CH 8

The snow today was much lighter than the day before and it was much easier to see. Perhaps because they had been chased by a monster yesterday and it had left a psychological shadow, but the four of them were a little nervous the whole way. They were scared that they’d hear the scalp-tingling sound of grinding teeth in the wind again.

“Ah!” Jiang Li, who was walking in the middle of the group, called out suddenly and fell to the ground.

“Ah Li!” Wang Yuan hurried to help her, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao looked back and saw Jiang Li standing next to a rock. Most of the rock was covered by white snow and it seemed Jiang Li accidentally tripped.

“Are you okay?” Xu RenDong squatted down, “Can you still go on?”

“It’s okay…” Jiang Li gave a strong smile, “I just twisted it a little bit, it’s okay.” She tried to stand up but a look of pain flashed through her face. Wang Yuan was very anxious. He found a branch and wanted to splint her up but he couldn’t find a suitable bandage for a while.

“Use my tie.” Xu RenDong pulled out the tie and handed it to Jiang Li.

Jiang Li was taken aback for a moment, hesitated, and seemed reluctant to take it. Wang Yuan took it over, thanked him again and again. He used it to affix the branch to her ankle. However he was clumsy and the branches were tied crookedly. Not only did they not help fix her ankle but actually caused Jiang Li more pain.

“…I’ll do it myself.” Jiang Li said softly, bowing her head and bandaging herself. She seemed to be very good at doing it. She moved dexterously and skillfully. She quickly fixed the injured joint and stood up with Wang Yuan’s help.

“Where did you learn to bandage?” Xu RenDong looked at the neat bandage, this technique was obviously professional.

Jiang Li explained, “I’m a doctor.”

Lian Qiao asked, “Is the church still far away? Do you guys want to go back first and we will go there ourselves?”

Jiang Li said, “I’m fine. There is still a long way ahead. Well… or maybe Ah Yuan can lead you? In case you get lost…”

Wang Yuan helplessly said: “How can I leave you in danger by yourself?”

Jiang Li looked guilty. Xu RenDong said, “Let’s go together. When you get to the church, you can sit down and rest. Lian Qiao and I will go in to explore.”

Jiang Li nodded happily and the other two had no objection. So the four set off again. After about ten minutes, they finally arrived at the church.

This was a medium-sized church and the first thing you saw when you entered the gate was a spacious and solemn chapel. The rows of benches were neatly arranged, covered with dust. Jesus on the cross still bowed his head and looked compassionate. The blood on the ground was still there and it had dried out. There were a few animal paw prints on the blood stain. Lian Qiao inspected it and speculated that they were rabbit paws.

It seems that their decision to leave the church yesterday was correct. The black mosaic rabbit came out from this church.

Wang Yuan helped Jiang Li to the side of the bench and carefully wiped the dust off the chair to let her sit down and rest. Lian Qiao said: “You wait for us here. Brother RenDong and I will take a look around.”

Xu RenDong glanced at the statue of Jesus, turned his head and said, “If something happens, you should run away first.”

Jiang Li waved her hand quickly and said, “Go ahead. We’ll be okay.” Lian Qiao picked up a crowbar and explored this church with Xu RenDong.

They walked around in the chapel first and found nothing of note. Then they came to a side corridor. This corridor is very long, with candle-shaped electric lights on the wall. The inside of the lamps was dirty, full of aging tungsten wire. The circuit also seems to be in poor contact and the lights flickered and dimmed, giving people an uncomfortable feeling.

There were no windows in this corridor and if the lights were off it would be pitch black. There were two doors in the corridor and they were far apart. Xu RenDong pushed open one and found that vestments, sacred objects and other religious items were displayed inside. Lian Qiao was originally a little scared, holding the crowbar tightly but suddenly got excited again when he saw this scene. He didn’t even need the crowbar and touched everything with his hands.

“Wow! A Bible! Wow! The Holy Grail! Wow! Longinus Spear!” Everything Lian Qiao saw he loved. He wanted to hold them all in his hands. He turned his head and saw a closet. He was so excited that he couldn’t help himself, “Wow! A priest costume! A real priest costume!”

Xu RenDong said helplessly: “You don’t want to take all these things, do you?”

Lian Qiao was holding this large pile of dusty religious articles and asked hopefully: “Can’t I?”

Xu RenDong: “No. This is stealing.”

Lian Qiao: “How can my brave actions be called stealing! Searching! This is called searching!”

Xu RenDong said: “…Your statement is not much better.” {The term I translated as “searching” in Chinese can also mean taking/ransaking.}

Lian Qiao hugged his babies tightly with a reluctant expression like a hamster protecting its food. Xu RenDong said: “Let it go, you can’t take all so many things away. What if there is a ghost chasing you, you’ll still end up throwing it all away.”

