The cold air from the air conditioner, disinfectant, a slight smell of blood in the wind, and some other smell of rotting protein mixed together to form a sweet and fishy aroma that was somewhat cooked.
Lu Yanli was already familiar with this smell. After he said goodbye to his colleague, he saw his colleague turning around and smiling at him as he walked away. He waved at him and then got on the last subway.
He put on a hood and a mask, stepped into the subway car door, and stepped on a pale hand that was trying to push into the door. It felt a bit soft and rotten. He kept walking and kicked the hand in the opposite direction of the door, hitting the rusty billboard opposite.
The female star on the billboard was smiling gently, her lips corners widening little by little, slowly stretching to her ears. Her smiling eyes began to move downward, staring at the hand that had fallen on the tip of her nose.
The mouth opened wide, and a thin, long, bright red tongue stretched out. The palm of the hand trembled as it tried to leave, but was still entangled by the tongue that stretched out from the huge lips and pulled in. The white fangs closed and the cheeks bulged.
Chewing sounds were heard.
Although the hand was soft and boneless, Lu Yanli heard the sound of bones breaking.
After a while, the woman on the billboard showed a satisfied smile with bright red lips.
Lu Yanli did not meet those eyes. He knew that the woman on the billboard must be staring at him, so he lowered his head and played with his phone.
The door closed, and the subway car shook and began to move forward.
The feeling of being watched did not go away.
At some point, beautiful female stars appeared in every window of the subway, staring at Lu Yanli and smiling.
Lu Yanli was concentrating on playing with his mobile phone, oblivious to what was happening outside.
The subway lights were dim, mixed with an ominous dark red. The phone screen reflected the female star's increasingly raised mouth corners and her slowly extending long tongue in the window.
I seemed to hear a hissing sound like a crawling snake. Although she was smiling, her eyes were cold.
The carriage was dark for a moment, and the next second, the lights came on brightly.
The tip of his nose twitched.
The smell that had been lingering in the car disappeared, and it became fresh and clean.
Looking up again, all the rust and bloodstains in the carriage disappeared, the windows were clean, and although there were few passengers, they were sitting or standing quietly. The electronic female voice played the song "We've arrived at the stop". The air conditioning dispelled the last remaining warmth of the summer night, and it was even a little cool.
Quiet and peaceful, just like the normal world that Lu Yanli imagined deep in his memory. He no longer had to be so cautious.
However, Lu Yanli knew that this was the beginning that he had to be vigilant.
When the weird world begins to pretend to be normal, it must be hiding its fangs, and then spreading its malice... everywhere.
At the next stop, a group of people got on.
This group of people obviously knew each other, but they looked like they had nothing in common. There were men and women, young and old, with different identities and ages. After getting on the bus, they lowered their voices and talked in a low voice. Lu Yanli took a look, then looked away and continued to play with his phone. The other passengers also looked at him curiously, so his behavior was not abnormal at all.
But that group of people were obviously not completely uninterested in him.
Lu Yanli was lowering his head when a shadow suddenly appeared on the screen of his mobile phone.
It was a woman in the crowd, about 20 years old, with a gentle smile and full of affinity. She seemed a little embarrassed to talk to him: "Sir, are you free? I have something I want to talk to you about."
Some passengers cast envious glances.
What's going on? Can I be approached by a beautiful woman even when I'm wearing a mask or a hat
The young woman still had a bit of shyness on her face. She lowered her head and spoke softly and gently, but her words were not as ambiguous as other passers-by thought. She whispered, "I guess you must have encountered some strange things recently?"
The man then shifted his gaze from the phone screen to her, and almost subconsciously took a step back, his words full of vigilance: "What do you mean?"
"Sir, don't be afraid, because we are the same kind of people." The young woman said with a smile, "We also encountered those..." She moved closer, her voice was softer, and she said something. The man reacted greatly, his breathing became rapid, and the woman could almost hear his rapid heartbeat.
"How do I know whether what you said is true or not?" Lu Yanli's voice was a little tense. He was obviously aware of this problem and cleared his throat. "I mean, why should I believe you?"
