Chapter 6
Chapter 6
“The people in the shops are repeating.”
The driver didn’t understand. Still breathing a sigh of relief, he said, “So it isn’t a ghost trapping us in a loop. Scared me to death. As long as it’s people…”
“…”
“People?”
He finally caught on. “Wait. How are they doing that?”
Surely these people weren’t taking a different route, deliberately running ahead to pose as shop clerks?
Over and over again: wasn’t that a lot of trouble?
Never mind how fast they’d have to move. Just clearing the streets and leaving only their own people behind wouldn’t be easy.
And what was the point of going to all that trouble? To stop them from finding Li Zhehan?
There were plenty of ways to do that. Nothing so elaborate was necessary.
The eerie thing outside kept pounding. Cracks appeared in the glass.
Zhou Qingyan shrank into her seat. “What do you mean, the people in the shops are repeating? None of this happened that night. Nobody came to hit the windows. What’s out there?”
“Zhao Xiuming, you know what’s going on, don’t you? Was it you I saw that night?”
At her words, the others in the van began to panic, too.
When someone knows they’re about to watch a ghost movie or hear a ghost story, they prepare themselves. They know what to expect.
That readiness lets them experience fear as a thrill, as excitement.
The braver ones might even see it as a challenge, eager to find out what could possibly scare them.
That was the frame of mind these people had been in. Through Zhou Qingyan, they knew what lay ahead and had prepared to deal with the strange man who had abducted Li Zhehan.
They hadn’t expected to encounter an entirely different kind of fear.
The kind that grew more horrifying the longer you thought about it. Something seemed fine at first glance, but the more you considered it, the less possible it became, the more it defied common sense.
“Someone who didn’t think too hard about it probably wouldn’t be scared.”
Zhao Xiuming still had the leisure to analyze the situation. “Clear the streets, then get a group of people to play shop clerks along the route we’re driving back and forth.”
“On the trip back from the hospital to our starting point, we could see the same clerk two or three times.”
“Strictly speaking, humans could definitely do it. The problem is that it makes no sense.”
“They want to scare us, but not scare us too badly?”
Assistant Li took out a weapon he had brought with him. It was a handgun. “Probably trying to lure us out to investigate. To find out whether humans are behind it.”
Zhao Xiuming quietly looked away from the gun. The protagonists of some romance novels could get hold of illegal things.
After all, there were countless lawbreaking CEOs out there. What was one more Li Zhehan?
Now that the world even had anomalies in it, Zhao Xiuming was prepared to be very accepting.
The next second, a gun pressed against his head, wiping none of that acceptance from his face. Assistant Li said pleasantly, “This has something to do with you.”
“You were the first to notice something wrong. So… can you make that thing outside stop knocking?”
Zhao Xiuming was a man who knew when to be sensible. He propped his chin on one hand, his elbow resting in the recess of the armrest beneath the window.
Facing the gun with an unreadable expression, his eyes brightened. “Then shoot me dead.”
Assistant Li stared. “?”
He moved the gun to Zhao Xiuming’s right hand. “Not afraid to die? How about something worse than death?”
At last, Zhao Xiuming showed a change of emotion. He sighed with relief.
It wasn’t because his life had been spared. “Oh, you’re going to shoot my palm. I thought… Tsk.”
This time, Assistant Li really was at a loss. He frowned. He genuinely didn’t dare act.
He wasn’t afraid to kill someone, or to fire a gun.
He was afraid that injuring or killing Zhao Xiuming would only make things worse, costing them more than they gained.
Assistant Li put the gun away. He didn’t want to simply throw Zhao Xiuming outside, either. In his eyes, Zhao Xiuming was in league with the anomalies. Letting him out would mean losing their hostage.
Zhao Xiuming couldn’t help laughing. He knew it was inappropriate.
So he explained, “Sorry. I’m not crazy, and I’m not trying to act cool. I just have an odd sense of humor.”
Watching from inside his head, the System laughed along with him.
The System sounded like a boy, his laughter clear and pleasant. [Seeing your odd sense of humor makes me want to laugh, too.]
[But what did you think Assistant Li would do to you?]
Zhao Xiuming answered honestly, [I was afraid he’d use the three bodyguards in the van against me.]
