The situation is more serious than everyone imagined, because in addition to those who travel together and can confirm whether their companions are around, there are also many single passengers whose disappearance will not be noticed.
And the worst thing is that everyone’s cell phone has no signal, and the emergency number 112 cannot be dialed.
There was a torrential rain outside the station, and the rain was hitting the glass with a crackling sound. It sounded like countless mouths arguing and shouting, which was so noisy that it made your brain explode.
Some passengers looked out the window, and the darkness was like a lonely night light.
"No... No way, the ancient city gate opposite is gone!"
"ah?"
"Me me me me me fuck!"
"Oh my god... it's really gone... pinch me, it hurts! Damn, it's not an illusion!"
"… "
The young people screamed loudly.
Only then did people begin to pay attention to the scene outside the station. Opposite the train station was the city's landmark, an ancient city gate.
The ancient city gate, which should have been ablaze with colorful lights, now seemed to be extinguished and disappeared into the vast darkness.
"No! No!"
"City… "
“Ahhh—”
The woman's shrill scream of fear continued for a long time, and then everyone who was attracted over there fell silent.
Because they found...
Not only the city gate opposite, but even the lights of the city in the distance disappeared.
More and more people ran to the window, and frightened faces looked up. They tried their best to look far away, with their eyes wide open.
The hall was silent.
The inner world has been turned upside down. If a person goes missing, they can tell themselves that they are lost, but what is the real reason for the disappearance of a city
“Maybe it’s the smog?”
Someone tried to explain what was happening, but there was an unconcealable helplessness in his tone.
No one answered him, and no one spoke. Panic spread silently in the dead and restless atmosphere.
Will there be haze in stormy weather
All the weirdness is still going on, and something invisible is gnawing at their ability to endure.
"What should I do? What should I do?"
A middle-aged woman with a bloated figure and heavy makeup was picking at her newly done nails: "Lao Zhang, what's going on now? What's going on? You better think of a solution quickly!"
No response.
The middle-aged woman turned around and saw no one around.
My husband, who was supposed to be standing by my side, disappeared at some point.
"Old Zhang?"
The middle-aged woman picked her nails and broke them. Even the thick powder could not hide her collapse: "Who has seen my Lao Zhang? Lao Zhang? Where are you, Lao Zhang!"
No one helped her. The middle-aged woman didn't care about her luggage and ran out of the waiting room in a panic. The moment she opened her mouth to shout, she disappeared from the spot.
A middle-aged man came out of the VIP waiting room holding a newspaper. He huffed and said in a dissatisfied tone, "Why is it so noisy?"
"waiter!"
"waiter?"
No one answered, and he grabbed a passing passenger in confusion.
"Um, do you know what happened? Where are all the people at the station?"
The person he caught was terrified and was about to explain...
Without a sound or a trace, that person just disappeared.
The middle-aged man looked at his empty hands. A living person suddenly disappeared right before his eyes.
Even a sudden transformation couldn't happen so quickly. He suspected he was still sleeping.
The passage of time did not take away any fear, and the darkness outside that enveloped the world did not bring about the dawn.
The strange disappearances accelerated and continued until there were only a mere twenty or so passengers left in the huge train station.
The strange disappearances finally stopped.
Chen Yang took a quick glance and counted the number of people out of habit: twenty-four.
Including him and Chao Jian, twenty-six.
Qingcheng Main Station has nine waiting rooms. Including the ones downstairs, there are countless people, including those who are checking tickets outside to enter the train station, those who are going to the platform to wait for the train, and the staff. Now there are only these few left, all gathered in the fourth waiting room in the chaos.
Twenty-six taskers.
There were seven people on the last mission, but this time there are nearly four times more, which is a bad thing.
With so many people, how many will die in three days? How will they die
Chen Yang increased the force between his fingers, and the ticket, which was slightly stained with sweat, became wrinkled like a vegetable leaf.
"Take the ticket." Chao Jian put away his phone, "Come out with me."
Chen Yang stuffed the ticket back into his pocket, took off his baseball cap, put his hands into his sweaty hair and scratched it hard a few times. He used the pain to calm himself down, put the cap back on his head, and followed the boy with his eyelids drooping.
Someone knocked over a bucket of instant noodles, and the steaming soup spilled onto the ground. Chen Yang didn't notice and stepped on it. The instant noodles mixed with seasoning stuck to the soles of his shoes, and he dragged them along as he walked.
Completely unaware.
The left corner of his clothes was pulled. Chen Yang stopped and looked over there. He saw a girl with freckles, pointing at his shoes and making some noise.
Are you dumb
Chen Yang lifted up the foot and looked at it. He didn't bother to wipe off the dirt. He gave her a smile through the mask and caught up with the boy.
Now I'm just stepping on instant noodles, but soon I'm afraid I'll step on minced meat.
Chen Yang stood in the wet and smelly toilet, pulled down the mask on his face, revealing his solemn expression: "What did you find out?"
At this time, he was sure that the boy had been reading the news all the way, not because he had nothing to do, but because he suspected that the mission was not on the train from Qingcheng to Penang.