"After all, there is no better choice now, why not give it a try?" The woman smiled at him, "Are you willing to sit and wait for death?"
Lu Yanli shook his head subconsciously, and the woman smiled even more: "Don't be afraid, we will all help you."
"Help me? You guys?" Lu Yanli asked hesitantly.
Seeing that the most sociable teammate successfully struck up a conversation with the NPC in a few moves, a slightly plump man in the crowd gave her a thumbs up and grinned.
Everyone slowly came over and gathered around Lu Yanli.
"You are... the companions she mentioned?" Lu Yanli said, frowning in annoyance. He realized that he didn't know the woman's name yet.
The woman said at the right moment: "Let me introduce myself. I am Li Fangwan."
Others also said their names.
They claimed that they were just like Lu Yanli, deeply harmed by the "weirdness" and lived in fear all the time. Therefore, they formed a small group to try to find a way to save themselves and explore the truth of the world.
Lu Yanli observed that everyone in their group was listening, consciously or unconsciously, to a tall and thin young man among them. He introduced himself as He Lou, an ordinary office worker.
But judging by his stern demeanor and the confidence others showed in him, he was obviously more than just an office worker.
Lu Yanli didn't know whether he believed them or not, but after all, they had a preliminary understanding. He asked with some curiosity: "You have formed a team. Do you have any solutions to these... things?"
When he mentioned the word "things", his expression was obviously particularly fearful, and his voice unconsciously lowered. It can be seen that he must have been tortured by some events.
Everyone exchanged glances, shook their heads, and started talking in low voices.
"Ghosts, weirdness, curses, etc. are not something that can be eliminated by human power. Up to now, we can only find a way to escape from these supernatural events. There is no way to confront them head-on."
"It's impossible to solve it by ourselves. We can only keep running. Of course, some incidents are not without traces. As long as we find a way to escape, it's easy to survive."
"It's no use praying to gods or Buddhas. No place, no church or temple, can solve the problem once and for all. You can only rely on yourself to find the rules."
“Although the risk is great, as long as you find the pattern, you can survive.”
After hearing their words, Lu Yanli's worry deepened.
He is very handsome. Even with a hat and mask on, his pair of slightly cold eyes tinged with sadness can easily make girls fall in love with him.
"Then wouldn't that mean I am..." He swallowed the words back as soon as he opened his mouth, as if he realized that something was wrong.
"Mr. Lu, can you please tell us what difficulties you have encountered recently? Maybe we can help you." He Lou asked.
He Lou doesn't talk much, and gives people the impression that he is cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
Lu Yanli frowned even more tightly, sighed, wanted to say something, opened his mouth, and then held it back. He looked at everyone again with a little suspicion, and finally began to speak slowly.
"I recently... how should I put it, a very strange neighbor moved in upstairs from my house. Since he moved in, there have been more and more strange things happening around me..."
As Lu Yanli was speaking, He Lou suddenly raised his hand and interrupted his narration: "Wait a minute."
The latter stared coldly at the ceiling light of the carriage: "Did you notice that the light is a little dim?"
He didn't use words like "feeling", but was certain that the lights had dimmed and that this change must be caused by some abnormal reason.
The group of people immediately became alert.
He Lou's words were soon verified. The lights dimmed visibly. It wasn't pure darkness. If I had to say it, the color... was a bit dark red.
It was like being covered with a thin veil of blood.
Then, they heard an indescribable, teeth-grinding sound that came from nowhere. It was thin, dense, and overwhelming, but the sound was so small that if you didn't listen carefully, you would think it was just tinnitus.
What exactly is…
"Everyone, be ready to escape at any time." He Lou glanced at Lu Yanli and added, "Don't leave the subway, walk back."
The subway just arrived at the station. After a few bells rang, several passengers who had been waiting by the side stood up and prepared to go out.
"Why?" Lu Yanli asked.
Li Fangwan whispered softly, "Look out the window."
Lu Yanli looked out the window and his expression changed drastically.
His face was hidden by a mask, but even so, everyone could still see the shock in his eyes.
No wonder he was surprised. A layer of blood mist had floated outside the window at some point, and it was getting closer and closer, and thicker and thicker. In a flash, it had gathered around the subway.
