Hell Demon

Chapter 2

"Strange, why can't we see a single car tonight? It's usually not like this!" Li Zhong frowned as he gripped the steering wheel. Just three kilometers further down the winding road ahead, he would exit at the foot of Dayao Mountain and enter the wide, first-class expressway.

Just then, the two headlights shining from the front of the car suddenly went out automatically with a "whoosh," and at the same time, the car's speed also inexplicably and slowly decreased automatically.

"What's going on?" Li Zhong exclaimed as he floored the accelerator, but the car continued to slow down.

Completely out of control.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [7]: Shasha, the car slid forward for more than ten meters as if it had run out of fuel, and then with a "bang", it stopped automatically and stalled in the drizzling rain.

"Are you kidding me? What's going on? I have a date with a beautiful girl tonight!" Wang Tiansheng, sitting in the back seat, cursed loudly. It was as if he was possessed tonight, with one unpleasant thing after another happening to him.

"It might stall, it might stall." Startled by the scolding, Li Zhong frantically turned the ignition key several times, but each time it stalled with a "bang-bang-bang..." sound and he couldn't start the engine.

"Stalled? No way! This car rarely stalls. If you can't even start it, you're fucking dumber than a pig!" Seeing that the car wouldn't start, Wang Tiansheng started pointing at Li Zhong and cursing.

"I don't know, boss, could it be that we've run out of gas?" Li Zhong answered in a panic, glancing at the fuel gauge, which showed that there was enough fuel.

"You fucking lie! I remember filling up with gas this morning. Get out of here right now and check if the engine is broken. Damn it, if it won't start, you scoundrel must be stealing gas!" Wang Tiansheng started cursing, each sentence more ferocious than the last.

"Yes, I'll go out right away." Li Zhong hurriedly pulled out the tool bag from under the chair and hung it on his belt. Then, he picked up a flashlight in one hand and took the umbrella that Wang Tiansheng threw to him with the other. With a "bang," he kicked open the car door and rushed out into the pouring rain. At this moment, the black Mercedes-Benz stopped on the highway near the bottom of Dayao Mountain to the south. However, in the heavy rain, neither of them noticed that a strangely shaped black cloud was descending very low and slowly drifting above the Mercedes-Benz. The rain was still pouring down, and the night grew even deeper.

Before Li Zhong could even calm down after stepping out of the car, a strange, fierce gust of wind, accompanied by torrential rain, suddenly rushed towards him without warning. It blew the umbrella out of Li Zhong's hand, and before he could react, the umbrella was lifted more than ten meters into the air by the gale and flew rapidly towards the dark hillside forest to the east, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

"What the hell!" Before the torrential rain began, for some reason, Li Zhong instinctively felt that the wind was strange and extremely eerie! Before he could think further, the torrential rain, like a waterfall, had soaked him completely.

Having no other option, he went to the front of the car, soaked to the bone, and forcefully opened the hood. He carefully checked the engine and related equipment with a flashlight and tools, but after seven or eight minutes, he still couldn't find any problems, which was extremely strange!

"Damn it, what's going on?" Li Zhong, soaked to the bone by the heavy rain, wiped the raindrops from his face and muttered to himself in confusion.

With a loud "bang," a metallic clang pierced the rumbling rain from behind the Mercedes. Li Zhong, whose vision was blurred by the heavy rain and who could barely open his eyes, brushed the raindrops off his forehead and looked back. Good heavens! He saw that the trunk lid had automatically popped open. For some reason, in the night rain and lightning, the dark lid seemed to reflect a light that made him feel inexplicably dizzy.

He quickly closed the hood, then rushed to the back of the car and slammed the trunk lid shut. "Hah—hah—hah—hah," he gasped. For some reason, amidst the deafening roar of the rain, he could still clearly hear his own heavy breathing. At the same time, he felt an unprecedented, inexplicable sense of dread. The trunk lid was locked, only openable with a key; how could it have inexplicably popped open by itself? Coupled with the car's inexplicable breakdown, a powerful, instinctive fear quickly overwhelmed him. He instinctively felt something was wrong.

"Hey, are you done fixing it yet?" Wang Tiansheng called out irritably.

"No, boss, I... I can't find the reason, boss... the rain is too heavy... the repair shop... it's easy to get an electric shock... it's too dangerous..." Li Zhong was making excuses.

