Before the morning mist had completely dispersed, Jiang Xueming dialed the mysterious confidential number.
He didn't know if he had made the call at the right time.
There are only two days left before the boarding date. Is it too late for my sister’s condition?
But day by day, Jiang Bailu's condition showed no improvement, so he had to do something.
He couldn't bear the crying and hissing from his sister in the ward.
These sounds were like rusty knives, repeatedly cutting into his soul.
Nightmares also plagued him. He had not slept for two days and a lot of white hair had grown on the back of his head.
If he were to look in the mirror now, he would be frightened out of his wits by his zombie-like complexion.
His eye sockets were sunken, and there seemed to be a black air coming out of his cheeks and between his eyebrows.
A long, cold and anxious tone came from the mobile phone. After ringing five or six times in a row, no one answered.
This made Jiang Xueming anxious and anxious.
Until a greeting came from the speaker.
"Is it Mr. Jiang Xueming?"
The sound seemed to have been specially processed by electric current, just like the electronic synthesized sound, and it was impossible to distinguish between men, women, old and young.
Jiang Xueming immediately replied: "It's me. You're looking for me, right? Where are the Nine Realms? I want to get in the car."
The voice on the phone said slowly: "Don't worry, Mr. Jiang Xueming, we will arrange a pick-up driver for you."
"When? Also, will the special medicine you promised me be delivered immediately? Who are you? What do you want me to do? Where am I going?"
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Jiang Xueming. I can't answer so many questions at the same time. How about we find a teahouse or coffee shop at the transfer station to have a good chat?"
"What should I bring? Do I need to prepare anything? Do I also need to bring those tickets you mailed to me?"
"For your trouble, just bring your two tickets."
"I..." Jiang Xueming wanted to ask a few more questions, but the call had been hung up.
Almost at the same time, he heard the harsh sound of car horns coming from outside the health center.
"coming--"
"——They came to pick me up."
Xueming immediately returned to the ward and sat next to Bai Lu.
When he saw Bai Lu sleeping soundly, he was still struggling with the nightmare and the pain. He trembled when he heard it and was frightened when he touched it.
He wanted to touch his sister's forehead, but he didn't dare to reach out, as if it was not Bai Lu who contracted the strange disease, but himself.
He explained a few words to the attending doctor, signed a letter of comfort for conservative treatment, and prepared for the worst.
Then he took away the two tickets and resolutely went downstairs. He walked towards the sharp and shrill sound of the car horn.
The sky in midsummer is not as scorching as in the past.
The hot and humid wind was like a horse driver, waving his whip and whipping the cypress leaves in the courtyard farther away.
He put on a long khaki coat and walked out with a sloppy pace.
He hadn't slept for forty-eight hours, and the piercing horns were like vicious needles. Every time they sounded, he was suffering from neurasthenia, and even his heart would cramp.
Stepping out of the porch, there was a dark car parked on the narrow path outside the secluded and remote woodland.
It was a Volga, a very old car.
Jiang Xueming had only seen it in books. It was a car that was first launched in 1958 at the Brussels International Industrial Show.
The two round headlights looked like the eyes of a beast, staring straight at him.
The rows of vertical air intake grilles no longer have a metallic sheen, but instead look like long tusks.
The windshield was treated to prevent peeping, so Xueming couldn't see what was going on in the car. He walked up and knocked on the window.
——The back door opened immediately.
He leaned down and found that there was no one in the back seat.
——Then who opened the back door just now?
"High technology..." He stooped into the car and said beautiful words without a smile, trying to cover up the nervousness in his heart.
Looking forward from the back seat, the driver's figure is well-proportioned and tightly wrapped by the driver's seat.
Xueming could only see the navy blue suit shoulder sleeves and the white gloves pressed on the steering wheel.
Out of curiosity, he wanted to lean forward and take a closer look at the driver's appearance.
A cold female voice calmed him down.
