Free Web NovelAfter hanging up the phone, Professor Ma leaned back in his chair, lost in thought. The news of his old friend's family misfortune had already made him feel a little down, and hearing about Lu Xu's disappearance made him even more restless.
He had spent most of his life researching ancient special characters, and in those decades, he had encountered unbelievable things.
He had heard calls from outside his window at midnight, seen black dogs lingering near his house, and had countless bizarre dreams.
Those strange experiences had not caused any harm to him or those around him, and afterward, he had attributed them all to illusions.
But this time, the situation was a little different.
With a heavy heart, Professor Ma stood up from his chair, holding a teacup in one hand and his other hand in his pocket, looking out the window.
From his office, he could see a building of the male dormitory.
The students living on the third floor were two years ahead of Lu Yibei. Professor Ma had a deep impression of that year's students because there had been a black night disease patient in their class who had done something that shocked the campus in the dormitory – hiding a corpse.
Although it wasn't a human corpse, when the police received a report, broke down his dormitory door, and saw him lying among dozens of rotten and smelly animal carcasses, everyone present vomited.
According to the teachers who were there at the time, one police officer later complained, "Even at a murder scene, they didn't feel this uncomfortable. It was absolutely disgusting."
The dormitory where the incident occurred is at the end of the corridor and remains empty to this day. The window is boarded up, and even the adjacent dormitory is unoccupied. Clothes that had been hanging for who knows how long were on the balcony, covered in thick dust.
Professor Ma grew a little bored and slowly shifted his gaze upwards, towards the top floor where the freshmen lived.
Just as he was in a daze, a figure entered the edge of his vision.
Someone was standing on the rooftop of the student dormitory, looking down in the direction of his office. The sense of familiarity that figure gave him made him inexplicably think of the missing Lu Xu.
Professor Ma was stunned for a moment and quickly stepped forward, leaning on the windowsill and looking towards the rooftop of the student dormitory.
The rooftop was empty, with only a single withered weed stubbornly clinging to the wall at the edge of the rooftop, swaying in the wind.
But I clearly saw someone just now? Professor Ma stared at the withered weed, his brow furrowed. He had a strong feeling that someone had indeed been there just now.
As he was thinking, a faint foul smell drifted into Professor Ma's nostrils. That nauseating smell was exactly the same as the smell he had sniffed before talking to Lu Yibei. He was about to turn around to find the source of the smell, but his body froze in place.
Suddenly, a feeling of unease arose in his heart. Subconsciously, he felt that if he turned around, something bad would happen.
Many times, people have this flash of inspiration. For example, when concentrating on reading, they suddenly feel someone approaching, or on a clear and sunny morning, they instinctively bring an umbrella when going out, and soon after, it starts pouring rain.
Professor Ma often had similar feelings and encountered similar situations. He usually explained this situation as the luck of good people getting good rewards.
In just a few seconds, the foul smell in Professor Ma's nostrils became even stronger. It felt as if a highly decomposed corpse was standing in his blind spot, slowly approaching him with intense malice.
As soon as he turned his head, that corpse would suddenly move and twist his neck. freewebnøvel.coɱ
"Gulp—!" Professor Ma swallowed hard, his hands trembling slightly. He could feel that the invisible thing behind him was very close.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine as if the wind had blown over it. The next moment, his body trembled violently.
Like an illusion, he felt a pair of hands gently resting on his shoulders, exerting slight force, pushing him towards the window.
But upon closer examination, it was more like many people standing at a high place looking down, and a sudden urge to jump down surged in his heart, only much stronger.
Just then, a shout came from outside the corridor, "Professor Ma, Professor Ma? Where are you? I'm Lu Yibei, I'm here to find you!"
Hearing Lu Yibei's voice, Professor Ma instantly snapped back to reality. Seeing that a large part of his body was already leaning out of the window, his face instantly turned pale, and his heart rate suddenly accelerated.
"Bang—!"
In a panic, he suddenly took a step back and hit the corner of the table behind him.
At this moment, the faint power behind him and the foul smell with no source disappeared in an instant, and new pain occupied his nerves.
...
Although this was not the first time Lu Yibei had hunted urban legend, the situation this time was different from the previous times.
This time, he was not fighting alone.
When he left, Ju Meng seriously instructed him to contact her at any time if he encountered a situation he couldn't handle.
Although Lu Yibei said no, he felt a surge of smugness in his heart.
That was a mythical urban legend! A powerful helper! A complete sense of security, right?!
Lu Yibei thought, looking around, and frowned.
Right, where was Professor Ma's office?
...
Professor Ma didn't tell Lu Yibei where his office was.
He walked and asked, taking a while to find Professor Ma's office. Standing in the corridor in front of the office, he gently knocked on the door.
After hearing a "Come in," Lu Yibei pushed the door open and saw Professor Ma sitting in a chair, holding his buttocks, grimacing, and constantly sucking in cold air.
