Walking more than a hundred meters toward the entrance of the hall, passing through the red doors of eight large banquet halls, Jiang Xueming arrived at the first courtyard of the welcome hall.
He saw a large patch of red pine forest in the courtyard, surrounded by sixteen large terraces. Behind the terraces were the living areas - dining room, bathhouse, entertainment room and gym.
Enter the largest internal building of the reception hall through the main road of the first courtyard.
On the wall of the archway corridor, he also saw the name of this place written on the road sign - it was called [Council of Five Kings].
Walking more than a hundred meters into the arched corridor that is tens of meters wide, you will arrive at the central office.
On both sides are magnificent relief walls and colorful paintings.
Five gold-rimmed oil paintings were hung high in the hall, facing all the guests.
There were people coming and going in the lobby of the office, but it was unusually quiet. I saw waiters taking their passengers to and from various counters to knock out stamps.
In Xueming's opinion, these passengers had no particularly obvious characteristics. They were all male, female, old and young, healthy, sick and disabled. The age distribution was also very random.
He wanted to stop for a few minutes and noticed something fishy, but he was dragged by Xiao Qi's arm to the elevator.
"Don't I need to go through those procedures?" He stood in front of the elevator door, staring at the brass pipes and pure black iron door, and looking at the lines on the door.
Xiao Qi replied casually: "No, you are in a hurry. You can just make up for it later."
"Oh..." He suddenly became nervous: "Is it because of Bai Lu's condition?"
Xiao Qi nodded: "Yes, your sister's illness is very special."
Xueming asked: "Do you understand? Brother Qi, can you explain it to me?"
Before he finished speaking, the elevator door opened and the hurried passengers walked out.
Most of them were wearing long clothes to keep out the cold. Their bodies had a strange smell of rust, and they looked sad, as if they had just received bad news.
As they got closer, one of the passengers walked past Xueming.
At that moment, Jiang Xueming clearly captured the clue.
He could see very clearly the tall traveler who had just passed him through the gap in his high-collar coat and hood.
The neck and nose hidden in the shadows are all tinged with scarlet.
Xueming will never forget that color.
That is the disease that afflicts my sister.
He murmured: "They..."
Before she finished speaking, Xiao Qi pulled Xueming into the elevator, "Shh, don't ask any more questions."
There were only two people, Xueming and Xiaoqi, in the elevator.
The elevator magnetic card was swiped over the sensor, and the button on the fifty-fifth floor lit up.
What followed was a long wait.
There was no one around, so Xueming finally asked tentatively.
"Those passengers just now...I saw that one of them also had red sores on his face. It was very similar to the strange disease on my sister."
"Yes, they have the same disease." Xiao Qi hugged each other with a serious expression, not joking at all: "That's why we will arrange for you to meet the BOSS in advance."
Xueming was worried: "Are many people suffering from this disease? Is there any cure?"
Xiaoqi: "Of course it can be saved, but this is the first time we have discovered [Vita Brand] in the world of ordinary people."
Xueming: "Vita Brand?"
"Yes, the name of this disease is Vita brand. I originally thought that you should have been mentally prepared when you learned the secrets of those two tickets." Xiao Qi turned his head and looked into Jiang Xueming's eyes.
: "We are not ordinary people. We can see abnormalities in the ordinary world, things that are invisible to ordinary people. Or the ordinary banknotes in their eyes become bus tickets in our eyes. Have you never thought about it,
Our eyes and brains, our bodies and souls are beyond common sense."
Xueming nodded——
——Xiao Qi continued.
"The history of this station is very old. I heard the grandpa, the station manager, say that when he was young, this station had been in operation for a long time."
Xueming asked again: "What are these passengers taking the bus for?"
"I'm new here, and I don't know much about it, but BOSS has told us part-time workers not to ask about customers' personal affairs casually. I think it must be a very important matter, just like you came here for your sister.
Just like the station, other passengers also have things they must do and reasons why they must go, so they boarded this train." Xiao Qi pondered: "One thing is for sure, I have seen with my own eyes that most passengers come
After taking a ride here, the Vita brand will appear on your body."
Xueming swallowed and became nervous, "Am I going to get this disease too? Vita Brand?"
"Not at first." Xiao Qi comforted Xueming: "Only passengers who have traveled too many times, traveled too far in the underground world, and stayed in other places for too long will have such red spots on their bodies."
