wait a minute, Mrs. Lan, who are you talking about?" Yang Chang asked impatiently. Mr. Meng pushed Aunt Lan away and snorted, "Do you really want to know? Well, let me tell you, just now this restaurant was full of undead who were burned to death in the Eastern District fifteen years ago." Meng Gong's skin is very dark, his face is full of wrinkles, his face is bumpy, his cheekbones are high, the corners of his mouth droop, his back is bent, and his eyes are very obvious.When he stared at us and said what he said just now, Yang Chang and I took a step back in shock from the fierce look on his face. "Are...are you kidding me?" Yang Chang came back to his senses and said, patting his chest. "It's true!" Sister Lan shouted, "You can't see it, but I can see it, I..." Mrs. Lan seemed to want to tell us something, but she stopped suddenly and looked at the old man. "Tell me, tell them." Meng Gong said to her expressionlessly. "But Mr. Meng, didn't you tell me not to tell anyone about this?" Mrs. Lan asked suspiciously. "I have my own reasons, just say it." Menggong sat alone in the corner, took off the prayer beads around his neck, and bowed his head to recite. Mrs. Lan pulled us to sit at another table, and talked about what happened these days—"As usual, I woke up early, boiled water and opened the door for business. The weather is nice and it's weekend again, so I think there will be a lot of guests.But one morning and one noon, there were no customers. Only a few sporadic people came in the evening, and left after eating in a hurry. From then on, my right eyelid began to twitch, very violently, and my heart was flustered, as if something bad was going to happen. With a sense of foreboding and lackluster business, I closed the shop early and went to bed. But lying on the bed, I tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. The face of my dead husband flashed repeatedly in my mind.I obviously forgot his appearance long ago, but I remembered clearly that day, as if he was right in front of me. At this time, there was a knock on the door downstairs, and I ran to the door immediately.After all, I live as a single woman, and my vigilance is much higher than that of ordinary people, so I carefully ask who it is. 'We are very hungry and want to eat. ' A voice outside the door answered me like this. I peeked out through the crack of the door and saw many men and women standing outside, at least twenty or thirty people. I was overjoyed at the time, thinking that I finally had a big business today, so I opened the door right away. As soon as I opened the door, I fainted! Those are not human at all!They were not like this when I peeked through the door, but as soon as they walked into the restaurant, they all turned into ashes, only the head was normal, and it seemed that they had been burned from the neck down, and everyone's body was mutilated. They stared at me together, asking for food repeatedly, as if they kept their heads intact just to come to my restaurant to eat. I wanted to run away, but the restaurant was my life!What's the point of living without a restaurant? At that time, I went all out. If they wanted to eat, I would cook for them. I only hoped that they would leave as soon as possible after eating. I cooked a few tables full of dishes, and they stopped looking at me, but they didn't eat, and stared at the food, as if they were satisfied with this. I fled back to my room and continued to sleep. But when I woke up the next day, they were still there. I found that no one could see them but me. The tables are all occupied by undead, and I dare not do other people's business.When everyone saw me pile up food on an empty table, they thought I was out of my mind.The people in Qingshui Town are so indifferent, they feel that something is wrong with the restaurant, no one came