This story has been published exclusively by the author: Shansi , with the authorization of Reading Stories app every day. Its associated account "Midnight Stories" has been legally sub-authorized for publication, and any infringement will be investigated.
On the 93rd day of unemployment, my family called again and urged me to go back to my hometown for a blind date.
I was sitting on the bus looking at the amount of credit card debt on my phone, not knowing where my future was. I told myself I couldn’t go back, let alone go back in such disgrace.
Data shows that only 0.8% of people can pass 985 in the college entrance examination every year. I have worked hard for more than ten years and finally became one of the 0.8%, but I still can only do the same job as everyone else, earn a similar salary, and struggle to survive in this first-tier big city.
There is also data saying that the average salary of people who graduated from key colleges and universities will only be significantly different from that of graduates from ordinary colleges and universities in the second ten years after working. However, it happens to be in this first ten years. When it ended, due to the general environment, I was "graduated".
I was sitting on the bus and wandering aimlessly in this beautiful city. I had no intention of admiring the scenery outside the window. I just kept browsing the information on the recruitment website. I know that women in their early thirties who are unmarried and have no children have little hope of finding a job in this environment, but only in this way can I feel that I am still working hard...if I work hard, there is still hope.
"Ding~"
A reward notice popped up on
's mobile phone:
Liu Yong, male... is suspected of intentional homicide. Before July 31st, the public security organs will award RMB 500,000 to informants who provide valuable clues and units and individuals who assist in the arrest...
also attached a photo of the suspect.
Today’s media platforms are convenient. People like me can receive reward information for wanted criminals, so we must not break the law.
Just when I was thinking wildly, the alarm on my phone reminded me that it was time to go home. I chose a nearby subway station and got off, then blended in with the crowd of people who had just gotten off work and waited for the subway to go home.
Although I heard that many companies have made large-scale layoffs due to the impact of the general environment, the subway during the evening rush hour is still packed like boxes of sardine cans.
It may be due to the mental anxiety and lack of rest during this period. During the push, my center of gravity became unsteady and I almost fell. Fortunately, someone from behind helped me in time. After reluctantly squeezing onto the subway, I turned around to say thank you. I looked at the man and thought he looked familiar.
"Have we seen each other before somewhere?"
I didn't realize until I said this that these words might be misunderstood as a cliche to strike up a conversation. Just as I was about to explain, the man turned around and squeezed into another car.
I know I’m not a beauty, but even if I’m trying to strike up a conversation, it wouldn’t be so exaggerated. Along the way, I reflected on whether I had offended him in some way, but in the end I couldn't come up with a result. After all, I didn't have time to do anything except ask the same old question.
When I returned to the rental house, I rushed directly into the bathroom, determined to wash away the bad luck I had suffered today.
The confidence he regained by taking a bath could not last long. When I saw the instant noodles box that was about to bottom out, everything turned into bubbles. Then I resolutely cracked two eggs into the pot.
Checking my phone while eating is a bad habit I have developed over the past few years. Life was already going through so much, so I didn’t intend to embarrass myself, so I still took out my phone before speaking formally. As soon as the
video software is opened, there is still the same reward message that I forgot to exit just now. I was about to slide away when my eyes were suddenly caught by the photo. Isn't this person the one on the subway? ! Although the man was wearing a mask, his eyes were almost exactly the same as that of the wanted criminal!
I stood up suddenly, and accidentally knocked my knee on the side of the coffee table. The pain made me fall back again, and I couldn't stand up for a while. 500,000! I actually passed by "500,000" today! If I can get this 500,000...the problems at hand won't be a problem.
This news is not too exciting to me. At least it allowed me to eat alone without playing with my mobile phone for the first time in several years.
After quietly finishing the bowl of instant noodles, I had made a decision - I must get the 500,000. This is the only shortcut to my current predicament.
The next day, I went out and took the bus around the city as usual. The only difference was that I carefully put on light makeup.
The subway station is the busiest place in every city. No matter how the outside world changes, the morning and evening rush hours of the subway station will always be like a canning factory. That day, I took the same subway at the same subway station at the same time, but I didn’t meet the same person from last time until I got to the terminal of that subway.
The third day...the fourth day...the fifth day...the twenty-eighth day, I repeated this journey every day and enjoyed it, even though I never met that person again.
has been busy preparing for chance encounters. I no longer have the intention to dwell on the injustices I have encountered, and I no longer blindly worry about my future. My insomnia has also been greatly improved. I seem to have found the goal of life again. It has become my habit to take this subway to the terminal at a fixed time every day.
I forgot what day it was when I took this subway. I only remember that he was wearing a long-sleeved jacket at that time. People who wear long-sleeved jackets in early July will inevitably attract different looks from others. He looked a little embarrassed.
