Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next day, I went to the construction site as usual.

To my surprise, Dashun didn’t show up. I called him, and even his voice sounded weak and listless.

“Brother Long, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t have any strength today, and my temperature’s a little low. My wife just gave me some medicine. I really can’t drive today.”

“It’s fine. Get some rest.”

After telling Dashun to take care of himself, I figured there wasn’t that much stuff anyway. If it didn’t all fit, I could always make another trip.

When Liu Wu arrived, he didn’t complain about being short one truck. He simply led his workers into that building to “pack things up.”

Wang Cheng came over all awkward and fidgety, saying he needed to use the bathroom and wanted me to go with him.

Apparently, he’d heard the workers talking before, saying there was something eerie about that bathroom.

I glared at him, but I still went with him.

The bathroom on the construction site was a temporary prefab structure, and it happened to be not far from “that building.”

I stood in a shaded spot and watched Liu Wu’s men going in and out.

Those wooden crates were extremely heavy. Even two grown men had a hard time carrying one.

It was very dark inside the building. Even near the entrance, looking in only revealed a dim, gray haze.

I was watching two workers carry a crate outside. The man in front had already stepped through the door, while the man behind was just about to cross the threshold when he suddenly stumbled.

A dark red shadow appeared abruptly behind him. The worker looked as if someone had shoved him hard, and he pitched forward.

The crate tilted with him and crashed to the ground with a bang. The top cover came loose, spilling out a heap of cement-like chunks.

I looked closely. They seemed to be pieces of marble floor tile that had been cut out.

The pattern looked a lot like the kind used in hospital corridors. Why was Liu Wu going to so much trouble to transport these things?

Before I could figure it out, Liu Wu heard the commotion and hurried out. When he saw the shattered marble on the ground, he raised his hand and slapped the worker across the face.

The whole group turned terrified and anxious, then carefully picked up the broken tile pieces. From the looks of it, they actually intended to piece them back together.

By the time it came to loading the truck, Liu Wu’s expression was already grim.

The doubts in my heart only grew heavier. Then, unexpectedly, something went wrong again when the truck was only half loaded.

Two workers were pushing a crate up the loading plank onto the truck when one of them suddenly let go.

The other worker tried to hold it up but failed. The sliding crate scraped across the back of his hand, tearing right through his glove and drawing blood on the spot.

“Are you out of your damn mind? What the hell are you spacing out for?!”

Shi Kang shoved the worker who had suddenly let go.

But to everyone’s surprise, the man immediately started crying-and not just crying, but wailing at the top of his lungs.

No one reacted for a moment. Then the man spoke through his sobs.

But the voice that came out was no longer his original voice. No matter how you listened, it sounded like a woman.

“…She gave birth. She really gave birth!”

The worker covered his face with both hands and wept, his movements and behavior seeming completely changed.

“I never expected it. There was blood everywhere. My hands were covered in blood… Ah, it hurts-”

The worker’s voice suddenly turned shrill. He threw himself to the ground and began rolling around wildly.

Such a huge commotion drew a lot of attention.

Wang Cheng and Old Zhang both huddled close to me, their voices trembling. “What’s going on? It looks like he’s possessed.”

I was just about to step forward and help when Liu Wu beside me beat me to it.

I didn’t know what he smeared onto his handkerchief, but he went up and covered the worker’s mouth and nose with it.

He held it there for so long that the man’s eyes were about to roll back. Then, all of a sudden, the worker began coughing violently.

Only then did Liu Wu release him. The worker coughed for a while, rolled over, and spat out a mouthful of black phlegm.

“Nothing serious. This young man just has a bit of asthma. Once he coughs it up, he’ll be fine.”

Liu Wu put on a gentle smile, and everyone around him could only follow along with dry, awkward laughter.