delivery man

chapter2

I sighed in relief and was about to go back to bed when I suddenly noticed something wrong with the door. I turned on my cell phone flash and took a closer look, and gasped.

On the outside of the door, three deep scratches had been carved into it.

surname San

The next day, I went to the landlord and asked if any strangers had entered the basement last night. The landlord shook his head and said that the surveillance in the basement had been broken for some time and no one had fixed it.

"But," he added with a frown, "that room of yours, the people who lived in it before also said it was haunted."

My heart sank, "What do you mean?"

The landlord scratched his head, "Last July, I think, the young man who lived in that room before, who was also a delivery man, had a car accident and died instantly. I heard that he ran a red light in a hurry and was hit by a truck."

I forced down my inner panic, "How long has that room been vacant?"

"Almost six months, no one wants to rent it. You're the first one who looked at it and decided to rent it." The landlord looked at me meaningfully, "Speaking of which, you and that young man look a bit alike."

It was as if the blood in my body froze at that moment. The landlord had never mentioned any of this while I was renting the apartment.

Leaving the landlord's house, I decided not to go back to that basement for the time being, but to go to my friend Lao Wang to borrow a room for a few days. Lao Wang is a war veteran who now owns a small supermarket and is a generous and righteous man.

I told him about the strange things that had been happening lately, of course withholding some of the details, only that I had encountered strange customers and suspicious messages of harassment.

After hearing this, Old Wang patted my shoulder, "Brother, it's probably because you've been too tired lately. Stay with me first today and take a good rest."

That night, I slept on the living room couch in Old Wang's house, feeling much safer than in the basement. Before I went to sleep, Old Wang handed me a bracelet woven with red rope.

"My grandmother gave it to me, saying it's for warding off evil spirits. You've had bad luck lately, wear it."

I took it with thanks and put it on my wrist even though I didn't really believe in these things.

That night, I slept unusually soundly and didn't have any dreams.

When I woke up the next day, I felt a whole lot more relaxed. Old Wang had already left the house to go to the supermarket, leaving me breakfast and a note saying that he would be back in the evening, telling me to treat the house as my own.

I had breakfast and decided to get back to work, I couldn't keep avoiding it like this. Delivering during the day shouldn't be a problem, I just needed to avoid night deliveries and remote areas.

The day went by quite well. The sun was shining, the streets were crowded with pedestrians, and there was none of the eerie atmosphere of the previous days. I took a couple of close orders and completed the deliveries without incident.

It was after 4pm and getting dark, so I planned to deliver one last order and call it a day. It was an ordinary milk tea order, and the delivery address was in a nearby office building.

After picking up my milk tea, I rode my bike to my destination. I've been to this office building many times, a modern high-rise in the center of the city, its glass facade glinting gold in the setting sun.

I parked in front of the office building and walked into the lobby with my milk tea. The security guard routinely checked my order information and then directed me to the elevator. According to the order, I needed to go to a design company on the 15th floor.

The elevator was empty as I pressed the 15th floor button and the elevator slowly rose. Suddenly, as the elevator reached the 8th floor, it jerked to a stop.

I thought it was someone trying to get on the elevator, but when the doors opened, it was empty and there was no one outside.

Strangely, the elevator door did not close automatically, but stayed open. I pressed the close button several times and the elevator still didn't move.

"Anyone?" I asked tentatively.

There was no response, only a breeze that blew into the elevator from the hallway, carrying with it a smell of decay if nothing else.

Just as I was debating whether or not to step out of the elevator, the numbers on the elevator's control panel started jumping wildly, from 8 to 9, then 10, then 11, 12... It finally stopped at 23.

23rd floor? This office building is clearly only 22 floors!

The elevator doors slowly closed and then began to rise. I pressed the door open button and other floor buttons in horror, but none of them responded. The elevator ran straight upwards as if it had an autonomous consciousness.

When the elevator numbers read 23, it stopped and the doors opened again.

Instead of the office building hallway I expected, the door was a dimly lit residential hallway, exactly like the one I had seen that night in the Rongfeng neighborhood!

I pressed the close button in horror, but the elevator doors wouldn't budge. At the end of the hallway, the door to room 2304 was half-open, and something seemed to be writhing in the darkness.

