Charlas nocturnas en cuentos extraños

Capítulo 8

There are always plenty of taxis available at the station entrance, and they're very cheap. The only thing to watch out for is encountering unlicensed taxis, where drivers often collude to rip off passengers. Just as the two got into the car, Ade suddenly heard Xi Yuan exclaim, "Ah!"

"What's wrong, boss?"

"Did you see that car? Fatty! The person in the car that just passed by was Fatty!" Xi Yuan grabbed Ade and shouted, while ordering the driver to follow the car on the left.

Ade felt a jolt in his heart and hesitantly looked in the direction Xi Yuan was pointing, but could only see the rear of a car.

"Chase! Driver, catch up with the car in front right now!" Xi Yuan shouted.

"Boss...you...you really saw it clearly? It really is Fatty?"

"Nonsense! How could I be wrong? Wearing that ridiculously oversized, tacky school uniform shirt, sneaking out to play, who else could it be but that fatso?" Xi Yuan was really anxious, and even his recently restrained swearing came out.

Suddenly, a strange look flashed in his eyes, and he lowered his voice, whispering to Ade, "But... I feel something's wrong... Fatty is asleep. And that car doesn't belong to him."

That vehicle definitely didn't belong to the fat man's family. The fat man's family only had one vehicle, a small truck used to deliver goods to their noodle shop. It had the very tacky words "Cao's Beef Noodles" written on it. Once, the three of them missed the truck and had to be driven by the fat man's father. They thought it was incredibly cheesy and never rode in that truck again.

"Did you... see who was driving?" Ade swallowed hard, trying his best to keep his voice from trembling.

"No, it was too dark in the car. Just now, the headlights flashed, and that's when I saw that the person inside was Fatty. I was so focused on him that I didn't have time to pay attention to the driver. But..." Xi Yuan suddenly hesitated.

"But what?"

"But I saw another person next to the fat man. It seemed to be a woman; I saw her hair, it was very long."

Ade was stunned by what he heard. He remembered the laughter that came from the other end of the fat man's phone when he answered it.

"Hehe-"

It sounds like a child's voice, but it could also be interpreted as a woman's voice...

"Driver, please hurry up!"

"Oh dear! Driving fast at night is a death sentence! It's not like I'm rushing to my next life!"

"Please! My friend is in the car ahead! We skipped class together, of course we should go back together!"

"Hehe! Skipping class and doing it so openly... Fine! I'll drive faster, don't rush me!"

Ignoring Ade's deep thought, Xi Yuan continued talking to the driver. After finishing, he looked at Ade, who was standing there for some unknown reason, and suddenly lowered his voice again.

"Don't give it away! I suspect Fatty's in trouble!"

"You mean seeing a ghost?!" Ade blurted out what he was thinking without thinking, and immediately received a sharp rap on the head.

"Idiot! I mean kidnapping! Fatty doesn't look like he's asleep, I think he's been drugged! Didn't you say he wasn't answering his phone?" Xi Yuan's statement was even more unbelievable, and Ade looked at him in disbelief.

"Where in this world are there ghosts? That's a ridiculous statement. Are you even crazy?" Xi Yuan scoffed.

He was a complete atheist, seemingly because he was sickly as a child and his grandmother always forced him to drink disgusting talisman water. Xi Yuan was the kind of person who would despise anyone who said ghosts existed in the world.

"This...this..." Ade lowered his usual loud voice. He had always been Xi Yuan's ally, firmly believing that ghosts didn't exist, but now...

Thinking of the phone in his pocket, Ade's heart pounded, and he wasn't sure what was going on.

If it really is a kidnapping... maybe that would be better...

On the dark road, two cars drove one after the other. The only light on the road was from their headlights; there were no streetlights, and it was completely silent.

"We're catching up!" the driver suddenly shouted, and Ade quickly snapped out of his daze.

The chase between the two cars was about to end, and the taxi was slowly catching up to the black sedan, hugging its right side...

"Young men! Call your companions!" the driver shouted.