I took the initiative to step forward and greet him: "What a coincidence, do you still remember me?"
He stared at me warily for a while without saying anything. I guessed that he didn't remember, so I reminded him: "Last time I almost fell down. Thanks to you, I didn’t have time to say thank you.”
He still didn’t speak. Just when I thought he wouldn’t pay attention to me, he said you’re welcome.
His voice was low and calm when he spoke. I wondered if I had admitted my mistake. This was not like what a murderer would do. "To express my gratitude, let me treat you to finish your meal. I know a very good restaurant is near the terminal station of this subway." I said the lines I had rehearsed countless times for more than a month.
"No need..."
"You can't refuse me. In order to meet you again, I have been squeezing the subway to this station for more than a month. If you have a meal with me, consider it as compensation for me."
I knew from his last reaction that he would probably refuse this time, and he had already thought of a way to deal with it. As expected, he didn't refuse again.
While eating, he chose a corner seat and took off his mask. Having been in business for so many years, the sharp eyes and sharp eyes trained by him can't be concealed. He is indeed Liu Yong.
"I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Zhang Can. I am an ordinary part-time worker. How about you?"
"Liu Yong."
"Aren't you hot?" I motioned with my eyes that he could take off his coat.
"It's inconvenient to have an injury on my hand."
"If you have an injury, you can't cover it. Just take it off if it's hot. I don't mind."
He didn't answer and insisted on wearing the coat, which made me even more curious. . But now is not the time.
After dinner, I asked to exchange contact information. He said he didn’t have his cell phone with him, so I wrote my contact information on a tissue and handed it to him. Everything is going very smoothly, at least so far it is following my pre-set script.
In the following days, I would take the subway every morning when I left home, and I would sit there all day long. I saw him appearing at different times in the past few days. I deliberately let him see me every time, but I pretended not to see him and just browsed the recruitment website with my mobile phone.
went on like this for a week, and he finally took the initiative to sit next to me when there were not many people around.
"Don't you have to go to work?"
"You're fired."
" So you are going for an interview now? "
" No, this is more reassuring. "
" what? "
" Watching other people busy on the subway makes me feel less anxious. "
" Oh. "
Then there was nothing to say all the way. He got off the train halfway and we didn't say goodbye.
I still used the air conditioner on that subway every day. He still didn't know when he would get on the train and got off at different stops. . Every time I made sure he would see me, but I never took the initiative to talk to him.
After more than a week, I received a call from him saying that he needed my help and asked me to get off the bus at the terminal. Call him. I know this means that I have gained his trust, and the opportunity has come. I suppressed my excitement and responded with my usual non-curious personality.
Under his guidance on the phone, I walked around for half an hour and arrived at the house in a dilapidated old community. Just as I was about to knock on the door, the door opened from the inside.
"This is your house." ? "
" so be it. "
" What do you want me to do for you? "
" comes first. "
As soon as I entered the room, Liu Yong directly handed me a bundle of hemp rope. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. My first reaction was that I had been discovered by him!
Liu Yong saw that I was reluctant to pick up the rope. After crossing the hemp rope, he took the hemp rope and walked to a chair in the middle of the living room and sat down. Then he said to me: "Please tie me to this chair, the tighter the better." "
What he said made me feel even weirder, and I instinctively wanted to run out the door. But I couldn't. If I ran away now, all my previous efforts would be in vain.
I took a deep breath to stabilize my emotions, and asked him : "What are you playing at? "
The next incredible scene happened. Liu Yong's face turned red from his ears to the root of his neck! Only then did I realize that I had said something misleading again. But this made me nervous. The atmosphere has been relieved.
“I am afraid that I will get sick and do something uncontrollable, so I have to tie myself up. "He explained.
"What disease requires this? "
" just becomes manic and wants to break things, so it's not a big problem. "
"You should see a psychiatrist. I tried "
" but it didn't work. Is it useful to bind "
" like this? "
" I don't know, no one has helped me before, and I haven't tried it either. How long does it take to bind "
"? "
" If it's convenient for you, just come over and untie me at this time tomorrow. "After
was tied up, I was worried about something happening, so I didn't leave right away. I waited quietly outside the door. Not long after, I heard a crashing sound from inside the room. I saw him desperately trying to break away from the gap in the curtains. He was sitting on a chair, and he was very irritable. He was completely different from before.
Maybe this was mania , otherwise how could he become a murderer... I went home after confirming that he could not die. I couldn't tell. For some reason, I didn't choose to call the police when he got sick.
Early the next morning, I received a call from Liu Yong while I was still in bed. Maybe it was because he hadn't slept all night. His voice sounded a little irritable.
