Shen Zhuo loves to play pranks and calls himself the "king of pranks". This is almost a well-known fact in Jinghua University. Under Shen Zhuo's strong advocacy and influence, the six roommates in the same dormitory are also deeply influenced and are gradually surpassing him. A few days before the summer vacation of this year, Shen Zhuo was eager to play pranks again and came up with a good idea to play pranks on others.
The target of the prank this time is one of Shen Zhuo's six roommates, named Zheng Qiang. According to Shen Zhuo's plan, Shen Zhuo and three other roommates (Liu Jun, Yan Ri and Song Tianyu) will first get Zheng Qiang drunk with beer, and then put Zheng Qiang into a large box prepared in advance. The box will be buried in the soil and will be dug out at the appropriate time. Of course, for safety reasons, the box will be buried shallowly after being locked, and there will also be a ventilation tube connected to the outside world to ensure that the person in the box will not die from lack of oxygen.
At first, the plan went smoothly. Zheng Qiang was drunk and buried in a small forest west of the school. After Shen Zhuo and the other four returned to school, they called the other two roommates in the same dormitory and told them that Zheng Qiang was missing and asked them to come back and help find him.
The other two roommates, Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao, were playing games in the Internet cafe, so although they agreed, they did not take action. Shen Zhuo and the other three roommates waited in the dormitory for more than an hour, but Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao still did not come back. When they called again, Zhao Cheng said that they had booked a night in the Internet cafe and would talk about finding Zheng Qiang tomorrow.
Shen Zhuo, Liu Jun, Yan Ri, and Song Tianbao looked at each other in bewilderment. It was such a good prank game, but suddenly there was no audience. Isn't it frustrating? In the end, Yan Ri was timid and said that it would be better to release Zheng Qiang first. If something unexpected happened, and Zheng Qiang was killed by accident, everyone would be in trouble. Shen Zhuo, Liu Jun, and Song Tianyu thought about it and felt that it made sense. If the time was delayed too long, who knew what would happen.
Therefore, Shen Zhuo and the other three immediately went to the grove outside the school. The moonlight was bright that night, and Song Tianyu had sharp eyes. He saw from a distance that the ventilation pipe where Zheng Qiang was buried seemed to be missing, and he immediately shouted loudly.
Shen Zhuo and the others were all shocked by Song Tianyu's shouting. They ran over and saw that the ventilation tube was indeed gone! Everyone was stunned for a moment, but Shen Zhuo was the first to react and picked up a shovel to dig the soil. Liu Jun and the other three also came to their senses and hurried forward to help.
The four of them dug frantically for a long time, digging left and right, but they couldn't find the big box that contained Zheng Qiang. They clearly remembered that the box was buried one or two feet underground, and it was covered with loose soil. It should be easy to find! Just when they were panicking and at a loss, Shen Zhuo's cell phone suddenly rang. (Ghost House: Please keep it if you reprint it!)
The call was from Zhao Cheng. Shen Zhuo pressed the answer button and said "Hello" weakly, and then he heard Zhao Cheng's smug laugh. Shen Zhuo was startled, and a light bulb suddenly flashed in his brain. He asked Zhao loudly if he knew the whereabouts of Zheng Qiang. Zhao Cheng laughed and said that Zheng Qiang was still buried underground, but he and Gao Tianbao moved the burial place and asked Shen Zhuo and others to find it themselves. It turned out that Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao had overheard Shen Zhuo's prank plan a long time ago, and they simply played along tonight. However, after the shock just now, Shen Zhuo and others were no longer in the mood, and they all said that the prank would end here.
Zhao Cheng was so excited that he said they had spent so much effort to move Zheng Qiang to a remote place, but they didn't expect that they would stop playing halfway. They were going to take a motorcycle to dig Zheng Qiang out, but they had to pay Shen Zhuo for the car fare and supper. Shen Zhuo agreed and said that he was the king of pranks, but he didn't expect that he would be tricked by them this time. He would get back on his feet sooner or later.
Shen Zhuo, Liu Jun and the other four returned to the dormitory and waited for Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao, but they never came back. No one answered Zhao Cheng's phone. Shen Zhuo was a little worried, but then he thought that Zhao Cheng and the other two were probably deliberately making him worry. They were probably staying up all night in the Internet cafe. After thinking this through, Shen Zhuo's heart fell back into his stomach, and he climbed onto the bed and fell asleep. He slept soundly until a phone call woke him up in the early morning.
Shen Zhuo wiped his eyes and saw an unfamiliar number on the phone screen. Shen Zhuo picked up the phone and a strange man's voice came from the phone: "Hello, are you Shen Zhuo?" The strange man's tone was polite, but it didn't seem friendly. "Yes, who are you?" Shen Zhuo said. "I'm from the Municipal Traffic Police Brigade. Are Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao your friends?" the strange man continued to ask.
