Chapter 33 Seventh Midnight High Heels

After returning to the city, I wanted to figure out where these wild animals were pulled to the city. I dialed the phone numbers I stole from Boss Tang's wall.They all said I made a wrong call.I said Boss Tang's name, and I said he was a friend of Boss Tang, and I wanted to get goods from them, and Boss Tang introduced him.They still said: "We don't do business, we go to work, you have dialed the wrong number." Strange, how could this be? I called Boss Tang again, and I said that I wanted to buy goods from this city and asked him to introduce the source of goods to me.Boss Tang readily agreed.A few minutes later, Boss Tang called and told me where the city's wild animals are traded.This place claims to be the largest wild animal trading market in Asia, but you can't get in without someone taking you with you.

I plan to go to the largest wild animal trading market in Asia. I went there at noon that day.According to the address introduced by Boss Tang, I found it, but I only saw an empty market.Every store has pulled down the shutters, the market is empty, a wild dog is wandering in the market wagging its tail, and two sparrows are standing on the steps and kissing each other.I looked around and there was no sign that this was a wildlife market. I am getting more and more strange. I went to a shop tens of meters away from the market, bought two packs of cigarettes, and made friends with the boss.I pointed to the market and asked, "Why is there no one in such a big market?"

The boss is a short and fat man who looks like a potato and looks honest.He was reading a novel by Jin Yong, he looked up from the book, looked at me, and asked, "Why are you asking this?" I smiled and said, "It's okay, just ask casually, passing by here." The boss said coldly: "You can go if you have nothing to do." He continued to bury a huge head in the shadow of Jin Yong's sword. I suddenly thought, does this store have anything to do with this market?I think of the photo studio I saw in "Secret Visits to the Blood Slaves", the old man who repaired shoes and the man who repaired bicycles in "Secret Visits to Fake Cigarette Dens", and the one I saw in "Secret Visits to Tomb Raiders" The store, it turned out, was the eyeliner of a criminal gang.So, could this humble shop, with its big-headed boss, be the eyeliner of the wild animal trading market?

But, no, no, there is no trade in the wild animal trading market, why do they arrange eyeliner?If it wasn't for the eyeliner, why was this fat man hostile to me? There is definitely something tricky in it, and I must find out. I left the store and walked slowly along the road. After walking a few hundred meters, I saw an Internet cafe in front of me and went in.I decided to wait here until dark.According to the experience of previous unannounced visits, illegal transactions can only be carried out under the cover of night.I believe that there must be hidden secrets in this market.I also believe that Boss Tang will not lie to me. If he lied to me, how would he know that there is such a wholesale market corresponding to the house number he mentioned in this city thousands of miles away?I figured he gave me the address with the business card of a wildlife trader.

I stood in the aisle of the Internet cafe and watched other people play games. Those virtual war scenes and martial arts scenes made these teenagers enthusiastic and burning with passion; while those girls were watching Korean dramas with relish, with longing in their eyes. .It is said that some games developed in Japan are only exported to other countries, and teenagers in their own countries are strictly forbidden to play, because the bloody violence will distort the mentality of teenagers; and many Korean dramas will not be shown in their own countries, because of such plots It just breeds stupidity.But the tired, greasy-faced boys and girls around me don't know that.

Time passed very slowly, I looked out the window again and again, and saw that the sun was still hanging on the roof of the building in the distance, motionless.Later, I also registered a computer and watched movies on it.I remember the movie I watched that day was called "Platform", a work by Jia Zhangke.Those desolate landscapes, depressing hearts, and those scenes are too similar to some past events I have experienced.Tears welled up in my eyes, and from that moment on, I fell in love with Jia Zhangke's works.From now on, I will watch each of his works carefully. After watching the movie, I realized that it was completely dark.I walked out of the Internet cafe, lit a cigarette, and staggered towards the market. I imagined myself as a boss, a boss who wanted to buy from the trading market.

