Tangdun Strange Tales Notes

Foreword

The winter I turned one, my grandfather fell seriously ill. Relatives from the countryside brought word that my grandfather had been struggling to stay afloat until his last breath, and that he desperately wanted to see me one last time before he passed away. I had been running a high fever for two days, and despite going to the hospital for medicine, injections, and IV drips, my condition hadn't improved. Because of my grandfather's words, my parents had no choice but to take me back to the countryside. That same day, it inexplicably started raining heavily. My father recalled that it was rare to see such heavy rain in winter; you couldn't even see someone walking a few meters ahead on the road. We finally made it back to our hometown, where almost all the relatives had arrived. My grandfather was lying in bed, and my father carried me into the room where he was staying. My grandfather looked at me with a smile, and just as he reached out to touch me, he passed away... Miraculously, my fever subsided after my grandfather's passing, and the speed of his departure was astonishing.

Later, some elders in my hometown said that this was God making my grandfather and me fight for life and death. But when my grandfather asked to see me, it meant that he had decided to give his life to me, otherwise I wouldn't have lived for more than a few days.

On the day of my grandfather's burial, the fortune teller Liu, who was choosing a burial site for him, looked at me in my mother's arms for a long time. Then he asked my mother for my birth date and time, lowered his head and calculated for a while before finally saying to her, "This child has a very strong birth chart. Although his life will be full of ups and downs, he is destined for prosperity and good fortune. He will always have benefactors to help him. However, he is destined to have a wife who will bring him misfortune. In the future, he should find a woman with a similarly strong birth chart to him."

I don't know if it's true what Liu the fortune teller said, but since I started school, although things have been going smoothly, I've had a lot of minor misfortunes. But whenever a misfortune struck, someone would always step in to help me resolve it. After graduating from university and entering the workforce, I've worked in many different jobs, from newspaper reporter to TV reporter, then to magazine editor, advertising copywriter, repair shop maintenance manager, insurance company claims adjuster, and marketing. I've held many jobs and changed many positions, but none of them have allowed me to truly settle down and do them with peace of mind. It's like dating. From the time I understood what love between men and women was all about until now, I don't know how many times I've been heartbroken, or how many people I've caused to be heartbroken. According to a fortune teller friend who told me a few years ago, nothing in life is predetermined. What can change your destiny is perhaps just a small thought of your own.

In the nearly 30 years I've lived through, I've always had only a few friends. The only friend I can talk to about anything is Lai Bao. Lai Bao was born in winter. He was born all white, almost the same color as the snow on the ground outside. But on his right hand, there was a small, cross-shaped birthmark. This frightened the doctor and Lai Bao's father. It took a week for Lai Bao's skin color to return to normal for other children. But an old man in Lai Bao's village said that Lai Bao was originally a white horse descended from heaven, and the birthmark on his right foreleg was just a mark that the heavens had branded for the precious horse.

Perhaps it was because Lai Bao and I both carried stories that we couldn't uncover the truth about that brought us together. We started experiencing, exploring, and listening to stories that interested us—stories from the past, the present, and even the future… Of course, this all stemmed from the fact that Lai Bao and I both enjoyed typing out our stories.

Notes I: Copying - Section 1: Interview Task

Reproduction refers to the act of making one or more copies of something through methods such as printing, recording, or copying.

When using a computer, we often use Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+V to copy a file from one folder or hard drive to another location. It's simple and quick. The differences between different files are in their size, whether they can be copied, etc. The following story seems simple, but it is actually quite complex. If we really want to delve into it, it will probably take a long time to find out the result.

In 2003, I was working at a TV station in City C. Although I had just graduated from school, I soon realized that the exciting and sensual things I had hoped for in school would never happen to me. For example, meeting a beautiful female host and sparking a romance that would eventually develop into a love story that would move heaven and earth. But in reality, I kept having encounters with male hosts in the media industry, which sometimes even escalated into fights. Gradually, I felt that both work and life were boring and tedious every day. So when I was bored, I would drag my equally bored friend Lai Bao around. We even got drunk and ended up at the train station, where we almost got deported as vagrants.

That year, as autumn turned to winter, the weather was still very hot. I clearly remember that during the National Day holiday, Lai Bao and I were in the largest indoor swimming pool in City C. On the afternoon of the last day of the holiday, I had just climbed out of the pool and was about to change my clothes and go to a bar when Lai Bao was called back by an urgent call from the station. They said they were only calling Lai Bao back, but since I had nothing to do and going back with Lai Bao would save me the cost of transportation, I insisted on going back to the TV station with him.

Back at the station, the director told Lai Bao that we'd have to work overtime that night, possibly very late—at least all night. At that time, Lai Bao and I were on a 315-themed program on that TV station, a program we did with the Industry and Commerce Bureau and other law enforcement agencies to expose and crack down on counterfeit and pirated goods. The director told us that our task that night was to go with the Industry and Commerce Bureau of District X to an underground factory in the suburbs that produced fake duck blood and pig blood. He specifically warned us to be careful when filming that night, because the police and the Industry and Commerce Bureau said that after monitoring the factory, they discovered that the head of the factory was the leader of a local gang with ties to organized crime. Preliminary investigations suggested that they possessed controlled knives, and the possibility of firearms couldn't be ruled out.

