As I ran toward the woman in the red dress, I had already prepared myself for the worst.
If she really wasn't human, I would count this as my last good deed in the world of the living and hope it spared me some suffering in the underworld.
I sprinted on trembling legs. The woman ahead seemed to sense someone running toward her and quickened her steps into the water.
Just before she entered the water, I grabbed her arm and swung her all the way back.
The woman lay on the ground, crying nonstop. Panting heavily, I glanced back at her.
In the bright moonlight that night, I actually found myself staring.
She was so beautiful!
Long eyelashes, large, watery eyes, a high nose bridge, a shapely figure...
I had thought Bai Fan was the most beautiful woman in the world, but the delicate features of the woman in the red dress seemed to surpass even hers.
The woman in red looked up at me too and said through her tears:
"Thank you, but you really didn't need to save me!"
Her words set me off. I pointed at my phone and snapped:
"Didn't need to save you? Look at the time! It's half past midnight. What idiot besides me would dare come save you if they saw you?"
The woman in red said softly, "I tried to kill myself a few days ago too, and a young man driving by saved me."
That left me utterly speechless. I nodded awkwardly several times.
"Right, you're right. Right, there was another... idiot... two altogether!"
The woman in red stopped crying, stood up, bowed to me, then turned and headed toward the road.
My trembling legs finally stopped shaking. She had left without killing me. This woman wasn't a ghost!
I wasn't in the mood to worry about where she was going in the dark with so far to travel. Little Six and I had saved her life twice. We had done more than enough.
By the time I returned to the dorm, Little Six was already snoring loudly. I crawled under my covers, but tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
I kept thinking about that suicidal woman in red.
Why would someone want to die when they were alive and well?
Life wasn't easy for anyone. No matter how much you lost along the way or how little you gained, you had to have hope!
As I thought about it, I fell asleep to Little Six's thunderous snores.
At first light, the commotion in the courtyard downstairs woke me.
Little Six shoved the door open from outside with a bang!, making my heart jump.
"Buddy, something's happened again. Hurry up and get out of bed!"
I glanced at him sleepily, rolled over, and muttered:
"Don't bother me with any damn thing. I didn't get to sleep until three last night."
Little Six said agitatedly, "That bronze bell killed someone again!"
At that, I shot upright in bed.
"When? Who died?"
Little Six sighed and continued:
"It wasn't anyone from our company!"
I breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to lie back down when Little Six added:
"It was a woman, and she was wearing a red dress."
"What?"
After hearing that, I couldn't lie back down. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
"A red dress? What did she look like?"
Little Six shook his head and said:
"The first floor's been sealed off for ages, and the building entrance's been locked the whole time. I heard this woman smashed through the glass with her head to get inside. Her whole head was a bloody mess. You couldn't make out her features anymore."
I leaned back against the wall, feeling as though all the strength had drained out of me.
Little Six picked up the water on the table, took a huge gulp, and continued:
"Funny thing is, judging by her clothes and how she looked from behind, she really looked like that person I told you about, the one who tried to kill herself at the reservoir."
The more I thought about it, the more wrong it felt. I scrambled up, quickly pulled on my clothes, and rushed downstairs. Little Six called after me and followed.
The courtyard downstairs was packed. Police officers with tightly furrowed brows went in and out of the first-floor entrance.
I tried to get as close as possible, but could only just make out the scene in the first-floor lobby from far away.
Inside the lobby, the bronze bell stood undisturbed to one side. A woman in a bright red dress knelt before it.
I couldn't see any more than that, but I could confirm that the kneeling dead woman was the same person I had saved at the reservoir last night.
The police worked all morning before finally covering her with a white sheet and carrying her away.
Once this happened, news outlets across the city erupted-the bronze bell had killed again! A triple kill!
The city sent numerous experts to form a special task force, solemnly vowing to solve the case within a month.
In less than half a month, three people had all battered themselves to death in front of the bronze bell.
The three had no connections to one another and had all led peaceful lives, yet they had died bizarre deaths in the same place.
The explanation of suicide could no longer quell public concern.
In fact, of everyone involved in the whole affair, I was the one who understood it least.
When the woman in red had parted ways with me last night, she had clearly headed east. How had she inexplicably ended up dead at the company?
Could she have changed direction after leaving me?
At that moment, besides lamenting her death and being powerless to help, I also felt at peace for having stepped up to save her last night.
If I hadn't saved her at the reservoir last night and this had happened today, I probably would have blamed myself for the rest of my life.
Beside me, Little Six sighed. "I saved you once, but no one saved you a second time!"
What I thought was, I saved you the second time. I never expected you to die on the third!
Because the incident had such a terrible impact, the city decided to expand the cordoned-off area and assigned additional police officers to guard the cordon around the clock.
Apart from the parking spaces, almost the entire area near the first floor in the originally spacious courtyard was sealed off.
Old Wu's face had gone completely dark. He was lectured by the group's leadership, by the public security bureau's leadership, and by the city's leadership.
People used to kiss his ass all day. Now they kicked it all day.
I saw everything Old Wu went through, but felt no sympathy for him.
