Restricted area grave keeper

Chapter 148 The Price of Leaking Secrets

The artist suddenly got up, his back was already wet.

He wiped the sweat off his brow, walked into the bathroom and flushed his face over and over again, then stared blankly in front of the mirror panting heavily.

"It's this dream again."

The person in the mirror looked very young and handsome, with a strange black tattoo tattooed on his left cheek. He looked a little haggard at this moment. He slapped his face hard, but he didn't know what he thought of, and his complexion became even uglier.

Looking at the time, he gave up eating breakfast, got dressed and went out.

Because of [performance art], the artist has always had the habit of acting, but sometimes the person he plays will bring him sporadic horror memories, and this memory can be eliminated with the death of the person played——

Therefore he often kills the person he is impersonating.

Of course, the other party is often a person who should die.

However, there is a memory that cannot be erased, and it has even become his long-standing nightmare, appearing from time to time. (See Chapter 80)
The person he played and killed was called Han Qiang. He guessed that for some reason, he inherited the curse from the other person and it became like this. It's not that he hasn't investigated it in recent years, but he still has no clue.

Until not long ago, he was inspired by the interrogation of the gravekeeper, coupled with a colleague's suggestion, he thought that maybe he could weave the past in his dream, find enough information to restore and play Han Qiang's life, and find the curse source clues.

This is also one of the ways of using [Performance Art], but the premise is that enough information is collected, and the target is preferably a trash fish.

Yes, although he woke up at this time, he was actually still in a dream. With the help of a colleague, he performed a deep impersonation of Han Qiang in order to find clues to the curse.

There seemed to be some kind of guidance in the dark, telling him that he needed to get rid of this nightmare as soon as possible.

So after completing the capture of the target named Mu and confirming that he has nothing else to do for the time being, he started his own acting plan.

From now on, he is no longer an artist, but Han Qiang, the department head of a company.

According to his guess, he would experience most of Han Qiang's life, and finally stop at the moment when he died by his own hands.

At that time, he will wake up safely, and then find out where the curse came from.

……

Han Qiang could barely be regarded as young and promising, but he knew well that the group of people below did not accept him.

After driving to the company, he calmly went upstairs and walked to his office.

As soon as they saw him, the whispering employees in the room closed their mouths in unison.

Han Qiang naturally heard someone talking about him. In the past, he had to teach this person a lesson, but obviously, he was not in that mood today.

His office is beautifully arranged, and his desk is facing a floor-to-ceiling window, so he can look far away and relax when he is tired from work. This is a design that many people like, but he is not interested.

The time ended in a day of daze, Han Qiang went downstairs absent-mindedly, turned a deaf ear to the staff's comments, and went straight to the parking lot.

However, something unfortunate happened. The car was fine in the morning, but now it seemed to lose its temper. It couldn't start anyway, and I didn't know what was wrong.

Han Qiang cursed secretly, had no choice but to take a taxi to the side of the road, adjusted his mentality, and sat in the co-pilot with his eyes closed.

He didn't sleep well for several days in a row, and his drowsiness came quickly. After being groggy for a while, he resisted the drowsiness and opened his eyes, only to find that the car had stopped.

"what happened?"

"There's a traffic jam at the residential building in front," the driver was puzzled and said, "It's not a holiday, why is there a traffic jam..."

Hearing the words "residential building", Han Qiang trembled subconsciously, his sleepiness dissipated immediately, and he hurriedly stuck his head out of the car window and looked into the distance.

Vaguely, he saw a slightly old residential building, and the stalled vehicles spread from that direction, and the cars behind couldn't drive at all.

For some reason, his heart suddenly reached his throat.

"Oh, I heard that someone over there seems to have committed suicide by jumping off a building," at this moment, the driver spoke, and he seemed to have heard a few voices from his colleagues, turning his head and sighing, "Damn, this place doesn't seem to be the first Suicide happened once, last time..."

The driver chattered endlessly, but he couldn't listen to a word, his body trembled slightly, and his face turned pale.

He didn't even know how he got to the door of the house, and opened the door in a daze, only to notice that the light in the living room was on.

"father!"

Before he could think about it, a little girl jumped on his body and hugged him tightly.

The other boy moved a little slower, rushed over and hugged his thigh, his round face was full of joy.

Han Qiang's heart suddenly softened, and a smile appeared on his face. While hugging the two children, he looked at his wife who came out of the kitchen, and asked, "Why are you back?"

