parasitisme veille

Chapitre 3

At that time, he must have thought about many things, but he couldn't remember any of them. His last memory was feeling the ache and numbness in his shoulder, opening his eyes briefly, and seeing that the carriage was dark and all the passengers were asleep. At that moment, Dong'er's head left his shoulder and rested against the back of the seat. He didn't think much of it and soon fell into a deep sleep again.

When I woke up, I was already on this bus, surrounded by unfamiliar faces except for Dong'er. More importantly, the bus was parked in a valley, and it had started raining heavily sometime during the day.

The only explanation is that I am in a dream, but how can a dream feel so real?

Qin Ge suddenly thought of something. He raised his wrist to look at his watch; the luminous hands showed it was a little past 11 p.m. He looked at the date more closely and couldn't help but let out a soft groan.

Three days have passed since he was on another bus returning home.

He can't recall anything about what happened in the past three days.

His memory has cracked, or perhaps time has played a cruel joke on him, but whatever the case, things have already gone off track, and some unpredictable things have happened.

Asi's Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 1, Chapter 10: Rainy Night (5)

Three days is a long time; a lot can be done, including gathering complete strangers onto a bus and driving it into a deserted valley. Qin Ge believed he had grasped the crux of the problem, which was currently the most rational and realistic explanation. But who would do such a thing, and what would their purpose be? Moreover, who had the capability to accomplish all of this?

Qin Ge's head was throbbing from thinking so much. He looked down at Dong'er, who was nestled in his arms. Dong'er's eyes were fixed helplessly and blankly out the window, but she didn't show the excessive panic that others did. Qin Ge knew this was because she wasn't a very thoughtful person, and besides, whenever she was with him, she was used to entrusting herself to him. Because she believed that as long as he was there, he would never let her get hurt.

Qin Ge felt a pang of pain in his heart. He didn't know what fate awaited the group of people in the car, nor could he guarantee that he could keep the danger away from his wife. Just thinking about the potential harm that might befall Dong'er was enough to make Qin Ge's heart ache.

If we want to continue our simple life, if we want to live happily ever after like in all fairy tales, then we have to leave this valley and return to our original lives. No one can stop us, and no force can make us give up. Qin Ge let out a long sigh, feeling that he had found his goal. Now, he would tell everyone on the bus this goal: only by working together could they escape their current predicament.

Just then, everyone on the bus suddenly crowded to one side of the window, their eyes fixed on the outside, and some even slightly opened their mouths, their faces showing extreme fear.

Dong'er let out a low scream and buried her head in Qin Ge's arms, but after a moment, she couldn't help but turn her head and peek out from between Qin Ge's arms.

Qin Ge's gaze followed everyone else's as they looked out the car window.

In the pitch-black valley, the rain curtain connected the sky and the earth. The rain curtain appeared somewhat white in the dark night, so everyone could vaguely see a figure dressed entirely in white walking beside the car.

The figure was naked, his skin deathly pale in the darkness. He walked slowly, his limbs seemingly clumsy, his steps stiff. From a distance, he moved like a puppet strung on strings. Even a puppet wouldn't walk so erratically; his balance was clearly poor, so with each stiff step, he had to extend his arms and sway them from side to side to maintain his balance.

He walked unsteadily and with stiff steps in the rain.

The car was completely silent; everyone seemed stunned by what they had just witnessed. The person walking beside the car was clearly a ghost from legend, emanating a strong aura of evil that made everyone who saw him hold their breath, afraid of startling him and causing misfortune to befall them.

The deathly pale phantom had now reached the middle of the car. It suddenly stopped and turned to stare at the nearest window. Qin Ge, inside the car, was startled, feeling his skin tense up instantly, a surge of power rising to his throat. Dong'er, in his arms, screamed and trembled uncontrollably. The deathly pale phantom possessed a kind of magic; it instilled fear in everyone, yet made it impossible to look away.

His face was even paler than the rest of his body, as if a thick layer of lime had been applied to his face, burying his features beneath it. His empty, lifeless eyes blazed with a ferocious, beast-like killing intent.

He paused only briefly before stiffly resuming his walking.

He walked to the car, the headlights shining on him, and this time, everyone in the car could clearly see his stiff gait. At that moment, he looked exactly like a zombie who had just emerged from a grave.

Only after the pale shadow disappeared into the darkness did the carriage stir again. The screams and cries of women, the complaints and curses of men, and the pervasive fear in everyone's hearts spread throughout the carriage. A rainy night in a valley, a walking zombie, a stopped bus, and people inexplicably appearing on the bus—what could be more bizarre and terrifying than this?

If this is a dream, then let this nightmare end soon.

Asi's Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 1, Chapter 11: Judging People (1)

The lights inside the carriage were turned on, and the brightness calmed the passengers somewhat. Now, these people were finally sitting together. Since they had all been placed in the same situation by some force, they had a responsibility to face what had happened together. Fortunately, this hadn't happened to just one person; almost everyone felt a sense of relief amidst the panic.

