Chapter 2: Infernal Show
1675 Words
When the late-night traffic was sparse enough, the wide road could reveal some of its own truths, the scars that were unseen amidst the various clashes during the day.
Though I was a third-rate detective, out of respect for the profession, I always put my full effort into every case.
The simplest way to determine if a girl was lying was to personally visit the dark road at the right time and look for the infernal show mentioned in the advertisement.
Searching on the computer, I found that there was indeed a dark road in Jiangcheng.
In the mouths of the old residents of Jiangcheng, this road had another very special name—"Lei Shi Jie Ding" which meant "Pile of Corpses and Top". During the Anti-Japanese War, this was the largest m******e site in Jiangcheng, with bodies piled up layer by layer, reaching the height of the roof. Nearby residents said that street lamps couldn't be installed here; whenever they were installed, they would either go out the next day, either extinguished by someone or inexplicably.
The light bulbs were taken down intact, but the tungsten wires inside were already broken, and no one dared to install new light bulbs later. Even flashlights would inexplicably go out when walking in the alley. Any electric device couldn't be used in the alley at night, and motorcycles and electric bikes had to be pushed.
People in the neighborhood generally didn't go out at night. So if you met someone on "Lei Shi Jie Ding" at night, it might not even be a person.
"To open a company in such a place really lives up to the name of its infernal show." To be honest, I am a logic-driven atheist. After an afternoon of gathering information, I was even more convinced that this was not a clever prank.
"Whether it's true or false, we'll see tonight." Changing into casual clothes, I stuffed the advertisement and the electric shock anti-wolf device into my pocket and rode my bike to the destination.
The dark road was in the old city. By the time I arrived, it was already dark, and a drizzle was falling from the sky.
"What bad luck." It was easy to injure myself with the electric shock anti-wolf device on a rainy night, and if I encountered a villain, that would be embarrassing.
Wandering in the complex alleys, with old buildings on both sides, the locals were very unfriendly to me, an outsider. When I asked them, as soon as the three words "dark road" were mentioned, they would wave their hands and hurriedly leave.
Without any clues, like a headless fly, I wandered around until after ten o'clock at night and still hadn't found the legendary dark road.
The rain intensified, and a mist appeared between heaven and earth. I wanted to find a place to shelter from the rain, but there wasn't even a decent shop in the surrounding alleys.
Only a few storefronts were left, with paper horses and wreaths, obviously doing business related to the dead.
The rain grew heavier, and with no other choice, I could only grit my teeth and hide in a funeral shop. What surprised me even more was that after 11 o'clock, the shop owner turned off all the lights, lit two white candles, gave me a black umbrella used for going to the grave, and urged me to leave.
"These people are too strange." Holding the black umbrella, standing in the rain, I looked around and saw that the whole alley was devoid of any light.
"The dark road?" I shivered inexplicably, and after walking alone for more than twenty minutes, I lost my way. Just as I took out my phone to call for help, I happened to see an old lady waving to me from across the street.
"When the night was dark and the rain was heavy, why was she alone outside? Where were her family?"
The rain soaked the old lady's clothes, and she looked much more pitiful than me.
She waved anxiously, and I hurried over to hold the umbrella for her. "Grandma, are you..."
A flash of lightning illuminated her face, pale and wrinkled, like folded bean skins, covering her aged face.
"I've lost something, please help me find it quickly."
The old lady's voice trembled, as if on the brink of death, this was her last request.
I forced myself to calm down. "Don't worry, what did you lose?"
The old lady's cloudy eyes rolled around. "I've lost my grandson, he's somewhere in this alley."
She pointed to the dark road and limped towards it as if possessed.
"Grandson? A living person?" I don't know why, but I thought of the various rumors online about the dark road. Looking at the old lady's back, my hair stood on end.
"It's impossible. The so-called ghosts and gods are just scaring themselves. My current situation should be triggering a human instinctive reaction to uncertain events." The human body produces a self-protection mechanism in the face of danger, which is fear and avoidance.
