CH 4

THE TRUTH

On days without Chuanxun, the people in the class gradually got used to it. Only He Jianfei was never able to adapt. Aside from seeing things and thoughts, if “You must die, you can’t escape!” If that prophecy is correct, there will be a second, third, and fourth victim later.Then came the next year, and then this terrifying nightmare continued to surround this ancient campus.In the past few days, those strange statements have been lingering in his mind, but he has no clue.Perhaps, there are too many obscure twists and turns in it.

The day of school celebration is almost here.Looking at the whole country, there are not many schools with a history of one hundred years. Therefore, for this school, which has enjoyed the highest reputation since its establishment, it is undoubtedly a major event. The school wants to pull a few Nobel prize winners and national leaders to show off and start a little bit of its own reputation, and the student union also has its own small abacus to see if it can squeeze more funds from the country’s five major corporate giants. After all, they used to be members of the student union, and by the way, they can also take this opportunity to reiterate the authority of the student union and further suppress the school.Therefore, everyone seemed extremely peaceful.Because this time the school asked to do its best to host it, the student union did not need to spend a penny, and the student union was happy to turn a blind eye.The campus has been brightly lit for a long time, and it has been painted everywhere. The more conspicuous buildings have been re-laid with glazed roofs except for cultural relics, and specially customized red lanterns have been hung. Dozens of boxes of imported fireworks are bought and prepared to be put together.They even asked someone to pull out all the withered lotus leaves in the pond and replace them with fake lotus leaves made of transparent fluorescent plastic, flatten the road surface, and tied up a huge colorful inflatable ball every three or five steps. All street lights were replaced with neon lights that can be controlled remotely, and a few screens that can electronically control the flowing waterfall were placed as road signs.The school originally wanted to lay a new red carpet about 500 meters long, from the entrance of the school to the first teaching building, but the previous extravagant approach has angered students.Everyone jointly signed a protest letter and handed it to the student union. The student union intervened, and the school dispelled this idea.But the whole school has already appeared to be flowing with light waves, and its magnificence is even comparable to that of the imperial palace.

The major media rushed to report this grand event. Reporters have been coming to cover the event three days before the anniversary. The police station also came to prepare for how to be responsible for the safety of the important people on the day of the anniversary. There were also many citizens who had nothing to do and often ran away and came to  join in the fun. Although the school is spruced up, people don’t seem to have much interest in it. The focus of the public is almost entirely on the campus myth that has not been seen for a long time- will the campus duo appear? The campus duo have mysteriously disappeared since they graduated, except for the news that the two teamed up to resist a train hijacking tragedy in 1974 and rescued 600 people, but no one saw these two legends at that time. For alumni and current students, seeing their idols in person is also the main purpose of participating in the school celebration. The school and the student union have allocated most of their staff to the name registration office at the school gate. As long as the campus duo shows up, there will be a large number of welcoming crowds to greet them. Everything seems to be well prepared. To Chairman He’s great delight, He Jianfei, who has never been interested in activities, took the initiative to sign up and asked to join the welcome vanguard team. Although he felt that it was a bit strange for him to come actively this time, he finally made progress.

The reputation of the campus duo is also well-known in other colleges and universities, and Tian Yinzhen, who has always admired her, even skipped class to attend the school celebration ceremony. He Jianfei couldn’t resist her, and said to her: “In this case, don’t run around, just follow me and stand at the door to watch. If the school pickets recognize that you are not a student of our school, you will have to suffer.” Tian Yinzhen said strangely: ” See? Aren’t you going to greet them?” He Jianfei laughed and scolded: “Go, I’m just making a cover, there are so many people crowded at the door, who can see who is greeted or not, so I don’t care about it. We just need to find out the campus duo.” Tian Yinzhen said: “I don’t think you should be too happy, the campus duo haven’t shown up for so long, and they may not be willing to come out this time, maybe they are old or they can’t come because of some unspeakable secrets.” He Jianfei looked intently in the direction of Haunting Spectre Road, shook his head and said, “They will definitely come. Whether it’s their fault or not, Haunting spectre Road was in their hands after all. The guilt of making this unending situation and making it a campus nightmare is tantamount to torture for these two people, with such a strong sense of responsibility, so I’m sure they will not let go of this, and they will definitely come back and have a look.”

