Xu Yuanzhou stared at the mirror in a daze.
The shadows reflected by the broken mirror are also jagged.
He saw his own face, a face completely filled with fear and doubt. His face was very pale and his eyes were wide open as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
In addition, he saw two other faces.
There were two faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, one on the left and one on the right, pressed against his ears. One of the faces still retained its appearance as it did when alive, while the other had been completely shattered into a bloody mass of flesh.
Yes, when my brother and that person fell from the building, my brother happened to be on top of the other person.
"...There's really nothing we can do about this. We both bumped into each other. Even if you give me another red envelope, I can't do it. The internal organs are all mixed together. How can we tell them apart?"
Many years later, Xu Yuanzhou seemed to hear again the words that the man who collected the corpse said to his parents.
"Tick…"
"Tick…"
…
The sticky black blood flowed down the eyes of my brother's lover.
His eyeballs had long been squeezed out of the broken skull and now hung loosely next to his jawbone. The jagged white bone stumps pierced through the scarlet flesh and pressed against Xu Yuanzhou's chin.
His other eye was glued to the corner of Xu Yuanzhou's eye, and its reddened eyeball was trembling rapidly.
The arms covered with corpse spots looked extremely soft. Xu Yuanzhou knew that it was because the bones wrapped in skin and muscles had now been broken. Their arms were wrapped around his shoulders and neck, looking like some ridiculous spider doll.
"Heh…heh…"
Xu Yuanzhou heard a series of vague mutterings coming out of the man's broken throat.
"Xiao Zhou, he's asking you why you did that?"
Then he heard his brother's voice.
The young man, long dead, once considered a child of destiny, was grinning at him.
His gums and mouth were covered in blood.
Xu Yuanzhou gasped violently, his lips moving as he stared straight at the mirror, but he couldn't make a single sound.
"Didn't we agree to keep it a secret for us?"
But my brother was still whispering to Xu Yuanzhou.
"Xiao Zhou, why? Aren't we the best of brothers? Why...why did you go and tell on me?"
…
Xu Yuanzhou completely lost his strength.
He twitched and fell limply to his knees.
"sorry."
He struggled out a broken groan.
"I'm sorry, brother, I'm sorry..."
Then he repeated it many times.
In fact, he had already forgotten why he made that call.
Yes, he had actually known about his brother's relationship with his teacher for a long time. His brother had even discussed with him, with a smile, the idea of coming out to his parents after graduating from university. In fact, Xu Yuanzhou and his brother had always had a harmonious relationship. They got along like friends...
However, perhaps it was because he accidentally overheard his parents' complaints that day, asking why Xu Yuanzhou couldn't be less troublesome like his brother.
Or maybe, I heard my classmates whispering at school.
It's hard to tell that Xu Yuanzhou and that brother are actually biological brothers...
The sudden surge of malice suddenly occupied Xu Yuanzhou's mind. When his senses returned to his body, he had already hung up the call from the Security Department.
He said he saw a figure swaying on the rooftop.
He said, you guys go and take a look, maybe someone is stealing something.
What if everyone knew that the brother they were talking about as perfect was actually a disgusting homosexual?
Will they still give all their praise and attention to that person?
them...
Will they even look at themselves a second time?
"I'm sorry, brother. I didn't mean to do that. I never thought you would die."
The arm around his neck slowly tightened, like an icy snake strangling its prey.
The smell of blood became stronger and stronger, and the weight on his body gradually made Xu Yuanzhou unable to lift his head.
Yes, how could it not be heavy to carry two bodies that were mixed together and could not be separated due to the collision?
Xu Yuanzhou burst into tears, overwhelmed.
My brother also knew that the only person who knew where he was going that day was Xu Yuanzhou.
Such a smart person must have figured everything out before he died...
The young man's eyes looking at Xu Yuanzhou before his death have always been an eternal nightmare lingering in his heart.
"whee..."
Xu Yuanzhou heard his brother laugh.
It was an extremely vicious and terrifying laugh.
"You're happy."
The corpse's hand was pressed against Xu Yuanzhou's face.
"You were very glad... glad that I died before you could say anything, weren't you, Xiaozhou?"
"But you yourself later became a homosexual."
This time my brother just laughed and said.
"Are you happy today?"
…
Xu Yuanzhou's body began to tremble continuously.
Suddenly, many vague memories crowded into his mind.
He remembered a lot of things.
Those are real things that happened this afternoon.
"No…no…no no no…"
Xu Yuanzhou completely collapsed.
He remembered the true appearance of "Bai Ke".
It's a bug.
The bugs he had crushed returned to his bed.
The huge, centipede-like insect was thick and multi-legged, more than one meter long, and its surface was covered with a thick layer of mucus.
It twisted on his body, making "click" and "click" sounds.
…
Xu Yuanzhou wanted to scream.
He banged his head hard against the ground, twitching, convulsing, and howling in fear. He wanted to completely erase the events of the afternoon, just as he had erased the events of the night he had informed on the matter. However, it was no use. The corpses covering him laughed shrilly, and his brother kept repeating the maddening and disgusting story in his ear.
