Chapter 45: The Malevolent Spirit of the Snowy Mountain 15

Chapter 45: The Malevolent Spirit of the Snowy Mountain 15

In the evening, the two sat down for dinner.

Pei Yi said, "If Nan Feng could come tonight, that would be ideal; if she doesn’t, then we'll summon her."

"How do we summon her?"

"Uncle Feng, you know about the Pen Spirit game, right? It’s the simplest form of séance."

Doctor Feng sighed, "I know. But we haven’t found the entire poem yet; will it work? And if we tell her Jun Huai is dead, wouldn’t she think we killed Jun Huai, provoking her anger? What do we do then?"

As they spoke, the radio crackled and played a love song for a minute.

"Right. You make a good point. But we haven’t found the entire love song, so we must try to buy time. Let's not tell her about Jun Huai's death yet, just read the part of the love song we have. If that's enough to appease her resentment, great; if not, and we're still alive, tomorrow will be the last day, and we can search for the final part of the poem."

Doctor Feng sighed, "Let's do as you say."

As darkness completely enveloped the sky, the clock struck eleven, sounding 'ding ding ding.' Only one candle was lit in the room.

Pei Yi and Doctor Feng sat at the table, with a pen on it. After twelve, they waited another two hours, until 2 AM.

Suddenly, a knocking sound, 'thud thud thud,' came from outside, "Doctor Feng."

"Doctor Feng—"

"Doctor Feng—" The voice was ethereal, surreal, seemingly Aunt Wu's, but it had changed, carrying a terrifying sensation in the silent night, as if calling right next to one’s ear.

Doctor Feng was visibly agitated, "She's here, she's come." It was unclear whether he referred to her or It. It was unclear whether it was fear or dread, as they had never seen Its face from start to finish.

Pei Yi nodded, "Stay seated, Uncle Feng. I’ll go open the door."

There were four knocks, and they didn’t open the door any of those times. Until the fifth time, Pei Yi walked to the door, took a deep breath, and abruptly opened the wooden door.

Expecting to see a hideous female ghost, they found nothing. The pitch-black space outside was empty, although they had clearly heard It calling just moments ago.

As the door opened, the voice completely vanished.

But at the same time, the candle on the table was extinguished. The cabin merged with the outside snowy mountain, becoming a part of it.

Inside the cabin, only the breathing of Pei Yi and Doctor Feng could be heard.

Just when they thought It had left, the ethereal voice sounded again.

"Doctor Feng—"

It was too close, so close that Pei Yi thought if he turned around, he would be face to face with It. The voice moved past him,

"Doctor Feng—"

The voice grew softer, and suddenly Doctor Feng gasped. Sitting at the table, he was suddenly seized by the throat and fell over.

By now, Pei Yi had adapted to the darkness. He didn't move closer but began reciting the half-found love poem.

"When I die, my love, don’t sing sad songs for me, no roses at my head..."

As he recited, he watched Doctor Feng, whose face contorted in agony, crying out. Pei Yi, thinking he might not withstand such a moment, said,

"Nan Feng. This is the poem Jun Huai wrote for you. He said he loves you, and all his love is in this poem. Have you forgotten?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Doctor Feng finally caught his breath, gasping in terror and moving back.

"Have you forgotten? You haven't forgotten, have you? This is your shared love poem."

Pei Yi felt the wind and snow outside intensify and grow stronger. The radio turned on automatically, crackling. The doorbell on the door kept ringing, spinning in the wind, and the flower on the table fell over, the vase crashing to the floor.

After such a tempestuous onslaught, the cabin fell completely silent.

Pei Yi hurried over, helped Doctor Feng up, and relit the candle, "Uncle Feng, are you alright?"

Doctor Feng shook his head, unable to describe the inhuman force, too terrifying, truly too terrifying.

"…It's gone."

"Did we make it through?"

"Not necessarily. We just told her about Jun Huai's love, but she doesn’t know Jun Huai is dead. We opened the door for It, It will definitely come again." Pei Yi added, doubting himself, as conveying messages through a medium meant his reciting of the poem was likely ineffective. It couldn't have received it.

So why didn't It kill them just now? Was it because he opened the door for It?

"What does It want then? What else can we do?"

"Ghosts usually have their own rules. Seven days is Its limit. After seven days, It can't kill us anymore. Tomorrow is the last day. We just need to survive until then. Tomorrow, I'll look for the last piece of the love song. Uncle Feng, you should stay in the cabin. You've clearly violated Its rules, It won't let you off. Going out is more dangerous. It won't approach you; It will just treat you as Jun Huai."

Pei Yi thought, originally he felt there was no chance, but now there was a glimmer of hope. Surviving one more person mattered.

"But if I am Jun Huai, It will know you're not Jun Huai. Won't It target you?"

"Not for now. First, I already made peace with It yesterday; second, if It treats you as Jun Huai, It will also see me as Jun Huai's friend; third, I haven't violated any rules. It tried to kill me several times and failed, so I doubt It will try again."

