Chapter 17

... I'm going to die.

The moment she led the man to sit at the table, Xu Ming had a thought in her mind. She

was careless. She shouldn't have let the other person in. She was not feeling well now, and she didn't have a cell phone. If something happened, she couldn't even call the police... She didn't confirm the other person's identity either. What if he was a scammer... But, how to say it? Sometimes when people get excited, they really don't have that much brains. At least Xu Ming can be sure that when she saw the leaf pattern on the other person's business card through the cat's eye, her brain was offline for a few seconds. ... But it's too late to think about these things now. Xu Ming forced herself to cheer herself up, and took a look at the business card handed over by the other party. Shi Mian. The unit he belongs to is "Anxin Gardening Co., Ltd." and his position is salesperson. But if you turn the business card over, you will see another line of words on the back. [Trim your worries and guard your soul. We trim any weirdness and listen to any uneasiness.] The words "灵" (spiritual) and "异" (different) are printed in different colors, which looks particularly eye-catching and full of hints. - But this is not the point. The point is that both sides of its business card are printed with emerald green leaf patterns; this is exactly the reason why Xu Ming was so excited just now. Xu Ming stared at the pattern and was silent for a moment. On the other side, Shi Mian had already opened the folder with a friendly smile on his face. "Thank you for trusting me. Then next, please allow me to introduce myself again. "My name is Shi Mian, you have seen the business card. But in fact, the scope of our business is very wide, including some supernatural aspects... "I know that you have just experienced some incredible things. If it is convenient, can you talk to me about it?" "..." Xu Ming rubbed his forehead helplessly, "What to talk about?" "Let's start with your experience in the ghost story... I mean, that supernatural place!" Shi Mian said immediately, "I know that this part of the experience may include some things that you yourself can't believe and confirm... But it doesn't matter, just tell me what you remember, and it's okay if you don't remember clearly, I will listen." "..." Xu Ming didn't know whether he should tell her that he actually remembered it very clearly. But since the other party said so, she was happy to save herself the trouble. So Xu Ming started talking directly, cutting out the beginning and the end and omitting the key points to talk about his experience in Hongqiang. When he encountered something he didn't want to talk about or was too lazy to talk about, he just said that he couldn't remember it clearly. The main thing he did was to be perfunctory. Because many parts were too vague, Shi Mian's smile gradually faded. "So... later, for some reason that you couldn't explain, you ran into a hidden room in a daze, and then you found a way out in a daze..." She rubbed her head and looked at the notes in her hand with a headache: "Well, then what? In addition to the escape method that you can't remember, did you see anything else?" After speaking, she saw Xu Ming's expression on the opposite side, and then frowned. Shi Mian just thought she couldn't remember it again, and waved her hand in understanding. "It doesn't matter, just forget it if you can't remember. It's normal to have a vague memory, most people are like this after escaping, you don't have to worry..." "I also saw the diary." Before she finished speaking, Xu Ming spoke again. "..." Shi Mian stopped moving and looked over in surprise. On the other side, Xu Ming had already continued to talk to himself, his voice was a little tense: "A dead person... no, it should be said that it is the diary of the soul. "She and her companions had been trying to save people in that place before. "They are all dead, and they don't have to worry about anything. But they still tried their best to try to save every living person who entered there..." - Stupid. Xu Ming said while hammering his head madly in his heart. She shouldn't mention these now. She had been vague about many key points before, but now she suddenly gave such a detailed retelling, which would definitely make people suspicious; and the person on the other side might not take it seriously; maybe she would just take out something to erase her memory to silence her like the man in black... But Xu Ming still couldn't help it. Just like when he let this person in before, some things are out of control once you get excited. Although she knew that some things might not get a response even if she said them, and some things were meaningless to think about, the voice still couldn't help but come out from her heart and bones: "...So later, they were all gone. Because they lost the support of the prop, they could no longer continue to fight against Hongqiang and the invader." She took a deep breath and looked at the person opposite her seriously: "And the person who took their props in the name of salvation held a business card with a leaf pattern on it, and claimed to be an 'insider'. That's it." "..." After the voice fell, the person opposite her widened his eyes slightly. After a while, he whispered: "So, what you mean is..." Xu Ming: "..." After these words came out, Xu Ming was a little stiff. Because to be honest, she didn't know what she meant? She just got carried away for a while and wanted to talk about this; but what about after that? What else could she do? Ask the other party to explain this matter? Or use this to show her unwillingness to cooperate? Or ask them to apologize to the deceased souls? Xu Ming didn't think so much. She only knew that there was a small flame in her heart, but she didn't know where this fire should burn. Xu Ming fell into silence. After a while, she spoke softly: "I have been taught since I was a child that life is not easy, and I must cherish every bit of kindness I encounter, no matter where it comes from. All kindness and justice are worth remembering and being grateful for. "So it's really hard for me not to care about this matter. It seems to me that it is very difficult to accept that the selfless kindness of a group of souls is discarded just to gain a little benefit from them. If this is true..." " If this is true. "Shi Mian said calmly, "It is inevitable that this will create a bad impression on the relevant organizations."

