Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven "Seeing Death"

Lili still wanted to tease him, but Lao Zhao and I stopped her.Zhao Fang's current situation is no longer as simple as a joke. It seems that he really believes that there is no one alive in the city.Although I didn't believe such absurd things, I subconsciously went to the window and took a look - there was a busy street downstairs, with cars coming and going, people coming and going, not to mention all dead, I didn't even have a single dead person see. As soon as I walked to the window, I heard Zhao Fang yelling again on the phone, this time he was crying: "They are alive again, what's going on?"

"It's okay, where are you?" I asked, "I'll come to you right away." "I'm in the president's office." His voice seemed to be pinched, and it became sharp and thin, like rusty wire, which made my throat tickle. "People in the desert are dead!" "Oh?" I tried to comfort him, "Don't move, I'll be right there." Lao Zhao and I hurried to the president's office, knocked on the door, and the door opened immediately, and Zhao Fang appeared at the door.When I saw him for the first time, I hardly recognized him—in such a short moment, his whole body seemed to be distorted, and his face seemed to have lost a lot of weight, maintaining a frightened and panicked expression.

"Where's Mr. Sha?" I asked him. "Dead," he trembled, pointing behind him. "You just died." Mr. Sha cursed loudly.Over Zhao Fang's shoulder, we saw Mr. Sha standing up from the executive chair, rubbing his eyes and cursing while laughing. While Mr. Sha was speaking, Zhao Fang seemed to be pinched at the waist suddenly, and he straightened up suddenly. He immediately turned his head, pointed at Mr. Sha and said, "You, you... aren't you dead?" Mr. Sha saw something from Zhao Fang's expression, and he asked suspiciously, "What happened?"

Old Zhao squeezed past Zhao Fang, opened his mouth to say something, then looked back at Zhao Fang: "Zhao Fang, you go out first, I have something to say to Mr. Sha." "I won't go out," Zhao Fang said with sweat and tears all over his face, "there are dead people outside, so I won't go out." I looked at Old Zhao, I knew what he was going to say, but it was hard to say these words in front of Zhao Fang.I patted Zhao Fang on the shoulder: "Let's go back to the office." "There are dead people outside..." Zhao Fang panicked. "Let's go, I promise not." As I said that, I dragged him out of the CEO's office and closed the door.He still struggled, and when he saw the people in the big office, he froze again.

"They're alive again," he murmured. "Yes." I dragged him back to the office, Lili came up to ask something, but I turned him away with a wink.She nodded knowingly and poured Zhao Fang a cup of hot water. In the following time, he held this cup of hot water as if he was holding a life-saving straw, his whole body convulsed from time to time, sometimes he muttered to himself, most of the time he just frowned and tried hard to think.I think he might go crazy if he thinks about it like this, and he wants to find something to distract him, but no matter what I say to him, he will tell me eagerly: "They are really dead, and I still don't know what to do." I called 110, but no one answered the phone, maybe the police are all dead too..." So we couldn't talk at all, and then I had to let him go.

Lao Zhao and Mr. Sha talked for a long time, and they didn't come out until after get off work.Everyone in the company left, and Lili refilled a cup of hot water for Zhao Fang before she left.I have to accompany Zhao Fang, just read a book aside, leaving him alone to continue talking to himself. After more than half an hour, Lao Zhao finally came in, and he pointed to me: "Boss Sha told you to go." When I went out, Zhao Fang's body trembled, as if he wanted to follow me, but Lao Zhao held him and said, "I'm here." He stopped moving. After going out, as soon as the door was closed, I heard Zhao Fang's screams coming from the door behind him. Almost at the same time, he opened the door and rushed out, grabbing my arm, shaking so hard that I could almost hear the bones.When I asked him what was going on, he shook his head repeatedly, his lips moved, but he couldn't say a word.

"What's wrong?" I asked Lao Zhao. Old Zhao shook his head, spread his hands, and made a helpless expression. Anyway, Zhao Fang seems to have made up his mind not to leave my side.I took him to the boss's office. When I was about to arrive, he suddenly said something in a very low voice, which I couldn't hear clearly. When I wanted to ask again, President Sha had already opened the door.Seeing Zhao Fang and me, he froze for a moment, sighed, and beckoned us in. "Zhao Fang, you don't seem to adapt to our company?" Mr. Sha asked tentatively. Zhao Fang crossed his arms with both hands, sat on the sofa and looked at his toes, without saying a word.

"We plan to send you home, do you have any objections?" Boss Sha asked again. Hearing this, Zhao Fang finally raised his head and nodded again and again: "I want to go home, I don't want to stay here anymore, here..." When the words came to his lips, he suddenly froze, as if he had thought of something, and paused After a while, he continued, "I'm not used to this place." "That's good," Mr. Sha nodded, "We originally planned to ask your family to pick you up, but we made several calls just now, but no one answered, why don't we ask Zhang Ping to take you back?"

