Chapter 48: A Letter (3)

  Could it be that the letter I received was sent by Sun Jingye? If so, why did he use Erliang's name? If this has nothing to do with him at all, then how could Erliang send me such a letter? Why would he go so far away just to send me such a letter?

  More and more questions are emerging in my mind, although I haven't had a good rest all the way, but no matter what, I couldn't sleep. Lying on the bed thinking quietly about the problem, at this time, the phone rang again, it was a text message, I opened it, it was an unfamiliar number: "Come find me."

  This is just like what Erliang said to me when he used that mobile phone number to lure me to the old mansion in the deep mountains, "Come back and see me". But now Erliang is no longer here, who will send me such a text message this time? I immediately sat up with a flip of my body and replied: "Who are you?"

  Soon a short message came back: "For Xiaohui, come find me."

  I was startled, I hadn't been in touch with Xiaorui for a long time. Could it be that Xiaorui had been kidnapped by this person? I immediately made a call, but the other party hung up right away. I could only send a text message: "Don't hurt her, whatever conditions you want me to agree to."

  The other party replied with a message: "I'm not a kidnapper, for Xiaohui's sake, come find me."

  When I heard him say he wasn't a kidnapper, my heart calmed down a bit. Thinking about it, if he was a kidnapper, he wouldn't not make any demands. If he said it was to deal with me, finding Xiaohui would be even more difficult than finding me. After thinking about it, I still didn't know why he wanted me to find him, but now I had no choice. I immediately asked: "What time? Where?"

  The text message came back quickly: "Now." Then an address was attached to the back, which is in the city, I am very familiar with it, because not long ago I just saw this address from a woman, it was written in Erliang's letter.

  I looked at the address on my phone and then at the letter on the table, and suddenly I felt a chill in my heart: could it be that Er Liang wants me to take him home?

  Although Erlang is like a brother to me, the thought of bringing back someone who has already died makes my heart filled with fear and terror. I don't know what it will be like in the future, but for now, it's unimaginable. Of course, it won't be a corpse that I bring back, so it can only be a ghost.

  What a real ghost looks like, no one knows. I've seen Dong Agen's son, but just had a few words with him in passing, and don't know much about ghosts either. No one knows if they're really as terrifying and eerie as the legends say, but I think no one dares to try to find out, at least I don't.

  I hesitated for a long time, gritted my teeth and decided to go to that place now, although it was already past 3 o'clock in the morning. It's about Xiaohua, I have to go, of course, the most important thing is that I think the other party should not have malicious intentions. If they really want to harm me, they can just find my home directly, no need to bother so much. As for Erliang's affairs, we can only take it one step at a time.

  Of course, I wanted to go back and think about it. My heart said that I wasn't afraid, but it was a lie. So, I made full preparations, carrying a knife with me, and filling all the pockets on my body with all the Buddha pendants and jade amulets I could find at home. I even specially looked up relevant information and drew many symbols that were said to be able to ward off evil spirits. It was just short of holding a peach wood sword in one hand and having black dog blood ready in the other. It wasn't that I didn't think about it, but in the rush, I really couldn't find any.

  Rechecked the equipment on his body, made sure nothing was left behind, then quietly opened the door and slowly walked down the stairs, rode an electric bike to the place indicated in the text message.

  The temperature was a bit low in the early morning, and riding an electric bike made the wind blowing towards me unbearable. I couldn't help but curse under my breath at that damned mysterious person, who chose to appear at such an ungodly hour. If it weren't for Xiaohui, if it weren't for wanting to live a peaceful life, who would want to come out and meet someone so terrifying? I'm not some kind of ghost-hunting expert from Tianya, rushing to wherever there's a rumor of paranormal activity.

  The cold wind kept blowing onto my face, and I had to slow down, narrowing my eyes. This was a bit better, but just then, I suddenly discovered a problem - my bike was moving forward, so the wind should have been blowing from the front onto my face. But why did I now feel a cool breeze on the back of my head, as if someone was sitting in the back seat and gently blowing air onto me with their mouth?

  I slammed on the brakes, quickly turning around, but there was nothing on the car. I let out a sigh of relief, thinking that my nerves were just too tense. Just as I was about to turn back and continue riding, I suddenly noticed a little girl standing far behind the car, wearing a red skirt, staring at me from afar. When she saw me looking at her, she suddenly blew a raspberry at me, then cracked a smile, turned around and ran off.

  I was frozen in place, I could feel the hairs on the back of my head standing up, and then I saw her again, no mistake, I saw her clearly, it was Erniang.

