Abyss Express

July 5th.

Before the early morning mist had completely dissipated, Jiang Xueming dialed the mysterious confidential number.

He wondered if the timing of his call was right.

There are only two days left before the boarding date. Will it be too late for my sister's condition?

But day by day, Jiang Bailu's condition did not improve, 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 scratching and cutting his soul.

The nightmare also plagued him. He hadn't closed his eyes for two days, and a lot of white hair grew on the back of his head.

If he went to look in the mirror now, he would be scared out of his wits by his walking corpse-like complexion.

His eye sockets were sunken, and there seemed to be a black air leaking from his cheeks and between his brows.

A cold and anxious long tone came from the phone, and it rang five or six times in a row, but no one answered.

This made Jiang Xueming restless and expectant.

Until a hello comes from the speaker.

"Is it Mr. Jiang Xueming?"

That voice seemed to have been specially processed by electric current. It was the same as electronic synthesized voice, and it was indistinguishable from male to female, old and young.

Jiang Xueming immediately replied: "It's me. Are you looking for me? Where is the Nine Realms? I want to get in the car."

The voice on the phone said unhurriedly: "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 transit station and have a good talk?"

"What should I bring? Do I need to prepare anything? Do I have to bring the tickets you mailed to me?"

"Don't worry about it, just bring your two tickets."

"I" Jiang Xueming wanted to ask a few more questions, but the phone had already been hung up.

Almost at the same time, he heard the shrill car horn outside the health center.

"coming--"

"—they're coming for me."

Xue Ming immediately returned to the ward and sat beside Bai Lu.

When he saw Bai Lu sleeping soundly, he was still struggling with nightmares and suffering from illness. He trembled when he heard it, and shuddered when he touched it.

He wanted to caress 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 with the attending doctor, and signed the consolation letter for conservative treatment, planning for the worst.

Then he took away two tickets and resolutely went downstairs. Walk towards the screeching car horn.

The sky in midsummer is not as hot as usual.

The hot and humid wind is like a horse driver, whipping the cypress leaves in the courtyard to a farther direction.

He changed into a khaki long coat, and walked out frivolously.

He hadn't closed his eyes for forty-eight hours, and the ear-piercing horns were like vicious needles. Every time it sounded, he, who was neurasthenic, felt his heart throbbing.

Step out of the porch, outside the secluded and remote woodland, there is a dark car parked on the narrow path.

It was a Volga, very old car.

Jiang Xueming had only seen it in books. It was a car that was unveiled for the first time in 1958 at the Brussels International Industry Exhibition.

The two round headlights looked like the eyes of a beast, staring straight at him.

The rows of vertical air intake grilles don't have the luster of metal, but look like long teeth.

The windshield was treated to prevent peeping. Xueming couldn't see what was going on in the car. He walked up and knocked on the window.

—The rear door opened immediately.

He leaned down, but found that there was no one in the back seat.

— Then who opened the back door just now?

"It's high-tech." He got into the car shortly, and said nice things with a fake smile, trying to cover up the tension in his heart.

Looking forward from the rear seat, the driver's figure is well-proportioned and tightly wrapped by the driver's seat.

Xue Ming could only see the shoulder sleeves of the navy blue suit and the white gloves pressed on the steering wheel.

Out of curiosity, he also wanted to lean forward and take a closer look at the driver.

A cold female voice calmed him down.

"Mr. Jiang Xueming, please sit down, we will take you to the Nine Realms Station right now."

He had no choice but to put away his curiosity and sit in his seat peacefully.

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 start now, the destination is Jiujie Station, the whole journey is about." The female driver started the car and paused, "I don't know how many kilometers it is. The journey takes 40 minutes. Do you want to make an appointment for a meal at the station? ?”

Xueming: "No need."

The female driver continued: "BOSS has ordered an afternoon tea for you at the station."

Xue Ming: "BOSS?"

The car is heading 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 didn't look back: "Don't chat with me while driving, I just started working not long ago."

Jiang Xueming had no choice but to give up, he quietly and leisurely looked at the scenery outside the window.

At least now, he knew that these mysterious people seemed to have no obvious hostility towards him.

He secretly watched the female driver's face through the rearview mirror, and it was only for a moment - the pair of dark and clever eyes in the rearview mirror cast a look of deep meaning at him.

Just looking at each other in the mirror, which lasted for a short moment, Xue Ming immediately looked away.

"Sorry." He looked out of the window and stopped aiming randomly.

At this moment, he could clearly hear the female driver's smirk with overtone. It seemed to be a mockery, and it seemed to be a successful trick.

The scenery outside the window gradually became unfamiliar.

The sky and the earth also darkened together, and the low air pressure in midsummer brought the clouds to the earth, as if a thunderstorm would fall at any moment, and the sun hid itself.

The inside of the car started to get hot.

Xueming finally couldn't bear it anymore and wanted to ask a question.

"Turn on the air conditioner, right?" The female driver turned on the air conditioner in advance like a prophet.

The environment immediately became cooler, followed by a long wait.

While waiting, Xue Ming's eyes were still fixed on the outside of the car window.

He began to feel uneasy in his heart. After living in this city for four years, the street view outside the window and the buildings passing by were all so strange to him. After coming to Hung Hom to settle down, this may be the furthest he has traveled.

This feeling of uneasiness is a little different from simply traveling far away.

He saw, far, far away, behind the commercial building, in the farther sky.

The black clouds covered most of the sky, slowly eroding from the front like waves.

Among the patches of clouds are black, gray and white color swirls mixed together, the outlines and shadows reflect each other, and there is the last glimmer of the sun.

From time to time, blue thunder flashed through the clouds, with low muffled noises, like the roar of wild beasts.

It seems that there is an unknown huge creature hidden in it, and the light of thunder and stars still remains in the body of that creature.

This sense of strangeness and alienation made Xue Ming feel an inexplicable tranquility in his heart, making him dazzled.

He wanted to remember the architecture of this highway, even some road signs - this would make him feel a little safer in his day.

At least when calling the police, he could tell exactly where the "Nine Realms Station" was, but he couldn't.

Every few kilometers, street signs flashed by.

On this colorful and dark road, he could hardly see any words outside the window.

There was also a smell of grass leaves from the car air conditioner, all of which made him drowsy.

He started rubbing his eyes, yawned, and tried to move his legs, so that the muscles in his calves stretched and tightened, the blood pumped into the heart at a faster speed, and then flowed to the brain, and then he remained awake.

"Mr. Jiang Xueming? What are you doing in the back seat?" The female driver noticed the change.

Just asking this question is like a spell.

His brain was overloaded at the moment of thinking about how to answer, like a mobile phone with zero battery, completely shut down.

When he wakes up—

——Volga is parked beside an old alley. The red brick archway on both sides of the alley is old, with ivy and moss growing.

There are three or four storey low buildings on both sides.

There are few pedestrians on the road, and there are few restaurants.

It was completely dark. Only bright stars and dim street lights are left to accompany the car.

A sign next to the sidewalk bears its name.

Moon Lane.