"You good-for-nothing, you're so stupid, you might as well go eat!" Wang Tiansheng angrily dialed his cell phone.

"Boss... I'm scared... I don't know what's going on... but something's not right here!"

Li Zhong's voice trembled as he was drenched in the heavy rain. For some reason, he instinctively felt that there seemed to be a pair of eyes watching him in the surrounding downpour.

"Damn it, what's going on?" Wang Tiansheng dialed the phone number several times, but strangely, he couldn't get through to his home phone.

At that moment, the protective amulet hanging above the front seat suddenly broke off silently and fell into the darkness under the car. Unfortunately, neither of them noticed or saw this strange sight.

"Are you kidding me? Are those servants having an affair?" Wang Tiansheng dialed again, but no one answered this time. He couldn't help but get annoyed and said, "Are they trying to seduce my wife?"

Just then, suddenly, with a deafening thunderous roar, a blindingly bright arc of lightning flashed across the sky less than a hundred meters above Wang and Li's heads. The earth trembled, and the entire Mercedes, Li Zhong, and the surrounding area were illuminated in a ghastly white light, a terrifying sight!

"Li Zhong, whose face was turned white by the lightning, let out a scream. A sharp pain flashed across his face, and he involuntarily fell to the ground in the pouring rain, splashing water everywhere."

"What's wrong with you...?" Wang Tiansheng screamed in fright.

"I, I..." Li Zhong covered his face with his hands, struggling to get up from the ground. He opened the back door of the car and came to Wang Tiansheng. "Hey... Boss, my... my face hurts so much." He said, taking his right hand away from his face and pointing to his face.

Under the blood-red light of the streetlamp, Wang Tiansheng took a closer look and couldn't help but gasp. Good heavens, Li Zhong's wet right cheek had inexplicably swollen and blackened into a large patch, which looked extremely sinister and terrifying under the interplay of the streetlamp and the rain.

"What... what's going on?" Wang Tiansheng looked at the large, dark, and terrifying lump on Li Zhong's face, and a chill ran through his body.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [8]: “Just now, just now, something was wrong…” Before Li Zhong could finish speaking, he suddenly let out a terrifying scream, and the swelling on his face burst open like popcorn. Fresh blood splattered like raindrops from a fountain, spraying onto Wang Tiansheng’s big face and head. Before Wang Tiansheng could scream, Li Zhong had already fallen into the back seat of the car, hugging his face next to the boss and letting out an unprecedented scream.

"Zhongzai... don't... don't scare me!" Terrified, Wang Tiansheng screamed and tried to push Li Zhong away and escape from the car, but his legs inexplicably went weak and he couldn't stand up.

"Boss... my face hurts... it hurts so much! Help me, help me... boss!" Li Zhong covered his face with his hands while frantically rolling and screaming under the car in the back seat, like someone who had gone mad.

"Wow!" With another bloodcurdling scream, a large clump of bright red blood gushed from Li Zhong's mouth, instantly spraying onto Wang Tiansheng's expensive suit and sofa, turning everything blood red and extremely frightening!

"Help! Help! Someone come quick! Someone come quick!" Wang Tiansheng was completely terrified and could only sit there screaming. Outside the car, the rain was still pouring down, and under the glow of the nearby red streetlights, it looked like a blood rain, eerie and frightening.

"Wah...wah!" Li Zhong continued to scream and roll around. At the same time, Wang Tiansheng also noticed that Li Zhong's face was grotesquely swelling and deforming under his hands, and was faintly turning from red to blue. Puffs of eerie blue smoke were escaping from between his fingers covering his face, which was extremely terrifying! The skin on his arms was also turning from yellow to blue, which was very scary.

With a terrifying "Gripping sound," Li Zhong's blue arm muscles inexplicably deformed, suddenly sprouting large, horrifying blue muscle roots and patches of black hair. His five fingers also instantly deformed and swelled with an "Gripping sound," growing into five long, sharp, red fingernails. His palms also cracked open, transforming into enormous, ghostly hands covered in blue scales—utterly horrifying! In an instant, Li Zhong's hands had swelled to twice their original size. Through the gap between these two gigantic demonic arms, Wang Tiansheng discovered that Li Zhong's face had also swelled to twice its original size, resembling a giant, terrifying watermelon—simply horrifying!

"Help!" Wang Tiansheng screamed even more terrifiedly and shrilly.

