Promise in the Shadow of the Clock Tower
The morning sun filtered through the curtains, casting a shadow on the documents on the table. Lu Ye lay there, sound asleep. He and Qi Chen had been researching information about Bell Tower Square until the wee hours of the night, and finally, feeling incredibly sleepy, he'd fallen asleep on the table.
Qi Chen gently picked him up, put him on the bed, and covered him with a quilt. He looked at Lu Ye's sleeping face with tenderness in his eyes - he didn't want Lu Ye to be involved in danger, but he also knew that Lu Ye would not leave him alone.
"Awake?" Lu Ye opened his eyes drowsily and saw Qi Chen sitting beside the bed, holding an old photo in his hand. "What is this?"
Qi Chen handed the photo to Lu Ye: "This is an old photo of the Bell Tower Square, from the Republic of China period. Look, there used to be a monument here to commemorate those who died in the war, but it was later demolished and replaced with the current bell tower."
Lu Ye took the photo. The monument in the photo was tall, with many names engraved on it. Surrounding it were many people with solemn expressions. "Could this monument be related to that huge wronged soul?" he asked.
"It's very likely," Qi Chen nodded. "I looked up the information. This monument was demolished in 1946. An accident occurred during the demolition and three workers died. Their bodies have never been found. Since then, strange things have begun to occur in Bell Tower Square, but no one paid much attention at the time."
Lu Ye sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Could the souls of those three workers be part of that giant soul? It absorbed their resentment, and then absorbed the resentment of other souls, becoming stronger and stronger."
"Yes," Qi Chen said, "and I also discovered that every wronged soul whose obsession we freed had a connection to this monument—Su Qingyuan's grandfather was the builder of the monument, Su Manqing's father was the maintainer of the monument, and Lin Wanqiu's grandfather was one of the workers who dismantled the monument."
Lu Ye's heart skipped a beat: "What a coincidence?"
"It's not a coincidence," Qi Chen shook his head. "That giant vengeful spirit is deliberately selecting its targets. It turns the descendants of these people into vengeful spirits, absorbing their resentment and strengthening itself. The obsessions we resolved earlier were actually helping it cleanse the 'impurities' and make its resentment purer."
Lu Ye was stunned. They had thought they were doing a good deed, but they had actually helped that giant ghost. He clenched his fists and said, "So what do we do now? We can't let it get any bigger."
"Find the ruins of the monument," Qi Chen said. "The bodies of the three workers should be buried beneath the ruins. Their resentment is the core of the source. As long as we resolve their resentment, we can weaken the power of that huge wronged spirit."
After washing up and having some breakfast, they went to the Bell Tower Square. The square was bustling with elderly people dancing and children flying kites. No one knew that a huge danger lay hidden in the ground beneath their feet.
Qi Chen pulled out the previously marked map and found the approximate location of the monument—directly below the bell tower. "We need to come at night," he said. "There will be too many people during the day, making it difficult to move around. Plus, the fog will be thicker at night, making it easier to find the entrance to the ruins."
Lu Ye nodded and looked at the crowd in the square, feeling heavy in his heart - these people didn't know that they were living under a huge shadow.
At night, the two men, armed with their tools, returned to the Bell Tower Square. The square was deserted, dimly lit only by the streetlights. The black mist in the air was thicker than during the day, slowly swirling around the bell tower like a giant whirlpool.
Qi Chen took out his compass, and the needle swung violently, finally pointing to the bottom of the bell tower. "Right here," he said, "The entrance to the ruins should be in the basement of the bell tower."
The two found the entrance to the bell tower's basement. The door was locked and covered in rust. Qi Chen used a crowbar to pry open the lock and pushed open the door. A strong smell of mold and resentment hit him in the face, even heavier than the fog in the museum.
The basement was pitch black. Qi Chen turned on his flashlight, sweeping the beam around. The walls were covered in cracks, and the ground was littered with rubble, like the remains of a demolished monument. In the corner was a hole, from which mist was pouring out.
"It's right here," Qi Chen said, "the remains of the monument should be below the cave entrance."
The two men took out ropes, tied them around their waists, and slowly descended into the cave entrance. Below the cave entrance was a spacious space, with a broken stone tablet in the center, inscribed with "Republic of China 35, Monument Site." Beneath the tablet lay the skeletons of three workers who had died that year.
A black mist surrounded the skeleton, and from within it came the voices of three men, as if they were crying, "We've been wronged... We were murdered and buried here... No one knows..."
"We are here to help you," Lu Ye said softly. "We will bury your remains properly, clear your name, and resolve your grievances."
The voice in the mist paused, then grew excited. "Really? You can really help us?"
"Really?" Qi Chen said, "Are your family members still alive? We can help you find them and have them come to pay their respects to you."
"We have no family," the voice in the mist said with sadness. "We are all orphans. No one will remember us."
Lu Ye's heart ached. "We remember. We will help you erect a monument and engrave your names on it, so that future generations will know that you have contributed to this city."
The mist slowly dissipated, revealing three skeletons. In each of their hands, they held a small wooden plaque with their names engraved on it: "Li San," "Wang Er," and "Zhao Yi."
"Thank you," the voice in the mist softened. "Our resentment isn't about harming anyone. We simply want someone to remember us, to know our grievances. That enormous wronged spirit is using our resentment to control the other wronged spirits. We don't want to help it, but we have no other choice."
Qi Chen took out three wooden boxes and carefully placed the skeletons into them. "We will help you resolve your resentment and prevent it from using you again."
At this moment, the entire space began to shake violently, and the black mist suddenly became violent, pouring in from above the cave entrance, as if the huge wronged spirit had discovered their actions.
"Hurry up!" Qi Chen pulled Lu Ye, "It's coming!"
The two men, carrying the wooden box, quickly climbed up the cave entrance, rushed out of the basement, and closed the door. The fog in the square had turned into a black vortex, swirling around the clock tower, making a "boom" sound, as if roaring angrily.
"We succeeded," Lu Ye panted. "The resentment of those three workers has been resolved. Its power should have weakened."
Qi Chen nodded, but frowned: "It's not enough. It has other sources of resentment. We have only weakened part of its power. It will recover soon. We must find other sources as soon as possible."
By the time the two left the Bell Tower Square, daybreak was nearly over. A pale dawn appeared in the east, and the fog slowly dissipated, as if it had never been there. Lu Ye watched the sunrise in the distance, but his heart didn't relax. They knew this was just the beginning. The huge, wronged spirit wouldn't give up. A greater battle awaited them.
Back at the apartment, the two men placed the remains of the three workers on a table and covered them with a white cloth. "We'll go to the Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau tomorrow," Qi Chen said, "and ask them to help find a suitable place to bury these three workers and erect a monument with their names engraved on it."
Lu Ye nodded, sat next to Qi Chen, and leaned on his shoulder: "No matter what danger comes next, I will face it with you."
Qi Chen held his hand tightly, his eyes firm: "Yes, let's face it together."
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