Urban Oddities: Soul Contract

Chapter 19 Virtual Image

"Fresh Doufang has just opened, and the line is long!"

“The deep-fried juniper is very fragrant, and there are steamed buns!”

"Hey, where are you?"

"Just across the street, let's go together, I'm about to buy some soy milk for my son!"

The doors opened, and residents crowded out of the elevator.

General Chu Gan felt itchy when he heard it, and turned to Huo Minghai and said, "Shall we go and have a look too?"

A couple passed Ganjiang Chu's body hugging each other.

Chu Gan looked around, there were only a bunch of people walking out of the elevator, he glanced at him, but he didn't see Huo Minghai.

They got into the elevator together, why did they suddenly disappear?

"Huo Minghai!" he yelled, but no one answered, "Huo Minghai?!" He yelled again.

Still no one answered.

The crowd gradually receded, and the lobby was empty. Chu Ganjiang was in a cold sweat. Something was wrong. His intuition told him that there must have been some strange changes in the elevator during the journey from the 21st floor to the first floor!He hurried back to the elevator room, the elevator was going up, he had no choice but to wait, the anti-theft door opened, and the young couple came back hugging each other.

"Honey, don't be so oolong next time." The man kissed the woman.

The woman hummed and said that the movie ticket was in another bag and she forgot to take it out.

The man said it's okay, I'll go up with you to get it, and winked mischievously, saying where can I find such a good man, very touched, isn't it, how should I reward him?

The woman blushed and said, "Peel the grapes for you."

Ding—the elevator is here.

Chu Gan will follow them into the elevator.

They pressed the 21th floor, and Chu Gan will press the [-]st floor.

The two hugged and discussed grapes, completely oblivious to the two buttons on the panel.

The man said: "Grapes are good, I like grapes the most."

The woman said: "It's sweet and big, and I like it too."

The man smiled badly: "I'm talking about that grape." He stared straight at the girl's chest.

The girl's face became hot and she hit him: "Bad guy!"

Chu Gan rolled his eyes so tired that he raised his hand and gave the man a slap.

The man covered the back of his head and said with a smirk, "Honey, you hit really hard."

"It's time to fight!" The girl beat his chest with both hands.

"It hurts so much, come to kiss me?" The man pursed his lips to kiss.

General Chu Gan raised his hand and gave him another slap.

"Huh?" The man finally sensed that something was wrong, the girl's hands were slapped on the chest, who gave the slap on the back of the head?Only the two of them are reflected in the mirror wall of the elevator.

Seeing the man in a daze, the woman stopped her hands: "What? Does it hurt?"

"No...it's nothing." The man was stunned when he glanced at the panel, "Did you press the 21st floor?"

"No?" The woman noticed the button only now, she was startled, and said in a small voice, "Could it be someone from before who pressed it?"

"Hey, who knows." The man hugged the woman into his arms, touched the woman and said that he was not afraid, Chu Gan would be tired of them, and stretched out his finger to poke the man's face.

There was a pit in the skin that was poked, and as the finger moved away, the skin slowly rebounded, and the man's face became more and more blue.

The woman snorted and touched his sweaty face: "What are you doing? Don't scare me?"

"I think... there seems to be... something here..." The man panicked, leaning his back against the wall and looking at the small space, "But we can't see it?"

can not see?

As if struck by lightning, Chu Gan froze.

Huo Minghai disappeared while taking the elevator.

It's not that it's gone, it's that it can't be seen!

Chu Gan, who came to his senses, swung his sword into the air, and the air rippled for a moment. For a moment, a man wearing a peaked cap appeared out of thin air. bonding.

The ghost hits the wall, and the ghost hits the wall again!

"Damn!" General Chu really wanted to vomit blood on his face. What kind of tricks are not used, but it's a bloody ghost hitting the wall again. Is it fun to bully him with a sword spirit?

"Honey, it seems like a strong wind?" The woman nestled in her boyfriend's arms, and the strong wind blew her long hair all over her face. The man was already frightened, and the place was obviously empty, like broken glass cracked , with the strong wind howling, gradually revealing the man wearing the courier costume.

"Ah! Ghost... There is a ghost!!!" The man yelled out in disappointment. When the elevator door opened, he pushed the girl away and rushed out. The girl screamed again and again, pulling the boy The friend's clothes also rushed out.

The elevator door closed, and the translucent Chu Gan retracted his sword angrily.

"Cut, let him run away!" Turning around, he asked concerned, "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

Huo Minghai was holding a card, and hadn't recovered from the shock...

When getting off work, Miss Xiaohua at the front desk stopped the distraught Huo Minghai.