At that moment, my cell phone rang. I shakily pulled out my phone and the screen showed a new order notification:

【Order No.: GH8571】 【Delivery Address: Room 2304, Building 17, Rongfeng District, No. 73, Ronghua Street】 【Delivery Fee: 35 RMB】 【Remarks: Knock three times and put it at the door.

It's the exact same order as the other night!

One thought flashed through my mind: escape!

I turned and rushed to the elevator doors, but they were already closed and the elevator began to descend. The numbers went from 23 to 22 to 21...

By the time the elevator stopped again, I was in a cold sweat. The doors opened and I found myself back in the lobby of the office building.

I stumbled out of the elevator and sprinted out of the office building as if something was chasing me behind me.

That night, I returned to Old Wang's house, my whole body in a trance. Seeing my pale face, Old Wang hurriedly asked me what had happened. I told him about the elevator experience, of course, once again hiding some details.

After hearing this, Old Wang frowned, "Brother, I don't think this is a mere coincidence or hallucination on your part. Tomorrow I will accompany you to find someone."

"What man?"

"I have a cousin who used to be a Taoist priest and knows more about these things."

Although I've never been much of a believer in all this, after experiencing so many bizarre things, I've come to believe that there really are phenomena in the world that can't be explained by science.

Early the next morning, Lao Wang took me to a small temple on the outskirts of the city. His cousin, Taoist Master Lin, was the abbot here.

Taoist Master Lin looked to be in his sixties, with a gray beard and a plain Taoist robe. He listened to my description and nodded his head from time to time, as if he was not surprised by such things.

"What you have encountered should be a wandering spirit with a deep obsession," said Taoist Master Lin finally, "and, it has chosen you."

"Why me?" I asked in disbelief.

Daoist Lin looked at the red rope bracelet on my wrist, "This bracelet worked, temporarily blocking its entanglement. But to solve it completely, we still need to find out why it's haunting you."

He thought for a moment and then asked, "That address you mentioned, Room 2304, Block 17, Rongfeng Subdivision, have you tried to look up information on that address?"

I shook my head, "I'm too scared to go near that place again."

Daoist Lin nodded, "Understood. However, if we want to solve this mystery, we may need more information."

On the way back, Lao Wang suggested: "Why don't we go check that address together? Go in the daytime, it's safer with more people."

I hesitated and finally agreed.

4

The next morning, the sun was shining brightly, and Wang and I drove to Rongfeng neighborhood. The neighborhood during the day and the night is completely different: the old man in the shade playing chess, children running and playing in the small square, a vibrant scene.

We found the 17th building and met an old lady at the door who was about to go out. Old Wang went up to her and asked her if she knew the occupant of room 2304.

The old lady sniffed and her face became a bit odd, "2304? There is no such room number in this building."

Old King and I looked at each other.

"There are only three households on the first floor of this building, and there should only be 2301, 2302 and 2303 on the 23rd floor," the old woman explained, "You're looking in the wrong place, aren't you?"

My heart sank. If there was no room 2304 on the 23rd floor at all, then what the hell was I knocking on that night?

We thanked the old lady and decided to go up and see for ourselves. After climbing more than twenty flights of stairs, we arrived panting on the 23rd floor. The layout of the hallway was exactly as I remembered it: narrow, dim, with a flickering light at the end.

But the old lady was right, there were only three rooms at the end of the corridor: 2301, 2302 and 2303.

Next door to room 2303 is a plain wall with no sign of a door.

"Strange," I said to myself, "I saw a door here clearly that night, and knocked on it."

Old King scrutinized the walls and suddenly called out, "Look here!"

He pointed to a thin, barely visible crack where the wall met the floor, "There might have actually been a door here before, and then it was sealed off."

I crouched down and with the light from my cell phone, I could see a shallow mark on the floor, like wear and tear from years of doors opening and closing.

At that moment, the door of room 2303 suddenly opened and an old man with white hair came out. Seeing us squatting by the wall in front of his house, the old man looked a little wary: "What are you doing?"

Lao Wang hastened to explain that we were looking for a friend who lived in room 2304, but seemed to be looking in the wrong place.

After hearing this, the old man's expression became complicated, "Room 2304 has long ceased to exist, it's been more than twenty years."

Old Wang and I looked at each other and asked the old man to explain in detail.

The old man sighed and invited us in for tea. In his simple living room, the old man told a chilling story.

"Room 2304 did exist over twenty years ago," the old man said slowly, "and living there was a young man, living alone, and rumored to be a delivery man."

My heart races when I hear this.