“Didn’t you ask me to come over in the afternoon? "
" I have recovered. Come here quickly. There are three emergencies. "
"Okay, then wait for me for a while. "
After a night's rest, I was resurrected and picked up my script again.
After he experienced a night of mania, if I could thoughtfully bring breakfast to his door, I would definitely win more from him. So much goodwill and trust. Considering that the location of the community is too remote, I packed two breakfasts at the breakfast shop downstairs.
When I opened the door and entered the house with the key he gave me yesterday, he was sitting on the sofa playing with his mobile phone.
"Why did you ask me to come over when you were already relaxed?" I put breakfast on the table and invited him to come over and eat.
"I miss you." He suddenly leaned very close to me, and his words and tone were secretly strange.
"If you're fine, I'll go back first. I'm going to be late for work."
"Didn't you say you want to have breakfast?"
Liu Yong blocked the way to the door and refused to let me go. That look was exactly the same as the one on the wanted poster.
"I won't eat." I wanted to push him away and go to the door, but he pulled me back.
"Why are you so anxious? You have been trying to hang me up. Don't you like me?"
"You are not Liu Yong, who are you?"
"I am Liu Yong. The one you saw is just a useless person. Impostor." I saw anger and uncontrollable excitement in his eyes. He leaned towards me, grabbed both my wrists hard, and said almost close to my face: "But this fake has good eyesight." He also let out a creepy and lewd laugh.
I couldn't break free, so I had to lower my voice and beg him for mercy.
"You pinched me."
"I know." He smiled even more obscenely, "I can not only make you hurt, but also make you feel good. Do you want to try it?"
"You are perverted."
"I'm a pervert. I'm not only a pervert, I'm also a murderer. I hate disobedient women. So you have to be obedient."
As he spoke, I was pinned down on the dining table by him.
"Are you worthy of him by doing this?" I was trying to stop him for the last time. I was thinking that the Liu Yong I had known during this period had a crush on me.
"He is me, I am him, he should thank me."
"I am not his woman." I shouted in collapse.
"It will be soon."
He tore my clothes apart without any explanation.
I once naively thought that my biggest danger was death, and I even felt complacent about my perfect script more than once... Script? How ridiculous it seems now.
What’s even more ridiculous is that after experiencing such treatment, I could actually wake up.
I was tied to the same chair where Liu Yong was tied. The breakfast that had been spilled on the floor started to smell sour. I tried to move my hands and feet, but I didn't know whether it was because the injury was too severe or the binding was too tight. The slightest movement caused excruciating pain.
can still feel pain. It seems that I am much stronger than I thought. I laughed to myself.
At this moment, the sound of opening the door came from outside. Liu Yong looked pale and stumbled over to kneel down in front of me. My body instinctively wanted to get away, and the pain caused me to grin for a long time.
"I'm sorry... It's all my fault. I shouldn't have gotten you involved. It's all my fault..."
"It was you, you scared me." I said pretending to be relaxed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I won't let him hurt you anymore, I won't..."
"Is it schizophrenia ?" With my only knowledge of psychology, I can almost conclude.
"You know everything?"
"Why don't you get cured?"
"No, I will disappear after cured, and there will be no way to stop him from continuing his mistakes."
"No wonder he said you are a fake. "I'm mean.
Liu Yong didn’t say anything, he just silently helped me untie the rope.
I really admire myself for being able to calm down and think about problems at this time.
"Then how can you guarantee that he won't hurt me again?"
Liu Yong still didn't speak, one hand clenched into a fist in his jacket pocket. I reached into that pocket and pulled out a brand new knife.
"Bought it on the road?"
He didn't answer.
"Did you buy it or did he buy it?"
"Me."
"Why?"
"Kill him."
"Is this how you stop him?"
He stopped talking again.
I watched him do such stupid things under the title of murderer, and suddenly I felt very ridiculous. Then I actually laughed out loud.
"If you hate me, you can use it to stab me a few times. As long as it doesn't hurt the internal organs or aorta, you can stab me anywhere."
I laughed even louder.
"It's not that I'm afraid of death, I just don't want you to kill anyone. I promise you, I will definitely kill him."
I couldn't laugh anymore.
Do I hate it? I think I hate it, but I don’t hate the person in front of me who said he would commit suicide to atone for his sins, nor do I hate the devil yesterday. I hate myself, I hate my self-righteousness, I hate that I pushed myself to this dead end because of such a little difficulty... I hate that there is no regret medicine in the world.
Liu Yong picked up the knife and put it in my hand, then closed his eyes and waited for me to do it. His almost pious look made me feel that what I had done before was extremely ridiculous.
