Chapter 53#
The Storyteller (Part 5)#
Huaicheng, Jiahe Shopping Mall.
Luo Xingyan, wearing a baseball cap and sucking on a lollipop, took the escalator from the second floor to the first. The interior of the mall was spacious and bright. He wore a short-sleeved shirt, revealing his muscular, wheat-colored arms, and casually grabbed a mall cleaner.
“Excuse me, how do I get to the underground parking lot?”
The cleaner was startled by his amber cat-like eyes: “Go, go straight and turn right, there are stairs.”
“Oh, thanks.”
Luo Xingyan’s initial mission was to go to the Third Hospital. Tianshu indicated that there were fluctuations of an A-rank anomaly’s spiritual value at the Third People’s Hospital of Huaicheng. But when Luo Xingyan arrived, the fluctuations had disappeared. Using fireflies to track the faint aura, he finally found this mall.
Luo Xingyan called the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs while walking down the stairs.
“Why hasn’t a mobile A-rank anomaly been discovered after lurking in Huaicheng for so long? Did you guys not notice anything unusual before?”
“No.” Cheng Ze smiled bitterly: “Senior Luo, the only A-rank anomaly mission Huaicheng has received in the past ten years is the Fetus Girl.”
Huaicheng is one of the economic centers of China. For such an international metropolis with a huge flow of people, the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs monitors the surrounding areas very strictly. After all, if a high-level anomaly with destructive power appeared in the center of a city with tens of millions of people, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Previously, the King of Stories split the Fetus Girl’s power to evade Tianshu’s detection and transport it to Huaicheng.
Luo Xingyan’s teeth were very strong; he easily bit the lollipop, candy and stick alike, into powder and swallowed it.
Crunch. Crunch.
Cheng Ze flipped through the documents and said: “Oh right, Senior, I retrieved some documents from the government. The Jiahe Shopping Mall you went to was built on the original site of the Chengen Gynecological Hospital. The current underground parking lot of the mall is actually the former, uh, morgue of Chengen Hospital.”
“…”
Morgue turned into a parking lot.
Luo Xingyan rolled his eyes: “Your Urban Construction Bureau is quite interesting.”
Cheng Ze also found it outrageous and smiled awkwardly: “I have other things to do here, so I won’t disturb you. Senior, take your time investigating.”
“Okay.”
Luo Xingyan walked around the mall and didn’t see many people.
In the dim and cold parking lot, just as he was about to reach the end, he suddenly heard a woman’s sincere and enthusiastic thanks: “Thank you, Dr. Liang. I really didn’t expect to meet you here. Thank you so much. I just got my driver’s license and I’m still a bit unskilled at parking. Thank you for helping me.”
A man’s gentle voice sounded: “It’s okay.”
In front of a car ahead, there was a man and a woman.
The woman had golden curly hair and wore a red dress.
The man wore a white coat and glasses, looking like a doctor.
Luo Xingyan stared fixedly at that man.
The woman looked at the time and said apologetically: “Sorry, Dr. Liang, my appointment time is almost up. I have to go. I’ll thank you properly next time.”
Dr. Liang smiled gently: “Okay, see you next time.”
The woman smiled and nodded, holding her bag, and left in her high heels.
Luo Xingyan leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, watching everything silently from the side.
Dr. Liang took out his car keys and walked to his car door. Sensing a scrutinizing gaze, he turned around in surprise.
Luo Xingyan smiled, revealing two small canine teeth.
“Dr. Liang, right? I’m from the Huaicheng Police Station. I have something to ask you.”
Jiahe Shopping Mall, first floor, coffee shop.
Dr. Liang sat opposite Luo Xingyan, looking a bit uneasy. He had no experience dealing with the police, especially facing someone with such a strong aura like Luo Xingyan.
Dr. Liang’s fingers tightly gripped his suit pants, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. He spoke with difficulty: “Officer Luo, I live in Jingang Community. Jiahe Shopping Mall is on my way home from work. I just stopped by to buy some things.”
Luo Xingyan: “Buy what?”
Dr. Liang smiled bitterly: “Some daily necessities. The things are in my car, do you want to see them?”
Luo Xingyan changed the subject: “Dr. Liang works at the Third People’s Hospital of Huaicheng?”
Dr. Liang nodded: “Yes.”