A man whose mouth was full of lies didn't deserve forgiveness.
The next few night shifts were fairly uneventful.
Perhaps the villagers really found ox carts inconvenient, because some had gradually started taking the bus.
But every night when I passed Tangwazi Reservoir, my heart tensed.
Too much had happened there. With villagers on the bus, I was glad to have company so I wouldn't be too scared.
On the other hand, I really worried whether the bus would lose control and charge toward the reservoir again, like it had on the night of the fifteenth.
I was on duty that night and took the bus out as usual. Just as I was about to leave the city, a large group of villagers carrying vegetable baskets on shoulder poles boarded.
Once the villagers had settled into their seats, I was about to start the bus when I caught sight of an old man sitting by the window.
"Sixth Uncle?"
I hadn't seen Sixth Uncle since he told me that the little two-story building held Old Tang's secret.
Back when he had introduced me to Liu Yunbo, I had been so grateful I'd practically knelt before him.
Now that I knew about Liu Yunbo's relationship with Old Tang, seeing Sixth Uncle made me grit my teeth with hatred.
Sixth Uncle nodded at me and took the pipe from his waist.
"Mind if I have a smoke?"
I watched the road ahead and said irritably without turning my head:
"Yes, I mind. Smoking isn't allowed on buses. Those are the rules!"
Sixth Uncle froze, then smiled and tucked his pipe away again.
"Young fellow, did you go to that little two-story building I told you about?"
"I did. Nearly got myself killed, and all I found was a useless file envelope!"
At the mention of the file envelope, Sixth Uncle's eyes lit up.
"Yes, yes! What did it say?"
"Nothing much. Just the files of three drivers!"
Sixth Uncle sighed. "That's not right. That's not it!"
I had long since lost patience with Sixth Uncle and asked irritably in a low voice:
"Sixth Uncle, I haven't done anything to you, have I? Just tell me what you want. You can't treat my life like it's worthless!"
The more I spoke, the angrier I got, and I raised my voice again.
"I went through all that trouble to steal a completely useless file envelope from that little two-story building, and I won't hold that against you. But Sixth Uncle, for Bai Fan's sake alone, you can't..."
I wanted to bring up Liu Yunbo, but even with the words on the tip of my tongue, I didn't say them.
It was true that Liu Yunbo had delivered that murderous, sinister bell to the company, but thinking it over carefully, although he hadn't helped me, he hadn't harmed me either.
Sixth Uncle lowered his head and pulled out his pipe again, asking with a smile that didn't reach his eyes:
"Mind if I have a smoke?"
I was so angry I almost laughed.
"Fine, fine, fine. Go ahead and smoke!"
Sixth Uncle unhurriedly lit his pipe and took a puff.
"Young fellow, if I hadn't helped you, you would've died on the night of the fifteenth!"
That statement from Sixth Uncle really packed a punch!
I still often had nightmares about that terrifying scene on the night of the fifteenth. I had also kept wondering why the bus had stopped just as it was about to plunge into the reservoir.
I had to hand it to him. That one sentence stunned me.
Sixth Uncle smiled smugly.
"Don't bother asking how I did it. If you want to stay alive, young fellow, you'll have to keep looking for the secret in that little two-story building!"
The old ginger really was spicier. I had been yammering away the whole drive, convinced I had every right on my side, only for Sixth Uncle to hit my weak spot with a single sentence.
That was right. Three drivers and three busloads of people had all died on the night of the fifteenth ten years ago. Why hadn't I?
Even if I didn't want to believe he and Liu Yunbo had saved me, I really couldn't think of anyone else besides those two.
My face flushed red with pent-up frustration, but I couldn't manage a single word of rebuttal. In that awkward silence, we reached the terminus at the paper mill.
Before getting off, Sixth Uncle patted my shoulder with the smile of someone who had won a complete victory and said quietly:
"If you still don't want to die on the fifteenth of next lunar month, go to Tiger Waist Mountain and find a copper coin with a tiger pattern!"
Before I could react, Sixth Uncle had already gotten off and walked far away.
I leaned back in the driver's seat, utterly bewildered, with anger welling all the way up to my throat.
Thirty-three was exactly the age when I should have been in control of my own fate. Why was my life in someone else's hands?
What infuriated me most was that I couldn't even fucking tell whether they were good or bad, human or ghosts!!!
"Fuck you!" I slammed my hand hard against the steering wheel in anger.
A honk! rang out along the pitch-black country dirt road.
I took several deep breaths to steady my emotions. Just as I was about to close the door and return to the depot, hurried footsteps came from behind.
The person who ran onto the bus was a beautiful woman with delicate features and a graceful figure, but my eyes went wide, and I couldn't feel the slightest happiness.
She wore a long red dress. She was the very same suicidal young woman I had saved by the reservoir a few nights earlier, and the same person who had died kneeling before the bronze bell that day!!
Goosebumps rose all over me, and I instinctively recoiled.
"Y-you... weren't... weren't you dead??"
The woman in red froze at my words.
"I'm not dead. Didn't you save me by the reservoir a few days ago?"
My head buzzed.