His wife gave him a blank look, untied the apron on her body, and said helplessly: "Didn't you tell me to take the child to play with parents for a few days and then come back? Today is the day to come back, have you forgotten?"

She pretended to complain, and continued: "It's fine if you didn't come to pick us up, and you didn't even prepare meals."

Only then did Han Qiang remember, and quickly explained that he forgot the date because he was too busy at work recently.

In any case, the return of his wife and children is something worth celebrating. He immediately forgot all the unpleasantness, teased the two children, and then asked them to wash their hands and eat.

"What's wrong with you, you look not in a good spirit."

He forced a smile, shook his head at his wife, and said, "I can't help it, I've been working overtime lately...by the way, how are you doing?"

"It's good, but the two children are arguing that they want to see you." The wife walked to the table with the dishes, as if remembering something, and said with a smile, "By the way, I also met someone, you must also want to see See."

"who?"

"You'll know when we meet tomorrow, thanks to his help on the way back." The wife looked mysterious.

Han Qiang was happy today, so he deliberately drank a few glasses of wine, but he couldn't drink enough, so he soon fell into a deep sleep.

But tonight was no exception. In the middle of the night, he was awakened by the same nightmare again.

The wife next to her was startled, but she didn't wake up, turned over and continued to sleep.

He turned on the desk lamp, sat motionless on the bed, and stared at the darkness in a daze.

As expected, the next day, his dark circles became a little deeper.

But as long as he sees the child, he can always calm down and forget the nightmare.

After get off work, he quickly returned home and called his daughter who was watching TV.

"Where's mom?"

The daughter thought for a while, and replied: "I went shopping for vegetables, and said that I want to entertain the big brother I met yesterday."

"Big brother?"

"Well, my mother said that we should thank others for their help."

Seeing his daughter's serious appearance, Han Qiang smiled, and when he was about to deepen his education, he heard his son's words.

"Dad, I had a dream last night."

"What dream?" He had a bad feeling.

"I dreamed that I fell from the stairs, but luckily an uncle hugged me." The son recalled, "He told me 'we should fall together', and I didn't know what it meant... I now I still remember it."

Han Qiang was sweating profusely, swallowed with difficulty, and said in horror, "What does that uncle... look like?"

The son shook his head in confusion, and said, "I don't remember, but he seems to say he knows Dad..."

In an instant, Han Qiang's soul flew into the sky.

"I made a mistake alone, so there is no need to involve my family?" After a while, he lowered his head and muttered something, as if he was talking to someone.

Surrounded by abnormal calm, no one can answer him.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

The son volunteered to answer the door, and soon his wife and a young man appeared inside.

Han Qiang finally calmed down, but when he saw the person coming, his expression suddenly became a little unnatural.

The young man greeted him calmly: "Hello, Uncle Han, I'm Xu Heng, I don't know if you still remember me."

Han Qiang was stunned for a while, and forced a smile: "Of course I remember, Brother Xu's son..." His voice gradually lowered, and he blamed himself, "I'm sorry about him."

Xu Heng didn't seem to want to mention it, but shook his head without saying anything.

"Look at you, you will know which pot is not open and which pot to lift!" The wife pretended to be angry, patted her husband, turned her head and smiled at Xu Heng, "You can sit as you please, auntie will go get the vegetables."

After speaking, she entered the kitchen, leaving Han Qiang and Xu Heng behind, and the air was a little quiet.

Xu Heng sat on the sofa and said after a while: "Your brother and sister are very cute."

"Haha, is it?" Han Qiang smiled, but his heart became tense.

My son just had a nightmare. Could it be a coincidence that this guy came to my house...

He was suspicious in his heart, but he didn't show it on the surface, and asked, "What about your mother, why didn't you ask her to come with you?"

Hearing this question, Xu Heng lowered his head and did not speak.

Han Qiang was silent for a moment, then said, "I understand."

Of course he knew Xu Heng's mother. This woman and Xu Yan had been together for a long time, and they had a very good relationship. Now she is probably still immersed in the pain of her husband's death...

It didn't take long for the food to be served, and several people sat around the dining table, but the atmosphere was inexplicably awkward.

Xu Heng was too indifferent. Although he was polite and would chat with him, everyone could see his alienation.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but after a meal, Han Qiang always felt that there was something wrong with the way Xu Heng looked at him.

……

It was another night of nightmares, Han Qiang walked to the bathroom while wiping his sweat, and when he returned to the bedroom, he heard some movement at the door.

Having been frightened recently, he became instantly alert, walked quietly to the door, and looked through the cat's eye toward the corridor.