Luo Xingyan smiled without humor: “That’s a coincidence. The Third Hospital of Huaicheng has received quite a few special patients in recent months. I wonder if Dr. Liang has any impression. A child who had a car accident on the highway, a teenager hospitalized for depression due to rumors, and an old man beaten into the hospital by his own son.”
Luo Xingyan didn’t say it.
Behind each of these three people, there was a murder case involved.
The truck driver who drove at night without looking at the road was blinded, the butcher who slandered the neighbor’s son had his tongue cut out, and the man who selfishly kicked his father down the stairs lost both his legs.
“Does Dr. Liang know about these people?”
Dr. Liang’s face turned pale. He was silent for a long time before smiling bitterly: “Sorry, Officer Luo, I am an obstetrician. The gynecology building of the Third Hospital is a bit remote. Of the ones you mentioned, I only know about that teenager because he committed suicide by jumping off the building in the hospital.”
Luo Xingyan glanced at him and stopped talking.
Dr. Liang looked uneasy: “Officer Luo, I rarely have a day off today. I want to hurry back and cook for my daughter. Do you have anything else to ask?”
Luo Xingyan: “You can go.”
Dr. Liang breathed a sigh of relief: “Okay, thank you.”
Although he let Dr. Liang go, Luo Xingyan’s suspicion didn’t diminish at all.
Andrew told him about the three deceased. Andrew, the good old man, as long as it didn’t involve the interests of that crown prince, had a pretty good relationship with their Bureau of Paranormal Affairs.
Andrew also said that the young master asked him to investigate these. Luo Xingyan immediately went on high alert.
Things that Ning Weichen would intervene in couldn’t be simple.
Although this crown prince failed his first mission carelessly, the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs had dealt with him for many years and knew how terrifying this heir was.
Back in the parking lot, Dr. Liang got into his car and rubbed his eyebrows wearily. He had many surgeries these days, busy day and night, and didn’t even have time to check his phone. He just wanted to send a text message to his daughter.
Logging into WeChat, he first received a message from his daughter.
[Dad, I’m participating in an adventure activity called Luohu Mystery. I won’t be home for these four days.]
Dr. Liang smiled bitterly, helpless about his daughter’s obsession with paranormal adventures.
He replied “Okay” and added “Stay safe”.
Below Liang Qingqing’s message was the Third Hospital’s work group. An emergency department doctor said.
[Everyone, do you remember the girl from Huaicheng Jiaotong University who was sent to the hospital a few days ago and died of poisoning after failed rescue attempts? The autopsy results showed that the poison in the girl actually had a 12-hour onset period. She had been struggling and calling for help before she died. So pitiful, so young. If only someone passing by had heard her call for help.]
Dr. Liang, having a daughter still in college, couldn’t bear to see such news and also sent a “So pitiful”.
He felt a bit uncomfortable on his neck. While waiting for the green light, he reached back and pulled out a long, pale golden hair from the back of his neck.
Dr. Liang thought it must have gotten on him when he was helping with parking.
*
Ye Sheng volunteered to play the Mirror Ghost game, but Xia Wenshi whimpered in disagreement.
“Xiao Ye wuwuwu, without you, how can this room full of people survive.”
Ye Sheng: “…”
Ye Sheng: “……”
Boss, is there something wrong with your brain today?
His indifferent eyes expressed his disdain vividly.
Brother Hu pulled Xia Wenshi back to stop him from embarrassing himself further: “Stop howling. If you don’t let Xiao Ye go, are you going to play the Mirror Ghost game?”
Xia Wenshi didn’t have the guts, whimpered, and shut his mouth.
“Then I’ll go first.” Ye Sheng was not used to speaking in crowded environments except during investigations, so he turned and left.
Ning Weichen followed with a smile.
Watching Ye Sheng’s retreating figure, Qi Lan finally spoke: “Ye Sheng really has a unique personality.”
Xia Wenshi sniffled: “Yeah, you just realized?”
Qi Lan shook her head: “You used to say Xiao Ye was cold on the outside and warm on the inside. I preconceived that Xiao Ye would be very enthusiastic once we got familiar. Now it seems that Xiao Ye’s cold outside and warm inside should be: although he looks like he doesn’t care about anyone, he will still care about whether we live or die.”
Xia Wenshi blinked in confusion: “Yeah, isn’t that enough?”
Qi Lan: “…” She suddenly knew why the Scare You Jump Haunted House could be so harmonious.
Because everyone is big-hearted.
