Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The car meant for the dead, and I found myself sitting inside it. The eerie and chilling scene sent shivers down my spine, evoking a deep-seated fear within me.
Zhang Chao's face turned pale in an instant, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at me.
At that moment, the shock I felt was even greater. I sat there like a broken circuit, staring blankly ahead.
“Hao, Haozi,”
Zhang Chao swallowed hard, gently nudging me as he asked, “This... this isn’t real, right?”
His push snapped me back to reality. I shook my head, my face ashen, but then nodded again because I truly didn’t know how to respond.
It was a fact that I had spent the night at Master Yun's place. Even if I had been there last night, I couldn’t possibly have no recollection of it, let alone find myself sitting in a paper car meant for the deceased.
Yet the scene in the video was undeniably real, leaving me at a loss for words.
What made it even stranger was that in the video, at the spot where the paper car stopped, I wasn’t alone; there were others passing by.
But here’s where it got bizarre: I was astonished to see that those people seemed to completely ignore my presence and that of the Paper Car.
It was a feeling of existing yet being treated as if I were invisible. I couldn’t find the words to describe it and had no idea what was real or not.
Suddenly, at that moment, the version of me in the video turned around and walked toward the building ahead—the one where Mu Yan was located.
Next, I saw Zhang Chao appear in the video. He kept waving at me, his face anxious as if he were calling out to me.
However, the version of me in the video seemed odd; he merely glanced back at Zhang Chao with a vacant expression before turning away and walking off.
It was as if he didn't recognize Zhang Chao at all. At that moment, my brows furrowed tightly, and I turned to look at Zhang Chao beside me, filled with disbelief.
I had discovered something incredibly terrifying.
As I turned around, Zhang Chao also turned to face me, his eyes wide with fear.
Seeing me glance at him, he trembled as he spoke, "Haohzi, have you noticed something too?"
I nodded and said, "Have you also noticed something strange?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chao swallowed hard, his throat seeming dry. With trembling arms, he rewound the surveillance footage to the moment I had appeared earlier.
His expression darkened as he pointed at the screen and lowered his voice to a whisper, "Did you notice that besides me, it seems like no one else in the video acknowledged your presence?"
After saying this, Zhang Chao stared blankly at me, as if I were still the source of his terror.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my emotions as much as possible. Then I nodded and said, "I've noticed that too. So I can be certain that the person you saw last night might not have been me at all."
"Not you?"
Zhang Chao was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly his expression changed dramatically as if he realized something.
I nodded again and whispered, "Did you notice that the version of me in the video never showed any change in expression?"
Zhang Chao frowned and looked closely again. Indeed, it was true; he couldn't help but nod in agreement.
My face grew grim as I said, "That is not how a normal person should look—there's not a hint of life in him."
"Not a Bit Angry"
Zhang Chao couldn't help but gasp in shock. The more he looked closely, the more his heart raced, because the person in the video truly resembled what I had just described—cold and expressionless, with a stiff and pale face. Aside from being able to walk, they did not appear to be a normal person at all.
If they weren't a normal person, then there was no need for me to elaborate further; Zhang Chao understood that well enough.
Now that he thought about it, he realized why I had ignored him when he called me last night. The thought that the person he called might not even be me sent another wave of fear through him.
Suddenly, just as we both fell into silence, a harsh "rustling" sound pierced our ears. Zhang Chao and I quickly turned our gazes to the surveillance screen, momentarily stunned again.
On the screen, irregular white lines appeared, and the scene became blurry, flickering intermittently.
In just a moment, the entire scene on the screen dimmed, and the computer unexpectedly shut down by itself.
Zhang Chao and I exchanged glances, feeling a cold sweat break out.
Then Zhang Chao tentatively turned the computer back on. It booted up successfully, but when we tried to find yesterday's surveillance footage again, something unbelievable happened.
The scene where I had appeared in the surveillance video had bizarrely vanished without a trace. No matter how hard Zhang Chao and I searched, we couldn't find it.
It was as if the text message I received from Mu Yan had disappeared—so strange.
After struggling for a long time, both of us left with grim expressions. Zhang Chao suggested we grab lunch together, but I really wasn't in the mood, so I headed home instead and spent the entire afternoon there.
All afternoon, I pondered over what had happened in the surveillance video; the more I thought about it, the more terrified I became.
By the time dusk approached, I even forgot that Master Yun had asked me to visit him before dark. It was Wu Qian who called me then, asking where I was and saying she would come pick me up to go to Master Yun's place together.
I suddenly remembered and then told them the address, asking them to wait for me downstairs.
About ten minutes later, they arrived and asked why I hadn't listened to Master Yun's advice to find him before dark. I said I had forgotten for a moment and then recounted what I had seen in the video with Zhang Chao that morning.
Upon hearing this, Deng Kun and Wu Qian spoke in a somewhat cold tone, saying, "You were with Master Yun all last night; it's impossible for you to have gone out. Don't overthink it. Let's go find Master Yun together."
As they spoke, they had already hailed a car. I nodded; this was something I had been troubled by as well. Since I couldn't make sense of it, I decided to follow them to find Master Yun and hopefully get some answers.
Lost in thought, I was a bit dazed when I bumped into someone walking toward me as I got into the car. A strong impact hit my shoulder, causing me to stumble back several steps.
The person was a middle-aged man, probably in his thirties, looking quite refined but physically robust. Realizing that I might have been distracted, I prepared to apologize.
However, unexpectedly, the man quickly reached out to steady me. I was puzzled; I hadn't fallen, so why was he helping me?
But then he whispered something quickly in my ear that made my expression change dramatically.
He told me that the two people with me were not trustworthy; they were not human.
His words struck me like a bolt from the blue, leaving me frozen in place. He then lowered his voice and said quickly, "If you don't believe me, wait until we find a well-lit place and check if they have shadows."
Before I could respond, he patted himself down and smiled as he said, "Sorry, it was my fault for bumping into you."
With that, he turned and walked away but slipped a note into my hand as he left.
I clutched the note tightly, unsure of what it contained. Yet now that I thought about it, there was something familiar about this middle-aged man.
I just couldn't recall where I had seen him before.
But his words had once again thrown my heart into chaos. I cast a complicated glance at Deng Kun and Wu Qian, who were already seated inside the taxi.
Wu Qian was in the front seat, and noticing that I was still standing there, she turned around and urged, "Why are you still not getting in?"
I quickly nodded and replied, "Coming right up."
Just then, the streetlights on both sides suddenly illuminated the area. Remembering what the middle-aged man had said earlier, I took a deep breath and deliberately stepped forward, pretending to lose my balance and fall to the ground.
Then I called out to Deng Kun and Wu Qian in the car, "Oh no, I think I just twisted my ankle. Could you please come down and help me?"
As I spoke, I sat on the ground, clutching my ankle and feigning pain with soft groans.
Deng Kun and Wu Qian didn’t say anything. After a short while, they got out of the car. While I continued to groan, I casually glanced at them from the corner of my eye.
In that moment, I confirmed what the middle-aged man had said; under the lights, they indeed had no shadows, while my shadow stretched long in the glow of the streetlights.
Comment 0 Comment Count