The voice-activated lights outside the building turned on at some point, and a figure with a drooping head stood outside the door, his body looked a little distorted in the cat's eyes.

"This……"

Han Qiang was startled, how could there be anyone outside in the middle of the night?
But he saw that figure slowly raised his head, revealing a slightly pale face. He poked his head and brought his face closer, as if intending to use the cat's eyes to look into the room.

An eyeball gradually enlarged, and before Han Qiang retreated, the corridor was darkened.

It's Xu Heng!
Han Qiang almost cried out, his heart was pounding, this guy didn't go home, but stood outside the door all the time?
He was a little creepy, but pretended not to notice, and tiptoed back to the bedroom, lying on the bed, his thoughts were messy.

"Doesn't he know?"

While muttering, the beginning and end of that nightmare began to emerge in his mind.

The story is not complicated.

Xu Yan is much older than Han Qiang. He is his good brother and even his guide. He not only brought him into his company, but also took the time to help him adapt to work.

But even with Xu Yan's care, after a year, Han Qiang was only promoted by a small position, and he hasn't made any progress since then.On the other hand, Xu Yan's work became smoother and smoother, and he became a supervisor logically, and no one objected to it.

Han Qiang is jealous, but he knows that Xu Yan deserves all of this. He is capable and more understanding of the world. Maybe being a supervisor is not the end of his career in the company.

In Han Qiang's perception, Xu Yan was almost perfect, and it was almost impossible to find stains all over his body, until one day, he entered a place called a secret store.

That's right, it is the most famous activity restricted zone, the secret store.

This is a weird shop, you can only enter at midnight, the goods inside are bloody mouths, they will tell you any secret - as long as you pay the equivalent price.

The owner of the store is a woman whose face cannot be seen clearly. Under her "sales promotion", Han Qiang's desire was aroused, and he bought Xu Yan's secret by mistake.

He really wanted to know what secrets that Xu Yan, who was liked by everyone, was hiding.

Xu Yan was indeed tainted.

That Director Xu, who is trusted by the company and loved by the employees, is eating up the company's public funds!

Han Qiang couldn't believe it, but he was more willing to believe in the power of the secret store. After being shocked, he was inexplicably excited. When he recovered, he had already anonymously reported Xu Yan to the company.

Desire is the poison, wine is the catalyst.

Not long after that, after drinking a few glasses of wine, he followed Xu Yan to the roof of a residential building.

Xu Yan lives in this building.

The wind was very strong that night, but it couldn't blow Han Qiang soberly. Xu Yan trusted him very much and told him a lot, including his hidden secrets.

"Someone reported that I was short of public funds." Xu Yan was smoking a cigarette, his voice could not hear any emotion, "You may not believe it, but this is true... My son is sick, and the family needs money. I really can't help it."

Han Qiang listened quietly, perhaps due to the effect of alcohol, instead of making a sound to comfort him, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously.

"I know I made a mistake. Before I step down, I will find a way to make you a supervisor. This is the last thing I can do to help you."

Xu Yan walked to the side of the building, overlooking the flow of people downstairs, his face was tired, this was the first time Han Qiang saw him like this.

"It's so high, you said that if you jump like this, will it feel like flying?"

Xu Yan looked at everything downstairs, sighed, turned his head dejectedly, and met a hideous and distorted face.

"Try it and you'll know!"

The suppressed roar fell, a figure fell from a height, and bloody flowers bloomed on the street.

A gust of wind blew by, and Han Qiang realized what he had done. Looking at his gloved hands, he was a little scared, but more of a morbid excitement.

Because of the scarcity of land, the current buildings are all very tall, that guy can't survive!
He is Xu Yan's good friend and holds Xu Yan's secret, so he quickly faked the incident as a suicide.

Because of his son's illness, Xu Yan had to run out of public funds against his conscience. Facing the dual pressure of life and conscience, he was exhausted and chose to commit suicide by jumping off the building.

The police naturally suspected Han Qiang, but there was no surveillance around the place where the incident occurred. He was wearing gloves when he pushed the person, and no fingerprints were left.Therefore, even if there is this possibility, the police cannot produce evidence.

It was an eventful time at that time, and they couldn't afford to use extraordinary power to investigate for two guys who were not extraordinary.

Some people were also involved in the shortfall of public funds. Han Qiang found the handle of these people in the materials left by Xu Yan, and took the position of supervisor without any resistance.

When the dust settled, this matter should have ended here, however, Han Qiang leaked the secret.

