curse

Chapter 14

The shadow of the tree is reflected on the window, and the black shadow keeps swaying in the autumn wind, and the moonlight outside the window pours down faintly.Zhang Kai walked back and forth in the room awkwardly, his appearance was like a trembling leaf outside the window.He couldn't bear it anymore, lit a cigarette, and the cigarette end flickered on and off in the room, dimly lit.

"Put out the cigarette." Wen Haogu next to him said contemptuously.

"Director Wen, I'm very nervous."

"Put out the cigarette." Wen Haogu said in an almost commanding tone, Zhang Kai was a little scared, and finally snuffed out the cigarette.

He opened his eyes and looked at his watch, his expression became more and more nervous, he said intermittently: "Boss, time, the time is almost up."

"Don't be afraid, sit down, you won't die." Wen Haogu said calmly. He sat on the chair that Jiang He had sat on. In front of him was the computer dedicated to Jiang He. He made a cup of Longjing tea and sat leisurely. Sipping tea on a chair while reading an academic journal.

Zhang Kai fell silent, he sat beside Wen Haogu, raised his head, looked at the ceiling for a while, looked out the window for a while, and finally stared at the ground.His heartbeat was getting faster and faster, but his face was pale, and he muttered softly: "This is a curse."

"What did you say?" Wen Haogu asked him.

"Director Wen, listen to me, I believed it, I really believe it now, this is the curse. These days, I dream about Jiang He and Xu Anduo every night, and they told me in the dream that the next death It was me, and it was at the time of Jiang He's death. Ah, and, these days, I seem to hear a word echoing in my ears, but I don't understand the meaning of that word."

"Remember how to say that word?"

"Pronounce 'Muyao', no, there seems to be no such pronunciation in Chinese, to be precise, it should be pronounced as MUYO."

Wen Haogu's face finally changed, he put down the publication in his hand, and fixed his experienced eyes on the open face: "What did you say?"

"Director Wen, I mean, I often hear a voice in my ears these days - MUYO."

"Did you hear me right?" Wen Haogu asked sternly.

"I heard absolutely right."

Wen Haogu sighed for a long time, and then pronounced the word with a very standard pronunciation: "MUYO".

"Yes, that's how it is pronounced, Director, do you know the meaning of this word?"

"Zhang Kai, I seem to remember that you learned the language of the ancient Western Regions from a professor of ancient linguistics in Beijing 10 years ago?"

Zhang Kai showed an ashamed expression: "Director, to be honest, I was sent to Beijing back then, where I learned Tocharian, Sogdian, and Gandhara, as well as Khotanese, Ancient scripts such as Kalu, Sogdian, etc. At that time, I had no intention of studying at all, and it was completely crammed. Although I learned some at that time, I forgot all of them later.”

"It's shameful. Let me tell you, this is Gandhara, the official language used in Loulan at that time."

If Zhang Kai realized something, he nodded his head and said, "Oh, it turns out to be the Kallu script. Many documents with that script were unearthed in Lop Nur, and what we saw there is also this script."

Wen Haogu said slowly: "The Kulu language is the official language of the Guishuang Empire. Around the end of the second century AD, the Gandhara language began to spread to the east of the Pamirs, and it was once used in many countries in the Tarim Basin, such as Shule and Yu. The official languages ​​of Khotan, Loulan and Kucha. However, the countries of Khotan, Shule and Kucha soon switched to Brahma to spell their respective languages. Only the Loulan people continued to use the Kalluwen Gandhara language until the demise of the Loulan civilization. .”

"Director Wen, what does Lu Wen MUYO mean?"

Wen Haogu slowly spit out two words - "Curse."

Zhang Kai stood up all of a sudden, trembling all over, then sat down again, buried his head in his knees, and he didn't know what he was muttering.Wen Haogu had never seen him frightened like this before. He stretched out his hand and touched his open head, and said softly, "Why are you afraid like this? Are you still like a man?"

"I'm done, this is indeed a curse, I'm dying." Zhang Kai almost cried, "I still have a wife and children, what should they do? Director Wen, after I die, the institute must take care of itself. Take care of them, I'm ready to write a suicide note. Yes, and if I survive tonight, I will go to the insurance company tomorrow to buy the maximum amount of life insurance. If I die unexpectedly, my family will get a sum Huge compensation. But, can I survive tonight?"

"I promise you can survive. Zhang Kai, let me analyze it with you now. The reason why you heard this word in Kaluwen is actually because the death of Jiang He and Xu Anduo made you suspicious. You thought there must be a curse. .And you have learned Kaluwen in the past. Although you have forgotten it long ago, what you have learned will remain in your memory. This is a kind of potential memory. Although you usually don’t remember it, but in Under the stimulation of some unexpected events, this latent memory will be unearthed unconsciously. There have been many examples of this kind of thing in medicine. Therefore, after you have experienced the recent events, the latent memory It is activated, that is, this Kalu word meaning curse has drilled out from the depths of your memory, and with your wild thoughts, it always appears in your mind, so that you have auditory hallucinations, mistakenly thinking that there is something wrong. What sound is ringing in my ears. This is the reason, the only reason, don't think about it, you came up with it all yourself, and you will be fine." Wen Haogu finished these words in one breath, and then spit out Take a long breath and take a big sip of tea.

Zhang Kai listened to Wen Haogu's words like listening to a story, and then fell silent. He lowered his head and remained silent for a while, then said suspiciously: "Director Wen, what you said is true?"

"That's the only possibility."

"But tonight, can I make it through tonight?"

Wen Haogu smiled slightly: "Look at your watch."

He opened his arms and raised his wrists, "It's past 12 o'clock."

"The Public Security Bureau said that Jiang He died around 11:[-], and now the time has passed. Aren't you still alive?"