"Your guy told you to wait for him to eat together." Miss Xiaohua said coldly.

"My one?" Huo Minghai looked up at General Chu.

Chu Gan held his little heart: "I already have Mo Xie!"

Du Jiajun, who came over in a hurry, saw Miss Xiaohua's expression of watching the show, and asked her curiously what happened.

Miss Xiao Hua secretly raised her chin to Huo Minghai: "The one he likes has Mo Xie in his heart, so he dumped him."

In the fairy trail forest, after the mustard chicken chop rice was served, Du Jiajun was playing with his mobile phone while picking up the rice, while Chu Gan occupied a seat to read the newspaper.

The atmosphere was a bit dull, Huo Minghai clicked on Weibo on his mobile phone, and Du Jiajun posted a new update, there was no text, only a crying emoji.

Huo Minghai, who didn't know the truth, thought for a while, and gave him a facial expression of touching his head.

Soon, Motou's Weibo was reposted by Du Jiajun with an emoji of poop added.

Fans' comments soared to hundreds in an instant, and they were all concerned about whether there was a quarrel?

Huo Minghai clicked on the emoji box, imitating the fans and reposted it with a kissy emoji. Soon, Du Jiajun rewarded him with a shy emoji and reposted it.

A Weibo was retweeted, unknowingly, the number of retweets exceeded four digits, Huo Minghai was speechless, what is celebrity effect?This is a living example!

Looking at his Weibo again, the number of fans has broken through the [-] mark. To express his gratitude, Huo Minghai picked up a small dried shrimp and put it on Du Jiajun's plate.

"Hey, I reward you."

"Thank you Lord Ron."

Huo Minghai: "Normal."

General Chu: "Sure."

Du Jiajun: "Cha."

The three of them were speechless for a moment, and suddenly they all laughed out loud. After Du Jiajun ate the shrimp, he finally asked the real question: "Did you meet the man in the hat later?"

"Yes, you even used the ghost to hit the wall to separate me!" Chu Ganjiang felt furious when he mentioned him. It just so happened that there was a column in the newspaper about the story of Xuanyuan Huangdi's battle with Chiyou. Chi You used ghost techniques to create a maze to fool his old opponent Huang Di. Later, Huang Di used the secret technique bestowed by the fairy to break the maze.

Newspapers described this ancient secret technique as miraculous, it can create mazes, and it can also solve mazes. Isn't this similar to ghosts hitting walls?Chu Gan watched with relish.

Du Jiajun thought more carefully, and separated Chu Ganjiang with a ghost wall. The man in the hat obviously wanted to create an independent space. What did he want an independent space for?

"Well...he didn't do anything to you, did he?" After hesitating for a while, Du Jiajun still asked.

Huo Minghai took a sip of tea, hesitated for a while, and then took out a card from his pocket and handed it over.

Black letters on a red background, party invitation, Du Jiajun was stunned when he saw the signed name.

"Chen Daxin?"

Huo Minghai nodded, as if he had made up his mind, he picked up his cup and drank the cold tea in one gulp.

"I... I plan to go and have a look."

It was such a coincidence that I only dreamed of Chen Daxin, and Chen Daxin appeared during the day?

But Huo Minghai couldn't connect the little fat man with the tall and thin man in the hat no matter what.

Chu Ganjiang spoke at this time: "Do you know what Chen Daxin is now?"

Huo Minghai hummed.

"He is no longer human." General Chu paused, and added, "He is no longer alive."

At night, Huo Minghai couldn't sleep, he surfed the Internet with his mobile phone, and unknowingly clicked on Weibo. When he was playing Su Mu's small game, the corner flickered, and when he clicked on it, it turned out to be a private letter.

Handsome Jun: Hello!

Huo Huo: Humph!

The handsome and unrestrained Jun made a pooping expression.

Huo Minghai turned his head and glanced at Du Jiajun. Du Jiajun had his back turned to him, and the soft light of the phone gave him a faint outline.

The handsome Jun sent another private message: That man in the hat is the Chen Daxin in your dream?

Huo Huo hesitated for a moment, and replied: It should be?

Handsome Jun: I really don't know him?

Huo Huo: I don't know.

Handsome Jun: Actually, I find it strange, how did he find our family?

Huo Huo: Who knows.

After sending out his hand expression, Huo Minghai seemed to think of something, and his body shook.

Du Jiajun turned over, pushed Huo Minghai, and asked him what's wrong.

The dream came out like a tide, and Huo Minghai felt the hairs on his back stand on end.

"He knows the address..."

"What?" Du Jiajun stood up and looked down at the trembling Huo Minghai.