  I didn't even know how long I had been out, until the cold wind blew on me and I couldn't help but shiver to wake up. I found that my close-fitting clothes were tightly stuck to my body, and when the wind blew, it was even colder.

  But I was already scared, and I didn't dare to go to that address to see that mysterious person again. I just wanted to go home and not care about all this anymore. However, as soon as the car started moving, I saw Erniang standing in the corner looking at me. I saw her mouth move, seemingly saying something to me. Although I couldn't hear clearly, I knew she was saying "Take me home."

  I let out a loud cry and quickly turned the ignition, wanting to get away from here as fast as possible. Just as I turned my head to look at the front of the car, the back of my head started to feel cool again in waves.

  I no longer dare to turn my head, every time I turn around, I see Erniang standing there smiling at me. I accelerated the car to its maximum speed, but there was still a gust of cold wind blowing on the back of my head. I didn't care about anything anymore, just thinking about getting home quickly and pretending nothing had happened.

  The wind in my face grew stronger, but then my phone rang again. It was a text message. I didn't care, and continued to drive forward, but the sound of incoming messages kept going, as if the other person wouldn't give up until I responded. Suddenly, my mind cleared, and I thought of a problem: If I go home like this, will Erniang follow me? Wouldn't that be inviting a ghost into my home? If my parents saw Erniang, they would definitely be scared to death.

  I suddenly slammed on the brakes and didn't dare ride home anymore, but for a while I didn't know where to go. I looked back and saw that Erniang was gone, but I still didn't dare go home.

  I hastily pulled out my phone and found six new messages, all from the same mysterious number. I opened them to find six identical texts: "Save Xiaohui."

  Xiao Rui! I was startled, and with Erniang's sudden scare, I almost forgot the purpose of my outing at dawn. Since I couldn't go home now, and this strange text message was urging me so urgently, I immediately turned around and rode towards the address on the message.

  The address on the text message is very familiar to me, and it's also located in the old town area, which hasn't been redeveloped yet. Although it's also in the old town area, these houses were built at a different time than my old house that was demolished, so they can only be called "old" but not "ancient". Because they are old-style houses, there are some inconveniences in terms of living facilities and sanitation. For this reason, many young people have bought new houses and moved out, leaving only some elderly people who are nostalgic for the past still living here.

  Although it's only slightly bright now, I still easily found this place. As for which specific house, I can only search slowly. I brought a flashlight with me, so I won't be stumbling around in the dark unable to see the door numbers. Fortunately, most people are still asleep, avoiding someone saying my sneaky behavior is suspicious.

  The road conditions in this old town area are not very good, I walked with one foot deep and the other shallow, my heart worried about Xiaorui, several times almost sprained my ankle, but after circling around for a few laps, I still couldn't find the house number mentioned in the text message, so I quickly took out my phone and sent a text message. After a while, a light appeared in front of me, it seemed like someone was walking out with a lit candle.

  My heart involuntarily tensed up, and I quickly walked forward, my hand secretly touching the knife hidden on my body. In just a moment, that person walked to my front, their entire body wrapped tightly, with their head lowered, making it impossible to tell if they were male or female, only appearing relatively thin from the outside.

  I gripped the knife tightly and asked cautiously: "Was it you who sent me that message?"

  He nodded and pointed ahead, indicating for me to follow him. His footsteps were a bit hurried, clearly anxious in his heart. I thought for a moment, gritted my teeth, and quickly followed after him.

  Following the person in front, I turned a corner and saw that there were piles of trash and temporary buildings constructed in violation of regulations everywhere. The old city district is like this; as long as the neighbors don't report you and the urban management doesn't discover your small actions, it's not a big deal. After turning several more corners, the person in front lightly pushed open a door and walked inside. I looked up at the door sign, then looked back at those illegal buildings, thinking to myself that no wonder I couldn't find this place.

  Following the person in front, I entered the door, and what caught my eye was a scene that was all too familiar to me. The tension and fear in my heart caused my pupils to shrink instantly, and I suddenly pulled out the small knife I had been hiding.

  I didn't want to kill anyone or defend myself, there was no bloody scene in front of me, nor was anyone tied up with Xiaohui, and the person wrapped all over in black clothes didn't do anything to me, and was even scared by my knife-wielding action. The reason I took out the knife is that I was really too nervous, so much so that I couldn't control my own behavior.

  Everything in front of me is so familiar, I see a wall painted with all sorts of colors, just like the one I saw at Old Chu's house.