Judging by the timing, that old man had already been dead when I met him in the restroom last night!
No wonder he had said he was in a hurry. He had been hurrying down the road to the underworld.
The more I thought about it, the more frightened I became, cold sweat streaming down my head.
While I was mulling it over, Little Six happened to bring me breakfast. Only when I saw him enter did I feel a little more at ease.
I anxiously asked Little Six whether he had run into the girl in the red dress again last night. He shook his head and asked why I looked so jumpy.
I couldn't bring myself to tell him, so I only explained that I hadn't slept well.
After breakfast, Little Six helped me to the restroom. I was hopping forward with my head lowered when someone suddenly called out from behind me:
"Young man, are you all right?"
If Little Six hadn't been holding me up, I would have landed straight on my backside.
The person calling out to me was the very old man I had met in the restroom last night!
My eyes widened, and I asked Little Six in disbelief:
"Little Six, c-can you see this old man?"
Little Six looked bewildered.
"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with my eyes. Why wouldn't I be able to see him?"
Puzzled, I took another careful look. There was no mistake-it was that old man. A big, burly man stood beside him.
The burly man wore all black and had a shaved head, a dragon tattoo on his arm, and a gold chain as thick as a little finger around his neck.
Anyone with eyes could tell this guy was a gangster.
I pointed at the old man and said in astonishment:
"Sir, didn't you have a heart attack in the restroom last night and already..."
Before I could finish, the bald brute beside him raised a hand, pointed at me, and cursed:
"You little bastard, what nonsense are you spouting? Who the fuck are you saying had a heart attack? Say one more word and I'll smack you!"
The old man waved a hand, signaling for the brute to shut up.
He said with a chuckle:
"Young man, last night was my fault. I bumped into you and walked away. My wife's in the hospital here, and I was rushing back to her room to check her IV!"
Hearing the commotion, a ward nurse came over to mediate. She looked at me and said:
"You're in bed eight, aren't you? What nonsense are you talking here? The old man who died of a heart attack last night was in the ward across from yours. This gentleman is a patient's family member from room 703. They're not the same person!"
The nurse's words brought me to my senses. So the old man who had died of a heart attack in the restroom last night hadn't been him.
It had all been a misunderstanding!
I was just about to apologize when the bald brute beside him lost his temper.
"What the fuck do you mean? You thought my dad was dead?" As he spoke, he moved forward to beat me up.
The old man hurriedly reached out to stop him.
"Stay right there! I was the one who bumped into this young man last night and walked away. That was my fault!"
The man was a dutiful son, at least. With his father stopping him, he didn't force his way forward. He pointed at me and said:
"Bed eight, right? This isn't over. Just you wait!"
Little Six and I returned to the ward, and I hurriedly told him to get my discharge paperwork done. My leg injury was a minor matter-I was genuinely afraid the guy would smash my head in.
I hurried out of the hospital. Instead of going home, I still planned to recuperate in the dorm.
At eleven that night, Little Six went out on his driving shift as usual. I was lying in the dorm, idly scrolling through the news, when I suddenly heard a chorus of curses downstairs.
I pulled back the curtain and looked into the compound. A dozen or so burly men had gathered below, each carrying a machete or club. Ignoring the gatekeeper's attempts to stop them, they barged into the compound, paying no heed even to the three police officers guarding the cordon.
It was quiet late at night, and my dorm wasn't far from the compound, so I could clearly hear what they were shouting.
"That guy called Li Yao drives the night shift here, right? Tell him to get his ass out here!"
It wasn't that I was afraid of trouble, but I really couldn't get around easily on my leg. Seeing police there gave me something of a shield. The men shouted downstairs about being the notorious Brother Qiang and having connections at the bureau, leaving the three officers so frightened they didn't know what to do.
Somehow, they had found out I lived here and began making a fuss about searching me out. The three officers couldn't stop them at all, and just stood stupidly to one side, not daring to make a phone call.
I watched the mob break through the cordon with their machetes and charge menacingly into the first-floor lobby.
After they entered the lobby, everything went quiet. About three to five minutes later, I suddenly heard wails coming from downstairs.
Whatever the three officers saw scared them out of their wits. They scrambled and crawled toward the main gate.
Realizing something was wrong, I hurriedly grabbed my single crutch and struggled downstairs as fast as I could. When I reached the bottom, another terrified scream came from the lobby.
Panting, I hopped to the first-floor lobby entrance and was completely stunned by the sight before me.
The lobby lights were on. The bronze bell was covered in blood, and more than a dozen burly men dressed in black, machetes in hand, knelt in a neat row before it!
Their faces were all mangled beyond recognition, their blood-drenched heads bowed. Some even had brain matter hanging out.
I let out a long breath. Before I could recover, I suddenly noticed one of the kneeling men stand up and run desperately toward me.
I panicked. My right hand slipped, my crutch fell from my grasp, and I landed on my backside.
The man charged out of the lobby, his head covered in blood. My heart clenched. Shit, I'm going to die here today!
At that critical moment, the burly man in black with the blood-covered head actually swerved around me and ran toward the main gate.
