Chapter 2 Thirty-sixth night run

Lin Siping left after staying here for a few days.However, there is always a saying circulating in the city recently.That is, when traveling alone at night, you will often meet a strange person. He's weird because he's always coming up from behind, and if you've got a bag or something, he'll snatch it and keep running.If you chase him, he will yell loudly. "Run, run, come after me!" Then came a long race.It seems that no one has ever caught up with him, and naturally no one has seen his appearance, and according to the accounts of those who have encountered him, this person often changes his clothes, even his height, etc., in short, it is very strange.Of course, it's just a legend, because at least neither I nor anyone I know have ever met.

Friday is a relatively busy day, and it gets late every time, because I have to take the typesetting newspaper to print. It is almost the Chinese New Year, and there are a lot of things to write. It was ten o'clock, and then I remembered that I didn't even eat dinner. After I delivered everything in a hurry, I took up my coat and went home.Because I was hungry, I didn't take the usual main road home, but took a short alley and took a shortcut, hoping to have some supper.The alley is quite spacious, but it is very long. Not to mention people, there is not even a dog on the whole road. Fortunately, I am not a girl.Since there were no street lights, I almost walked by the wall next to me. After walking for a while, I took pictures with my mobile phone. Everyone seemed to go to bed early in the winter night, and I didn’t see a single pedestrian on the long and narrow road.Fortunately, the mobile phone has just been fully charged, so it doesn't matter if it is used for lighting.

I don't know how long I walked, but I heard hurried footsteps behind me. I felt someone approaching quickly behind me, but before I could react, I just turned my head, and a gust of wind mixed with the smell of sweat rushed towards my face. Come.A person quickly snatched the mobile phone used for lighting from my hand.The light of the mobile phone made me see a little bit more clearly. He is of medium height, but he only wears a single shirt in such a cold winter, but his pants are still thick cotton trousers. "Come after me!" He actually shouted, but his voice was extremely ear-piercing, even pleading, like ink dripping into a pond, quickly echoing in the alley.I subconsciously took two steps back.When he uttered the second sound, there was no one in sight.You can imagine what it feels like to be robbed of my mobile phone on such a winter night. After I stood there for a few seconds like a fool, I had no choice but to admit my bad luck and go home by leaning on the wall. Of course, when I went back, my pants Can no longer wear it.I can imagine what Ji Yan will look like tomorrow when she finds out.

"Are you serious? It's so interesting!" Ji Yan almost spat out the beer she was drinking, holding her belly and laughing loudly, while I crossed my hands on my chest in grievance, and tilted my face with a bulging face. Leaning on the couch, watching him sullenly until he stops a little. "Don't make fun of me anymore. A mobile phone is not expensive, but it is too troublesome to enter the number again and notify so many people. Next time I meet someone who snatches a mobile phone, I will just give him the money." "Well, it's a good idea. Are you a winter running enthusiast?" He was joking again. I didn't answer, but asked him to accompany me to buy another mobile phone.The weather on weekends is the same as that of pedestrians on the street. It is crowded and hot. Everyone seems to be puffy and fluffy like freshly baked bread.We chose to go on foot, the old reason, Ji Yan hates cars.When we passed the alley yesterday, I insisted on walking together again.Ji Yan laughed at me, and I was dumbfounded—could someone steal your mobile phone and sell it on the spot again?What is the difference between this and carving a boat and seeking a sword.But I said very seriously that the lost things should be found in the lost places.

There were only a few children playing in the alley. This was originally the bustling area in the center of the city, but there are still a few old alleys like this that have not been demolished. Instead, they took care of these little ghosts so that they would not be allowed to play on the road.The black-gray walls soaked with water droplets are very rough, and it is still uncomfortable to look at during the day.Most of the families on both sides of the alley have lived here for several generations, and they are very familiar with each other, but there are also many bamboo sheds and brick houses, which are probably used to store sundries, but the aisles that are not spacious Even more crowded.Walking on the ground paved with uneven blue cracked old stone slabs, we tried our best to slow down, looked around, and asked people if there was anyone who liked to run, but there was no one at that time.The exit of the alley can already be seen, and a little further past is the mobile phone store.Looks like I'm really going to break the bank and buy a new machine.