The System was curious. [Afraid of fighting three against one? Or of all three shooting at once?]
Zhao Xiuming blinked. [No. I was afraid the big guys would force kisses on me or something. Terrifying.]
[Besides…] His expression grew strange. [Shooting people isn’t the only thing you can do with a gun.]
The System went silent. Damn it, he understood. He really did feel threatened now.
Zhao Xiuming was even a little touched, as well as deeply ashamed of his own assumptions.
He ignored the cold sweat on everyone’s foreheads and the anxiety in their eyes.
While they all stared at the glass on the verge of shattering, he offered his praise. “Assistant Li, you’re a really decent person. Such high moral standards.”
Assistant Li, who kidnapped, killed, and carried illegal weapons, frowned. “Me? What?”
Seeing Zhao Xiuming like this, Zhou Qingyan couldn’t help crying. “Zhao Xiuming… What will it take for you to let us go?”
“I can give you money. I can get on my knees and apologize.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have falsely accused you that day.”
“I know you’re a good person. Otherwise you wouldn’t have spared me and let me leave the hospital.”
“You…”
Before she could finish, a deafening crash rang out. The window finally gave way.
Zhou Qingyan screamed and ducked away. Assistant Li and the bodyguards opened fire.
Chaos erupted. The driver’s bullet struck one of his companions. Cries of pain mingled with Zhou Qingyan’s frantic screams.
Assistant Li swore and dodged. There simply wasn’t room to maneuver inside the van.
Zhao Xiuming studied the clerk outside, still human-shaped and smiling.
Blood covered its face. Its features were rigid, and its skin felt like plastic.
Bullets pierced its skin, leaving bloody holes. Black, threadlike things resembling insect feelers poked out.
Stimulated by the blood, they writhed actively and instantly wound around the bodyguard who had been shot.
Worse still, at the sound of gunfire, figures poured out of the shops along the street.
At the same time, Assistant Li failed to dodge in time, and the clerk sank its teeth into his shoulder. He fired straight into its neck.
It was a gruesome spectacle. Shreds of black flesh splattered everywhere.
Some reached Zhao Xiuming, spattering his face.
The System reminded him, sounding amused by the spectacle, [The male and female leads can’t die yet.]
[Ge, a novel’s world needs protagonists.]
[You’re not one yet.]
[The interesting part is still to come.]
“Mr. Zhao!” Assistant Li’s voice was anguished. “If you really didn’t abduct Li Zhehan, don’t you want to know who’s impersonating you?”
Zhao Xiuming wiped the black blood from his cheek. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Just as Assistant Li despaired and considered shooting him so they could die together,
Zhao Xiuming finally gave him a gentle, friendly smile. “Drive.”
“What made me laugh at such an inappropriate moment was this: why are you so determined to stay parked here?”
“You see a monster knocking on the window, and you have to wait until it breaks through?”
“If you don’t drive now, we’ll be surrounded. Then we really won’t be able to leave.”
The driver immediately turned back and started the engine. Assistant Li was still worried that some supernatural force would stop it from starting.
Thankfully, nothing was wrong with the vehicle. The engine turning over was the sweetest sound imaginable.
The driver accelerated, surging forward.
The clerk’s head fell off, but its body kept trying to climb inside. The sudden motion flung it straight out.
Then the van struck two more anomalies closing in around them and sped away.
Assistant Li threw the clerk’s head out of his lap, its mouth still opening and closing, then gave Zhao Xiuming an unreadable look.
The wounded bodyguard was still groaning in pain. The insect-feeler-like things on him had snapped off. They writhed around his wound, constantly burrowing deeper.
Once they had confirmed that nothing was following them and they were safe for the moment,
Assistant Li still didn’t dare relax. “If they’re repeating, we’ll run into them again in about twenty minutes.”
Zhao Xiuming examined the shoulder of the bodyguard opposite him. “I told you not to get out.”
The wounded man’s expression grew even more terrified. Furious and frightened, he reached out and grabbed Zhao Xiuming by the neck. “You… what the hell are you?”
Zhao Xiuming felt the hand trembling against his neck. He could also see the man’s face contorted with pain.
The System had a bad feeling. And sure enough…