Chapter Eleven Wells (One)

  I sat in front of the computer, although Erliang didn't catch that foreman, he remembered the license plate number of that car and has already mobilized some connections to search for it. Of course, all this can only be done by him alone, privately using some data from the police station is already a violation of rules, he certainly cannot do more, let alone we don't know why those two people wanted to run after seeing us, we just became curious after listening to their conversation and didn't expect that in the end, we really saw an old mansion in those photos.

  Those photos were placed on the computer desk, Erliang didn't have the energy to find out where the old house in the photos was located, so he handed over this task to me. I scanned a few and uploaded them online, unfortunately no one knew, but there were many people who also mistakenly thought it was my family's old house, after all, the old house used to be in the city center's old town area, many people had seen it before, of course, I knew it wasn't because there was no black room inside the old house.

  That photo was placed horizontally on the table, and the more I looked at it, the more it seemed like a coffin. I had never seen those mysterious manuscripts in Wang Qiang's house. If what that letter said was true, would the four characters "a coffin" I saw also foretell something? Was it foretelling me seeing this photo? Why did this old house and my family's old mansion look so alike?

  I stared blankly at the computer screen, thinking constantly about these questions, when suddenly my phone rang again, it was a text message.

  I picked up my phone and my eyes widened immediately. It was that number again. My hand even trembled a bit, but I finally pressed the phone to enter the text message.

  "Come back and see me!"

  It's still the same content, but the last punctuation mark has changed from a period to an exclamation mark, and this exclamation mark seems to carry a strange power, I feel as if I can sense the sender's indignation.

  I trembled with fear as I sent a message back: "I've already come to see you, are you grandma?"

  Don't laugh at me, I really don't know how to face it. I thought that if there really are ghosts, this person must be my grandmother. She's the only one who always misses our old house and was the most reluctant to move out when we left.

  "Come back and see me..."

  This time it became an ellipsis, I seemed to feel the helplessness and sadness in the heart of an old man who was about to leave. I turned back: "Where?"

  "Old house!"

  The reply came back with the same sentence, but I had clearly been to the old mansion before. My eyes caught sight of a photo on the table, and that black coffin under the pale fluorescent light seemed particularly jarring. Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat, and I hastily sent a text message: "Where is the old mansion?"

  My heart is racing with anticipation, waiting for the other person's response. Every second feels like an eternity, but ten minutes have passed and there's still no reply from the other end. I still don't know where Laozhai is.

  Erlang's phone call interrupted my meditation, I picked up the phone, Erlang panted on the other end: "Found it, you come quickly, at the Municipal People's Hospital first floor emergency room, hurry."

  I was shocked and didn't even bother to turn off the computer, rushing down the stairs straight to People's Hospital.

  Er Liang was already standing at the hospital entrance waiting for me. Seeing me rushing over, he grabbed me and ran to the emergency room, saying: "They had a car accident, coincidentally today's duty police officer is my friend, who notified me in the first place."

  I and Er Liang walked to the emergency room door, just as a doctor came out. Er Liang took out his police badge, the doctor took a look, removed his mask and said: "The one sitting in the passenger seat was rescued but unfortunately died, the other has been out of danger."

  With the doctor's consent, Er Lang and I walked into the emergency room. The doctors were busy around a bed in the emergency room, while another bed was covered with a white cloth, and a medical staff member was preparing to push it out.

  Er Liang stretched out his hand to stop the medical staff, gently lifted the white cloth, and took away my grandmother. This was the first time I saw a dead person, let alone one who died in a traffic accident. I only took a glance before rushing out to vomit, almost vomiting up bile as well. I felt someone patting me on the back, followed by Er Liang's voice saying:

  "My reaction when I first saw the corpse was the same as yours."

  I straightened up and took the mineral water from Erliang's hand, rinsed my mouth with it, and wiped away the dirt at the corner of my mouth with a paper towel. "Have you figured anything out?"

  Er Lang's face looked unpleasant: "One hasn't woken up yet and can't be questioned, the other..." He furrowed his brow, seemingly unsure of how to continue. After a moment, he went on: "The other one died in a very unpleasant way, especially the expression on his face. It seems that what he felt before death wasn't pain, but fear."

  "Afraid? Of course I'm afraid! Who wouldn't be when they're about to get into a car accident and crash into something?" I replied.

  "It's different." Erliang said affirmatively, "Usually people who die in car accidents are killed by severe injuries. This laborer-like person died after being rescued and sent to the hospital, so the expression on his face should be one of pain rather than fear."

  "What's there to be afraid of?" I muttered to myself, a question with no answer, perhaps not even an important one. We can only wait until the old boss-like person wakes up and ask him where those photos were taken from. Although it fell off the labor contractor's body, asking him may not necessarily get an answer, but as long as there is hope, it's always good.

  Er Lang's face hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to say something. I asked: "What's wrong?"