The lights filled the carriage, their soft glow further highlighting the darkness outside the window. The sound of rain blended together, making the lights inside the carriage seem even more like something out of the world.

What happened is something everyone is eager to know. But since no one can provide an answer, "what should we do?" has become the topic of discussion.

We're now in an unfamiliar valley, and nobody knows where it is. It's raining outside, and just now a zombie-like figure walked past the vehicle. Now, calming down and thinking back, we realize there are no real zombies, so the "zombie" must have been a person, albeit a very strange one. Since there are people in this valley, there must be houses, and they can't be too far away. If we find someone, ask where we are, and if we're lucky, they might know the way out of the mountains, then we can drive the bus away. Even if we don't find anyone, we can always walk along the road at dawn and get out of here.

When Qin Ge turned on the lights inside the carriage, he checked the bus. The bus was in good condition and there was obviously no problem starting it.

This opinion was agreed upon by everyone, so they unanimously decided to stay in the car and wait until dawn. Nobody wanted to wander around in the dark, especially since it was raining outside and there were zombie-like figures in the rain.

There were still more than five hours until dawn, and the people on the bus had to sit there and pass the time.

Qin Ge had just counted; there were fourteen people on the bus, including himself and Dong'er. Now, everyone had returned to their original seats, all silent. But Qin Ge was certain that none of them were truly asleep; passing the long night was no easy task.

Dong'er sat on the side with her head down, looking dejected. She must be regretting her trip to the Southern Frontier. Qin Ge reached out and put his arm around her, whispering in her ear, "Don't worry, everything will be fine by dawn."

Dong'er snuggled closer to him: "This is our honeymoon trip."

"Isn't this even better? Our honeymoon will be different from everyone else's. Looking back on it, we'll be so proud." Qin Ge reached out and pinched her nose again. "Don't be discouraged. Just think of yourself as the protagonist in a movie. In all movies, the male and female protagonists always end up safe and sound."

Dong'er smiled, but the smile vanished in an instant. She turned her head and glanced around, saying, "It would be great to be the protagonist in a movie again, but can you be sure we're the male and female leads?" She shook her head, adding with concern, "It would be terrible if we didn't become the protagonists. Look at those horror movies, it's always the supporting characters who die halfway through."

Qin Ge chuckled, but a heavy feeling settled in his heart: "In our story, we are the protagonists. Besides, in all movies, the ones who escape danger in the end are always a man and a woman." He glanced around, "Look, we're the only couple in this carriage. It's hard for us not to be the protagonists."

Dong'er nodded emphatically immediately.

Qin Ge said, "Let's play a game. At home, you always pester me to tell you crime stories, right? Today, I'll dress up as Sherlock Holmes and guess what the people in the carriage do."

Dong'er shook her head in disbelief: "Don't embarrass yourself. Holmes's methods don't work in reality. Even if he came in person, it wouldn't work, let alone you."

"You're looking down on me, aren't you?" Qin Ge chuckled. "Didn't I say we should just treat this as a game? Let's pretend we're in a movie right now. Even if I guess wrong, no police officer will fine me, right?"

Dong'er still shook her head, but Qin Ge could tell she was interested. Dong'er's eyes would light up and her facial expressions would become lively when she was interested in something. She stood up, looked around, and when she sat down, she pointed behind her: "Tell me what those women in the back do."

On the bench near the rear window at the very back of the carriage sat four girls, with two others sitting in front of them right next to them. When these six girls stood up, they were all tall, the shortest being no less than 1.7 meters. They were all quite young, but they were all heavily made up, their hair dyed in the currently popular red and yellow colors, and their clothes were trendy, showing off their arms, shoulders, and even their belly buttons.

The four girls in the back row sat huddled together whispering, while the two in the front occasionally turned around to join in. At a glance, anyone could tell that the six girls were a group.

Asi's Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 1, Chapter 12: Judging People (2)

"Stop looking, stop looking." Dong'er turned Qin Ge's face towards her. "Your eyes just pop out when you look at pretty girls."

Qin Ge smiled slightly: "I don't need to guess about those six, right? Their clothes and their height tell me they must be models, and not the kind from a professional modeling agency. If I'm not mistaken, they're probably the kind who perform in nightclubs and dance halls."

Dong'er snorted: "Anyone can see that at a glance. Can you guess something that others can't see?"

"These models are planning to go home. Their performances haven't been going well lately, and they can't stay in the cities where they've been performing, so they're planning to go home and rest for a while."

"Is it true or false? Don't lie to me."