The day of the school celebration finally arrived, and Tian Yinzhen’s ears were almost deafened by the thundering firecrackers and loud voices. At this moment, she was hiding in He Jianfei’s arms and covering her ears with her hands to take refuge.I don’t know what big people came, a large number of firecrackers were shipped out again, Tian Yinzhen said: “Your school doesn’t need to be so exaggerated, right?” It was more grand than the National Day, and they burned money like paper. He Jianfei looked at the name on the registration book intently, and said casually: “What about him, anyway, it’s not with our money, the school loves to swing, what can you do?” With the passage of time, more and more people entered the school, rubbing shoulders is a common thing to see and the proportion of old alumni began to increase.The appearance of several elderly people in their 90s in the 45th class, set off a small commotion for the welcome crowd of the school celebration. He Jianfei’s complexion became more and more ugly. The school celebration ceremony is about to begin, which means that all the people who are going to come have already come. Could it be that the campus duo really have the heart to leave the past behind? Seeing that he was about to get angry, Tian Yinzhen hurriedly persuaded him: “They may be late. In fact, it’s normal for them not to come today. They never like to join in the fun. They must come to the school quietly to have a look. You just need to pay attention in the future. “He Jianfei lost his mind for a while, then suddenly came to his senses, and said in a low voice: “No, the two campus heroes have come.” Tian Yinzhen was surprised and happy, and said in a trembling voice: “Are you sure? Where are they now?” He Jianfei said decisively: ” Yinzi, wait for me here, I’ll be back.” After speaking, he turned around and ran away without waiting for Tian Yinzhen to react.

The familiar building became clearer and clearer in front of him, He Jianfei gasped and stopped, looked at the three big characters of the dilapidated “Electric Education Building” above, and the weeds next to it had obvious traces of falling. He Jianfei held his voice, tiptoed forward and gently pulled away the weeds on both sides. Behind the rusty street sign, an old man stood quietly, looking up at the sky, muttering in his mouth, and his eyes faintly shone with tears under his snow-white hair. He Jianfei quietly walked behind him, and when he finished speaking, he bowed respectfully and said, “Aren’t you the two heroes on campus?” Junior Brother He Jianfei has been waiting for a long time”. The old man couldn’t help but be startled, and turned around and looked at He Jianfei a few times and said, “What campus hero?” I’ve heard people say they died a long time ago. Don’t see this old man and be confused.” He Jianfei said with a smile: “Yes, but I know that the old alumni are not necessarily the campus heroes, but only campus heroes are interested in this haunting spectret road.” I don’t know if I’m right? When the old man heard him say the three words “haunting spectre road”, his body couldn’t help but tremble, but he quickly regained his composure and said, “Since you know that this is the haunting spectre road, don’t you want to go back quickly, do you want to die?” He Jianfei saw that he had suddenly changed and was still calm and constant, and the words just now neither admitted nor denied his question, but were cross-examined. He  really deserved to be a campus hero.He secretly admired him and said, “Then please invite the other campus hero out first.”I have admired him for a long time, and I finally got a chance to see him today.” A complicated and lonely look flashed on the old man’s face, and he said lightly: “Threatening me?” If you don’t come out, you won’t come out, It’s just a kind reminder. He Jianfei saw that all the tricks were ineffective for the old man, and sighed in his heart: I had to use the trump card, and said: “I came today because I don’t understand a poem, and I want to ask the two seniors, who were the campus heroes.” After speaking, regardless of whether the old man agreed or not, he read the poem aloud to the surrounding trees:

Dancing cherry blossoms, road grass barriers,

The top of the pagoda is broken, it is intentional,

Beloved God, have mercy on me in this life,

Goddess Luo of West Lake, King Xiang loves deeply.

When the old man heard this poem, his face suddenly changed drastically, and he pointed to He Jianfei and said tremblingly: “You…who are you?“As soon as he finished speaking, his feet softened, and he sat on the ground with a ”thump”.He Jianfei didn’t expect this poem to cause him so much excitement, and he didn’t care about asking any questions in his panic, so he was busy helping him up.At this moment, a gust of wind blew, the grass branches swayed, the dust and soil were all rolled up, and the sky was covered with sand and mist, and the sky was overwhelming towards the two people. The trees on both sides seemed to be about to fall, constantly tilting towards the ground, and the ground began to vibrate, getting worse and worse.The sensitive He Jianfei smelled the breath of the ghost world the moment the wind blew, which shocked him.He didn’t expect it, he really didn’t expect that the grievances here were so heavy that even daytime ghosts could make trouble.To the effect that he did not bring the relic necklace to defend himself today, even the spirit bell stayed in the dormitory. The strength contrast is very different. Is it destined to die on the spot today?At this critical moment, the old man struggled to get up from the ground and shouted sharply: “Dong?！The sun is up and the bronze statue is in front. Do you dare to move?I’m about to be old at my age, so just take it if you want, don’t hurt this young man’s life!”Bronze statue?Protecting the stone seat?It turns out that these two things really exist, is it on this path?He Jianfei completely forgot the danger around him and was about to ask.Suddenly there was a soft “hum” from a woman in the grass, which immediately scared He Jianfei to the creeps. The exit of the road was so pervasive that he could not identify it, and he was nervously thinking about how to escape.The sunlight came in through the sand mist, reflecting a soft halo on the beads on the wrist.In a hurry, He Jianfei quickly untied the string of Buddhist beads, threw them into the grass, and said in his mouth: “Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Array, Column, In, Front, Forgiveness!”The Buddha beads exuded an eye-catching luster in the sun’s light. After hearing a woman’s groan in the grass, the wind weakened slightly, and the exit was vaguely discernible. He Jianfei picked up the old man and said, “Hurry up! Where is the bronze statue?Run there!“He Jianfei led the old man stumbling out of the top of Chigang. The old man’s heartbeat was rapid, and he only said, “She dare not move here.””After that, he rested against a tree.

