Chapter Sixteen: Something Big Happened

  What did I just see!

  I saw a bus parked outside the small wooden house, and...

  That bus is the No. 64 bus I saw before!

  What's even more chilling is that this bus was packed with people who looked like zombies!

  They were all men, covered in blood and flesh. Some of them were even more terrifying, missing arms or legs, and a few didn't even have heads!!!

  I had only taken a rough glance at the zombies in this car when I saw them on Ghost Road, and since the car was moving forward, I didn't get a good look. Now, however, this car is truly and utterly still parked outside the small wooden house, and everything inside the car is crystal clear to me. Even...

  I could even hear their mournful wails and screams coming from inside the car...

  I don't know how Zhao Yang was able to drive the No. 64 bus here, but at this moment I have to admit that I'm scared, in all my years, I've never seen a scene so frightening, so bloody, and so chilling.

  Just as I was completely stunned, Zhao Yang got on the bus as if nothing had happened, and took all these zombies away with him...

  I can't believe what I'm seeing, this is too absurd and unbelievable. I hope what I saw earlier was just an illusion, I keep telling myself that it's not real, this really isn't real.

  Standing foolishly in front of the wooden house, I kept checking the time on my phone. I anxiously waited for 4 am to arrive, I had to leave here, temporarily leaving here to calm my fear...

  When the time finally arrived at 4 am, I rushed out of the wooden house like a bird in flight, then locked the door in a flurry, and immediately sprinted towards my home.

  But I may have been really scared, because it was still dark and black, I ran in the wrong direction without hesitation, running very far into the village of Beishan Village before realizing that I had run to the wrong place, then turned around and ran back towards my home.

  As I ran, I kept looking back over my shoulder, as if I was afraid that the No. 64 bus would be following me.

  Until I ran to the head of Xiaonan Village, until the sky turned white, I saw the direction of my home, and only then did I put down my heart, leaning against a crooked neck tree at the village entrance, panting heavily.

  I'm really exhausted from running all the way here, it's making me both tense and scared.

  After I had a good rest, when I walked towards home with my legs, I heard the phone in my pocket ringing continuously.

  This ringtone isn't a call tone, but an SMS tone. I'm really curious, who would send me a text message so early in the morning?

  When I took out my mobile phone and checked the message, a sense of foreboding shrouded my heart.

  This is not a message, but a prompt for an unconnected call. I flipped through it and found that there were more than 30 such prompts, all of which were my mother's mobile phone number!

  I'm guessing that the small wooden house had no signal, my mother called me and I couldn't receive it, which led to so many text messages after coming out with a signal. At the same time, I also started to worry, could it be because I broke the taboo, something really happened at home? Otherwise, why would my mother call me so many times?

  Without thinking, I hastily dialed a call back to my mother.

  Before long, the phone connected and I heard my mother's anxious voice on the other end.

  "Ge Dong, you dead kid, why don't you answer your phone? It's always turned off! Something's happened, something big has happened!"

  Hearing the anxiety in Mother's voice, I hastily asked: "There is no cell phone signal at my workplace, Mom, what happened?"

  "My father was taken away by the police from the bureau! Your Uncle Zhao is crazy, calling the bureau in the middle of the night saying your father murdered someone and even led the police to dig up the body of that thug! What can we do? I didn't know where you work, you didn't tell me, I couldn't find you, and your phone wasn't connecting! What are we going to do?! This family is finished!!!" As she spoke, my mother burst into tears.

  "What? Zhao Lao Er dares to call the police station? That bastard dares to report my father? Damn it! Doesn't he want to live anymore? I'll go to his house right now and kill him with a knife!"

  When I found out that Zhao Ershu had reported my father, I was so angry that my lungs were about to explode. Zhao Ershu is a honest man in the village, and according to his personality, he shouldn't have dared to do such a thing, how could he report my father? Is it just for those two mu of land? But didn't I promise him that I would secretly give him money? What does this turtle grandson want to stir up?

  As soon as I said that, my mother on the other end of the phone cried even harder: "Dong'er! You mustn't get into trouble for me! Your father has passed away, if you get into trouble again, your mom really won't be able to live on!"

  When I heard my mother say that, I knew she was emotionally unstable, so I comforted her: "Mom, don't worry, with me around, nothing will happen to Dad!"

  After finishing the conversation, I hung up the phone and ran towards my home. During the run, I called Yin Laoliu, but unfortunately, his mobile phone was turned off at this time!

  I swear this thing has something to do with that damn taboo of the small wooden house, I will never do this job again! Anyway, my father's matter is already a fait accompli, it's just a matter of compensating him for some breach of contract, at worst I'll sell my blood and kidneys to pay him back!

  When I was twenty or thirty meters away from my home, I found that the surroundings of my home were crowded with old men and young boys from nearby. From a distance, I could hear the wailing voice coming from my mother.

  I quickened my pace and pushed through the crowd, only to find that my mother was sitting in our family's courtyard, wailing loudly. There were several aunties from the village trying to comfort her, but to no avail. I looked into my mother's eyes, which had already turned red from crying, and before I knew it, tears began falling from my own eyes as well.

  I ran to my mother's side and said to her: "Mom, I'm back. Don't cry anymore, or you'll get sick."

  As soon as I heard my voice, and then saw me standing in front of her, my mother even directly hugged me and cried: "Woo woo! Dong Er, it's all over! Your father has been caught, he committed a crime punishable by death, I'm afraid he will be executed! It's all over!"

  Seeing my mother cry was heartbreaking, and listening to her was like having one's intestines twisted. So I asked a few nearby aunties to help me steady my mother and support her into the house to rest, then I wiped away tears and shouted at the onlooking villagers: "Who can tell me what's going on here?"

  I saw him shouting loudly, and in the crowd, Zhang Dage, who has a good reputation in our village, said to me with his cane: "Xiao Dong, that's what happened. At around 1:30 last night, I heard the sound of police sirens, and then Zhao Lao Er took the police to your home and they took your dad away. This must be because Zhao Lao Er reported him. Who would have thought that honest Zhao Lao Er would do such a despicable thing? Is it just for two mu of land? Is this son necessary?"

  Looking at Zhang's expression, he also seems very angry about Zhao Lao Er's behavior.

  "What about Zhao Lao Er? Where is he? I want to see him! I want to ask him what he really wants! Isn't it just a few thousand yuan for two mu of land? I already agreed to give it to him privately, but he still does this, what a damn scoundrel!"

  A sturdy man named Li Jiasan in the crowd shook his head and sighed, saying: "You're talking about Zhao Laoer, he's going crazy at home!"

  "Going crazy at home? What kind of crazy?" I asked.

  "It seems like he's really gone crazy? Just now I went to his house, and I saw this guy actually playing with mud at home like a kid, and...and he even urinates and defecates at home, the whole room is filled with the stench of his feces."

  "Is he crazy? Shitting and pissing at home? Has he gone mad? I think he's just scared, pretending to be crazy. Damn it, this Zhao Lao Er is getting more and more dishonest, actually daring to report my dad, damn it!!!"

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