Chapter 15 They “Killed” Jiang Yuzhen
Late at night, College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building.
In the 【Ancient Special Character Research Laboratory】, a desk lamp was still on.
The dim light was insufficient to dispel the darkness enveloping the laboratory; it only illuminated a table in the southeastern corner.
A man with a gloomy demeanor, hunched and stooped, was leaning over his desk. The glow from the computer screen made his face appear pale and a bit bluish.
Jin Yecheng typed a period at the end of the last line of the document, removed his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen: 23:47.
His mentor had repeatedly warned him to leave the school before dark. When speaking, his mentor’s expression was serious, his gaze evasive, and his voice deliberately lowered, conveying an inexplicable heaviness.
It was as if he were afraid of something.
Although he noticed his mentor’s unusual demeanor while saying those words, Jin Yecheng still stayed alone in the laboratory until this time.
He stared intently, his eyes bloodshot with deep dark circles, and in the depths of his weary gaze, there was a hint of yearning for something to arrive.
It felt like he was tensely and eagerly awaiting the arrival of some presence.
Time ticked away, and Jin Yecheng focused on the time in the lower right corner, staring at it for a full three minutes.
When the number in the lower right corner changed to 23:50, he turned off the computer and, using the lamp’s dim light, bent down to rummage under the desk for a package.
It was a black plastic bag, its contents unknown, square and simply sealed with tape.
Stuffing the package into his shoulder bag, Jin Yecheng stood up and left the laboratory.
It was very late, and in the entire College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building, besides the drunk old man in the security room fast asleep, he was the only one left.
The air on this late spring night had become somewhat sultry, making it quite troubling.
The deserted experimental building was eerily quiet, and in the dark corners beyond his line of sight, there were intermittent, illusion-like dripping sounds.
“Drip… Drip…”
Outside, he didn’t know when the wind had picked up, causing the window frame to sway and produce a faint sound.
“Bang bang… Bang bang…”
It was as if countless invisible small hands were gently tapping on the window.
The eyes of the portraits of famous figures on the walls of the corridor appeared sinister in the darkness, silently watching everything.
Jin Yecheng clutched his shoulder bag tightly against his chest and hurried towards the stairway, the sound of his footsteps echoing down the corridor.
“Snap—!”
Something suddenly fell to the ground without warning, making a crisp sound, and the sound-activated light at the end of the corridor suddenly turned on.
The light stretched out like a big hand, swiftly illuminating Jin Yecheng.
His body stiffened abruptly, halting his steps, and he slowly turned around, gazing at the corridor’s end lit by the harsh white light, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
His heart raced, his narrowed pupils trembled slightly in their sockets, both panicked and expectant, staring at the illuminated area as if confronting some unseen sinister existence.
After a moment, the sound-activated light turned off again, darkness swallowed the corridor once more, and he silently sighed, lightening his steps as he descended the stairs.
Having left the College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building, Jin Yecheng crossed the empty campus in the dead of night, heading straight towards Gate Four!
He certainly understood Professor Ma’s repeated emphasis that he must leave before dark because of the urban legends haunting the school.
However, he was even more aware that Jiang Yuzhen would not let him go, for he too was a “killer”!
The day Jiang Yuzhen appeared before him was a warning directed at him…
Thus, he disregarded Professor Ma’s advice and lingered on campus until this late hour, then headed alone towards one of the most terrifying urban legend locations on campus—the main path at Gate Four.
He had to go!
————
On a rainy night two or three years ago, a girl named Jiang Yuzhen left a birthday party early because her boyfriend was overly flirtatious with her best friend, causing some awkwardness.
She returned to school alone via the main path at Gate Four, nearing midnight.
Heavy rain fell in torrents, splattering on the ground and mixing with the rolling thunder, drowning out every subtle sound, to the point where Jiang Yuzhen did not notice danger approaching.
Until a soft sound, like “whoosh,” something brushed past her, and before she could make out what it was, a chill spread across her neck, and a line of crimson bl**d seeped from her throat to the back of her neck.
She widened her eyes, her hands clutching her throat, feeling the warm bl**d gushing forth uncontrollably, letting out a piercing scream before she could make any other sound.
By the time the security guards and coworkers in the vicinity arrived, having followed the scream, they found a headless female corpse lying in a pool of bl**d.
It is said that the girl, after dying a tragic d*ath, became an urban legend and has been wandering near the main path at Gate Four ever since.