Lian Qiao thought of the horrible scene of being chased by ghosts in the past two days. His expression was a little shaken.

Xu RenDong said: “Be good.”

This sentence seemed to strike Lian Qiao at a sensitive point. Lian Qiao opened his eyes wide and said “Fuck!” in a low voice. His face suddenly turned red and he finally put the things down obediently.

Xu RenDong said: “You’re covered in dust, pat yourself down.”

“Okay.” Lian Qiao obediently began to pat the dust but the corners of his mouth were still raised.

Xu RenDong put the religious items back one by one and looked back at Lian Qiao’s smile. He suddenly felt that there was a mischievous feeling in that smile. Xu RenDong looked at him from top to bottom and then pointed to his bulging trouser pockets: “What have you got hidden there?”

“Oh…” He was exposed so Lian Qiao reluctantly took out a piece of holy cake.

Xu RenDong was speechless. The holy cake was all green with mildew. It had been left there for goodness knows how long and it was still covered with ashes. Lian Qiao’s problem of picking up rubbish was really extreme.

Seeing that the trouser pocket on the other side was also full, Xu RenDong frowned, “What’s that?”

“Oh, this is my doll.” Lian Qiao took out the doll neatly as proof of his innocence. He unscrewed it and showed it to him, “I didn’t hide anything inside it either…Huh?”

There were two candies inside the doll. At this time, some tan greasy liquid oozed from the gaps in the sugar paper, which not only stained the sugar paper but also stuck to the inner wall of the doll. Lian Qiao took out the candy and thinned his mouth in disgust: “That’s disgusting…”

“This is chocolate, isn’t it?” Xu RenDong said, “It must have been melted by you.”

Lian Qiao said annoyedly: “It turned out to be chocolate! Now that I know, I wish I had eaten it! I really wanted to eat chocolate yesterday…” After all, the roof of this church looks like Kisses Chocolate.

“Wait until you get out to eat, you can eat as much as you want.” Xu RenDong saw that there was nothing to investigate in this room and turned his head to walk out.

Lian Qiao chased him: “Brother RenDong, Brother RenDong, can we still meet after we get out?”

Xu RenDong said: “Let’s get out first then see.”

Lian Qiao looked a little lost: “Oh…” 

The other door in the corridor led to the prayer room. This room was not big and contained only two chairs and a small crawl space for people to pray and confess. The space was dark. Lian Qiao turned on the flashlight of his mobile phone and got in to check it. He crawled out with a bitter face: “It’s smelly inside with the smell of chest hair.”

Xu RenDong: “…” He couldn’t help but think: What does chest hair smell like?

The two looked around carefully in the prayer room but they couldn’t find anything of value so they had to go back to the corridor.

“Are there any other rooms here?” Lian Qiao asked.

Xu RenDong visualized the structure of the church: “The width of the sacristy and the prayer room are the same as those of the chapel. This church should have a layout in the shape of a ‘目’…but the corridor is already in the end.” He knocked on the corridor. At the end of the wall, they heard a dull echo, “This wall seems to be solid.”

“The shape of a ‘目’?” Lian Qiao wrote a word in the palm of his hand, showing a thoughtful expression. He looked at the door of the prayer room and then looked at the door of the sacristy at the other end of the corridor. Suddenly, there was a flash of inspiration, and he said cheerfully, “I see! These two rooms— ” 

All of a sudden, the lights in the corridor suddenly went out and their entire field of vision went black!

Lian Qiao’s voice stopped abruptly. Xu RenDong was startled and subconsciously reached in his direction: “Lian Qiao! Where are you? You—um!”

Someone covered his mouth and he was dragged back! Xu RenDong was caught off guard and was dragged backwards a few steps. There was endless darkness in front of him but for some reason, he felt something shaking.

Immediately afterwards, a cold thing stuck to his neck.

No good!

The alarm bells were ringing in his heart and Xu RenDong instinctively wanted to push away the hand covering his mouth. He found that the hand was very small, like a woman’s hand, but it firmly tightened around his mouth and nose to prevent him from making a sound.

Then, the cold thing severely cut into his neck!

Fear was like a piece of ice suddenly stuck to his back, causing him to shiver and his entire body stiffened.

At first, he didn’t feel the pain. He just heard the faint wind. Hu-hu. It’s like the sound of the sea when you put a conch shell to your ear.

“Uh, uh…” He wanted to call for help but he could only make a soft noise like the sound of the wind.

Some warm liquid splashed onto his chin and chest, wetting his clothes and pants. The wind grew louder and he began to feel pain. There was a sharp pain from his neck and the wound seemed to be pulled open by some force. Little by little, it was torn bigger. He instinctively covered his neck and touched the bloody hole that was constantly gushing. The wound was long and deep, almost cutting him apart.

