Urban Oddities: Soul Contract

Chapter 13 Seventh Street

Huo Minghai, who was told the secret, was flustered. Seeing that he was a little shaken, the old lady said while the iron was hot: "Little brother, it is very difficult to save your life. The Kunlun Blood Jade is not an extraordinary thing, and it can block evil spirits with it. There are only a few people in the world." A few pieces, I think we have fate, I will give you a [-]% discount for this piece of jade."

See, the last sentence reveals the purpose, right?

After all, the old lady is a businessman. Although Huo Minghai was a little flustered, he calmed down and thought about it, how credible is the old lady's words?

Huo Minghai shook his head, pushed the cart and left.

There were people coming and going in the market, Huo Minghai spread his hands secretly, looking at the palm with a missing line, it was impossible to completely ignore the old lady, Huo Minghai vaguely felt that something had started to happen, but He didn't even find any clues, he was wandering in the sky, when the people around him yelled a second time, Huo Minghai came back to his senses.

"Excuse me...can I do you a favor?"

The little baby was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and the fat woman was protecting the baby with one hand and carrying a large bag with the other.

"I bought too much before I knew it, and I couldn't carry it." The woman looked at him expectantly. The courier boy seemed to be quite talkative. What's more, the big basket on his car was already empty.

"I live in the building in front." The woman raised her chin to indicate the house not far in front, and smiled wryly, "This bag is too heavy, can you help me?"

Huo Minghai thought that it would be okay to help her after the package was delivered anyway, so he helped her put the big bag into the big basket, the woman thanked her, and led the way ahead, Huo Minghai pushed the cart behind, and where is General Chu?

Huo Minghai looked back, the materialized Chu Gan would be as leisurely as if he was shopping, he would run to the stall to watch from time to time, but no matter how far Huo Minghai went, he could always follow behind the car steadily, seeing Huo Minghai watching Come over, Chu Gan will raise his eyebrows: "Why, are you afraid that I will get lost?"

Huo Minghai didn't speak, but still stared at him blankly, Chu Gan touched his face, wondering if he was really that handsome?But he soon discovered that Huo Minghai's eyes were not focused on himself.

Behind?

Chu Ganjiang looked back, the streets were bustling with activity, what's unusual?

"Let's go." Huo Minghai continued to push the cart as if nothing had happened. Just now a flash of astonishment flashed in Huo Minghai's eyes, and Chu Gan believed that he was right.

"What do you see?"

Huo Minghai looked blank: "I seem to see my mother."

"what?"

"But...it's impossible..." Huo Minghai looked back again, a new batch of customers had gathered in front of the stall selling honey green tea cake, how could there be any mother?

Maybe I misunderstood, Huo Minghai thought, if my mother came to S City, she would definitely call to inform her. Besides, this street is so hidden that even the old neighbors might not know about it. How could a mother who is not familiar with S City travel all the way to come here? What kind of place?

Passing by a traditional Chinese medicine stall, an old man called to stop him.

"Hey, boy, are you from the courier company?"

After getting an affirmative answer, the old man pointed to a pile of medicine jars behind him with his cattail fan: "Can I send something?"

Huo Minghai told him that he was a dispatcher, and he had to contact the receiving colleague if he wanted to send something. He took out a business card from his pocket and told the old man to call the above number if he wanted to send something.

Before going out, Du Jiajun gave Huo Minghai a box of business cards with foresight.

"If you miss me, just take a few more glances." A brazen guy smiled casually, which made Huo Minghai roll his eyes.

It is false to see things and think about people, but it is true to pull performance.

This is the first time for the old man to set up a stall this year. Unexpectedly, the business is booming and the number of orders has surged. He is also considering whether to open an online store. It is of course good to have a long-term cooperative express delivery. The old man accepted the business card as a thank you and gave it to Huo A small box of ointment for Ming Hai.

After leaving the pharmacy, Huo Minghai followed the woman and turned a corner, walked into a narrow alley, as if isolated from the world, the hustle and bustle of the street became far away, the alley was surrounded by high walls, and there were residential buildings on both sides, so the sunlight could not come in. It looked damp and cloudy.