Upon hearing this, Ade, who was sitting on the left side of the car, finally came to his senses after being pushed hard by Xi Yuan. He hurriedly rolled down the car window and leaned his face out of the window.

He is definitely fat.

He was sitting on the right side of the car. Although it wasn't very clear, Ade could see him by the only light from the car headlights. His eyes were tightly closed on his chubby, round face, and his complexion looked unusually pale, whether from the light or something else.

"What are you spacing out for?! Hurry up and knock on the car door!" Xi Yuan's roar pierced Ade's eardrums, and Ade hurriedly reached out and pounded on the other car window.

The fat man kept his eyes closed and did not react.

Because of this movement, Ade was now very close to the other car, almost dangerously close. Realizing the situation, Ade was about to pull back when suddenly… he saw another person in the car. There was someone else sitting in the back seat!

A white dress, long, jet-black hair reaching her knees... It's a woman!

The woman suddenly moved, turning her body slightly... She saw herself!

This realization suddenly sent a chill down Ade's spine; the sweat, combined with the whistling cold wind, left him feeling completely cold.

The woman's hand moved, and Ade's heart pounded as he watched her pick up something and hold it up to the car window, right in front of his face...

Cell phone! Fatty's cell phone!

The woman's phone was on, and the screen displayed "Sending messages".

Ad's eyes suddenly widened!

Suddenly! The car swerved sharply to the left, veering wildly, and headed straight for the wooded area on the left!

The image on the phone suddenly disappeared. Before Ade could understand what was happening, he was abruptly pulled into the car. Immediately afterward, a snapping sound came from outside—they had hit a protruding tree branch!

"That was close! You almost got hit by the tree, you know?" Inside the car, Xi Yuan was panting heavily.

Ad froze. Not because he'd almost had his head scraped off by a tree branch, but because... his phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was a text message… and Ad was completely stunned.

"What's wrong?" Xi Yuan frowned.

"N-nothing, it's just a new message..." Ade hurriedly took out his phone and pressed the button to check.

"Catch me in thirty minutes."

The message was very short, just one sentence, and it was sent just now.

"Is something wrong?" Seeing Ade suddenly turn pale and throw away his phone, Xi Yuan bent down and picked it up, puzzled. "What does this mean? What did you agree to meet with someone?"

Ade's reply was a deathly pale face.

Xi Yuan instinctively knew something was wrong, so he flipped through the text messages he had sent earlier.

The previous text messages were all deleted, leaving only one that read: "The game isn't over yet, there's still one person..." Xi Yuan frowned even more as he looked at the sender's number.

"Fatty's phone..." Xi Yuan pursed his lips, then suddenly remembered something, took out his phone, and realized that he had forgotten to turn it back on after turning it off. He hurriedly turned it back on, and after a while, he noticed that his phone screen started flashing, displaying new information.

After deleting the fat man's text message, Xi Yuan saw the exact same text message that Ade had received on his phone.

Even the sending time was the same.

It is 2:45 a.m.

"What does this mean..." The phone screen in his hand suddenly went black. "It's out of battery." Xi Yuan pursed his lips in confusion. The phone had been turned off because it was almost out of battery, so it was normal for it to be out of battery now.

At this moment, the car they were in also stopped, and the driver jumped out and opened the door for Xi Yuan.

"Young men, get off the bus!" The thin, middle-aged man jumped up and down, looking furious.

"Boss, what's wrong? We need your car to chase after our friends!"

"Bullshit! I'm not chasing it anymore! There's something wrong with the train you're chasing! Don't lie to me!" The middle-aged man grabbed the car door, his face unfriendly.

"Ah! You think so too!" Xi Yuan remained nonchalant, though that was just his habit; his eyes were fixed on the spot where the car had disappeared.

If I'm not mistaken... that's the woods behind Qi Lan.

However, since they were already not far from the school, they no longer needed a car. After thinking for a moment, Xi Yuan took out a banknote from his pocket and handed it to the driver. He seemed to remember having some leftover bills from earlier that day.

