Could it be a call from Zhou Liao?
Xin Hexue was still pondering this question until he fell asleep.
He Qinghong did not return that night, perhaps having encountered some difficult work.
Because he thought there might still be calls coming in, Xin Hexue slept over at He Qinghong’s house.
The night passed without dreams.
When the horizon of the pitch-black night sky showed a faint hint of blue, Xin Hexue suddenly heard a knocking sound at the door in the dead silence of the Walled city.
‘He Qinghong…?’
‘Is he back so early?’
Xin Hexue, who was drowsy with sleep, judged from the cold air drifting in through the window that the time was still very early.
He wanted to speak, to open his eyes, but he found that his consciousness and body seemed separated.
His consciousness could not drive his body, which was deeply sunk into the bed and blankets.
Knock knock!
Knock knock!
The sound of knocking continued.
‘Did he forget his key?’
Xin Hexue was too exhausted to lift a finger.
He remembered that He Qinghong had taken his keys when he went out.
So, the person outside couldn’t be He Qinghong. Who was it?
Who was visiting him so early?
“Creak…”
As soon as the door opened, the wind grew stronger.
The temperature before dawn was still cold, and the wind carried the damp smell of the seaside in a port city.
‘Since the door could be opened, it should be He Qinghong, right?’
Xin Hexue found he still couldn’t move.
Sleep paralysis.
He thought of this concept.
If the brain suddenly awakens during the REM sleep stage, because the body is still in a state of paralysis, it results in consciousness being awake but the body being unable to move.
Faint sounds rang out. The visitor seemed to be approaching him, and the sounds became clearer and clearer.
Xin Hexue’s eyelids fluttered. The junction between his upper and lower eyelids felt as if glued together, unable to separate. Lying on the bed, his face was pale, and his bangs were dampened by cold sweat.
The telephone in the room abruptly rang without warning, shattering the deathly silence.
The annoying telephone persistently emitted beeping sounds, each tone drawn out very long.
Why wasn’t anyone answering the phone?
Xin Hexue felt a wave of irritation.
“The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please leave a message after the tone.”
An emotionless prompt voice spoke.
The person who entered came closer and closer, seeming to have almost reached his bedside.
The next sound was He Qinghong’s voice, but it came from the telephone near the living room window.
“Xin Hexue, don’t open your eyes!”
It was already too late.
Panic spread in his chest, and Xin Hexue’s eyes flew open uncontrollably!
Only his eyeballs could barely move, so he first looked towards the bedside.
No one.
He glanced towards the direction of the door. The bedroom door was slightly ajar. He looked through the crack towards the main door…it was tightly closed, showing no signs of having been opened.
The wind grew stronger again. It was not blowing in from the door, but from outside the window. The window was wide open, and the sky outside was still dark.
Just now…was the knocking sound actually someone knocking on the window?
Suddenly guessing something, his heart raced wildly, but his body felt like a lead block sinking into quicksand, extremely heavy. His eyelashes trembled as he strained to roll his eyeballs upward, finally lifting his gaze.
There was something on the ceiling. Its limbs were splayed like a frog’s, and it was crawling on the ceiling and looking down at him.
The head was clearly rotated 180 degrees. Because of this, its neck was twisted almost into a strand of rope, and it was still smiling at him.
Its skin was as pale as paper, the only abrupt color coming from two circles of vermilion rouge on its cheeks, its smile emanating evil.
As if its body was stuck to the ceiling, its hands hung down and swayed before Xin Hexue’s eyes.
Seemingly wanting to grab him.
Xin Hexue took this opportunity to see clearly that the clothing the other party was wearing had the large character “Longevity” written in the middle.
It was clothing worn by the dead for burial.
His mouth and nose felt blocked, unable to let air in or out, and the panic attack made it difficult for Xin Hexue to control the physiological tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.
“Xiao Hei…!”
As if suddenly ventilated, his throat finally made a sound.
The hands hanging from the ceiling clutched his shoulders tightly.
There was no response from the little monster, and Xin Hexue couldn’t even feel the life in his womb.
Yet, precisely because of this, he felt relieved.
It was a dream.
He suddenly lunged forward, mustering all his strength to collide with that head.
“Ah!’
Xin Hexue clutched his forehead in pain, propped himself up with his hands and sat up on the bed.
He Qinghong rubbed his own forehead where he had been bumped, shook his head and stepped forward with a concerned look, “Are you okay?”
He shook his head, indicating he was fine.
He Qinghong: “I couldn’t wake you up no matter how hard I called you just now. You were also breaking out in cold sweat.”
Xin Hexue looked out the window. The sky wasn’t completely bright yet, but the light was the color of a fish’s belly. “Did you just get back?”
Seeing that he was indeed fine, He Qinghong set his mind at ease. “Mm.”
He then turned towards the closet, opened it, and picked out one shirt from a row of black and white ones.
The shirt He Qinghong was wearing was white and not stain-resistant at all. The sleeves and front were stained with blood. He immediately unfastened the buttons all the way down, tossed the shirt into the laundry basket, raised his arms and slipped into the clean sleeves.
The muscles on his back were young and firm, and they bulged with his movements, like a perilous, steep green mountain exuding a sense of power, especially with the indescribable tattoo printed there, making it look somewhat dangerous.
Xin Hexue had already asked about the tattoo. He Qinghong said it was tattooed when he first joined the organization. He couldn’t remember the specifics clearly. The organization said it was a mark for their batch of “goods.”
Both Number Seven and he had it tattooed, but Zhou Liao escaped that fate because he was a mute. The organization considered that piece of goods substandard.
Xin Hexue glanced at the shirt draped on the laundry basket. The vivid red bloodstains were glaring.
