Free Web NovelLate night, Faculty of Arts Experimental Building.
In the 【Ancient Special Text Research Laboratory】, a desk lamp was still on.
The dim light was not enough to dispel the darkness enveloping the laboratory, only illuminating the table in the southeast corner of the laboratory.
A man with a gloomy demeanor, hunched over, was bent over the desk, the light from the computer screen casting his face a ghastly pale, slightly greenish hue.
Jin Yecheng typed the period on the last line of the document, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen, 23:47.
His Professor had repeatedly warned him to leave the school before dark. When speaking, the Professor's expression was serious, his gaze evasive, and he deliberately lowered his voice, his tone carrying an inexplicable heaviness.
As if he was afraid of something.
Although he noticed the Professor's abnormality when he said those words, Jin Yecheng still stayed in the laboratory alone until this time.
He stared intently, his eyes bloodshot and heavily ringed with dark circles. In the depths of his weary eyes, there was a hint of eager anticipation.
As if nervously and eagerly awaiting the arrival of some existence.
Time passed second by second. Jin Yecheng stared intently at the lower right corner of the screen for a full three minutes.
When the numbers in the lower right corner of the screen changed to 23:50, he turned off the computer and, using the dim yellow light of the desk lamp, bent down to rummage under the gap between the desk and the floor, pulling out a package.
It was a black plastic bag. He didn't know what was inside; it was square-shaped, simply wrapped with tape, and sealed.
Stuffing the package into his satchel, Jin Yecheng got up and left the laboratory.
It was already very late. In the entire Faculty of Arts Experimental Building, besides the Void who was drunk and sleeping soundly in the security room, he was the only one left.
The air on a late spring, early summer night was already a bit stuffy, making people feel restless.
The deserted experimental building was eerily quiet. In the dark corners out of sight, a dripping sound, like an illusion, intermittently echoed.
"Drip... drip..."
Outside the window, the wind had started blowing at some point, shaking the window frame and making a soft sound.
"Bang bang... bang bang..."
As if countless invisible small hands were gently tapping the window.
On the walls on both sides of the corridor, the eyes in the portraits of famous people became furtive in the darkness, silently watching everything.
Jin Yecheng clutched his satchel tightly to his chest, walking quickly from the laboratory towards the stairwell. His footsteps echoed down the corridor, reverberating and echoing.
"Crack!"
Something 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, like a large hand, quickly reached out and gripped Jin Yecheng tightly.
His body suddenly stiffened. He stopped in his tracks, slowly turned around, and stared at the end of the corridor illuminated by the pale light. A few beads of sweat seeped from his forehead.
His heart pounded wildly, his contracted pupils trembling slightly in their sockets. He stared at the illuminated area, feeling both panicked and as if anticipating something, as if confronting some unseen, eerie existence.
After waiting for a moment, the sound-activated light went out, and darkness once again swallowed the corridor. He sighed silently, lightened his steps, and went down the stairs.
Leaving the Faculty of Arts Experimental Building, Jin Yecheng walked through the deserted campus at midnight, heading {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} straight towards Four Gate Main Street!
Of course, he knew that Professor Ma repeatedly emphasized to him that he must leave school before dark because there were urban legend happening on campus.
However, he was even more certain that Jiang Yuzhen would not let him go, because he was also a "murderer"!
The day Jiang Yuzhen appeared before him was a warning to him...
Therefore, disregarding Professor Ma's advice, he stayed on campus so late, and then walked alone towards one of the most terrifying urban legend locations on campus - Four Gate Main Street.
He had to go!
----
On a rainy night two or three years ago, a girl named Jiang Yuzhen left her boyfriend's birthday party early because her boyfriend's behavior with her best friend at the party was overly ambiguous, causing some friction.
It was close to midnight when she returned to school alone from Four Gate Main Street.
The heavy rain poured down, hitting the ground with a splattering sound, which, along with the rumbling thunder rolling across the horizon, swallowed all subtle sounds, so much so that Jiang Yuzhen did not notice the danger approaching at all.
It wasn't until a soft "whoosh" sound that something brushed past her. Before she could even see what it was, a chill spread across her neck, and a crimson line of blood extended from her throat to the back of her neck.
She widened her eyes and covered her neck with both hands, feeling the warm blood gushing out uncontrollably. She only let out a tragic scream and could no longer make any other sound.
When the security guards and colleagues near Four Gate Main Street followed the scream to search, they saw a headless female corpse lying in a pool of blood.
Legend has it that the girl, after her tragic death, became a Strange Tale and has been wandering near Four Gate Main Street.
Whenever it is night or a rainy day, she will appear on campus, holding a rose-red umbrella, covering half of her body, wandering like a lonely ghost...