The secret shop has two purposes, equal value exchange and non-disclosure. Even if the world knows the secret shop, its existence should not be leaked by customers.

But he said it after being drunk once.

Of course, everyone who heard it didn't take it seriously, and he forgot about it when he was drunk.

But Han Qiang's first nightmare began.

He returned to the secret store, all the shelves were facing him, and the bloody mouths were arranged neatly, opening and closing to murmur.

The woman stood in front of the shelf, casting her eyes on him.

"You leaked the secret," she said in an ugly voice, "whoever leaks the secret will repeat the nightmare."

"I will repeat the nightmare!" The countless hisses on the shelves repeated, with strong malice.

Han Qiang did not expect that his child would also have a nightmare, and this incident seemed to involve his family.

And Xu Heng, does he know something...

A sudden movement around him interrupted Han Qiang's thoughts. He turned on the desk lamp and saw a pale face.

His wife sat up sweating profusely, looked at him with empty eyes, and the words she spoke pierced his heart.

"I had a nightmare... I dreamed about Brother Xu."

……

The artist breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out that this was the origin of the strange things about Han Qiang. Later, this guy died by his own hands not long after, so there is no need to watch it anymore.

Secret Shop!

He got the information he wanted, and then he just needed to prescribe the right medicine. He wanted to withdraw his consciousness, but he was horrified to find that he couldn't escape no matter what, and could only be forced to continue to experience Han Qiang's life.

But he is not worried, because Xu Qiang will be killed by himself in the dream soon, and he will definitely wake up at that time.

However, the frightening thing is that the follow-up development of the dream was completely different from what he knew——

Han Qiang is very restless, things are starting to get out of control, his nightmares seem to be contagious and have started to affect his own family, which is never a good sign.

Sadly, there's nothing he can do to change that, access to the secret shop is no longer available, and he can't even go to someone to apologize.

Is it really going to be a nightmare for a lifetime?

And his intuition told him that the nightmare was just the beginning, and the price of leaking the secret was far more expensive than any secret.

The only thing that gives him some solace is that his family is currently having only occasional nightmares.

Han Qiang's mental condition was very bad, and he had to ask for leave to go back to rest, but obviously, his situation could not be resolved by rest.

"Husband, husband?"

His wife's call sounded in his ears, Han Qiang threw the cigarette into the ashtray, rubbed the center of his brows, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You still ask what's wrong?" The wife dropped the broom in her hand with some dissatisfaction, and complained, "Didn't you listen to what I said?"

Han Qiang was silent.

Seeing his haggard appearance, his wife couldn't help feeling distressed, and said in a slow tone: "Have you forgotten, the day after tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, and it also happens to be the birthday of our son and daughter."

"I thought about it for a long time and consulted with my children, and finally decided to eat at Nanyue Hotel. There is an open-air restaurant on the roof..."

"no!"

Han Qiang interrupted her.

"why?"

"You said it was the roof, the child is so young, what if he accidentally falls down?"

The wife said helplessly: "The railings there are as high as two of them, and I will take a good look at them." The voice changed, and she looked forward to, "To overlook the whole city together, how romantic it would be."

Han Qiang wanted to say more, but his son and daughter ran over to act like a baby, arguing to go, so he had no choice but to give up.

Just a change of mood.

So that night, the family dressed up and came to the open-air restaurant on the roof of the hotel.

"Very high, very high."

The daughter, who was still excited before, was a little scared at this time.

Han Qiang touched her little head, and said helplessly, "Arguing to come, will you know that you are afraid?"

The wife with exquisite makeup said doubtfully: "Today's guests are a little bit small. I heard that there are usually quite a few people."

"It's good to be quiet."

At this moment, the son suddenly pointed in one direction and shouted: "It's Big Brother!"

As he spoke, he jumped and waved to that position.

Everyone looked over and found Xu Heng standing alone in front of the railing, as if looking down at the scenery below.

He didn't seem to notice this side, and stood there quietly. His wife, who was ordering food, thought about it and asked the waiter to order a few more dishes.

The family chose a position slightly close to the railing, where they could see the scenery downstairs.

Feeling the night breeze on the tall building, listening to the children's exclamations from time to time, and watching the changing night scene downstairs, Han Qiang suddenly felt that it was pretty good to come here.

The wife didn't look at the scenery, she quickly pulled Xu Heng over, let him sit with the whole family, and then asked about his health.

"Are you here for dinner too, are you alone?"

Xu Heng lowered his gaze and said "Hum".