"It's just ahead, we'll be there soon." The woman smiled at him, "Brother, you are very unfamiliar. Is this your first time here?"

Huo Minghai said yes, he just joined the company not long ago.

The two chatted all the way, and came to a house. The woman held the baby in one hand, and took out the key to open the anti-theft door in the other. Huo Minghai took out the big bag and asked General Chu Gan to help look after the car, but...

"Huh, what about people?"

There was no one behind him, Huo Minghai locked the car, thinking that General Chu Gan might not have followed, but he was not worried that Chu Gan would get lost. His real body was lying in the apartment, so he was afraid that he might not be able to find anyone?

With a creak, the anti-theft door closed and automatically locked with a click. There was a strange burnt smell in the corridor, and the walls were black as if they had been covered with carbon.

"People here are superstitious, and usually like to burn paper and incense." The woman walking in front explained.

"Ha, it's also where I used to live." In the rental house where Huo Minghai used to live, people often burned paper and incense on the stairs, and the smoke made the walls black.

As Huo Minghai walked, it was as if someone was actually burning paper and incense. The flames scorched the air, and he felt something dripping from his forehead. When he touched it, he wiped the sweat off his hands.

"I live on the seventh floor, it's really hard work for you." A woman's voice sounded, Huo Minghai looked up, unknowingly fell behind so much, Huo Minghai secretly quickened his pace, turned the corner, and the figure on the stairs just turned After passing by, separated by a flight of stairs, he still hasn't caught up with her.

"It seems... a little hot?" The wet clothes stuck to his body, and the fine sweat condensed into large drops, dripping slowly along the skin.

"Hehe, there is no ventilation in the building."

"That's it..." Huo Minghai wiped away a drop of sweat from his chin, the more the stairs went up, the bigger the area of ​​the wall was burnt, and when he reached the sixth floor, the whole wall and the ground were completely black.

Huo Minghai stopped in his tracks.

The corridor was eerily quiet.

It seems... not right?

There was only the sound of Huo Minghai's footsteps in the corridor, but that woman...had no sound when she walked?

Huo Minghai strained his ears to identify carefully, but heard a strange movement, smack - slap - the basketball slapped the ground rhythmically, bounced from the corridor and fell into the stairwell, slantingly hitting the wall and rebounding After a while, it became more and more boring, and finally rolled in the direction of Huo Minghai, was stopped by the stairs, and stopped.

Huo Minghai's sweat rolled down in big beads. The stuffy air made him feel a little uncomfortable to breathe. It was too hot. The temperature in the building was unusual. Does anyone still play basketball in this environment?

However, the basketball player never showed up. Until Huo Minghai turned the corner, the basketball was still lying quietly under the stairs.

Seeing that the seventh floor was about to arrive, Huo Minghai quickened his pace, thinking to get out of here as soon as possible, the surroundings were pitch black, and the temperature was stuffy and hot, as if...

just like……

Huo Minghai trembled.

Fire scene?

The humidity in the alley is very heavy, and the musty smell makes Chu Gan want to sneeze. He prefers a lively market to a dull alley.

After turning a corner, there was still an alley ahead.

"Hey, don't you think we've been walking for a long time?"

Seeing that Huo Minghai didn't pay attention to him, Chu Gan will not want to be lonely, but will take a few steps forward to join him.

Huo Minghai stared ahead expressionlessly, not even looking at him.

"Tch, why are you pretending to be cool?" Chu Ganjiang muttered, looking forward, a corner of the baby's swaddle was hanging down from the woman's arms.

Incongruous colors appeared in the line of sight.

black.

The fabric on the inner side of the swaddle was actually pitch black!

Chu Ganjiang suddenly remembered that the object held by the woman had been very quiet and had not made any sound at all.

Is it really... a baby?

He hurried to catch up, and threw off the swaddling clothes.

A dark mass lay there.

Wrapped in layers and tightly guarded by women, the baby turned out to be a piece of black charcoal!

no... not right...