The urban legend legend about the Headless Senior circulating at Huacheng Institute of Technology is roughly like this.
But regarding that tragedy three years ago, he knew more.
He and Jiang Yuzhen were classmates. He was present at that birthday party that day.
He was also Jiang Yuzhen's boyfriend's roommate and knew that when Hu Chuan first pursued Jiang Yuzhen, it was just to get close to her best friend. freewebnσvel.cøm
He also knew that on that day, everyone at the party together caused Jiang Yuzhen's death!
That day, after Jiang Yuzhen left in anger, Hu Chuan and her best friend's behavior became increasingly reckless. He even used the alcohol to confess his feelings to her best friend.
Her best friend feigned shyness and said to Hu Chuan, "No, if we're together, I won't be able to face Jiang Jiang anymore!"
"Then let's teach her a lesson and make her disappear from our world! She's just a woman who likes to make a fuss anyway, I couldn't stand her anymore." In a moment of desperation, Hu Chuan actually said such words.
That tone of voice was as if his girlfriend, whom he had been dating for a year, was just a bag of trash that could be discarded at will.
At that time, after a few rounds of drinks, everyone at the party was a bit tipsy and dazed. Hearing Hu Chuan make such "bold pronouncements," they started cheering him on.
Jin Yecheng was already drunk that day. He couldn't quite remember what everyone had said.
He only remembered someone saying, "Walk the talk, or you're not a man!"
And someone else said, "Talking so big, in this world, if you really want someone to disappear, it has to be a Strange Tale incident!"
As well as, he himself jokingly asked, "Haha, Brother Chuan, could it be that you know a Strange Tale?"
Then...
Hu Chuan's eyes suddenly became very cold, very terrifying. The hazy lights in the KTV room shone on his face, making half of his face hidden in darkness and the other half crimson like blood.
He said faintly, "I know someone more terrifying than a Strange Tale. As long as he teaches that woman a lesson, it'll be enough to make her obediently scram!"
After hearing that sentence, for some reason, a chill rose up Jin Yecheng's back, and he sobered up considerably.
----
Upon hearing the news of Jiang Yuzhen's death, those who attended the party that day held another brief gathering after offering wreaths to mourn.
Almost everyone believed that Jiang Yuzhen's death had nothing to do with them.
They were just joining in the fun, how could they be the murderers who killed Jiang Yuzhen?
Even Hu Chuan, the instigator, felt that he had only intended for that person to teach Jiang Yuzhen a lesson, and that such an event was just an accident.
At that time, Jin Yecheng felt the same way and, like everyone else, lived his life with a clear conscience.
Only...
It's just that in the days that followed, everyone seemed to intentionally or unintentionally avoid each other, gradually drifting apart. Everything from that day and the name "Jiang Yuzhen" also became a taboo that couldn't be mentioned.
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Originally, when Jin Yecheng was preparing for postgraduate entrance exams, he didn't want to return to Hua City.
However, after failing the first attempt, he couldn't bear the immense pressure from his family. To successfully pass the second time, he still applied for a major at his alma mater.
And so, after much circling, he returned here and met Jiang Yuzhen...
----
A month ago, Hua City had its last spring rain.
Spring comes good for dreams, close eyes and wander through peach blossoms.
Jin Yecheng, who had accidentally overslept, was urged by Professor Ma's phone call. He hurriedly left his rented room, enduring the spring breeze and drizzle, and jogged all the way to the Faculty of Arts Experimental Building via a shortcut.
The alley he took as a shortcut, located within Huacheng Institute of Technology, had been there for quite some years, sandwiched between two old buildings.
The damp road surface was mottled with moss. The rain hit the treetops, making the washed leaves vibrantly green. In an unintentional glance back, he saw the Miss walking alone in the alley.
Her figure was graceful, she wore a thin white dress, and held a rose-red umbrella in her hand. She strolled in the misty rain-shrouded alley, her demeanor like a fairy who did not partake in Human Fireworks.
Looking at her back, Jin Yecheng couldn't help but recall a short passage from the poem "Rainy Alley" by the poet Dai Wangshu.
【...
She has, the color of lilac, the fragrance of lilac, the sorrow of lilac.
Lamenting in the rain, lamenting and wandering, she wanders in this lonely rainy alley.
Holding an oil-paper umbrella, like me.
Like me, walking silently, cold and desolate, bleak, and melancholy
...】
Jin Yecheng felt that such a dreamlike encounter was a special destiny. Coming back to his senses, he jogged to catch up and called out to that Miss.
Then...
He discovered that he and that Miss indeed had a "special" destiny.