When Shen Zhuo heard that the other party was actually a policeman, the sleepiness that was still in his mind disappeared instantly. He thought for a while and said, "They are my classmates and roommates who live in the same dormitory. May I ask… did anything happen to them?" When Shen Zhuo said this, he had a bad premonition in his heart, and this premonition was soon confirmed.
The police said, "It's like this. Your classmates Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao were riding a motorcycle on Guangming East Road at about 12:30 last night. The motorcycle got into a car accident on some unknown reason. The motorcycle got stuck under a Dongfeng truck. Three people, including the motorcycle driver, died on the spot. We checked Zhao Cheng's cell phone and found that his last call was to you. We want to know from you, do you know what Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao were doing on Guangming East Road in the middle of the night?"
Shen Zhuo naturally knew that Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao went to Guangming East Road to dig up Zheng Qiang, but could he tell the truth now? If the police knew that he had buried a living person in the ground and now couldn't find the burial site, how serious would the consequences be for him? It was not known whether he would be shot or not, but at least he would have to go to jail, right?
Shen Zhuo thought about it and finally said hesitantly: "Oh, this… I'm not sure. He called me… to ask me and a few of my roommates to go out for a midnight snack, but we felt it was too late so we didn't go…"
After finally dealing with the police, Shen Zhuo realized that he was sweating all over, and the sweat on his back was flowing down, as if there were several soft-bodied animals crawling slowly. At this time, Yan Ri, Liu Jun, and Song Tianyu, who were in the same dormitory, also woke up one after another. When Shen Zhuo told them the details of the situation, they were also shocked.
After a while, Shen Zhuo looked at Yan Ri, Liu Jun and Song Tianyu opposite him and said in a deep voice: "We are all in the same boat now. It would be good if we can find Zheng Qiang in a short time. Otherwise, it will be meaningless even if we find his body. We will not escape jail in the end! I think none of us wants to go to jail, right? If you don't want to go to jail, then – listen to me, we don't know anything about this matter. We don't know what Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao did when they went out, and we don't know about Zheng Qiang's disappearance. We don't know anything about everything, and it has nothing to do with us, understand?" Liu Jun and the other three didn't seem to expect Shen Zhuo to say this, and they all showed surprised expressions on their faces. Then they looked at each other and nodded hesitantly.
In this way, Shen Zhuo and the other four agreed on a common story and formed an offensive and defensive alliance. In the following days, Shen Zhuo was always on edge during the day, fearing that others would ask about Zheng Qiang's situation, and even more afraid that the police would come to him. At night, he had nightmares, and he always dreamed of Zheng Qiang begging, cursing, and struggling in the box that was not exposed to the sun.
Fortunately, summer vacation came soon, and Shen Zhuo fled back home. Shen Zhuo rested at home for two days. Just when he began to calm down, Yan Ri suddenly came to see him. Yan Ri's home was in another city, hundreds of kilometers away from Shen Zhuo's home. They rarely visited each other during the holidays. This time, Yan Ri's arrival made Shen Zhuo have another ominous premonition. Sure enough, Yan Ri did not bring good news.
Yan Ri told Shen Zhuo with a pale face that Liu Jun was missing, and then he took out his mobile phone tremblingly to show Shen Zhuo. There was a message received at 12 o'clock last night: I'm coming to find you! And the sender of the message was Zheng Qiang. Shen Zhuo's heart suddenly shrank, and a chill instantly spread throughout his limbs and bones, reaching his internal organs.
Shen Zhuo calmed himself down and said with a strong smile: "Maybe Zheng Qiang is not dead at all, he is taking revenge… he is joking with us! Or maybe someone took Zheng Qiang's phone card and is testing us." Shen Zhuo's words made sense, but Yan Ri shook his head and said firmly: "Impossible!" He paused and said, "Everyone who received the text message has something dirty under the bed. Your phone has not been turned on these days, so you didn't receive the text message. Go and see if there is anything dirty under your bed?"
Shen Zhuo's heart trembled, he ran to the bed and squatted down to look inside, and suddenly saw a small pile of black and wet soil piled on the floor tiles under his bed. Shen Zhuo clearly remembered that when he mopped the floor last night, there was no such thing under the bed, and from last night until now, no one else had entered his room.
"Now you believe it, right? These things were found under the bed of me, Liu Jun, and Song Tianyu." Yan Ri said with a strange look on his face, and took out a amulet from his pocket and handed it to Shen Zhuo, "I got this from the temple. It is said that it was made by an eminent monk. I hope it can protect us from this disaster! Well, I'm leaving now, and you should be careful too." Shen Zhuo was so moved that he almost shed tears. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed. He really didn't expect that Yan Ri would travel hundreds of kilometers to bring him the amulet. Thinking back then, he had played a lot of tricks on Yan Ri!
