Thirteen prisons

Chapter 3 Burning
Beiyang City belongs to the typical climate of the Central Plains. Although it is summer, the temperature drops quickly when it gets dark. At this time, the temperature will not exceed 22 degrees. It's a little bit cold.

But at this moment, Zhou Yuan suddenly felt a burst of heat, just like passing by the air conditioner outside the store by the street in summer, a gust of hot air enveloped his whole body.

At this time, he was already some distance away from the car. Except for the faint moonlight in the sky, the surrounding area was still dark. In this wilderness, not to mention the air conditioner, not even a fire could be seen.Zhou Yuan even suspected that it was his own illusion, but the sudden hot wind did not disappear, but became stronger and stronger. This sudden contrast between hot and cold made goose bumps even appear on his arms.

Zhou Yuan circled around a few times, but he didn't know where the evil wind came from. It couldn't be that this small hillside was actually a volcano preparing to erupt, right?Although Zhou Yuan thought it was a little strange, but no matter what, it was serious to get this drunk buddy away quickly.

At this time, he was only about ten meters away from the drunk man.That buddy seemed to be completely drunk, still kept half-kneeling motionless, with his head lowered, his body seemed to be shaking, but not much, from behind, it looked like he wanted to vomit after being drunk The kind of posture that doesn't come out.Zhou Yuan walked towards him, but just two steps away, another wave of heat hit him.

This time Zhou Yuan is very sure, the hell is that the source of the hot wind is actually this man.

Zhou Yuan was a little at a loss, stopped and tried to shout carefully: "Boss, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?"

"It's so hot, it's so hot." The man muttered in a low voice.

"What did you say?" Zhou Yuan didn't hear it very clearly, he also felt very hot, and the hot wind really came from the direction where the man was.

The man didn't answer anymore, his head was buried, and his whole body shrunk even more, almost into a ball.

Zhou Yuan waited for a few seconds, seeing that he didn't understand, so he went up and reached out to help him up.But after getting close to him, Zhou Yuan was even more surprised: the heat wave didn't just come from the man's direction, it came from him at all.

The man stood up suddenly, pushed Zhou Yuan's outstretched hand away, and cursed: "Hurry up and get out!"

Zhou Yuan watched the man stumbling forward, but stood still in place.

He didn't know what happened, he only knew that there was something wrong with that man, and he could feel the hot breath through his clothes.The moment he just pushed Zhou Yuan, Zhou Yuan could clearly feel a rush of scorching air, and it was difficult to breathe.Literally, it was like standing next to a burning pillar.

It wasn't until the man staggered away and moved away again that the burning air in front of Zhou Yuan disappeared.He touched his face and found that it was full of sweat flowing down his temples.

And the man ran out not long before he collapsed to the ground again.

There was still a scorching smell in the surrounding air, which made Zhou Yuan not dare to move around for a while.He yelled softly at the man, but got no response.Just when he was hesitating whether to go forward again, he suddenly heard a miserable hoarse cry, and then a bright light suddenly appeared in front of him.

It was a cloudy night, the moon loomed behind the clouds, the moonlight was faint, and there were no street lights on the hillside, so it was already very dark.Zhou Yuan had finally gotten used to barely seeing things in the dark before, but the sudden bright light was so dazzling that he was so shaken that he couldn't see anything.

Zhou Yuan stepped back subconsciously while covering his eyes with his hands.The sudden light was a bit weird, and it made him feel a little panicked, because he could hear that miserable cry was made by that man, but it was extremely short, as if half of the cry was abruptly cut off.

After a few seconds, Zhou Yuan finally got used to the bright light in front of him.He lowered his right hand covering his eyes, but opened his mouth in shock. He finally knew where the light came from.At the same time, he saw a terrifying sight that he will never forget: the man was burning quietly.

These bright lights are emitted by flames. Zhou Yuan never imagined that a person would burn as quickly and violently as a piece of paper.It was as if there was a small sun hidden in the man's body, and balls of fire gushed out from various parts of his body, turning him into a bigger fire ball.

This extremely unreal picture made Zhou Yuan almost collapse. Except for the man's cry at the beginning, the whole process of his burning was completed in silence, there was no crackling sound during burning, no screams and wailing sounds, Zhou Yuan even You can hear the rustling of leaves as the wind blows through the trees in the distance.