"Chen Daxin knows the address...because...because..." Huo Minghai clutched the quilt tightly, "the address... I told him..."

"How did you tell him..." Halfway through the words, he suddenly came to his senses.

In a dream!

Huo Minghai told Chen Daxin the apartment address in his dream!

"You said...he...would he..."

"He can't come in." Du Jiajun tucked the blanket for Huo Minghai, "Go to sleep, you have to go to work tomorrow."

Huo Minghai turned over sullenly, flustered, couldn't fall asleep after holding back for a while, and still took out his mobile phone to surf the Internet.

As soon as I posted on Weibo, a private message popped up.

The handsome and unrestrained Jun made a facial expression of touching his head, and attached a line of words: I will go with you tomorrow night.

The next day, Huo Minghai took advantage of lunch time to visit Dongmen Commercial Street. Dongmen Commercial Street is the most famous pedestrian street in S City. No matter day or night, it is full of people. Huo Minghai searched according to the address. In the past, the gate of the dance hall was closed, and the old man who swept the floor in front of the gate saw the young man wandering around the gate, and kindly reminded him: "It's not open yet." Pointing to the plaque with a broom, "It doesn't open until nine o'clock in the evening."

It turns out that this place really exists.

Huo Minghai secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

The sun was setting and the night was gradually falling. When he stood in front of the singing and dancing hall again, Huo Minghai was sweating from nervousness.

After the waiter asked who made the appointment, he led them into the front hall. There was a big dance floor in the front hall. A group of people were dancing inside. The music was deafening, and the blue and green lights were dangling. Huo Minghai was dazzled. After walking up the stairs, the noise gradually disappeared, and when we reached the second floor, the surroundings became completely quiet.

"The sound insulation effect is good." Du Jiajun said.

"Of course!" The waiter proudly explained that all the high-grade materials are used here. No matter how loud the speakers are, once the door is closed, people outside will not be able to hear them. , but not fireproof."

Huo Minghai didn't understand: "Fire prevention?"

Chu Gan touched the wall: "These materials are combustion-supporting, and the ignition point is extremely low. You can't hear the outside sound in the box. If there is a fire, it is still a question of whether you can escape."

The waiter heheed twice, but didn't answer. The second floor was like a big maze. After walking around for a while, the waiter knocked on a door.

"Come in," said the person inside.

The waiter opened the door and made a gesture of invitation.

When Huo Minghai walked in, the people in the box were in a daze for a while, the two teams stared at each other for a while, Chen Daxin was the first to react, pulled out the chair, and greeted them to sit down.

"Ming Hai, I haven't seen you for many years. If Daxin hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have recognized you." The pale-faced man smiled.

"It's been more than ten years, and it's changed a long time ago." Huo Minghai exchanged polite greetings, wondering who he is?I searched in turn from elementary school to university, but I couldn't find a face that matched the number at all.

"Huo Huo, don't you want to introduce us?" The woman with heavy makeup squinted her eyes, scanning Du Jiajun and General Chu.

Du Jiajun sat upright, with a tall and straight figure, and his gestures were quite majestic, while Chu Gan tied his long hair casually behind his head, looking like a bad boy. chills.

"Colleague Du Jiajun, friend General Chu." Huo Minghai said concisely.

"Friend Du Jiajun." Du Jiajun corrected, and added, "We live together, come over for dinner."

"Haha, welcome, welcome, now, Chuanchuan and Ajie also brought friends here."

Chuanchuan and Ajie also introduced each other to them.

"Oh, time flies so fast. Today may be our first and last dinner together." Chen Daxin took off his peaked cap, and Huo Minghai saw that Chen Daxin's hair was sparse. After taking off the hat, his face looked even more Thin, like a skull wrapped in skin.

Chen Daxin waved, and the waiter who was waiting on the side filled them with wine one by one.

Huo Minghai imitated their clinking glasses, and when he was about to drink, Du Jiajun snatched his cup and drank it up.

"Ming Hai can't drink, I'll replace him." Du Jiajun blocked all the wine offered to Huo Minghai. At the bustling table, the eyes of the woman with heavy makeup never left Huo Minghai.

Huo Minghai froze, his face turned bluer and greener, the feeling of being stared at was simply like sitting on pins and needles!

"Ming Hai, when did you line up?" the man with a pale face asked.

"What... when?" Huo Minghai was stunned, he couldn't keep up with his train of thought, and asked in a flash, "What about you?"

"I am going to cross the bridge early tonight."

As soon as the topic was opened, everyone discussed it.

The pale-faced one is called Yue Yong, and his name has a name of Yong, but he is actually a coward. He is jokingly called a coward by his friends, and crosses the bridge tonight and early in the morning.

