Psych Hunter (Haunted House Notebook) : Book 1

Chapter 39 - Chou Shu

Qin Yi Heng smoked another cigarette as he lets me digest his words. I was silent for quite some time. I analyzed his words in my mind, and tried to understand what he was saying. However, I have too many doubts and still couldn't understand it no matter how much I tried, and it made me even more confused. I then walked around a bit to freshen my mind. I suddenly saw some kind of writing on the wall, and tried to rub it with my hand to get a better look of it. Surprisingly, there were really some numbers written on the wall with a marker. I do not have much affinity with numbers, but looking at the numbers carefully, I didn't notice any special patterns in the numbers, and those numbers do not look as if it contained some plan. I have some misgivings regarding them, and after tilting my head to think a bit, I begin to think there is something wrong with these numbers.

I then asked Qin Yi Heng, "What do you think about these numbers?"

When he heard my question, he also stood up to examine it and said, "I did take note of these numbers earlier in a rush, but as there was not much time, I merely thought that this was something left by the person earlier."

As he didn't seem interested in them, I stopped bringing it up and merely sat down to wait until dawn comes. I saw that it was 4 am in the morning, and before long, the sky started to lighten up. I started to feel quite exhausted. I was rather sleepy earlier, but after thinking about it for some time, I think I might know what that numbers in the wall might signify. I immediately become energetic after this realization. The numbers in the wall is not some kind of record, but a record of time.

I stood up to properly examine the numbers, and the more I examined, the surer I was that my guess is indeed correct. Even though I might not be able to factor all of the numbers into my assumption, but a part of these numbers are definitely meant to signify the time. In daily life, we often record time by adding colons to it, but the numbers of the wall is written in a more compact way; there were no colons, so people are not able to decipher them easily.

I then communicated my theory to Qin Yi Heng, and he immediately nodded his head in agreement.

At this moment, even though the numbers might be somewhat of a breakthrough, but I realized that only a portion of these numbers are meant to signify the time. Under these current circumstances, I don't feel like analyzing them further, and merely wanted to find my phone and record these numbers and analyze them again once we are safe. When I recorded half of this numbers, I suddenly heard Qin Yi Heng's exclamation. When I turned my head to look at him, I saw that he apparently had discovered something. I was immediately terrified as I recalled the man outside the window earlier and neglected whatever I was currently doing. I quickly turned on my flashlight to see what was there from the windows, but there was nothing. Upon a closer look, I saw that Qin Yi Heng was directing his flashlight on a corner.

The room is not large, but I still couldn't see what he was focusing on clearly. When we entered earlier, I couldn't recall whether that object was there before. But, when I came to this room the first time, I made sure that the room was empty. Could it be that someone has entered this room after we left, is it Yuan Zhen?

I tried to ask Qin Yi Heng but he merely ignored me and walked towards the object carefully. He looked nervous, and I followed him from behind with a flashlight. After walking two or three steps, I noticed there was something like the pot we found in the village chief's house.

I asked Qin Yi Heng, "Why is this thing here?"

He merely shook his head in reply, and he went to inspect the object carefully, before shouting, "Damn, it's Chou Shu!"

I was surprised by his shout. Even though I don't know anything about spiritual arts, I had become more interested in it after traveling with him for so long. I had heard him talk about this Jiu Shu before, and I immediately grew afraid when I heard it.