Chapter 002: The Chilled Coffin

The body of the young girl fell to the ground, her pale face pressed against the earth, her hair in a disheveled mess. With her eyes wide open, the white, glaring eyeballs seemed to be staring at me.

Upon hearing this, I felt quite anxious. In our village, the Lin family's girl is the only peer with whom I can exchange a few words. My third uncle closed the door and took me along to search with everyone else

I went to open the door, and it turned out to be Aunt Lin from our village, her face full of anxiety. As soon as she saw me, she grabbed my hand and asked if I had seen her daughter.

The village chief continued the search with his team, focusing particularly on the nearby ponds and waterways. The group that had searched until dawn returned, rested for a while, and then got up to help, working tirelessly until evening. I stayed at home, prepared the meal, and waited for him to return to eat.

They came to our house as a last resort, asking me if I had seen their daughter

After this experience, we dared not linger any longer and quickly closed the coffin lid. Just as my uncle was about to re-tie the chalk line, we heard someone outside knocking on the door with a "bang bang bang," which startled us.

I followed the adults until midnight, and I was extremely exhausted. After sleeping for a short while, I vaguely heard a "giggling" sound by my ear. At first, I was in a daze and just turned over to continue sleeping. Later, the sound grew louder, as if it had directly penetrated into my bones

This is the first time I have encountered such a bizarre situation. My third uncle told me not to stare and to quickly help the person put their clothes back on. After I skillfully tidied everything up, just as I was about to climb out of the coffin, I suddenly felt a tingling sensation on my scalp. The female corpse's eyes, I don't know when, had opened; the white, glaring eyeballs were fixedly staring at me!

In the countryside, the bonds of human relationships are strong, and there is a fundamental spirit of mutual assistance. There is no need for the village chief to speak; almost the entire village is mobilized. We, the children and women, returned home to rest by late night, while my third uncle and a group of men continued the search outside.

I was suddenly awakened, sitting up in bed, surrounded by darkness. I called out a few times for my third uncle, but no one responded, so I got out of bed and turned on the light. Looking at the time, it was already past 3 a.m., and the group that my third uncle had taken to find the Lin family's girl had not yet returned.

Aunt Lin and her husband were utterly devastated at that moment, rushing out from the crowd, crying out in despair, calling "Daughter, daughter," their cries heart-wrenching. However, later, Lin Wenjing's aunt came to visit and immediately stated that it was not their Jing'er who had died.

After I returned home, I locked the door, went into the inner room, climbed onto the bed, and quickly fell asleep. In our line of work, we are accustomed to seeing corpses, and having a coffin stored at home is nothing particularly special.

I found some things to reinforce the stool, then I bowed to the coffin before returning to the inner room to continue sleeping. However, I kept tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, feeling uneasy in my heart. After quite a while, I finally fell into a drowsy sleep, during which I had a dream about the Lin family's girl.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Lin immediately rushed over and turned the disfigured corpse inside out, examining it thoroughly.

Aunt Lin's daughter is named Lin Wenjing, and she is my classmate. Speaking of her, there is a bit of a connection between us. Initially, Teacher Tian arranged for her to sit next to me, but Aunt Lin barged into the school and spent the entire afternoon scolding Teacher Tian, pointing her finger at his nose.

Thereafter, I further demonstrated my professional spirit by carefully combing her disheveled hair, smoothing out the slightly wrinkled dress, and tidying up her appearance.

The sound of "gē gē" still lingered, as if coming from the main room. I turned on the light and took a look; the coffin was resting on two long benches. The "gē gē" sound was actually produced by one of the benches, as if it were overwhelmed by the weight of the coffin, on the verge of collapsing at any moment

I waited for a long time, but I did not see Uncle San and the others return. Feeling somewhat restless, I went back to the main room, knelt down in front of the coffin, and bowed several times. Then I recited some prayers for the Buddha's protection, invoking various blessings. After that, I lit three sticks of incense in front of the coffin

A shiver ran down my spine, and I repeatedly muttered my apologies as I rushed over to lift the corpse and stuff it back into the coffin. Strangely, the body was unexpectedly heavy, far from the weight one would expect for a young girl. I exerted all my strength, finally managing to hoist her inside.