Chen Daxin, the leader of the partners, was a fat man when he was a child, and became so thin after he fell ill that he crossed the bridge early tonight.

Tang Jie, his friends call him Ajie, will cross the bridge in three days.

Zheng Chuanchuan, a doctor by profession, will cross the bridge in five days.

The woman with heavy makeup is Zhu Sha. Although her name is popular, she has a coquettish face and crosses the bridge after seven days.

"It's a pity, there are still a few who can't be contacted, and I don't know if they have passed the bridge earlier." As the leader, Chen Daxin couldn't help but regret that he couldn't gather all his partners. He drank one cup after another, never getting drunk Du Jiajun accompanied him drinking cup after cup.

"Are you all elementary school classmates?" After a few cups, Du Jiajun became acquainted with them like a family.

"We played together when we were young, that kid Ming Hai left the village early, we are not even classmates." Yue Yong laughed.

Huo Minghai didn't know anyone in the private room, so he couldn't get in the conversation at all, so he could only pick up the braised pork in a dull manner, and just put it in a bowl, but General Chu Gan rudely snatched it away.

"Don't eat the food here." Chu Ganjiang whispered to him vaguely while chewing the braised pork.

"why?"

"A few days ago, a song and dance hall on the old street caught fire. Many people died, and it was reported in the newspapers."

Huo Minghai's mind suddenly flashed and thundered, and swallowed hard: "No way... so... a coincidence?"

"What do you think?"

Huo Minghai was terrified by what he said, and when he raised his head, he happened to meet Miss Zhu Sha's eyes, so he had to lower his head, pretending to be busy playing with his chopsticks.

Du Jiajun took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, gave one to Chen Daxin, and then distributed one to everyone present in turn, except for Ms. Zhu Sha, several men started puffing on their cigarettes.

The smoke was lingering, the drinks collided, and when Huo Minghai was playing with chopsticks and wandering in the sky, he heard Du Jiajun ask: "I heard Minghai said, did you go to a cave when you were young?"

"Yes, yes." Chen Daxin became interested. The matter of going to the cave was a shocking feat planned by him at the time. Chen Daxin pointed at the coward Yue Yong, "He is still hiding in the bushes and dare not come out, haha!"

"Oh, it's been so many years." Yue Yong scratched his head embarrassingly.

In the depths of the cave, there will be a sacrificial pit every other way. The sacrifices of roasted suckling pigs with fruits are placed all over the floor. They went in to steal food. They stole the suckling pigs and fruits and ran away. The adults went in the next day and found There were no sacrifices, and a few naughty guys were found after a search, and Huo Minghai was one of them, but his mother was reluctant to beat him, so he just cursed a few times, and then led the tearful Huo Minghai to watch the little boy from a distance. The partners were spanked by their parents crying and howling.

"Ming Hai, your mother is so kind to you."

Huo Minghai hummed absently, and when he was trying to search for this clip in his memory, he heard Zhu Sha, who was wearing heavy makeup, ask a strange question.

"Huo Huo, when did you die?"

Huo Minghai shook his hands, and the chopsticks clanked on the table.

"What... what?" Huo Minghai had the illusion that the wind was too strong and he couldn't hear clearly.

"Huo Huo, when did you die?"

The dining table fell silent, and everyone stared at Huo Minghai.

The tense atmosphere was on the verge of breaking out.

"He's still alive." The one who said this was Zheng Chuanchuan who had been silent all this time. Zheng Chuanchuan had outstanding observation skills. When Huo Minghai came in, he had already noticed that Huo Minghai was different from everyone present.

Huo Minghai is a living person.

There is an insurmountable difference between the dead soul and the living person. The soul will not be full no matter how much it eats, and it will not be hungry if it does not eat. Of course, it will not be drunk after drinking. This was discovered after Zheng Chuanchuan died of illness.

When Du Jiajun said that Huo Minghai could not drink, Zheng Chuanchuan was more sure of his guess.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Sha asked me dryly.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was a bit stiff, everyone was in disbelief, staring at Huo Minghai like a monster.

For some unknown reason, Huo Minghai, who was still alive, could actually see them.

"It's...it's unbelievable..." Chen Daxin raised his forehead, "No wonder you are so scared when you see me..."

"Ming Hai, have you felt any discomfort recently?" Zheng Chuanchuan was a doctor before his death, but judging by Huo Minghai's complexion, he didn't look like someone suffering from a serious illness.

"Uh...I...no..."

"No?" Everyone else stared at him.

Huo Minghai's face turned blue, and there was firm strength in his hand. He looked down and found that his sweaty hand was held by Du Jiajun at some point.