  Er Liang shook his head, thought for a moment and then took a deep breath, saying to me: "The expression on his face is exactly the same as Wang Qiang's and Lao Chu's."

  According to the two letters, Wang Qiang and Lao Chu both saw extremely terrifying people before they died. One saw a woman with a mouthful of blood-red teeth, and the other saw a little girl whose eyeballs had fallen out. If this foreman was like them, then what did he see? Everything could only be known after that boss-like person woke up.

  For several days, both I and Erliang went to the hospital separately to see that boss. As for the dead foreman, because no identification was found on him, he remained a mystery to us until five days later when the boss finally woke up.

  This man is indeed a boss, through the driver's license and ID card on him, Er Liang had already checked everything about him clearly. He is a real estate developer, his company was founded only a few years ago, and has only developed two projects, one in the south of the city and one in the north. I am very familiar with the name of this development company, because I once saw it at the place where Wang Qiang and Lao Chu lived.

  Seeing Erliang's police badge, the boss visibly relaxed and said: "If I had known you weren't here to collect debts, I wouldn't have run away, and this wouldn't have happened."

  Er Lang held up the photo he had obtained from the foreman and asked: "Can you tell me where this place is?"

  The boss glanced at the photo in Erliang's hand with a slanted eye, and his face, which had just relaxed slightly, suddenly became tense. He didn't know where he got the strength from, but he let out a loud shout, and his whole body sprang up from the bed before heavily falling back down.

  This sudden loud cry startled both me and Erliang, and the family member who was accompanying him rushed forward to hold his body while scolding: "What's the point of getting so excited, don't you want to live?"

  I and Erlang didn't expect his reaction to be so big, after he calmed down, I said carefully: "This answer is very important to us, so we hope you can tell us where this place is."

  The boss leaned his body in as much as possible, seemingly treating me and Erliang like evil ghosts who were hastening his demise, refusing to answer our questions. The family members on the side began to murmur again, saying that we had disturbed the patient's rest. Erliang and I looked at each other, sighed, and could only give up.

  Just as we were about to turn around and leave, we suddenly heard our boss's trembling voice behind us: "You guys saw it too, didn't you?"

  I and Erlang quickly turned around and asked: "What did you see?"

  The boss's face was deathly pale, the fear in his eyes growing heavier by the second. His hands grasped the quilt tightly as he croaked: "That well!"

  "What well?" I and Erlang were at a loss.

  The boss had just woken up and was still in a state of shock from seeing the photos, so after a while, he was already extremely exhausted and dispirited. My friend Erliang and I could only reluctantly bid farewell and leave the hospital first. Before leaving, Erliang left his business card with the boss, saying that if there's anything, he can be contacted.

  We didn't part ways immediately, and Erliang came to my place. The two of us sat there, not knowing what to say to each other. After a long silence, Erliang suddenly asked me: "Alei, do you think there's a difference between dreams and ideals?"

  I was surprised that Er Lang would ask me such a question today, but I still replied: "Dreams are sometimes unrealistic, while ideals can be achieved with effort and at least have hope, this is probably the simplest difference."

  "Have you got an ideal?"

  I nodded: "You know, my dream is to write a book that many, many people will love to read."

  "Would you be willing to give up or even go against some of your own principles for the sake of your ideals?"

  I recalled the disappointment on my parents' faces when they saw me typing away on the computer, thought about my increasingly strained life, and after a moment of contemplation, I nodded: "I'm willing!"

  Er Lang raised his head and looked at me. I felt that his eyes were a bit frightening, and he asked another sentence: "Even if this ideal is absurd?"

  I've known Er Lang since we were young, but I've never seen him discuss ideals and life with me so seriously. I think maybe it's because of the recent inexplicable events that have affected his mood. I reached out and patted him on the shoulder, saying: "Ideals are only about whether they can be achieved, there's no such thing as being absurd or unrealistic. You've been too tired lately, take a good rest."

  Erlang's eyes were looking at me, I felt like he had something to tell me, with an encouraging gaze at him, Erlang's lips moved slightly, just then, his phone suddenly rang.

  "Hello?" Erliang answered the phone, and the room fell silent. I was close to Erliang, and from the other end of the line came a hoarse voice: "I want to talk to you about something, come to the hospital."

  It was that boss who called over, Erliang hung up the phone and said: "Go to the hospital quickly." Without waiting for me, he took a step ahead and went down the stairs.

  Looking at Erlang's back, a strange feeling arose in my heart again. I don't know why he is so concerned about this matter. At first, I was looking for writing material, but later it was because there was always someone urging me to do all this. Yes, I couldn't see that person, but I could feel it. But what exactly is Erlang's motivation for being so enthusiastic about investigating this matter?

  Er Lang called me from downstairs, I shook my head to make myself not think about these things, turned around and pulled the door shut. In the instant when the lights went out, I once again felt that someone was watching me in the room. Unconsciously, I glanced at the white wall, my heart skipped a beat: this time, I saw a well on the wall.