Xueming asked eagerly: "Does it have any other symptoms? If it is cured...will there be any sequelae? Does this name mean anything?"
"At first, the symptoms were very similar to those of lupus erythematosus." Xiao Qi carefully recalled the notes in the employee handbook: "The patient's skin will appear with large papules and clumps, which will later evolve into fatty nodules, accompanied by angina pectoris and lung disease.
of capillary embolism.”
The numbers on the elevator go up little by little.
Xueming's mind went down a little bit.
"This process will be very slow and last for ten months, just like pregnancy. It will be accompanied by great pain." Xiao Qi's tone became colder and colder: "When the skin on the patient's body has become completely red, other pathogenic microorganisms will
They will take advantage of the collapse of the immune system to swarm in. For example, various cytomegaloviruses and common hepatitis viruses. At this time, the patient will start to have nightmares——
——The first thing to fail in the later stage is the patient's lungs and kidneys, accompanied by large areas of organ inflammation. At this time, the patient will begin to suffer from hysteria.
——Then a deep red butterfly-shaped mark will appear on the surface of the skin. When heart failure occurs, the mental world will collapse, and the patient will completely fall into madness.
——At the end of death, the digestive tract of almost all patients will stop working, and the fluid in the chest and lung diaphragms will be transferred to the dead lower body. Just like a pregnant woman waiting to give birth."
Just hearing these adjectives and thinking about his sister's miserable state in the hospital bed made his teeth chatter and sweat broke out.
Xiaoqi tried hard to remember, trying to explain every detail in the employee handbook.
"Finally, when we are born, the umbilical cord is tied tightly at the position of the belly button. The high pressure generated by the fat accumulation in that part will swell the skin and muscles and disembowel the patient.
Necrotic 'contents' will pour out from it, as well as clusters of parasites that are symbiotic with the human body. The patient's body is like a nutrient-rich petri dish. In the past ten months, it has given birth to these lives. Among them will be
There are two relatively common types of insects.
One of them, we call it Lady White, is a larvae, only as big as a grain of rice and shaped like a gourd.
The other type is the adult body of Lady White, which we call the mad butterfly. Its eye pattern is very similar to that of a Morpho butterfly, but all Morpho butterflies are blue - this red Morpho butterfly was born from the Vita imprint.
Come into this world with viruses.
After Mrs. Bai leaves the patient's body, she will die within a few seconds in the blink of an eye. But the mad butterfly will fly farther away, as if the deeper parts of the underground world are its destination.
The scale powder, including itself, is also the source of the spread of Vita Brand... As for the name of this disease..."
Xiao Qi touched her chin and considered it for a long time.
"Vita...Vita...Yes, it comes from the Latin family and represents the meaning of life. When translated, it should be called the imprint of life."
"Such a strange disease...has such a name?" Xueming clenched her fists and gritted her teeth when she thought that her sister was still suffering from the disease.
"For those bugs." Xiao Qi patted Xueming's shoulder and asked him to calm down: "It is a symbol of life."
"You told me before that there is a special medicine for this disease." Xueming asked aggressively: "As long as I get on the train as promised and return to the station, I will be given the special medicine? Is it true?"
"That's right, Mr. Jiang Xueming." Xiao Qi showed a friendly smile: "Many of our passengers have used this special medicine and have been cured of the Vita brand on their bodies. There have been no sequelae. But..."
The friendly and sweet smile turned into a terrifying sneer.
"I don't know if you can accept it, but I still want to remind you, sir. The main extract of this medicine comes from the larvae of the mad butterfly. We use Madame Bai to make medicine. Its efficacy is very miraculous and can almost cure you.
Any disease in the known range - as long as it is an amniotic animal in nature, regardless of whether it is a human or an animal, this panacea will be effective on them or on them."
Jiang Xueming's scalp went numb after hearing these words.
If we say, the special medicine is made from the larvae of Vita Brand.
That petri dish for growing larvae...
"I know what you are worried about." Xiao Qi grinned like a witch who could read minds: "All staff at Jiujie Station, including the pharmaceutical unit, will cherish the life of every natural person in the world.
Most of the panacea you get are made using other methods in the pharmaceutical workshop of the factory."
The elevator door opened.
The two of them walked outside.
Jiang Xueming didn't know whether what this woman said was true or false.
But, does he have any other choice?
"What should I do?" Jiang Xueming calmed down——
——There is only one thing in my mind, get the medicine and save my sister.
