Forbidden Land – CH 021

Following the light of the flashlight, a warm feeling welled up inside him.

This high-powered flashlight was truly indispensable.

Otherwise, his legs would probably be weak from walking down this stairwell again today.

Zhang Chao let out a long sigh. The two had reached the corner of the staircase. Although it was pitch black, the flashlight illuminated it brightly. The south staircase was no different from the one they had come up from the north.

Looking at the clearly defined steps, Zhang Chao felt a release of some of his pent-up emotions. As long as he didn’t think about the strange thing that had just happened, there was nothing to be afraid of.

The two walked down a few steps when Zhang Chao suddenly stopped.

Chen Rong laughed. “What happened now? You’re always so jumpy.”

Zhang Chao pointed ahead: “You…look.”

Following the flashlight beam, in the corner between the fifth and sixth floors, there was, surprisingly, a pair of black cloth shoes. The shoes lay neatly against the wall, toes pointed out.

Chen Rong, seeing this, was equally bewildered: “Even if you threw the shoes far and they rolled down, how… how did they end up like this?”

Zhang Chao said angrily, “I bet it’s that grandson who messed with me again. He’s fucking despicable! That beast is really something; he’s been caught so many times. Could it be that he also orchestrated that woman in an ancient costume?”

As he spoke, he walked over, picked up the cloth shoes, and said, “Evidence, we need to keep it. But I don’t know how to do it. Do you think the police will handle this kind of thing—” He suddenly interrupted, “Quick, come here!”

Chen Rong asked suspiciously, “What’s wrong?”

Zhang Chao picked up the cloth shoes, hesitatingly saying, “It seems… it seems like it isn’t the same pair as before.”

“Ah!” Chen Rong’s face grew paler as she looked at the cloth shoes.

These black cloth shoes clearly weren’t new. The uppers were worn and tattered, with a red silk embroidery border that was riddled with holes and covered in mud. Zhang Chao turned the shoes over; the soles definitely weren’t the old Beijing cloth shoes he knew. The cloth soles were worn through, with large holes, and even the ones that weren’t worn through were almost transparent, all covered in mud.

“Look, this…this looks like an ‘old thing,'” Zhang Chao said, his throat dry.

Chen Rong’s eyes lit up, and she slapped his hand: “Throw it away! My grandfather said you can’t touch ‘old things’!”

The shoes fell to the ground, soles up, lying forlornly to the side.

Zhang Chao looked at his hands, wiped them on the wall, as if thinking they were covered in “dirt.”

Chen Rong said, “Alright, stop wiping. Go back and wash your hands; make sure they are clean.”

Zhang Chao hesitated before asking, “Then… what did your grandfather say would happen if… we touched the ‘old thing’?”

Chen Rong took a deep breath and then said, “Nothing will happen; let’s go quickly.”

Zhang Chao knew this was no longer the place to talk about such things. He quickly shone his flashlight down the stairs, and the two hurried down.

Upon reaching the plaza on the ground floor, they finally felt a sense of peace. Zhang Chao caught his breath and still asked, “Tell me, what’ll happen if we touch ‘the thing’?”

Chen Rong said impatiently, “Nothing will happen; don’t even think about it!”

Zhang Chao said, “Impossible. You must have your reasons for saying that. Don’t forget, you’re a PhD in Psychology; you wouldn’t say something like that.”

Chen Rong laughed and said, “Are you a coward? You always have to ask so many questions. Are you even a man?”

“Damn it!” Zhang Chao couldn’t help but swear. “I asked to show I’m brave.”

Seeing that he had completely recovered, Chen Rong laughed, “Then I’ll tell you. If you’re scared, don’t ask your sister to protect you.”

Zhang Chao said, “Just tell me; I haven’t sunk so low as to need a woman to protect me!”

Chen Rong smiled. “Then I’ll tell you. When I was little, my grandfather told me never to pick up ‘old things’ in the mountains; otherwise, the owner of the things will come looking for you.”

“The owner of the things?” Zhang Chao said, “It can’t be a ghost, can it?”

Chen Rong said, “Be careful tonight; you’re alone in the dormitory. Watch out for women in white dresses and black shoes coming looking for you.”

Zhang Chao laughed loudly. “Haha, if it’s a beautiful woman, it doesn’t matter if she comes looking for me.”

Chen Rong frowned, disdainfully saying, “You only dare to talk about it here. When you were upstairs, why weren’t you this brave?”

Zhang Chao said, “I was pretending to be a coward so you could protect me, sister, and give you a sense of accomplishment.”

Chen Rong sneered, “You’re crazy.”

Today, the two didn’t go to get their bicycles but chose to walk back to their dorm. Walking along the main road in the western area, watching students returning from self-study one after another, it seemed like life had returned to normal. The night was as beautiful as ever; everything was orderly.

Zhang Chao took a deep breath of the night air, relaxing his long-tense nerves. Chen Rong looked at him and laughed. “How about it, completely normal?”

Zhang Chao rolled his eyes and said, “What do you mean by ‘completely normal’? I’ve always been normal!”

Just then, “Boom! Boom!” Several fireworks lit up the western night sky, the sound echoing throughout the surroundings. Looking at the fireworks, Zhang Chao suddenly asked, “Chen Rong, aren’t fireworks usually banned in Hangzhou? Why are people setting off fireworks near Zijingang every few days?”

Chen Rong said, “What’s so strange about that?”

Zhang Chao said, “They’ve been doing this since I came to Zijingang. I’m used to it and don’t find it strange. But thinking about it this way, it really is a bit odd.”

Chen Rong laughed. “It seems you know very little. Construction sites often set off fireworks before nighttime work; it’s called sweeping. You don’t even know that?” She gave him a disdainful look.

Zhang Chao said, “Sweeping? What’s the reasoning behind that?”

Chen Rong said, “Whenever there’s work on wasteland or in mountainous areas at night, fireworks are set off first to scare away unclean things. According to superstition, places uninhabited for a long time tend to accumulate unclean things, and people staying there for too long are prone to inexplicably getting sick or having accidents. Construction work is inherently dangerous, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Setting off fireworks puts the workers at ease. Otherwise, who would dare climb such high scaffolding in the middle of the night?”

Zhang Chao nodded: “This is the first time I’ve heard of this.”

Chen Rong smiled: “Don’t you life science students live in the same building as the civil engineering students? The upperclassmen in civil engineering must know.”

Zhang Chao said, “I don’t know anyone from civil engineering.”

The two smiled and chatted casually about other things.