After hearing this, Lai Bao and I were quite excited. After all, the programs we had done before were all small-scale. We were basically eliminated before we even turned on the equipment. Lai Bao and I even applied several times to be transferred to the criminal investigation department of the police, but the director forcibly stopped us and scolded us, saying that we wanted to run before we could even walk.

I asked the director again, and he agreed to let Lai Bao and me go. However, he told me that Lai Bao could rest for half a day the next day, but I had to be at work on time. After giving the instructions, the director left the station, leaving me cursing and Lai Bao checking the camera batteries in the corner of the office.

After everything was settled, Lai Bao and I went home, contacted the people from the Industry and Commerce Bureau, and arranged to meet at the X District Industry and Commerce Office at midnight. We then went home, ate something simple, set our alarms for 11 p.m., and went straight to sleep. As I lay down, I kept thinking that I shouldn't have gone with that bastard and had to sacrifice a night's sleep.

When we went to the X District Industrial and Commercial Bureau that evening, we found that in addition to the bureau's law enforcement officers, there were also about a dozen fully armed police officers in standard riot gear. It seems the tip was true; the people in that underground factory were no pushovers.

We stopped on the highway not far from the above-ground factory, and then quietly hid the vehicle in a pre-arranged auto repair shop by the roadside. Everyone then waited, because according to the investigation, this underground factory produced a particularly large quantity of goods, but the raw materials could not be obtained until after midnight. Therefore, we had to wait until around 4 a.m. to start the operation in order to catch them red-handed.

During the break, I quietly asked Lai Bao, "What do you think the raw materials for making those fake pig's blood and duck's blood should be?"

Lai Bao said, "It's blood powder, what else could it be?"

I deliberately gave a very strange smile and said, "I don't think it's that simple. If it were blood powder, this setup wouldn't be necessary. Is it... human blood?" I was interrupted by a staff member from the Industry and Commerce Bureau named Xiao Li: "What nonsense are you talking about? The raw material is cow blood! What human blood... Don't scare people. Using human blood to make this? I wonder how many people would die during this period... Do you think this is human sacrifice?"

I quickly took out a cigarette, and Lai Bao started filming. When Xiao Li saw this, he quickly said, "Don't film me. If you want to film or talk, film our leader."

I quietly asked Xiao Li, "Is it really necessary to mobilize so many police officers just because they're using cow blood to make fake duck blood and pig blood?" Xiao Li told us, "It's true that cow blood is edible, but the cow blood this company is using is very strange. The first batch of cow blood we seized in the market came from a sick cow, but what's strange is that the cow blood we seized all came from the same cow when tested. Do you know how much was in that batch?"

Lai Bao and I shook our heads. Xiao Li mentioned a number that shocked us. That's at least the blood of ten cows, right? Xiao Li said, "That's why it's so strange. Also, we've been staking out this place for quite a while, at least half a month, and they only deliver cow blood every Tuesday night. Then, between 5 and 7 a.m., people come to pick it up. Some come by bicycle, some by motorcycle, some by light truck. In short, we estimated that even if we used the delivered cow blood as raw material, we couldn't make such fake duck blood or pig blood. And the boss of this factory isn't a good guy either. I heard he's made a lot of money from this over the years and even sent his son abroad."

Lai Bao and I found this rather strange. We finally managed to stay awake until 2 a.m., when Xiao Li woke us up. Then, together with the enforcement officers from the Industry and Commerce Bureau and the police, we quietly headed towards the factory. All the police officers rushed ahead. When we arrived at the factory, I discovered that it was actually just a small farmhouse courtyard. The walls around it were quite high, and the courtyard had a roof made of plastic sheeting. The door was a large iron gate, which looked difficult to open. What was even stranger was that the door was locked from the outside, and there was absolutely no sound coming from inside.

Chapter 2 of "Strange Tales of Tangdun"

Chapter 2 of "Strange Tales of Tangdun"

Author: Tang Xiaohao

I whispered to Lai Bao, "Did we go to the wrong place?" Just then, the police had already cordoned off the entire yard in shifts. They started calling out to the inside, but no one answered for a long time. Finally, the police shouted, "If you don't open the door, we'll break it down!" At that moment, the lights in the yard came on, followed by a woman's voice asking, "Who is it?" Then there was no more answer. Seeing that they had no other choice, the police ordered someone to go back and bring the car to pull the door open. Just then, a figure suddenly darted out from the wall. If the shadow had been small, we might have thought it was a cat or something else, but it was clearly a human figure. The figure suddenly appeared on the wall, and then I shouted, "Someone's coming out!"

