Chapter 009 Lock and Take
Li Daming and I left Wang Yue's house. Li Daming was in a bad mood and we didn't talk to each other anymore. After we left the community, he said, " This matter won't end like this."
"Damin, I'm doing this for your own good," I advised him.
Li Daming chuckled. "I've said before, I'm an adult and can be responsible for my own actions. I don't need you to do things for me." He paused. "I won't do anything behind your back, and I hope you won't do anything behind my back. It's best for us to discuss how to resolve this matter."
I didn't object or nod, and watched him drive away. I declined his offer to give me a ride, as I wanted to be alone.
That night, I walked home slowly, thinking about the whole process carefully and chewing it over again. After thinking about it, I thought of a core issue, which is also the root of all the events.
That is: Can we believe what Wang Yue said about the underworld saving her father and the words of Meng Po? The existence of the underworld has been described in the history of various nations. China has the system of eighteen levels of hell, Japan has the description of the transformation of hell, and the most famous Western work "Divine Comedy" and so on, all of which talk about that place.
Is this a heresy, or should we believe it?
In Wang Yue's room, I was confused by the atmosphere and did not think carefully for a while. Now, walking in the night breeze, my mind is much clearer, and no matter how I think about it, something is wrong.
In my opinion, I was half-believing and half-doubting, with more doubt and disbelief. I didn't know what to do next, and I didn't believe that my soul was taken to the so-called underworld by Wang Yue.
After returning home, I barely slept all night. The next day, I was confused at work and did almost nothing. I spent the whole day searching for topics about the underworld on the Internet, but I couldn't find any clues. But it's true, the underworld is a place that only the dead can go to, and the dead can't speak, so of course they can't tell the living what's going on there.
There are some people who have been in a state of suspended animation and have come back to life. After waking up, they describe all kinds of miracles. In fact, this situation is also questionable. After all, your suspended death is not real death, and the underworld you see may not be the real underworld, but just an illusion of the underworld you think it is.
It sounds a bit confusing, but it is actually very possible.
After get off work in the evening, I went to the hospital to visit my mother. My mother was in a special care ward of the central hospital. When I entered the ward, she lay quietly on the bed, without any signs of waking up. She slept very peacefully, and the small beauty mole on the lower right corner of her mouth moved gently with her breathing.
I stood beside the bed, looked at my mother, and couldn't control my tears.
I remember clearly that day when I received a call from my parents' unit asking me to go over.
My parents work in the exploration team of the North China Institute of Geology. They work hard outside all year round, and I often only see them a few times a year. Even so, our family of three is still very happy.
My parents are very open-minded people. My childhood was full of carefreeness. They didn't care about my test scores and gave me ample space to grow. Every time I came back, they would bring very interesting things. They helped me expand the boundaries of the world very early on.
When I got the call that day, the leader of the exploration team said to me, Xiao Cong, you need to be mentally prepared, your parents, something has happened...
During an exploration mission, my father disappeared and my mother became a vegetable... In the blink of an eye, two years passed.
I have been living like a year in the past two years. Whenever I think about it, I feel that all this is fake and not real. Mom's medical expenses are astronomical for an ordinary family. Fortunately, their unit reimbursed a large part of the expenses, so they can maintain it. I sat by the bed, holding my mother's hand tightly, sobbing uncontrollably. In my heart, I always have a belief, a firm belief, that my mother will wake up, she will be healthy, she will tell me what happened in that mission, and I will be able to find my missing father.
Our family will be together!
I helped my mother wipe her body and talked to the doctor for a long time. He told me that my mother's condition is very stable and her physiological state is also very good, but she can't wake up. I didn't ask him how long this vegetative state will last. For a person with faith in his heart, how long it takes is not a big deal.
I came out of the hospital very late. Every time I came, I was in a very heavy mood. Looking at the dark night, two years, more than seven hundred days and nights, I sighed deeply.
I went to work as usual the next day and my spirits were better. The company received a large order and all departments had to coordinate the operations. I was the main force in the department and I was so busy that I worked overtime for three consecutive days.
It was finally over, and I was exhausted. It was the perfect weekend to have a good rest. The next morning, I was sleeping soundly when the phone rang. I fumbled for the phone tiredly and said, "Hello."