"..." Xu Ming looked up in surprise, and Shi Mian responded with a helpless smile, "Okay, I understand."

...You don't understand, what do you understand?

"I will do my best to investigate this matter." Shi Mian said seriously, "Although I can't guarantee that I can find anything...but I will try my best to give you an answer."

Xu Ming: "..."

The other party's tone was so serious that Xu Ming himself was a little confused. After a moment of silence, Fang found his voice again:

"Well, what I said just now may be a little impulsive... I don't have to answer or anything, after all, I'm not the person involved..."

"No. I think it's necessary." Shi Mian interrupted her, "I agree with you that all kindness deserves to be remembered. An organization that doesn't take kindness seriously is indeed difficult to be recognized."

"That's why you have been perfunctory to me just now."

Xu Ming: "..."

"Being able to recite such a long diary in full, your memory of other things should not be so confusing." Shi Mian exhaled, "Why not make another agreement."

"I will give you an answer as soon as possible about the girl who stole the props. If you are satisfied with the answer I give, let's make another appointment to talk about your experience in Hongqiang, okay?"

...

Xu Ming pursed his lips slightly, but did not agree directly: "Can I ask, the reason why you are asking about this kind of thing..."

"The same purpose as those souls, to save people." Shi Mian did not hesitate, "The more you know, the safer the people who come later will be."

"But you don't have to feel pressured. I said that we can continue to cooperate after you recognize us. Now you are half-believing and half-doubting, you dare to say it, but I dare not listen."

"..." Xu Ming took a deep breath, and finally nodded, "Okay, I promise you."

"Then it's settled!" Shi Mian smiled and quickly turned the page of the document in her hand. "Let's skip this part first. Next, I have a few other questions to ask you..."

...

"Several" questions, but there were actually only two.

One was about Xu Ming's current mental state, whether he had symptoms such as nightmares or hallucinations, or PTSD - not only that, she also provided a phone number, saying that if necessary, he could go to them for psychological counseling at any time, and even choose hypnosis to forget the terrible experience in Hongqiang.

The other question made Xu Ming a little confused.

- Shi Mian seriously inquired about her understanding of Lao Li, in detail in every aspect. She also specifically asked whether Lao Li had mentioned any special experiences or some subtle changes in the days before the accident.

Xu Ming usually didn't communicate much with his colleagues, so he really couldn't answer anything in this regard. The other party didn't continue to ask questions. Seeing that Xu Ming was not feeling well, he quickly got up and said goodbye.

Before leaving, he pointed at Xu Ming's bag and said with a smile: "Your bag is quite nice, pink and unique."

"..." Xu Ming glanced at the bag that was about to be stained red by the blood, and wisely didn't say a word.

After sending Shi Mian out the door, she turned around and took some cooling oil to apply on her head, thinking while applying.

"Sure enough, the key lies in Lao Li?" She murmured unconsciously, "But everyone is dead, why are they still asking these questions?"

"I guess it's to study the transmission method."

A cold voice suddenly came from the corner. Xu Ming turned his head and saw the whale man twisting and turning to roll out from under the bed.

When he met his eyes, he obviously froze for a moment, but soon adjusted himself, continued to twist and turn forward, and sat down on the weight scale that Xu Ming placed in the corner.

"..." Silently feeling distressed for his weight scale, Xu Ming said directly, "Please tell me in detail."

