Chapter 4: The Most Familiar Stranger (Part 2)

  According to the young man, the hypnotic world was based on the story of "Old House", which I wrote at that time. He also took many pictures and asked him to design this hypnosis plan according to these people. The young man said he made changes to these blueprints, combining reality and fantasy, meaning that among the people I came into contact with, some were real and some were fake. I wasn't sure which ones were real and which ones were illusory. But later on, I thought that Erlang should be a fictional character like my parents, because if Erlang was a real friend who didn't die, why didn't he come to find me? If it was the tall guy earlier, I could explain it as being due to us only meeting once and it being hard to meet again. But Erlang is my brother, if he really existed, why didn't he come to find me?

  So the only explanation is: Er Lang does not exist and is a character in the world of hypnosis.

  But now Erlang has appeared in front of me, appearing in this real world I am in now. This is not the place that scares me. I can still interpret it as Erlang being my good friend before I lost my memory, and then I wrote him into the story "Old Mansion". Later, I came to the young man alone, was hypnotized by him, and became friends with a virtual existence of Erlang in my mind. Now this real Erlang has come from some unknown place to Fengmen Village for some reason, and unexpectedly met me.

  What scares me is that he didn't call me "A Lei", but instead called me "Er Liang", just like I called him.

  My heart sank as if it had fallen into an ice cave, and I felt my body getting colder and colder. A terrifying possibility occurred to me.

  The expression on Erlang's face was also one of extreme fear, but after a while, it eased up, and then I saw joy on his face. My heart felt increasingly bitter, and just as I was about to speak to him, footsteps sounded from behind me. I turned my head around and saw the tall guy walking in with a knife in hand. When he saw Erlang for the first time, his body stiffened noticeably, and then let out a ghostly scream like mine earlier.

  He shouted "Erlang!"

  But Er Lang just curiously looked at him for a moment, with a face full of inexplicability, then turned his head to look at me and said: "Do you know him?"

  My heart gradually sank, a simple few greetings made me more and more certain of the conjecture in my mind. (Tonight)

  At this time, Gao Ge and Er Liang both found something was wrong. The three people looked at each other in dismay, then they simultaneously said: "Who are you?" Then the two of them stopped talking at the same time, staring at each other.

  Perhaps it's because of his tall stature, Erlang's expression was a bit more imposing, and after muttering to himself for a moment, he ignored him and turned to me instead, saying: "Erlang, how did you end up here?"

  At this time, the tall one also sensed something was off and his face changed as he looked at me. I thought for a moment, it seemed like there was only one way to clear up this matter, so I signaled for the two of them to calm down and we walked into the small temple together. Then, I told them everything that had happened to me from start to finish, and then looked at them. Er Liang and Gao's faces turned very unsightly, after a long while, Er Liang spoke up, he seemed to be speaking with great difficulty, slowly saying: "I... also experienced the same thing as you."

  My guess was correct, and we both looked at the tall one, who nodded slowly. The three of us fell into deep thought. Now we have three people, each with their own story about "The Old Mansion". Each person thinks they are Mao Rui, except that everyone else remains unchanged, but another person is replaced by the object of substitution. For example, the tall one became Mao Rui, and in his story, I became the tractor driver; Er Liang became Mao Rui in his story, and I became Er Liang, while the tall one was still the tractor driver. The only difference is that Er Liang hasn't recognized him yet.

  Another difference is that the young people we met at last did not look alike, which is probably the only good news, because at least it proves that what we are experiencing and facing now are all real.

  Three identical stories of "Old House", three identical yet different people, is this what that piece of paper said "another story"? At this moment, I suddenly thought: will there be a day when I can see Xiaohua again?

  Three people didn't know what to say, I had a strange feeling, the person in front of me was clearly Er Lang, but he was different from the Er Lang in my impression. It wasn't just because of the change in their identities, but I felt that the personality and temperament of the person in front of me were completely different from those of the Er Lang in my story. The Er Lang in my story was a spirited and efficient policeman, while the person in front of me seemed somewhat timid and reserved. Maybe in their eyes, I was also different from the person in their story.

  The tall man stood up and looked down at us with a condescending gaze. "I only care about my own affairs," he said. "I will find the truth that belongs to me."

  This is probably the only suitable approach for now, as the three people's stories are the same yet different, with their identities and roles mixed up, making it unclear how to cooperate. Moreover, after learning the truth, each of them will likely try to find their own story and reclaim their true selves, which means they won't be able to accommodate each other's identities and actions, as this might lead to losing their true selves.

  Because of the lack of basic trust, cooperation is definitely not possible. But looking at Erliang's appearance, it seems that he doesn't want to leave us either. I had a sudden thought and remembered how he fled in a hurry like his butt was on fire, and couldn't help but ask: "What happened to you back then? Why did you run away in such a fluster?"

  Er Liang's face suddenly turned pale, and it was clear that this topic made him extremely frightened. The tall one also stared at Er Liang, who trembled slightly, looked around outside, and finally said: "I saw a group of ghosts, each wearing masks, holding hoes in their hands to hoe me."

  This place is desolate and uninhabited, all the villagers have moved out of the village. Of course, it's impossible for so many people to appear in front of Erliang. I remembered the strange burial customs here in the legend, and couldn't help but shudder too. No wonder Erliang wanted to run here, under the premise that there was no other way, hiding in this small temple which is said to be able to suppress evil spirits is indeed the only solution.

  The tall one snorted and said, "Nonsense, I went ahead and only saw a very large mirror."

  My heart skipped a beat: did Er Lang also see the mirror? He saw a group of people with hoes coming to hoe him in the mirror, and I also saw a mirror. Since the three of us have experienced the same story, will we all see our own mirrors here? Thinking of the scene I saw in that small mirror, I couldn't help but wonder: what did that tall guy see?

  Thinking so, I couldn't help but glance at him, and the tall guy obviously saw my thoughts too. He snorted and handed me a flashlight, saying to Er Liang: "It's dark, lend me a hand, my luggage is over there."

  Just then, a shout came from far away outside, seemingly calling out someone's name: "Zhang Jie... Zhang Jie..." The voice was intermittent and faint, but it definitely existed. The three of them immediately changed their expressions, looking at each other and then gazing into the distance. After a while, the voice disappeared without a trace. The tall one asked with a gloomy face, "What did you think of this voice?"

  "Xie Na!"

  I and the tall one glared at him simultaneously, Erliang shrank his body and hid to one side, muttering something in his mouth. The tall one said: "According to the records, there was once a group of 15 people camping in the Xiangyang River Valley near Dongfeng Village on a rainy night. At midnight, they encountered a thick fog, and suddenly there were strange shouts from the village, shouting 'Zhang Jie'. Dongfeng Village is not far from here."

  The tall man's meaning is very clear, I also saw the information he mentioned, it has been many years since now, and can still be seen online, with many people testifying. If someone was deliberately pretending to be a ghost in Dongshigou Village back then, the probability of running into another person who pretends to be a ghost again after several years and says exactly the same thing should be extremely low. It seems that the one who shouted out this sentence is not human.

  I didn't tell the tall one that I had seen an old man here before, or heard him say a nonsense sentence, because at this moment, I suddenly thought of a question, what if the voice said "Zhang Jie" was not "Zhang Jie", but "Chapter"?