After midnight

As midnight approaches, who is waiting for the light of dawn in the darkness, who is eyeing the tempting prey in the darkness.

Late at night, few people passed by the alley that was only a few meters wide. Under the dim street lights, An Yan stood there expressionlessly. As time passed silently, he opened his eyes that had been closed due to fatigue. His eyes were very dark, which made his whole face look even more solemn.

In the silent alley, hurried footsteps could be clearly heard, and An Yan turned sideways to face that direction.

There is a vague boundary between the area where light can clearly shine and the area where darkness can shine. A middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes came hurriedly, and An Yan passed by him in this circle.

"Died in a car accident at 17:00 tomorrow afternoon."

The tone was calm, as if he was reciting an extremely ordinary sentence.

This sentence did not refer to a specific person. The man was surprised for two seconds after hearing it and then forgot about it. He only wanted to get home quickly. Who would care about the crazy talk of a stranger, even though these horrifying words seemed to be directed at him?

An Yan walked forward, his back gradually blending into the darkness.

At 16:58 the next afternoon, the man drove his car and stopped at the red light at the intersection. He looked at the documents on the passenger seat anxiously. He had to sort out the documents tonight so that he could submit them before going to work tomorrow. He pulled the tie off his suit and had to work overtime until late at night.

He recalled his wife's usual nagging at night, sighed helplessly, and felt even more annoyed. On the outer ring road of the city, which was still under construction, the red light time was usually longer than that in the city center. He looked up and saw that there were not many cars on the wide avenue. So when the red light turned yellow, he stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and sped away instantly.

At 15:00, the god of death came. He didn't have time to see the big truck on the left that ran a red light before he was hit. In an instant, screams, broken sounds, friction sounds, all the harsh sounds exploded and spread far away, spreading to the bottom of people's trembling hearts.

In the school classroom, students were studying quietly. The orange light of the sun spread through the windows, casting oblique silhouettes on the ground.

An Yan stared out the window in a trance, not knowing what he was looking at or what he was thinking.

After a long time, he thought, another one.

An Yan is a 17-year-old boy. He is not as energetic as other boys of the same age. On the contrary, he is very quiet, even a little indifferent. An Yan likes to stay in bed and has a slight bad temper when he wakes up. At six o'clock in the morning, his inky hair casts a shadow on his eyelids, hiding his obsidian-like black and white eyes in his dreams. At ten past six, the alarm clocks ring one after another, and he will not get out of bed until twenty past six when all the alarm clocks stop.

And the moment An Yan opened his eyes, all his movements would immediately become quick and agile.

Before he packed up his things and went to school, he would return to his bedroom and stop in front of a table. The table was ordinary, but clean and spotless. An Yan usually didn't put anything on it, but that didn't mean there was nothing on the table. When he opened his eyes, he saw a letter on the table. The letter from that world would have nothing written on the cover, only a dark red mark.

An Yan opened the letter and pulled out the white letter paper. There was only one person's name written in capital letters on the letter paper. That person's name was Su Ziling. A new mission target appeared.

In the physical education class, the boys were playing basketball enthusiastically, while almost all the girls were standing under the shade of the trees nearby. They were not interested and most of them were chatting. A few of them were watching the game and cheered and screamed from time to time. Su Ziling was the most active one among the boys. He was dribbling and trying to put the ball into the basket.

The playground is next to the teaching building. An Yan's classroom is on the third floor, not too far from the playground. He sat by the window in the back row and could see his target person by turning his head. An Yan watched Su Ziling nimbly avoid several people, step up, jump, raise his hand, lean his body and finally throw the ball.

The ball went in. Amid the girl's screams, An Yan turned his head and listened carefully.

All the noise in the stadium had nothing to do with him, except for his target. His target was a big boy, a clean-cut teenager, about 1.78 meters tall. Although he liked playing basketball, he was still a little thin.

At 6pm, when school was over, Su Ziling said goodbye to his classmates at the school gate and walked towards home. After walking a hundred meters, he heard an extremely cold voice saying, "Su Ziling."

Su Ziling stopped and turned around. He looked at the good-looking boy in front of him and said, "Classmate, what can I do for you? I don't think I know you!"

Su Ziling raised the corners of his mouth, looking very friendly and polite.

An Yan could see his face clearly only now. His hair was very soft and his eyes were very bright. An Yan did not answer his question but said, "Your last moment will be at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning."

After An Yan finished speaking, he did not leave immediately. He stood face to face with Su Ziling, and strangers came and went between them. Seeing that Su Ziling was still in a daze, An Yan turned around and walked away. His shadow was stretched out by the setting sun and was trampled by the scattered footsteps of strangers.

Su Ziling's shoulder was accidentally bumped by someone, and only then did he react and leave in the direction of the crowd.

The next day, when the clock pointed to 11:01, An Yan was silent. He was so silent that even the air was about to freeze. His slightly cold fingers were tightly clenched into fists, and he slowly let go after a long time. The nail marks on his palms were clearly visible.

That evening, Su Ziling was walking home. After he entered the community and turned into the doorway, he suddenly felt a pain in the back of his neck and fainted. Before he fainted, only two words popped out of Su Ziling's mind: WTF!

When Su Ziling woke up, he blinked his eyes, and then blinked again. He saw a strange room under the white ceiling. He frowned, first pressed his aching neck with his right hand, and then got up from the bed with a start. He felt around with his hands and found that he was not injured and the money in his trouser pocket was still there, so he calmed down and began to look around the room.