to ask me, they all hid away. I have been facing those horrible undead day and night these days.To be honest, I'm really going crazy, they seem to plan to take root here, and they have no intention of leaving. Suddenly, I thought of Menggong from Shengongtang, he is a well-known god matchmaker in the town, and I immediately ran to him for help.Duke Meng has been here to help me save the undead for three days, and he finally sent the undead away just now..." "I don't have that ability. There are twenty-seven undead. My old man is old again. How can I drive them away in three days? You think I'm a god!" As soon as Mrs. Lan finished speaking, Mr. Meng left come over. "Meng Gong, what did you say? It's all your credit. Otherwise, how could the undead leave?" Sister Lan asked strangely. "It's them, no, it should be her." Meng Gong pointed at me with a very serious expression. "Me?" Are you kidding me, how can I exorcise ghosts?Is this old man really a divine medium?Could it be that some kind of drug was used to make Mrs. Lan hallucinate, and she was playing tricks here? Menggong seemed to see my thoughts, and sneered: "If you have time to doubt others, it's better to think about how to save your life. The air you spit out of your mouth is so dark that even the dead can't bear it. You What kind of demon did you provoke?" "Evil?" This is a term that only appears in science fiction, right?I just wanted to laugh, but couldn't. Meng Gong continued to stare at me and asked, "Where did you come from? You... Did you come from the Su family bathing place? Are you the granddaughter of the Su family who came back to visit relatives a few weeks ago? No wonder, no wonder... But you came back in a good way." What are you doing? Why don't you listen to your mother? Are you courting death?" "You know my mom?" I almost jumped up. "I've seen it once, and it's a poor child." Meng Gong sighed and shook his head, "It's too late, it's too late for you to leave now, it has already found you, and it won't let you go easily. Qingshui Town is also cursed by it, and no one can escape, and the appearance of undead in restaurants is a sign of the incident..." "What the hell are you talking about? I can't understand a word!" I interrupted him, making me uncomfortable. Meng Gong gave a bleak smile, as if he was talking to himself: "Actually, I should have realized that it was your problem. Since the day you came to Qingshui Town, the yin in the town has suddenly become much heavier. Your arrival The demon has been awakened, so something must have happened in the Su family bathing place, right?" "Chen Xue saw a child's undead in Su's bathing place, what does that mean?" Yang Chang asked him suddenly. "Yang Chang!" I stopped him. Yang Chang held my hand tightly and motioned me not to speak.He seemed to believe that weird old father-in-law, so he asked his opinion. "Child..." Meng Gong pondered, "That's right, kid, it's a kid, there's more than one, the Su family's bathing place is full of undead children, could it be..." Meng Gong seemed to have thought of something terrible, his dark face turned pale.He stared at me and Yang Chang and warned: "This matter is beyond the scope of my understanding, I have to go back and check some information. There is one thing you must keep in mind, the people of the Su family, including the two of you , all of you are not allowed to leave Qingshui Town. The ghosts of children have already hugged your feet, and running now is a dead end." After Meng Gong finished speaking, he left without looking back. "The ghosts of children have embraced your feet"-how similar to my dream. In my dream, a little girl hugged my leg, trying to lift her head. Why was I afraid to see her face at that time? Why does she feel so familiar to me? Who is the little girl?Is it someone I used to know? What would