Just as I finished shouting, the figure suddenly crouched on the wall, then jumped down, disappearing into the field at an incredible speed—so fast that none of us could react. Two policemen had already given chase, and a car arrived shortly after. The door was quickly pulled open, and the police rushed in. I grabbed the flashlight, and Lai Bao, carrying the camera, followed. Once inside, we discovered it was surprisingly large. Behind the yard was a slope, and at the bottom was a pit-like area, almost entirely underground, filled with cement pools filled with blood…cow blood. Standing beside the pools were several seemingly honest workers, stunned by the police rushing in. They stood there, still holding their mixing tools, staring at us in disbelief…

The police then pulled the ringleader out of the small building, and also found two flintlock pistols, several machetes, and a BB gun that he had hidden under his bed. They were neatly placed in the middle of the yard. The police then began an on-the-spot interrogation, but the man, named Zhang Jun, who was nearly fifty years old, only knew three words: "I don't know." He also told the police that he was illiterate and couldn't even write his own name. But when asked about the guns and knives, Zhang Jun remained silent. At this moment, the two policemen who had chased the shadowy figure returned, panting. They said the figure had run too fast, and they were carrying weapons and other items, making them too heavy to catch. However, they were certain the figure was a person. The police leader glared at the officer who had spoken and said, "I know it's a person too!" Then he asked Zhang Jun who the person was, but Zhang Jun just smiled and didn't say a word. Finally, he simply closed his eyes.

After the police had finished their interrogation, Lai Bao used a teacup to write the character "死" (death) on the table and asked Zhang Jun, "Do you know how to pronounce this character?" The man glanced at it, then gave Lai Bao a cold laugh. Lai Bao turned to me and said, "At least he knows the character '死'..." Lai Bao's action amused everyone around, except for Zhang Jun.

Notes Part 1: Copying Notes, Section 2: The Man Who Posted the Missing Person Notice

After finishing the filming that night, Lai Bao and I didn't get home until 7 a.m. On the way back, Xiao Li, who was driving us, kept discussing the cow blood issue. Since we hadn't seen the whole production process, we asked Zhang Jun to demonstrate it for us, but he absolutely refused. We saw that the raw materials only filled the two cement pools, but there were eight other pools of the same size next to them. The strangest thing was that we had been waiting all night, but no truck had ever come to deliver the raw materials. According to the people who had been waiting there before, they hadn't seen anyone deliver the raw materials for at least half a month, but they saw someone come to pick up the goods almost every Tuesday night. Zhang Jun kept quiet about why, but regarding the firearms, he said that they were just stored there by a military enthusiast.

I've never seen a military memorabilia collector collect gunpowder guns before!

In the end, we finally got to the dark figure on the wall. Somewhat sleepy, Xiao Li started to wonder if we had just imagined it. I retorted, "If Lai Bao and I had imagined it, that would be one thing. But you saw it too, and everyone else probably saw it as well. Did we all just imagine it?"

Xiao Li shook his head and said, "No, I mean the speed at which that person ran after jumping down... it was too fast. If he participated in the Olympics, he would at least set a record that would be difficult for others to surpass."

Just when Lai Bao and I thought the matter was over, a man ran into our station and asked to place an advertisement—a missing person ad. Strangely, the man was looking for himself. Our station doesn't usually place such ads, but we've done similar missing person programs before, always because there was a story behind the program. And this man, instead of looking for anyone else, specifically sought out Lai Bao.

That day, Lai Bao and I had just returned from an interview. As soon as we entered the station, Lai Bao was stopped by Zeng Zhen in the office, who pointed to the man outside and said, "This man is looking for you." Lai Bao turned his head and glanced at the man sitting there reading a newspaper, saying, "Why would he want to see me? I don't know him."

Zeng Zhen said, "They said they wanted to put a missing person notice for you."

Lai Bao said, "You want me to do it? I'm not in charge of this area. You think I can just do it whenever I want?"

Zeng Zhen added, "Someone specifically asked for you by name, and they've been sitting here for hours. You should go and ask them; what if they really need your help?"

Lai Bao reluctantly handed the things to me, then went into the office and started chatting with the man. I had nothing to do, so I went back to my desk. I had just sat down and finished a cup of tea when Lai Bao came in with a bunch of things, threw them on my desk, and said, "Look at this, it'll scare you to death!"

At first glance, it was a bunch of ID cards, but upon closer inspection, all the ID cards had the same person's photo on them. However, everything else, including the name and place of origin, was different, but the surname was the same: Zhang.

I watched for a while, and then Lai Bao dragged me to the window and said to me, "This is strange. People like this actually come to our door. So many of them clearly have fake IDs, and some are even criminals who come to our door on their own. Should we receive them? If it really doesn't work, we can take them to the police station later?"

I nodded, and then Lai Bao led the man into the smoking room. Once inside, I took out a cigarette and offered it to him, but he shook his head and said no. Then he immediately asked me and Lai Bao, "Reporter Lai, do you think... we can publish this? I'm in a hurry."

Lai Bao glanced at me and said to h

……