Chapter 132

The clock had reached 12:30.This time, the caller was a young woman. Her voice was clear and her surroundings were quiet, so the voice entered their ears in an unobstructed manner. “Hello, Host.”

Xiao Li adjusted the volume and spoke in a soft voice. “Hello, what story do you have to tell us today?”

The woman’s voice was low and lost. “No, it isn’t a story… it is my real experience. I really don’t know who to say it to. You might not believe me but please don’t laugh at me. It is because everything I’ve said is true.”

Xiao Li sensed the other side’ slow mood and tried to speak as softly as possible. “Say it, I will believe you no matter how strange.”

“Host, thank you. I… my name is Qian Zixuan. I once had a happy family. Since the housing prices here are high, I lived with my parents and my work was stable. There was also a boyfriend I was talking about marriage with.”

She said it like it was no longer the case now.

Xiao Li questioned, “Zixuan, then what?”

The female caller said, “Then… everything changed. I don’t even know when it started. Things just developed like this. Then a few days ago, I saw a ghost at the place where I work.”

“The place where I work is confidential. I signed a nondisclosure agreement but… I was working overtime that day because there was something wrong with the project I’m in charge of. I stayed to work overtime to make up for it and was left alone in my workplace.”

“Then the place where I work had a power outage. I didn’t know what was going on and thought the electrical fuse box was broken. I turned on the flashlight function of my mobile phone and headed to the fuse box.”

“I wanted to do a simple circuit repair but when I opened the box to take a look, I didn’t find any damaged places. Then the electricity came on again and the light above my head turned on. At first, I didn’t think much of it. I just thought it was a bad contact with the circuit and headed back to my office.”

“I was very focused working on my project and didn’t notice the outside world. Then during my break, I looked up at the ceiling only to find that the original white ceiling had become… a pool of black asphalt.”

“I remember very carefully that this black asphalt wasn’t present during the day. At that time, I didn’t think and was going to inform the cleaner tomorrow. I continued to work on my project. Then when I looked over again, I found that the asphalt had become bigger and bigger.”

“I had a bad feeling and could see a faint face from the asphalt.”

“Thus, I was afraid to stay any longer. I decided to continue my project tomorrow and went home first.”

“On the way home, I told my boyfriend about it but he said I was mistaken. I thought maybe it was true and didn’t care. The next day, I went to work and told the cleaner. She said she would check it. In the evening, I found the asphalt was still there. After a day’s growth, it looked even bigger.”

“It looked more and more like a fact. It… looked at me!”

“I was scared and called my boyfriend. He told me impatiently that I had seen incorrectly and hung up.”

“Once I could perceive it, I felt like it was a constant thorn in my back. I know the asphalt was watching me. I couldn’t sit still any longer so I found white paint and wanted to paint it!”

“Just as I picked up the paint brush and tried to paint the asphalt, a hand reached out from the asphalt. It… it tried to catch me. It was so powerful that it was almost impossible for me to resist.”

“I-I didn’t know what to do at the time. Thus, I threw the paintbrush at it, pulled out my arm hard and ran home.” At this point, Qian Zixuan couldn’t bear her emotions anymore. She started quietly sobbing.

“I believe you. Relax, I’ll help you.” Xiao Li gently pacified her.

Qian Zixuan said, “I’m sorry, I… I need to calm down.”

She slightly moved her microphone away and very small cries came from the microphone. Xiao Li quietly waited for her to return. He tapped the radio table with his fingers and twisted the volume button in a bored manner. The volume increased to the maximum for a moment before lowering to a minimum.

At least, until a hand put a glass of water on the table in front of him. The glass of water was filled with a warm yellow liquid. Xiao Li looked up along the arm to the handsome young man looking at him. A smile appeared in his beautiful eyes, “This is honey water to moisturize your throat.”

…God knew where he got the honey from. Xiao Li looked up at him and then at the boiled water dispenser. The teenager’s face shone in the dim warm light of the radio station, similar to the light at home. The coldness of his body was reduced a lot and revealed a warm feeling.

Xiao Li touched the glass with his fingers. Shen Chenzhi felt like his heart was touched and he couldn’t help smiling. “Are you hungry? Shall I go downstairs and buy you some dinner?”