I see if Mom didn't tell her to go?What will happen to me? Why is mom calling my name to her? I thought about these questions repeatedly, and Yang Chang also fell into confusion. When we came back to our senses, we had already returned to the gate of the bathing place, and the time was ten o'clock in the evening.On the night of the full moon, looking up at the bathing place, the old building looks like a huge monster, opening its bloody mouth to us. "Chen Xue, are you still in there? Are you alright?" Yang Chang asked tremblingly outside the toilet door, he was very frightened by Menggong's words today. Meng Gong's words had no basis at all, but Yang Chang seemed to really believe it. In less than five minutes after I entered the toilet, Yang Chang called me eleven times outside the door, as if afraid that I would disappear in the toilet at any time. "Hey! Chen Xue! Chen Xue! Are you okay? Are you still there?" Can't stand it, I didn't answer him immediately, he thought something had happened to me. "I'm here, I'm here, of course I'm here, can you not be so nervous?" I stood by the sink washing my hands, in front of me was a square mirror. Here it comes again, that feeling comes again. Lately whenever I look in the mirror, I have delusions.I always feel that the person in the mirror is not me. Although it has the same face, the same body, and the same facial expressions, I just feel that it is not me.It was a strange feeling, so weird that it made me feel chills all over my body. "Wow!" Yang Chang screamed outside the door. I was startled, and hurriedly opened the door, and a shadow in front of me quickly jumped into the bathing place. Yang Chang sat down on the ground, pointing incoherently at the direction where the shadow disappeared and asked me: "Did you see it? What a big mouse, a mouse more than one meter long!" I quickly pulled him up. Yes, I saw it, very much like a black shadow of a mouse.Whether it's shape, movement, or running speed, they are all the same as mice - but there are no mice more than one meter long in the world. "I'll go and have a look." Yang Chang said and walked into the bathing place. "No, you can't go, it will be dangerous." I grabbed him. Yang Chang's expression was very serious: "But I think that 'rat' seems to want me to follow, it seems to want to show me something." "Maybe that mouse is an evil spirit! Aren't you afraid of that evil spirit that the old woman said? Maybe it just wants to lure us there and harm us. Don't you smell that smell?" As soon as I opened the toilet door, I could smell the rotten stench again.Now I'm very sensitive to the smell, and I know it's ominous. Yang Chang was startled by me and hesitated for a moment. I pulled him and wanted to leave immediately, but there was a hoarse voice as if being burned from the inner corridor - "Save, save her..." Uncle!It's uncle!I heard the voice of my uncle once, that kind of weird oldness, no one can pretend to come. Uncle is in the bath?His current physical condition should be completely unable to get out of bed by himself. So late, who brought him into the bath? I didn't have time to think about it, so I dragged Yang Chang into the inner corridor of the bathing place quickly.I fumbled for the chandelier switch familiarly, and it was brightly lit for a moment. There is no one on the inner corridor, which is similar to the scene in my dream, except that there is no fog at this time. "Listen, it seems like someone is splashing water." Yang Chang said. True, there was the sound of splashing water from the ladies' bath, but it was so late... "I'll go over and have a look, you wait for me here." Yang Chang said as he walked towards the bathing place, I immediately rushed over and grabbed his hand: "I want to go with you, from now on we will never leave each other's sight. Even if something