The room was not big but not small either. There was a big bed big enough for two people, a table and rows of wardrobes. The clothes in the wardrobes looked a little younger. Su Ziling was not interested in these and tried to find some clues, but there was only a pair of tennis rackets under the bedside table and a row of cacti on the windowsill.

Apart from that, there was nothing else. This room was too empty, and it was hard to tell who the owner of the room was. Su Ziling thought about this and walked to the door to leave first.

"An Yan, don't be willful. If Su Ziling disappears, they will have no definite evidence." Su Ziling stopped his foot from moving toward the next step, and then carefully moved up again.

"Brother, you know. I can't and won't do that."

"But you know they are trying every possible means to find an opportunity..."

The man didn't say anything else, and no one else responded.

These two voices, one is anxious, the other is calm, one is heavy, the other is cold. Su Ziling easily recognized the voice of the boy from yesterday. It turned out that his name was An Yan. But the content of their conversation was so unusual...it was even related to him.

Su Ziling, standing on the stairs, didn't know what to do. He peeked in and could only see their backs.

"I can't escape." An Yan finally spoke.

"You..." The heavy voice suddenly became sad. For a moment, the living room was silent.

At this time, An Yan set his sights on the corner of the stairs. When Su Ziling looked down, their sights happened to collide. At this time, another pair of eyes followed. An Yan just looked at him quietly, but the other pair of eyes was not only scrutinizing, but also full of inexplicable hostility, which was quite intimidating.

Su Ziling had no choice but to walk down under these two gazes. He tried to calm himself and keep smiling. Just as he walked down, before he could even stand up straight, he heard An Yan say, "You don't need to know what happened. Go back. You are safe. Just pretend that nothing happened today."

The man looked at An Yan, An Yan nodded at him, and then the man looked at Su Ziling.

He frowned, made a sound of impatient click, and said to Su Ziling gruffly, "What are you standing there for? Why don't you leave?"

Su Ziling walked through the living room, opened and closed the door, and was very confused. When he stood on the strange street, he finally reacted. What kind of thing did I run into? Damn it, I haven't settled the score for tying me up yet! He turned around and grinned, wanting to curse, but he turned back immediately and kicked the air in anger and walked away.

In the house across the street, the atmosphere of silence continued to spread. At nearly twelve o'clock, An Yan walked back to his room, opened the drawer of the blank desk, took out the white paper with Su Ziling written on it, and stared at it for a long time.

Lin Xuanfeng came up, knocked on the door, walked in and said, "It's time."

An Yan hummed and placed the piece of paper on the table.

After Su Ziling was mysteriously kidnapped, he spent a few peaceful days, but soon rumors about An Yan on campus quickly reached Su Ziling's ears.

"Have you heard? An Yan from Class 17 is missing!"

"disappeared?"

"Yes, he hasn't been to school for more than a week and he hasn't asked for leave. His head teacher is going crazy because he can't get in touch with him. I heard that he has called the police."

"real or fake?"

"Why would I lie to you about this?"

"You can't contact your parents either?"

Suddenly, as if there was some unspeakable secret, the man lowered his voice and said, "I heard that he is an orphan and no one wants him."

"what?"

Su Ziling was a little annoyed when he heard this. He didn't know why he was standing in front of An Yan's house again. He found the way easily. Well, maybe the experience of being kidnapped for the first time in his life did leave a deep impression on him. He avoided the guard, followed others in, and soon found the right place.

He stood at the door for a long time, actually hesitating about why he came here, but since he was here, he still walked forward and planned to knock on the door. However, he stretched out his hand and put it on the door handle because he noticed that the door was not closed.

Su Ziling carefully poked his head in, and when he was sure that there was no one in his sight, he gently moved in. The fact that there was no one in the large living room made him feel a little more relaxed. He poked his head in to look at the winding staircase, hesitated for a moment, and finally stepped up.

He stood in front of a door, which was ajar. He moved closer but still saw no one. Now he was almost certain that An Yan and the strange man were not here.

He felt relieved and boldly opened the door and went in. This should be An Yan's room, the room where he woke up that day. He keenly observed that there was no other change in this room except for a letter on the table.

He picked up the letter and inside it was a piece of paper with his name on it.

Sure enough, An Yan’s disappearance was closely related to what happened that day.

Su Ziling went out again and opened all the rooms that could be opened. There was nothing special. The only thing he thought was valuable was the study.

The books in the study were stacked from floor to ceiling. There were all kinds of books, densely packed. He walked to the desk, but he didn't expect to see everything on the table. The drawers were not locked, and he searched for a long time but found nothing. The notes were just excerpts and reading notes of various books.

Su Ziling returned to An Yan's room and sat on the bed. He arched his back and naturally sank into the softness of the quilt. Who was An Yan? What did An Yan mean? Where did An Yan go? And what methods did the strange man use to kidnap him here without anyone noticing?

When Su Ziling woke up again, it was dark outside. He was thinking and fell asleep in a daze. Su Ziling got up and hurried to leave, but he thought of something and turned back at the moment he was about to step out of the door.

Su Ziling originally wanted to take the paper with his name on it away, but when his hands touched the table, a small black stone suddenly appeared on the table. At midnight, the stone emitted a strange light, and when the light disappeared, Su Ziling also disappeared.