"It's better for me to call directly. Maybe he is holding your machine next to you and selling it to people. Let's walk around while calling." After speaking, he actually dialed. I just wanted to laugh at him, but soon couldn't. I heard a bell that was very familiar to me.That's what I set myself.Although it was faint at first, it is now very strong and I can hear it clearly. "Good luck today, old wolf please eat chicken, please eat chicken, I won't answer your call, what's the use of beating him." Ji Yan also heard it.The sound is coming from the front.

Strangely, there seemed to be an empty bamboo shed at the exit of the alley, the door was ajar, and the sound came from inside.Ji Yan signaled to me, probably the two of them walked over slowly and outflanked him, lest he suddenly rush out and run away. We touched it like thieves, and even prepared to fight, how to dodge, how to left uppercut, right uppercut, let him know that the person who provoked me is in danger.I sigh in my heart after watching action movies for so many years, finally I don’t have to “fight myself” in front of the mirror at home. I will rush up as soon as the thief appears. I am definitely not fighting alone.What's more, there is still Ji Yan here today, so I will naturally not be timid, but things are not as I imagined, until we walked to the door, there was no reaction inside.I opened the door, and the sunlight penetrated through the gap, like a stage with a black curtain drawn, and the things inside were seen clearly at once.

There was only one person inside, a person lying on a thick pile of grass. People here often prepare some hay for frost protection and the like.But to be precise, that person should be a corpse. He is naked from the upper body, I have never seen this person before, with a crew cut, his head is like a fat cactus, his forehead is high, like a big bag, and the sparse and short broken eyebrows are stuck on his face like adhesive tape. above the eyes.He was like a patient with hyperthyroidism, his originally slender eyes were forced to be as big as copper bells by the protruding eyeballs.The mouth under the wide and sunken slightly reddish nose was opened in surprise, the tongue was as pale as a dead fish drooping out, there was some blood on the chest at the corner of the mouth, his face was as pale as paper, as if covered by white Paint brushed over.I saw that his left hand was holding a cell phone that was still singing, and that was what I was robbed of yesterday.He was wearing cotton trousers, but strangely, his pair of flat rubber shoes were so worn out that they were almost worn out.Next to his body, there was a piece of underwear, and I touched it with my foot, and it froze.There were no obvious wounds on his body, did he freeze to death?

We quickly called the police, and the originally peaceful alley was bustling with activity. Residents next to it, old and young, were busy, and some of them came out with kitchen knives with shredded pork hanging on them and children feeding on bottles to watch the excitement. Mr. Lu Xun said that Chinese people love to watch the excitement, but it has never faded since ancient times.But the owner of this bamboo hut is suffering. With a mournful face, he keeps explaining to the police that he has always been a good person, except for stealing a few skewers of cured fish and bacon from the neighbor’s house. Peeking at the past, the skirt is too short, the neckline is too low, and his figure is too good. The girl bullied the bully and the kid who was not around the adult hid in the dark and cursed a few words. The business law enforcement officer spit on the exhaust pipe of the Mercedes-Benz and BMW on the road. Not even ants dared to trample to death, let alone murder. Of course, the one killed the day before yesterday was used Except chicken in soup.The questioning policeman interrupted his statement impatiently, questioned him a few words and began to investigate the identity of the deceased.As the first person to discover the body, Ji Yan and I were also interrogated, but the police were more interested in him stealing my mobile phone. Of course, the mobile phone was used as evidence and the plastic bag was tightened. In the end, I am afraid I still have to buy one New phone, I don't think anyone wants to use a phone that has been held by a dead person all night.

"What do you think? Frozen to death?" I asked Ji Yan, who was more professional in the field. He hadn't said a word since he found the body, except of course to deal with the police's interrogation.As usual, he put away his smile and looked at the corpse while touching his smooth chin. "Not like." He finally spoke. "Oh? Then how did he die?" I asked curiously. "Blood, you also said that he was running at that time. I think he might be exhausted. He ran the fastest when he took your phone away, and it was just when the fuel was running out. In the end, he fell headlong. When you entered the shed, it was too dark for you to notice. The blood around your mouth came from your lungs. If you ran for a long time, especially in the cold winter night, you need to breathe a lot. Bleeding from ruptured blood vessels, of course, there are other symptoms, but the most puzzling to me is why people keep running around when they are tired and vomiting blood, it’s incredible.” He didn’t take his eyes off the corpse, no, To be precise, it should be the shoes on the corpse's feet.