The boss is big-hearted, the employees are big-hearted.
So everyone is happy and harmonious.
Ye Sheng was not the kind of person who would be easily moved by kindness, nor was he someone who would naturally become friends after getting along for a long time.
He had deeply suppressed indifference, hostility, and irritability. Such a person was used to doing everything alone—because companions would not bring help and company, but only additional suspicion and constant vigilance.
In this way, the only person Ye Sheng treated specially seemed to be his “classmate”.
While going down the stairs.
Ning Weichen was a little curious and smiled: “Brother, can the Mirror Ghost really see the past and present life?”
Ye Sheng looked at him warily: “What do you want to say?”
Ning Weichen blinked: “Aren’t you curious about our past, ex-boyfriend?”
Ye Sheng had stayed with Ning Weichen for a long time, and his psychological endurance had grown rapidly. Now hearing the words “ex-boyfriend”, his expression didn’t change: “Didn’t you say it was a dream yourself? What am I curious about?”
Ning Weichen smiled lightly: “But I still hope that in the mirror, I can see what you looked like before.”
“…I hope so too.”
But thinking about it, it’s impossible.
A scary game created by a B-rank anomaly to collect fear values, if it could really reflect Ning Weichen’s “past and present life”, then the Ning family and the Bureau of Paranormal Affairs could stop playing.
He wouldn’t need to track any mercy of god either.
The Mirror Ghost game required one person to enter the bathroom.
“Brother, you first or me first?” Ning Weichen asked.
Ye Sheng said lightly: “Me first. You wait outside, don’t go in until I come out.”
Ning Weichen smiled slightly: “Okay, I’ll listen to Brother.”
Actually, Ye Sheng didn’t intend to let Ning Weichen play this ghost game at all. He could solve everything by entering the mirror himself. He had long been used to acting alone. So he didn’t know why he let Ning Weichen follow him.
…Like a fit of madness.
Ye Sheng ignored Ning Weichen’s affectionate and smiling eyes, lowered his head, and pushed open the bathroom door.
When he walked in, sure enough, an apple had been placed here, with a small knife next to it. A candle was burning sizzlingly in front of the mirror.
Drip, drip.
The bathroom faucet was not closed properly, making an ethereal and weird sound in the silent late night. After closing the door, Ye Sheng walked to the mirror, picked up the apple and the knife, and began to peel.
Ye Sheng had never peeled an apple since he was a child—after all, who would be willing to throw away the skin when they could eat fruit in Yinshan? He could even swallow the apple core.
This was his first time peeling fruit skin. The knife cut deeply into the flesh from the top, slowly turning in circles.
The dripping sound of water slowly stopped. In the entire dim bathroom, only the sound of him peeling the apple with a knife remained. Outside the window of the first-floor bathroom was the front yard, and the moonlight shone in eerily.
The candle in front of the mirror burned sizzlingly. Unknown when it started, a thin layer of mist appeared at the bottom of the mirror.
The red peel with flesh, circle after circle, was between Ye Sheng’s fingers. The thin knife reflected light and shadow, shining on his indifferent eyebrows and eyes.
Ye Sheng said thoughtfully in a low voice: “If you can really let me see my past and present life, maybe I’ll let you die a little easier.”
Even though it was his first time peeling, Ye Sheng did it very smoothly. Because he was very skilled with knives, controlling the force and direction with ease.
Seeing that the apple peel was about to fall off completely,
But the male owner of the haunted house was originally collecting fear—the bottom of this apple had been ruthlessly cut vertically upwards, making it impossible to peel off completely.
Ye Sheng peeled to that cut.
Snap, the apple peel broke.
The mist from the candle spread quickly over the mirror.
Soon, the entire mirror emerged with a state that seemed real yet not real, mist yet not mist.
Ye Sheng put the apple aside, raised his head, and looked into the mirror.
An old man with a hunched back appeared in the mirror, his features twisted, wearing a shroud, with various corpse spots on his face. In the mirror, he grinned at him. A very thick rope was wrapped around the old man’s neck.
The rope for hanging the swing was used by him to hang himself.
Ye Sheng looked the old man in the eye.
The old man stared at him dead on.
Ye Sheng leaned closer. He had used Spirit Calling many times and had some experience. His black and white pupils seeped a faint red, even more weird than the eyes of the “person on the swing”.