It looks like it's aimed at them.
The light dimmed just now because the blood mist gradually gathered around the light tube. Afterwards, the faint dark red color in the air became increasingly dense, reaching a point where it was visible to ordinary people and could no longer be ignored.
"Ah! What's going on?"
"What the hell is this?!"
The other passengers finally noticed the abnormality and started screaming one after another. Some of them took off their coats and tried desperately to clear an area without the blood mist. The moment the iron door opened, they screamed and ran out, pushing each other in panic, and a stampede almost occurred.
The small group was no exception. "Run!" A voice came from the small group as they saw the bloody fog was about to spread. They tried their best to go against the flow of the crowd and walk to the back of the carriage.
The slightly fat man who had given Li Fangwan a thumbs-up glanced at her and suddenly widened his eyes in shock: "Fuck! This n... What is Lu Yanli doing?!"
Everyone was supposed to leave together, but Lu Yanli actually ran back to stop the passengers who were about to run out: "Don't run out, calm down! It's more dangerous outside!"
Before he could finish, the passenger he was holding, who had already taken half a step out of the door, suddenly widened his eyes, screamed in pain, and struggled.
"Save..."
Before he could finish his words of asking for help, his body, which was outside, melted away like ice and snow. First, a layer of skin, then the outer skin peeled off, revealing the scarlet and white flesh inside, the white bones, and the still beating organs...
A living person only has two layers of skin, but the blood mist peeled off who knows how much of it, devouring it layer by layer.
Everything happened so fast. In just a moment, the man that Lu Yanli was holding was left with only one intact hand, which was held in Lu Yanli's hand. He stood there in astonishment like the other passengers who had not stepped out of the door, and he still hadn't reacted.
The severed hand fell to the ground with a "click". Lu Yanli took a step back in horror, fear in his eyes.
"ah-"
The severed hand fell at the feet of a young passenger. Perhaps because there was less blood mist in the carriage, the hand was devoured much more slowly. Now it was only the skin that had shed, and the texture and skeleton were clearly visible. Apparently one of the passengers couldn't stand the stimulation, and subconsciously kicked the severed hand out, which happened to land on an advertising wall.
There was a very beautiful female star on the advertising wall. I didn't know if it was an illusion, but she was looking at everyone with a weird and beautiful smile. The hand happened to fall on her lips, and her lips moved. Her long tongue stretched out, pulled the wrist into her mouth, and chewed slowly with her fine white teeth.
A pair of beautiful and charming eyes began to focus slowly and turned to the passenger. Anyone could see the undisguised crazy malice in her eyes.
A group of people retreated in fear.
No matter how dumb the passenger was, he knew he was doomed. He looked around and only Lu Yanli, who had just helped someone, seemed reliable. He approached Lu Yanli tremblingly and grabbed his hand: "Help me... Help me, please help me..."
"I..." Lu Yanli was obviously hesitant.
He Lou's face darkened: "Let's go! Bring him here."
A group of people made them too conspicuous, so another tall and thin young man with yellow hair jogged back and merged into the crowd. He looked at the two people who were still pulling each other, narrowed his eyes, kicked the man to the ground, grabbed Lu Yanli, dragged him out of the crowd, and ran backwards desperately.
Now the other passengers also reacted and followed them to escape.
The yellow-haired young man wanted to curse the other person like the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, but he finally held back and rushed forward. He was very strong, and Lu Yanli couldn't break free, so he had to run with him and return to the center of this somewhat weird little group.
Of course, there were several other passengers who came along as well, many of whom were office workers. The sudden intense exercise made them breathless. When they were about to start a conversation, a very tall and fierce-looking man in the crowd glared coldly back at them.
Lu Yanli noticed that the gaze was also sweeping over him with a bit of disdain, and the others were also more or less unfriendly. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the few people who followed him without leaving a trace.
There are six.
There are six options. If something happens later, I think they won’t push me out first because I have no ability but am trying to help by force, right
Lu Yanli was in a good mood.
His eyes swept over the passengers, suddenly fixed on one another, and then he immediately looked away, pretending not to see it.
That person... Why is that person always standing on tiptoe