When I heard the door being locked, I couldn't help muttering a curse, and the person locking it suddenly stopped.
Then came a long silence. I couldn't hear the thud of his footsteps or even a breath. The pitch-black room and the long corridor remained locked in that silent standoff.
The silence actually made me long for more noise, even the sound of doors being locked. This utter quiet sent chills down my spine. I didn't dare breathe too loudly.
I kept feeling that a pair of eyes was watching me from somewhere I couldn't see.
After about five or six minutes, I finally heard the person snap the last lock shut, followed by a steady "thud... thud... thud..."
The heavy tread of leather shoes drew closer. I held my breath, not daring to move, sweat soaking my hair as though I'd been caught in the rain.
The footsteps finally stopped outside the room where I was hiding. Although I wasn't a thief and could have walked out openly, my sixth sense told me clearly that this person wasn't friendly. Better not to meet him.
I thought of scenes from Saw. There were psychopaths who liked hiding in remote, abandoned buildings, waiting for their prey to take the bait before brutally killing and dismembering them.
Thank heavens, the person didn't linger outside my door for long before dragging his leather shoes upstairs. This time, I didn't dare be careless. Only after making sure he'd gone far away did I let out a long breath.
I wondered, There isn't a damn thing in this abandoned dump. Why would they station a night watchman here?
There could only be one answer: there was something important on the second floor!
Sixth Uncle had told me that Old Tang's secret was hidden on the second floor. That had really surprised me.
Old Tang had died in an accidental car crash ten years ago. That was beyond dispute. It wasn't murder, with a killer fabricating an elaborate trail of evidence, so what secret could Old Tang have?
The only thing I found strange was that, instead of haunting someone else, Old Tang had singled me out. He'd even made up all sorts of stories to introduce me to another old ghost who'd also been dead for ten years.
I figured those strange actions of Old Tang's must be the secret the old man had meant.
Now the front door downstairs was locked, and there was a strange man on the second floor. There was no way I was getting out tonight. It looked like I'd have to make do in this shabby room until morning.
I sat down beside the window. It was still raining outside, and there wasn't much light. I sighed and was about to swear, but swallowed the words before they left my mouth.
Ah, that was life. So often, you were full of misery with no one to tell.
Listening to the patter of rain outside, I gradually grew drowsy and had a dream.
In the dream, I fell into a boundless sea. There was a small boat beside me with two people standing aboard. I struggled desperately in the water, calling to them for help, but no matter how hard I shouted, the two people on the boat just watched me coldly.
I strained with all my might to make out their faces, but there seemed to be some unseen barrier between us.
Fortunately, in the final moment before I sank to the seabed, I finally saw them clearly. The two people on that boat were actually Old Tang and Sixth Uncle!
I jolted awake, gasping for breath. At some point, the rain outside had stopped.
That dream was more terrifying than a hundred thousand evil ghosts appearing before me. Old Tang was actually with Sixth Uncle? The person I feared most and the person I trusted most were standing in the same boat!
"What the fuck kind of dream was that?"
Anger surged through me, and I slapped myself hard across the face. The sharp smack sounded especially piercing in the silent building.
I abruptly came to my senses. Sleep must have made me stupid. There was still something upstairs, and I didn't even know what it was.
Yes, after everything I'd been through, I no longer dared be certain whether anyone around me was actually human!
I got up quietly and took out my phone to check the time. It was 3:10 a.m. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and visibility inside the building had improved considerably.
Just as I was about to curl up in the corner again, the sound of someone snoring in deep sleep drifted down from somewhere on the second floor.
The snores traveled freely through the silent building as though nothing could obstruct them.
Listening to that contented snoring, I lost all desire to sleep. Instead, a bold idea came to me. The person upstairs was sound asleep. This was the perfect chance to go up and investigate.
Sixth Uncle's words kept running through my mind: Old Tang's secret was in the records room on the second floor!
I couldn't help clenching my fists. I was already inside, and I couldn't get out anyway. Chances like this were rare. I steeled myself and stepped out of the room.
The second floor was even more dilapidated than I'd imagined. Using the faint light from my phone, I examined my surroundings and couldn't help dry-heaving.
Rubbish lay strewn across the floor: discarded shoes, liquor bottles, and plastic. The smell was terrible.
As I walked, I suddenly felt myself step on something very soft. I quickly moved my foot and looked down, nearly vomiting my stomach out in disgust.
I'd stepped on the carcass of a cat that had been dead for a long time and was badly decomposed. Maggots covered it, fighting to feast on their meal. My foot had mashed the maggots and rotten flesh together. It was utterly revolting!
I hurriedly shook my foot, flinging off some of the rotten flesh stuck to my shoe, and inevitably made a little noise.
Suddenly, the snoring that had been echoing through the corridor stopped dead. One of my feet was still in the air, but I didn't dare move.