"It seems that it is necessary to find out his identity." Ji Yan suddenly walked over to talk to the policeman, the policeman was a little impatient at first, then Ji Yan made a call in front of him and handed it over to the policeman, soon we There was a look of surprise and fear on his face.After the two had a chat, Ji Yan came over. "Okay, we can go. The identity of the deceased is still being checked, but they will call us soon." After speaking, he dragged me back. Naturally, the mobile phone was not purchased successfully.But I was curious why the police's attitude towards Ji Yan changed so much. When I asked, Ji Yan blinked and smiled, "I just know friends from the police force here." It seems that he really knows a lot of people. When we returned to Ji Yan's home, we soon received a call, and he hung up after a few hums.Then he looked at me and said, "He's an athlete, to be precise, a long-distance runner." When I heard that, no wonder, he looked quite fit.Ji Yan put on her coat and gestured to me to go out. "Go to the provincial track and field team, maybe you can ask something." He still has an old temper, and he must investigate any strange things before he is satisfied.The provincial track and field team is not far from here.Soon we learned from the director in charge of the team that the dead athlete was named Lian Fuhua.Twenty-two years old, he was a promising long-distance runner in the province, but he had been missing for a few days, and unexpectedly died on the street.Other than that, there is no other news, and he has no enmity with others, and he is usually a very disciplined person.After we came back disappointed, the autopsy report came out relatively quickly.Just as Ji Yan thought, there was no trauma, and it was lung respiratory failure caused by excessive exercise.Simply put, he was exhausted, or it can be said that he ran to death.I have seen many ways to die, but this kind of death is no different from strangling myself with my own hands. "What do you think prompted him to run non-stop?" Ji Yan looked out of the window and asked suddenly.Of course I don't know, it's impossible to say that Lian Fuhua is practicing, it's a bit far-fetched. "In addition, at that time he snatched your mobile phone but asked you to chase him, which is also very strange. In that case, he should be close to the limit, but he can still run so fast." Ji Yan continued, he is used to It is better to list all the problems one by one, so that they can be solved in an orderly manner.I thought about it all afternoon with him, but I didn't have a clue.But soon, another deceased was also found, died of the same symptoms - exhausted.It seems Lian Fuhua is not the only victim. That night, Ji Yan received a video tape, not so much that he received it, but rather that it was given by the police. This tape was received when the first deceased was found.Ji Yan and I sat down and watched together. The picture is very dark, but it can still be seen quite clearly.It seemed to be in a very empty place, very dark, surrounded by black gravel and sand.There is also a white runway, the ground is very rough and rough, but it can barely be regarded as a runway.There was someone running on the track, what appeared to be a young man.He seemed to be working hard, but he still ran desperately. After passing by, two cutting machines appeared on the runway in front of the young man. He started them, but the runner didn't show any intention of stopping Although he yelled no loudly, his body kept rushing towards him strangely. I am afraid that the scene in the next second really shocked me and Ji Yan. The young man passed through the cutter at a fast speed, and then, just like a slow-motion playback, the young man’s body was still leaning forward, but the soles of his feet But he stayed there, blood gushing from the wound, but he got up and continued to run with the injured leg that lost the sole of his foot, leaving a series of round red marks on the rough white runway. Every step he ran He yelled desperately, and it didn't take long for him to fall to the ground, but his legs were still sitting and running, but it was getting slower and slower, and finally, he didn't move any more. "See, keep running until you die." The person wearing the windbreaker appeared in front of the camera and said this.It seems that after processing, his voice sounds as rigid and cold as a robot. "People are trying to run forward all their lives. For the goals ahead, fame, money, women or dignity, they want to run anyway, so I let them run together. Once you start running, you can't stop. Once you start running , your legs and your body don't belong to you anymore, and stopping means death, but even if you keep running, you will die, unless someone can..." The picture stopped and turned into a snowflake. Ji Yan stood up and turned off the TV. "What is this, is it a provocation?" I said angrily, but Ji Yan seemed to be thinking. "Run, run to death, or someone..." He seemed to be thinking of something, but not quite. "Is the man in the