Chu Gan will take a step back abruptly.

He could see clearly that the holes on the piece of carbon were exactly where the eyes, nose and mouth were!

This is a carbonized baby!

Realizing that something went wrong, Chu Gan suddenly drew out his long sword and slashed at the woman. There was a wave in the space, and a crack opened along the trajectory of the slash, but the crack quickly closed and disappeared, and everything in the restored space was intact. It's so peaceful.

False space, ghost hits the wall!

The shadow of the sword flashed, and the space cracked again, but the outside environment changed again. This time it was not a gloomy alley, but a stall selling knives. General Chu jumped out quickly before the crack closed, The man who appeared out of nowhere frightened the surrounding customers. Chu Gan just stepped down a row of kitchen knives, and the kitchen knife goddess stabbed at the crowd like flowers. Chu Gan waved his hand, and the sword light swung in an arc Everyone only felt a flash before their eyes, and there was a bang, and a ball of light exploded at the end of the arc. Everyone took a closer look, and all the disobedient kitchen knives were firmly slapped on the stall, and there was no shortage!

Snapped!Snapped!

I don't know who took the lead, and the crowd who finally regained their senses burst into applause, praising the store's high-level publicity methods, and even the entertainers from the rivers and lakes were invited over. What a huge income it has brought to the store...

Huo Minghai pinched his thigh fiercely, telling himself to calm down and not panic.

The atmosphere in the building was too weird. It was absolutely forbidden to go up to the seventh floor. Huo Minghai took a step back secretly. At this moment, another strange voice sounded.

pop - pop - pop -

The basketball slapped the ground, getting closer and closer, someone was slapping the basketball and walking up the stairs, but...

Huo Minghai stuck his head out and looked over.

The basketball appeared alone at the corner of the stairs, turned around, and bounced upstairs as if being slapped by an invisible person!

Huo Minghai's mind was blank, and his body ran away almost subconsciously. He had just stepped on the platform on the seventh floor when he tripped over something. Huo Minghai fell to the ground. Then, the body slid uncontrollably towards an open door.

No...can't go in! ! !

The speed was too fast, Huo Minghai only had time to reach out and hook the door frame, one leg was stretched in the air, and something invisible was pulling his leg and dragging it into the room. , the door closed with a whimper, and when it was opened again, the fingers holding the door frame were covered with blood marks. Huo Minghai clenched his teeth, his hands hurt, but he knew he couldn't let go, and he couldn't get out again!

The temperature is getting hotter and hotter, the door frame is scorching hot, the blood falling on the ground quickly evaporates and smoke rises, the sound of the basketball hitting the ground gradually becomes clearer, and the eyes filled with sweat are burning hot, Huo Minghai sees through the hazy vision, Saw the basketball bouncing outside the door!

Suddenly a crazy idea came up in his heart. The moment the basketball hit his finger, Huo Minghai suddenly freed up a hand and slammed it hard on the basketball. The basketball whirled and hit the back with a muffled sound, like Hitting something, the force on the clamping legs loosened, Huo Minghai lost his strength and lay on the ground, immediately jumped up from the heat, the door closed quickly, everything happened so suddenly, Huo Minghai was about to escape It hit the door panel straight.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

In the scorched black space, the cry of a baby sounded.

Suddenly, the light flashed brightly in front of him, Huo Minghai was shaken so that he closed his eyes, and opened them again, in front of him was a monstrous flame that ignited at an unknown time, a fat woman was protecting the baby with one hand, and was struggling to open the window with the other.

"Don't be afraid, baby, mom will definitely take you out."

There is fire everywhere, even outside the window there are sparks flying and thick smoke billowing. I don’t know if this building is decorated or something. Through the glass, you can see the scaffolding and plastic filter on the outer wall. The whole building has become a huge combustion aid. The material, the flame spread very quickly, the gas pipe in the kitchen exploded, the wall collapsed, a large amount of flame mixed with debris spewed out, the woman was instantly swallowed by the blasting flow, Huo Minghai pressed tightly against the door, he told himself over and over again, These are hallucinations, all fake, don't believe it, but...