With a "whoosh," Li Zhong suddenly released his hands from his face and knelt up from under the car, instantly exposing his face to Wang Tiansheng. He let out a terrifying howl and pounced on Wang Tiansheng, grabbing his collar with both hands.

Wang Tiansheng was fine until he saw it, and he was terrified out of his wits. Good heavens! Li Zhong's face had transformed into a terrifying blue demon's face, with horrifying wrinkles running across his entire body. His eyes bulged out like two enormous lanterns, flashing a blinding red light, and opened a gaping maw filled with long, zombie-like fangs. "No...no..." Wang Tiansheng was completely terrified by the sight, unable to move, only able to scream instinctively. Before he could even understand what was happening, "Hahaha!" The demon Li Zhong let out an echoing, sinister laugh, and with a "swish," he bit off half of Wang Tiansheng's head with his gaping maw. Instantly, large clumps of blood and brain matter gushed out of the remaining half of his head like a torrent of water.

"Hahaha," Li Zhong, now a demon, let out a sinister laugh, biting into the bloody bald scalp and swallowing it. Then, he opened his huge mouth and, with a ferocious laugh, frantically sucked the brains and blood from Wang Tiansheng's massive head. The blood stained his hideous face, and the demon let out an unprecedentedly excited cry.

The rain was still pouring down.

With a sudden, inexplicable burst of flames, the lone black Mercedes-Benz, standing in the pouring rain, burst into flames and quickly burst into large, yellow-red balls. The glowing fire illuminated the nearby woods, and strangely, the fire grew larger and larger despite the torrential night rain.

With a deafening roar, a beautiful yet terrifying arc of lightning ripped through the night sky, instantly illuminating the entire dreadful highway.

No one noticed that, under the night rain, a terrifying black cloud slowly left the burning Mercedes-Benz in the sky, and inside the car, the huge corpses of Li Zhong and Wang Tian were being burned by terrible demonic fire... The rain was still falling... --- Magpie Bridge Fairy replied [9]: Part Two Ring ring ring... A piercing telephone ring woke up Zhang Wen, who was fast asleep in bed. With his well-developed muscles, he reached out and picked up the phone with annoyance, and asked weakly, "Hello." He was covered in cold sweat. Obviously, the phone call had woken him up from a very unhappy dream.

"Zhang Sir, this is A-Shi." It was Zhu Shiming, Zhang Wen's assistant, who came through the phone.

"What is it, Shi?" Zhang Wen glanced at the alarm clock by the bed; it was already six o'clock in the morning.

"Zhang Sir, we found two charred bodies in a burnt car on Highway 19 near Da Yao Mountain. The chief ordered me to notify you to come to the scene immediately to investigate. You will be in charge of this murder case. Please come quickly!" Ah Shi's voice sounded very tense.

"Okay, I'll be there right away!" Zhang Wen hung up the phone. He slapped his thigh hard. He was supposed to have a day off today. He looked at his wife sleeping like a log beside him and couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that his plan to go to Changzhou with his wife had fallen through again.

“It’s always like this. Every time I’m on break, a major murder case comes up,” said Zhang Wen, a highly renowned Sergeant in the Major Crimes Unit of the police station. He is only in his early thirties, but due to his intelligence and competence, he has solved seventeen major cases since he started working. He was recently transferred to the Da Yao District as a Sergeant in the Major Crimes Unit. It is rumored that he is already the deputy director of the district. He is extremely proud and ambitious!

He quickly changed his clothes, took a sip of strong tea, and left in a hurry without even eating breakfast.

As Zhang Wen sat in his Toyota, he couldn't help but feel a strange unease that morning. As he turned on the lights and started driving, he involuntarily recalled the nightmare he had the night before.

Before Ah Shi's phone call woke him up this morning, he had a very strange nightmare. He dreamt that he was alone under a gloomy, drizzling green sky, standing amidst ruins of rubble and crumbling walls. All around him were hazy, green trees, a deep, dark green... Then, everything became indistinct. Under the gloomy green sky, he suddenly vaguely saw a figure dressed entirely in black, draped in a large black raincoat, standing motionless beside the ruins, holding a red and white baton, pointing to a strange, dilapidated three-story villa about a hundred meters away. The villa was surrounded by green hillside trees, and its building was in an old-fashioned European style, with a strangely triangular roof. For some reason, the villa appeared and disappeared, making Zhang Wen feel inexplicably strange and uncomfortable... Then Ah Shi's phone call jolted Zhang Wen awake from this bizarre dream.

