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Chapter 095: Dead Loop (Part Three)
The car started, this time it was Han Mi who replaced Chi Xinrong at the wheel. Han Mi had just recently obtained her driver's license, and her driving skills were certainly not impressive. Fortunately, with Chi Xinrong beside her giving directions, there weren't any major issues.
The girl that Fat mentioned, Chi Xinrong told me she also found problems in Chiang's diary.
As a boy, how could Chiang be so fond of keeping a diary like a girl?
Chi Xinrong explained that this was a habit his Uncle wanted him to develop. Chiang didn't like reading, so his Uncle insisted he memorize everything and then write down all the texts he had learned in his notebook, so he wouldn't embarrass himself in class by failing to recite them.
The diary recorded the hit-and-run incident that occurred at Hongqiao Supermarket. It detailed the location of the incident, specifically the eighth lamp post to the left of the Hongqiao Supermarket Entrance. He wrote that the event felt like a thorn deeply embedded in his heart. Later, he quietly visited the scene and saw someone had brought white flowers and incense to place at the spot where the girl was killed. Among the pile of white flowers was a particularly beautiful doll.
The doll was of mixed heritage, with blonde hair and big eyes, looking very pretty.
"What does the girl have to do with Chiang?"
Chi Xinrong shook her head. "Not a thing; there's no way they could be related."
"Then why is Chiang scared?"
Chi Xinrong gave a bitter smile. "Who knows? Why don't you take a look at his diary?"
I thought about it; since I couldn't sleep and we were almost home, it wouldn't hurt to take a look. I nodded, "Alright!"
Chi Xinrong handed me Chiang's diary. It was a beautifully bound notebook. Opening the first page, I noticed that Chiang's handwriting was quite decent—careful strokes, neat characters, and clean pages.
In Chiang's diary, there was also mention of someone named Lin Tai.
Lin Tai was Chiang's classmate who seemed to have opened a cold drink shop. Starting a business at such a young age struck me as quite impressive.
A new car photo was tucked into the diary; it turned out to be the very car we were currently in—Chiang's.
Chiang enjoyed racing at night, and naturally, Lin Tai often joined him in the car. On one particularly dark night when visibility was nearly zero, Chiang arranged to race with Lin Tai. They would race on the outer ring road when it was quiet and still, with hardly any cars or people around, making it especially thrilling and fun.
However, for some reason, Chiang had an intense aversion to passing by the entrance of Hongqiao Supermarket.
In the past, Hongqiao Supermarket was not as bustling as it is now. Outside the supermarket, there used to be many vendors, street hawkers occupying a third of the safety passage, which led to the unfortunate incident involving an innocent girl.
After speeding away, Chiang was on his way home when he passed by Hongqiao Supermarket. The surroundings were eerily silent, so empty it made his heart race. Suddenly, he spotted a girl standing alone under the massive sign of Hongqiao Supermarket, clutching a cloth doll.
Chiang noticed the doll in her arms. It was strikingly eye-catching, like a thorn piercing his heart and eyes, causing pain in both. It felt as if something was about to burst from his eye sockets.
He freed one hand to wipe his eyes and looked closely; blood—glaring blood covered his hand. "Ah... ahhh!" he screamed in fright, losing control of the car and swerving wildly. If Lin Tai hadn't rushed over and pressed against Chiang to grab the steering wheel, they would have been in serious trouble.
In his diary, Chiang wrote about how the doll haunted his dreams countless times, with artificial eye sockets leaking streams of blood and a haunting voice searching for its mother. He feared the doll. With Lin Tai's help stabilizing the steering wheel, he questioned the girl standing alone under the utility pole in the dead of night.
Initially, Lin Tai firmly opposed stopping for Chiang, but curiosity got the better of them. They didn't believe in any supernatural presence and seeing the girl—graceful yet solitary—stirred something in their hearts. They exchanged mischievous glances before stopping the car just half a foot away from where she stood.
From the front view, the girl's skin appeared overly pale but it did not detract from her beauty. She had a pure face with a fuller forehead and chin, soft lines defining her nose and jaw, and almond-shaped eyes that Chiang found appealing.
Chiang rolled down the window. The girl's expression was icy as she quickly approached and asked, "How much to Blade Factory?"
She was indeed waiting for a ride. Why hadn’t she gone to the bus station? It would only cost two yuan to get to Blade Factory from here; Chiang was taking a bus. Lin Tai chimed in from beside him, "Get in our car; the last bus has already left. You're going to Blade Factory anyway; we'll give you a ride."
To their surprise, the girl got into the car.
Chiang instructed Lin Tai to sit in the back.
"Lin Tai, go sit in the back," Chiang ordered. Reluctantly, Lin Tai got up, muttering curses under his breath: "Damn it, prioritizing girls over friends." They each took their seats in the back, with Lin Tai slumping down heavily enough that it made an unpleasant hissing sound.
In his diary, Chiang noted Lin Tai's unwillingness to move back. Turning to the second page, he wrote about how quiet it was around them; all he could hear were their hearts pounding wildly. How could she still be alive after being buried under all that heavy mud? She stood there vividly beneath that utility pole at Hongqiao Supermarket.
He wanted to know if Chiang and Lin Tai took her back to Blade Factory, but there were no further entries about her or any record of Lin Tai accompanying her. Doubtful, he flipped through more pages but found nothing he wanted to see.
Chi Xinrong's serious demeanor caught his attention as he pointed at a page filled with questions: "What did Chiang and Lin Tai do at this point?"
"There’s no exact address for the girl recorded here; we can’t just ask if she got home. Should we go find Lin Tai and ask him?"
That was the most basic way to trace clues. Chi Xinrong shook his head: "We thought of that too."
"What now?"
Chi Xinrong fell into deep thought and slowly began to recount the events that had happened to Lin Tai.
That night, Lin Tai returned home very late and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. His mother heard the noise, got up to check, and knocked on the bathroom door. Lin Tai responded from inside, "I'll be out soon."
His mother, concerned for her beloved son, had always been strict with him. She reminded him not to linger outside at night and to come home early. Two years ago, Lin Tai's twin brother had died in a car accident, and since he was her only child, she didn't want anything to happen to him.
Lin Tai assured her he would be out soon, so Lin's Mom waited outside the door.
After a while without hearing any further sounds, she knocked on the bathroom door again. All she could hear was the sound of running water; there was no response from Lin Tai. Panic set in because she knew that many people had encountered accidents while bathing. Unable to open the door herself, Lin's Mom called for Lin Dad.
Together, they forced the door open.
They found Lin Tai curled up on the floor, convulsing and frothing at the mouth as if he were having a seizure. Frightened, Lin Dad and Lin's Mom quickly called for help. The ambulance arrived swiftly and took Lin Tai to the hospital for emergency treatment. He has been lying in the hospital ever since, unresponsive—neither eating nor drinking nor smiling—like a vegetative state. However, unlike a true vegetative state, he could get up and walk around in a daze, exuding a deathly aura that left the doctors at a loss for what to do.
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