Chapter 21:18

  18、

  Night.

  Darkness filled the 441 girls' dormitory. The quartz clock in the living room pointed to twelve o'clock.

  The bedroom was very quiet, and the girls seemed to be asleep. Even the soft snoring sound of Liu Xueyi could be heard.

  Fang Yuan's eyes were closed, but her eyeballs were slightly rotating under the cover of her eyelids.

  She wasn't asleep. In fact, she didn't have a bit of sleepiness and had been pondering in the darkness for over an hour.

  The experience on the island of the sea god was like a sly old mouse, always sneaking out quietly in the dead of night, constantly gnawing at her nervous system with its sharp teeth, leaving her disheartened and unable to sleep.

  Human greed is the true evil spirit. Zi Die, if not ambitious and ruthless, wanting to win over the entire world, would she have died young? A smart and beautiful girl like her could have lived a happy life. She could have bought the most fashionable and beautiful clothes, easily found excellent boys who loved and cared for her, and traveled the world to indulge in romantic and passionate youth. However, she was blinded by greed and chose another path, wanting to control and dominate others' fate. In a way, she is also a pitiful girl, blinded by "power desire" and ultimately died on the road of pursuing it.

  Actually, who isn't like this? Often after going through hardships and exhausting a lifetime of time to strive and pursue, only when leaving this world do they discover that their lifelong efforts and pursuits were all just empty bubbles. Such as money, power, fame, literature, art, etc.

  Nietzsche said that man is destined to be lonely. He even condemned the love of Christians, saying that this love was a result of fear, a fear of death. Throughout his life, he showed no sympathy for anyone, ruthlessly shattering other people's dreams. Let those who are intoxicated with beautiful illusions see the dark and dirty reality. He believed that there is no savior in the world, believing in God is not as good as believing in him, he can also be the sun to illuminate others' souls.

  Kafka went mad in the end, right up until his death. This was undoubtedly the best outcome for him. He didn't have to worry about the fear of death.

  Fang Yuan remembered the first time she saw Nietzsche's philosophy and life experience, his thoughts and actions deeply shocked her. Many nights, she dreamed of that thin, arrogant, cruel, and often neurotically angry scholar, talking to her endlessly about his theories. Maybe he was wrong, but what did it matter? At least, he had truly lived. He used his own light and heat to illuminate the path of life for others.

  Fang Wei let out a soft sigh and gently opened her eyes. The dormitory was as dark and quiet as ever, but she had a feeling that a storm was brewing.

  The sound of marbles falling on the floor came from the ceiling again. "Ding... ding ding...", as if someone was playing with marbles. Every time she heard this sound, Fang Yuan would subconsciously look for the voice of a child talking. Unfortunately, she had never found it before. In fact, even if there really were children playing marbles upstairs, the dormitory should not have been able to hear the sound. Not to mention that the girls' dormitory on the upper floor could not possibly have children.

  There was a period when Fang Yuan really wanted to get to the bottom of this matter. She specifically ran upstairs to the dormitory to take a look, and it wasn't any different from other dormitories. When the marbles made noise, they were already asleep. Moreover, they had also heard the sound of marbles coming from the ceiling before. From a scientific perspective, this sound is caused by the thermal expansion and contraction of water pipes producing dripping sounds. Some people say it's the rolling sound formed by mold invading cement in the ceiling, while others claim it's a kind of self-hypnotic symptom when the brain is tired. However, none of these explanations can truly convince anyone, and many people categorize this as a paranormal phenomenon, with "little kids" that ordinary people can't see playing marbles.

  The truth of the matter is unknown. Fang Yuan no longer paid attention to such things afterwards. As the ancients said, "A gentleman is open and honest, while a petty person is always worried." When you see something strange, it will defeat itself if you don't make a fuss about it. As long as your conscience is clear, why bother whether it's really related to the supernatural or not.

  The sound of marbles continued, "ding... ding ding..." getting more and more urgent, making Fang Yuan unable to rest. She simply got dressed and went to the balcony to admire the night view.

