Chapter 35

  The night seemed to hide a faint heartbeat. The old elevator slowly descended in the silent environment.

  The red numbers on the elevator decreased floor by floor: 5th floor, 4th floor, 3rd floor...

  Suddenly, the elevator stopped abruptly on the second floor without any warning.

  "What's going on?" Du Jiajun's heart skipped a beat, and she looked at Hua Qizhen in confusion. Hua Qizhen didn't look at her, but instead lifted her foot and stomped heavily on the floor, causing the elevator to shake, but it still didn't continue to descend.

  "Damn it, the old elevator won't break down at this time, will it?" Just as Hu Qiuzhen was about to open her mouth and scold, the elevator door creaked open slowly with a "creak".

  Like opening up a vast expanse of destruction and desolation before them.

  "It's so late, who would still take the elevator?" Du Jiajun looked around in confusion at the outside of the elevator, but saw that the dark corridor was empty. A gust of cold wind suddenly swept in, and she felt a chill run down her face, her pulse racing rapidly.

  Obviously there was no one, how could the elevator stop and open the door?

  Du Jiajun didn't dare think too much and quickly pressed the close door button. The elevator doors slowly closed again.

  Smoothly descended to the first floor.

  The duty room at the entrance of the building was lit with dim light. An old man wearing a janitor's uniform sat inside, dozing off, and didn't even notice when Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen walked by. They walked out onto the main street.

  The streets at midnight were shrouded in a chilling mist, with some eerie aura swelling in the darkness. The weak streetlights cast an ominous glow. In front of me, a huge black crevice suddenly appeared, stretching across the road like a shocking and bottomless abyss that pierced into the heart of the earth. Underfoot, it had become abruptly unfathomable.

  They walked with trepidation, as if the ground might open up a black hole at any moment and swallow them into an abyss of thousands of feet.

  Footsteps began to quicken.

  As they passed by Fu Bo selling zongzi, Hua Qi Zhen pulled Du Jia Jun to a stop. She said to Fu Bo, "Two zongzi."

  "Alright."

  Old Fu, who was selling zongzi, slowly picked out two hot zongzi with a pair of chopsticks and raised his eyes to say to the two girls: "Little girls, it's so late, why are you still out for a stroll?"

  "Yes." Hu Qi Zhen replied, her eyes fixed on the fragrant rice dumplings, drooling.

  Uncle Fu said again, his tone was like reminding: "Later on, after 12 o'clock don't come out anymore. It's dark and there are many dirty things running around."

  Hua Qizhen still stared tightly at the half-peeled zongzi. Du Jiajun curiously asked Fu Bo, "Dirty things? Are you referring to bad people?"

  "If it's a bad person, that's okay, but what if it's something even more terrifying than a bad person..." Old Fu suddenly lowered his voice and looked around nervously, as if afraid of offending the gods, before continuing in a hushed tone: "To be honest with you all, there's something really fierce on this street!"

  "What thing?" Du Jiajun repeated the tone of this question, but in her heart she clearly understood what Uncle Fu was talking about. It's a ghost. This word flashed into her mind like lightning, opening up a crack, and a chill crept out from the gap. She felt a little scared, especially on this quiet night street, and she subconsciously shook her body, as if to squeeze someone away.

  Don't come near me, ghost!

  Fu Bo, however, didn't sympathize with her feelings at all and continued to speak in a spooky tone, "Let me tell you, I encountered something very strange last week. That night, there was a man buying zongzi who actually bit his own finger, dripped blood onto the zongzi before eating it."

  "Really?!" Hu Qi heard this, imagining the scene of her finger being bitten, a painful expression appeared on her face, and she shouted again: "No way! Eating zongzi like that is so disgusting!"

  Fu Bo nodded in agreement, "Isn't that right! I was scared to death at the time, that man was really strange, just like... just like he was possessed by a ghost."

  "Is he possessed by a ghost?"

  "Yes, people who are possessed by ghosts usually don't know what they're doing. That guy was like that at the time. And it's not just him, there's also a young girl around your age who has been acting strange when buying zongzi from me these days... Never mind, let's not talk about ghosts now."

  Fu Bo finished speaking, and then nervously looked around, even turning his head to glance behind him. He looked like he was afraid of being caught by something. His movements in peeling the zongzi also quickened, and soon, he handed over a peeled one into mid-air.