windbreaker a lunatic, or has he watched the "Chain Saw" series too much? Are you making fun of human life?" "No, he's not joking, nor is he playing a game." Ji Yan stretched out her left hand and interrupted me, "Gypsies have a spell that can control a person's body from a long distance. form, but most of them hope to manipulate others or simply kill the victim, but this person makes those people run non-stop, which is a bit unreasonable. If you are being manipulated and your body runs uncontrollably, even if the front Is it a cliff or a sea of ​​fire, how would you feel?" Ji Yan looked towards me. "Of course it's hatred, despair, or fear of death." I leaned on the sofa and replied without thinking, and suddenly thought, "Why do you use me as an example? It's really unlucky." Ji Yan said with a smile, "You still set my caller to Lao Lang, please eat chicken?" I also smiled.But after laughing, of course, he wanted to figure out the real purpose of the man in the windbreaker.We went back to the police station and asked for information on the second victim, a thief, or habitual thief, who was very difficult to catch because he was said to run as fast as a professional athlete.Of course, he also died from excessive exercise and lack of water, which caused the body to heat up and complicated by acute renal failure.In other words, they also ran to death. "It seems that like Lian Fuhua, this person is also a very fast runner." Ji Yan checked his profile.I also echoed the sentence. Indeed, apart from the young man whose leg was cut off in the video, the two dead people found were both people who exercised a lot, especially good at running.There are not many clues. As for the video tape, there seems to be no clue for the time being. The whole background seems to be in a remote area in the suburbs. Even if they find it, they probably would have left.The brand of the cutting machine can be seen clearly. The problem is that this kind of machine is very popular, and anyone with money can buy it.But having said that, even aircraft carriers can be bought these days, I really don't know what money can't buy. It seems that we can only sit on the sidelines and wait for him to continue to make his victims run like a puppet.Anyway, it was the weekend, so I naturally accompanied him. At noon, the two bought some bread and drinks for lunch. "What's the spell you said?" We were standing on the sunny street, I asked him while drinking Coke, Ji Yan swallowed a mouthful of bread, and explained to me. "As a very ancient and mysterious nation, they are very weak and wander around. It is said that God has pity on them and taught the gypsies to use magic, which is actually spells, including simple mind reading and divination. However, there are still a small group of people Using spells to control people, gypsies do not use magic mediators, that is, blood and contracts, so they need to rely on auxiliary tools such as crystal balls or Tarot cards to achieve. In the early days, gypsies relied on using black Crystals to control others and become puppets. So I said this time it is a bit similar, but I still don't understand the purpose of that person. Also, gypsy magicians are usually unsolvable unless the caster dies. And the meaning of the video seems to be something There’s a way to stop running, that’s the point.” I expressed doubts that maybe it was just a joke of that lunatic. Ji Yan shook his head. He said that he didn’t think that person was a mentally disturbed person. He must have his own purpose for doing this, and he sent the video to the police station. TV stations or magazines may make people panic.Ji Yan suggested to watch the video carefully again. Although I didn't feel bad about the broken leg, I just finished eating anyway, so I don't want to feel sick.But Ji Yan still forced me to watch it. I don't know how many times I repeated it, I was almost tired of watching it, but Ji Yan kept staring at the display screen, and then rewinded from time to time to freeze the frame.Suddenly, he froze the picture, pointed to a small dot in the upper left corner and asked me to look at it. I squinted my eyes and took a closer look, it seemed to be an airplane. "To be precise, it should be a trainer plane." Ji Yan said with certainty. I wondered how he was so sure. He told me that we can't see the height of ordinary civil aviation planes, and there is a large military industry near the suburbs of this city. In the aircraft factory, it is not surprising that there are trainers. The weather from the video tape should be the rainy days of the previous few days.Ji Yan told me excitedly that as long as I can find the flight route of the nearest trainer plane, I can definitely find the place in the video tape.Of course, we have to check first, because it is a military industry, relatively speaking, it is not easy to talk, and it took us a lot of effort to find out the flight route of the nearest trainer plane.We didn't tell the police. Ji Yan said that if the police were dispatched, the goal would be too big and too