  The medical school was quiet, the campus roads were already dark, and all the buildings were swallowed up by blackness. In the distance, the city was still bustling with colorful neon lights competing for attention, like a group of women who refused to be lonely. Far away, the faint sound of karaoke music drifted over, a somewhat melancholic man singing with deep emotion:

  You also inadvertently mentioned / liked to be with me / at that time the sky was always very blue / the days were always passing too slowly / you always said graduation was far away / in the blink of an eye we went our separate ways / who met your sentimental self / who comforted your crying self / who read the letter I wrote for you / who threw it into the wind...

  Fang Yuan was a little infatuated, this song reminded her of the pure and innocent years of her youth, when she first fell in love, yet was also anxious and uncertain. One sentence, one glance, one small movement, all made her suspect and doubt. At that time, she didn't understand what love was, but she cared a lot about how boys looked at her. She pretended to be calm and composed, using tactics like "catching and releasing", everything was quietly performed in the small classroom. Some restless girls even started talking about romance with boys early on, although they knew it was just an illusion, they were still willing to indulge in it.

  Suddenly, a mournful meow startled Fang Yuan, who was lost in memories of the past. She had a special affection for cats. When she first moved into dormitory 441, she adopted a strange black cat with extraordinary intelligence that always appeared on the eve of death. Later, this black cat even saved her life.

  What startled Fang Yuan was that the cat's meow she had just heard sounded like it came from the black cat she had adopted. The cat's meowing didn't fade away, instead it grew more mournful and frantic. This kind of wailing from a cat wasn't caused by someone kicking it or throwing a stone at it, but rather because it was enduring some prolonged and unbearable pain.

  So late, who is abusing the cat?

  Fangjuan looked around in all directions.

  The medical school was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

  Fangjuan didn't think much of it and turned back into the living room, opened the door, and quietly went downstairs.

  The cat's mournful cries continued, the volume was not loud, it seemed very close, yet also seemed very far away.

  Fang Yuan walked around the girls' dormitory building, but found nothing. She couldn't leave the girls' dormitory area, as the aunt guarding the gate had locked the iron door tightly. Since several suicidal incidents occurred in Room 441 of the girls' dormitory, the school has strengthened security measures and arranged special personnel to guard at night, prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving the girls' dormitory area without permission.

  Suddenly, the cat's mournful cry stopped, and the girls' dormitory area was quiet. The evening wind blew gently, carrying a hint of coolness, lightly stroking.

  A wonderful sound of a musical instrument came from the darkness, as light and clear as flowing water. Fang Yuan's mind was quickly caught by the sound of the instrument, and she trembled slightly with its melody. Indescribable comfort and refreshment. She could feel her body being led by this wonderful sound of the instrument, slowly walking towards the entrance of the girls' dormitory area.

  What's going on? Fang Yuan wanted to stop, but she was horrified to discover that her body wouldn't listen to her commands. To be precise, her body wasn't accepting the orders from her cerebral cortex. She could feel her body moving forward stiffly and slowly, like a zombie, while her consciousness was trapped inside, helpless, as if in a dream-like state.

  She strained to stop, the result of her mind and body fighting was a series of headaches, nausea and irritability. She could clearly feel that resisting the will of the instrument made her body more painful. On the contrary, following the will of the instrument, her nervous system and various organs of her body were extremely happy, just like - just like taking drugs.

  It is said that people who take drugs consider taking drugs to be the most wonderful thing in the world. The kind of ethereal and illusory feeling makes a person's nervous system intoxicated, unable to extricate itself.

  Fang Yuan was well aware that this kind of musical sound had an irresistible magic power, although it could make people feel comfortable and happy, but in fact it was a kind of evil force that imprisoned her soul. Her body no longer belonged to her, but was controlled by the evil sound of the instrument.

  The huge fear suddenly engulfed Fang Yuan. She could only secretly pray in her heart, praying that the devilish music would end soon and restore her freedom.