happens, we can face it together ?" "Okay, let's face it together and be together forever." Yang Chang gently embraced my shoulder. We held each other's hands tightly, lifted the curtain of the women's bath, and went to the changing room. The sound of splashing water is indeed clearer. We plucked up the courage to move on, and cautiously visited the bathing place through the transparent plastic curtain. There was water all over the bathing ground, and the slapping sound came from the bath.In the violent splash of water, a naked female body floated face down on the water.She neither stood up nor sank, her head was buried in the water, her limbs were frantically swinging, as if she was struggling. "Save her, save Suni..." The uncle's voice sounded from behind, we turned around suddenly, the door slammed, and the unknown object like a giant mouse flew out again. Suni?The one who is struggling is Suni! Yang Chang and I couldn't care if it was a trick by the evil spirits, so we rushed up quickly. Yang Chang jumped off the bathtub and turned the struggling woman upside down. really!It's really Suni! I knelt by the pool and reached out to grab her feet, dragged her over, and together with Yang Chang lifted her out of the bath and laid her flat on the ground. Suni spat water out desperately, her belly bulged like a pregnant woman, her face was swollen from the water, and her skin wrinkled like it would fall off at any time.But even so, she didn't suffocate or faint. "Let's quickly carry her to the second floor, and then call the little uncle and the big aunt. We must tell them about this matter." I shouted. Then the Su family was in chaos, and Suni's eyes were wide open, looking foolish. Grandpa, little uncle, and big aunt gathered around her bed, busy taking care of her until dawn. They kept asking her what happened, but she didn't say a word, but every time Yang Chang and I were about to leave, she would jump up excitedly from the bed, as if she wanted to tell us something, and Don't want to be heard by others. Sure enough, when there were only the three of us left in the room, she stared at the ceiling obsessively and spoke. "I knew that I had become abnormal, and since I did that, I knew that there would be retribution. I was caught by them...they were in so much pain, they moaned and wailed every night. They didn't No one will be spared, and everyone will die." Yang Chang and I sat on the floor in front of her bed, looking at her tenderly, hoping to encourage her to speak out all her troubles. She was silent for a while, and I wanted to enlighten her. I didn't ask who "they" were, but asked out of concern: "Yesterday, did you go to the bathing place by yourself, or did someone force you to go there?" "It's me." She replied slowly.The bright girl's eyes had lost all sparkle. "Why? It's so late, what are you doing in the bath?" I tried to speak softly, afraid of irritating her. "I told you, I've been very thirsty, really thirsty." Suni moaned, "I almost drank all the water in the thermos bottles in the bathing place these days. Later, I couldn't wait for it to boil, so I started drinking raw water. But Drinking that water into my stomach, instead of quenching my thirst, made me want to drink more water. Until yesterday when I was helping in the bathhouse, and the bath water from the bathhouse accidentally splashed into my eyes and mouth, I suddenly found that I really wanted to drink water. That's the kind of water you drink..." Su Ni's eyes projected an unusually excited light, but then dimmed again.She helplessly covered her eyes: "How did I become like this? Even I feel horrible. But I really can't control it, I'm going to die of thirst. I dare not drink the water from the bath in front of everyone, so I have to I hid aside and waited until the sun went down and the bath closed. I