"It's just a dream, just a dream!" Zhang Wen gave a wry smile and then accelerated, driving towards Dayao Mountain.

But for some reason, the strange villa in his dream still kept flashing in his mind. This old-style European and American building seemed to be a building from the 1940s or 50s, and this type of building is rarely seen now.

For some reason, although the dream wasn't scary, a sense of unease began to creep over him.

When Zhang Wen's car arrived at the foot of the southern side of Dayao Mountain, the sun had already risen, and it was a bright and refreshing morning. The cool and moist air, unique to the area after a heavy rain, rushed towards him, making him feel refreshed and invigorated. Zhang Wen felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.

When his car arrived at the accident scene on the mountain road, it was already crowded with seven or eight police cars, white vans, and fire trucks. Emergency lights flashed eerily in the early morning air. A dozen police officers were moving about the scene, and long blue tape cordoned off the area. Several officers in traffic vests were pushing aside reporters who were constantly taking pictures. Meanwhile, forensic personnel in white coats and masks were carefully collecting evidence beside the charred car. The scene was starkly contrasted with the lush green forest scenery on the nearby hillside. Zhang Wen quickly got out of his car and walked towards the scene.

"Brother Wen, great, you're here." A handsome young plainclothes policeman, around twenty years old, walked towards Zhang Wen. He had a round face with bright, piercing eyes and a cute, round face, making him look like a doll. He was Zhang Wen's capable assistant, Zhu Mingshi.

"Ah Shi, why are there so many reporters?" Zhang Wen asked.

"Of course, Brother Wen, according to the license plate of the car at the scene, the deceased is most likely Wang Tiansheng, a real estate tycoon in the city, and his driver. You know that there have been a lot of scandals involving this guy lately, so naturally those gossip reporters will come to join in the fun."

Zhu Mingshi paused for a moment, then said, "Brother Wen, let's go take a look! The people from the laboratory will send their bodies to the lab in a little while."

"Hey, Zhang Sir, what juicy scoop? I heard this area is really weird!" A mustachioed reporter with a flashlight tried to rush over to interview Zhang Wen.

"Get out of the way, don't obstruct the work of the police." A policeman quickly pushed him away.

Zhang Wen and Zhu Mingshi crossed the blockade and arrived in front of the charred car. Zhang Wen took a closer look and exclaimed, "My God!" The black Mercedes-Benz had been burned to the point of being completely charred and deformed. The metal frame and hood were completely twisted and charred, with charred pieces scattered everywhere. The four tires had been burned into a disgusting black puddle stuck to the wet road. My God, the car had been burned through to the top.

The charred, deformed rear door was already open. "Look," following Zhu Mingshi's pointing finger, Zhang Wen looked inside and saw two charred, deformed human corpses lying haphazardly on the back seat. A stench of burning flesh wafted up with the damp air, making Zhang Wen feel nauseous. He frowned, glanced at them a few times, then turned and left, waving to the autopsy staff to indicate they could collect the bodies.

The two autopsy staff members quickly carried the stretcher over... "What preliminary information do you have now?" Zhang Wen asked Zhu Mingshi.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [10]: "According to the deceased's wife, her husband, Wang Tiansheng, was driven to Xinkangli Hospital by driver Li Zhong last night, around 10 p.m. After that, there was no news of him, and his mobile phone could not be reached. Although the identity of the deceased can only be officially confirmed after the autopsy report is released, based on the information we have so far, the deceased in the car should be them."

Zhu Mingshi replied.

"Then you can now estimate when Wang Tiansheng and the others will have an accident."

"According to a forensic doctor I just spoke to, he estimated that it was between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.

“New Kangli Hospital.” Zhang Wen muttered to himself, “So, the last place the deceased went to must be this hospital?”

"Is this a sanatorium that was just built and opened here a month ago?" He remembered reading in the newspaper that a new hospital had recently been built on the north side of Dayao Mountain. However, he had not yet visited it.

"Yes, Brother Wen, it's that newly built hospital. I heard that Wang Tiansheng's company invested in it. By the way, Brother Wen, there's something else, but I don't know if I should say it." Zhu Mingshi had a strange look on his face.

"Speak!"