No...
No no no no…
Xu Yuanzhou frantically scratched himself. His head was buzzing, and he wished he could peel his skin off.
…
He is going crazy.
*
Jiang Chuyan was on the dark village road rushing back to the small building when he suddenly heard his cell phone ringing.
"Ding-ling-ling——"
The system's default ringtone sounded unusually harsh in the dead of night. Jiang Chuyan paused and looked at the screen in surprise.
The signal bar was still gray, but Xu Yuanzhou's name kept flashing on the screen.
Without having time to think about why Xu Yuanzhou was able to call his cell phone, Jiang Chuyan answered the call, and Xu Yuanzhou's hoarse wails came from the other end of the phone.
However, perhaps because of the extreme excitement, the howling sounded strange and unfamiliar.
"Wuwuwu... Chuyan... I can't stand it anymore..."
"Chu Yan, this is so disgusting! I'm so disgusting! Fuck, I'm going crazy..."
"I'm itchy... I'm itchy all over. Shit, I'm blistered. I must be having an allergy..."
"Wuwuwu, it's all my fault. I was wrong, I was wrong. Please forgive me. I was wrong..."
…
"Xu Yuanzhou?! What happened? Xu Yuanzhou——"
Before Jiang Chuyan could ask Xu Yuanzhou what had happened, Xu Yuanzhou on the other end of the phone suddenly fell silent.
Instead, there was an extremely strange and weird sound.
Like wet plastic bags rubbing against each other.
"Xu Yuanzhou?!"
A bad premonition arose, and Jiang Chuyan shouted anxiously into the phone.
The next second, the phone was hung up.
Jiang Chuyan felt that his heartbeat and breathing were frozen in his chest by extreme fear. He called Xu Yuanzhou back with trembling hands.
But this time, the only sound coming from the other end of the phone was a mechanical electronic voice saying, "The number you dialed is no longer in service area."
Jiang Chuyan's whole body was cold, and the cold sweat on his palms was so slippery that the phone almost fell out of his palms.
"First words!"
It was not until someone pulled him hard that Jiang Chuyan came back to his senses.
The person who pulled him was naturally He Yuan.
The dark-skinned, tall boy was now staring at him seriously with a frown.
"Now is not the time to be in a daze...Calm down, I'm still with you, you're not alone."
"But, but Xu Yuanzhou, I have never heard Xu Yuanzhou speak in that voice."
He was just like a madman, a madman who was scared to the point of losing his mind.
"What on earth is going on..."
Jiang Chuyan murmured.
"We'll figure it out. Anyway...who?!"
He Yuan responded, but at this moment, he suddenly stopped talking and grabbed Jiang Chuyan.
The boy suddenly took out a flashlight and shone it behind him.
There was no one behind them.
But...but Jiang Chuyan was horrified to see that in the lush bushes on both sides of the village road, there was an area where the branches and leaves were shaking constantly.
Jiang Chuyan's heartbeat instantly quickened.
He instinctively grabbed He Yuan.
"He Yuan, is that... is that something?"
His voice was very low, almost a whisper.
He Yuan grabbed Jiang Chuyan tightly with his backhand. His hands were as cold as a dead person. He looked back at the swaying bushes, his expression so solemn that it seemed as if he could scrape out ice chips.
"Chu Yan, don't look back, go quickly."
After saying that, He Yuan pulled Jiang Chuyan and started running.
However, their luck tonight was obviously not very good. Almost at the same moment, Jiang Chuyan felt his face suddenly get wet.
A drop of rain fell on his face.
Then the second drop, the third drop...
In an instant, raindrops as big as soybeans began to fall from the sky with a crackling sound. The sudden downpour made the path to Longzhao Village slippery. Despite their panic, Jiang Chuyan and He Yuan's pace slowed down noticeably.
Of course, the worst thing is not just their speed is limited, the worst thing is...
In this heavy rain that seemed like there was a hole in the sky, the oil lamps that had been burning under the stilt houses on both sides of the path were extinguished one by one under the rain.
The already feeble firelight was soon swallowed by the rain. When the last lamp went out, darkness, like a wet curtain, crashed down upon the fragile humans on the path.
"rustle..."
"Rustle…"
…
Jiang Chuyan heard it clearly: under the cover of the heavy rain, the bushes behind them began to rustle violently.
Something was crawling swiftly in the darkness.
"Please keep an eye on the lights tonight...don't let them go out."
"Be careful of the water monkeys."
Budacuocuo's fear-filled reminder suddenly replayed in Jiang Chuyan's ears.
While running desperately, Jiang Chuyan's peripheral vision swept across the white shadows that flashed by in the bushes on both sides.
Like a person.
But, not entirely human.
Their limbs were deformed and slender, extending in pairs directly from both sides of their pale bodies.
The largest "person" has at least dozens of pairs of arms.
At the very least, they had two pairs of hands and some scattered limbs sticking out.
With their spider-like hands and elongated legs, those creatures that looked neither human nor human were densely packed and hung on every tree along the road.