Another two or three minutes passed before the snoring resumed. I broke into a nervous sweat and slowly lowered my foot, which was already aching from being held up. Then, taking steps so slight I was almost shuffling, I headed toward the records room at the easternmost end of the corridor.
The closer I got, the stronger the pungent, foul stench became. Afraid of stepping on another dead dog or cat, I watched my footing with particular care.
When I reached the room at the far eastern end, the snoring sounded as though it were right beside my ear.
Sure enough, the person who locked the doors lived in the room directly opposite the records room. His door stood ajar, and it was pitch-black inside, without the slightest light.
Unlike the other rooms, the records room had an especially large padlock on its door. Even its window had iron bars nailed across it.
That only heightened my curiosity. This building had been abandoned for ten years, yet this was the only locked room in the whole place.
Needless to say, something was definitely hidden inside!
I rose onto tiptoe, hoping to use my phone's light to look through the window and see what was inside. Just as I raised my head to peer in, a bang! came from the room opposite.
I shook all over in fright, and my phone slipped from my trembling hand onto the floor. Without stopping to pick it up, I hurried into the room next door to hide.
A moment later, I heard the man in the room curse loudly, "Fuck! I was sleeping so well. That fall nearly killed me!"
I finally breathed a sigh of relief. That loud crash had actually been the man rolling over in his sleep and falling out of bed.
But my phone was still lying outside his door. I was trying to think of a way to retrieve it when a piercing ringtone suddenly rang out.
My heart clenched. Of all times for someone to call! I was dead!
"Hello? Yes, that's right, it's here with me. Okay, I'll bring it over now!"
It turned out to be the phone of the man in the room. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed inwardly.
I'm so nervous I even forgot my ringtone is "The Hottest Ethnic Style."
Then the man pushed his door open, and an overpowering foul stench wafted out.
I covered my nose and mouth, thinking that he really was just like a murderer from a movie. What was causing that stench in his room? Could it be pieces of a corpse he'd brutally murdered?
The records room was locked, and its window was barred. I'd come unprepared today, so there was definitely no getting inside. With this man heading out now, it was also the perfect chance for me to slip away.
With that in mind, I picked up my phone and followed far behind him, hoping only that he was leaving briefly and wasn't in the habit of locking the door.
Thank heavens, he undid the chain downstairs and didn't lock it again. Once he'd been gone for a while, I hurried out from the bend in the stairs in a few quick strides.
Just as I slipped out of the little two-story building, the man suddenly stopped. I quickly hid behind a tree in the courtyard. Perhaps he'd remembered he hadn't locked the door, because he glanced back worriedly.
That turn of his head nearly made me cry out in shock.
"Old Wu?!"
I returned to the dorm, gulped down half a bottle of baijiu in one go, and collapsed onto the bed in a daze, my mind a muddle.
Old Wu was second-in-command at the bus depot and held real power. He wasn't short of money, so why was he living in a building that had been abandoned for ten years?
And why was he living in the room directly opposite the records room? Also, what was that foul stench in his room?
Thinking about it, I found it truly ironic. I'd been at the bus depot for over a year, and first I'd discovered that my best buddy, Old Tang, was a ghost who'd been dead for ten years.
Now even my immediate superior, Old Wu, was involved. Most terrifying of all, it now seemed uncertain whether he was human or a ghost!
What was wrong with me? Why did everything happen to me? Were other people's coworkers and bosses in this world ghosts in disguise too, just like mine?
I was so exhausted, yet I had no choice but to keep resisting to the end, because Master Liu Yunbo had told me that until this matter was resolved, I had to keep driving the last bus on Route 13!
I fingered the bracelet on my wrist, thinking that when I went to see Master Liu Yunbo in half a month, I had to beg him to think of a way. No matter what, I had to leave this company.
I really didn't know whether Liu Sheng, Fatty, and the others I saw so often were human or ghosts. I didn't trust anyone anymore.
After daybreak, I worked up the courage to go to Old Wu's office. He was sitting in his chair as usual, leisurely drinking tea and listening to the radio.
Old Wu showed no unusual expression when he saw me, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. I was certain he hadn't seen me last night.
Seeing me come in, Old Wu switched off the radio and said with a smile:
"What is it, Little Li? Worried about your situation? Don't rush. I've got all the paperwork ready. I'll head into the city in a bit to register the outside driver!"
I shook my head. "No need, Brother Wu. I'll keep driving the bus for now. Let's talk about it again later."
Looking puzzled, Old Wu was just about to speak when the elderly gatekeeper knocked and came in. He said to me:
"Little Li, someone's looking for you at the gate. They've been waiting quite a while!"
I hadn't wanted to talk much with Old Wu anyway, so I took the opportunity to slip straight out.
All the way to the main gate, I kept thinking about what had happened last night: that dead cat, that foul stench, and that locked records room.
When I reached the gate, I glanced outside absently and instantly snapped to attention.
The person who'd come looking for me was actually the old lady who'd ridden my bus on the first night and left her vegetable basket behind!