offered to stay and clean the women's bath, and kicked my mother and uncle out. Then I went to the bath and drank the water like crazy. How could I do this What kind of thing? The water is full of dirt, dandruff, and even a lot of hair from the women in the town all day. But I can't stop, every time I drink it, I feel comfortable. It turns out that only that kind of water quenches my thirst, and I drink it desperately , Drinking desperately, I couldn’t help running back to drink after urinating. I couldn’t control myself, as if my body would drink up the water in the whole bath to be reconciled, how could I be like this..." Yang Chang and I looked at each other in shock, and wanted to comfort Suni, but couldn't say a word. The scene Suni described is simply the most disgusting scene I have ever encountered in my life. Suni cried out suddenly: "I saw them, they were children, a lot of children! When I buried my head in the water, they were running around in the bath. When I felt something was wrong and wanted to raise my head, suddenly There was a child who hugged my neck from the water and wrapped his feet around my waist. I thought I was going to die, but I could still breathe. Although the child did not speak, I felt that he wanted me to continue drinking water, so I kept on drinking, on and on... until I suddenly found out who the kid was and I struggled..." Su Ni suddenly turned over and grabbed my shoulder, and said in horror: "I know that child, I know who that child is, he is Su Yun's son, Su Yun's son!" "How could Su Yun have a son? I've never heard of it!" I was frightened by her demeanor and what she said, and asked in a daze. "Yes, yes, she has! That happened five years ago! I helped Su Yun drown the child with my own hands... But I don't want to. It was Su Yun who begged me. She was afraid that Grandpa would kill her if he found out. There is no other way..." Suni spoke intermittently, crying and yelling for a long time before I understood what happened. When Su Yun was in high school, he was not as quiet and self-contained as he is now. For a while, he often came home very late, and wandered around with his friends after school.One day when she was eighteen, she went out to drink with her friends, and it was very late, and everyone was drunk.When she woke up the next day, she found that she had a relationship with a certain boy among her companions, but she couldn't even remember who that person was.She didn't know what to do, so she just wanted to forget about it and act like nothing happened.But the sky failed, and she found out that she was pregnant after a few months.She was very afraid. In the conservative family of Su's family, grandpa would never tolerate such immoral things done by his granddaughter.She was afraid of her grandpa since she was a child, and she thought that no matter what, she would never let grandpa know about it. She didn't dare to have an abortion either. In Qingshui Town, there were acquaintances everywhere, and if she was not careful, it would become known to everyone.So she had to secretly buy some medicine and take it home, but instead of helping her solve the problem, those medicines made her physically and mentally exhausted and haggard.In the end, the child grew bigger and bigger in her stomach, so she had to consult with Suni. Suni really wanted to help her younger sister, but Su Ni, who was only one year older than Su Yun, was not as strong as Su Yun.The two panicked, hugged each other and cried many times, and Suni finally made a fatal suggestion - give birth to the child without telling everyone, and then kill the child.As long as the body is cleaned, no one will know that the child has ever come to this world. In this way, Su Ni helped Su Yun to conceal it. Naturally, she couldn't go to school. Su Yun happened to have just graduated