They rotated their flat, empty faces, with their pure black eyes sunken deeply in their eye sockets, staring at the two people who were running wildly in a panic without blinking.
Motionless.
…
When Jiang Chuyan saw those things, his knees went weak and he almost fell to the ground.
But the next second, he was lifted up again by He Yuan.
"Don't look!"
In the heavy rain, He Yuan's voice sounded hazy and distant.
Jiang Chuyan gritted his teeth and let He Yuan pull him as he began to run towards the small building with difficulty.
"rustle..."
"sand..."
It seemed that the things hanging on the tree did not move.
However, the sound behind them kept gnawing at them.
Jiang Chuyan had never felt that he had run so fast before. He didn't know how long it had been before the familiar small building finally appeared in front of them.
The door was not completely closed, leaving a gap.
The dim light of the light bulb shone through the narrow crack of the door. Although it was dim, in Jiang Chuyan's eyes at this moment, the light was brighter and more moving than the sun.
"Hurry, hurry, we're almost there!"
He heard He Yuan shouting anxiously. When they reached the stairs, the boy simply hugged his waist and pushed him directly to the middle of the stairs.
"He Yuan——"
Jiang Chuyan climbed up the platform using his hands and feet. When he looked back, he just saw the group of nightmarish creatures behind He Yuan.
Those monsters, seemingly made of human limbs and organs, were reaching out towards He Yuan. They grinned, revealing their fine, needle-like teeth, their mouths stretched to the back of their ears...
Jiang Chuyan could even see their exposed, pink brains.
"grass--"
Jiang Chuyan cursed.
Then he grabbed He Yuan's heavy body with one hand and pulled him off of him, raised his other hand high, and threw the flashlight out with force.
"Hiss—hiss—"
The monsters let out several sharp cries.
In the light they shrank back into the night.
*
"Ahem...thank you so much..."
Before He Yuan could stand firmly, he rushed to the stairs and brought them to the platform.
Only after he finished doing all this did he fall to the ground out of breath.
He wiped his face with his hand, looked at Jiang Chuyan in the rain, and suddenly laughed.
"For saving my life...I should...I should repay you with my own body."
Jiang Chuyan was also very weak at this time.
He glanced at He Yuan and raised the corners of his mouth with difficulty.
After escaping death, his mind was now blank. All that remained was the body warmth that He Yuan brought him when the two of them escaped hand in hand.
"Oh no."
After a pause, he looked at the stairs that had been put away, and the momentary relief he had just felt disappeared completely.
They left without putting away the ladder.
Xu Yuanzhou probably forgot to receive it too.
so...
Jiang Chuyan and He Yuan looked at each other, and their faces changed color.
*
Jiang Chuyan staggered into the building.
"Xu Yuanzhou——"
He shouted Xu Yuanzhou's name.
However, the boy who had been crying to him on the phone a few minutes ago was nowhere to be seen.
"Bai Ke?"
…
"Liu Tianyu?"
…
Silence.
The light bulb under the eaves emitted a thin hum.
The only sounds in the entire building seemed to be Jiang Chuyan's heavy breathing and the sound of water dripping from him and He Yuan.
Jiang Chuyan's heartbeat was so fast that he felt a dull pain in his chest.
He wiped his face hard. His hands were so cold, as was his face, that when he touched himself, it felt like he was touching another person.
Stay calm. The lights in the room are always on. Water monkeys are afraid of light. They won't dare to come in even if they climb up.
Jiang Chuyan kept saying this to himself in his heart, and then he dragged his feet with difficulty and walked into the room on the first floor.
The air here is filled with a strong smell of meat, the kind of fishy smell that comes from stale meat being boiled in water.
The fishy smell was mixed with a strong smell of rust.
It's the smell of blood.
They didn't find Xu Yuanzhou in the room.
Jiang Chuyan raised his head with a pale face and looked at He Yuan, who was standing in front of Bai Ke's bed.
"How is Bai Ke? Can he still hold on?"
Jiang Chuyan took a deep breath and almost vomited because of the smell.
But he still forced himself to cheer up and asked He Yuan.
He Yuan used his fingers to lift the quilt covering Bai Ke.
Hearing Jiang Chuyan's question, he paused for a few seconds: "He... fell asleep. You go out first."
The boy's voice was so hoarse as if there was sand in his throat.
Jiang Chuyan stared at He Yuan for a few seconds. Wet liquid dripped down his hairline and the back of his neck, soaking his entire body in cold. He could hardly tell whether it was rain or his own cold sweat.
Jiang Chuyan walked straight to Bai Ke's bed.
"First words——"
He Yuan raised his hand to block Jiang Chuyan slightly.
"Don't look."
He said, his voice sounding a little panicked.
However, Jiang Chuyan still clearly saw Bai Ke's current appearance.
He is dead.
It was not until this moment that Jiang Chuyan truly saw how serious Bai Ke's injuries were.
From the waist down it was almost all rotten flesh.
Moreover, he was always hunched over.
Because half of his body had been cooked.
Cooked meat will tighten.