Xiao Li was a bit moved but he felt like he should decisively refuse Shen Chenzhi. It was just that when he met Shen Chenzhi’s eyes, he couldn’t say anything. Shen Chenzhi didn’t care about his refusal at all. He reached out a hand and touched the eyelashes of the other person. “Then I’ll go down and buy some for you. This is my reward.”

Before Xiao Li could response, he turned around and went out.

Xie Zeqing always paying attention to the other side, “???”

Wait, what was going on with these two people? Xiao Li was fine but what about Shen Chenzhi? The ghost had just gone down yet he thought of going downstairs to buy a midnight snack? Were they still in a horror instance?

Zheng Yi whispered in a disgruntled manner, “Even if he is buying it, why not buy some for us as well?”

He was hungry as well.

Xie Zeqing touched his chin. His intuition told him that Xiao Li changing identities was related to Shen Chenzhi. Did Shen Chenzhi want to pursue Xiao Li? Xie Zeqing thought it was very likely. After all, Shen Chenzhi’s eyes were different every time he looked at Xiao Li.

Whenever Shen Chenzhi looked at something else, it was like he was looking at something dead. He didn’t regard anyone else in his eyes. However, when he looked at Xiao Li, his eyes always had a gentle smile like he was looking at someone he liked.

The last time Xie Zeqing saw this type of gaze was in a love movie. The male actor looked at the actress like this, who was also his lover in reality. This was really…

Xie Zeqing dug at his heart and lungs to find a word to describe it. Strong and strong together? In a sense, there wasn’t much of a difference. They actually matched.

Zheng Yi watched Xie Zeqing out of the corner of his eyes. Since he speculated that Xiao Li’s second identity was because he was hiding from Xie Zeqing, the more he looked at Xie Zeqing, the more unhappy he became. At this moment, Xie Zeqing didn’t talk to him and felt the other side was really difficult to communicate with.

Kudo spoke to Xie Zeqing, “Old Yan, do you know these two people? Where do they come from?”

Wang Huai wasn’t so hardcore. Xiao Li didn’t give him a sign so Xie Zeqing didn’t dare reveal the other person’s identity. He just shrugged, “There is only one truth. You can guess it yourself, Detective.”

Kudo gave him the middle finger.

As they were having a discussion, Alice came over. Perhaps she thought they were talking about the task and asked in English, “What do you think about the caller’s words?”

Kudo immediately retracted his middle finger. “Apart from the ghost summoning game that attracts real ghosts and the ghosts that looks like a lizard, there is no information. The second caller mentioned a place… a workplace that requires a confidential agreement and is haunted, where is it?”

The more he analyzed, the more he perceived the difficulty of the task.

Not only did they have to face attacks from potential callers, they also had to dig deep into their secrets. The radio host’s job was to answer the phone in the early hours of the morning, Then they wouldn’t be able to sleep in the morning and had to go to the haunted place mentioned by the callers to investigate. It was simply difficult.

Alice’s ponytail swayed behind her and she looked out the window. This city was very similar to the urban legend of the city that never slept. Despite it being early morning, all types of signboards were still lit up. There were even women standing on the street to solicit customers. There were a few such bustling cities in the West.

As they were chatting, Shen Chenzhi had returned with the takeaway.

He had bought many things and put them on the table next to the radio console. He took out barbecue, fried noodles, preserved eggs, lean meat porridge etc. The smell filled the entire office.

Shen Chenzhi was filled with anticipation. “Shall I feed you?”

Xiao Li shook his head at once.

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Then in Qian Zixuan’s story, something happened that sounded creepy even to Xiao Li. Qian Zixuan’s family lived in an old-fashioned community and was very crowded. There were two bedrooms and one hallway. It wasn’t easy to get even this much space in the city.

Due to what happened in the workplace, Qian Zixuan was very panicked when she went back. She ran all the way into the building where she lived. The entire building was filled with sensor lights that would only turn on when footsteps were sensed. The rest of the time, they were dark. Qian Zixuan ran all the way and the sensor lights lit up the stairs in front of her.

Her home was on the fifth floor and this was already very high in the old neighborhood without an elevator. Just as she was about to reach the fourth floor, she stopped her feet and looked downstairs.

The sensor lights in the corridor below had gone out but it seemed like another person was following her up. The lights from the first floor on started lighting up one after another. In fact, it might be another person going home but Qian Zixuan had goosebumps. He had a strong hunch that came from her life and death intuition. The thing following her with almost no footsteps wasn’t a person!