"Yeah, I'm still alive." Zhang Kai let out a breath, as if he let go of his worries.He took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his brow and the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Okay, it's all right. It's already so late tonight, you should stay here overnight. There are sleeping bags and camp beds in the camp." The sleeping bags and camp beds that Wen Haogu mentioned are the occasional sleeping in the open during field archaeology. Equipment necessary for the field.

"Spend the night here? This is a room where people have died. No, no, absolutely not. I will be scared to death if I spend the night here. Besides, my wife is still waiting for me at home. I must go back tonight, anyway. My home is not far away, and tomorrow is a rest day." He stood up as he spoke.

Wen Haogu shook his head, he has always disliked Zhang Kai's timidity, and said lightly: "Okay, you can go if you want, but you are riding a moped, so you must be careful on the road."

Zhang Kai nodded, "Thank you for your concern, Director, I will be careful on the way. Then, what about you, Director?"

"Anyway, I don't have a wife or child. I'm alone at home, and I'm alone here. It's all the same. I'll just spend the night in this room. It doesn't matter." Wen Haogu picked up the magazine again and said casually.

"Director, I really admire your courage. If only I could catch up to one-tenth of yours, then I'll go first, goodbye."

"Goodbye, you must be careful on the road." He still took care of him.

Zhang Kai nodded, walked out of the room, and then, his footsteps sounded in the empty corridor, and then gradually disappeared.Wen Haogu shook his head contemptuously, picked up the thermos bottle, and poured hot water into the teacup.

The corridor was dark, Zhang Kai walked alone, and when he heard the sound of his footsteps, he felt a little guilty, especially when he passed by the door of the warehouse, he almost trotted over.He was afraid that at this moment, the curse would suddenly come and make him lie down in some dark corner of the institute in the middle of the night, and then, the next morning, his colleagues would be surprised to find his body.Thinking of this, he could hardly walk anymore. Looking at the darkness around him, he always felt that his heart was hanging high and tied to a thin thread, which might be disconnected at any time.

Just as he was walking cautiously through the darkness, when he felt that he was about to reach the door of the small building, he suddenly felt a burst of heat in front of him, and then he bumped into something head-on.I can't see anything in the dark, my eyes are wide open, and my heart is almost jumping out of my throat.He wanted to yell, but he couldn't yell, maybe his throat was so tense that he couldn't control it, so he could only use a trembling falsetto to hoarsely say to the dark front: "Who?"

"It's me, Lin Zisu." A voice came from the darkness.

Only then did Zhang Kai let out a breath, panting, and said softly: "You almost scared me to death, I thought I hit the mummy that got up again."

"I'm sorry." In the darkness, Lin Zisu grabbed his open hand, then took him a few steps forward, turned another corner, and finally reached the entrance of the small building, where some scattered light came in , illuminating the blurred faces of Lin Zisu and Zhang Kai.

Zhang Kai still touched his heart with his hand with lingering fear, looked at Lin Zisu's face and said, "It's midnight, why are you here?"

"Oh, when I got home, I found that I didn't have the key with me. I must have forgotten it in the office, so I went back to the office to get the key, otherwise I won't have a place to sleep tonight." Lin Zisu said in a low voice.

"Then why didn't you come back earlier? It's already past 12 o'clock." Zhang Kai was a little suspicious.

"Well, I didn't go home directly after get off work. I drank a few drinks outside. It was late, but I couldn't open the door when I got home. I'm really sorry, it was so late, I surprised you."

"En." Zhang Kai nodded, he looked at Lin Zisu's tall figure, and he was carrying a big black leather bag in his hand. God knows what was in it, it looked pale and pale under the sparse light at the door. It seemed to come from another world, and he felt a little scared when he looked at it.

Lin Zisu suddenly asked him, "Open, why are you here?"

"It's hard to explain. Director Wen is still sitting in the room where Jiang He's accident happened. He is planning to spend the night there."

"Director Wen is also in that room?" Lin Zisu was a little scared.

"Yes, we are conducting experiments." Zhang Kai said in a low voice.

"test?"

Zhang Kai whispered mysteriously, "It's a death test."

"Death test? Zhang Kai, are you so bold?" There was a trace of contempt in Lin Zisu's words.

Zhang Kai ignored it, maybe he was used to it, he said softly: "I want to test whether there will be a death incident in the room where Jiang He's accident occurred between 11:12 and [-]:[-] in the evening."

"Experiment with your own life?"

"No way, Director Wen forced me to stay, otherwise I wouldn't dare to stay in that room for a minute, but it's past 1 o'clock now, so it should be fine. But, for some reason , I still have an ominous sign in my heart, Lin Zisu, let me ask you a question, do you believe in curses?"

Lin Zisu walked outside to the edge of the bushes, the moonlight shone on his face, he said softly: "I only believe in myself."

Zhang Kai shook his head and said, "I wish I were as confident as you. Have you got the key yet?"

Lin Zisu waved a bunch of keys in front of him and said, "Let's go."

Zhang Kai walked out of this small building, followed behind Lin Zisu, he touched his chest and his heart still beat, he was glad that he was still alive.In the path among the trees, Zhang Kai managed to see the moon in the sky, the color of the moon was so bleak.They walked out of the gate of the Institute, and closed the door behind them.Zhang Kai rode on his moped, and said to Lin Zisu in a hoarse voice, "I'm going first, goodbye."

He started the car, and then drove away at a fast speed. On this deadly quiet road, a long series of moped sounds slowly echoed.Lin Zisu watched him go away, the corner of his mouth was full of contempt.Then he turned his head to look at the small building in the gate of the Archaeological Institute, his eyes were piercing like some nocturnal animal.

As the wind of late autumn hit, Lin Zisu left here slowly carrying his black leather bag.

(End of this chapter)