Zhao Fang looked at me, and after thinking for a long time, he nodded slowly. "That's how it is," Mr. Sha stood up, "Send him back early while it's still dark," he leaned in front of me, and said in a low voice, "He seems to be mentally ill, so it's better to go back sooner." I nodded. When he walked to the door, Mr. Sha said again: "You have been driving for a day today, let Lao Zhao go with you, and you can change hands in the middle." Before I could answer, Zhao Fang was already trembling like an electric shock, and quickly Said: "No!" We looked at him in amazement, and he swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva before slowly saying: "I just want Zhang Ping to see me off alone."

"Okay." I nodded.Let’s just be alone. Although Zhao Fang is mentally ill, he seems to be listening to me so far. It’s just that he is tired on the road. When we returned to the office, Lao Zhao came up to meet him, and Zhao Fang avoided him immediately.Old Zhao smiled wryly, greeted me, and said "OK to go" to Zhao Fang, and got off work first.Zhao Fang went to the corner and picked up his travel bag that he hadn't opened in time, and followed me out the door. In this way, less than two hours after receiving him, I will send him back again.On the way to the garage, Zhao Fang kept his head down. Anyone passing by him would cause him to convulse.He didn't look up until we got in the car, he sat in the passenger seat, I started the car and left the company building.I was afraid of provoking him, and I was lazy, so I didn't talk to him.He stared blankly ahead, and seemed to be in no mood to talk to me.