The content is related to Qingcheng Terminal.
The Internet has memory. Even if it is suppressed or a long time has passed, there will still be traces.
Chao Jian stroked his cane and said, "I haven't finished the investigation yet. The mission started faster than I expected. I can only find out that in the past 20 years, there have been thirteen passengers who died in various accidents at this train station."
Chen Yang didn't say anything and listened carefully to the following information.
It's like the feeling when listening to English, so nervous that I don't know where to start.
"Those thirteen people have one thing in common." Chao Jian said.
Chen Yang waited for a long time but didn't hear the second half of the sentence. He looked up at the boy and asked, "Why don't you continue?"
Chao Jian lowered his eyes and looked at him.
Chen Yang saw a hint of...
The head teacher's expectations of students are strict, examining, and scrutinizing, as well as "I'm giving you one chance, perform well, and don't let me down."
This is for him to think about himself.
In fact, Chen Yang has never relied on anyone. In the last mission, he inexplicably trusted this person without any hindrance. That trust was mixed with dependence, which was not a good sign.
This person also made him realize this.
Chen Yang slowly calmed down and began to analyze seriously: "The common point is definitely not that they are wearing the same color clothes, wearing white shoes, and holding the same thing in their hands."
"Every passenger in the train station has bought a ticket, brought luggage, and has their own destination. They are going to different cities. If they die, they can't go there..."
Chen Yang grabbed the boy's cane in vain: "The common point is that we missed the train?"
He pulled the crutch toward Jian.
Chen Yang did not let go. He did not know when it started, but he would do this when he was too excited, scared, excited, or any other emotion that was not in his comfort zone.
The catch is fast and accurate.
Chen Yang didn't care about being embarrassed at this moment. He eagerly asked for confirmation: "Is it true?"
Chao Jian handed him the crutch that couldn't be moved away, freed his hand, stretched out his index finger, and poked his face back as it was right under his eyelids.
"Just say what you want to say, don't spray."
Disgusted to the point of smearing her face and light lips.
Chen Yang closed his mouth, but couldn't help but open it again: "So, the mission is that we survive these three days in the station and successfully get on the train at 21:55 on the 18th?"
Chao Jian: “Maybe.”
Chen Yang listened to his flat voice and looked at his expressionless face, and for some reason he felt that this possibility was 80%.
"Are those thirteen dead passengers looking for scapegoats?"
Chen Yang said to himself: "My sister told me the story of the scapegoat."
When he mentioned this past event, he recalled that after listening to the ghost story, he didn't dare to look in the mirror, didn't dare to wash his hair, and even had to have his sister talk to him outside the door when he went to the toilet.
Only those who are afraid of ghosts can understand his feelings.
No matter how many years have passed, the feeling of "not daring to close my eyes when washing my face" is still vivid in my memory.
"They want to select thirteen people from the current twenty-six and have them die the same way they died?"
Chen Yang pinched the cane in his hand: "No, it's not!"
“It shouldn’t be that simple.”
Chen Yang said to himself: "If I'm just looking for a scapegoat, then what's the point of the train ticket? The train ticket is redundant..."
"Whether it's this way or not, one thing is clear," Chao Jian said, "There is a ghost in the train station."
Chen Yang fell silent.
Chao Jian glanced at him: "Are you prepared?"
If Chen Yang wanted to save face and not embarrass himself, he would say, "Of course, I've been prepared for it," but he cherished his face too much when he was young, and now he has restrained his feelings towards it.
So Chen Yang said: "No, I am totally unprepared."
What I mean is, if a ghost comes, I need your help to block it off.
He raised the corner of his eyelids towards Jian, expressionless: "Ha."
Chen Yang smiled back.
"… "
Chao Jian moved his lips slowly, wanting to say something but not saying anything. He sighed faintly, took his crutch, and walked into a cubicle with it.
Chen Yang was the only one outside, and the mirror was demonized. He couldn't help but walk to the cubicle and asked a nonsense question: "What are you doing in there?"
There was the rustling sound of clothes being lifted up in the cubicle, followed by a cold voice, answering his nonsense, "Pee."
Chen Yang said without hesitation: "Isn't there a urinal outside? Why don't you use it?"
"Still letting you watch?"
Chen Yang: “…”
Why does he sound like he really wants to see it? Where did this misunderstanding come from
Moreover, the word "also" is even more confusing.
Has he seen it
In the evening, Chen Yang went home after chatting with Wu Yu. Then he met the boy, cooked and ate, cleaned up and made tea, and then the task came.
Chen Yang put on his backpack and left, without thinking about the ghost-exorcising items inside.
Now he remembered, he unzipped the bag and saw that it was gone, all gone, all turned to ash.
Chen Yang was stunned for a few seconds. He took out the things in the bag, put them on the table beside the pool, and poured all the ashes into the pool.
"I bought some ghost-repelling items and burned them all to ashes."
Chen Yang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and couldn't help but complain to the boy in the cubicle: "I don't feel the heat at all, and the other items in my bag are fine, what do you think..."
As soon as the voice stopped, Chen Yang heard footsteps outside the toilet and stopped at the door. He turned on the faucet to flush away the ashes and kept an eye on the door.