After Yan Ri left, although Shen Zhuo carefully put the amulet in his underwear pocket, he was still terribly scared. And a call from Song Tianyu in the evening made Shen Zhuo's heart sink to the bottom.
"Shen Zhuo, did Yanri go to your place?" Song Tianyu's voice sounded dry and weird on the phone, as if there was a hint of crying in it.
"He came this morning, but left after a short while. What happened?" Shen Zhuo tried to calm himself, even though he had a bad feeling again. "Yan Ri…didn't come back. He disappeared just like Liu Jun…" Song Tianyu said intermittently.
Shen Zhuo was already very scared, but he didn't expect that he was nothing compared to Song Tianyu. He actually heard Song Tianyu shivering and teeth chattering on the phone. He even wondered if Song Tianyu had wet his pants. Shen Zhuo was about to comfort him, but suddenly heard Song Tianyu scream "Ah", followed by incoherent shouting: "He…they came to find me…" The words stopped here and the call was disconnected. (Ghost House: Please keep the reprint!)
Shen Zhuo froze, his brain was blank as if it had been hit hard, and his ears were buzzing, as if there was a little bee trapped in them. After a long time, he finally came to his senses and called Song Tianyu's cell phone again, but no one answered. Shen Zhuo's mind slowly emerged with the following picture: a pair of big, skinny hands with long nails stretched out silently from the soil and suddenly grabbed Song Tianyu's ankle. He was terrified and struggled hysterically, but was finally dragged into the endless dark abyss underground…
However, Song Tianyu said "they" instead of "he". Who else could it be besides Zheng Qiang? When Shen Zhuo was thinking about this question, there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Shen Zhuo turned around and shouted at the door. It was quiet outside, and no one answered. After a while, there was another knock outside. Shen Zhuo felt his scalp tingling, and walked over to look out through the peephole, but the corridor was dark and he could not see anything. But suddenly there was a "bang", and the voice-controlled light in the corridor came on, and Shen Zhuo saw Zheng Qiang's face all at once! Zheng Qiang's face, hair, and neck were all covered with mud, and he stood outside the door with a wooden expression. Next to Zheng Qiang stood Zhao Cheng and Gao Tianbao, with blood on their heads!
In an instant, Shen Zhuo seemed to hear a "bang" sound. His nerves, which had been repeatedly hit and were becoming increasingly fragile, could no longer withstand such a strong impact and suddenly broke! Then, Shen Zhuo fell straight down!
The next day, in a hotel room in the city where Shen Zhuo lived, six young men were sitting worriedly. They were Shen Zhuo's six roommates. After a long while, Zheng Qiang finally said, "Everyone, remember, we know nothing about Shen Zhuo. If this gets out, none of us will be able to escape!" "If I had known, I wouldn't have scared him like that. Who knew this kid had a heart disease!" Yan Ri said.
"It's all Zheng Qiang's fault. It would have been great if we could have followed the original plan and let my cousin pretend to be a policeman and lie to him that Tianbao and I died in a car accident. Then we would have crawled out from under the bed together to scare him. Why did we have to chase him to his house to scare him? Now look what we did. Someone has died as a result of the prank!" Song Tianyu felt very guilty about Shen Zhuo's death.
Liu Jun said, "But you also heard what he said that day. He didn't care about Zheng Qiang's life or death. He has a bad temper, so everyone said that they should punish him. You agreed at that time, right?"
Then, Gao Tianbao and Zhao Cheng also said a few words, some regretful, some sad, but they were all irrelevant.
Finally, Zheng Qiang said, "The person is dead, what's the point of blaming each other? If this matter is exposed, we will all be finished!" He paused and said, "Now we are grasshoppers on a rope, tied together for life and death. For the sake of future life, everyone should keep their mouths shut and keep this matter to themselves! Damn it, if you want to blame someone, blame that kid for leading us astray. Did we know what 'prank' was back then? Who among us hasn't been played a trick by him?"
—All the wonderful ghost stories are in the Ghost House: guiguaiwu.com—
This story is set against the backdrop of a common prank game on campus. Through a series of unexpected and unfortunate events, it shows the serious consequences that may occur when the game gets out of control. Although the behavior of Shen Zhuo and his roommates was just for fun and jokes at first, as the events unfolded, it gradually evolved into an unforeseen tragedy. The suspense and thriller elements in the story, as well as the profound revelation of human nature, make people feel nervous and uneasy during the reading process. In the end, when Shen Zhuo collapsed due to excessive fear, the story reached its climax, and it also made people reflect that entertainment and jokes should be moderate, and excessive pranks may hurt others and even cause irreparable consequences. The whole story has a compact structure and ups and downs in the plot. It is a thought-provoking horror novel.