Despair was like a big hand, squeezing his soft and fragile heart vigorously. He tried to block the opening in his throat but accidentally touched his broken trachea. It was a kind of soft and hard, and under the moistening of the warm liquid, the trachea slid away from his fingers.

He inserted his finger into his own trachea.

Suddenly his vision lit up as if someone had turned on the light switch. Xu RenDong found that he was in a room he had never seen before. The room was empty except for a silver-gray elevator that was standing abruptly in the middle of it.

Elevator… There was an elevator here… But where was he?

A man stood by the elevator. The man saw him and ran towards him in shock. It wasn’t him the man was looking at in shock but the person behind him.

“You…” He only said this word and immediately closed his mouth as if he realized something and glanced to one side.

Xu RenDong’s eyes were a little fuzzy but he still recognized the man’s face.

Wang Yuan.　　

Then the person who cut my neck must be…　　

That person was behind him. Xu RenDong turned his head hard and found that Wang Yuan was looking at the wall. There was nothing on the wall but beyond the wall there was a faint sound of Lian Qiao’s shaky voice.

“Brother RenDong? Where are you? Brother RenDong…”

I am here.

Xu RenDong couldn’t make any sound and could only reach out his hand towards the wall. He saw that his entire arm was soaked in blood and the blood on his neck was still gushing, like a small fountain, hot and humid, slippery and very warm. There was blood pouring into his throat, fishy and painful and it made him cough. The coughing action in turn tore open the neck wound, pulling the opening wider and wider. He could almost hear the sound of the skin tearing.

It hurts…

His lips moved, and he tried to shout countless times but could only feel more blood pouring out of his neck.

It couldn’t be blocked and couldn’t be stopped. The carotid artery was like a broken water pipe, constantly gushing like crazy.

The blood loss made him confused and he could no longer stand so his body leaned softly on the person behind. That person slowly put him on the ground and so he could finally see who was hurting him.

Jiang Li. It really was Jiang Li.

That beautiful face had long lost its previous tenderness and it was cold and decisive. There were also a few drops of blood splashed on it.

And she even still had his tie on her ankle.

…It hurts… I feel dizzy… The whole world started to spin.

Jiang Li’s hand was full of blood and her head was lowered as she fumbled around on his body. Wang Yuan knelt down beside Xu RenDong and asked with a trembling voice, “Ah Li why… how could you…”

Jiang Li reached into Xu RenDong’s inner pocket and gave Wang Yuan a paranoid look: “I can’t just watch you die.”

At the same time, Lian Qiao behind the wall cried out: “Brother RenDong… I’m so scared… Where are you… I’m so scared… Don’t leave me…”

I’m here. I didn’t leave you.

Xu RenDong stretched out his hand weakly but couldn’t reach the wall. His eyes began to darken and his vision gradually blurred.

“I found it!” Jiang Li lowered her voice but couldn’t suppress the joy in it. She lifted up the blood-stained doll with joy, like a little girl eager to be praised, “Ah Yuan, you will not die! You have a doll, we can leave here together!”

Wang Yuan looked at her with a complex expression but after a moment, he took the doll with trembling fingers. He lowered his head and said softly to Xu RenDong, “I’m sorry.”

Xu RenDong couldn’t see anything. He lost too much blood and his body gradually became stiff and cold, as if the blood remaining in his veins had begun to clot. For an instant, he felt that he was lying in the snow and there was whiteness everywhere. He no longer felt pain, just despair.

In this chilling despair, the last voice he heard was the whine of Lian Qiao, like a baby bird.

“Don’t leave me…”　

The author has something to say:

Note 1: The Holy Grail and the Longinus Spear are both the sacred artifacts of Jesus. This kind of thing will be displayed symbolically in the sacristy of the church. Everyone knows the Holy Grail, and Longinus’s Spear, in popular science, is considered the spear that once pierced Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, a centurion injured his flanks with a piercing. This centurion was called Longinus. When the blood of Jesus dripped into Langinus’ eyes, Langinus was instantly influenced. After that, he gave up his original identity and became a monk with the ability to perform miracles. Later he became a saint known as “St. Ronchinus”.

Note 2: Regarding cutting the throat. The anatomical structure of the neck is the trachea in front (that is, where the laryngeal knot is located), and the carotid arteries on both sides are on both sides of the trachea. Most people will choose to wipe the neck directly in front, but the trachea is actually cut. Because Jiang Li knew anatomy, and the carotid artery could not be accurately located in the darkness, so she cut deep and cut the trachea along with the carotid artery, causing severe severance injuries. After the trachea leaks, people can’t talk, and it can also prevent Lian Qiao from hearing a call for help. In addition, regarding the previous “hearing the sound of conch shell”, in fact, the sound similar to the tide heard by the conch in the ear is the echo of the blood flow in the blood vessel of the ear in the conch. I haven’t personally heard the sound of blood soaking up close, so I can only use this sound to compare…