She crept upstairs in a panic and seeing the iron door of her home, she took out her key with joy and opened the door of the house in a trembling manner. Once the anti-theft door behind her closed, Qian Zixuan sat weakly on the ground, hugging her knees.

“Baby, what’s the matter?”

Her mother was washing dishes in the kitchen. Once she heard the sound, she ran out and saw Qian Zixuan.

“Mom!” Qian Zixuan threw herself into her mother’s arm and she burst into tears.

“What’s the matter?” Her father was watching the news in the living room and heard it.

Qian Zixuan took a long time to control her emotions and her mother touched her back. “Were you wronged at work?”

“No, no…” Qian Zixuan cried intermittently. “Mom, I’m in hell!”

She spoke about her experience at work but her parents just frowned at her. “Zixuan, you are too tired from work and you’re hallucinating. Tomorrow, you should take a day off at home to rest.”

Qian Zixuan shook her head and cried out, “No, it’s not like that. It is really a ghost. It chased me to this building. I can feel it!”

Her parents glanced at her and said nothing. They just calmed her down, let her take a hot bath and to sleep early. Qian Zixuan was indeed very tired. Her spirit was tense recently and thanks to her parents’ comfort, she returned to her room to sleep.

It was just that she slept uneasily, sweating and tossing in bed until she suddenly awakened. After waking up, she sat up and took a few breaths. She prepared to go out and poured a glass of water. She was just walking to the door of her room when she heard the conversation in the living room.

Qian Zixuan looked down at the crack in the door. There was no light from the living room. Her home was small so if someone turned on the light in the living room, even the small light from a mobile phone should show through the crack in the door. Now it wasn’t shining which meant her parents were talking in complete darkness.

What were they talking about? Out of curiosity, she put her ear to the door and listened. At first, it was her mother’s voice but her originally amiable mother was like a changed person. “She said she saw the thing.”

The person who replied was Qian Zixuan’s father. “Is it time?”

“I think so.” Her mother replied coldly. “Find a time and I’ll use her head to cook you a pot of soup.”

Her father said, “Ah, it’s been 20 years. She must be delicious.”

Qian Zixuan could hardly believe her ears! Her parents… were going to… kill her! Qian Zixuan had the intuition that her parents didn’t mean chicken, duck or fish. Rather, they were referring to herself, Qian Zixuan. Originally, she thought it was a warm harbour but it turned out to be another lie.

Qian Zixuan didn’t have the strength to question them. All the cells in her body were clamoring that if she didn’t leave now, her parents would… really do it. Qian Zixuan covered her mouth and she almost exhausted her self-control to lay back in bed without making a sound. She covered her face with the quilt and sobbed silently.

Qian Zixuan had stayed up almost all night. It was only when the sky brightened that she couldn’t resist her sleepiness for a while. Then when she opened her eyes the next morning, she found her mother had opened the door and was standing by her bed watching her!

Her mother saw Qian Zixuan wake up and said, “You’re so tired and look haggard. You should take a break from work today and rest at home.”

Qian Zixuan looked at her mother’s face and felt a chill. She tried to ensure that her voice didn’t sound strange. “No, my job today is very important and I have to go to work.”

Her mother advised her with a few words. Finally, she couldn’t be persuaded and left with the bag on her back.

Once Qian Zixuan went out, her mother leaned against the door and said, “Come back early. I’ll give you soup to drink.”

Soup…

Qian Zixuan remembered the conversation he had heard last night. Rather than going to work, she went to her boyfriend because she couldn’t wait to find someone to talk to her. However, her boyfriend dealt the last straw that overwhelmed the camel’s back. After she told her boyfriend everything, her boyfriend just sighed. “Zixuan, you’ve really changed. You weren’t such a strange talker before.”

“No, you have to believe me. It’s all true—”

“You’re crazy. You keep talking about this lately and I really don’t want to hear it anymore! Leave me and let’s break up.” Her boyfriend spoke regretfully. “The thing you gave me before was relaxation and comfort. Now you are full of negative energy and you make me very uncomfortable. Sorry Zixuan, we aren’t suitable. You have to calm down.”

This really broke Qian Zixuan. She was sobbing as she spoke on the phone. There was silence in the radio office.

Xie Zeqing whispered to the person next to her. “This… isn’t this too bad? What type of miserable life is it to go to work and be haunted then go home and be haunted. Her boyfriend broke up with her and even her parents are ghosts in the end?”