"We understand that your family's situation is quite special." Xiaoqi led the way: "So we have directly arranged another bus for you, which can leave at any time."
In the corridor outside the elevator, outside the window is the railway track suspended more than 200 meters in the air.
Xueming saw it——
——He saw the red and black steam train.
"After you get on the bus, BOSS will come to see you in person and tell you what you need to do during this journey." Xiao Qi said as he came to the platform tower and took down the entire cold-proof suit from the locker hanger.
New clothes for Xueming to put on.
When he put on his clothes, they felt very close to his body, as if they were tailor-made for him.
He asked: "What does BOSS look like?"
"Look up between the second platform and the third platform, at the top of the tallest tower." Xiao Qi pointed somewhere.
Responding to Seventh Brother's hand, behind a tall tower shrouded in red mist. In the middle of the four platforms, there is a portrait under the clock dial of the tallest tower.
The portrait depicts a young woman wearing a burgundy suit.
She was sitting in the study, with old blinds behind her. The desk next to her was piled with documents, as if she was working as a temporary model for a painter. She looked very hurried, and her short black ear-length hair was not taken care of.
There are no accessories, necklaces, rings or earrings, very simple.
Her appearance was very ordinary, without makeup. There was not much blood on her face. She looked lifeless under the illumination of the moonlight and kerosene lamp.
It is worth mentioning that she is also holding a black cat in her arms. Like a frivolous and arrogant naughty ghost, she turns over and shows her paws towards the owner, and grins at the painter, as if she is grinning ferociously.
"Is this...the owner of this station?" Xueming was surprised by this ordinary woman.
Because Xiao Qi had repeatedly complained before that the BOSS here was very artificial, and the series of welcome arrangements gave off a sense of grievance that was complicated and maddening.
"Yes." Xiao Qi stuffed the thick note no bigger than a palm into Mr. Xueming's pocket, "Mr. Xueming, it's time for you to get in the car."
They stood by the boarding gate and heard railway workers banging on the rails and checking the pipes and wheel hubs.
The administrator's loud whistle came from the distance.
All this is like a dream to Xueming——
——From an ordinary person to a traveler in the underground world, he is about to embark on an unknown journey.
As soon as he took a step towards the iron mesh steps at the boarding gate, he asked Xiaoqi to pull him down again.
"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" Xiao Qi shouted.
He looked at Xiao Qi doubtfully: "What's wrong? Is there anything else you want to tell me? It's best to explain it clearly at once - you said you are a newcomer, this matter is related to my sister's life, Brother Qi... I..."
"Yes, I'm right." Xiao Qi was a little flustered, and she didn't know why. She held a handkerchief in her hand and said, "Come here, there are some things that I can't say in front of these staff members."
Xueming leaned forward and put his ear to Brother Qi's mouth.
"What I'm going to say is just my guess, you don't need to take it too seriously."
Xiao Qi whispered:
"The Vita Brand is this underworld's gift to us extraordinary beings...
It's so terrifying and so fascinating -
——The crazy butterfly can kill people, but the panacea can save lives.
——There is no pie in the sky. BOSS will never engage in loss-making business. She arranges the journey for the passengers, and the passengers gain treasures when they finish the journey. I am afraid that all of this is reciprocal.
——Mr. Xueming, you have to be careful, as I said to you at the beginning. You and I have an equal employment relationship. I don’t want my first guest to have a one-on-one relationship."
Immediately afterwards, there was another lipstick mark on Jiang Xueming's face.
Contrary to the last position, left and right are equal.
Xiaoqi wiped it clean again.
"I hope you can come back safely."
This scene moved Xueming a little inside.
To be honest, Qi Ge seems to be able to deal with this person.
Not to mention the difference between men and women, this is the first person he has met who cares about him so much after leaving his hometown.
But after he got in the car, he heard Seventh Brother screaming and laughing strangely from a distance, and saw her jumping and jumping for joy as she ran towards the aisle of the guest room.
Along the way, she waved her little fists, as if she were the champion of a boxing match, crumpled Xueming's old clothes into a ball, and shot a three-point jumper into the dirty clothes basket.
"YAHOOOOOOOOOO! I've been kissed again! You've earned it!~"
This scene made Jiang Xueming's expression become strange. The friendship boat that had just been brewing in his heart had not drifted very far in the boundless sea of suffering in life, but it fell into a strange vortex. He didn't know what expression to make.