A man's voice came from inside: "Lin Cong, I'm back."
I sat up immediately. It was Li Daming. "Aren't you going to be gone for a week?" I asked.
"Things went smoothly. They all stayed in Fujian to play, and I was the only one who hurried back." He spoke quickly: "Did you find Uncle Zhong?"
I was speechless. In fact, I have been avoiding this matter and didn't want to get involved. To be honest, if Li Daming hadn't been there, I would have kept quiet and pretended that this matter didn't exist.
I didn't expect Li Daming would still bring up this matter.
I rubbed my temple and said, "Do you believe in this ridiculous superstition about the underworld?"
Unexpectedly, Li Daming reacted strongly and shouted at the top of his voice: "Lin Cong, please don't tell me that you didn't go to see Uncle Zhong at all!"
My ears and eyes were buzzing from being yelled at, and I was a little angry: "It's none of your business whether I go to look for it or not. Li Daming, what right do you have to ask me to do anything?"
"I rushed back from far away and took a flight in the middle of the night, and this is your attitude?" Li Daming was really angry.
I thought it was a little ridiculous: "Li Daming, let me reiterate one thing, I didn't ask you to do anything, you wanted to catch the plane back on your own. I told you earlier that you don't want to get involved in this matter, did I say that?"
"Pa", Li Daming hung up the phone without saying anything. This guy is really a donkey.
I was upset and felt that being passive was not the solution to the problem. I couldn't just let Wang Yue lie in the coffin. After a long time, in the summer, she would stink. When the police came, I would definitely be the main suspect. All the evidence, including the cell phone information and other things, pointed to me.
If I really want to go find Uncle Zhong, I think it’s too troublesome. The underworld and Meng Po are all nonsense. Why don’t I believe in these things?
What should we do next? We really need to come up with a good solution.
I was half asleep, and I couldn't help falling asleep again. It was a painful sleep. I wanted to wake up but couldn't, and I couldn't sleep well. I felt dizzy and my neck hurt. When I was half asleep, I suddenly felt that there was someone in the room. This person was very strange. He was walking around the room, and he seemed to be dragging something in his hand, which was dragging on the ground. His footsteps were heavy, and the thing he was dragging was also heavy, making a "clattering" sound.
It seemed as if he was dragging a chain.
I vaguely felt that this person was there, but I couldn't open my eyes to take a closer look. This person was circling in the room, one circle, two circles, three circles. When he was circling for the fourth time, he came to the head of my bed and seemed to be looking directly at me.
I felt uncomfortable all over. For some reason, my heart was beating so fast that I could feel it pounding and seemed to be about to jump out of my throat. I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids seemed to be glued shut and I couldn't open them.
At this moment, I vaguely felt that the man suddenly put the chain in his hand over and put it around my neck. I was shocked and seemed to feel the coldness of the chain. Was it a dream? Dreams are not so clear.
After the man put on the suit, he suddenly pulled it off, as if he had torn something off my body. It was hard to describe the state of the thing he had torn off. It was suspended in the air and followed the man out of the house. I felt very uncomfortable. I subconsciously felt that the most important thing to me seemed to have been taken away. I wanted to get it back, but my body couldn't move, not even a little finger could move.
After that person completely disappeared, my body slowly felt relaxed. At this moment, the door outside suddenly rang, "Dong Dong Dong". Someone was knocking on the door.
By this time I was able to open my eyes, my whole body ached, my strength seemed to have been drained away, and I felt lazy. I managed to get off the bed, but my legs were weak and my body was shaking. I shook my head to wake myself up, but the room was empty, there was no one there, I must have been dreaming.
I don’t know what’s wrong, maybe it’s because I didn’t sleep well, but I feel unwell all over, almost like when I’ve just recovered from a serious illness.
The door was still knocking. I was in agony and gritted my teeth to go to the entrance and open the door. As soon as the door opened, I was stunned.
There were two people standing outside, one of them was Li Daming, and behind him stood a middle-aged man with a strange appearance.
This man looked very old, with wrinkles all over his face. He was tall and thin, wearing a thin black silk coat, as if he had traveled from the Republic of China. He had very long hair, wore slippers, had a string of dark black beads around his neck, and held another in his hand. He looked like a Taoist master.