"I won't. If I tell you in too much detail, it will make me seem worthless." The whale man spoke without disguising himself, and it was obvious that he had made up his mind to use the information gap as a means to save his life.

Xu Ming was silent for a moment, then turned around and took out the air conditioner remote control from the drawer, and began to adjust the temperature.

"Hey, no, no!" The whale man jumped up immediately. Because he was too excited, two long legs suddenly grew out of his feet. The whole person looked like a Arctic hare that suddenly stood up - of course not that cute.

"No, no ...

"I don't know how much humans know, but for non-humans, this is not a great knowledge point." It cleared its throat and said slowly, "The influence of strange stories is spread by non-humans."

"..." Xu Ming frowned, "I know that."

"It's so funny, what do you know..." The blubber man instinctively began to sneer again, and when he met Xu Ming's gaze, he instantly wilted, "What I mean is that you may not understand it very thoroughly."

"The non-humans I am talking about actually include two parts. The former include but are not limited to dead people holding roots, and mutated roots; the latter is more pure, referring only to dead people.

"Only dead people can pull living people into the strange story area. But which specific strange story he will be dragged into depends on which seed was planted in him before he died. "The whale fat man said quietly, "Aren't you wondering why those normal people can also enter Hongqiang? The reason is actually very simple."

"Because the seed of Hongqiang was planted in Lao Li before he died - perhaps when he was studying that strange story, or perhaps when he kept thinking about this matter. And when he died, the seed sprouted.

"It was planted in Lao Li's soul, leading his soul to Hongqiang. And in this process, his wandering soul came into contact with you again..." "

So we followed him into Hongqiang." Xu Ming murmured.

She then remembered another thing. When working overtime that day, Qiu Yufei complained that the air conditioner in the office was too cool.

...But if you think about it carefully, it's only the end of April now. Who would turn on the air conditioner for no reason?

It is true that the temperature will become cold when some spirits appear.

"Anyway, that's what it means." The blubber man stretched lazily and waved his hands casually, "So from a human perspective, this matter is actually quite difficult to control." "

So many people die every day in this world, how do you know who has been planted with seeds and who hasn't? So many souls are floating around aimlessly, how do you know where they are going, who they will contact and who they will affect on the way? Not to mention, some guys just like to fish in troubled waters and help spread all kinds of weird stories... Who can control this?"

"Help spread?" Xu Ming sat up straight unconsciously, "Why?"

"There are so many reasons." The whale man sneered, "Find fun, find supplements, find targets... Some want to enter a certain strange story but can't, so they can only cast a wide net and wait for others to pave the way for them; some regard the strange story as their own symbiont, and while helping it find prey, they also get a share of the pie..."

"There are many people with bad intentions in this world, and there are even more inhuman people with bad intentions. Who can you control?"

"..."

Xu Ming wanted to say you, but then he changed his mind and swallowed the words back silently.

This thing is weird, who knows how much of its performance is true and how much of it is false. Maybe it is just deliberately showing weakness now, waiting for a counterattack at some point.

In short, you can't let your guard down.

After making this clear again, Xu Ming's eyes changed slightly. Combined with Shi Mian's inquiry, some things suddenly became easy to understand:

Just like what the whale fat man said, it is currently impossible to determine whether humans understand the mechanism of this strange story that attracts people. But they must have known that the main problem lies with Lao Li. He asked so carefully, probably because he wanted to find out what exactly affected Lao Li and made him inadvertently become a secondary spreader and guide of strange stories.

If he could figure it out, maybe he could stop new people from entering the strange story area...

and so on.

Xu Ming suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"Hey, you said before that some abnormal beings will spread seeds in order to enter specific strange stories." She frowned and looked at the blubber man, "What if humans want to enter a specific strange story? Is there any special method?" "

I don't know about this. I only know that if humans pay attention, they can also hitchhike with the dead." The blubber man temporarily pinched out two small hands for himself and spread them to both sides in a serious manner, "But it's hard to say. After all, humans still have things like rule books, maybe they can use them to research some unique methods."

"Like this time, we were able to find out about the Hongqiang strange story so quickly, and we were able to lock on to a few of you, most likely because of that thing."

"Rule book..." Xu Ming pursed his lips, thoughtfully, "Is it just this?"

"What else? Rely on science? Or cannons?" The blubber man sneered, "It's good to have a rule book. The boundary between order and disorder is not so easy to cross."

