While the driver was waiting at the red light, he took out his mobile phone and sent a voice message to their group chat.
He had just sent Chen Ge to Huaihua Lane and listened to the ghost stories along the way, and now he felt extremely panicked.
"The car is equipped with a driving recorder, a positioning system, and a protective fence. There should be no accidents." The driver was very thoughtful and deliberately spoke loudly when sending the voice so that the passengers in the back could also hear it.
Hear clearly.
"It's been a bit chaotic at night these past few days, please pay more attention."
"OK."
When the light turned green, the driver put his cell phone aside and started the taxi.
The scenery on both sides is retreating rapidly, and there are fewer and fewer vehicles on the road.
The uncle driver quietly glanced at the passenger in the back seat in the rearview mirror. He was not very tall and was wearing a black sweatshirt on his upper body and a light red shirt underneath.
The man hurriedly ran into the car, told where he wanted to go, and never spoke again.
What's even more strange is that he didn't take off the sweatshirt and hat on his head after entering the car. Because of the angle, only half of his face could be seen clearly.
"Brother, we are very particular about night trains. We usually don't go to that place." The driver was unsure and started to ramble: "But since I let you get on the bus, I will definitely not charge you more."
Money, but I can only deliver it to you nearby. You need to walk a hundred or two hundred meters in there yourself, do you think that’s okay?”
He was like this the first time he drove Chen Ge. He was very timid. He started planning his departure route before he even got there. He waited for the passengers to get off the bus, then turned around and ran away.
"No, I just went to pick up something. My home is in the city." The man raised his head, but there was nothing wrong with his voice: "You left and left me alone at the door of the crematorium.
How can I take a taxi when I get back from picking up my things? How can a taxi come to the crematorium to solicit customers at night?"
The driver, Lao Zhang, thought for a while and realized that what the passenger said made sense.
"You take me there and then send me back. Isn't it better to earn two round-trip fares than if you bring me back with an empty truck?"
When the passenger said this, Lao Zhang was a little tempted. Why not make more money if he could?
If it were in the past, he would definitely agree. Mainly because after taking Chen Ge for a ride, he had a psychological shadow and became cautious in everything he did: "That's okay, but I'll wait for you at the intersection. You can come back to me after picking up your things.
"
"Okay, as long as you don't mind wasting time." The male passenger in the back seat put his hands in his pockets and looked very talkative.
"Aside from wearing a hat all the time, there is nothing unusual about this guy. I feel he is much more reliable than the guy who went on a date at the abandoned campus."
Lao Zhang muttered to himself, thinking that there were so many night taxis in Jiujiang, so he couldn't let anything weird happen to him, right?
The probability of encountering that mental illness twice in a row is low enough. If you do some calculations, you should be lucky.
He thought of various reasons in his mind to comfort himself, but his hands holding the steering wheel were still sweating.
The car drove very fast, and it took only ten minutes to run out of the old city and head towards the crematorium in the suburbs.
There are fewer and fewer people on both sides, the lights of shop signs can no longer be seen, and only Lao Zhang's taxi is left speeding on the highway.
"Almost there."
The driver's uncle peeked at the passenger from the rearview mirror from time to time. The passenger stayed in his seat and didn't seem to move the whole way.
"Please drive a little further. You don't have to go to the door, just get a little closer." The voice of the passenger in the back seat was very soft, as if he was inhaling when talking.
There was no light visible for nearly 100 meters around. The place was exceptionally quiet today. The taxi was moving slowly on the cement road, like a moving black coffin.
"Just stop here." The night wind blew in along the car window, and Lao Zhang grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, feeling a little uneasy.
"Okay, give me two minutes."
"Car money!"
"We'll give it to you when I get back." The passenger in the back seat said calmly, and his voice seemed to have changed in some way.
"You..."
Lao Zhang wanted to get out of the car and argue with the other party. He was afraid that the passengers would escape, but when he thought of leaving the car and going outside, he flinched: "What the hell, he is going to the crematorium to look for something in the middle of the night. Does he work here?"
The uncle driver looked at the time. It was already eleven fifty-six and it would be twelve o'clock soon.
"I meet customers like this every day. They always go to weird places, so I don't have to worry about traffic jams." He watched the passenger leave quickly and felt that the man was walking a little awkwardly, as if he was not used to walking.
Passengers entered the crematorium through the small door. Lao Zhang sat alone in the car. He raised all the windows. The confined space made him feel safer.
"It's too slow." Just ten seconds later, Lao Zhang couldn't sit still: "Am I meeting a liar? Does this guy not want to pay for the car?"
He pondered for a moment, his expression slowly changed, and he seemed to realize something very bad: "The passenger going to Huaihua Lane seemed to have gotten off the bus without paying!"
Chen Ge was going to Huaihua Lane at that time. He was still fifty or sixty meters away from the entrance of the alley, so Lao Zhang started urging him to get out of the car. In the end, he refused to drive any further.
When Chen Ge had no choice but to get out of the car and wanted to pay the fare, Lao Zhang had already driven more than ten meters away.
Qingqing was afraid of being slapped in the face, but Lao Zhang looked depressed: "I took over for an hour and didn't earn a penny, but I even chipped in a few yuan of gas money. Forget it, let's just think of it as a waste of money and disaster relief. As long as we can do it again in the future,
Even if I don’t meet him, I can just give him the money for the bus.”
Lao Zhang was upset and turned on the music in the car, but the more he listened, the more panicked he became.
Outside was the crematorium, pitch black and very quiet. At this time, there was a sound inside the car, and I felt like I was being targeted by something in the darkness.
Before he finished playing a song, he turned off the music again, grabbed the steering wheel tightly, and looked around.
"Why aren't you out yet?" It would be midnight in one minute, and the driver thought more and more wrong, always feeling that something would happen.
He picked up the broken talisman paper thrown on the ground, bowed his head, and stuffed it into his pocket.
Coincidentally, when he lowered his head, his eyes happened to glance at the seat cushion that the passenger once used.
There was a blood stain on the white mat that was not too obvious.
"Did you see it before? I didn't seem to see it when I picked up the car."
Lao Zhang turned his head and looked at the back seat, and suddenly remembered that the passenger was dressed in a very unusual way, wearing a sweatshirt outside and a light red shirt underneath.
"The red color of that shirt is not too uniform. Could it be..."
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The car window was knocked, and the passenger walked out of the crematorium at some point, holding a package covered with black cloth in his hand.
Lao Zhang was so frightened that he quickly withdrew his gaze.
"We found the stuff, let's go back the way we came." The passenger's tone was completely different from before, as if something had changed.
The driver looked at the black package in the passenger's hand in the reflector and rubbed his hands on his clothes. His palms were already soaked with sweat.