There was no knock on the door and no one left.
Just outside the door.
Chen Yang turned off the faucet and quickly swept the things on the table into his backpack. The sound of footsteps might be a ghost.
Possessed by a ghost.
He doesn't walk on tiptoe, but touches the ground, just like a human being.
Chen Yang could understand this thanks to his sister who, when she was alive, didn't care about his life or death for a while, and ignored his threats to sever the brother-sister relationship. She would pull his ears every few days and tell him ghost stories in every possible way.
The reason she gave was that this was so that her brother would be able to master the skill of "taking the pretty girl to see a horror movie, and hugging her and kissing her when she's scared" when he pursues a girlfriend in the future.
After watching too many idol dramas, I wish that kind of romantic plot could be reproduced with her brother.
Chen Yang thought it was funny. He did not let the inappropriate mood spread, but quickly gathered it up and kept it in his heart.
There was a sudden sound of a metal bolt being pulled open behind him. Chen Yang froze for a moment. He looked in the mirror and saw that it was the cubicle the young man had entered. He suddenly relaxed.
The toilet is really a gloomy place.
"There's someone at the door."
Chen Yang said softly, "Should we go out or wait a little longer?"
Chao Jian washed his hands and said, "Get out."
It was Chen Yang who opened the door. The moment he opened the door, he hid his body behind the door. From the expression of the young man, he could tell whether it was a human or a ghost outside.
A pair of shiny handmade leather shoes appeared in Chen Yang's sight, followed by another one.
The person who came was a man with long hair.
He was about the same height as Chao Jian, wearing an exquisite custom-made long trench coat. He was very thin, with prominent cheekbones, a sallow complexion, and dark circles under his eyes.
It seemed that he was several times more sleep-deprived than Chao Jian and hadn't slept for a long time.
The long-haired man entered the outermost compartment.
"It's the old man."
Chen Yang sensed the same aura from him as when he first met Zhang Yan and Lin Yue. He said with certainty, then paused, "He brushed past you, deliberately not letting the corner of his clothes touch yours, and he entered the open cubicle sideways. When he closed the door, he used a tissue to cover his hand, and there was a strong smell of disinfectant on his windbreaker."
"He has mysophobia," Chen Yang concluded.
"Do you think we should wait for him here and exchange information with him?"
Chao Jian looked around the toilet: "It's just started, what information do you have?"
"Train tickets." Chen Yang whispered his guess, "I suspect there will be more than one train."
Chao Jian walked outside with crutches: "There are many ways to check."
Chen Yang asked tentatively: "Don't you want to find allies?"
Chao Jian ignored him.
"Da" "Da"
In the corridor filled with a foul smell, the sound of the cane hitting the dirty ground was very clear.
"I don't really want to, after all, we're not familiar with each other and it's easy for someone to stab us in the back."
Chen Yang muttered as he walked: "But there are too many people this time, the situation is complicated, there are many variables, and it's just the two of us..."
As soon as the tapping of the cane stopped, he leaned towards Jane's tall body, frowned at him without saying a word, his eyes dark and bottomless.
Chen Yang was sensitive enough to detect impatience in the boy's eyes. He pursed his lips and smiled in a soothing manner, "Okay, it's just the two of us. The other team members will only exchange information and not make close friends."
The others are just a one-time mission, but this one is a long-term partner, there is no comparison.
Chen Yang pulled up his mask again and pulled down the brim of his hat to hide the expression on his face.
Of the seven people on the previous mission, except for Lin Yue, Zhou Xiaoxiao, and Huang Qing who had not been confirmed in time, the other three including him and the young man were all from Qingcheng.
This wave is most likely the same.
He has traveled all over the city of Qingcheng, and now it has become mysterious.
As if hiding something.
When Chen Yang and the boy returned to the waiting room, they found that the surviving passengers were slumped in their chairs.
Watching relatives and friends disappear is a blow that not everyone can bear.
"So... so many people are missing!"
Someone said with lingering fear: "But fortunately, I didn't disappear."
“Yeah, yeah… Compared to so many missing people, we are lucky.” Someone forced a smile and consoled himself.
When Chen Yang heard their conversation, he recalled his own experience as a newcomer, and it seemed like a lifetime ago.
"You may be mistaken."
A young male voice sounded from the window, and as soon as he spoke, he attracted everyone's attention.
Chen Yang also looked over. It was the young man who accidentally bumped into his arm in the lobby and rushed to the second floor with the train ticket in his mouth amid a chorus of curses.
At that time, Chen Yang was only thinking about what would happen after getting on the train. He didn't think that the mission was at the train station, so he didn't pay attention to the passengers around him. Now he looked around and was sure.
Also an old man.
Facing the high attention that has become the focus, the young man leaned against the windowsill, with his back to the storm, playing with a one-yuan coin in his hand: "Those people are not missing, in fact, they have always been here."
"Ah?" Everyone was shocked and thought that this young man had mental problems.
"Actually, we are the ones who are missing." The young man smiled mysteriously.
Author's note: See you in the next chapter.