5 Chapter 5
◎What's wrong with a hearse? Can a hearse be used to take detours and charge exorbitant fees?◎
Ye Ping'an had just left the market and was about to take a taxi when he encountered this taxi. Probably because of the parking restrictions at the market entrance, they left in a hurry without even opening the trunk.
The interior, like most taxis, was a bit dated. The voicemail sounded like it needed repair, and the onboard advertising screen was cracked, flashing with black and white dots, but overall it was clean. The screen was in an odd position, wedged between the back seats, presumably because it was originally intended to be removed for repair.
As the voice announcement was made, the temperature inside the car seemed to drop suddenly by several degrees.
"Master, your taxi company's name is quite interesting. By the way, remember to use the meter. I need a receipt."
Ye Ping'an didn't even raise his head, busying himself with moving the vegetables and meat that had been loaded onto the car into place.
If you put the meat on the seat, what if the bag leaks and the blood flows out and gets on everything? It would be a big loss to pay hundreds of dollars for car washing.
"Master?" Not hearing any response, Ye Ping'an looked up in confusion.
In the rearview mirror, the middle-aged man's face was pale and ashen. He stared blankly ahead, his hands on the steering wheel, motionless and stiff, as if he were just a decoration.
The streets on both sides of the car window were dark, and the visible buildings were covered with a layer of dark shadows.
The branches of the leafless trees stretched out, jagged and untied, like ghostly hands struggling out of their trunks, reaching toward the center of the road. The streetlights were receding at a breakneck speed, with fewer and fewer lights on, and the entire view flickered, making one dizzy.
Even though he had only been traveling for a day, Ye Pingan could tell that the route was wrong:
I didn't see any of the roadside shops in the university town that I walked past during the day.
"Did the navigation take the wrong route?" Ye Ping'an leaned forward and looked at the phone stuck next to the dashboard in the front row.
The driver's mobile phone screen was also broken into pieces, as if it had been smashed, and only a part of the screen could be barely seen.
The navigation interface is similar to Qiandu, but with black and white as the main color.
Distance to the food street: 44 kilometers. Estimated cost: ...
The words at the end are unclear, vaguely like——
【Passenger x1】.
The moment I saw the screen, the numbers turned blood red, and blood was gushing out of the screen, leaving spider-web-like patterns along the broken glass.
Ye Ping'an looked at the 6-kilometer navigation distance on his mobile phone and became furious.
"Your navigation is awful, right? I was wondering why it wasn't using the meter, and if I didn't, were you planning on going around Jiang City three times? I know you taxi drivers are always taking detours and charging extra fares, but this is outrageous. If you don't change the navigation to use the meter, I'm calling 12328 to complain!"
call--
The air conditioner seemed to be on in the car, and a gust of cold wind blew.
Sizzle, sizzle.
The car's advertising screen flickered for a long time, then suddenly a block of color appeared. Before the image could be clearly seen, the sound of a news broadcast could be heard from inside.
"On the day of Qingming Festival, a chain reaction accident occurred on the diversion section of the Jiangshi Expressway exit. Drivers are advised to avoid the scene and take detours. It is reported that the accident was caused by a delivery driver who was driving while fatigued while delivering food at the exit. One electric scooter, three taxis, a small van, and a medium-sized bus were involved. Emergency treatment is currently underway, and some have been confirmed dead..."
As the news was broadcast, the blurred black and white outline of a human face flickered on the screen, framed by the black border of the advertising screen, like a fragmented portrait.
The light blood color on the edges of the glass fragments became darker and darker, turning into blood spots, like a pair of cold eyes, staring at the passengers.
The destination displayed on the driver's phone changed quietly.
[Distance to death ahead: 44 kilometers.]
Ye Ping'an was somewhat speechless. "You need to fix that broken advertising screen. Why are you broadcasting the Qingming Festival news now? Driver, you also know to drive safely."
In order to avoid a car accident like the one reported in the news, Ye Ping'an did not directly grab the driver and ask for an explanation.
She held up her phone's navigation screen in one hand and slapped the complaint phone number posted on the edge of the screen with the other, making a loud clatter. "If you don't know the way, just use my navigation. If you charge a lot of money, you'll get a refund or double the price. If you complain to the relevant authorities, expect to be fined and shut down!"
The screen image was poked and became even more distorted, with blurred blocks of color sometimes sunken and sometimes raised, and gradually a complete human face emerged.
His face was pale and his skull was abnormally sunken, as if he had experienced a severe collision and had lost all his blood.
A pale ghost face grew on the seat, with its neck stretched out like a snake, approaching Ye Ping'an little by little.
Ye Ping'an grabbed the backrest of the front seat and focused on reasoning with the driver, completely unaware of the strange figure beside him.
"Die die die die die..." The news report got stuck on the last word, and the voice became distorted, thin and sharp, like the scream of a ghost taking its life.
The ghost face got closer and closer, almost touching Ye Ping'an's back.
A slight stench of decay spread throughout the car, barely noticeable amid the earthy smell of fresh meat, blood, and vegetables.
Ye Ping'an sniffed, "What's that smell?"
When she turned around, she was face to face with a large pale face.
The driver's face began to sag, and dark red corpse spots appeared on his skin.
His eyes tilted slightly, and he changed from peeking out of the corner of his eye to staring straight at Ye Ping'an, who seemed to be haunted by a ghost face in the rearview mirror, and a malicious smile appeared on his face.