"Professor Ma, what's wrong..." Lu Yibei hesitated, looking at Professor Ma's appearance, suddenly thinking of something, and said expressionlessly, "Professor, if you need anything, I can go help you, uh, buy some Ma Yinglong?"
Professor Ma was stunned for a moment when he heard this. "You little rascal, what are you talking about?! I'm not!"
"Professor, there's really nothing to be embarrassed about. Nine out of ten men have hemorrhoids! It's just the two of us here, come on, be brave..." Lu Yibei said, seeing Professor Ma's face darken, and wisely shut up.
"No?"
"No!" Professor Ma roared, slamming his hands on the table.
Lu Yibei, "..." If there's none, there's none, why be so fierce?
...
Professor Ma explained the details of Lu Xu's disappearance to Lu Yibei in detail, and then pondered for a while, telling him about his old friend's disappearance and his eldest son's description as well.
After listening to Professor Ma's description, Lu Yibei frowned and thought.
At this point, isn't it already very clear?
There is only one truth, that set of bamboo slips has a big problem!
Lu Yibei thought, opening his mouth, just about to ask Professor Ma if he could see the bamboo slips, when he saw him stand up with a limp and walk to a corner of the office.
Lu Yibei, "..." This, is there really none?
"Tea or coffee?"
"Cof, coffee!" Hearing Professor Ma speak, Lu Yibei came back to his senses and said, "Two spoons of sugar, one spoon of milk, thank you, Professor."
Although neither tea nor coffee tasted like anything, he was tormented to death by that little demon last night, so a little coffee to refresh himself was good. Lu Yibei thought.
Hearing this, Professor Ma curled his lip. "So many picky requests? I don't have those things, only instant coffee."
Holding the brewed instant coffee, he walked to Lu Yibei and sat down opposite him. Professor Ma raised his eyebrows at him. "Do you think this matter is related to the occult? I want to hear your opinion."
Lu Yibei took a small sip of coffee and said seriously, "I can't say for sure, but I always feel that the things that have been happening around you recently are inseparable from that set of bamboo slips. If it's convenient, can I take a look?"
"Bamboo slips..." Professor Ma looked troubled for a moment. "Do you really want to see them? My old friend and Lu Xu both # Nоvеlight # became abnormal after coming into contact with the bamboo slips. I'm worried about you..."
"It's okay! You also came into contact with the bamboo slips, and nothing happened to you, right?" Lu Yibei said frankly.
"..." Professor Ma was silent for a moment, then looked up and met Lu Yibei's eyes, saying solemnly, "Then come with me? The bamboo slips are in the research room."
...
A few minutes later.
Lu Yibei followed Professor Ma into the ancient special characters research room.
Professor Ma settled Lu Yibei down in the discussion room and then walked to the storage room alone.
"Click—!"
Turning on the light in the storage room, he scanned his gaze slightly, and Professor Ma's eyes locked onto the ancient wooden box in the corner of the room.
He walked up to it, opened the wooden box with both hands, and the dark wooden bamboo slips appeared before him.
He stared at the bamboo slips, hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly closed the lid of the wooden box, picked up the one-to-one replica bamboo slips next to the wooden box, and turned to walk out of the storage room.
...
The moment the storage room was opened, Lu Yibei's eyes stung slightly. He stood up and looked towards the storage room through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, only seeing the pale light in the room behind the security door, but he couldn't see Professor Ma's figure.
Every time my eyes feel abnormal, it's accompanied by the appearance of urban legend. Feeling the bamboo tubes in his eyes, Lu Yibei thought, that set of bamboo slips really has a problem!
But now he didn't know what the situation was in the storage room, and he could only confirm it after the Professor came out later.
He thought, pouting disappointedly, and sat back down in his seat. Soon after, Professor Ma returned to his side with the set of replica bamboo slips.
"Take a look?"
Lu Yibei took the bamboo slips and slowly unfolded them, and a string of strangely shaped hieroglyphs came into his sight.
What made Lu Yibei confused was that his eyes had clearly been abnormal just now, but after getting the bamboo slips, that abnormal feeling actually disappeared.
"..."
Lu Yibei stared at the bamboo slips with a solemn expression for a long time before raising his head and looking at Professor Ma, saying, "Professor, what is written here?"
"It should be a sacrificial ritual, but I haven't fully deciphered the specific content yet." Professor Ma explained. "Did you find anything unusual on it?"
Lu Yibei shook his head, shaking the bamboo slips in his hand. "I can't see anything special. It seems to be just a set of ordinary bamboo slips."
However, I can't see it, but that doesn't mean the little demon at home can't. I've already memorized a lot of the content, and I'll ask her when I get back. Lu Yibei thought.
"Is that so?" Professor Ma's expression was a little disappointed. "It seems I was thinking too much. Thank you for your trouble today."
Perhaps I should have shown him the original directly? Professor Ma thought, but...
Professor Ma felt very strange. The moment he came into contact with the bamboo slips, he inexplicably had a feeling that he didn't want to give them to Lu Yibei.
