Chapter Ten: The Mysterious Secret Room

  I rambled on and on, my mouth dry and my breath short. She listened to me finish, then responded with just one sentence: "Garrulous men are so annoying." I noticed that the mole on her left hand was gone, and naturally knew that the corpse I had brought back must have been switched. So, does that mean you're the second boyfriend of a female corpse who's been switched?

  I was taken aback by these words.

  She said in an extremely arrogant tone: "Shameless and timid men, dare not admit that they have a girlfriend. Still talking nonsense, showing off your intelligence? Do you think I will like you or what? Let me tell you, I won't like you at all, so give up. Because..."

  I didn't wait for her to finish and casually said: "Because you like women. Hmm, I get it. I'm just explaining, don't think too much about it, okay?"

  She sneered and said, "Hmph, you've guessed it just because the deceased's name on the list is a woman?"

  "Hmm. Su Chujun. This is probably a girl's name. And you said you wouldn't like me, so I'd give up hope, and naturally I thought of you and Su Chujun not being close relatives, like cousins."

  "She coldly said: 'Do you always like to show off? With a man like you, even if I liked men, I wouldn't like you.'"

  I spread out my hands and said, "Alright. After saying so much, let's get down to business now. I think you've also discovered that there is a space behind this wall, and we need two people to cooperate in order to enter. So... are you willing to consider cooperating with me?"

  She thought for a moment and then said resolutely: "You go first."

  I only just picked up the flashlight and shone it on her, taking a closer look. She had long hair that fell to her shoulders, wearing a deep black denim jacket, with black shorts underneath, and black stockings. However, she was wearing a pair of black sports shoes; if she were wearing high heels, combined with her tall stature, she would definitely captivate many men. But her face always lacked much expression. Although it wasn't an exceptionally outstanding face, it was very delicate, and at first glance, it seemed somewhat like a boy's. The last time I saw her, she didn't seem as cold and stern as today; instead, she had a faintly sad look on her face, looking very weak, and for a moment, I thought that if she were into SM, she would definitely be an M role - unexpectedly, she was a "la la" (lesbian), and looked like a T (the more masculine one in the lesbian world).

  I made a "please" gesture: "Ladies first."

  She didn't move at all.

  I'm well aware that this person, although not denying my previous reasoning, I still can't let my guard down. Perhaps after that emotional hurt, I've become accustomed to being psychologically defensive and no longer dare to easily trust anyone.

  Both of us were clear that to get through the pillar to the other side of the wall, we had to work together. One person would go in, and the other could only step on the brick and press the button at the same time. If the person outside suddenly had malicious intentions, the person who went in would be trapped on the other side.

  Across from me, is there a button or something that can make the pillar turn back? I don't know. All I know is that if not, then the person who went in will definitely only be able to struggle like a trapped beast, and then wait to be captured with hands tied behind their back.

  If she, this mysterious woman who doesn't openly acknowledge herself as Mingying, is acting like Wang Yongshun and putting on a show for me, I absolutely won't fall for it again, so I definitely won't be the silly boy who gets tricked.

  The two people remained deadlocked for several minutes, neither of whom was foolish enough to go in and be the guinea pig.

  She couldn't help it, shook her hair and said: "Look at you! You won't go in, I will!"

  Just what I wanted. I nodded calmly.

  She hesitated again.

  This woman is no less intelligent than me, full of petty tricks.

  After hesitating for a few more minutes, I could only say: "Forget it, I don't know what's inside, I'll just go in."

  She looked at me with an indifferent expression, didn't say a word and walked onto the floor tiles.

  I licked my lips: "After I go in, I'll knock on the wall as a signal. The first knock means I'm about to enter the pillar, the second knock means I've entered the pillar, and you can turn the pillar around. OK?"

  She replied in a bad temper: "Less use of bird language, if you want to come in, just come in, otherwise get out." As she spoke, she pressed the button and the pillar turned around.

  I walked towards the pillar and said, "Do you think Su Chujun is dead?"