As he ran, he shouted, "Fuck! There's a ghost!"
While I was staring blankly after him, four or five police cars with flashing lights rushed through the gate. A group of officers sprang out and instantly pinned the blood-covered brute to the ground.
When they saw the scene in the lobby, every one of those armed officers froze to one side. Not one dared take another step inside.
After daybreak, the compound filled with people again.
Experts and officials of every kind wore long faces, shaking their heads and sighing.
In a single night, the bronze bell had killed more than ten people again!
Media outlets everywhere flooded their coverage with reports of the evil bell's killing spree. The entire city was gripped by panic!
Although I hadn't killed those men, they had come because of me. Seeing them die so horribly before the bell left me feeling deeply guilty too.
Leaving the evil bell in the compound was no solution. I thought of Liu Qingzhu. With his abilities, perhaps he could get rid of it!
From last night until noon, I hadn't eaten a bite or drunk a drop of water. I had Little Six accompany me in a taxi to 2386 Huaiyuan Road to ask Liu Qingzhu for help.
Before we even entered the residential complex, I spotted Liu Qingzhu from far away, leaning on his battered stick and watching me coldly from one side.
"What took you so long?"
I asked in confusion:
"Old Liu, you knew I was coming?"
Liu Qingzhu glanced at Little Six behind me and nodded meaningfully.
"Looking at that leg of yours, you won't be driving for the next few days anyway. Come somewhere with me!"
With that, Liu Qingzhu headed toward the roadside.
Utterly confused, I said:
"Where are we going? I came to ask you for help!"
Without looking back, Old Liu said quietly:
"If you want to deal with that bell, we have to go to Tiger Waist Mountain again!"
The moment I heard "Tiger Waist Mountain," even my fractured right leg began to tremble.
Things were different now. The last time I went there, my legs had been fine. If there was danger, I could at least make a run for it. Now my fractured right leg hadn't healed. If I ran into another monster, all I could do was close my eyes and wait to die.
Liu Qingzhu seemed to see my misgivings. He turned and said:
"Don't be afraid. Wear this and you'll be fine!"
With that, he tossed me a cord threaded through a copper coin.
I caught it and took a look. The copper coin was very old. The passage of time had worn its markings smooth, but I could faintly make out the image of a fierce tiger.
I sighed, put the copper-coin necklace around my neck, and set off for Tiger Waist Mountain with Old Liu, limping on one leg.
On my third visit, everything in the village was already familiar.
Walking along the village road, I asked Old Liu quietly:
"The village chief's dead. Where are we going to stay?"
Old Liu coughed twice, then said:
"We'll still have to stay at the village chief's house!"
When I returned to the village chief's little house, my eyes grew wet despite myself. Just days ago, the chief had been full of life as he welcomed me with food, drink, and a place to stay. In the blink of an eye, we were separated by death.
Everything in the house was just as it had been. The bloodstains were still in the east room, and every time I saw them, my heart ached bitterly.
Seeing my grief and guilt, Old Liu offered a cold word of comfort:
"Enough. You're already thirty, old enough to stand on your own. Don't be so narrow-hearted!"
"Old Liu, didn't you say that man-eating kid was already finished? What did you come back here for?"
Liu Qingzhu sat on the kang and crossed his legs.
"To find something!"
"Find something? You've already got the tiger-patterned copper coins on you. What else are you looking for?"
Old Liu ignored me, yawned, and lay down to sleep.
I was furious, but there was nothing I could do about him.
I went out into the yard on my crutch to smoke a cigarette.
While I was lost in thought, an old man happened to pass the courtyard gate, holding a little girl's hand.
They were the grandfather and granddaughter whose ox had died. When the old man saw me, he looked alarmed and waved me over.
I put out my cigarette, ran out of the yard, and greeted him with a smile:
"Have you been well lately, sir?"
The old man skipped the pleasantries and said quietly:
"Young man, why didn't you listen? Why have you come back?"
"I didn't want to come either, sir. I really have something to take care of."
The old man leaned his head closer to me and said:
"I heard you're the driver who runs the last Route 13 bus every night?"
His words left me quite shocked.
"Yes, from Changxin Street to the paper mill. Who told you that, sir?"
The old man looked anxious.
"Then you have even more reason not to come to this village! Don't you know what happened to those drivers before you ten years ago?"
Apart from Old Wu, hardly anyone knew about those crashes at the reservoir ten years ago. Hearing this old man mention them made it seem even more unbelievable.
"Sir, you know about the three accidents at Tangwazi Reservoir ten years ago too?"
The old man looked a little bewildered.
"Say that again?"
"The three accidents you mentioned. Three drivers drove three busloads of people into Tangwazi Reservoir."
The old man sighed and asked me:
"How many drivers?"
I didn't understand what he meant, so I repeated myself.
"Three. Three drivers drove three busloads of people into the reservoir. They all died!"
The old man shook his head, his face full of worry.
He raised his right hand and held up four fingers.
My heart jolted.
"There was a fourth driver?"