"Mr. Jiang Xueming, please sit tight. We will take you to Jiujie Station right now."
He had no choice but to put away his curiosity and sit calmly in his seat.
Female driver: “Do you want to listen to music?”
Xueming: "No need."
Female driver: “Do you want to open the window?”
Xueming: "No need."
"Okay, let's set off now. Our destination is Jiujie Station. The whole journey is about..." The female driver started the car and paused, "I don't know how many kilometers. The journey takes forty minutes. You need to make a reservation at the station.
Catering?”
Xueming: "No need..."
The female driver continued: "BOSS has reserved an afternoon tea for you at the station."
Xueming: "BOSS?"
The car drove towards the highway.
Female driver: "Yes, that's the one who called you just now. Don't you have a lot of questions to ask?"
Jiang Xueming immediately asked: "Can you tell me in detail? It seems that you should know a lot..."
The female driver shook her finger and did not look back: "Don't chat with me while driving. I have just started my job."
Jiang Xueming had to give up and looked at the scenery outside the window quietly and leisurely.
At least now, he knew that these mysterious people didn't seem to have any obvious hostility toward him.
He secretly observed the female driver's face through the rearview mirror, and just for a moment - the pair of dark and clever eyes in the rearview mirror cast a meaningful look at him.
Just the look in the mirror lasted for a short moment, and Xueming immediately looked away.
"Sorry..." He looked out the window and stopped looking around.
At this moment, he could clearly hear the female driver's evil smile with overtones. It seemed like a mockery, but also like a trick had succeeded.
The scenery outside the window gradually became unfamiliar.
The sky and the earth also darkened, and the midsummer low pressure brought clouds to the earth, as if a thunderstorm would fall at any time, and the sun was hidden.
It started to get hot inside the car.
Xueming finally couldn't help but wanted to ask...
"Turn on the air conditioner, right?" The female driver turned on the air conditioner in advance as if predicting the future.
The environment immediately became much cooler, followed by a long wait.
While waiting, Xueming's eyes were still staring out the car window.
He began to feel uneasy in his heart. After living in this city for four years, the street scene outside the window and the buildings passing by were all so unfamiliar to him. After settling in Hung Hom, this may be the farthest he has gone.
once.
This uneasy feeling is slightly different from simply traveling far away.
He saw it, very far away, behind the commercial building, further in the sky.
Black clouds covered most of the sky, slowly eroding from the front like waves.
Among the patches of clouds are vortices of black, gray and white colors, with outlines and shadows reflecting each other, and the last bit of the sun's rays.
Blue thunder flashed from time to time in the clouds, with a low muffled sound, like the roar of a wild beast.
It seems as if there is an unknown huge creature hidden in it, and the body of that creature still retains the light of thunder and stars.
This feeling of strangeness and alienation gave Xueming an inexplicable sense of tranquility, which made her dazzled.
He originally wanted to remember the buildings of this highway, even some road signs - this would give him a sense of security in this day and age.
At least when calling the police, he could accurately tell where the "Nine Realms Station" was, but he couldn't.
Every few kilometers, road signs flash by.
On this colorful and dark road, he could barely make out any words outside the window.
There was also a smell of grass leaves coming from the car air conditioner, which made him drowsy.
He began to rub his eyes, yawn, and tried to move his legs to tighten his calf muscles, speed up blood pumping into the heart, flow to the brain, and then stay awake.
"Mr. Jiang Xueming? What are you doing in the back seat?" The female driver noticed something strange.
Just this question is like a curse.
His brain was overloaded at the moment when he was thinking about how to answer, and like a cell phone with zero battery, it was completely shut down.
When he wakes up——
——Volga parked next to an old alley. The red brick archways on both sides of the alley were old and covered with ivy and moss.
Both sides are lined with low buildings of three or four stories.
There are few pedestrians on the road, and the food shops are empty.
It was completely dark. Only the bright stars and dim street lights were left to accompany the car.