The crow fluttered and flew away, flapping its wings.
The eerie "caw caw" filled with ominous meaning, suddenly the wind in the corridor of the shed area became chilly, the wind passing through gaps, through door crevices, through windows, sharp like a woman covering her face, crying... laughing... crying and laughing...
...
Brother Xiong had been busy all day, bought some liquor, drank to his heart’s content, then lay down in the tent set up by the caravan in the wilderness, and slept on his side.
After a while, his dream gradually deepened.
Suddenly, his body started to tremble, his breathing became rapid, his chest heaving as though he had run desperately for thousands of meters.
In the dream, he suddenly appeared in a room.
The room was eerie, deathly silent.
The light at the window was dazzling.
In front of the window was a white figure.
Brother Xiong wanted to move, but couldn’t.
He wanted to speak, but couldn’t.
Suddenly, a childish giggling came from behind him.
Brother Xiong’s heart twitched in shock, he wanted to turn his head but couldn’t.
He suddenly had a strange feeling: this is a dream!
Since it’s a dream, then quickly wake up!
He struggled desperately, tried to bite his tongue, but couldn’t move even a muscle, not even his eyeballs could turn.
Everything in the room was still, giving off a creepy vibe, except for the girl’s laughter, there was no other movement.
Not long after, Brother Xiong gave up struggling, since it’s a dream, he will wake up, why struggle?
After an unknown amount of time, from the side of the room, at the door, came the eerie "thump thump" sound.
Some thing is knocking at the door!
But the knocking sounds like hitting the bars of an iron cage, not like wood.
Da da da...
A small figure ran over, tiptoed, raised her hand, wanted to open the door, but shrank back, shouted: "Wa wa wa?"
No one answered.
"Papa?"
Still no answer.
And at this moment, the door opened by itself, the mottled shadows pushed the door inward.
The small figure stepped back two steps, looked again, only to see a pitch black outside the door.
Ominous, cold, without a bit of light, not knowing if outside the door is a cliff, or a void, or a certain path?
And at this moment, the white figure at the window suddenly turned around, her long black hair covered her face, this figure "cluck cluck" walked, every step seemed like many bones crushing.
This figure quickly came over to Brother Xiong, pulled up Brother Xiong’s hand.
Brother Xiong felt like he was touching a corpse, coldness rushed to his scalp, but he couldn’t move his body or even his eyeballs, only be involuntarily moved.
He was almost scared stiff, his body went limp, his heart terrified screaming, but couldn’t make a sound.
Then, Brother Xiong was led by the white figure, brought to the front of the door.
From behind the dark door, suddenly stretched out a rotten, scorched hand, that hand held a triangular "white paper" on which was written "one cent".
As if participating in an Underworld transaction, the white figure took this "one cent", and the rotten scorched hand took Brother Xiong’s hand, slowly... slowly dragged him out of the room, into the darkness, disappearing without a trace.
Squeak~
The door closed again.
The white figure put the money on the table, then stood by the window, motionless.
...
...
The next day, at dawn, before the sky was light, the small tent area of Fulin Commerce Association was bustling.
These miscellaneous task workers needed to get up early to work.
Most of this work involved loading and unloading, if it were summer they’d have to work through the night, this is only because it’s winter that the night shift was spared.
Hot air rose from the wasteland, a group of people gathered to eat hot soup and water for breakfast.
The sky grew brighter, everyone mostly finished eating, suddenly someone said: "Xiaoluzi still hasn’t come."
A lead-looking man said: "Damn it, must not have gotten up, I’ll go call him."
With that, the leader cursed as he walked toward Brother Xiong’s tent, sneered, shouted "What’s there to sleep", then directly pulled open the tent flap, and upon looking inside.
The leader’s face turned pale, suddenly felt his stomach turn, then turned to run, but his legs went limp, not only failing to run, but fell backwards, hitting his side against the hard yellow clay ground, but couldn’t even cry out from the pain.
"Dead... dead..."
"Dead!!!"
The leader fearfully shouted.
Instantly, many people came at the sound.
Someone else said: "Afraid of what? Maybe he was sick? Nowadays, isn’t it normal for someone to die?"
While saying this, re-lifted the flap.
Behind the flap, was a... unimaginable corpse, a burst of meat aroma came from the tent, it was a man fully cooked yet maintained his sleeping posture.
The man was intact, completely recognizable as Brother Xiong, but he... was cooked.
Yet the strange thing was, Brother Xiong’s clothes were intact.
Even the quilt, pillow, tent were all intact, but he... was cooked.
This creepy scene left everyone holding their breath, just standing there stunned.
The gusts of meat aroma carried by the wind finally reminded them of this disturbing reality.
Many people puked wildly on the ground, others shrank back, mouthing words they didn’t know.
How could a person be cooked in their sleep?
Why is he cooked, yet the clothes, tent, quilt, all fine?
Why?!
...
...
"I lost..."
"I... admit defeat..."