The trading market is still pitch-black, and the shops in the darkness are like giant crouching beasts.An empty soda can was blown by the wind, rattling all the way, and rolled into the ditch.I was thinking in the dark, is Boss Tang really lying to me? I walked back disappointed. It was dark now. I wondered if there were any buses to the city. If not, I would have to take a taxi, which would cost a lot of money.My heart aches. After walking two or three hundred meters and turning a corner, I saw a big rumbling truck coming head-on, billowing dust.I dodged on the side of the road and suddenly subconsciously thought, where is this big truck going?Will it pull wild animals?After the truck passed by, with the help of dim street lights, I saw that it had a military plate.

However, the more special the vehicle, the more skeptical I was because I saw vans pretending to be ambulances.In this dark night, in the sparsely populated suburbs, what are the military vehicles doing? I followed behind the military vehicle and turned a corner, but there were still no pedestrians on the road.When I was about to walk to the trading market, I suddenly saw the military vehicle parked in the market, and several shops were lit up. I feel strange, why do military vehicles park at the trading market at night?When I was about to enter the market, two strong men suddenly appeared from the darkness and asked me viciously what I was doing.I said, "I want to find a restaurant, I'm hungry." They said in a nasty voice, "There are no restaurants here," and then drove me away.

There was a burst of ecstasy in my heart, that truck must be a fake military vehicle, and this market must be a wildlife trading point. About an hour later, I hid in an abandoned building in the distance, and stood at the window on the third floor looking in the direction of the trading market.I saw the lights in the market come on one after another, and figures were moving in the lights, but I couldn't see what they were doing.One after another, trucks, vans, cars, and motorcycles drove over from a distance and entered the trading market; one after another, various vehicles drove out of the trading market and disappeared into the dark distance .

I am ready to step into the trading market again. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from the corridor, as if someone was walking down the stairs step by step in high heels.However, when I just walked into this abandoned building, I walked from the first floor to the highest fifth floor, walked into every room, polished the lighter and looked at each house, and I was convinced that this was an abandoned building , making sure it's empty.But, how could there be footsteps again? The sound of footsteps still came, as if they had come from upstairs to the third floor where I was hiding, the sound was unhurried and evenly rhythmic.I looked back and saw the moonlight shining into the stairwell, the dilapidated walls were indistinct, and there was literally no one around.But whose footsteps would that be?