The Miss turned around. Under the rose-red umbrella, it was empty, like stubble after harvest, with no head, only a bloody, mangled neck. At the wound, tissue, whether artery or muscle, was wriggling.
"Huh? Can you see me? Who is it? Did you see my head? It was just carried away by Big Yellow!"
He heard that Miss say this, his heart suddenly stopped, and he fainted and fell to the ground.
----
After that day, although Jin Yecheng did not see Jiang Yuzhen again, that bloody and mangled scene was deeply imprinted in his mind.
He felt that Jiang Yuzhen must have noticed that he had returned to this school and wanted to take revenge on him!
As for why she hadn't acted yet...
Perhaps she was just waiting for a rainy night, just like the rainy night she was murdered.
Thinking this way, Jin Yecheng had nightmares every night, dreaming of the headless female ghost appearing by his bed, staring at him with venomous eyes, and 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. Near the time Jiang Yuzhen was murdered, he would take paper money and good incense and candles to the location where she was killed and burn incense to mourn.
He wanted to get Jiang Yuzhen's forgiveness, or for her to appear sooner so that he could die a little more painlessly.
The past month, like living dead, made him long for salvation...
----
In front of the small warehouse near Four Gate Main Street.
Lu Yibei was holding a head, her eyes empty as she watched the clouds in the sky obscure the moon, lost in thought for a moment.
She was tired and depressed.
That head, which looked eighty to ninety percent like her own, was a detached part of the Paper Cicada Immortal.
"Ah--!"
She sighed resentfully, lowered her head to look at the head in her arms, and that head also looked up, staring at her with a pair of large eyes.
Gazing deeply at each other, it was a bit creepy.
She felt like she was now somewhat like someone buying fish to release, but what she released was the lower body.
Although theoretically, once the Paper Cicada Immortal is activated, even if its head and body are separated, it can still move. That is to say, she can still control the lower body of the Paper Cicada Immortal, which has disappeared.
She could also sense its approximate location, not far away.
But the problem is, the missing lower body might have its own ideas, and she couldn't control it well!
As soon as she had a thought and slightly touched that half of the Paper Cicada Immortal, it would start running wildly in strange postures.
If she wasn't careful, the head in her arms would even let out a few creepy screeches.
What's more, it was genuine "out-of-body" surround sound!
Lu Yibei felt like she was now playing hide-and-seek with a dog that had gone crazy playing and didn't want to go home.
"If worst comes to worst, I can only cut off the connection first and then look for it slowly, right?"
Muttering to herself, Lu Yibei raised her head again, just as she was about to cut off the connection with the Paper Cicada Immortal, she suddenly saw a flickering light by the road in the distance and vaguely saw the outline of a figure squatting on the ground.
Extending her spiritual sense to probe, after confirming it was just an ordinary human, she paused for a moment and frowned.
Who's playing with fire here late at night?
Aren't they afraid of wetting the bed when they sleep at night?
Strange, I'll go take a look!
As Lu Yibei had a thought, there was suddenly a rustling sound from the grass not far away, as if some creature had run past quickly.
The next second, she saw a headless figure, in a White Crane Spreads Wings posture, "Whoosh!", jumping out from the nearly man-high pile of weeds across the main road, landing steadily, and then, with flailing limbs, charging towards the person squatting by the roadside "playing with fire."
Along the way, it inexplicably used a simplified version of the Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration movement technique, its speed suddenly increasing, combined with its wildly flailing limbs...
If she hadn't known it was the Paper Cicada Immortal, Lu Yibei herself would have been scared to see it.
"Holy crap! I just said I'd go take a look, not for you to go! What are you getting so excited about?" Lu Yibei couldn't help but curse under her breath.
As she spoke, she chased after it, holding the Paper Cicada Immortal's head.
Just then, the person "playing with fire" heard the sound of the Paper Cicada Immortal's lower body running towards him and turned his head.
And so, the air instantly froze for a few seconds.
Then, a tragic wail echoed above Four Gate Main Street.
"Ah! Ah--ah--! Jiang, Jiang Yuzhen, don't come over, I was wrong, it was Hu Chuan who killed you, not me, please let me go!?"
Hearing the sound, Lu Yibei's steps faltered, and she flashed into the grass beside her.
Jiang Yuzhen... isn't that the Headless Senior's name?
And who the hell is Hu Chuan?
Listening to his words, it seems related to the Senior? Could it be that the Headless Senior has been hiding from this guy recently?
As Lu Yibei thought, she slightly narrowed her eyes, examining the person by the roadside. A bold idea quietly arose in her mind, gradually becoming twisted.
Dare to bully the Senior? You're in for a treat!