After saying there was no need to look anymore, and about to head towards the woods where the car had disappeared, Xi Yuan was suddenly stopped by the driver.

"Guest! It's late at night, please don't joke like that!"

"Huh? What did you say?" Xi Yuan frowned.

"Look at the money you gave me, it's ghost money!"

"?!"

Ad's face turned pale instantly.

Xi Yuan's eyes widened in surprise. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly noticed the driver looking at him with an extremely terrifying expression...

"A ghost! A ghost!" With a scream, the driver jumped into the car like lightning and sped away, forgetting about the money.

Seeing Ade's pale face, Xi Yuan coughed lightly and kicked the "ghost money" on the ground. "What are you afraid of? Don't be fooled by that driver. I've heard that some drivers use this trick at night to cheat customers. When collecting money, they quickly exchange real money for counterfeit money, then shout that the customer's money is fake and demand a refund, thus earning double the fare. But this driver actually used ghost money... How despicable!"

Is that really...? After finally convincing himself that Xi Yuan's explanation sounded reasonable, Ade finally relaxed. But the sudden vibration in his pocket made his legs go weak and he almost collapsed.

"Twenty-five minutes left." The cold, electronic text on the screen caught Ade's eye, and he tensed up again. Seeing this, Xi Yuan suddenly snatched Ade's phone and closed it.

"What are you afraid of? Fatty's definitely in trouble! This was sent by the guy next to him using his phone! What are you waiting for? Go save him!" Xi Yuan said, running towards the grove of trees...

Chapter Six: The Ghost Was Caught

The car wasn't very conspicuous. Although it was large, its dark color made it difficult to spot in the equally dark woods. Fortunately, it was the same grove they passed through every time they escaped from school, so the two knew the way well.

The woods were chilly in early summer. Ade hugged his arms, shivering, and followed closely behind Xi Yuan. Honestly, if he had a choice, he really, really didn't want to go into this woods. The school woods were already eerie enough during the day, let alone at night.

They chose to skip school from this place because it was eerie and deserted. Ade still remembered the first time they went out, the three of them got separated, and he wandered around the woods alone in a panic. It was daytime, but the woods were still dark. He even found a skeleton in the forest and was afraid that there might be man-eating wild animals nearby. Even Ade, who was usually brave, began to feel scared.

It was Xi Yuan who found him and Fatty. Xi Yuan is that capable, so you should trust him. With his arms crossed, Ade stared intently at Xi Yuan's back.

Suddenly, Xi Yuan turned his head. "Shh! Do you see that? Behind that tree over there..."

Ade nodded and, following Xi Yuan's gaze, saw the spot Xi Yuan had mentioned. Sure enough, there was a black car parked there, hidden behind a tree, not easily noticeable at first glance.

“Strange, this is a forest, but upon closer inspection, there’s a route that a car could take… It seems this car often travels this route…” Xi Yuan said, quietly moving towards his target while hiding among the trees.

The clouds obscured the already not-so-round moon, making the woods even darker.

"Shh—let's be careful as we go." Xi Yuan turned around and instructed Ade, who nodded hurriedly.

The two finally reached the car. Just as Ade's heart was pounding in his chest, Xi Yuan whispered, "Strange... nobody's here."

Looking into the car in surprise, Ade found that there was really no one inside!

There was no driver, no fat man, no woman in white he had just seen, and not even the fat man's phone...

"The car was just turned off and hasn't been driven far." After a quick check of the car, Xi Yuan said with certainty, then began to examine the ground. "There might be footprints."

However, Xi Yuan was disappointed. It was early summer, and the grass was lush and tall, making it harder than climbing to heaven to find footprints on the grass that covered his feet! But then, as if he had suddenly discovered something, Xi Yuan stomped his foot hard on the ground.

"What's wrong?" Ade asked, looking around as he crossed his arms.

"Hey! Didn't you hear something wrong?" Xi Yuan said, stomping his foot on the ground again.