Mermaid By the Shore Chapter 8

On a certain day in May 1994, the weather was unclear.

Is a diary without a date still a diary?

This question seems funny. For me, who is trapped underground, I am not thinking about how to escape, but whether my diary conforms to the rules.

This also means that I am not so panicked.

Indeed, when I first tried to find another exit from Mana, I was still confused. I don't know how long I walked and how many turns I made before I gradually came to my senses. A more terrifying thought clearly appeared in my mind - I was lost.

The darkness blocked the light and seemed to exclude the remaining rationality. I thought there was another upward passage not far away. However, the darkness only led me to deeper darkness.

I was going crazy. I could only grope my way forward along the wet and slippery walls, scrambling around like a blind mouse. Finally, I couldn't walk any more and had to sit down in a pipe.

I must admit that I had lost the way back. The damn sewers were as complicated as a spider web. Besides, in the dark, I had no chance to mark my way.

I want to go home. I want to leave here. Even if my parents beat me up, even if I can't go to school tomorrow, I still want to go home.

I finally burst into tears, the kind that tore my heart apart. This consumed the last bit of my strength. I don't know how long I cried, but I fell asleep.

I had a dream.
 
I was at home, sleeping on that hard wooden bed. The foot of the bed was propped up with bricks, and I was holding my younger brother in my arms. He was still the same as when he was a child. Chubby, small, with long eyelashes and a round face. To be honest, I still liked him back then. Especially at night, when I held him to sleep, touching his chubby arms and smelling his milky scent, I would soon fall into a sweet dream.

But this little guy always gets into trouble. He is four or five years old and still wets the bed. I felt cold and wet under me again. I got up in a daze, and my nose was full of unpleasant smell. I slapped his little B*tt and pulled him off the bed. Of course he was not happy. After struggling for a few times, he burst into tears.

My parents were quickly awakened and ran into our room. My mother yelled again, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

The younger brother cried aggrievedly: "My sister hit me!"

I was both sleepy and angry: "He wet the bed again."

My brother rubbed his eyes with one hand and pointed at me with the other: "It's not me, it's my sister."

My mother looked at me and immediately hit me on the shoulder: "How old are you? Why are you still wetting the bed?"

I stared, "How is this possible?"

"Look at your pants!" Mom said with a look of disgust, "And you're accusing your brother!"

I lowered my head and was surprised to find that my pants were soaked, with a fishy-smelling liquid dripping from the crotch of my pants, which gathered and spread around my feet.

My head buzzed. I looked up, looked at my stern-faced mother and serious father, and yelled, "It really wasn't me!"

They didn't respond, just stared at me motionlessly. I got anxious and went forward to pull them out, but I stepped on the disgusting liquid, slipped, and fell.

Then, everything in sight disappeared.

I was still in the dark, several meters underground. The only difference was that half of my body was in the cold water. I didn't know where the water came from, but judging by the unpleasant smell, it must be extremely dirty. I stood up quickly and found that most of my legs were submerged. The water was flowing fast, and I had to hold on to the wall of the pipe with my hands to barely stand.

I was completely awake. Mom and Dad would definitely come to find me. But I might drown here before they find me!

I stood up in a hurry and walked in the direction of the water flow. After walking a dozen steps, I turned back and walked upstream with all my strength.

If it's raining heavily outside, the source of the water in the pipe may be the outlet.

The water was strong, and I had to exert a lot of effort to take each step against the current. In the darkness, I couldn't tell the direction, so I could only hold on to the pipe wall with my hands and grit my teeth to move forward. In the cold sewage, countless debris swept over my body. Several times, I touched mice that had fallen into the water, accompanied by squeaking sounds.

I was shocked and scared. What worried me even more was that the further I went, the higher the water level became, almost rising above my belly. When I was hesitating whether to continue to go up, my hand holding the pipe wall suddenly fell empty. A stronger stream of water rushed in from the left, and I lost my balance and fell into the sewage.

I suddenly realized that I had reached the junction of two pipes. However, before I could think, the sewage had already poured into my mouth. I struggled to get up, but I couldn't find any place to support myself with my hands. The mud under my feet was extremely slippery and I couldn't stand at all. I could only wave my arms in vain and was washed downstream by the flood.

This is what it means to be helpless. I tried my best to keep my head above the water, and I was breathing while choking on water. I tried to stand again and again, but was knocked around by the rushing sewage again and again. Soon, I had no strength left. A clear thought came to my mind: I am going to die. The end of the water is probably the end of me. I don’t know how long I will have to float in the water. However, I know very well that I can no longer keep my head above the water. I am panicked and afraid of the impending death, but I also have a little expectation - I really can’t hold on any longer, let it all end.