"But this is also a new thing that has only appeared a few years ago... Humans probably still have some time to explore it."

- Only appeared a few years ago?

Catching the subtle words in the other party's words again, Xu Ming's eyebrows moved slightly, and he put back the used cooling oil. Just when he was about to say something, his movements suddenly froze.

...She took the cooling oil from the storage cabinet. Next to the cabinet is the wardrobe. In order to facilitate access, the cabinet door was not closed.

Therefore, Xu Ming saw it very clearly - inside the wardrobe, under a row of clothes, there was clearly an extra pair of shoes.

A pair of black rubber rain boots.

"..."

Her face changed slightly, she carefully approached, grabbed the clothes in the middle, and suddenly pushed it aside!

But she saw that the back of the clothes was empty. There was nothing.

Even the rain boots were gone.

There were only two circles of red shoe prints on the bottom of the cabinet.

"Oh... by the way. Since we will be rounded up and counted as tied in the future, let me tell you one more thing."

Behind her, the voice of the whale man came again:

"The roots can be used as nourishment for the rule book. Conversely, the rule book is also something worthy of covetousness for some beings.

"It's okay if they don't find it. If they find it... you can only wish you good luck."

Xu Ming: "..."

After staring at the empty cabinet for a while again, she sighed softly.

"I know, thank you for the reminder. "

After saying that, he quickly pulled his clothes back on.

*

In the days that followed, everything seemed to have returned to normal.

As Shi Mian promised, she did not come to see Xu Ming again. She just sent a text message occasionally to inquire about Xu Ming's condition.

As far as Xu Ming knew, all the other living people who were trapped in Hongqiang that night were visited at home without exception - just like her, mainly to inquire about Lao Li's information, intelligence in the strange stories, and to persuade them to get psychological counseling or hypnosis.

Xiao Wang is said to have chosen hypnosis, wanting to forget all memories of that night; Hei Zai and Shuiyou made an appointment for psychological counseling. Jiayi has not made any moves for the time being. On the one hand, she is still on guard and struggling, and on the other hand, she is busy resigning.

In the past few days, most of them have resigned. She and Qiu Yufei are interns, but they left more cleanly. Shuiyou got a medical record from somewhere and successfully ran away. Only Jiayi is left. The boss is trying hard to persuade her and refuses to let her go. The big cake he drew is almost a thousand-layer cake.

As a result, Yuan Jiayi is now insulted and cursed in the group every day.

——This was a small group that Yuan Jiayi temporarily created on the night they escaped in order to check on everyone's condition. Except for Xiao Wang who automatically left the group after confirming that he was going for hypnosis, the rest of the people are still there.

Now it has become a place where everyone chats and talks nonsense every day. Out of some subtle tacit understanding, since that night, few people have taken the initiative to mention the topic of Hongqiang.

"...Come to think of it, I wanted to ask before."

Carefully lifting the lid of the self-heating hot pot in front of him, Xu Ming casually took out a tissue to wipe his hands, then picked up the new mobile phone and put it in front of Qiu Yufei opposite.

"What's the matter with this group name? Who came up with it? "

On the screen, it was the small group created by Yuan Jiayi. At the top was a line of small words:

[Strange Talk Demolition Office·Beiwan Branch※]

"..." Qiu Yufei glanced at her, smiled embarrassedly, picked up the chopsticks and went to pick up the beef brisket in the hot pot, "This is really none of my business, it should be Sister Jiayi's own idea."

Xu Ming: "...Then can you explain what you meant by patting?"

As she said, she found Qiu Yufei's avatar and tapped it twice. A line of words immediately popped up on the screen:

[You patted Qiu Yufei on the shoulder and said Director Xu is looking for you]

...

Just ask who is Director Xu!

God knows, now that she is in the group, some people line up to shout "Hello, Director" as if jokingly, even Sister Jiayi followed suit, and I don't know what she wants to do.

"Well, I just suddenly thought of it when I saw the name of the group... You came up with this unit, so of course you are the director." Qiu Yufei put a piece of beef brisket in her bowl to please her, "Don't worry, only people in the group understand this joke. No one cares."

Xu Ming: "..." Aren't the key points about these people in the group?

