Chapter 404 Light
After opening the door and going in, Tu Lanxun turned her head and saw a tall black shadow suddenly appear in the reflection of the glass, blocking the way between her and the store door.
"Have you figured it out?" The male ghost's voice was cold, and the tone reminded people of a violin in the night wind, with a bit of breathy hoarseness, almost blowing over her head.
She trembled, stepped back, and distanced herself, suppressing the fear rising from her stomach. She forced herself to look him in the eye. Establishing eye contact was the first step in communication and negotiation. "I'll help you deliver this thing, on the condition that you let me go. From now on, we're even. How about that?"
After saying this, Tu Lanxun's gaze shifted to the skull. The presence of the ghost made her fear of the dead's head insignificant.
The male ghost followed her half a step forward, and the safe zone they had secretly fought for was invaded again. His pale, delicate chin filled the upper half of her field of vision, pulling at a beautifully protruding tendon on his neck. He said, "It's a human skull, not 'this thing.' Remember that."
The advantage is that he is willing to talk, but the disadvantage is also obvious. The male ghost did not agree to her conditions at all, and there is a certain kind of meticulousness in the choice of words that is unique to special people.
The so-called special groups generally refer to scholars, doctors and perverted serial killers.
"Of course." Tu Lanxun pretended to be relaxed. She walked to the shelf without losing her composure, left the male ghost's side, and picked up two cans of cheap soda. "We can sit down and talk. Have a drink."
But in the end, she was the only one sitting down, and the male ghost was still standing. Two cans of soda were placed on the cash register between the two of them, forming a dividing line that was better than nothing.
Tu Lanxun opened his own can and took a sip for courage, the taste of green apple bubbling in his throat. The male ghost lay motionless, his face expressionless, leaving the can alone, like an offering to the skull.
"I'm sure you know my name, so how should I call you...you?" she asked.
"N." The male ghost threw out a word, his eyes fixed on her coldly.
Doctor Nightingale, translated into English is Dr. Nightbird.
N.
Since she wanted to win over the ghost, she had to treat him with courtesy. The male ghost might not be able to drink human beverages. Tu Lanxun thought that maybe she could buy him some incense, candles and paper money, so she said it.
The male ghost's expression was still unpredictable, as if he couldn't hear Tu Lanxun's friendliness. There was a slow sound of dripping water around him, the sound was like a faucet that couldn't be tightened at midnight, dripping and tapping against the ear, making people more and more concerned.
It was obvious that the male ghost N exuded a cold aura and had eyes as cold as a snake, which meant for her to shut up, but Tu Lanxun was still trying softly, because she would lose all her courage if she interrupted.
"Perhaps I can buy you an incense burner. After all, since you can't eat or drink anything from the human world, we can try again after offering sacrifices."
"Click." The sound was N opening the pull ring with his left hand without gloves.
His movements were very graceful. He drank a sip of soda in front of Tu Lanxun, his face calm and composed, without any sign of the hiccups she had suppressed. This action only proved that he could drink the beverage of a living person, and offering incense was nonsense.
A drop of soda splashed onto N's hand, the gloved right hand holding the can. At the base of her palm, the pale green droplet shone through the dark leather, like a gem, hissing and bubbling, revealing a hint of poison. She suddenly stopped talking.
N then slowly sat down, not out of invitation, but with a cold attitude after being shocked. Tu Lanxun came to her senses and quickly offered a tissue, but the other party pinched it between two long, cold, white fingers and pressed it against her glove. She quickly pulled back, fearing that if she was a second late, she would encounter a ghost.
"You are very afraid of ghosts." N was reading her eyes, which was unfair because his eyes were empty and he could not read anything.
"My emotions won't affect the subsequent collaboration." Tu Lanxun called this one-sided servitude cooperation. "What affects the quality of the collaboration is that I know too little about the matter. After all, I'm a human being who needs a sense of security. I can't work well without a sense of direction."
This is a bit too much, but appropriate amounts of pushing are beneficial in business. Tu Lanxun paid close attention to the other party's reaction.
N didn't say anything. His hands, one black and one white, stretched their joints, and the next second, he disappeared into thin air.
Tu Lanxun felt a chill behind her. A tall, cold, and sleek figure suddenly appeared, occupying the space between her back and the wall. Immediately, a hand covered in a leather glove effortlessly grasped her throat.
The flesh and arteries were squeezed into a layer, the cervical vertebrae creaked, and N blew a cold wind over her head. He had the smell of grass and trees, not the soft and fresh kind, but the extremely cold and lonely smell, as if it had been settled by a long night, the smell of vines and soil on the tombstone, empty and bitter.
Tu Lanxun's chin was forced up to meet N's face. He looked completely changed. His peach blossom eyes were no longer dark and bright. Instead, they were covered with translucent spiderweb-like cracks, like broken glass beads, covered in dust. He stared at her with those terrifying, broken eyes.
Dead people. This concept emerged in her mind with great clarity.
N pinched her for half a minute before letting go. The smell of grass and trees filled her lungs. Tu Lanxun felt as if she was in a cemetery at midnight. She took two deep breaths. The horror of death was more terrifying than lack of oxygen.