Zheng Yi was so immersed that he covered his arms. He could hardly imagine how despairing he would feel if such a situation happened to him.

Xiao Li thought about it and asked, “Can you tell me where you are now? I’ll help you because I believe what you are saying. It is no using calling the police in this situation but I can help you.”

He glanced at the clock on the console. It was almost 1 a.m. and this was the last radio call of the day.

“I…” Qian Zixuan muttered but couldn’t say anymore.

Xiao Li said, “You called me and it shouldn’t just be to talk. Tell me your location and your parents’ address. We have encountered a similar situation and you aren’t alone.”

Perhaps his last words touched Qian Zixuan and she quickly reported two places. “The first is my home address. I… I’m at Pusen Park right now…”

Xiao Li told her, “We’ll be there soon.”

“Okay… thank you… thank you…”

Qian Zixuan sobbed and hung up the phone. They didn’t know if it was a coincidence but the clock pointed exactly at 1 a.m. It was time to insert the ending music. Xiao Li didn’t select the pure music specified on the radio screen and used the radio player to search for a song.

“The sky is blue and I’m waiting for you…”

The male singer’s magnetic voice filled the office. Xiao Li turned off the radio and clapped. “Let’s go.”

Kudo came up to him. “To save Qian Zixuan?”

“No,” Xiao Li said. “Go and see her parents first.”

Chu He immediately objected to the words. “No, I think it is better to pick up Qian Zixuan first. Her parents are ghosts!”

Xiao Li told him, “This is just Qian Zixuan’s one-sided statement and can’t be fully accepted.”

Kudo now didn’t dare to take Xiao Li as an ordinary senior reincarnator and felt that the other side’s thinking was very interesting. “Do you think there is a problem with Qian Zixuan?”

“Not necessarily.” Xiao Li made an ambiguous statement. “Go to her parents before they know.”

After all… the caller at this radio station wasn’t necessarily a person or a ghost.

“I object!” Chu He didn’t compromise. “What if her parents are really ghosts? Can we afford to bet on this one in a million possibility?”

“You can wait downstairs or choose not to go.” Xiao Li glanced at him, put on his coat and went out.

Xie Zeqing and the others didn’t hesitate to follow him. Kudo hesitated for a bit before also following. Chu He and the two other foreigners took the longest time before finally setting out with the principle of not wanting to be alone. It wasn’t big to wait downstairs until this group came out from talking to the parents.

*******

Qian Zixuan was located in an open park that wasn’t closed at night. The park was very large and far from her home. The reincarnators took a taxi and the driver’s expression was very strange. It seemed he had never encountered such a large group going to the park in the early hours of the morning…

Xie Zeqing explained when he paid for it. “We are camping enthusiasts and we’re going to the park to exercise our ability to survive in the wild.”

The driver looked at them even more strangely. After dropping them over, he stepped on the accelerator and left the park’s gates. The park at night was dark and silent. There were no lights and even the birds seemed to be swallowed by darkness.

Zheng Yi trembled a bit. He felt that Qian Zixuan’s experience was really weird but he had to rush to explore due to the task. “We can try to call her out instead of going in…”

Xie Zeqing looked at Xiao Li. They might be able to try and make a ghost call. Xiao Li touched his phone and called ‘444444’. The call was connected after a beeping sound. “I’m sorry, you have been pulled into the blacklist by this user. Your call can’t be connected—”

Xiao Li told her, “I can hear your voice. I have something to tell you.”

The phone ghost asked, “…What’s up?”

“Can you help me find a person called Qian Zixuan? I don’t have her phone number.”

The phone ghost was silent before speaking after a while, “I can’t find her. Her signal is blocked and there is a force stronger than me.”

It seemed that this radio instance didn’t allow the use of the phone ghost to find radio listeners…

Xiao Li nodded and hung up. “There is no way. We can only go in.”

Zheng Yi didn’t understand this action and asked doubtfully on behalf of the other reincarnators. “Who did you call?”

It was Xie Zeqing who answered the question before Xiao Li. “China Mobile.”

Zheng Yi, “???”

Xiao Li met Zheng Yi’s eyes (that were somehow filled with a bit of sadness and anger) and added to Xie Zeqing’s answer. “…A friend who isn’t a person.”

