what the hell is

After exhaling the cigarette, the man said, "Call your father's name with me later."

The son held the dead man's hand tightly, almost frightened and shuddering.

The man ignored him, and knelt down in front of the three sticks of incense very devoutly, closing his eyes and muttering something.The atmosphere in the carriage was very strange, and the light bulbs emitting faint light "hissed" softly.The son looked at his father's body, pale and stiff, with a cold smile on his face.

When many heart patients die, there will be an expression similar to a smile on their faces.This expression appeared on the face of the corpse, which looked very terrifying.

He didn't dare to let go, and could only resign himself to fate.

The man stood up, stretched out his hand and gently rubbed Big Brother Peng's temples, and shouted softly: "Peng Liang!"

The son also shouted: "Peng Liang."

The man nodded: "Continue. When you call back, it counts."

The two shouted one after another: "Peng Liang~~Peng Liang~~"

The corpse truck drove through the night city, left the urban area, and went straight to the crematorium along the dark road.

"Later, hehe." Brother Peng smiled and pointed to himself: "You all saw the ending, I came back to life."

Li Damin and I looked at each other, always feeling that this experience was unremarkable.Maybe it's not the person involved, so I can't understand the horror of holding the dead man's hand to summon the soul on such a gloomy and silent night.

Li Damin said: "Then when you wake up, do you really plan to give him half of the company's shares?"

Brother Peng played with his chopsticks, stabbed the rotten eggplant on the plate, and laughed at himself: "What can I do if I don't give it to him. My life is worth half the company. Do you know the story of the kitchen knife man?"

I said I was not clear, but Li Damin smiled lightly: "There is a kind of kitchen knife seller in the countryside. Their rules for selling kitchen knives are rather strange. They don't charge you for the kitchen knife, but wait for some kind of prophecy to come true in the future. Come and collect the money owed on the kitchen knives. For example, when he sells knives, he will say that he will collect the money when the corn costs one yuan a catty. In a few years, the corn will cost one yuan, and he will collect money from door to door.”

I was surprised to hear: "If you don't give it to him, or the family moves away?"

"Since the kitchen knife man can predict so accurately, he must have the means to know where you are, and he can always find the creditor to get the money back. But in this story, I have never heard of the end of the knife money on credit. I think it is quite miserable. .” Li Damin said.

Brother Peng nodded: "Let's not say that that person is my savior, it is only natural to give him money. Let's just say that this person is very capable, summoning souls, and doing the work of Lord Hades. Who dares to owe him money?! How about killing me silently?"

We all nodded and said yes.After all, money is something outside the body, and there is hope in life.

Li Damin asked about the whereabouts of that person again, and was going to visit him.Brother Peng shook his head: "This person is very mysterious, and he has always refused to disclose the details. But when I went through the transaction of shares, I saw his identity certificate, his name is Ma Danlong, he is not from this city, and his home address is in Henan. He acts like an expert and hides his tracks. , and there is no need to get to the bottom of it.”

Ma Danlong... Li Damin wrote the name on the paper.

"Where are we going to find him then?" he asked.

Brother Peng looked at us, hesitated, and wrote an address: "I can't help you any more. I just want to remind you, no matter what happens, don't sell me."

Li Damin looked at him and laughed: "No problem, no matter what happens, even if I die, you don't have to bear the responsibility."

Farewell to Big Brother Peng, Li Damin and I went back to his house.This kid's family is quite rich, and he rented a two-bedroom apartment, which can be regarded as our activity base.The bedroom at home is very big, but the bed is very small, just a single bed.Li Damin and I never talked about women, and he didn't have any girlfriends. He was all focused on studying various weird phenomena.In the bedroom, apart from the bed, there is a clean computer desk, a super stylish Apple notebook, a Japanese-style desk lamp, and a notebook under the lamp, which densely records his thoughts at any time.

The most worth mentioning is the wall in the bedroom, where there are all kinds of clippings, printed materials, pictures, and texts, one by one covering the entire wall.But it looks messy and not chaotic, but it can make people want to study something.

He made me a cup of coffee and we sat down to talk.

First, he asked me a question: "Old Liu, do you think there is a hell in this world?"

I racked my brains and said carefully, "Then it depends on how to define the concept of the underworld."

Li Damin tapped his fingers on the table to aid his thinking, and said slowly: "The underworld, by my definition, is the place where the undead go after a person dies."

"Then what form does the undead exist?" I said.

"That's another question, don't digress."

"No, I just think this is a very related issue. The form of existence of the undead also determines the state of the underworld. If the undead are really the souls in our legends, how did they get to the underworld? In other words, enter the underworld. Do the channels and methods follow certain rules?"

"Your idea is unconstrained." Li Damin took a sip of coffee: "There are three main points here. One is the source of infection—the dead soul, and what form it is in. The second is the medium, which is the channel and method for the dead soul to enter the underworld, and the The third is the underworld, what kind of world it is, and what kind of laws it follows.”

"We don't know any of these issues. However, there have been many descriptions of hell and the underworld in Chinese and foreign history. For example, Dante's "Divine Comedy", Korean painter's "Hell Map", Chinese legends about Meng Po Tang, Huangquan Road and so on. The information is readily available and can be referred to.”

"So, do you believe in the existence of the underworld?" Li Damin asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. But I believe in the universal law of the immortality of matter. The soul is also matter. It will always go where it wants to go, or enter reincarnation—the cycle of matter in some way."

"Then do you believe in the underworld that Brother Peng said?"

I pondered for a while: "I think it's pointless to discuss whether what he said is true or not."

"Oh?" Li Damin smiled: "How do you say it?"

"Because we can't verify it at all, unless you are dead. Hehe, this is an endless loop, a paradox that can never be solved."