"Don't you know that the national public security system is currently conducting 'Operation Hurricane'? It's a crackdown on online prostitution, but it's also intensifying its efforts against real-world sex work, with karaoke bars and dance halls being key targets. These young girls didn't bring much luggage; if they were going out to perform, they would definitely have brought some costumes. So, I'm certain they're affected by 'Operation Hurricane' and are resting at home until things calm down before going out again."

"Your police are cracking down on prostitution, you wouldn't be banning model performances too, would you?"

"You know, how many of these young girls who frequent the pleasure quarters can remain chaste? You can't blame them; if you walk by the river long enough, you're bound to get your feet wet. They face far more temptations than the average person, so it's hard to guarantee they won't do something foolish. Of course, they're not all like that; we can't be absolute about anything. Maybe I'm wrong, but at least we can't rule out that possibility, right?"

Dong'er thought for a moment and nodded: "This is too simple, guess something more complicated."

Qin Ge glanced around again and said, "Let's finish talking about the women and then the men. Look at that young woman sitting in front. Did you notice her? She kept clutching her handbag tightly wherever she went. There's obviously something important in it. And look at her attire. I paid special attention to her because she's the most unique person in the car. Her hair is permed, and it's the currently trendy 'airy perm.' Her makeup isn't heavy, but it's very appropriate. If she has a similar three-day hiatus like us, then she must be using high-end cosmetics to last so long without smudging. This means that even if she wasn't born into a wealthy family, she's still from a rich one. She must have prepared carefully for this trip."

"Who goes out without preparing?" Dong'er rolled her eyes at him. "Do you think you can tell me that?"

"Don't expect me to see right through someone," Qin Ge thought for a moment and then said, "When I said she was special, I meant the contradictions in her. A pampered young woman carrying valuables and going out alone doesn't fit her status. If I'm right, she must be doing something she doesn't want others to know."

"Ah!" Dong'er opened her mouth and stared blankly for a long time, looking as if she didn't believe it.

Qin Ge smiled and said, "Don't take it all too seriously. Even Sherlock Holmes makes mistakes sometimes, let alone me."

Dong'er nodded, her gaze falling on the last girl sitting next to them on the other side of the aisle. She lowered her voice and said, "Then tell her something about her."

Seeing Dong'er's serious expression, Qin Ge knew that she had completely piqued Dong'er's interest. This kind of peeping into other people's privacy is something that everyone desires deep down.

"That young girl was quite young, probably graduated from university not long ago, and still had the naivety of a college student on her face. It's not unusual for single young people to travel these days, but I felt something was off about her."

"No way, what's weird about that?" Dong'er said, leaning forward to carefully examine the girl next to her. The girl, who had been sitting upright with her eyes closed, probably sensed something, opened her eyes, and met Dong'er's gaze. Dong'er smiled awkwardly and looked away.

"This girl looks quite innocent and is very pretty, but I always feel like there's something wrong with her face. I wanted to take a closer look, but she seemed to sense my feelings immediately and kept staring at me, which made me too embarrassed to look at her anymore."

Dong'er chuckled and said, "That's called feeling guilty."

Qin Ge sighed and said, "This girl is a bit unfathomable. I can sense something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. At first glance, she seems no different from any other pretty girl on the street, but if you look at her more closely, you can sense that she is different from others."

"Is it really that exaggerated?" Dong'er tried to lean over again, but Qin Ge stopped her. She then obediently leaned on Qin Ge's shoulder and said, "Then let's wait until dawn, and I'll take a good look at what makes her so different."

Now all the women in the car have finished talking. The six young models, the woman in front, the college-aged woman beside her, and Dong'er make a total of nine people. Of the remaining five men, excluding Qin Ge, the other four have very distinctive physical features. Qin Ge spoke eloquently, while Dong'er listened intently, nodding repeatedly, seemingly having forgotten the unusual situation they were in. This was exactly what Qin Ge wanted.

Sitting in the row in front of them was a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, a straight nose, and a square mouth—a dignified appearance. He was dressed simply in a white shirt and black trousers. He wore a watch on his wrist, and his phone case was clipped to his waist. He sat there upright, his back ramrod straight, as if he had served in the military.

"I reckon this guy over there is an official. Looking at him, I feel like I'm looking at our bureau chief. No matter how rich an ordinary person is, they don't exude that kind of authority. And look at his attire. Only government officials and company employees, those unremarkable people, like to wear white shirts and black trousers. But he's not a company employee, nor does he seem like a boss. Did you notice the watch on his wrist? It's an old-fashioned domestic watch, and his shirt is also a domestic brand that costs a little over a hundred yuan. Bosses don't need to be stingy with themselves. Only those who work in government departments are so reserved. It's not that they don't have money, but they're used to being simple and mindful of their image. That's the style of all our officials."

Asi's Hell: 773 Horror Series 12, Part 1, Chapter 13: Judging People (3)

There was an official in the car, which amused Dong'er: "I hope you guessed right this time. I haven't ridden in the same car as an official yet."