"Okay, Young Pei, then make sure you come back safely."

"I will."

As soon as it was light the next day, Pei Yi left. His tall figure was resolute, exuding determination.

Meanwhile, Doctor Feng heard the radio crackling with a weather forecast, "Due to strong cold air, there will be extreme blizzard conditions from today until tomorrow night, with icy roads in higher elevations. Please protect yourself and avoid traveling."

As soon as the announcement ended, Doctor Feng stood there in shock. A blizzard, and now Pei Yi...

Pei Yi had gone west. The weather was already bad from the start, with the cold wind and snow hitting his face, making it nearly impossible to walk.

Such weather warranted an immediate return.

The western ski area was eerily quiet. Pei Yi walked onto a snow track and slipped, rolling down the snow cliff. Instead of continuing down the long cliff path, he slowed down, as if he had hit something.

Pei Yi got up, squinting through the blinding snow, and to his shock, found the bodies of Ying Jun and his wife, frozen stiff. Their faces and bodies were covered in thick snow, dead for at least five or six days.

The area was prone to accidents. Pei Yi discovered a small wooden bridge, now hidden under the thick snow.

"Could there be writing on the bridge?"

But the spot where he fell was already far behind. Normally, Pei Yi could have climbed back up in a few strides, but now, with the fierce blizzard, his movements had become painfully slow.

Pei Yi didn’t look back at the bodies,

struggling step by step to climb up. It took him over ten minutes to reach the wooden bridge. He couldn’t use his hands directly as they would freeze, so he picked up a branch nearby and slowly scraped away the thick snow. Sure enough, there was a line of English written on the bridge:

"And dreaming through the twilight，That doth not rise nor set，

Haply I may remember，And haply may forget."

Pei Yi's hands were already red and numb from the cold. Enduring the pain, he recorded the line of poetry.

After noting it down, he turned to gaze at the endless snowy mountains and whispered, not knowing to whom, "Can you hear it? His love for you; if you can, then let it end."

He tucked the notebook back into his pocket and started walking up slowly.

Little did he know, there was a deep pit next to the wooden bridge, leading down to the cliff path. Pei Yi stepped into it, falling again. This time he tumbled countless times, barely stopping by grabbing onto something.

Looking up, his original location was now far, far away.

Gasping for air, he lay on the thick snow, looking up at the falling snowflakes. After lying there for a while, he felt pain in his leg and saw that he had hit a rock while rolling down.

"…" He thought he couldn’t return now. It was impossible to go back.

He closed his eyes again, surrendering himself to the freezing snowscape, no longer feeling the cold.

Snowflakes settled on his face. As Pei Yi touched the dice, suddenly, he heard someone calling his name.

"Pei Yi—"

The voice was clear and cold, oddly familiar. For that voice, Pei Yi decided to muster his energy. He had to get back, to recite the final part of the love song to It.

With this in mind, Pei Yi forced himself to stand up and began to climb upwards with a limp. After stumbling along for what seemed like an eternity, he finally made it back to the original cliff path.

He staggered forward, taking nearly two hours to walk back to the cabin and knock on the door.

Doctor Feng opened the door and rushed to support him, "Young Pei!"

Inside, Pei Yi treated his wound and drank a cup of hot water, slowly regaining his strength.

Doctor Feng asked, "Did you find the last part of the poem? But I don’t understand English, what should we do?"

"That’s okay, we can just show the poem to It. My bigger concern is if she learns the truth about Jun Huai’s death, will she blame us? But that’s all we can do now."

Doctor Feng said, "She loved poetry, must have been a lovely girl in life, she probably won’t blame us."

Pei Yi frowned, thinking it wasn’t certain; once turned into a ghost, where is the humanity? It was no longer Nan Feng.

Lost in thought, I was suddenly jolted by the clock striking the hour. Pei Yi stared at the clock; he remembered it was five o'clock when he returned. Why, after chatting with Uncle Feng and tending to his wounds, was it still five o'clock?

He gazed out the window as the sky darkened, marveling at how white the snow outside was. Why was it so white?

Feng Chun came over and asked, "Little Pei, what are you thinking about?"

"Uncle Pei, do you see how white the snow is outside?"

Feng Chun shook his head, "I don't see it. It's just snow, after all."

"Snow..." Pei Yi extended his hand, which was still stiff. It hadn't relaxed despite being indoors for so long.

Then he looked at the wound on his foot, which was still bleeding...

Suddenly, Pei Yi felt like he couldn't breathe, as a fiercely cold wind seemed to pour into his mouth, causing him to cough violently. This cough startled him awake, and upon opening his eyes, there was no trace of the empty house or Uncle Feng,

—everything was an illusion.

It was still the snowstorm, endless and bone-chilling. He was still in the snowfield, never having returned to the cabin!