virus

Chapter 34 February 22
After the car passed the Yangtze River, there was a vast expanse of whiteness in the distance, all gray water and gray sky, and no land could be seen.The wind was so strong that I could see the crew staggering from the car window.I sat by the car window, staring at the rough Yangtze Estuary outside the window.This is a long-distance bus bound for northern Jiangsu, and the car is fixed on a car ferry to cross the Yangtze River.

Beside me is Ye Xiao, he still has a melancholy expression, and he is still talking endlessly: "You shouldn't listen to my advice and go to 'Ghost of the Tomb', I don't want to lose you, you know there have been some How many people have an accident?"

"I have no regrets."

"Stop it, do you think I'm here to help you? I've already told you, I'm determined to quit, I don't want to care about this anymore, fuck his 'Ghost of the Tomb', it has nothing to do with me It's gone." He got a little angry, and his voice was loud, which attracted the attention of many people in the carriage.

"Then why do you still come with me?"

"Because of your mother. I saw your mother a few days ago. She said that you haven't come home recently. She and your father are very worried about you. They seem to have seen something wrong. Your mother told me Wan asked, I must take good care of you, your parents are only your son, they can't lose you, you know? Even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your parents. I grew up in your family, you My mother treats me like my own son, and I have to promise her. So, I must follow you. "

I was silent for a while, and then I told Ye Xiao all about Xiangxiang. I talked for a long time, and I told all the details, including what happened at Xiangxiang's house that night.After the ferry landed, the car continued to drive rapidly on the plains in northern Jiangsu. After a few more hours, we finally arrived at the county where Xiangxiang's accident happened.

When I arrived in this small county, I found that there have been many changes here, but the general appearance has not changed, which made me feel emotional again.If at the age of 18, Xiangxiang and I could have stayed at home peacefully and survived the scorching heat, all our mistakes would have been avoided.

Ye Xiao and I went straight to the local funeral home.

I have always felt that a funeral home is a very important place in life, the delivery room in a hospital is where people come into this world, and the cremation furnace in a crematorium is where people leave this world.We walked into the funeral home, enveloped in a depressed atmosphere, the place is not big, I soon saw the small hall where Xiangxiang held the memorial service, at that time, I thought this was the last time, I cried so much, Never cried like that.

We found the person in charge here, and it was still the same. Ye Xiao showed his work card and explained our reason.Therefore, we checked the work duty record on the day Xiangxiang was cremated, and the name of the cremator who worked that day was registered in the record as Qi Hongli.

"That's a weird name, can we find him now?" I asked hastily.

The person in charge replied: "Qi Hongli suddenly lost his sight a year ago and went home, but I can tell you his current address."

I took the address he copied to me, and then I was about to leave, but Ye Xiao stopped me: "Slow down." Then, he said to the person in charge: "I'm sorry, I can take a look at the information about Qi Hong here. Li's personnel file?"

"Yes, but he's blind, so he can't commit a crime."

"I didn't say he broke the law, just investigate."

We found Qi Hongli's name in the personnel file of the funeral home—gender: male.Date of Birth: January 1950, 1.Birthplace: Huzhou, Zhejiang.marital status: Single.

In the resume, only fill in: Since 1972, I have worked in the cremation room of the county funeral parlor.

"Why are all the resumes before work blank? This is not in compliance with the regulations." Ye Xiao asked.

"Well, I don't know. I heard from the old workers here that Qi Hongli came to us during the Cultural Revolution. At that time, the social situation was very chaotic. There were many homeless people from all over the country here. , he is also one of them, but he is different from others in that he speaks with a Shanghai accent, and he is the only homeless man from Shanghai. Because of this, the old curator at that time took pity on him and allowed him to work as a temporary worker here , doing the dirtiest and most tiring cremation work. Later, after a long time, he worked very hard and never made mistakes, so he was transferred to a regular job."

"He is a homeless man. After he becomes a regular worker, what about his household registration?"

"During the Cultural Revolution, everything was chaotic. Later, he registered a household registration by himself. At that time, the police station was engaged in class struggle every day. Who cared about such trivial matters? They really registered for him. It is considered our family. people."

"It's strange, why did he stay here instead of going back to Shanghai?" I asked puzzled.