"Combining the reactions of the locals with the rumors online, and now this old lady, their behavior all seems strange, as if deliberately creating a terrifying atmosphere." Despite my skepticism, I still thought this was a prank. Nowadays, many variety shows resort to all means for ratings, with various extreme programs emerging endlessly. Perhaps in a place I didn't know, there were a dozen cameras installed, filming the whole thing.
With this thought, the feeling of fear suddenly diminished. I opened the umbrella and followed the old lady into the depths of the alley.
After a long time, I had long lost my way and was feeling frustrated, but the old lady suddenly stopped.
"Darling grandson, don't run around next time..."
"Found it?" I was slightly surprised. Following the old lady's gaze, my eyes widened.
On the cold steps lay a ragged doll soaked and battered by the rain!
The old lady affectionately picked up the doll, ignoring the mud and water stains, and handled it with care, as if it were a newborn baby.
"Is she... crazy?" I had actually followed a crazy old lady for over an hour in the rainy night!
"Oh, dolly, don't be angry, let me apologize to you. I shouldn't have lost my temper and thrown you on the ground. I've dirtied your new clothes and your face is covered in mud. It must still hurt, right? I'm really sorry! I'll pat your dirty clothes, wash your dirty face, and rub where it hurts. From now on, we won't be separated."
The old lady held the doll and sang a nursery rhyme as she walked away. I couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the old lady. At her age, the only companion she had was a ragged doll.
Thinking of this, I followed her and handed the black umbrella to her. "It's raining heavily, take the umbrella and go home quickly."
The old lady took the umbrella and stood still for a moment.
"Take care on your way back, goodbye." The rain soaked my clothes as I hid from the rain under the steps where I found the rag doll. It was a three-story building, and there was an old rain shelter at the entrance.
"For seventy yuan, I'm quite persistent." With no clue from the client, I squatted on the ground, habitually wanting to light a cigarette, but in the moment the lighter flickered, I saw the doorplate on the outer wall of the building - "No Lights Road, No. 44".
The flame went out in an instant. I took out a small card, brought my face close to it, and confirmed it several times. "Could it be so coincidental?"
When mountains are high and waters are deep, another village appears when one is in despair. This was exactly the place I was looking for.
"The address in the advertisement does exist, things are getting more and more interesting." I pressed the switch of the electric shock anti-wolf device in my palm, ready to enter the building. However, my clothes were suddenly tugged from behind.
"Who!"
Turning around and pulling out the anti-wolf device, the crackling electric arc was particularly clear in the dark night.
"Grandma?" The old lady holding the rag doll was standing behind me, and as someone who had received an A+ in practical combat training at the police academy, I completely failed to notice her approach.
"Young man, it's dark, don't wander around." The old lady blocked the doll's view with her body, and seemingly inadvertently, she slipped a handkerchief out of her sleeve.
"Little mouse, climb up the lamp, steal oil to eat, can't come down. Meow meow meow, the cat's here, scurry down..." Singing a nursery rhyme and comforting the doll in her arms, the old lady disappeared into the rainy night.
I picked up the handkerchief she left behind, pure white, like the white cloth used for hanging. Bringing it to my eyes, there was also an ancient poem on it.
"The house is extremely difficult to abandon the painting,
The inside story originated in the imperial capital.
Having a child to receive grace must have a place,
In the ghost realm, there is no way, the heart is lost."
Reading it twice, I broke out in a cold sweat. This was an acrostic poem, connecting the first word of each line, it read - "There are ghosts in the house!"
"Is she really crazy?" Combining the old lady's previous words, her meaning was already very clear, though subtle, but logically speaking, there was no problem.
"Are there really ghosts in the world?" Looking at the dark alley, I hesitated for a moment before walking in.
For a detective, what always attracted him was not the result, but the process of solving the unknown.
My eyes slowly accustomed to the darkness, feeling the mottled wall, I walked down the stairs towards the basement.
"No Lights Road, No. 44, Basement 4th floor, Room 444..."
- Writer