The woman by the window who was scorched by the fire has already got up!

"Damn it!!" Huo Minghai desperately twisted the hot doorknob. He knew that he couldn't go out. The scorched woman was walking towards him with a piece of black coal in her arms!

"Get out of the way!"

There was a shout outside the door, and the voice of General Chu, the great savior, lifted Huo Minghai's spirits, and he quickly hid to the side, but the door was safe, but the wall Huo Minghai was leaning on collapsed.

"Ouch! Didn't I tell you to get out of the way!" General Chu dug out the dying Huo Minghai from the rubble, held the dying Huo Minghai in his hand, and fled away immediately. The corridor was full of fire, and the flames were billowing. General Chu didn't care, but Huo Minghai was smoked Feeling dizzy and about to suffocate from choking, Chu Gan made a quick decision, smashed a wall and jumped out.

The cool wind blew head-on, Huo Minghai opened his eyes, he was so scared that he almost spat out his bile, this is the seventh floor, brother, jumping off the building is not like this!

As a result...it landed safely.

General Chu: "Are you happy? More exciting than bungee jumping, right?"

Huo Minghai: "..."

The car was parked outside the anti-theft door, separated by a door, the air here was cold and humid, but inside the building was a sea of ​​hell!

"Go! Hurry up!"

Under the urging of General Chu, Huo Minghai started the car limply, and drove into the alley at full speed.

"Do you know that you almost became a scapegoat!" Ganjiang Chu still had lingering fears when he said it. If he did a real fight, he was still very confident, but those guys like to play tricks. Hitting the wall is such a low-level illusion, old and new ghosts can use it, this illusion is too realistic, General Chu is not a celestial master, and has no professional training. Isn't it embarrassing him to ask him to distinguish?

Chu Ganjiang looked towards the small building, the flames had all disappeared, the walls were scorched black, the doors and windows were twisted, and the whole building became a black frame.

This is the real face of the building.

no... not...

The fire did not know how many years ago, but now, this building does not exist at all.

There are only some wandering souls.

"For...for the dead ghost?" Huo Minghai narrowly escaped death, his mind was in a mess.

"Those who missed the chance to reincarnate, if they want to re-enter reincarnation, they need someone to die for them, one life for another, in exchange for that person's chance to reincarnate, and you are the one who was chosen by that woman!"

It's so dangerous to be taken advantage of with sweat all over your body, you almost became that woman's scapegoat!

Just as he was talking, Chu Ganjiang felt that someone was staring at him, and when he looked back, there was a dark figure holding a baby standing in the depths of the alley.

"But... I think... she grabbed you, not wanting you to replace her..."

Huo Minghai was dizzy for a while: "Then... who will replace?"

"Her child."

After rushing out of the alley, Huo Minghai, who was bathed in the sunshine, felt really alive.

His fingers were in pain, and blood was dripping from the fingers pinched by the door.

"Didn't the old man give you a box of medicine? Come on?"

Huo Minghai took out the medicine box, suddenly remembered something, turned left and right, and only took out a few coins.

"Ah! Du Jiajun's box of business cards is gone!"

"Is it missing in that building? Isn't it just a box of business cards." Chu Gan will cheekily put the coins into his pocket.

"Buy soy milk again?"

"of course."

Huo Minghai remembered that there was a stall selling soy milk in the deep part of the market, so he looked for it specially. The car stopped in front of the soy milk shop. Huo Minghai signaled him to buy it quickly, but General Chu obediently did not move.

"Your money is useless here." Chu Gan pointed to the price tag, Huo Minghai took a closer look, his eyeballs almost popped out.

A cup of soy milk is a hundred oceans?Just kidding!

"The things here are so expensive."

"It's a ghost city."

Huo Minghai was at a loss: "...what?"

General Chu: "Here we use...cough, forget it, I'm afraid you won't be able to bear it at your age."

Huo Minghai: "Joke! Brother is only in his twenties!"