Han Qiang stared at him with burning eyes. He thought it was a coincidence... There was clearly no one there tonight, so why did he happen to be here?
"By the way, where's your mother?" Seeing Xu Heng raised his head, he looked back and asked casually.

Xu Heng didn't say a word, but just when Han Qiang thought he didn't want to answer, he heard him speak.

"She's dead...she jumped off a building a while ago."

The slightly cheerful atmosphere dissipated immediately, the smile on his wife's face gradually froze, and Han Qiang's pupils shrank.

"How could this be..."

"Same as my dad, she jumped from the roof... My mother and my dad have been together for a long time, and they have a very good relationship. She cried every night after my dad died... Sometimes when I think about it, death For her, it might not be a kind of happiness."

Han Qiang suddenly remembered that when he took a taxi and passed the residential building where Xu Heng's family lived, the driver said that someone committed suicide.

So the one who committed suicide was Xu Heng's mother?

His arms trembled slightly, and he became inexplicably irritable.

"But even so, she can't abandon you, can she?" His wife looked at Xu Heng with a sad face.

There was no sadness on Xu Heng's face, he shook his head and said calmly, "I'm sick and dying, my mother didn't abandon me, so we can be reunited in another world."

The wife was stunned and couldn't even speak. Fortunately, the two children were still young and could not understand the cruelty in these words.

Han Qiang lowered his head unbearably, but when he looked up, he found Xu Heng was staring at him.

But when he looked carefully, he found that it was like his own illusion.

Xu Heng didn't look at him, but got up and walked to the railing, looking in one direction.

"I've been to this place once," he turned his head and smiled, and continued, "From here you can just see the roof of my house...very clearly."

Han Qiang's heart skipped a beat.

"Where is Big Brother's home? I want to see, I want to see!" The son rushed to Xu Heng's side.

Han Qiang's heart suddenly rose, and he stared at Xu Heng, fearing that he would throw his son downstairs in the next second.

He's so scared, this guy knows...he must know!
The expected scary scene didn't happen, Xu Heng just rubbed his son's head, and didn't do anything else.

Han Qiang's heart gradually sank, and he also walked to the railing, looked into the distance, and actually saw the residential building, but it was very vague.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but he heard Xu Heng ask his son beside him, "Isn't it tall?"

The son nodded excitedly, and said, "It's so high, so high! If you jump... maybe you can fly..."

After speaking, his voice became more and more indifferent, as if he had lost his feelings.

"careful!"

The familiar words made Han Qiang's heart beat wildly, his eyes turned red instantly, and he rushed over screaming.

Isn't that what Xu Yan said before he died?
Everyone looked at Han Qiang. He seemed to be in a daze, and suddenly jumped on the railing, making a loud crash.

The night wind blew past his ears, and everything around him became quiet.

Han Qiang looked around, he seemed to have returned to the day when he committed the crime.

"Leaks are punishable."

Xu Yan stood in front of him, exhaled smoke rings and said with a smile, "I'll wait for you below."

As he spoke, he stretched his arms and leaned back, disappearing from his sight.

Han Qiang lowered his head and saw the dreamy night scene and the bright red flowers on the street.

Broken corpses with closed eyes, pedestrians like marionettes... everything is the same as in a nightmare.

As I remembered, in the next second, all the pedestrians who had stopped raised their heads at the same time, and together with the corpse who suddenly opened their eyes, they showed venomous gazes.

"now you!"

Han Qiang wanted to back away in horror, but found that the railing in front of him suddenly loosened, and his leaning forward body fell from the upstairs along with the railing.

The wind began to howl in his ears, and the disappearing voice returned. He heard the crying of his son and daughter, the screaming of his wife, and a familiar ugly voice.

"Like flying, right?"

At the last moment of his life, Han Qiang's heart calmed down instead. He opened his arms and experienced the feeling of flying, with a relieved smile on his face.

"Finally, I don't have to have nightmares..."

The same idea also appeared in the artist's mind, he subconsciously thought that he could wake up.

"boom!"

In the darkness of night, a blood-colored flower bloomed.

In a daze, he saw a figure approaching, with a blurry face, leaning over to look at him, as if laughing, tore off his mouth like tearing paper, and looked up at Xu Heng upstairs who looked calm.

His voice was hoarse, like a crow reporting mourning.

"The leaker has been dealt with, it will be your turn soon."

The boy touched the rose studs on his earlobes, and smiled nonchalantly.

"is it?"

(End of this chapter)