If he could not still feel the gusts of hot wind emanating from the burning fire, Zhou Yuan would definitely think that everything in front of him was just an illusion.

After burning for less than a minute, the fire gradually dimmed, and soon completely extinguished, and the surrounding area returned to darkness again.It was only then that Zhou Yuan realized what had happened just now. He had just been in a daze about ten meters away from the fireball, his mind was completely blank.

Realizing this, he instinctively ran back. After running two steps, he felt that his reaction was too slow. It was meaningless to run away now, so he stopped and looked back at the man who was burning. place.It wasn't until he heard his panting breathing that Zhou Yuan realized that he was in a bad state: his calves were trembling, and his whole body was surrounded by hot air, as if being wrapped in a high-temperature sauna room, which was very uncomfortable.

But fortunately, at least he has woken up from the state of extreme astonishment, and his facial features gradually recovered.His mood was extremely complicated. His instinctive side wanted to leave this place immediately, but his rational side told himself that he had to find out what happened, otherwise he would be in great trouble.

After a lot of struggle, I finally made up my mind to at least take a closer look.Zhou Yuan suppressed the fear in his heart, turned on the flashlight, and moved over carefully step by step.

The strange thing is that some of the surrounding grass has been burned where the man was just now, and there is a small area on the ground that has obvious signs of being burned, but apart from these gravels that were burnt and left charred black marks, Nothing else is left.There are no unrecognizable corpses, and there is no burnt smell of clothes and flesh.The man is gone.

Yes, without leaving any trace, a big man just disappeared.

A burst of fear rose from the bottom of his heart, Zhou Yuan couldn't help but let out a loud roar, the shout spread far away in this silent wilderness, and the echo could be vaguely heard.

Holding on to the last hope, Zhou Yuan shouted tremblingly: "Boss, don't be kidding, where are you? Come out."

No one answered.

Zhou Yuan yelled again, but the surroundings were still silent.He stood there in a daze until a few minutes later, when he realized the fact that a person had just burned into ashes before his eyes, his rationality finally collapsed, he screamed, turned his head and ran wildly, never again After a slight pause, he ran towards his van.

Getting in the car, closing the door, igniting the ignition, shifting the gear, and stepping on the accelerator, Zhou Yuan has never completed this series of starting actions so quickly in one go, and then drove back to Beiyang city at the fastest speed of the car.

After getting into the car, his repressed panic burst out. If anyone saw him, they would think he was a lunatic, slapping the steering wheel and shouting loudly in the high-speed car.

He didn't realize how dangerous it was for him to drive, because the man's face and the way he burned kept flashing through his mind.

What the hell happened?
Is this guy a terrorist who came here to carry out a suicide bombing?But in the end, his conscience found out, so he yelled to let himself go?But he was wearing unlined clothes, and he didn't bring any bags or anything like that when he came out of the bathing center.Now he has burned without leaving any traces. For that kind of burning, dozens of catties of gasoline are enough, right?Before he died, he said that he was dying of heat. Could it be that the explosives were hidden in his belly?But I didn't find that there was a knife wound on his stomach.

These wild thoughts were out of tune, but made Zhou Yuan even more flustered.The short scream of that man when he was about to die kept reappearing in his ears. Although it was only such a short cry, it was compulsively played repeatedly in his mind.The cry of less than half a second, but the pain contained in it made him shudder.

Although the burning process of the man was only a few tens of seconds at that time, and Zhou Yuan couldn't see anything clearly under the dazzlingly bright fire ball, but at this moment Zhou Yuan's imagination was uncontrollably exerted to the extreme, and his mind automatically The man's scorched hands appeared to be waving in despair, the flames scorched his skin, the fat inside was sizzling in the fire, and the muscles gradually matured until they were scorched... This situation is as vivid as the hell in the legends of the elders scene!

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuan's stomach twitched, he couldn't bear it anymore, stopped the car, opened the door, threw himself to the side of the road and vomited.

After vomiting up the contents of his stomach, he couldn't even vomit a drop of bile, and retched for more than ten minutes before Zhou Yuan returned to the car exhausted and slumped on the driver's seat.What he encountered just now was something he couldn't explain, so Zhou Yuan felt that he had to have an answer to convince himself, so as not to make himself crazy.