"But there are many records, those who have died came back to life, describing the hell of the underworld. What saw the light, saw the angel, and quickly replayed the fragments of life."

"Then are they dead or not?"

"Of course I'm not dead, how can I describe it when I'm dead?"

"That's it. How can you confirm that the scene seen by people like them who are fake dead is the same as that seen by real dead people?"

Li Damin hesitated, then suddenly smiled: "It's interesting."

"I know that there is a saying about near-death hallucinations in medicine, which means that when a person is about to die, he can see some hallucinations. However, it is not known whether these hallucinations are real or death inspired his subconscious. "

"Then I've been talking for a long time, do you believe in a world or not?" He frowned.

"I'm a staunch materialist." I laughed.

Li Damin put down his coffee cup: "Did you find anything wrong with Brother Peng?"

He suddenly changed the subject, and I couldn't keep up with my thinking. I thought for a while and said, "A little bit. I can't explain the strength. He looks a bit old-fashioned, a bit rascal. Businessmen, they are all like that."

Li Damin shook his head forcefully but slowly: "Old Liu, do you think this is a sequela from the underworld?"

I was shocked: "What are you talking about?"

"I feel a bit ghostly about him." He stood up and walked around twice: "Let's not discuss whether there is a hell, just assume that such a place does exist, or else nothing else makes sense. He survived from the hell People, do they all have the breath of that place on their bodies?"

"Human or not, ghost or ghost?" I swallowed.

Just as he was talking, there was a thunderstorm outside the window, it was getting late, and there were signs of a storm.Li Damin came to the window, looked out, stared at the night view of the city, and suddenly turned his head: "Old Liu, the weather is bad at night, you should go back."

I'm a little upset. It's not like I haven't lived here before. Such a good friend, knowing that the weather is bad and it's going to rain, still drives me out.An unhappy expression appeared on my face, and Li Damin was a little helpless: "Old Liu..." He picked up the interview book and looked at it and said, "I don't need you for the rest. I will run by myself. Thank you for accompanying me today. I."

I almost changed it when I heard it, so I don’t need to do the rest?It was a waste of time for me to co-author, and when the answer to the mystery was about to be revealed, he kicked me.

"What do you mean?" I demanded him.

Li Damin looked a little lonely: "I really don't need you. How about this, I will write a research report for you after I investigate and understand. I am thinking of you. You have just joined the work. Don't be out of tune like me all day long. It's not good to ask for leave, and I can't wait for the weekend to investigate just for you."

It makes sense for him to say that. Unlike him, I am a second-generation rich man. It is hard to find a job. If you work hard, you may be fired, not to mention asking for leave all day.

"Okay, I'm leaving." Although the reason is clear, my heart is still blocked.

When I walked out of the community, the heavy rain had already come. I braved the rain and finally took a taxi back home. I took a hot shower and lay on the bed, recalling what happened today, thinking about the underworld described by Brother Peng in my mind. He fell asleep without knowing when, and had a nightmare all night.

The next few days will be normal working hours, and I will occasionally work overtime from eight to five, and gradually forget about these things.When I think about it occasionally, it's just a joke.

It was the weekend that day, and I finally asked the goddess to have dinner, and I was planning to use some kind of offensive to take down her mountain, when a text message came, it was a very strange number, and it hadn't been registered in my phone.

I glanced at it and thought it was a spam advertisement, but after reading it, I realized it was unusual.

The text message reads: Mr. Liu, hello, I don’t know if I’m free tonight, I’d like to ask you out for dinner.Seeing this, I chuckled, what kind of spam.Looking further down: I am the son of Peng Liang, and a man surnamed Li found me a few days ago.He said that if he can't find him for anything, he can let me contact you.

I was taken aback, and quickly called back. There was a very young voice on the phone: "Mr. Liu, let's discuss it in detail at dinner tonight. Things are a bit complicated."

"Where are you, you don't need to ask, I invite you." I said loudly.

We made an appointment for a place to eat, and I hurriedly resigned from the goddess' appointment, but the goddess didn't say anything, so I hung up the phone, knowing that there would be no drama in the future.

If there is no play, there will be no play.I took a taxi to my appointment.

Peng Liang's son actually invited me to a rice noodle shop near their school.Although it’s autumn now, it’s still quite hot at night. There are a few seats with tents outside the rice noodle shop, and I saw a very handsome boy staring blankly into the distance.

Intuitively, I think that person is Peng Liang's son.

I took out my cell phone and called back, and it was he who answered.I strode over and stretched out my hand: "Hello, I am the old Liu you are looking for."

As expected, he was still a child, obviously not very comfortable with this kind of more adult etiquette, his face flushed, he stood up and shook hands: "Hello, hello, I'm Peng Gang."

We were relatively seated, and there was a cool breeze at night, and it was very quiet here, which is suitable for talking about things.

I clapped my hands and made a very familiar attitude: "What do you want to eat? I invite you. Let's talk while eating."

"Hehe, okay, then I won't be polite." He chuckled: "Their Chongqing rice noodles are very authentic. Our schoolmates often come here to eat. You should try it too."

"Okay, then two servings of rice noodles." I called the proprietress, and ordered a few more side dishes.

I looked at him face to face, the atmosphere was a little awkward, I coughed twice: "What's your name?"

"Peng Gang."

"You said Li Damin looked for you?"

"Well, yes. He is your friend. He is very powerful. Hehe, I didn't want to talk to him at first. He seems to know psychology, and his words are very deceptive. A few words make me follow his train of thought."

On the contrary, this kid Li Damin is very determined, he speaks with confidence and confidence, and has the aura of a superior.

"What did he want from you?" I asked.

"He first talked about the process of interviewing my dad that day, and then asked me if I had concealed some details. I was very upset at the time. The next sentence touched my heart, he asked me, do you feel that your father is different from before."