from high school. She wanted to be admitted to the city's Academy of Fine Arts, so she had to give up her dream and stay in the room all day, and her personality became dull at that time.Mom and Dad devote their minds to the bathing place every day, and grandpa doesn't go home all day, fishing and playing chess outside.So until the child was born, except for the eldest aunt who occasionally suspected it a few times, no one found out the clues of the matter. The little boy was delivered by Suni, and the two girls made a fuss, but it was considered a success.As soon as the child fell to the ground, Suni hurriedly covered the child's mouth with a quilt—at that time, her hands were covered with blood and she was very scared.So she rushed out to wash her hands quickly, and when she calmed down and returned to Su Yun's room, the child was gone. Su Ni was frightened and questioned Su Yun.Su Yun cried and said that she hated the child and had already thrown the child from the window on the second floor. Su Ni, who was afraid that the matter would be exposed, immediately ran downstairs. Fortunately, there was no one around, so she quickly ran back with the child in her arms.At this time, the child was not dead, but blood was gushing from the mouth and nose, his face was blue, his whole body was in convulsions, and he stopped screaming. Suni hid the child in the closet, thinking that when it got dark, the child must have died, so that they could handle it conveniently. 苏妮把房间收拾好，陪着妹妹坐在床上等待。 天终于黑下来，苏妮抱出孩子，那孩子竟然还活着。 苏云几乎崩溃了，她一咬牙，叫妹妹把事情全部交给她处理。她跑到浴场假意帮妈妈打扫女浴场，把妈妈哄走，然后抱着孩子，将孩子按进水中。孩子早就不能挣扎，她按了很久很久不敢停手，生怕再看到孩子奄奄一息的样子。她按了足足有半个小时，这才全身虚脱地坐在地上。她不敢看那孩子的惨状，迅速用浴衣包裹好，连夜埋在了浴场后面。 苏妮说到这里已经泣不成声。 我跟杨畅都傻住了，一句话也说不出来。 然后我和杨畅同时想到了不对劲的地方，杨畅抢着问：“你怎么知道在浴场看到的那个孩子就是苏云的孩子？当时那只是个小婴儿，而你说在浴场的那个孩子抱着你的脖子，脚缠着你的腰，应该是年龄更大的孩子才对啊！” “我不会认错的。”苏妮拉着哭腔解释，“那天陈雪在苏云的房间晕倒我就觉得不对劲，后来苏云把整件事的经过告诉我，她说她和陈雪同时看到一个穿白色运动服的小男孩。在浴场池里抱着我的小男孩也穿着白色的运动服。错不了，就是他。那件运动服我认得，是苏云亲手用纸扎成的，我们后来心存内疚，做了很多衣服和玩具偷偷烧给孩子，希望他能原谅我们。那纸衣服全世界只有一件，就是我和苏云烧给那孩子的呀！而且，苏云的孩子要是活着，今年五岁，是应该这么大了……” 我头昏脑胀地整理着思绪，苏妮说的话如果是真的，那么浴场闹鬼便有了解释。 可是这就是事情全部的真相吗？我总觉得还有我所不知道的事。 我似乎忽略了什么东西，可是现在已经无暇细想。苏家怎么会变成这样？清水镇又怎么会变成这样？what should I do?要不要报警？ 就在我挖空脑筋无所适从的时候，走廊上传来一声惨叫。 苏妮立即从床上弹跳起来，抱着头喊：“又出什么事了？又出什么事了？” 她的情绪十分激动，精神状态非常不好。 我和杨畅一起向走廊冲去。这个举动事后让我们深深懊悔，当时应该留下一个人照看苏妮，但是我们都只是经历浅薄的年轻人，到目前为止也只知道跟着事态的发展走，丝毫没有应付急变的经验和智慧。 冲到走廊，大舅妈跌坐在苏云的房间门口，双手在眼前挥舞，十指关节因恐惧而扭曲变形。她瞪着血红的双眼，放声尖叫。 苏云出事了！念头一转，我们飞快跑过去。 出现在面前的是一间血屋。 望着眼前的景象，我的嗓子像被堵住似地发不出声音，僵硬的身体无法动弹。 杨畅一把将我搂进怀里，捂住了我的眼睛。他手心冰冷，隐隐颤抖。 这不是第一次了，眼前的一切如同十五年前一样。 妈妈在天台上自杀，也像眼前这般，铺天盖地的鲜血。 后来法医的验尸结果说，苏云割破了颈动脉，割破了双手双脚的动脉，然后在房间里上吊自杀。 她的长发盖住了脸，露出一只眼睛狠狠上翻，只见眼白。 她死得非常凄厉，像我的妈妈。 “呀啊啊啊啊啊——”身后传来苏妮的尖叫声，她发了疯一般向楼梯下冲去。 “我去追她，你快点报警。”杨畅迅速把我拉出房间，带上了门，飞快地向苏妮消失的方向追去。 接下来的事情我记得都很模糊。 总之我报了警，然后发现大舅妈晕倒在走廊上，又手足无措地打了急救电话。小舅舅闻讯从浴场跑了上来，见到眼前景象，抱着我哭得老泪纵横。外公也被浴场的工人从老年会社叫了回来，他见到苏云的惨状，跌跌撞撞地摸进客厅，坐在桌前，失声般一言不发。 浴场提前关了门。苏云的房间作为事发现场，门口被警察用绳索拦住，浴场外面站满了面无表情的围观镇民。 因为大舅妈被送进了医院，杨畅又没有回来，我首先接受了警察的问话。 帮我录口供的是一个三十几岁的中年男人，叫张壮志，长得很粗犷，态度却很谦和。他看起来很有经验，谈话间没有让我觉得不舒服。 我说出了这些天苏云的异常，譬如把自己锁在房间，终日不出房门。我也说出了苏云孩子的事，苏妮告诉我的一切，我一一和盘托出。现在苏云死了，苏妮的精神也濒临崩溃，我不敢有任何隐瞒。更何况，这种事本来就不能瞒。 警察立即跑下楼寻找孩子的骸骨。 我趁着警察帮外公和小舅舅录口供的空当，想到浴场外面透透气。 经过走廊，隐隐听到苏云房里法医官与某个警察的对话。 “这女孩怎么忍心对自己下这么重的手？仿佛要把全身动脉全部割断似的。” “是啊，感觉就像要迫不及待地让全身血液离开自己的身体，这种自虐型的自杀方式我做警察这么多年，还是第一次见到。” “我也有这种感觉，像与自己有不共戴天之仇似的。现在的年轻人啊，全都没吃过苦，遇到一点挫折就什么事都做得出来。” “唉！她就不想想自己这么去了，亲人看到会是什么样的心情吗？” Yeah?苏云真的是自杀吗？ 从初见苏云的尸体到现在，我一直反复想着这个问题。如果真的是自杀，那她究竟是因为对孩子内疚才把自己逼上绝路，还是受不了孩子冤魂索命而为寻求解脱才结束了自己的生命呢？又或者，她不是自杀。我实在很难想像一个像苏云这样胆小怕事的女孩会选择如此惨烈的自杀方式。那么，是谁杀了她？是那个孩子吗？那个穿白色运动服、曾出现在我的面前、试图把我从二楼窗台拉下去的孩子，那个在浴场逼迫苏妮喝池水的孩子，那个被苏妮和苏云用残忍方式扼杀了生命的孩子。 一切会因为苏云的死而结束吗？或者只是个开始呢？ 苏妮说过，“他们”不会放过任何人，所有人都要死，这又是什么意思？ 我在浴场门口遇到了仓皇失措的杨畅。 “我追不到她，一眨眼就跟丢了。怎么办？我觉得她这样下去一定会出事，必须马上找到她才行。” “不要急，我去跟警察说，你去问小舅舅和爷爷，看看她平时跟什么朋友来往，她有可能跑到朋友家去了。” 我们分开行动，又是一阵慌乱。 警方出动了十几个警察，浴场也停业，工人们纷纷加入到寻找苏妮的队伍中去了。 在苏妮告诉我们的那个地方，警察找到了沾满孩子血迹的浴衣和棉被，却没有找到孩子的骸骨——孩子的骸骨，莫名其妙地消失了。 而苏妮也仿佛消失在清水镇铺天盖地的黄沙之中。