What awaits this daring passenger is terror, collapse, and a complete death.
Ye Ping'an and the pale-faced man, who had put on who knows how many pounds of powder, stared at each other.
The facial features of the ghost face were distorted and misplaced, and its empty and dead pupils stared at her, with tears of blood slowly flowing from its eyes.
Those who see it inexplicably feel an illusion, as if it belongs here, and they themselves are a part of it. Whether it is fear or life, they will eventually embark on this endless journey together.
Ye Ping'an slapped it on the forehead and pushed it away, glaring at the driver.
"You're not happy with what I've said to you, so you're scaring people with an inflatable toy?"
The pale ghost's neck was completely stretched out, and the whole car made a loud noise as the engine struggled to start, but it still couldn't resist Ye Ping'an's gentle push.
In the blink of an eye, the ghost face was flattened like a long balloon and embedded back into the middle of the seat.
The driver's spine seemed to collapse, and his eyes instantly turned back stiffly. The deathly look that was emerging on him disappeared, as if nothing had happened.
"No wonder you're in such a hurry to pick up passengers, but you won't let me use the trunk once I'm in the car. Is this something your family or another passenger brought along, and secretly hid it ahead of time? Ride-sharing and taxi-hailing are not the same price!"
Ye Pingan rolled his eyes. "Your company is called Hearse, and you really dare to do anything. Scaring people, randomly sharing rides, charging random fees... It's simply lawless."
"What's wrong with a hearse? Can a hearse take a detour and charge exorbitant fees?"
Ye Pingan impatiently reached over the front seat backrest and forced his phone against the driver's face, "I've turned on the navigation for you. Drive back to where you took the detour, or I'll file a complaint and have the matter rectified!"
The vehicle suddenly began to shake as if it was going over a series of speed bumps, clanging and clanging as if it was about to fall apart at any time.
The driver's phone made a clicking sound, a puff of black smoke came out, and the blood-red blocks that seeped out flowed back, turning the screen completely black.
The phone screen shook along with the driver, like a slap in the face, and the deathly paleness on his pale face faded a little.
The driver sat stiffly, his arms seemed to have a will of their own as he slowly turned the steering wheel and began to move along the route displayed on Ye Ping'an's phone screen.
The increasingly dark car window gradually brightened up, with tiny lights lighting up between the tall buildings. The familiar sound of traffic faintly came from outside the window, and the oddly shaped trees on the roadside seemed to be just shadows that were seen incorrectly while driving.
Seeing the familiar shops appear outside the window, Ye Ping'an withdrew his gaze with relief and immediately noticed the mezzanine under the dashboard in front of him.
Half of a wad of money was shaken out, and she quickly reached out and pulled it away.
huff—
A heavy exhaust sound echoed from under the car, and the driver trembled all over. He turned his head slowly and stiffly, his eyes tilted, staring at Ye Pingan from the corner of his eyes.
Click, click.
With a teeth-grinding friction sound, its head turned almost 180 degrees.
Before turning around completely, Ye Ping'an shoved his phone in the driver's face again.
"Why are you looking at me? Look at the road. There are thousands of roads, but safety comes first. Didn't you see the car accident on the news just now?"
Ye Ping'an was very confident. He pushed the driver's face away and counted the money by himself.
A stack of money of varying denominations was held together by a clip.
Ye Ping'an opened his wallet and counted out three times the estimated taxi fare. After a moment's thought, he took out two more hundred-yuan bills. He re-folded the remaining one-yuan bills and threw them back where they belonged.
With the money in his hand, Ye Pingan finally calmed down and patted the back of the front seat:
"You're such an adult, yet you're still so arrogant. You're shaking like this. Wouldn't it be fine if you just drove normally earlier? I'm not robbing you. You're trying to steal money by not using the meter. I'm a law-abiding citizen, but I'm not as heartless as you. I'll calculate the fare based on the estimated fare on my phone. I'll refund you double the fare as I was told. I won't take a cent more from you.
"Oh, these two hundred yuan are my compensation for mental damage and ride-sharing. Is that okay with you?"
The car, which had been shaking for the second half of the journey, squeaked to a stop.
The car door clicked and opened automatically, opening as wide as possible. The more I looked at it, the more impatient I became.
In the evening, rows of street lights were on, and the open car door faced the restaurant sign.
"Huh? We're here already? I thought the detour would make us even later. The driver drives so fast. Wait for me, I'll unload the goods and get off the truck."
The notification sign at the intersection has been repaired, but the warning about counterfeit currency is still scrolling.
Ye Ping'an took a glimpse and quickly checked the compensation he had just received carefully under the light.
Fortunately, they are all real coins.
Ye Pingan breathed a sigh of relief, carrying some bags and getting out of the car. He casually greeted as he walked, "Master, have you had dinner yet? Why don't you come in and have something to eat before you leave? It's an opening promotion, and there are discounts for new customers."
After placing the bag steadily on the steps, Ye Ping'an turned around to pick up a few other bags of vegetables and meat.
When I looked back, there was no sign of the car on the road.
All that remained were neatly stacked bags, as if they had been moved directly from the car.
Ye Pingan was confused. "Why are you running so fast? I'm not going to eat you."
【Author’s words】
Drifting hearse, get home at top speed√
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