Like, maybe the man is an alien and it's just his way back to Mars.Thinking nonsense like this, Zhou Yuan's emotions finally calmed down a little bit, it seems really useful.He quickly found the most convincing statement—spontaneous combustion.Although few people have seen it with their own eyes, there are many legends about spontaneous human combustion.

Zhou Yuan said to himself fiercely, yes, it is spontaneous combustion!It seems that if this is the case, it can be attributed to his bad luck.This conclusion was like a life-saving straw, and Zhou Yuan gradually calmed down from the stimulated madness.

Temporarily solved how to face this matter psychologically.The troubles that followed were real, which made Zhou Yuantou as big as a fight.

First of all, the most important question is how to deal with his relationship in this matter?Do you pretend it never happened, or surrender yourself?
Zhou Yuan immediately ruled out the option of pretending it never happened.Three years ago, he was a regular taxi driver, but he encountered a trouble.A group of robbers stopped his car after the robbery, and Zhou Yuan was half-forced to drive out of the city by those gangsters without his knowledge.As a result, the robber got out of the car and ran away halfway, but the police found his head.Although the suspicion was cleared in the end, the process in the middle was hard to describe, which made the family worry for a long time. This incident directly caused Zhou Yuan to be fired by the taxi company. After that, he went to work in other places in frustration, and only came back half a year ago in disgrace. , bought a second-hand car and opened a black taxi.

This incident made Zhou Yuan deeply understand that he is just a small person, and it is better not to embrace this fluke mentality that he thinks he can escape.When the police find out that it has something to do with him, the trouble will be even greater. At that time, I'm afraid it will be even more difficult to explain.

But he is absolutely impossible to surrender. Although the man's death has nothing to do with Zhou Yuan from the beginning to the end, but after all, this matter is too unbelievable. How difficult.

You can neither turn a blind eye nor turn yourself in. There is only one choice left.

At a crossroad, Zhou Yuan stopped the car.

This is a suburban area, still some way away from the city center, and no one passes by in the middle of the night, and even the small shops on the roadside are closed.Seeing that there was no one around, Zhou Yuan walked to a public phone booth on the side of the street, picked up the phone, and dialed 120 tremblingly.

"There is a person in Shibaligang who was... burnt, you go and have a look."

"Shibaligang? Isn't that a deserted suburb? Where exactly is it?" The operator of 120 also knew this place, and his tone was a little impatient, thinking that someone was playing a prank.

Zhou Yuan opened his mouth, but he was speechless. He was silent for a while, and had no choice but to hang up the phone.He suddenly felt like an idiot, people were already burned to ashes, what's the point of calling 120 for emergency services?
With a wry smile, Zhou Yuan took a deep breath, and after some mental training, he dialed 110.

The man who answered the phone was supposed to be the operator of the call center.

"110 Command Center. What's the matter?" The police officer said in a relaxed tone, probably thinking that someone forgot to bring the keys or something.

"Someone was injured, very seriously. In Shibaligang."

"Please explain clearly. Who was injured? Where is the exact location in Shibaligang?" The tone of the police officer immediately became serious.

"He... I don't know how to say it, he just burned up in front of me... Fuck, I suspect he is dead, I have already called 120, I think I should tell you... You better go and have a look " Zhou Yuan was very nervous, and after finally finishing these few words incoherently, his head was sweating again.

"Excuse me, what is your relationship with the injured person?" The other end of the phone began to ask.

"I...he was in my car, and I dragged him there." Zhou Yuan didn't want to lie, but he didn't dare to go into too much detail. After all, he was driving an illegal car, so he could only speak vaguely like this.

The police officer paused for a while, as if he was pondering something.Then the person on the other end of the phone seemed to take a deep breath, and suddenly asked: "You said he burned... Did he spontaneously combust?"

Snapped.Zhou Yuan turned pale and hung up the phone abruptly.

Now he was really scared.He made this phone call reluctantly. He just wanted to hand over the matter to the police, but he didn't want to be involved, so he kept the matter vague.

But...why does this operator sound like he knows everything?

What the hell!
Zhou Yuan was a little confused, "Dingling", the IC card phone in front of him suddenly rang.Zhou Yuan took a step back in fright and walked out of the phone booth.