Zhu Mingshi paused for a moment, then said, "Wang Tiansheng's wife called and said that she had called Wang Tiansheng's cell phone dozens or even hundreds of times last night, starting from 11 p.m., but she couldn't get through. She also heard some strange, groaning, high-pitched electrical noises, which terrified her. She believes this is an ominous sign that her husband is about to have an accident. She also claimed that she didn't sleep all night, waiting for her husband's call."

"Hahaha, that's how the wives of rich people are, always talking about gods and Buddhas. Don't pay any attention to their so-called sixth sense." Zhang Wen couldn't help but sneer a few times.

"By the way, Brother Wen, do you think this was a car accident or a staged murder?" Zhu Mingshi asked.

“I’m not entirely sure either, but I think there are two possibilities. One is that the car was struck by lightning during last night’s heavy rain, which caused this tragedy. The other is that it could be a meticulously planned murder plot. Ah Shi, let’s go to the place where the deceased went last.” Zhang Wen waved for Zhu Mingshi to walk towards his car.

"Are we going to Xinkangli Hospital to investigate the preliminary situation? Is that right, Brother Wen?" Zhu Mingshi asked as he walked towards Zhang Wen's car.

“Yes, you’re a smart guy,” Zhang Wen replied with a smile.

On his way away from the crime scene, Zhang Wen looked out the window at the receding mountains and sky with a puzzled expression.

"Ah Shi, I feel like something's not right?" Zhang Wen said calmly.

"What's wrong?"

"I remember it rained very heavily last night."

"Yes, last night's rainstorm was the heaviest in history this year. I heard from the news that it didn't stop until 5 a.m. this morning."

“That’s the problem. With such heavy rain, whether it was an accident or a planned murder, the car couldn’t possibly have burned so thoroughly. It doesn’t make sense.” As Zhang Wen spoke, he turned the steering wheel and drove the car into an uphill turn, heading towards the New Kangli Hospital on the back mountain… The snow-white, five-story main building and annex of the New Kangli Hospital stood tall in the forest on the northern slope of Dayao Mountain. Large swathes of lush green forest were distributed on the surrounding hillsides. In the fresh and invigorating air and breeze unique to the forest, it was like a beautiful paradise, truly a sanctuary for recuperation.

Zhang Wen's white Toyota was speeding towards the hospital. When he was about a hundred meters away from the hospital, he suddenly noticed a ruined area with broken walls, tiles, and rubble in a hollow on a hillside facing the hospital. The ruins reflected a strange aura under the surrounding green hillside and bright sunlight.

Upon seeing the ruins, a strange and inexplicable feeling welled up in Zhang Wen's heart. Good heavens, why does this scene look so familiar? He suddenly remembered that these ruins looked exactly like the ruins in the strange dream he had last night about the man in black.

Zhang Wen involuntarily stepped on the brake pedal, instinctively pulling the car to the side of the road next to the gray and white ruins.

"What's wrong, Brother Wen? The hospital is up ahead, not here," Zhu Mingshi asked, puzzled.

Zhang Wen paid no attention to Zhu Mingshi's question. He was completely captivated by the ruins that were exactly the same as those in his dream. Strange, unbelievable! He had never been to this place before, so how could he see it in his dream? All the shapes and appearances of the ruins were exactly the same. The only difference was that the sky above the ruins in his dream was a gloomy green, exuding an eerie and inexplicably frightening atmosphere. Moreover, in the dream, there was a mysterious man in black, completely covered in a black raincoat, pointing with a traffic baton in the direction diagonally opposite, pointing to a three-story, dilapidated, triangular, European-style villa located halfway up a mountain.

---Magpie Bridge Fairy

Reply [11]: Zhang Wen looked in the direction the man in black pointed in his dream. Good heavens, he was stunned. Good heavens, the dilapidated triangular villa that the man in black pointed to in his dream was exactly where the current Xinkangli Hospital is located. The only difference was that the dilapidated villa in the dream was gone. In its place was the white wall of the hospital's main building, which was shining brightly in the sunlight.

"Hey, Wen-ge, what's wrong...?" Zhu Mingshi nudged Zhang Wen again. Zhang Wen finally snapped out of his dazed, half-confused state. He smiled and said to Zhu Mingshi, "Nothing, I'm just a little paranoid!"

After finishing speaking, he drove back to the hospital.