Because the little girl is quite charming, I have been paying attention to her. However, I haven't seen her at school since yesterday, and I thought she had gone to visit relatives with Aunt Lin. Aunt Lin said her daughter went early yesterday morning to deliver eggs to her aunt, but when asked today, her aunt hadn't seen the girl at all

Firstly, the clothes worn by the drowned little girl are different from those of their daughter Jing'er

Just now, I had already removed her clothes, which was already a great disrespect. My third uncle, nervous and sweating on his forehead, saw me climb back into the coffin to close the corpse's eyes, and only then did he mutter a curse under his breath, "Damn it," and let out a sigh of relief

But I just felt something was off, and I felt uneasy. After sitting dazed in the inner room for a while, I remembered that the way the female corpse lay on the ground with disheveled hair resembled the Lin family girl who crawled towards me in my dream.

After removing the skirt, there was surprisingly not a single piece of clothing left inside, only a bare body remained

Aunt Lin and her husband were immediately anxious and hurried to find someone. However, they searched the entire village inside and out, yet there was no trace of their daughter. Soon, all of Lin's relatives and the neighbors in the village joined in, helping to search the area within a radius of several miles, but there was still not a single piece of news.

As the incense stick burned halfway, I climbed up the coffin wall and carefully turned the female corpse over, making her face away from me

I suddenly have a chilling suspicion, and I want to know if there is a red birthmark the size of a fingernail on her buttocks

I was startled awake at that moment, drenched in cold sweat. Looking outside, the sky was already dimly lit. Soon, I heard the sound of the door opening; it was my uncle and the others returning. I got out of bed and asked, and my uncle said they had not found anything.

Although I ultimately did not end up as her deskmate, this young girl has a gentle personality and does not shy away from me like other children do. Sometimes, she is even able to engage in a few conversations with me

The final confirmation revealed that she was indeed not the daughter of their family, but rather a foolish girl from the neighboring village who had some mental issues. For some unknown reason, she accidentally fell into the water and drowned in the pond

In fact, it cannot be said that it is that girl; it is just that the clothes she is wearing are very similar to hers, and she has long hair draped over her shoulders. Her height and figure are also quite similar, as she runs towards me from a distance. As she gets closer, I realize that she is actually crawling towards me with her head turned one hundred and eighty degrees backward, using both her hands and feet.

Secondly, their daughter Jing'er has had a red birthmark the size of a fingernail on her bottom since she was born, but this girl does not have one

I do not know if it is because of the matter concerning the Lin family's girl, but it has left me with a knot in my heart. Every time I see the coffin placed in the main hall, I always feel a sense of unease. So, I took two white candles, lit them in front of the coffin, and placed them before it, then I joined my palms together and bowed to the coffin several times.

I rolled and crawled out of the coffin, kneeling before it and knocking my head several times with a "thud, thud, thud". This is a customary practice in our profession; if one encounters something strange, it is possible that they have inadvertently offended the corpse, and it is imperative to quickly offer an apology.

Uncle San stared at the corpse, his expression growing even more grim. I came to my senses and noticed that on the little girl's snow-white body, in addition to a circle of needle marks around her neck, there were also circles of needle marks at the shoulder level of her arms and at the root of her thighs

Uncle San had a sullen expression and said, "If I tell you to take it off, then take it off, no need for any nonsense!" Seeing his expression, I realized that the situation might be complicated, so I no longer hesitated and quickly removed the dress from the corpse.

I was caught by her a bit painfully, and I gasped that I hadn't seen her since yesterday

Then she lifted her skirt

By noon the next day, there was new development in the matter. A body of a young girl was retrieved from the pond at the eastern end of the village, her face already gnawed away by fish and shrimp, and the corpse had become swollen from being soaked. It was said that she had been entangled in the aquatic plants in the pond, causing her to sink to the bottom without floating up.

A wave of sadness washed over me, and I returned to bed in a dejected manner. After that, I could not fall asleep again, as my mind kept dwelling on the dream I had before, feeling that something was amiss.

It appears that the head and limbs of this corpse are all sewn on with needle and thread

Just as I was about to return to the inner room, a sudden inexplicable chill swept through the house, causing the candlelight to flicker erratically and sending a shiver down my spine. Then, I heard a loud crash, as one of the long benches collapsed, and the coffin fell over, taking the lid with it and sending it flying out.

This is indeed somewhat unreasonable