The phone rang persistently, but how could Zhou Yuan dare to answer it now, whether it was 110 calling after him or someone else calling by coincidence, he was not at all interested.I looked around, but fortunately no one passed by during this time.Ignoring the continuous ringing of the phone, Zhou Yuan bit the bullet and hurried back to the car.He knew that if he wanted to answer this call, he would definitely not be able to get it wrong, and he had to explain everything clearly, but now he was in a mess and didn't want to cause trouble for himself again.

But at this time, there was another doubt in my heart. Thinking of what the operator said just now, I was a little strange. Why did the policeman seem to know what happened?There can't be any cameras in a crappy place like Shibaligang, right?

?Zhou Yuan sighed, knowing that this was unlikely.But instead he hoped there would be, if that would prove his innocence.

After driving into the urban area, Zhou Yuan didn't rush home, but drove the van slowly on the street.He has realized that sooner or later the police will find him.It's just that he is uneasy at the moment, and only places with many people can make him feel a little bit safer.Fortunately, I drive a taxi and often run night shifts. My parents are used to it, and I don’t worry about it even if I don’t go back all night.

After wandering aimlessly like this for 10 minutes, Zhou Yuan passed by a small alley and saw the door of a house half open, beside the door was a dilapidated light box with the word "Internet Cafe" written on it.Zhou Yuan's heart moved, this kind of small Internet cafe met his current requirements, it was lively but not too conspicuous.

Parking the car at the door, he opened the door and walked into the Internet cafe.As soon as I entered the door, I saw the smoke billowing in the room. In the dim light, there were more than a dozen young people sitting inside, shouting and playing games excitedly.The air conditioner was turned on in the room, but because the windows and doors were closed, the air still smelled bad, and the room was filled with the choking smell of smoke.

Usually he wouldn't go into such a smoky place, but now, listening to the yelling and yelling in the Internet cafe, he felt a rare sense of peace of mind.So I found an empty seat in the corner and sat down.This kind of small Internet cafe in the alley is very informal, and it probably doesn’t have a business license, but there is an advantage, that is, you don’t need an ID card, and you pay a deposit of ten yuan, and the network administrator will directly start the machine for you.

The computer screen lit up, but Zhou Yuan didn't know what to do. He ran to the Internet cafe just subconsciously thinking that crowded places would be safer.But when I really sat down, I felt quite uncomfortable. The computers in this Internet cafe were all old machines a few years ago. The letters on the keyboard were so worn that I couldn’t read them clearly, and there was a thick layer of dirt on them.The sofa is also full of stains, you can't see the original color.Zhou Yuan had no choice but to comfort himself, don't think so much at this time, it's just killing time anyway.

He first played a few games on the Internet, but he couldn't concentrate at all, and he lost badly every time. Under the scolding of his teammates, Zhou Yuan had to quit the game irritably, simply opened the webpage, and found the post bar in Beiyang City And Weibo, and local forums.He didn't know how long it would take for people to find out what happened just now, but subconsciously wanted to pay attention, but there was nothing abnormal after browsing the webpage for a long time.

Zhou Yuan smiled wryly to himself, he had nothing wrong with this matter, but why did he feel uneasy in his heart, hiding here furtively, making himself seem like a murderer.

What happened after the police station received his alarm call?Who was the operator, and why did he know what was going on?Zhou Yuan was bored and scrolled through the webpage, guessing anxiously, but he had no clue about these issues.

Almost two hours passed like this, and it was almost midnight.Zhou Yuan also didn’t see any posts related to that matter, the post bar was full of all kinds of messy posts, some were looking for one-night stand, some were reposting outdated Martian jokes, and some were just chatting with no nutrition.

Zhou Yuan looked around randomly, and after these meaningless information filled his mind, his heart calmed down a little, his train of thought gradually became clear, and other questions in his mind were gradually squeezed away by the biggest question mark: who suddenly What happened to the burning man?

Now he is sleepy and hungry, staying in this broken Internet cafe, daring not to go home, feeling uneasy - and the root cause of all this is from that strange man.

Zhou Yuan began to keep recalling the details about that man, but he was even more sure that there was nothing abnormal about each of these things.

So he began to carefully recall every sentence he said after he arrived in Shibaligang. This happened only a few hours ago, and the tone of the other party's speech can still be clearly remembered.

"Young man, enjoy it when it's time to enjoy it, otherwise you will regret it."

"After living my whole life, I realized that there is nothing I really own."