"Yeah, he's always been a weird guy, he doesn't talk much, he has almost no friends here, and he's never married. Some people suspect that he committed a crime during the Cultural Revolution and fled here to avoid the limelight, but there's no evidence. And although he has a weird personality, he should still be a good person. He has always been serious about his work and has never done anything bad. A year ago, he suddenly lost his eyesight, and no reason can be found. Maybe he really did something bad , was punished."

"Thank you."

Ye Xiao and I left the funeral home and found it according to Qi Hongli's address given to us by the person in charge.

This is a small bungalow in an unremarkable corner of a small county town.Low, damp, and dark, we entered the house and immediately smelled a bad smell.

That person was right in front of us, a middle-aged man about 50 years old, of medium height, with a featureless face, his eyes were wide open, but without any expression, staring straight ahead, he was indeed blind.

"Are you Qi Hongli?"

"You two young men, what are you looking for me for?"

He actually recognized two young people. It is not surprising that Ye Xiao's voice can be heard, but I haven't spoken yet.I watched him carefully for a moment, then said softly: "4 years ago, you did one thing."

"What? The only thing I do is burn dead bodies."

"You cremated a girl, and then you reunited her with her parents, and that's what I'm here for."

"I do not understand."

His tone is so tight, I decided to brag and take a risk, I suddenly said loudly: "I am that girl's brother! Don't hide it anymore. Don't you have to see her to tell the truth?" ?” I looked at Ye Xiao, and he secretly gave me a thumbs up.

"Are you really her brother?"

"Of course, siblings born to the same parents."

"You are lying. Your voice tells me that you are lying. Trust a blind man's hearing."

I was taken aback, took a step back, and tried to hold on, but couldn't speak.Ye Xiao made a gesture for me, and then he approached Qi Hongli, and in Shanghai dialect: "Before 1972, where was Nong?"

Qi Hongli was obviously taken aback, his expression changed a little, and then he said hesitantly: "What did you say? I don't understand."

"Don't pretend, you're obviously from Shanghai, why didn't you come back after the Cultural Revolution? Why did you register here privately? Why is everything before 1972 blank on your resume?" Ye Xiao spoke aggressively.

"who are you?"

"You don't have to worry about who I am. The question is who are you? Qi Hongli? This name is too weird. What's your name?"

"How much do you know?" His answer was a little flustered.

"That's up to you. Let me tell you, this matter is not about a few of us, but about many people. I don't think you are the kind of person who conspires." Ye Xiao looked at him, and then Nodding his head, he continued, "Trust us, we are not here to trouble you, we are here for the truth, because the truth matters a lot."

Qi Hongli didn't answer, blinked his dull eyes a few times, and finally said softly: "Tell me, how many people have died?"

This is the breakthrough point. Ye Xiao immediately replied: "Many, at least dozens of people. In a few days, there may be more people. We are racing against time. We can save as many people as we can. Let's talk."

"Up to now, I don't need to hide anymore. I'm completely blind, and I don't need to worry about seeing those terrible things. My real name is Li Hongqi, and Qi Hongli is Li Hongqi when read backwards. In 1966, I He is a graduate of Nanhu Middle School, joined the Red Guards, we have a black house there, and we occupied that unit.”

"Are you the one who disappeared?" I interrupted him, and I looked at Ye Xiao again, he shook his head at me and made a silent motion.

"You guys actually know?"

"Know some, but not all, don't care if we know or not, just tell the truth." Ye Xiao said.

"At that time, we went down to the basement for the sake of 'making a revolution' and found a naked female body lying in it. We were very scared, wrote some slogans and left. The next day, we found that one of us committed suicide, So another person, Zhang Hongjun, told us that they touched the woman last night. Unexpectedly, Zhang Hongjun committed suicide in the early morning of the next day.

"We felt very strange, so we went down to the basement again to find out what happened. In the basement, we faced the woman again, and we no longer felt afraid. Although two people had died, we really couldn't think about it. Find out what their death has to do with this woman.

"The woman was very beautiful and had a special charm. We had never seen a woman's body before, so we couldn't help touching her body, that's all. That night, after coming out of the basement, one of us, his name was Mu Jianguo crazily rushed towards a large truck passing by on Nanhu Road. The driver had no time to brake, and Mu Jianguo was hit and killed. In the second half of the night, after returning home, Wu Yingxiong and Zhang Nanju In the night and early morning of the next day, Xin Xiong and Feng Kangmei committed suicide again. In just two nights, 5 of us died, and the remaining 6 people were very scared. We began to realize that this must be Something to do with the woman in the basement.