“So close.”He Jianfei knew in his heart that if it weren’t for the violent sun today, he would suddenly take action and hit her by surprise, and he would never be able to run out.He said to the old man with some guilt: “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect her to be so powerful on the campus…” The old man interrupted him and said, “My last name is Li. Just call me Uncle Li. Don’t scream on campus. It’s so awful.”He Jianfei said, “Yes, Uncle Li, did you just mention the bronze statue, did you mean the stone and seat inside the stone protection seat?”Old Man Li nodded and said, “The stone and the seat are actually connected. The stone refers to the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen, and the seat is the stone seat under the bronze statue.”He Jianfei was suddenly confused by this fact: “The bronze statue of Mr. Sun Yat-sen?”He and the haunting spectre road.” Uncle Li said: “Sun Yat-sen is a great man of a generation. It is said that this bronze statue, built in the 1930s, was sensed by Sun Yat-sen’s spirit, so it is guarded by righteousness, so those dirty things are afraid of it.The stone protector refers to the bronze statue of Sun Yat-Sen.”That’s it. I didn’t expect this bronze statue to have such an extraordinary meaning in addition to being a symbol of the school. He Jianfei said again: “Take the liberty to ask, why didn’t another senior come?”Is he okay?“A trace of pain flashed in Uncle Li’s eyes, and he said, “You have asked me so many questions, I still don’t know who you are and where you learned those verses.””He Jianfei is now completely sure that Uncle Li is one of the two heroes on campus, and he has no intention of concealing it anymore. Starting from the death of Zhang Chuanxun, he has been talking about checking old files.When talking about that poem, there was another sad look on Old Man Li’s face. He Jianfei knew there was a difference, so he kept his mouth shut.Uncle Li sighed for a long time and said, “Since you can find these broken records, you are the destined one, and I don’t want to hide it from you anymore.But don’t rely on your own power to run around.What can you do if you have magic power?Isn’t Ah Qiang dead yet?”He Jianfei said inexplicably: “Who is Ah Qiang?””Old Man Li said with emotion: “It was the president of the student Union at the time. This poem was written before he died. I risked being dismissed and followed his last wish to secretly clip it in the student union records, so that I could finally find a person who solved the puzzle and came to the strange case of the haunting spectre road.The name of campus heroes no longer existed at the moment of his death, and you don’t have to mention this name in the future.”

Is one of the two heroes on campus dead?No wonder only the annotations of the Vice-Chairman remained during that period.It turned out that the campus heroes had already disappeared as early as their most glorious era, leaving behind the hypocritical glory that the world did not know and the myth that has continued.This information is nothing short of a second major blow to He Jianfei.The person who knows the truth best is already dead!He Jianfei stammered for a long time before asking, “Then… Uncle Li, do you know the inside story of this matter?” Old Man Li shook his head heavily: “I can’t guess at all.”I have been thinking about this matter for more than 50 years, and the more I think about it, the more chaotic it is. Its complexity is beyond the scope of my thinking.”He Jianfei listened to him, but he became more and more frightened.

“On June 19, 1949, a girl in Ah Qiang Class hanged herself.This is the first suicide incident in our school, which has a high reputation.This incident naturally caused a sensation on the entire campus.Facing the students mixed with curiosity and fear, I was a little flustered, at a loss, and didn’t know how to deal with it. I thought that since it was Ah Qiang’s class that had an accident, although these were not his responsibility, I should consult him. Maybe there was something to pay attention to So I hurriedly ran to Ah Qiang to discuss what to do. When I arrived at the office, I saw Ah Qiang, who was lively in the past, standing at the table in a daze, his eyes blank. I was taken aback and hurriedly asked him what happened. Ah Qiang calmed down, and reluctantly smiled: ‘Just in time, Xiao Li, there is something I must explain to you. If I leave something on this table within a month, you can guess it if you can. If you can’t guess it, you can put it in the record and leave it to future generations to see. Someone will always guess. I smiled and said, ‘Ah Qiang, you don’t have to go to so much trouble to set up a riddle. What are you doing with so many mysteries?”Ah Qiang’s face looked bloodless against the sunlight, extremely pale, and his voice was hoarse.He ignored my laughter and said to himself: ‘I might have some instructions to stay, Xiao Li, I consciously don’t treat you very well on weekdays, but today you have to remember to follow the instructions. Not only to keep you, but you can also benefit one party.’