Holding it for half a minute wouldn't kill someone, but her throat was extremely painful and her whole body was numb. He did this just to prove that he could kill her at any time.
"Tomorrow, send the skull to Freezer No. 12 in Group A of the Municipal Funeral Home." N repeated without emotion.
"I don't have a work permit for the funeral home, and I don't have a farewell ceremony to attend. It would attract attention." Tu Lanxun covered his neck.
N glanced down, as if pondering the truth of his words. He quickly withdrew his gaze and said from above her head, "Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock."
After saying this, he disappeared behind Tu Lanxun, as if he had never appeared.
Disappeared with him were the skull and the black backpack.
If it weren't for the two opened cans of soda, Tu Lanxun would have suspected she was hallucinating. She froze for two seconds, then suddenly felt the urge to walk to the door and see if the street had returned to normal. If a car happened to pass by, she'd just run out, jump in, and drive away.
N's voice echoed in the void. He was invisible and his warning voice reached my ears directly. "Don't even think about running away. I'm watching you."
Before he could finish his words, something slid over from the ground, from far away to near, and stopped right at Tu Lanxun's feet.
It was the phone she had thrown in the bathroom. Tu Lanxun opened it and found a new photo in the album. It was a side-on shot of her and half of the cash register.
However, the other half was covered by the shelf, along with N, the skull, and even the can of soda belonging to N.
It looked like Tu Lanxun was sitting there alone drinking a drink.
Was this taken by N? He was within her sight the entire time, and he was able to control the phone through the air, making it float over the bathroom door and press the camera button.
As expected, the photo was sent to Tao Si twenty minutes ago. The other party first replied, "Who took this photo for you?", and then said, "You really have the leisure time to take this selfie with time-lapse."
The sending time was exactly the same as the nearest hour. Tu Lanxun pressed the phone to his forehead, and his vision went black.
N had seen her chat list and knew about her agreement with Tao Si. He might even have seen her mobile phone, including downloaded pictures and texts and search history.
In order not to affect the next day's tasks, he eliminated all potential negative factors, including the fact that Tu Lanxun missed the clock-in.
Tu Lanxun replied to Tao Si, explaining that he might fall asleep and not hear the alarm clock, so he might miss a few punch-ins. Tao Si was welcome to call him at any time for spot checks, and he should remember to punch in a few more times.
The reason why I emphasized the possibility is to prevent N from playing for me again. It would be too weird if he sent a selfie of Tu Lanxun sleeping with his eyes closed.
If Tao Si knew that she was really haunted by a ghost, instead of calling the police to save her, he would simply delete her number and default on all debts. If she could survive until tomorrow, she would have to rely on Tao Si's business to make money for a while.
Tu Lanxun went up to the second floor of the convenience store. She had originally bought this store from Tu Penglai because it had a living area upstairs. It was not large, but it looked very much like one of her favorite miniature house crafts, with a house upstairs and a store downstairs, which was bright and warm.
That miniature house with LED lights is probably now placed in the bookcase of a creditor's child.
There was a sofa bed on the second floor. She fell into it and the sofa bed creaked. The quality was not much better than the bed in the rental house.
Tu Lanxun curled up in the blanket and tried to close her eyes. The light pierced through her eyelids, making her feel a little itchy, but she needed this sense of security.
Her thoughts were broken and she had made plans before coming to the convenience store. This place was destined to have no customers, but she could use the convenience store to do something else.
There are two types of online e-commerce in this region: online distribution stores with physical property registration, and purely virtual online stores.
The credit score of the former grows faster and has higher authority. Compared with pure online stores that are easily closed down, physical online stores are not only trusted by buyers, but also will not be blocked by industrial and commercial approval.
The most important thing is that the start-up time is negligible. As long as there is stock, you can make money immediately.
In this way, Tu Lanxun can sell anything she wants as long as it is within the marketing scope of convenience stores, including food, daily necessities, over-the-counter skin care products... and even send packages for a fee.
After silently ticking the last option, Tu Lanxun forced himself to open the calculator. A line of numbers stopped there, which was the minimum starting capital for opening an online store.
One hundred thousand yuan.
How could she take it out now? The balance on the card was only 10%. A headache came over her. Tu Lanxun had to get the remaining 80,000 as soon as possible.
“Tick…tick…”
The strange sound of dripping water rang out again, faintly. Tu Lanxun was enveloped in fatigue and loneliness. Even the glaring light could not stop her, and she finally fell asleep slowly.
She wanted to just sleep like this and never wake up.
“Tick…”
A drop of dusty water fell on the second floor, where N's figure suddenly appeared. He looked at the sofa bed coldly.
The girl was curled up on her side like a cat, with her phone as a pillow. Her cheeks were covered with black curly hair. Her breathing was a little shallow, so she probably wasn't sleeping deeply.
"Click." With a slight sound, the switch popped up automatically and the light went out.
Endless darkness flowed through the room, and at the same second that the dim light came in through the window at night, N's shadow disappeared silently.
Only Tu Lanxun was left curled up on the sofa.
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