"Look, his face is flushed, doesn't he look like someone who is sick?" Zhu Sha raised her eyebrows when she saw the two of them getting close, with a look of familiarity.

Except for the friend brought by Ajie who died in a car accident, almost all the others present died of illness.

Especially people from the village.

"There is a curse in our village." Zheng Chuanchuan pushed his glasses, "It is already a miracle that I can live for 31 years."

"I'm 29." Chen Daxin sighed.

"24." Zhu Sha drank.

"25." Yue Yong whispered.

"Ditto." Ajie said.

"This is fate, I can't escape it." Zheng Chuanchuan looked at his palm, there was a lifeline, but it was cut off, and his life was doomed.

When the clock struck midnight, Chen Daxin put on his peaked cap, and Yue Yong, who was pale, also stood up.

"Everyone, I'll take a step first." Chen Daxin was slightly taken aback when his eyes fell on the logo on Huo Minghai's clothes, "Tianditong Express?"

Huo Minghai bit the bullet and hummed.

"Great, can you bring me something?" Several Pleasant Goat comic books were handed to him, Huo Minghai raised his head and looked at Chen Daxin's skull-like face.

A hand reached out and handed over a courier slip.

"Fill it in." Du Jiajun said.

This package happened to be in the same city, and Huo Minghai saw it the next day.

At the same time, new names appeared on the bulletin board.

Sender: Chen Daxin.Sender: Huo Minghai.

When the package was delivered, Chen Daxin's wife couldn't believe it, thinking it was a prank, and asked to open the package for inspection in person.

Unpacking the package, there are several picture albums of Pleasant Goat inside.

Chen Daxin had prepared it a long time ago, but before he could deliver it, he died of illness.

The crooked handwriting said Happy Birthday Beibei, Dad loves you.

"And this..." Huo Minghai took out a peaked cap from the package.

Chen Daxin suffered severe hair loss during chemotherapy, and his wife specially bought him a hat.

but……

"That hat...should have been cremated with him?!" Madam's eyes were full of horror, as if she had seen something terrible, she took a step back, but her daughter Beibei hugged her like a treasure. Dad hat.

After signing for it, the door snapped shut impatiently.

Huo Minghai spread his palms, looking at the lifeline that was almost negligibly short.

"Everyone in the same village is dead." General Chu Gan looked to the window, where Zheng Chuanchuan in a white coat was standing.

"Huo Minghai." Zheng Chuanchuan took a step forward, and Chu Gan stood in front of Huo Minghai vigilantly.

"I just want to ask you a few questions." Zheng Chuanchuan's glasses reflected the sunlight, "Do you still remember what sacrifice you were given in the cave?"

Of course Huo Minghai remembered, he had dreamed about it several times, and replied without thinking: "Roasted pork leg."

"How many people are going to the cave?"

"Eight."

Zheng Chuanchuan suddenly smiled.

"Huo Minghai, it turns out that you really forgot. Yesterday your eyes were wrong. You looked at us as if you were strangers. I have a birthmark on my forehead. When I was a child, you suggested drawing an extra line to make a cross look more handsome." He Pointing to his forehead, "It's such an obvious mark, but you didn't recognize me. Also, when I went to the cave, I proposed to draw lots again before the sacrificial pit, but what you drew was fruit, and you cried when you went back." They walked all the way, and... not eight people went, but nine!"

"nine?!"

"Zhu Sha followed us all the way, and was discovered by Chen Daxin when we arrived at the sacrificial pit, so I proposed to draw lots again."

Huo Minghai's memory was completely blank, listening to what Zheng Chuanchuan said was like listening to a story that had nothing to do with him.

A few days after leaving the cave, Huo Minghai began to get sick, which became more and more serious day by day. Zheng Chuanchuan's father was a village doctor. He shook his head at the time and said that Huo Minghai was too sick and his internal organs failed, even Da Luo Jinxian couldn't save him.

That night, Huo Minghai's mother took him away from the village. The two of them seemed to have disappeared from the world, until many years later, Chen Daxin found him by chance...

Huo Minghai looked at his impossibly short lifeline, and some terrible thoughts grew wildly like weeds.

Ding——the elevator arrived, Chu Ganjiang dragged Huo Minghai into the elevator, Zheng Chuanchuan was still standing outside, staring straight at Huo Minghai.

"Don't listen to his nonsense." Chu Gan pressed the door close button, and the elevator door closed slowly.

"Huo Minghai, what the hell are you?"

Zheng Chuanchuan's voice came in coldly.

Huo Minghai raised his head, Zheng Chuanchuan was blocked by the closed door, and the elevator began to sink slowly...

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