Zheng Yi, “……”

What did that mean? If it wasn’t a person, was it a ghost?! This episode reduced Zheng Yi’s fear a lot and he followed Xiao Li into the park. The park’s greenery was very good with trees and flowers everywhere. The reincarnators held their flashlights and shouted, “Qian Zixuan—”

The wind blew and the leaves shook. The shadows of the trees looked like ghosts every time, poking the nerves of the reincarnators. There was no shadow of Qian Zixuan but she seemed to be everywhere.

The park was so big that they walked for a while. They were almost halfway through the park when they came across a building. It was a public toilet with a triangular roof. The entrance was on the other side and the reincarnators could see an open window.

“Ah—!” Just then, a scream came from the female toilets. Xiao Li could tell that it was Qian Zixuan’s voice!

Xiao Li came to the window of the public toilet, raised his flashlight and looked inside. A pretty woman with short hair was sitting on the ground inside the public toilet. She was screaming toward a certain place with her hands over her face. The ceiling of the public toilet had large black asphalt on it. It was as Qian Zixuan described on the phone.

Xiao Li leaned his upper body through the window. “Qian Zixuan? I’m the radio host.”

Qian Zixuan collapsed. “Save me, please. It… it is pestering me!”

She seemed to want to run but couldn’t so she sobbed in a corner.

Xiao Li estimated the height of the window. He was too lazy to go around and walk in through the door. Thus, he put his hands on the window frame and wanted to make a leap of faith.Then he found that he couldn’t jump to such a high height, just like in the silent instance at the old house. He failed—

This time, there seemed to be a subtle difference. There was a hand holding him by the waist from behind. The hands were very strong and didn’t tremble at all. They steadily held him up and helped him through the window.

Xiao Li didn’t need to look back to know who it was.

Shen Chenzhi.

Xiao Li paused for a moment but Qian Zixuan’s scream shifted his attention away. She pointed to the asphalt on the ceiling of the public toilets. “H…Hands! Host, do you see that?”

Xiao Li took two steps forward and blocked Qian Zixuan’s way as he looked at the asphalt. The black asphalt seemed alive as it constantly expanded. It had grown from an ordinary human face to the size of an adult since the first time Xiao Li had seen it. It corroded the ceiling and walls of the public toilets and rolled forward, extending hands toward Xiao Li.

Rolling blackness…

Xiao Li thought about it and pulled Qian Zixuan back. He touched his pen to the little yellow book and wrote on it: [@Book of Strange Stories, I want to borrow you for personal use. Summon your strange story about the red woman. Don’t let your master know.]

The little yellow book shook and there was a reply from the book of strange stories in seconds. [Okay, Old Seven.]

Xiao Li, “……??”

This ‘Old Seven’ was very confusing. His confusion didn’t affect the speed of arrival of the red woman. She appeared in front of Xiao Li, her hem still having the white foam from the fire extinguisher.

The asphalt ghost held the red woman from behind. The red woman’s head turned 180 degrees and she smiled at the asphalt on the wall. “Do you like red?”

The asphalt ghost couldn’t speak and it didn’t respond. The hands of rolling black liquid grasped the red woman’s hem. The red woman wanted to pull it out but the asphalt ghost didn’t want to let go.

Its actions led to the black liquid of the asphalt ghost to stain the red woman’s dressed. The beautiful red dress looked like it had rolled in the mud and the red turned to black. The red woman’s fingernails suddenly became very long and she wanted to dye the other person’s ‘clothes’ red. She tore at her arm and let blood flow onto the asphalt ghost’s body.

In the struggle, the woman in red was almost rolled into the asphalt but her blood that dripped onto the body of the asphalt ghost obviously played a role. After 30 seconds, the asphalt on the wall suddenly contracted and disappeared from the wall of the public toilet. It chose to temporarily escape from the scene.

The rest of the red woman’s body was dyed black.

…She was turned black.

She slowly turned to face Xiao Li.

Xiao Li clapped. “Black is very good. It makes you look thin.”

Xie Zeqing standing by the window to listen, “???”

The little dragon girl would cry when she heard it. As the gaze of the red woman filled with killing intent, Xiao Li added, “Of course, the red dress is better. Red is the symbol of a noble fierce ghost. Don’t worry, it’ll return to red after washing.”

The woman in red, “……”

What type of washing clothes?

The author has something to say:

Little yellow book: I touched him!!!