Pursing his lips, Xu Ming put down his phone unhappily, lowered his head and picked up two chopsticks of vermicelli from the bowl, and suddenly changed the subject:

"So what are your plans? Aren't you going to receive psychological counseling?" "

Of course I don't need it!" Qiu Yufei looked at her with wide eyes, "I'm in a good mental state now."

"Anyway, everything is over, just think of it as a trip to a haunted house. Let me tell you, I've been brushing sweet potatoes these two days, and some haunted house scenes are even more terrifying than that."

Qiu Yufei said, and exhaled softly: "Anyway, I can't hand over my mental health to outsiders. Hypnosis and the like, just listening to it makes people feel creepy."

"Where is the staff member who was in contact with you?" Xu Ming asked curiously, "He didn't continue to promote this to you."

"Not really." Qiu Yufei shook her head, "but I always feel that the guy's attitude towards me is a bit weird..."

Xu Ming: "?"

"That's right, he doesn't seem to be very straightforward in what he says, and he beats around the bush, and he seems to be testing me..." Qiu Yufei didn't know how to express it, "Just like our college counselor."

"Oh." Xu Ming reacted, "A self-righteous shrewd person."

"Yeah, that kind!" Qiu Yufei nodded frantically, "The feeling of not saying it clearly and then trying hard to hint at things - it's so similar!"

The worst thing is, he really seems to think that Qiu Yufei can understand his hints... but she really can't understand!

Xu Minglai became interested: "So, what did he hint to you?"

"Just that, saying things like 'people like us' and 'I know it's not easy for you' all the time, very strange."

Qiu Yufei pouted and suddenly heard a loud ringing sound from outside the window - she walked to the window curiously and saw two old ladies in strange robes walking around in the open space downstairs, shaking big bells.

"What are they doing?" She couldn't help but tilt her head, "Is it some new form of square dance?"

"It's a ritual." Xu Ming also walked over, folded his arms and looked down, "It should be invited by some owner, right?"

Qiu Yufei: ...? ? ?

"Ritual?" She suddenly became nervous. "Why do you need to perform a ritual?"

"It's because of a ghost." Xu Ming shrugged. "It's said that it's because of this."

She didn't know the details, but the owners' group has been talking about this kind of thing recently - saying that someone in the building next door has seen strange shadows in the past two days, or heard the ghostly barking of dogs, and someone found a garbage bag soaked with blood in the corner of the elevator. There are even people who swear that they have seen a man with a travel bag when they go home for three consecutive nights, and there is a whimpering sound coming from the bag from time to time, like a woman crying.

"Didn't Chengnan solve a serial murder case before the New Year? It took two years to catch the murderer." Xu Ming said, "Some people are wondering if it's the murderer's ghost that has come here."

"Oh, that's too scary." Qiu Yufei couldn't help rubbing her arms, "What about you? You have more experience, what do you think?"

"It's hard to say." Xu Ming said honestly, "I did feel something, but the origin can't be determined..."

To be honest, she can feel something 365 days a year - but most of the time she is immersed in her own world, unable to communicate and have no influence on each other.

The only thing that concerned her was the blood stains on her bag and the rain boots that suddenly appeared that day.

But she only saw these two with her own eyes. I never got to touch more things. As for the big bag man and bloody garbage bag mentioned in the owner group, I have never seen them...

Xu Ming was thinking, and he glanced down inadvertently, and suddenly he said "eh".

"The man downstairs is so strange."

"Huh?" Qiu Yufei was investigating the dismemberment case, and raised her head when she heard it, "Which one?"

"The man, the one carrying a big bag..." Xu Ming said softly, frowning unconsciously.

Qiu Yufei exclaimed, and kept looking down: "Man? Where is he? Aren't there two old ladies downstairs?"

...?

Xu Ming was startled, and looked down again, and saw the man downstairs raised his head.

It was a ragged man, with long hair covering his eyes and a hunched back. When he raised his face, Xu Ming could see clearly that he had no lips.

His teeth and gums were exposed, and the muscles around them were pulling, making a smile-like movement. The snakeskin bag on his back suddenly twisted violently, as if it had sensed something and got excited. Then

, the man raised his black fingers and counted up layer by layer -

all the way to the layer where Xu Ming was.

Then he showed a more obvious smile, and his mouth opened and closed.

He said, I found you.

Haha.