General Chu: "In terms of calculations, things here are the cheapest. Think about it, there are banknotes with hundreds of thousands, seven or eight digits are very common, and a string of zeros lined up from one side to the other... By the way, don't you have cash on delivery, if you don't believe me, take a look at what money you received?"

Huo Minghai said firmly, "It's our money!"

General Chu: "That's a blindfold. It's only effective for you. I'll break it for you. Have a look?"

Huo Minghai dubiously took out the stack of money and looked at it, covering his little heart with a green face: "I seem to be unable to take it anymore..."

He didn't want to stay any longer, and returned along the way he came, as if escaping, bypassed the fence, went out of the alley, and found a familiar car beside the road sign on Sixth Street.

Is he here too?

"Hi, Ming Hai!"

Huo Minghai turned his head, just in time to see Du Jiajun walking out of the alley.

Du Jiajun put down the big and small bags, rubbed his shoulders, and hooked his hands towards Huo Minghai.

"Why?" Huo Minghai asked knowingly.

"Hmph." Pointing to a pile of packages on the ground.

"Hmph, brother's finger is hurt!" Huo Minghai deliberately showed him his finger.

"Is there? Where is the injury?"

"This...huh?" The smoke was so dark that the hands were pitch black, and the area where the medicine was applied showed clean skin, and the area where the wound was originally healed, leaving only a faint scar.

"Huh? Strange?" I moved my finger, but it didn't hurt at all, as if the wound caught by the door was just a dream.

"So..." Du Jiajun stuffed the package into Huo Minghai's arms, and then put one more, and another, stacked so high that Huo Minghai's hands sank under the pressure.

"Well, it's so heavy..."

"Be careful, there are medicine jars inside."

medicine jar?

"An old man who runs a medicine shop... and holds a cattail fan?"

"That's right." Du Jiajun also gave Chu Gan a high profile.

The old man Pushan's business is booming, and half of the parcels are his goods.

"Hua Tuo's medicine is in short supply."

Does the name sound familiar?Huo Minghai was still thinking hard, when he saw Du Jiajun carrying a big bag, which contained many small parcels, which looked very heavy, but actually it was light and effortless.

The sweaty Huo Minghai had an opinion: "Damn, your pile is so light?"

Du Jiajun: "It's light, I'm afraid you won't dare to take it."

Huo Minghai straightened his waist: "Is there anything you dare not take?"

Du Jiajun: "It's carbon inside."

Huo Minghai choked for a moment: "...where did you get it?"

Du Jiajun pursed his lips and smiled: "Want to know?"

Huo Minghai: "...Forget it, I'm afraid I won't be able to bear it at my age."

The package was put in the car, the door was closed, and the accelerator was stepped on, Du Jiajun walked away comfortably with the air conditioner on.

As for Huo Minghai, he was so tired that he was sweating all over. After a round of fright, he had to work hard as a porter. He just wanted to go back to the dormitory to wash his body and sleep well. I was squatting under a tree to burn paper, and the paper ash flying out of the brazier was blown by the wind.

The newsstand that was supposed to be by the tree was gone!

Huo Minghai felt strange, you said you were going to move, the newsstand is not small, how could it be possible to move so fast?He stopped the car and asked the waiters who were watching outside the restaurant.

The waiter looked at him strangely, and asked, "Newsstand?"

"correct."

"There is no newsstand here." Seeing Huo Minghai's shocked expression, the waiter thought for a while and added, "Yes, but that was five years ago, and I also heard from my colleagues that here There was a car accident, the dump truck crashed into the side of the road, crushed the newsstand, the driver was fine, but two people died in the newsstand, it was unlucky, so the newsstand was not built here.”

Huo Minghai's scalp was numb: "An old man, a little boy?"

The waiter nodded.

"So... today is the anniversary of the car accident?"

The waiter shook his head: "Whose birthday might it be?"

The family members brought a pile of gold and silver treasures, and burned a lot of banknotes. Through the lingering fireworks, Huo Minghai saw a delicately packaged small flower lying quietly under the tree...

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