“Was the target this time difficult?”
He Qinghong acknowledged with a sound and explained: “It’s not my blood.”
“Are you going out again later?”
Xin Hexue got up from the bed and sat on the edge, his legs hanging down naturally as he stepped into the soft cotton slippers.
He Qinghong bowed his head to button his shirt, replying: “Mm. I need to go back to the organization once.”
He went back at this time every month to collect his salary.
As he fixed his collar in the mirror, a pair of hands embraced him from behind, and a light fragrance came over.
He Qinghong’s Adam’s apple moved up and down. “I’ll come back as early as possible.”
This time, he planned to tell the head that he wouldn’t be coming again in the future.
It sounded like a “washing hands in a golden basin” scenario from movies.
Ultimately, no one can leave the organization completely. They were the organization’s sharp blades, but they also knew too many secrets. Unless in the form of a corpse, it was difficult to leave completely intact.
So, He Qinghong didn’t have complete confidence either.
If he were to go, he couldn’t guarantee he would do better than Zhou Liao. But if he couldn’t do better, the corpse photos in the file tomorrow would be him.
“How much do you know about Zhou Liao?”
Xin Hexue asked.
He Qinghong frowned. “We were adopted in the same batch, but we’re just colleagues. We’re all used to working alone, never partnering with others.”
The implied meaning was that they had not carried out missions together either.
Just a bit more familiar than strangers. If forced to say, they were fellow villagers.
“Have there been any times, even for a moment,” Xin Hexue asked cautiously, “when you felt he didn’t seem human?”
He Qinghong didn’t understand his meaning.
Xin Hexue felt deflated and asked bluntly: “What I meant to say is, is it possible that he didn’t die?”
“Do you miss him?”
The already expressionless face became even more unreadable, the corners of his lips unconsciously turning down slightly.
He shouldn’t have asked He Qinghong this question at this time.
Because it made He Qinghong look like a silent, jealous husband.
Xin Hexue had no choice but to swallow back the conjecture based on that phone call.
He Qinghong turned his head away. After a while, he couldn’t resist asking: “What do you want to eat for breakfast?”
………
Xin Hexue ate dinner outside in the evening. On his way back, he passed under a longan tree.
“Chirp chirp, Teacher Xin.”
A mockingbird hopped onto his shoulder; it was Mingzhu’s childish voice.
“Don’t go back,” The small bird with bright, fluffy feathers on its chest stopped him, “There are poachers at home.”
The home she referred to was, of course, Xin Hexue’s home.
As for the poachers…
There were people with guns who had broken into his home.
Xin Hexue looked up towards Ju’an Building. The door at the end of the right corridor on the fifth floor was slightly ajar. He nodded, “I see, thank you Mingzhu.”
The mockingbird tilted its head and flew back into the tree, chirping.
Xin Hexue had a vague guess about the visitor. It seemed he would have to find somewhere else to stay tonight.
He subconsciously turned his steps towards the clinic.
But around the corner, he saw several very unfamiliar faces entering and exiting the clinic at the end of the long street. Xin Hexue had never seen them in all his days in the Walled city.
These people occasionally reached towards their lower backs, a subconscious motion of drawing a gun.
Xin Hexue dodged and hid behind a wall.
He now knew what was going on with why He Qinghong hadn’t returned yet.
The people from that assassin organization had hindered He Qinghong’s return. And their target now was him.
“I haven’t seen him.”
Xin Hexue heard Gu Mifeng’s voice. He glanced over and saw the other party leaning casually against the doorframe with his long legs. “I see so many patients from the Walled city every day, how could I remember each and every face?”
The disguised assassin opposite held a photo. “Take another look?”
Seizing this time, Xin Hexue moved backward.
A group of people emerged noisily from a nearby residential staircase. They were dressed in black and white, mourning attire to be exact.
Xin Hexue blended into the group’s rear. Fortunately, the black cheongsam he wore wasn’t out of place among these people.
At the front, they carried a coffin with a large character “Dian” on the end. The crowd followed this coffin forward, with professional mourners and a suona band leading the way on both sides.
As they walked, they scattered yellow paper, and the paper money rustled in the wind.
When passing by the clinic, Xin Hexue kept his head slightly lowered. His figure was like a fish entering the ocean, his tracks elusive and undetected.
They walked all the way forward, and the terrain gradually rose and stretched upward.
Xin Hexue looked up. They were already some distance from the residential area inside the Walled city. Before them was the only low hill within the Walled city boundaries, located in the southern part.
Grave mounds, large and small, were piled on the low hill covered in lush green grass. A stone path in the middle led up the mountain and gradually disappeared into the lush woods.
He was momentarily distracted when he heard the deceased’s name from the people beside him. Tang Amei.
She was Tan E’s mother.
She died of a stroke in the middle of the night and was discovered by neighbors the next day.
“Tan E left early. She, a white-haired person, saw off a black-haired one. Luckily, she had a good son-in-law to arrange her funeral affairs.”
Xin Hexue frowned.
Wasn’t Tan E’s husband a sailor who died long ago in a shipwreck at sea?
[Question Sven: This question is a practical question (0/10 points)]
[Please keep vigil for Tang Amei.]
As he raised a hand to press down on the brim of his hat, the high school student whom he had not seen for days appeared at his side.
“Our questions are the same. Will you still refuse to partner with me this time?”
His eyebrows were raised, and he had a somewhat triumphant smile.
The little monster called out at an inopportune time.
“Mother…hungry.”
Fortunately, the sound was transmitted through the womb, and only Xin Hexue heard it.
Xin Hexue looked at Yu Xingzhou. “……Okay.”