"Why don't you go, get out!"

"Get out now"

……

He must have committed suicide, Zhou Yuan had a strong intuition.Although he didn't know the reason, Zhou Yuan shuddered when he thought of these dialogues now. That man seemed to know that he would burn in the end?

You bastard, if you die, you should die well. Why do you drag me into the water?The little goodwill he had built up with great difficulty before had all turned into anger at this moment.

But how did that man manage to do this? Like a piece of paper, it burned cleanly in an instant, leaving no debris behind?
Thinking of these unanswered questions, Zhou Yuan felt restless and restless again. His mouth was dry, and he raised his head and shouted: "Boss, take a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Coke."

The network administrator was probably playing a game, and it took a few minutes before he lazily came over: "21 yuan."

Zhou Yuan let out a cry, and was about to pay, when he suddenly saw a new post on the forum page on the screen. The title made his heart skip a beat: Sudden fire scene!There are pictures and truth!

He went in without any hesitation, and waited intently for the screen to jump to the specific page. He casually took out a piece of money from his bag. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a red 100 yuan note, and handed it to the network administrator without looking up. .

The page was quickly opened, but to my disappointment, this happened in a certain community more than an hour ago, and what was burning was just a small temporary shed.Those who followed the post were scolding the host for exaggerating. The host felt aggrieved and argued that the fire brigade had already arrived, so of course it was a fire.It is very common for this kind of thing to happen on a hot day, but Zhou Yuan is a little disappointed, it has nothing to do with what he wants to know.

At this time, the network administrator who had been standing by his side suddenly patted Zhou Yuan on the shoulder: "Dude, I have seen people who signed, wrote, and even drew dicks on money, but I have never seen you like this. You let me pay for this money." How to spend it?"

"What do you mean?" Looking at the sullen look on the network administrator's face, Zhou Yuan didn't understand.

"Fuck, see for yourself." The network administrator slapped the 100 yuan note on the computer desk.

Zhou Yuan felt baffled and picked up the money.The lights in the Internet cafe were dim, and this piece of money didn't look special, and it didn't feel like fake money, so he picked it up and looked carefully at the light of the monitor, only then did he know what the network administrator was talking about.

The money was covered in blood, which had already dried up, and the 100 yuan RMB was originally red, and I couldn't see it at first glance in the dimly lit Internet cafe.Zhou Yuan asked suspiciously: "Is this the one I gave you just now?"

"What are you pretending to be?" The network manager's face became ugly when he heard this, and his eyebrows raised.

Zhou Yuan just asked casually, after all, when he gave the money just now, he just felt it out, and he couldn't remember if the money looked like this.But the network administrator obviously thought that Zhou Yuan wanted to renege on his debt.

"Is this money fake?" Zhou Yuan thought for a while and changed the question.

"It's not fake." The network administrator hesitated for a moment, and then said impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense, you can change it for me, hurry up, the small shop is still waiting for my cigarette money."

"It's not that it can't be used." Zhou Yuan was still a little unhappy. The money looked disgusting, but he began to wonder if it was fake. Maybe the network administrator took the opportunity to blackmail him, and he would have known that he would not come to this broken Internet cafe.

"What do you mean?" The network manager threw the cigarette in his hand on the table: "I have been here for five years, and I have never cheated anyone, but who the hell wants to cheat me, there is no way!"

"What's the matter, Brother Liu?" Several young people stood up in front of the computer next to them.

Encountering a local snake, Zhou Yuan saw the momentum, secretly called unlucky, quickly waved his hands and said: "Okay, okay, it's a big deal, I'll just change it for you." Saying this, he quickly took out his wallet and took another One hundred yuan a piece.

The network manager took the money, touched it, and then pointed it at the light, and said to the boys: "It's okay, it's okay, let's play." Then he curled his lips and gave Zhou Yuan a disdainful look: "I owe it to you. "

Zhou Yuan could only admit that he was unlucky, and felt that he was so evil today, he was so angry that he couldn't even surf the Internet, so he had no choice but to take back the blood-soaked and dirty banknote, and he didn't know whether he would spend it or not.But just as I was about to put it in my wallet, my heart skipped a beat.

Zhou Yuan looked at this piece of money again, and suddenly remembered that this piece of money really didn't seem to be his own.

(End of this chapter)