I asked with a trembling voice, "Who?" There was no answer, and the footsteps stopped. I suddenly became extremely nervous, and cold sweat broke out on my head.Who came down from upstairs?Is it a security guard or a thug in the trading market?But the footsteps clearly belonged to a woman's footsteps. How could the security guards and thugs patrolling at night have women?If it's not a security guard or a thug, then who is this woman? The sound of footsteps sounded again, this time the sound was slower, Da, Da, Da, with a clear rhythm, the sound of high heels stepping on the stairs was getting closer and closer to me, it seemed that the distance was only a few meters.The dim moonlight made this abandoned building even more eerie. I still couldn't see her, and she was only a few meters away. At that moment, I really felt the creepy feeling. Some ghost stories I heard when I was a child suddenly came to my mind. Could it be, could it be that what I met tonight was a female ghost? I yelled loudly, and the voice became so frightening that even I was afraid, I looked in the direction the voice came from and shouted, "Who?" The sound stopped, but I still couldn't see her. Minutes passed, each minute as long as a hundred years.My heart was beating so fast that it almost jumped out of my throat.I moved my trembling foot and touched a half brick. I bent down and grabbed the half brick in my hand. The footsteps came again, da-da-da-but I still couldn't see her.I lifted half of the brick and threw it at the imaginary figure. Half of the brick hit the wall and fell to the ground again.There was a rattling sound in the darkness, and she ran away.I still can't see her figure. She can see me, but I can't see her.What else could she be if she wasn't a ghost? At this moment, I was terrified, scared out of my wits, I yelled, groped and ran down the stairs, and fell at the top of the stairs on every floor.I ran out of the abandoned building and ran all the way to the asphalt road. I was still in a state of panic. In Aunt Qiong Yao's words, I felt like a deer was pounding my heart. I hurried along the asphalt road, never daring to make unannounced visits to the wild animal trading market anymore.I walked a long way before I saw a taxi.I raised my trembling arms. Sitting in the taxi, I calmed down.I thought sadly that a woman must have died in that abandoned building before, and this woman became a female ghost and came out tonight. I used to never believe that there are ghosts in this world. Did I really see a ghost tonight? After a tense night, I called the director after dawn. Over the years, the director has been my best friend.We talked about everything, and every few days we had to ask each other what the other was doing, and we were concerned about each other's safety.The in-depth report department does not require reporting at work every day, only one or two manuscripts are published in the newspaper a month, and there is no time limit for major interviews.We have to investigate and conduct unannounced visits for many days for each manuscript, traveling back and forth across the country.Although we work at the same newspaper in the same city, it is difficult to see each other for a month. We have known each other for several years, but we have never blushed once. Although sometimes we have not contacted for a few days, we still miss each other in our hearts... If there is fate and affection between two men, I think this is fate and affection. That day, when I called the director, I was surprised to learn that he had just returned from an interview outside the city. I yelled into the phone: "Drink." The director said: "You wait for me, I will come to pick you up." I asked curiously, "How did you pick me up?" The director took a deep breath and tried his best to say in a calm tone: "I just bought a car." Yet I heard every word he uttered with glee. Half an hour later, a horn sounded downstairs, and the director shouted happily.He told me to go downstairs to a restaurant for a drink. I ran out of the rented room, jumped downstairs three steps at a time, pushed open the iron grille door, and saw the director leaning on the car door with a smile on his face, as if preparing to marry a new wife. We hugged each other gently, patted each other on the shoulder, and then separated again.The two girls passing by saw the two big men hugging, covered their mouths and laughed, then walked away quickly. I was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, and the director was sitting in the driver's seat. He suppressed his joy and said, "Now, we also own a car. When you use a car, brother, just say it." The car has just been bought, and all parts are new.A speck of dust fell on the glass of the car, and the director carefully wiped it clean with toilet paper, and then checked whether there were traces of toilet paper left on the glass. I asked, "What brand is your car?" The director said triumphantly, "Otto." Oh, it turned out to be Alto, Audi's younger brother.It has an elder brother who is born in a wealthy family, and everyone on the earth knows it. The Alto car drove out of the village at the junction of urban and rural areas, and headed for the road leading to the urban area.The windows were all open, the wind was blowing in, and we sang some very old songs in the wind, such as "Desert of Passion", such as "Long Platform", it felt like driving a roadster Driving on the endless sea. Later, we came to a small restaurant, and when we walked up the steps of the hotel, the director was still looking at his Otto with admiring eyes.That kind of gaze reminds people of the gaze of the wedding night in the bridal chamber. We went to a seat by the window, ordered a few dishes and ordered a