“I finally felt something was wrong, he was simply explaining the aftermath.I was so surprised that I grabbed his hand and asked in dismay: ‘Ah Qiang, what’s the matter with you?What happened?Someone wants to harm you?Facing my barrage of questions, Ah Qiang just gently pushed my hand away and calmly said, “Don’t ask, I’ll fight, maybe it’s still the same.”‘Then he waved to me to go away.I asked him about Dong?How to deal with the news, whether to publish it or not. Ah Qiang’s body seemed to be shaken, and he replied after a while: ‘Go and ask the student department.” At that time, the student Department had no other power except to manage the distribution of teaching materials. I thought this approach was inappropriate, but when I saw that he had lost his soul, I had to quit the thought .

“In the next few days, I paid a lot of attention to Ah Qiang, lest something happen to him.As time passed, four people in Ah Qiang’s class had died inexplicably. At that time, the whole class was in chaos, but their own class was as calm as ever. At that time, there was a lot of speculation, and they all said that it was related to Dong? She was misdiagnosed with cancer and committed suicide in despair. As for what it has to do with this class and why she came to ask for her life, no one can tell why.I took the initiative to downplay the news of the suicide. At that time, the student union was under a lot of pressure to deal with the rumors outside every day. Ah Qiang’s face became paler and paler, talking to himself all day long, fiddling with a pile of small stones in the office.I was so worried that I forcibly rushed in several times to ask him what he meant by what he had said before, but he strangely asked me if he had said these words. Seeing that I was speechless and at a loss, he rudely kicked me out.

“The rumors spread more and more widely. It started with the whole grade, and then quickly spread to the whole school. All the teachers and students were in danger and their hearts were in chaos. I was unable to deal with it. Finally, it alarmed the school and called Ah Qiang and me to ask what was going on.Just as I stammered and thought about how to prevaricate the past, Ah Qiang replied that they were just rumors and promised to settle the matter within 7 days.Itwas very strange at that time, why was Ah Qiang so sure and said, “You must know that all mouths are gold’!

“On the 29th, someone woke me up  and told me a piece of news that I would never forget in my life: Ah Qiang is gone! I rushed to his dormitory like crazy, only to see Ah Qiang lying quietly on the bed , his face was black and black, as if he had died from poisoning, and there was a mixture of quite painful and emotionless expression. I fell on his body and cried loudly. His body was cold and stiff. I felt his hand clenched. It was a fist, so I tried my best to open it and saw that there were only three small stones inside. I suddenly remembered the words he told me before he died. I quickly wiped away my tears and ran back to the office. Sure enough, there were three pieces of paper on the table. The car of the police station was beeping outside. Before I could take a closer look, I put it in my arms and rushed out. Relying on my identity as the vice chairman, I was not searched or interrogated. The three pieces of paper were finally Not found.

“When I ran back to Ah Qiang’s dormitory again, I was out of breath. There were two uniformed policemen inside, holding a pen and paper and asking the two boys who lived with Aqiang. The two boys said everything I don’t know. Looking at the indifferent look on their faces, maybe they poisoned Ah Qiang to death. I really wanted to rush over and beat them up, but I held back. Later, the police called the gatekeeper uncle, he said with certainty that he saw Ah Qiang went out once last night, at about one or two o’clock, the two boys argued that they were sound asleep and didn’t notice. I couldn’t help it anymore, and stood up to correct : “You guys are telling lies! Ah Qiang told me early last month that there was something wrong with the door of his dormitory, and it made a loud noise when it was opened and closed, just like thunder.” Their expressions suddenly became ugly, and they whispered to each other. For a while, they seemed to be discussing how to deal with me. Later, before they were taken away by the police, a person suddenly asked me: “Didn’t Ah Qiang tell you anything?” I froze for a moment and didn’t answer.

“After the two of them took it away, I remembered the three pieces of paper in my arms. I locked myself in the dormitory, took out the paper and looked at it carefully. Each piece of paper was written with some strange riddles that made me dumbfounded. One was a strange poem, the second is a record, and the third, which shocked me the most, is his will. He ordered: “Within seven days of my death, collect the ashes of the rest of my class and bury them at the foundation stone of the bronze statue of Sun Yat-sen. With the will! Remember!”

“Before I realized what was going on, news came out the next day that the two boys committed suicide by cutting their veins in the detention room. On the third day, fifteen students from Ah Qiang’s class collectively committed suicide by throwing themselves into the water. On the fourth day, the remaining six hanged themselves. So far, no one in Ah Qiang’s class has survived.”