Suddenly, the water level dropped, and my body fell with it. After several collisions, I fell heavily on the solid ground. The buoyancy of the water suddenly disappeared, and my body's instincts were awakened. I found myself lying on my side in the water, and the roar of the falling water was in my ears. I reached out my hand and fumbled around. In addition to feeling the water rushing down from top to bottom, I also touched something like a step.

I coughed for a while, gradually came to my senses, and tried my best to move to a place a little further away from the steps. Although it was still dark in front of me and there was still water under me, the water was not deeper than my calves. Judging from the increasingly loud echoes, I seemed to be in a wider pipe.

I stood up tremblingly, stretched out my hand, and groped towards the vertical direction of the water flow. Sure enough, after a few steps, I touched the pipe wall. I leaned against the pipe wall and slid down. My life was temporarily safe, and I felt much more at ease. After sitting in the sewage to rest for a while, I cheered up and walked deeper into the pipe.

There will be an exit upstream - this is all I believe. It is still pitch black in front of me, and all I can rely on is the pipe wall and two legs that are so tired that they are almost numb.

Go, go.

I had no choice but to move forward. The numbness from the cold and fatigue gradually spread from my legs to my whole body. Slowly, my brain stopped working. When my hand passed over an iron gate, I took a few more steps before I reacted.

I hesitated for a moment, stepped back, and touched the iron door again. Yes, it was iron and round. Soon, I touched something like a steering wheel. I remembered it was called a sealing valve or something. I held it, took a few breaths, and turned it hard. The iron door made an unpleasant creaking sound. I tried to push it inward, but the door didn't move at all. I pulled the iron door outward again - the door opened, and then a stream of air rushed towards me.

My spirits lifted. It seemed that I didn't have to worry about suffocation for the time being. I took a deep breath and rushed into the iron gate impatiently. Unexpectedly, after taking a few steps, I missed a step and fell down.
 
When I fell, I thought I was falling into an abyss, but my shoulder hit the hard ground and then I rolled down something like a staircase.

In the blink of an eye, I fell sideways on the cold ground, with excruciating pain in my back, ribs, elbows, and face. I was dizzy from the fall. However, I soon realized that the ground where my cheek was touching was dry. I quickly knelt up and reached out to feel around. An even bigger surprise occurred. I touched something that looked like a mattress!

I threw myself over and lay on the mattress, stretching my limbs as hard as I could. Although the smell of this mattress was disgusting, it was very comfortable for me after soaking in water for a long time.

I moved my hand along the mattress, feeling the tattered cloth and the hardened cotton. Suddenly, my hand touched a small plastic thing.

I was stunned for a moment, and then my heart started beating wildly. Although it was unbelievable, I was sure it was a lighter.

I held the lighter in my hand, calmed myself, and turned the wheel.

A small flame shot out, swaying with warm light. I closed my eyes. The sudden light stung my eyes. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Then, I started crying.

Gu Hao leaned out from behind the low wall at the school gate and saw Tai Wei jumping down the steps of the teaching building and walking towards him quickly. He quickly threw down the cigarette B*tt in his hand and waved at him. As soon as Tai Wei got out of the iron gate, Gu Hao asked, "How is it?"

"Not so good." Tai Wei curled his lips. "I contacted the Academic Affairs Office and they said that there are no transfers recently. There are 1,214 students in the entire school, including the high school and junior high school departments, not one is missing."

Gu Hao was silent for a while, smacked his lips and said, "Then..."

"Your last name is Su, right? This surname is quite rare. There are four in the whole school, one in the high school and three in the junior high school." Tai Wei shook his head. "I checked the student registration forms one by one. The one in the high school is a boy."

Gu Hao hummed, stopped talking, took out another cigarette and smoked it silently.

"Dad Gu, maybe you remembered it wrongly and it's not from this school?" Tai Wei looked at his face, "The situation at No. 4 Middle School doesn't match up."

"No. That child is wearing the same uniform as here." Gu Hao frowned, "Also, I've seen her school badge, it's from No. 4 Middle School."

"Speaking of school badges," Tai Wei sighed, "I thought there would be some discoveries, but the school is not short of anyone."

"You are just too oversensitive." Gu Hao snorted, "It's normal for young boys to lose their school badges and have them washed down the drain."

"That's right." Tai Wei was a little dejected, "My master said the same thing."

"You go and do your work first." Gu Hao waved his hand, "I'm going home."

Tai Wei saw that he looked unhappy and said, "Don't think too much about it. Just go back and do what you need to do. We are not related to each other, so it's not worth it."

"There must be something fishy going on when things are out of the ordinary." Gu Hao seemed not to have heard him. "No one is telling the truth. There must be something fishy going on."

"How about I go to the Education Bureau and ask when I have time?" Tai Wei thought for a moment, "At least I can find out which school this little girl surnamed Su is in."

"No need." Gu Hao turned and looked towards the campus, "She must be here."

On the second floor of the teaching building, Jiang Ting sat by the window, staring blankly at the two men talking at the school gate. She recognized the older man and knew what they were talking about.