dozen beers.Before the dishes were served, the director saw a few crumpled magazines on the shelf at the door, and took them casually. After reading a few lines, his expression suddenly changed. I asked: "What's wrong?" The director didn't speak, so I leaned over to take a look, and saw a few lines of text on it, which was about an interview with a cross-country club.One person said: "Driving an Alto on the street is like taking an idiot son on the street. It's shameless." The director's mood suddenly dropped to freezing point. When the food came, we drank a few glasses and immediately laughed and laughed again, forgetting the discussion about the fool's son. The director asked: "What are you busy with these days?" I talked about my experience in the Wuling Mountains of Guizhou, the wild animal trading market, the mysterious abandoned building, and the mysterious footsteps. The director asked: "Are you sure you really heard the footsteps, not an auditory hallucination?" I said, "I've always been very courageous, but last night I was terrified. It was definitely not an auditory hallucination." My voice was still trembling as I spoke. The director said: "It's strange, how could such a thing happen, let's go and have a look tonight." After drinking, we sat in Alto.At that time, there were no restrictions on drunk driving, and both of us could drink very well. Pouring a dozen beers into our stomachs was like drinking cold boiled water.I looked to both sides and found that there were Mercedes-Benz and BMW all over the street, almost Toyota and Honda, and we were the only ones driving Alto. This is the wealthiest city in China, and also the most snobbish city in China. At 10 o'clock that night, we came to the gate of the wild animal trading market and saw that the lights in the market had been lit up sporadically.Suspicious cars drove into the market, and every car was checked by two middle-aged men at the gate of the market.In the darkness, there are a few suspicious figures hovering, they must be the security guards of the market. We discussed how to get in in the car. Pretending to be a businessman?not like.Which businessman would drive an Alto?Pretending to be a customer?Neither.How can customers buy things at night?For delivery?Not to mention, there is nothing on our Alto. I recalled my first unannounced visit, and I said, "Pretend to be a beggar." In such a heavily guarded market, perhaps only beggars can get in, and no one will take beggars seriously.Beggars are like dust, no matter where they fall, they will not attract attention. I dressed up as a beggar, and the director met me outside. I took off my clothes, shook them on the ground twice, let the clothes get dusty, and rubbed my hair with my hands to make it messy, and then grabbed a handful of firewood and sprinkled it on my hair.This looks like a complete beggar picking up food from the garbage dump.Such beggars are usually a little psychotic. I walked towards the wild animal trading market, one leg was moving, the other was dragging behind, my head was tilted, and I was drooling, looking like a beggar who was both stupid and lame.I used this strange posture to approach the wild animal trading market step by step. The security guard looked at me and ignored me. I just sneaked into the market unimpeded. The market is rows of houses covered with asbestos tiles that look like vegetable greenhouses.Every stall is open, the lights are bright, and the voices are buzzing.Inside every stall, there are iron cages, and various animals are locked in the iron cages. Some animals stand quietly with melancholy eyes;Between the stalls, there is a concrete road five or six meters wide, on which there are some people who look like customers.Whenever a customer walks into a certain stall, the owner of the stall will greet him with a smile: "Boss, the goods that just arrived have been packed for you." It turned out that this wild animal trading market only does business at night, and the customers and stall owners are regular customers.Whenever the goods arrive, the boss will call the customer and pack them up according to the customer's instructions, waiting for the customer to come to pick them up.Strangers cannot mix in at all. I saw several poisonous snakes hanging at the door of a shop. The owner took a machete and cut off the genitals under the snake's belly and put them on a tray.The poisonous snake is not dead yet, it is still wriggling its body eagerly.I remembered that during my unannounced visit in Guizhou, Boss Tang told me that the genitals of poisonous snakes are a good thing, and they can treat impotence and premature ejaculation. I walked forward more than ten meters, and suddenly there was the sound of a car engine behind me, and the crowd dodged to both sides.The car drove into the middle of the market, the door was opened, and two men lifted boxes of animals from it. The bosses of several stalls gathered around the car, picking these wild animals like oranges.This batch of wild animals includes leopard cats, badgers, snakes, pangolins... and a half-sized wild boar.After a while, the animals were separated by them.They carried the iron cage back to their stalls, and the car drove away, leaving several dead animals on the ground.Their teeth are exposed, their eyes are wide open, and it can be seen that they have endured great pain before dying. I was watching intently, when I was hit hard on the back suddenly, the pain made me almost faint.I turned around and saw a security guard in camouflage standing behind me, waving a rubber baton and yelling at me, "Fuck off, who the hell let you in?" I had no choice but to limp out of the wild animal trading market. The director has been waiting anxiously for me in the