Inside the mirror was an illusion created by the male owner, and also one of his power clones. Sensing a higher level of terrifying power, the old man’s expression changed, terrified, and wanted to retreat. But Ye Sheng’s hand gently touched the mirror, and then, passed through the mirror.
“Hiss ahhh—”
The moment Ye Sheng touched “it”, the illusion turned into a puff of white smoke. Without thinking, Ye Sheng’s eyes darkened, grabbing that puff of green smoke. Using the mirror as a medium, as a “door”, he chased after it directly!
Ning Weichen waited outside for a long time.
“Brother, are you done?”
There was no sound in the bathroom.
Ning Weichen lowered his eyes, his fingers grasped the door handle, and pushed the door open effortlessly to walk in.
Only a still-burning candle remained in the bathroom, empty, no one there.
Ning Weichen showed no surprise at this. He picked up the knife carelessly, his voice very light: “You really like to act alone as always.”
There were two apples on the washstand.
Ning Weichen took another apple into his hand. His fingers were slender and cold white, his movements languid, peeling the skin with almost no flesh.
This apple had also been tampered with, but when he peeled to the break, clearly the peel had broken. The candle flame flickered, but as if time had turned back, the peel connected perfectly intact. A thin strip of red peel fell completely to the ground.
Ning Weichen chuckled low, then raised his head to look into the mirror.
Mist filled the mirror, without any abnormality.
Ning Weichen reached out, his cold fingertips wiping the mist clean. In the mirror, the young man’s eyes were dark and deep, but his pupils glowed with a faint silver-purple light.
Ning Weichen curled his lips in a smile, his voice contemptuous: “The Seventh Moderator?”
*
Ye Sheng chased the smoke through the mirror, and finally landed on his feet, actually arriving at the end of the garden of Luohu Mansion.
Next to him was a bamboo grove. Rustling fallen leaves floated onto the river, drifting away along the river channel. The cool breeze cleared his mind. Ye Sheng suddenly remembered that they had looked at the terrain when they first came to Luohu Mansion.
This villa group was built along Luohu Lake, and all the lakes were just intercepted water halfway. Looking down, this was a very long river.
He tracked here, which meant Song Zhang’s main body was here.
Song Zhang was just possessing the host.
He must find his main body to completely “kill” him.
So where would Song Zhang be?
Ye Sheng looked down at the constantly flowing river water, shifted his gaze, and saw a small boat next to him, obviously for the rich in the villa area to have fun. Although the boat was wooden, it was just for elegance, and there was an autopilot device inside.
Ye Sheng thought for a moment, stepped into the small boat with his long legs, and untied the rope mooring the boat.
The small boat drifted gently downstream with the river.
Invited by the clear breeze and bright moon, the water gurgled, like the white noise heard on the first night. It turned out to be really boating on the water.
He suddenly thought of “Night Voyage” again.
The origin of the name of the book “Night Voyage” is actually the literal meaning, “sailing at night”.
People traveling by boat in ancient times, bored during the long and bitter journey, gathered together from all over the world to chat on the boat, talking about everything and telling stories. The author recorded what they said into a book, which became “Night Voyage”.
Story Magazine Agency used it as the name of the magazine. And that 48th issue of “Night Voyage” also became the beginning and end of the love and hate between Song Zhang and Duan Shi.
Sitting on the boat, the stars and moon were silent, the flowing water was silent. Quietly, it was really like a dream.
Ye Sheng lowered his eyes, gazing at the shimmering lake water, and suddenly spoke softly: “How about I tell you a story again?”
His voice contained no emotion, narrating coldly.
“Let’s tell a story about childhood sweethearts.”
*
“The hero and heroine grew up together.”
“The heroine’s family was a scholarly family, fond of reading. She formed a bond with the hero because of a magazine. They were deskmates in elementary school, junior high school, and high school, and even in the same university. Everyone thought they were a match made in heaven, but it wasn’t until university that the two broke the ice. The heroine was taking pictures on the bridge and accidentally fell into the lake; the hero jumped from the window to save his lover in the lake. After that, the two naturally fell in love and got married.”
“They bonded over stories, so the heroine always asked the hero to tell her bedtime stories and promised to tell them for a lifetime. But all this changed after the heroine fell ill. After their first child miscarried, the heroine suffered from bipolar disorder. Facing his wife who was sometimes depressed and sometimes crazy, the hero chose to escape.”