"I don't know who mentioned that the woman was a monster and cast a spell on us. Although we Red Guards said we wanted to get rid of the 'four olds' at the time, we began to believe in such things, so we decided to take the woman's head Cut it off, thinking that would kill her. We went down to the basement and took a log saw and sawed off the woman's head, and looking back on it, it was really horrific. It was a nightmare.

"What's even more frightening is that the woman shed a lot of blood, and each of us was covered in blood. We were all terrified when we saw the blood and saw the head of that very beautiful woman roll off her neck. , we all had a nasty nauseous feeling. We left the woman's head in the basement and headed home.

"After three days and two nights, we were all safe and sound, and we thought that the nightmare was over, but on the fourth morning, I found out that Fan De, Cheng Xu'an, Luo Kangming, and Chen Xilong had already died yesterday. They all committed suicide in one short night at night. I was so scared that there were only two of us left, me and Donghae Hwang. I believed that by this night, me and him would die too, so we went down to the basement again Here, the woman's body and head rolled onto the ground, which was horrible. We decided that we would take the woman's head and body and fly away, I would take her body, and Huang Donghai would take her head. Her body was put into a large woven bag, boarded a boat, left Shanghai, and came to northern Jiangsu. Huang Donghai took the woman's head and left. I don't know where he went. From then on, he and I Never met again."

Having said that, he took a breath, looking very painful.

Ye Xiao and I looked at each other, and his face was also full of surprise.I continued to ask Li Hongqi: "What happened next? And Xiangxiang."

"I survived and wandered in northern Jiangsu for several years, carrying that woman's body. Later, I came here and did cremation in the funeral parlor. I kept my name anonymous and dared not go home. The woman was hiding under the bed in this room. I was surprised to find that this woman did not rot, and her body was still as intact as when I first saw her. It was a miracle.

"I gradually felt that this woman was extraordinary. For 30 years, all kinds of strange things have always happened around me. I often dreamed of an underground environment, a long tunnel leading to a large dark room. In the middle, there are two huge coffins. In the first coffin is a skeleton, and in the second coffin is the woman. Whenever I sleep on this bed, I can feel that someone is talking to me through my heart. A woman's voice said four words over and over again: Give me back my head. I understand that it is her, she has a strong desire to get her lost head.

"One day a few years ago, I saw the drowned girl in the funeral home. She was beautiful, she had a fragrance, she was perfect. I suddenly had a thought, which was kind of evil, but, my intuition told me, This idea can be successful.

"So, I told the girl's parents to prepare them mentally, and then, on the day of the cremation, I was alone in the cremation workshop and saw off the girl's head with a saw. Then the girl's body was cremated , Then I secretly took the girl's head home and put it on the woman's body. I think her body and the head of the girl who just died are quite suitable, at least they are about the same age.

"The next morning, I woke up and found that she had disappeared. Both the woman who lost her head and the girl's head had disappeared without a trace. I thought I should have succeeded. I gave Maybe, after getting her head, she will disappear from my side, and those terrible things will never happen again."

To be honest, after listening to this, I felt like vomiting, a scene of Xiangxiang's head being sawed off from her body appeared in my mind, if it wasn't for Ye Xiao holding me tightly, I would I really want to punch this guy.

Li Hongqi continued: "But, I was wrong. One day last year, when she came back, the face of the drowned girl appeared in front of me. It was still a scent. That's right, it was her, and her Size, figure, exactly the body of that mysterious woman. She was resurrected, really resurrected, with the head of another girl. I was so scared, she looked at me, didn't say a word, and then left Here. That night, I lost my eyesight, I couldn’t see anything, and the hospital couldn’t check the cause. I reaped the consequences, and I thought of those Red Guards who died back then. We were still children at that time. What will happen when I return to the human world? I can't imagine."

"no yet?"

"Yes, I told you all, I know, I am guilty."

"You are guilty. You put Xiangxiang—" I grabbed his collar.Ye Xiao stopped me, "Enough, he has already been punished. Let's go."

I let go of my hand and left the small room. Before going out, I looked back at his bed. The woman who lost her head, that is, the Queen Arut of the Tongzhi Emperor, had been lying on this bed. Lying under the bed for many years.Li Hongqi, on the other hand, closed his blind eyes and buried his head in his knees.

As night fell, we took the last long-distance bus back to Shanghai.

The sunset over the Yangtze Estuary is magnificent, but my heart is full of her.

because of fear.

(End of this chapter)