ostentatious, so we did everything alone. According to the collected information, we searched separately. After nearly an afternoon, we finally found a university sports center under construction outside the city that fit the picture in the video tape. Deserted, sure enough, we saw a runway and a cutting machine, all of which met the requirements.But I always feel that things seem to be going too well.Moreover, the entire construction site was too quiet, no one could see it, and it was lifeless. Even on weekends, there should be some people on duty, with reinforced concrete and sand and gravel piled up everywhere. "They seem to have thrown away everything at hand." Ji Yan walked to the side of a sandy field strangely, and a shovel was stuck in the sand.I yelled someone, but the only answer was a constant echo.Not far away, there are many messy footprints, and Ji Yan and I decided to follow the footprints and look for them.Although the footprints were messy, they stretched far away. It could be seen that there was a large group of people, and there was still a lot of vomit on the ground.Ji Yan and I looked at each other, a very bad premonition welled up in our hearts. Sure enough, after following the footprints for several hundred meters, we saw it. I believe everyone has read the materials related to the Nanjing Massacre. Sometimes the devils drove the people who were going to be executed to the wall, and then massacred them. The corpses were piled on top of each other like firewood.The current picture is the same, but I can't see so much blood, but it makes me feel colder. About one hundred people dressed like workers, all of them white as paper, some foaming at the mouth, fell by the wall, and they were all dead, but their bodies were still warm.Overlapping again, forming piles of corpses of different sizes.It's just very strange. Most of the corpses have more or less abrasions on their foreheads, and they are all red and swollen. We were about to make a phone call when a wheelchair slowly appeared from around the corner.On it sat a man with a hood and a trench coat. "It seems that you still found the plane I deliberately photographed in the video." His voice was no longer as ugly as the video, but very gloomy with magnetism.Ji Yan didn't speak, just pointed at the corpse. "What did you do?" The man in the wheelchair took off the hood, revealing an almost mutilated face. His hair was all gone, his left eye was completely covered by the ugly and bloated granulation that proliferated from the wound on his forehead, and he had a huge aquiline nose. It was tilted to one side, only one third of the upper lip remained, unable to cover the flesh-red gums and the few broken teeth, and there was an obvious scar on the right cheek.He appears to have been badly injured.He smiled, let's call it a smile, I'm afraid there is no more ugly and disgusting smile than this in the world. He then shook his head. "I didn't kill them, I just let them run. You came late, and a few minutes ago, you could see hundreds of people running desperately. How spectacular, even if there is an obstacle like a wall in front, they still stand against it. Running, although there is a Chinese saying, 'If you don't hit the south wall, don't look back', it seems that it doesn't apply just now." After speaking, he couldn't help laughing again, and because he didn't have lips, his laughter seemed to be leaking. Like a deflated blower, wheezing. Ji Yan and I probably had that scene in our minds at the same time. Hundreds of people crowded together and slammed into the wall desperately. They didn't want to, but their bodies didn't listen. Hit into the transparent world at once, until he dies. "What on earth do you want to do? Is it so fun to play with people?" I can see that Ji Yan has been restraining himself, but his eyes are already congested, his lips are also bright red, and he looks like an angry lion. It's like the prey is about to charge.The weirdo in the wheelchair was also a little wary, he put away his smile, and the wheelchair moved back a few times. "I used to be a talented athlete, a person who loved running very much. If it wasn't for that damn car accident, to avoid that stupid idiot who was slow to react and didn't know how to run and dodge, I wouldn't be what I am now. Maybe I would go to the Olympics. It's not Liu Xiang, it's me! After the car accident, I was disfigured, and my lower body was paralyzed forever. I thought about suicide, but God is fair. When I was at my lowest point, divine power appeared, and I got a black mica-like The same thing." As he said, he took out a palm-sized black crystal emitting dark light from his pocket, and a very thick layer of black mist formed beside the crystal.But soon he put it away again. "I got supernatural powers, yes, I can control people's legs, I can make them run non-stop until they die, unless they lose their legs, you saw the video, even if they lost their feet, that person is still there Running, what could be more exciting and enjoyable to a man who can't