Every night or on rainy days, she appears on campus, holding a fuschia umbrella, covering part of her body, drifting like a lonely ghost…
The urban legend about the Decapitated Senior circulated at Huacheng University is roughly like this.
However, he knows even more about the tragedy from three years ago.
He was a classmate of Jiang Yuzhen, and he was present at that birthday party.
He was also the dorm roommate of Jiang Yuzhen’s boyfriend, knowing that Hu Chuan was initially pursuing Jiang Yuzhen to get closer to her best friend.
He also knew that all the attendees of the party had collectively caused Jiang Yuzhen’s d*ath!
That day, after Jiang Yuzhen stormed out, Hu Chuan grew increasingly brazen with her best friend, even confessing his feelings to her under the influence of alcohol.
The best friend, pretending to be reserved, told Hu Chuan, “No, we’re together now, or I won’t be able to face Jiang Jiang anymore!”
“Then give her a lesson and let her disappear from our world! She’s just a troublesome woman; I’ve had enough of her,” Hu Chuan blurted out in desperation.
His tone sounded as if he regarded the girl he had been dating for a year as nothing more than a piece of trash to be casually discarded.
At that time, after several drinks, everyone at the party was a bit tipsy; hearing Hu Chuan’s “grand pronouncement,” they began to cheer him on.
Jin Yecheng was already drunk that day; he couldn’t remember clearly what was said.
He only recalled someone saying, “You have to go through with it; otherwise, you’re not a man!”
And another person remarked, “Talk so big; in this world, if you want someone to disappear, it can only be an urban legend!”
And he himself jokingly asked, “Haha, Brother Chuan, don’t you know any urban legends?”
Then…
Hu Chuan’s gaze suddenly turned cold and frightening; the hazy lights of the KTV room fell upon his face, half shrouding him in darkness, half illuminated in bl**d red.
He darkly stated, “I know someone scarier than an urban legend; just give that woman a lesson, and she’ll obediently roll away!”
Upon hearing those words, Jin Yecheng felt a chill rise behind him for some reason, and the alcohol suddenly sobered him up considerably.
————
When hearing the news of Jiang Yuzhen’s d*ath, the partygoers offered wreaths in remembrance and then had a brief gathering.
Almost everyone believed that Jiang Yuzhen’s d*ath had nothing to do with them.
They were merely joining in the cheering; how could they be the killers of Jiang Yuzhen?
Even Hu Chuan, the instigator, felt that he had only wanted to teach that person a lesson; what happened was just an accident.
At that time, Jin Yecheng thought the same and, like everyone else, went about his life feeling justified.
But…
In the days that followed, everyone seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally avoiding each other, drifting further apart, and everything about that day and the name “Jiang Yuzhen” became a taboo that could not be mentioned.
Originally, when Jin Yecheng was preparing for his postgraduate studies, he was unwilling to return to Huacheng.
However, after failing the first exam, he couldn’t withstand the immense pressure from his family, and in order to succeed in the second attempt, he ended up applying to his own school’s major.
Thus, after various twists and turns, he returned here and encountered Jiang Yuzhen…
————
A month ago, Huacheng experienced its last spring rain.
Spring allows sweet dreams, closing my eyes to wander through the peach blossoms.
Jin Yecheng, having accidentally overslept, hurriedly left his rental apartment under Professor Ma’s urging via phone, sprinting through the spring wind and drizzle, taking a shortcut to the College of Arts and Literature Experimental Building.
The shortcut he took was somewhat old, nestled between two dilapidated buildings within Huacheng University.
The damp pavement was mottled with moss, raindrops striking tree canopies, making the washed leaves lush and dripping. When he casually looked back, he spotted a girl walking alone in the alley.
Her figure was graceful, wearing a thin white dress, and holding a fuschia umbrella, wandering through the misty drizzle, radiating an aura as if she were a fairy untainted by the mortal world.
Looking at her back, Jin Yecheng couldn’t help but recall a small section from poet Dai Wangshu’s “Rain Alley.”
【……
She has a color like lilacs, a fragrance like lilacs, a sorrow like lilacs.
In the rain, she laments, lost and wandering, she is adrift in this lonely rain alley.
Holding an oil-paper umbrella, like me.
Like me, silently walking, cold, desolate, and melancholy
……】
Jin Yecheng felt that this dreamlike encounter was a special fate. Coming back to his senses, he jogged to catch up and called out to the girl.