After the car drove for a while, Zhao Fang's eyes became active. He looked up, down, left, and right, and even looked over the back of the car several times. His face was pale, his expression was serious, and his lips were pursed blue.I asked him what he was looking at and he said nothing. He didn't speak until we drove away from the city and gradually entered the deserted mountains. "Zhang Ping." He suddenly called me. I don't know why, but when he yelled, I suddenly got goosebumps all over my body.It's not because his voice is eerie or has any other weird tone, on the contrary, his voice is very calm, neither high nor low, that's all, but it makes me feel a little scared for no reason. "Huh?" I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.He seemed to have relaxed a lot, and his face had returned to a little rosy, but his hands on his knees were still trembling like typing on a keyboard. "Everyone in that city is dead," he said. "You saw it just now, all we saw were living people along the way." I said. He shook his head and smiled wryly: "It's not like that." He gave me a complicated look, which I almost thought was sympathy: "When you saw them, they were all alive, but you didn't When you see them, do you know what they look like?" "You mean they died when I didn't see it?" I babbled at him.There is no doubt that Zhao Fang is mentally ill, but now I am alone with him, I dare not say that he is wrong, so I have to follow him carefully, otherwise he will suddenly go crazy, I may not be able to control the situation.Looking at the surrounding green hills, we can reach their village in an hour, and the problem will be solved after this hour. "Yes." He nodded, raised his hand and wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve, "As long as you can't see them, they all turn into dead people—it's like this all the way, in the car Behind, there are other places you can't see. Those people were alive and kicking when they passed by your eyes one minute, and they stood motionless as if they had been tapped on their acupuncture points the next minute. I thought that Old Zhao was not dead. I didn't expect that when I was alone with him, he would suddenly stop moving—everyone was like this, everyone suddenly stopped moving, even his eyes..." He described in detail what he saw In this case, I listened to the beginning, but didn't listen carefully to the rest.The mountain road was not very easy to walk, it was almost six o'clock, the sky gradually dimmed, and the edge of the green hill seemed to melt, gradually becoming blurred.The cold wind with the smell of leaves and earth blowing from the car window made the hair and eyelashes blurry.I looked sideways at Zhao Fang who was immersed in the narration, and asked him if he was cold, but he didn't seem to hear this sentence, and continued to speak on his own.I rolled up the windows and turned on the lights in the car, and it was getting darker outside. By the time he finished speaking, it was completely dark, and the surroundings were pitch black, only the headlights of the car illuminated a short section of the road in front of him.After Zhao Fang's voice stopped, the car fell into a terrible silence, which made me unable to adapt, and even felt a certain fear.I cleared my throat, and asked without words: "We'll be there in half an hour." Zhao Fang didn't answer, I could feel him staring at me.I stare ahead.The darkness ahead formed a strange situation, as if the darkness was a whole, and the light of the headlights, like a knife, slowly tore it apart, and then the black whole slowly came back behind us. Close up and surround everything like water.I have a strange feeling, as if Zhao Fang's gaze is also a part of this darkness. "It's no wonder you don't believe me," Zhao Fang said suddenly, making my heart beat wildly for no reason, "They died right next to you, but you couldn't see anything. If it was me, I would Do not believe." "You're coming home soon, are you happy?" I forcibly changed the subject. "Happy." Zhao Fang said, "I just sympathize with you. It's really pitiful to live alone in such a city with no living people around you." Crazy people talk crazy, but just imagine the situation a little bit, and the hairs stand on end.In order to lessen the impact of his words, I turned on the radio, and the traffic channel was broadcasting the news. The pleasant female voice of the announcer swept away the gloomy atmosphere in the car. "If everyone there is dead, then who is broadcasting?" Although I felt that I shouldn't provoke Zhao Fang, I still asked this question, and I couldn't explain clearly what kind of mentality I was asking. "I don't know." Zhao Fang frowned suspiciously. "Also, you said they all died when I couldn't see them, but along the way, I could hear people's voices coming from all sides of the car. What's going on? Even if I couldn't see them, at least I can still hear it." I thought of this again. "Ah?" Zhao Fang's expression became more puzzled. He stroked one of his temples and said thoughtfully, "I don't understand, but they are indeed motionless—maybe their mouths are still moving?" "If the mouth is still moving, it's not dead," I said. "I don't know..." Zhao Fang was completely confused by me. For the rest of the time, he was completely immersed in thinking, muttering to himself from time to time, and never bothered me again. Not long after, we entered the village where Zhao Fang's family lived. Lights were lit up everywhere in Zhaojia Village, illuminating the farm buildings like silhouettes in the night.Entering the village, Zhao Fang let out a long breath.Under his guidance, I drove the car directly to his door. "You can stay at my house for one night. It's so late, you can't go back." After getting off the car, he said to me.I thought it was true, so I called Mr. Sha and told him about the situation.Mr. Sha kept saying there was no problem, let me have a good rest tomorrow.Putting down the phone, I found Zhao Fang staring at my phone in a daze. I waved to him, and he came back to his senses. Zhao Fang's house is a two-story building with a courtyard. Because it was late, the door of the courtyard was not closed, so we walked in directly.The main room downstairs has two doors open, and one can clearly see a round table inside the door, with four or five people sitting around eating.Zhao Fang had just walked to the door, but before he entered, the people inside noticed him and stood up. "Fang Zi, didn't you go to work? Why did you come back?" A man in his fifties said. From the similarities between his eyebrows and eyes, I guessed that this was his father. "I don't like it there." Zhao Fang said.He helped me by saying that, otherwise I really don't know how to explain it.I have been hesitating whether to tell his family about Zhao Fang’s mental disorder, and I decided not to say anything when I got here—maybe Zhao Fang really just didn’t adapt to that city, maybe he won’t make such a problem again in the future , there is no need to worry his family members.Even if he gets sick again in the future, he will be discovered easily, whether I say it or not is the same. Zhao Fang was obviously well-loved at home. When he said this, everyone didn't blame him. Instead, they said don't go if you don't like it, and it's good to come back to farm.After saying these few words, Zhao Fang's father pointed at me and asked, "Who is this?" Three brothers, sister-in-law and nephew. After a few polite words, everyone sat down to eat.I happened to be hungry, and the farm food was very sweet, so it was a very comfortable meal.Zhao Fang, on the other hand, has always been a little absent-minded, often peeking at his relatives. After eating and chatting for a while, Zhao Fang winked at me, and I followed him into the yard. "Stand still in the yard," he said. "Okay." I knew what Zhao Fang meant, he wanted to see if his relatives would die when I wasn't there.I hope he will not see such a situation, even if it is a hallucination, it must be quite terrifying.I took out a cigarette and lit it, pretending to admire the stars in the sky, and walked around the yard with my head raised, with my back turned to the main room. Zhao Fang walked in. In almost an instant, he ran out.His footsteps were extremely rapid, and before I reached my side, I heard his panting first.It made my heart sink: Is he having the same hallucination here? "It's all right!" He ran up to me, his excited face said everything - he didn't see that terrible scene. "It's fine." I patted him on the shoulder. "Fang Zi, what's the matter?" His sister-in-law asked loudly in the hall. "Nothing!" He waved his hand into the main room, and said to me again, "I'm so happy," he raised his chest, indicating that he took a long breath, and said, "I can't go in now, otherwise They'll think I'm weird, I'll stand here for a while." "Okay." I handed him a cigarette, but he refused. We stood quietly in the yard, looking at the fields through the thorn fence in the yard. "It's better here," Zhao Fang said, "it's the safest place. Although I often feel lonely, it's still the safest place." He looked at me, "Why don't you leave in the future, just stay here ?” "How is that possible?" I laughed. "I'm doing it for you." He sighed.Apparently he still insists that my city is full of dead people.There is no need to argue about this issue. We quickly talked about other things. He pointed to a house two rows away: "There is a girl living there." "Oh?" I almost didn't need to listen to what he said later, just from his expression and tone, I could guess the girl's special meaning to him.But I didn't say anything, just listened quietly - it was actually a pleasure to be able to listen so quietly without saying anything.