I put down the knife, straightened my messy clothes, and then calmly confessed to him.
"To be honest with you, I have known for a long time that you are a murderer. I also know that you can get a 500,000 bonus for reporting you."
Liu Yong opened his eyes fiercely and stared at me in disbelief.
"You know I am unemployed. In fact, I have been unemployed for several months when I first met you." Everything is difficult at the beginning, but if you muster up the courage to start, it will be easier to say the rest. This is the beginning of a huge gamble.
"So you approached me for the bonus?"
"Yes, with these 500,000, all my problems will be solved."
"Have you been lying to me all this time?"
"Yes."
" Then why are you telling me now? You can obviously call the police..."
"I changed my mind."
"If it was just that person, I would kill him with a thousand cuts, but you are a good person. "I'm not."
"You are." I looked at him seriously and said, "You should surrender, confess everything to the police, and maybe you can get leniency. You can receive treatment in prison, and maybe their experts can help you "Stay."
"No, it's too cheap for him." He stared at the knife as he said this.
"Just think it's to make up for me. Please work hard to make him disappear completely."
"I can't do it." He lowered his head and didn't dare to look at me.
"You have to do it. It would be too easy for him to die like this. This is what you owe me."
I went into the bathroom to tidy up myself and prepared to leave. Before leaving, I put the knife into my bag and said to him: "Give me this knife for self-defense."
"Okay."
Walking out of that shabby neighborhood, I felt like I was just leaking The ball was so out of breath that he almost lost his strength and fell to the road. Because it is located in the suburbs, it is not easy to take a taxi here. I simply sat on the ground leaning against a tree on the side of the road to recover my strength as quickly as possible.
When I was confused, I heard someone calling me. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I had fallen asleep leaning against a street tree. The person who called me just now was the policeman who came to handle the case.
"Girl, what is your name? Why are you sleeping here?"
"My name is Zhang Can. I was just too tired just now..."
"You are Zhang Can." The policeman seemed very happy, "We are just picking up I received your alarm text message. We have the person under control, don't worry."
What kind of alarm text message? Why didn't I know?
I quickly took out the text messages on my phone to check, and I saw an alarm text message. Judging from the time it was sent, I should have been at Liu Yong's house at that time. "Sorry, I was too sleepy just now, so I didn't Hear the phone ringing. "Looking at the dozen or so 110 missed calls on my phone, I quickly apologized in embarrassment.
"As long as everything is okay. "The police comrades didn't blame me, they just asked me to go to their car to rest first.
"Can I go back with you? "I want to go with us to find out about Liu Yong's situation. I hope he can do as I say.
"Of course, you also need to go back with us and make a record. "
After finishing the transcript, a dedicated person received me and said that he needed to communicate with me about the distribution of rewards. After completing all the procedures, I sat in the reception room and did not leave.
"Why don't you go back? "The person who asked me was the police comrade who handled the case during the day.
"I want to ask about Liu Yong. "I look a little uneasy.
"Don't worry. The evidence of Liu Yong's murder is conclusive, and he will certainly not be given a light sentence. "
" He has schizophrenia, do you know? "I asked tentatively.
"Who did you listen to? "
" Didn't he tell you? "
" You must have been deceived by him. I have never seen a mentally ill patient with such a good psychological quality. Don't worry, we have the most professional neurology experts. Criminals who try to use mental illness to evade punishment will not succeed. "
In order to get the reward of 500,000 yuan, I tried to get close to the fugitive, but I didn't want to end up falling into a trap.
"Can I talk to him? "
" Wait for the court's decision. The most important thing for you now is to go back and have a good rest. "
3 months later, I got a chance to visit through the help of a lawyer friend.
"Is it you? "I asked him.
He said to me through the glass: "Long time no see. "
" That message was sent by you? "Although I know there is no other possibility, I still hope he can tell me more.
"What about you? "He asked. I knew what he wanted to ask.
"I plan to go back to my hometown. "
" is also good. "
" Why not say? "
" what? "
" is schizophrenic. "
" If you say it, you may be given a lighter punishment. If it's not me who stays... I don't have confidence in myself. "
" How can they tell me that you are not schizophrenic? "
" I'm trying my best not to let him appear. "
" You succeeded. "
" is for now. "
When the visiting time came, Liu Yong was taken back by the guarding police officer.
This should be the last time we meet in this life. It doesn't matter whether it is or not.
I walked out of the prison door and took out the The last part of the revised script in the package was marked with a red pen. Looking at this script that had been revised many times with red marks, a whole new world opened up to me. (original title: "Dead End". 》)
Click the [Follow] button on the upper right side of the screen to see more exciting stories about
.
