The Cursed Café: The Secret of the Black Bean Powder

The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the campus quad. The air was filled with the scent of blooming flowers and the distant hum of students chatting and laughing. Yet, at the heart of the campus, the atmosphere was distinctly different. The Cursed Café, nestled between two towering oaks, was a place shrouded in legend and whispered about in hushed tones.

It was a small establishment, with a menu as varied as it was cryptic. There were no prices listed, and the beans used in their famous black bean powder were a closely guarded secret. Students who dared to venture inside spoke of strange occurrences and an eerie sense of being watched.

One such student was Li Wei, a senior who had always been fascinated by the legends surrounding the café. One day, as he sat in the library, flipping through an old campus yearbook, he stumbled upon a photograph of a group of students, one of whom held a mysterious, ornate box.

Li’s curiosity was piqued. He knew that the box was said to be the source of the black bean powder, and that it was said to contain a curse. According to legend, the person who opened the box would be haunted by the spirits of the students who had once worked at the café, driven to madness and despair.

Determined to uncover the truth, Li sought out his friends, Xiao Mei and Zhi Qiang, both of whom had their own reasons for wanting to solve the mystery. Xiao Mei, a history buff, believed that the café was the last resting place of a forgotten hero, while Zhi Qiang, a physics student, saw it as a challenge to unravel the scientific properties of the black bean powder.

The trio decided to investigate the café one evening, when the students had all left for the day. As they approached, the door creaked open, and a cold wind seemed to sweep through the room. The air was thick with the scent of roasted beans, and the walls were adorned with faded photographs of students from years past.

They made their way to the back of the café, where they found the ornate box hidden behind a stack of old chairs. Xiao Mei reached out to touch it, but Zhi Qiang pulled her back.

“Wait,” he said, his eyes wide. “We need to be sure.”

They spent the next hour analyzing the box, using every tool at their disposal. Zhi Qiang took measurements, Xiao Mei searched for clues in the photographs, and Li Wei watched, his heart pounding with anticipation.

Finally, Xiao Mei found a small, almost invisible symbol on the bottom of the box. It was a key, and it fit perfectly into a lock on the side. With a deep breath, Xiao Mei turned the key, and the box clicked open.

Inside was a small, ornate scroll, written in an ancient script. Li Wei took it out and began to translate it. The scroll spoke of a great sacrifice made by the students of the past, who had used their own lives to protect the campus from an ancient evil.

As Li read the final lines, the room seemed to spin around them. They heard a faint whisper, as if from a distant place, and felt a cold draft sweep through the café. The walls began to glow, revealing hidden symbols and inscriptions that told the story of the students who had given their lives.

Suddenly, the floor beneath them trembled, and the walls started to crumble. The trio knew they had to leave, but they couldn’t just run away. They had to understand the full extent of the curse and find a way to break it.

They made their way back to the library, where they spent hours researching the history of the campus and the legend of the black bean powder. They discovered that the students who had created the powder had not only protected the campus but had also sealed the evil away within the café itself.

To break the curse, they needed to perform a ritual that would open a portal to the other world, allowing the spirits of the students to be at peace. The ritual required a rare, ancient artifact, which they believed to be hidden somewhere on campus.

Their search led them to an old, abandoned building on the edge of the campus. Inside, they found the artifact, a crystal globe that glowed with a soft, otherworldly light. As they held it, they felt a connection to the spirits of the past, and they knew they were on the right track.

With the ritual completed, the portal opened, and the spirits of the students emerged, thanking the trio for their efforts. The café began to glow, and the symbols on the walls began to fade. The curse was broken, and the Cursed Café was no longer a place of dread but a place of remembrance.

Li Wei, Xiao Mei, and Zhi Qiang returned to the café, where they found it transformed. The walls were no longer faded and the air no longer cold. Instead, the café was a warm, inviting place, filled with the laughter of students enjoying their meals.

The trio knew that the legend of the Cursed Café would continue to be told, but they also knew that the truth was more important than the myth. They had uncovered a hidden truth that had been hidden for generations, and they had set the campus free from the curse.

And so, the Cursed Café remained a place of mystery, but now it was a place of hope and peace, where students could gather and remember the sacrifices made for their campus.