  A faint sorrow flashed across her face, and she quickly recovered, saying, "No."

  "Why are you so sure?"

  "It's just what I think. Didn't you ask me what I thought? That's just how I feel."

  "Oh," I glanced at her and said, "Okay."

  I took a deep breath, glanced at her, pulled out a plastic bag from my backpack, fished out two cotton balls soaked in alcohol and stuffed them into my nostrils. Then I walked into the pillar.

  The space inside the pillar is very small, only enough for one person. If you're a bit fatter, you might not be able to squeeze in. I'm afraid of being squeezed out when turning around, so I shrank my body inward with force, held onto the backpack strap and stuck it tightly to my body, calling out: "Okay."

  The sound of footsteps came from afar. Two seconds later, the pillar began to rotate and stopped after a few creaks.

  I felt around and indeed after the pillar turned I could walk out, I lit up my flashlight and made my way out.

  Except for the faint moonlight that seeped in through the gap between the fan blades on a ventilator, the room was a completely dark world. I shone my flashlight around and saw that the furnishings were simple: a sofa, a bed, a tea table, and a glass board standing against the wall; an icebox, and a large basin that seemed to be a bathtub. The floor of this compartment was made of wood, with dark wallpaper pasted on all four walls, which made it impossible to tell what color they were under the dim light of my flashlight. Although I had cotton balls stuffed up my nostrils, I could still smell a strange odor.

  Out of the pillar, there is no light switch next to it. In this windowless room, do people who come in have to work in the dark?

  There is a desk lamp, but I don't dare to turn it on. If the light leaks through the gap between the fan blades of the air conditioner and is seen by others, while I am still in this prison-like place, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

  On the left wall there is no wallpaper, a clip board hangs on it, which reads:

  Next to the clipboard, there were some black mysterious symbols painted. I reached out and touched them, and they turned out to be dried blood. The pattern was simple, three concentric circles, if two more were added, it would be the Olympic five-ring flag. Next to this mysterious symbol, several foreign words were written in blood:

  They all look like English letters.

  Is "be" an English name? Bella? It reminds me of an American musician I was once obsessed with, BeFleck, a banjo player who has been nominated for 20 Grammys. But the words that followed made me give up on thinking these were English words. These words are not even English words at all.

  No matter what it is, anything abnormal is a monster. I held the flashlight in one hand and took out my phone with the other, snapping photos. Then I walked towards the refrigerator.

  This refrigerator, undoubtedly the most intriguing thing in the room. Its size is similar to the one at my home, and judging from various circumstances, it's not hard to infer that there might be a stiff corpse frozen inside.

  Lift the lid, and underneath is also a glass door, similar to my home's refrigerator. Inside, it was misty and not very clear. I simply opened the glass door and waved my hand in the cold air, only then did I see that inside was indeed a female corpse lying there.

  That cold mist floated out, and I accidentally inhaled some of it with my mouth. Suddenly, I felt dizzy. This mist must be strange - the mist in the refrigerator is formed by the condensation of water vapor in the air when the cold air meets the outside air. It's rare for mist to linger inside the fridge without dispersing unless the door is opened. Unfortunately, I didn't think of it earlier and don't know if inhaling it will be poisonous.

  I held my breath, pulled out the sealed plastic bag containing tin foil lock picks, stuffed some fog into it and sealed the opening. Then I retreated to one side, saw a switch on the wall, and hastily pressed it down, causing the exhaust fan to start spinning.

  In this room, after a search, on the tea table beside the sofa, there was an ashtray with a large amount of cigar ash inside. It should be from a cigar, but strangely, I didn't see any cigar butts. Upon closer inspection, the quality of this cigar is very good, the ash doesn't scatter, and the ash falls into the ashtray in sections, there's a lot of it, indicating that this cigar is quite long, but it shouldn't be a Trinidad cigar. This kind of cigar I've only seen once, it's specially supplied to Castro, even with money you can't buy it.

  Suddenly found that there is a section in the ash, one of which has a small conical shape.