Then…
He discovered that he indeed shared a “special” fate with that girl.
The girl turned around, and under the fuschia umbrella, it was empty, as if it were a headless stalk of wheat, with just a bloody, mangled neck, the wound showing some throbbing artery or muscle tissue.
“Hey? Can you see me? Who are you? Did you see my head? It was just taken by Dahuang!”
He heard the girl say this, and his heart stopped, collapsing to the ground in a faint.
————
Since that day, Jin Yecheng had not seen Jiang Yuzhen again, but the gruesome image was deeply ingrained in his mind.
He felt that Jiang Yuzhen must have sensed that he had returned to this school and wanted to take revenge on him!
As for why she had yet to act…
Perhaps she was just waiting for a rainy night, just like the night she was murdered.
With this thought, Jin Yecheng had nightmares every night, dreaming of the headless female ghost appearing by his bed, staring at him with a vengeful gaze, growling “murderer.” His spirit was tormented, and he became increasingly haggard.
A week ago, on the verge of collapse, he began staying in the laboratory late every day until close to the time Jiang Yuzhen was murdered, bringing along paper money and quality incense, going to the place of her m*rder to burn incense in offering.
He wanted to gain Jiang Yuzhen’s forgiveness or let her appear sooner so that he could d*e a bit more quickly.
The past month of living like a walking corpse made him yearn for redemption…
————
In front of a small warehouse near the main path at Gate Four.
Luxianbei held a head, her eyes vacant, staring at the sky where dark clouds obscured the moon, lost in thought.
She was tired and in a gloomy mood.
The head she held closely resembled her, belonging to Zhipianxian, whose part had fallen off.
“Hey——!”
She sighed mournfully, looking down at the head in her arms. The head lifted to look at her with big eyes.
A deep gaze that felt unsettling.
She felt somewhat like someone releasing fish back into the water, though she was releasing the lower half.
Theoretically, once activated, even with the head and body separated, Zhipianxian could still function, meaning she could still control the lower half that had disappeared.
She could sense its general location, which was nearby.
But the problem was that the missing lower half might have its own thoughts and could not be controlled!
As soon as the thought crossed her mind and she touched that half of Zhipianxian, it would start running wildly in an odd manner.
If she wasn’t careful, the head she was holding might even let out a few eerie cries.
In fact, it was a real “disembodied” surround sound!
Luxianbei felt she was now playing hide-and-seek with a crazed dog that didn’t want to return home.
“If it doesn’t work, I can only sever the connection and search slowly?”
Talking to herself, Luxianbei raised her head again, preparing to cut off her connection with Zhipianxian when she suddenly saw flickering lights at the edge of the road in the distance, vaguely spotting a figure crouching on the ground.
She extended her spiritual senses to check and confirmed that it was just an ordinary human, then paused for a moment and frowned.
Who is playing with fire at this time of night?
Aren’t they afraid of wetting the bed while sleeping?
Strange, time to go take a look!
Luxianbei thought, and suddenly in the nearby grass, a rustling sound erupted, like some creature running quickly.
The next second, she saw a headless figure leap out from a tall patch of wild grass on the opposite side of the main road, landing steadily, then charging toward the person “playing with fire” with outstretched arms.
Along the way, it bizarrely performed a simplified version of the 【Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration】 technique, moving rapidly, combined with its flailing limbs…
If she didn’t know it was Zhipianxian, Luxianbei herself would be afraid.
“Damnit! I™ just said I’d go take a look, not let you go take a look! What’s got you all excited?” Luxianbei couldn’t help but curse softly.
As she spoke, she hugged the head of Zhipianxian and chased after it.
At this moment, the person “playing with fire” heard the approaching sound of Zhipianxian’s lower half running wildly and turned around.
The air instantly froze for a few seconds.
Then, a horrifying wail echoed across the main path at Gate Four.
“Ah! Ah——! Jiang, Jiang Yuzhen, don’t come over! It was Hu Chuan who killed you, not me! Please spare me!?”
Hearing this, Luxianbei paused, ducking into the grass beside her.
Jiang Yuzhen… isn’t that the name of the decapitated senior?
And who the hell is Hu Chuan?
From his words, it sounds like he has something to do with the senior? Could it be that the decapitated senior is avoiding this guy lately?
Luxianbei thought with narrowed eyes, sizing up the person by the roadside, a bold idea slowly forming in her mind, becoming increasingly twisted.
You dare to bully the senior? You’re in for it!