dark tens of meters away from the trading market. When he saw me coming back, he let out a long breath. He said, "Get in the car." I said, "I'm so dirty, your car is new." The director said: "Come up quickly, there is so much nonsense!" I got into Alto in a dusty body, and Alto drove away from the trading market quickly.Came to another road, Ao Tuo stopped by the side of the road, we discussed the next move. I said, "I didn't expect that there are so many wild animals there. Common snakes, monkeys, cats and mice, you can find everything. What's more frightening is that I also saw monitor lizards, eagles and other animals that are at the top of the food chain." "How did these animals come here?" asked the director. I said, "I don't know." The director said: "When you went in just now, I secretly hid in the dark and wrote down the license plate numbers of these delivery vehicles. These vehicles come from many parts of the country and have different license plates from different places. Take a look." The director handed me a piece of paper, and I saw the names of more than a dozen provinces on it.A few days later, when I made further unannounced visits, I found out that this simple wild animal trading market is sourced from all over the country: snakes come from Guizhou and Guangxi; beasts come from Hunan and Hubei; eagles come from Northwest China; birds come from Jiangsu , Zhejiang; bear paw monitor lizards come from the southwestern border...and some tropical rainforest animals even come from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam...it's incredible.Rather than saying that these rows of crude vegetable greenhouses are the largest wild animal trading market in Asia, it is better to say that this is the largest wild animal food market in Asia or even the world.Here, generations of aborigines believe that eating various animals will have different curative effects. Eating snake meat will cure rheumatic headaches, eating donkey whips will increase libido, and eating monitor lizards will resist aging. Eating eagle meat will cure headaches... The BBC feature film "Beautiful China" once filmed the scene where people here like to eat wild animals. We sat in the car talking without sleepiness. At two o'clock in the morning, the director suddenly asked, "Where is the abandoned building you mentioned?" I suddenly shivered and asked, "Do you want to go now?" The director said, "What are you afraid of? I'm ready." The director took out a flashlight and two wooden sticks from the rear compartment. He smiled and said, "If there is a ghost, we'll knock her out and carry her back. Tomorrow will be world-shattering news." I suddenly felt less afraid.There have never been ghosts in this world, they are all made up by storytellers to frighten themselves.I pointed him to the building in the distance.He drove the car all the way under the building. Then, each with a flashlight and each with a stick, we walked up the empty stairs.The director walked in front and I followed behind.The director walked with his head held high, and I walked with trepidation. We walked to the fifth floor step by step, and looked at the rooms, some were empty, and some still had kitchen utensils stained with oil.In one room, I suddenly saw a woman's slippers with a very high sole.Women in those years liked to wear these strange shoes.The strange shoes made me shiver. The director smiled and said, "A broken shoe scares you like this. If I give you a broken shoe, you won't do it." I said, "You're the one who makes broken shoes." At that time, I was still very simple, like a slim young white poplar.At that time, my married colleagues would make some nasty jokes with me, and I would blush. We went from the fifth floor to the first floor, and checked all the rooms, but there was no one, not even a mouse, and the whole building was empty. The director smiled and said, "Where is your female ghost? Are you thinking of some kind of affair? Think of yourself as a scholar studying hard in an ancient temple in Liaozhai?" As soon as he finished speaking, footsteps came from upstairs, da, da, da, it was the sound of high heels walking down the stairs, it was absolutely true, it was the sound of high heels. The director's smile condensed on his face, and the expression on his face was very strange. My calm heart began to beat wildly again, and I heard the director's heavy breathing because of fear. Da, da, da, the sound of high heels is calm, walking down from upstairs step by step, step by step. The director pointed the flashlight at the stairs, and asked in a trembling voice, "Who?" The sound of high heels stopped, and our hearts were in our throats.The air was tense enough for sparks to fly. A few minutes later, da, da, da, the voice came down the stairs again, not in a hurry, getting closer and closer, it seemed to be ringing above the head. The director looked at me, and I looked at him, and we both saw each other's eyes widened with fear.The director turned around and said, "Run!" He turned and ran out of the building, and I ran out after him. We ran all the way to Otto's side before we stopped to breathe heavily.Our voices were like pulling a bellows, and cold sweat flowed from our foreheads. Sitting in the car, closing the door tightly, and rolling up the glass, we dared to look back at the abandoned building.However, nothing moved in the building, it was solemnly silent, as if nothing had ever happened. The director started the car, and the car wobbled as if drunk. It just rolled over the roadbed and almost hit a big tree again.I said: "Stop it, stop it." The car stopped panting in the rice field on the side of the road, and I realized that the flashlight and wooden stick were forgotten in the building.