“He suffered from insomnia and anxiety, indulged himself, and accepted someone else’s seduction in the garden. But when he was entangled with another woman on the bridge by the lake, his wife was watching from the window on the third floor… The hero didn’t know yet that he would touch his nose whenever he lied. Every time he lied, she knew.”
For Duan Shi, what trapped her for a lifetime was the bridge, the lake, and the window.
But for Song Zhang, it should be… the “Bedtime Story” told until “death”.
“On the day of the tenth anniversary, the hero finally remembered all the beauty of the past. He carefully prepared a candlelight dinner, wanting to save this marriage that had gone astray. When he came back, he saw his wife dressed up in the garden, and the hero felt relieved. His wife rarely wore makeup, and she was holding a book in her hand. The hero smiled and walked towards her step by step.”
The rose-carved candle burned on the white table. Duan Shi looked up under the flower stand and also gave a weak smile.
She rarely wore makeup after getting sick. At this moment, her makeup was exquisite, her eyes like water. Looking up, it seemed like the midsummer of high school, when the cicadas chirped, that green girl tilting her head to look at him by the table.
No quarrels, no silence. She was rarely well-behaved and quiet, and he finally didn’t have to face his gloomy and sharp lover after a busy day.
The meal was warm and harmonious.
Song Zhang said: “Today is the tenth anniversary, do you want any gift?”
“Gift?” Her hand rested lightly on the table, lost in thought about something, and said softly: “Tell me a bedtime story, haven’t heard one for a long time.”
Song Zhang’s eyes were slightly red: “Okay.” He was actually sad too, why did they come to this step.
He took the book handed by his wife, which was the magazine they first met when they were children. The last column of the magazine was Bedtime Stories, and the opening piece was called Salomé.
Actually, he had told this story, but he was willing to tell it again now.
The bedtime stories of Night Voyage were selected from readers’ submissions. Although the title was Salomé, it was different from Oscar Wilde’s original work. The only similarity was the bloody core.
The protagonist of the story was a radio host with a sweet voice. Her voice had a magic power; as long as people heard her voice, they could fall asleep in a short time.
The wife’s radio career got better and better, but her husband became more and more fearful.
More than once, he woke up in the middle of the night to find no one beside him, and horrifying chewing sounds came from the kitchen.
Finally one day, the husband discovered that for the sake of a “good voice”, his wife would sneak into the kitchen to eat every midnight. The big black bags filling the fridge contained human flesh.
The husband shuddered. In order not to alert the enemy, he secretly transferred assets and drafted a divorce agreement.
However, what he didn’t know was that the night he opened the fridge, his wife was actually watching him faintly from behind.
She knew her husband didn’t want her anymore, but she couldn’t bear to part with her husband. The night before her husband proposed divorce, she stewed a bowl of soup for him. She poisoned the soup, tied him to a chair, and cut off every piece of meat from his body one by one, putting them into the bag. She kept his meat and hid it in the fridge as reserve food.
When the last knife cut off his head, the wife kissed his lips with deep infatuation.
“I love you, darling. You will live in my voice from now on.”
When Song Zhang read this story for the first time, he laughed and complained with Duan Shi in bed about what kind of bedtime story this was.
At that time, there was still light in Duan Shi’s eyes.
But now, he reread this story, reading it himself until he broke out in cold sweat, while Duan Shi sitting opposite him said nothing.
The look in Duan Shi’s eyes was pitch black, even terrifying.
His body trembled, and then suddenly felt his legs go soft and his whole body weak.
Snap.
The book in his hand fell to the ground.
Song Zhang never wanted to recall the subsequent memories.
People who haven’t experienced death by a thousand cuts won’t understand that kind of fear.
Duan Shi retold the story he told in his ear.
One word, one cut.
That night, blood soaked the magazine, and his head was cut off alive.
Despair, pain, and fear made him die with everlasting regret. Extreme fear made him unable to escape even after becoming an anomaly. He knew Duan Shi didn’t “die” either. He lurked in the haunted house, too terrified to move. Finally, not long ago, he could no longer feel the aura that made his soul tremble with fear.
The malicious ghost climbed out from the ground bit by bit.
Bedtime stories, bedtime stories, hahahahaha!
He had slept for forty years, his power constantly consuming. He needed to re-absorb fear to make himself strong. At this time, a group of people who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth came to the haunted house.
He looked at them and gave a weird smile, tears of blood slowly flowing down his cheeks.
On the first night, he said.
[Let’s tell a story]