The geometry teacher at the podium suddenly raised his voice and tapped the blackboard heavily with his eraser.

"Don't be distracted!"

Jiang Ting turned around and happened to meet the geometry teacher's dissatisfied look. She avoided him in panic, but her eyes were cast on the compass on the table.

The sun was shining, the temperature was rising, and the air was getting dry. The road was dusty and no longer looked like it had been washed by heavy rain.

The Beijing Jeep drove onto Fengshou Street, turned left at Xiaonan Road, and after driving a few dozen meters, the speed dropped suddenly, and finally it slowly stopped by the roadside.

Tai Wei jumped out of the car, looked around, and walked along Xiaonan Road towards the street corner.

It was around ten in the morning, and there were few people on the road. The poplar trees planted along the road were already lush and leafy, rustling in the breeze.

Tai Wei walked slowly, his eyes fixed on the ground, as if looking for any suspicious traces - even though he knew it was impossible.

When he reached the intersection of Fengshou Street and Xiaonan Road, he stopped and looked around aimlessly. There were many more people and cars here than on Xiaonan Road. Everyone was moving slowly and calmly. No one paid attention to the young man standing at the intersection, and no one knew what had happened on this street.

Tai Wei cast his gaze towards the surrounding buildings, his eyes blank. Master was right, if there really were a pair of eyes in heaven that were always wide open, all sins would be exposed.

He looked down at the ground again. There was a manhole cover on the side of the road, covered in dust and ordinary. He walked over, squatted beside the manhole cover, tried to put his fingers into the drain hole, and then pulled it up. However, the heavy iron thing did not move at all. He stood up, felt around, and walked towards the wall.

A ragged homeless man was leaning against the wall in the sun, scratching his body lazily and looking at the lice he caught in his hand.

Seeing Tai Wei walking towards him, he sat up straight nervously, his eyes hidden by his messy and tangled hair staring vigilantly at the tall young man, and his hand reached for an iron hook beside him.

Tai Wei looked at the stained iron hook, hesitated for a moment, waved his hand, picked up a branch from the wall, and returned to the manhole cover. He inserted the branch into the drainage hole, found the right angle, and pulled it up. With a creaking sound, the manhole cover was pulled away from its original position, and the well mouth with a diameter of about half a meter was exposed.

He bent down, covered his mouth and nose, and looked into the well.

The old dirt on the wall of the well had hardened into a block, and the smell was disgusting. Even now that there was enough light, the bottom of the well was only vaguely visible. The sewage, which was churning with all kinds of debris, flowed and gathered in an unknown place, and then drained into the rivers and ditches around the city.
 
Tai Wei gritted his teeth, put the manhole cover back in place, and threw the branch aside.

Even just a few hours in a sewer would be unbearable.

More than ten days ago, Sun Hui disappeared here.

He held the iron door and quietly looked at the girl lying on the mattress. She curled up and didn't move. If he hadn't noticed her slightly heaving shoulders and the occasional groaning, he would have almost thought she was dead.

He used the candle in his hand to look around. Apart from the presence of one more person, there was not much change in the "room". However, the candle in the beer bottle he used as a "candlestick" had burned out, the remaining two steamed buns and one piece of bread had been eaten, and half a bottle of tap water had been drunk up.

He picked up the candlestick, looked at it carefully, inserted the candle in his hand into the bottle, and placed it next to the girl.

In this dark underground, the small candlelight was bright enough. In the sudden strong light, the girl's breathing became more rapid, her eyes slightly opened, and her eyeballs moved lazily a few times. She seemed to want to speak, or to get up. However, she just moved her fingers and closed her eyes again.

The girl looked about 16 or 17 years old, wearing a sportswear that was so dirty that the color could not be seen. Her hair was half wet and half dry, sticking to her equally dirty face.

He sat down beside the girl, looked at her for a while, and noticed a schoolbag next to her body. He picked up the bag and turned it over - the contents fell onto the mattress with a crackling sound.

Textbooks. Workbooks. A pair of white sneakers with blue spots all over them. A hardcover notebook.

He picked up the hardcover book and flipped through it casually. There were still water stains on the edges of the pages, and the handwriting was dense. He quickly lost interest, threw it away, and turned his eyes to the sleeping girl again.

The girl's hair covered most of her face, but even though it was stained, her fair and delicate face could still be seen. He hesitated for a moment, stretched out his fingers, and touched the girl's face.

The girl twitched, as if she instinctively wanted to dodge - a burning sensation came from his fingertips.

She has a fever.

He stood up and stared down at her.

Facing a girl who was completely powerless and could only murmur unconsciously, he seemed to be able to do something, but he didn't want to at all.

He stood there for a while, pulled out the candle from the "candlestick", and walked towards the iron gate.

As the sealing valve made a harsh squeak, the small "room" fell into darkness again.