run than watching a bunch of idiots run?" His face was twitching, and he could tell he wanted to laugh, but he couldn't help it. "You used the video tape just to lure us here, what's the purpose?" I asked him loudly, the weirdo gave me a disdainful look, and pointed at Ji Yan with a finger like a dead branch. "I just want him, it has nothing to do with you." After hearing this, Ji Yan said in surprise, "I don't know you." "Yes, I'm not familiar with you, but a man told me that as long as I lure you here and kill you, I can get more divine power." man?Who is it? "Okay, let's finish talking nonsense, let's start making games." The weirdo pointed at me, "Actually, I can kill you, but I always think that making games is interesting, so it's boring to let you run still. This glasses is your good friend, right now I will let him run, as I said, to get rid of this curse, as long as another person runs faster than him, the curse will naturally fall on that person. You are friends, Two can only live one, choose carefully, and you'd better hurry up, I see that the body with this glasses will die after running for ten minutes, hahaha." As soon as he finished speaking, I felt that my legs were unconscious , automatically ran up, and ran to the runway.Ji Yan and the weirdo are getting farther and farther away from me. I can only watch, but I can't hear their conversation. My lungs, my throat, my trachea, my lungs felt like a block of ice with sharp edges, but my body was getting hot as hell, my eyes were getting bloodshot, and my front vision was starting to narrow.The thighs below the waist began to cramp, but they were still shaking violently. Every muscle in the body seemed to be threaded through with needles and threads, and every time it was pulled, it caused severe pain.The whole body seemed to be volatilizing non-stop, as if it was burning. My legs no longer belong to me, and I would never be able to run at this speed in normal times. It seems that the weirdo can not only make people run, but even control the speed.My sanity became unclear. About a few minutes later, when I was about to lose consciousness, I felt something passing through me quickly, and then I passed out.But when I woke up, I was lying on the runway, and Ji Yan was smearing my lips with my finger dipped in water. Ok?Why didn't I run again?And Ji Yan didn't move either.Seeing that I was awake, Ji Yan pointed to the distance with a smile, and the weird guy who was supposed to be in a wheelchair was running fast ahead! "This idiot, I used to kill the caster to break the spell, but he jumped up and started running, and told me that he can make others run, of course he can also make his body run. Naturally, I chased after him , He turned around from time to time and laughed at my stupidity, but he didn't expect his left eye to have bad vision, so he ran past you. According to what he said, the curse fell on him, and you will be fine." Really Dramatic ending, but I also know why Lian Fuhua snatched my mobile phone, why only the two fastest runners died, because no one can catch up with them. "However, there are still things I haven't figured out." Ji Yan stood up, walked to the crane on the construction site, took out a bucket of gasoline and poured it on the runway, then lit a cigarette, and stood there looking at the runners. "Tell me, who is that person." Ji Yan smoked a cigarette fiercely, the flames flickering.The weirdo cried out in pain. "He is a tall man with silver hair and sunglasses. On his shoulder is a strange animal that looks like a silkworm. I really don't know who he is. Please forgive me, I was wrong!" His His voice was indistinct, and he was panting badly. After hearing this, Ji Yan's face changed, but the man continued to yell to let him go. "What do you want me to do? Either kill you, or find a substitute for you? Forget it, you'd better run slowly and enjoy it, anyway, you like running." After finishing speaking, he stood up and supported I left, and after walking for a while, when the weirdo ran to the gasoline, Ji Yan flicked out the cigarette, and the runway immediately burst into flames. "Purge your sins with the evil fire of hell." Ji Yan said in a low voice, I saw the strange man was on fire immediately, continued to run like a burning man, and made strange screams of pain, but it didn't take long. He just lay down and didn't move.I couldn't bear to look any further, and turned my head. We picked up the black mica-like thing left on the ground, but when Ji Yan touched it, the thing melted and disappeared like ice cubes meeting fire. "What the hell is it?" I stared at him for a long time and asked, but Ji Yan didn't answer me, just said let's go, we can talk when we go back.On the way, Ji Yan said that although the man was burnt to death to pay for his sins, this was the first time Ji Yan had killed someone with his own hands, and he felt very uncomfortable.I comforted him a few words, but Ji Yan was still frowning, I knew he was still thinking about the man with the black shard and the silver hair.