  The air, steeped in rot and dampness, suddenly swayed lightly, and the next instant, a shrill gust of wind poured out from some gap, filling the space with a chill that pierced to the bone.

  Time has slowed down by half, and the cold wind is passing in and out of my body.

  Fu Bo's hand, which was suspended in mid-air, froze. He stared with wide eyes. Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen didn't go to pick up the zongzi either; their bodies were chilled to the bone as they listened to the sorrowful singing that seemed to come from afar: "Flowers fall all over the sky, blocking out the moonlight, I'll borrow a cup of wine to toast the Phoenix Tower, the heavenly maiden's flower is fragrant with tears, I secretly gaze at him, secretly yearn for him, bringing tears and hidden sorrow..."

  Is that a Cantonese song? Which one is it? Du Jiajun couldn't recall the name of this familiar melody for a moment, but none of that mattered anymore. At this moment, Du Jiajun felt that someone was slowly walking towards them from behind, it was a woman... or a female ghost. It walked without making any sound, as if floating over on the wind.

  The dumpling that had been suspended in mid-air suddenly fell from Fu's hand, and he saw something that made his eyes and mouth wide with terror. He stumbled backward, pointing at the girl's back and shouting in a voice that was almost a scream: "Ghost... ghost!"

  Fu Bo was so scared that he turned around and ran away. Poor Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen were still stunned by Fu Bo's sudden escape, when a gust of cold wind blew from behind, making the hairs on their necks stand up. The singing voice of Cantonese opera 3 got closer and closer, they shuddered as they turned around, only to see a disheveled head with an extremely pale face leaning on their shoulder.

  Sad eyes are near at hand. The nostrils exhale cold and musty air. A mouth painted with bright lipstick opens and closes, saying: "Are you waiting for me?"

  Isn't it just beautiful!

  They waited for a night of female ghosts, and ran out from the TV!

  That evil face was almost stuck to theirs, the vengeful ghost-like breath covered their nostrils. Despair and fear instantly filled Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen's minds, they couldn't help but see those empty eye sockets, sunken eyeballs, yet emitting an unusually ferocious glow; lips as red as blood cracked open with lines; shoes and cheongsam were red, the eternal bright red color, even more dazzling in the night; jet-black long hair, like poisonous snakes in a swamp, kept crawling out, probing the snake head, stretching towards them.

  A strand of hair lightly brushed across her face, and it would immediately become entangled and wrapped tightly around their necks.

  Du Jiajun pulled Hu Qiuzhen, who was almost paralyzed with fear, and shouted loudly: "Run quickly! There's a ghost!"

  They finally understood to turn around and run. They had never tried such a thrilling escape in their lives. Du Jiajun's running brain still remembered the people fleeing from the carnivorous dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park". She thought that the carnivorous dinosaurs were much more inferior than the female ghosts, who were everywhere and would quietly put their hands on your back when you weren't paying attention...

  They ran to the street corner and intercepted a taxi that happened to be passing by, jumped in, and shouted frantically at the driver: "Drive fast!"

  The driver suspected that the two girls might have encountered bad people, and he didn't dare to slow down. He stepped on the accelerator fiercely, and the taxi rushed into the deep night.

  The driver couldn't help but ask, "Have you guys encountered some bad people? Do you want to call the police?" as he carefully glanced at the pale-faced girl in the backseat who was shaking all over.

  Du Jiajun and Hua Qizhen seemed to have not heard his question, tightly embracing each other, pale as death, their chests heaving constantly, clearly frightened out of their wits. Just as the driver was filled with suspicion, a flash of red suddenly caught his attention in the rearview mirror.

  He stared at the mirror, and there was a cheongsam-clad girl standing at the street corner, gazing far away at this taxi until the night swallowed her shadow.

  The car drove far away and entered the main road of the city, where the traffic was surging. The driver still didn't understand why the passengers in the back were so scared. To ease the tense atmosphere, he simply turned on the radio. The radio was playing Cantonese opera, and someone began to sing softly:

  "Flowers fall all over the sky, blocking out the moonlight. I borrow a cup to toast the Phoenix Tower, where the Emperor's daughter is weeping with sorrow. Incense rises, carrying my vow to return in the next life and thank my parents. I secretly gaze at him, secretly yearn for him, tears streaming down, silently mourning..."

  The driver also hummed along with a soft voice "Di Nü Hua". He heard the back seat suddenly burst out with ear-piercing screams.

  "Stop singing! Turn it off!"

  The city at midnight, the night had completely quieted down.