Qin Ge frowned and said, "Officials are different from ordinary people. When we go missing for a few days, only our family and colleagues are worried. But when an official goes missing, it's a big deal. But just now, I saw that he didn't seem worried at all, as if he had plenty of time to waste. If he, like us, came to this valley without realizing it, then he must be on a trip, perhaps on vacation or traveling. It's unlikely that an official would go on a trip alone, unless something unexpected happened in his life."

"What kind of changes might occur?" Dong'er asked.

"There are two possibilities: either he committed a crime of embezzlement and bribery and fled after receiving a tip-off before being placed under investigation; or he had problems at work, was suspended from his post, or dismissed from office, and went away to relax."

“He looked very upright and not flustered at all; he didn’t seem like a fugitive.”

Qin Ge nodded: "I'm just guessing based on common sense. Of course, only he knows the truth."

Dong'er thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps officials aren't as bad as we think."

Qin Ge clearly didn't want to continue the topic, and he said softly, "I hope so."

Next, it was the young man sitting to the right of the middle-aged official, across the aisle. This time, Qin Ge didn't offer his opinion first, but instead let Dong'er guess using his method.

"Actually, it's not that hard to judge a person. If you pay attention and start with their external features, you can usually guess their identity. Then, think about them using normal human thinking, find out what makes them different and analyze it. In this way, even without contact with them, you can still understand them."

Dong'er was intrigued. She stood up, craned her neck, and looked at the young man again. The young man wasn't very young either, around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, about the same age as Qin Ge. He had long hair and a long beard, and at first glance, he looked like the singer Tengger, but upon closer inspection, he was clearly much younger than Tengger.

"This person is definitely an artist," Dong'er said confidently. "These days, there are only three types of people with long hair: thugs, vagrants, and artists."

Qin Ge nodded in agreement, as a form of encouragement: "Go on, continue."

"I guess he's an artist; only artists would frequently venture into remote mountains and wilderness."

Qin Ge nodded again: "Let's assume everyone on the bus is like us, inexplicably appearing here during a trip. But this artist is an exception; he doesn't seem like a tourist. Look at the other people on the bus; they all have some luggage, but he only has a shoulder bag. These leather shoulder bags are common in the city, but their flat shape means they can't hold much. A tourist wouldn't only carry one bag like that." Qin Ge thought for a moment, then continued, "Regardless of whether he's an artist or not, the only possibility for him to leave with so little is that he made the decision to go on a whim."

Dong'er paused for a moment, then remained silent, which was taken as agreement with Qin Ge's opinion.

“And while everyone was discussing just now, he didn’t say a word, he didn’t even move, he was still sitting in his seat. I glanced at him a couple more times, and his gaze was fixed on me, making no attempt to hide his hostility. I felt there was a murderous aura about him, and after so many years as a policeman, my intuition is usually right.” Qin Ge said solemnly, “We need to be more careful with this person.”

Dong'er frowned, and her gaze fell on the young artist diagonally in front of her, now filled with wariness.

There were still two men on the bus, one sitting in the front and one in the back. Dong'er gestured with her thumb towards the back, indicating to Qin Ge to talk to the middle-aged man in the back first, while her own eyes kept glancing at the back of the young man's head.

"You speak for the person in the back, and I'll take care of the young man in front."

Qin Ge chuckled, satisfied with Dong'er's focused state. The middle-aged man behind them was about forty years old, with short hair, dark skin, and a thick stubble of stubble covering his upper lip and chin, making him look like a scavenging farmer at first glance, but he had a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

“I guess there are three possibilities for this person’s profession. One is an antique dealer who goes to some rural or remote places to buy antiques at low prices and then resell them in the city at high prices. Another is a folklore worker who often goes to the countryside to collect folklore. The last one is a geologist who does exploration and also needs to travel all over the world. You can see that his skin color is formed by years of wind and sun exposure, and the canvas backpack next to him is something that only people who are always on the road would use.”

Dong'er thought for a moment and said, "Based on those three professions, I guess he must be involved in folk customs."

"Why?" Qin Ge asked, intrigued.

“He has a scholarly air about him; he doesn’t seem like an antique dealer. He’s not an explorer either; I’ve never heard of an explorer setting off with just a canvas bag. He must carry some other equipment.”

Qin Ge coughed exaggeratedly twice, then reached out and pinched her nose, praising, "Smart."

Dong'er laughed smugly, "You just realized I'm smart? That just means you're not so smart after all." She pointed ahead, "Now it's my turn to talk about that person. When everyone was talking together earlier, this young man was the one who attracted me the most, so I glanced at him a couple of times. Unfortunately, probably because you were next to me, he wasn't paying attention to me, but to her." She pouted slightly, indicating that she was referring to a young woman who looked like a college student sitting on the side of the aisle.