Hearing the news that my good friend Xiao Zhou had moved, our group of buddies started clamoring to go to his place to warm up the hotpot. So Xiao Zhou arranged for us to go to his new home for dinner on Friday night.
After work that day, I bought a bouquet of fresh flowers and excitedly went to Xiao Zhou's address. I took the elevator up to the 13th floor, Block B, and when I saw his apartment number, I reached out and rang the doorbell. However, after the bell rang, no one came to open the door. Impatiently, I pressed it several more times, but it was like no one was home; the door never opened. That can't be! He promised us dinner—how could Xiao Zhou not be home? What is this guy up to? Did I get the wrong door? I quickly took out the address on the note and compared it with the number on the door. Yes, it was the right number! What's going on? I pressed my ear to the door to listen, and it was completely silent inside, no movement at all. Helplessly, I glanced at my watch—it was almost six o'clock. “When I see this guy, I'll definitely have a good scolding for him!” I grimly thought to myself and tried contacting Xiao Zhou on my phone. Damn it! My phone ran out of battery at that exact moment. So freaking unlucky!
I turned, intending to ask another resident. At that moment, the door behind me clicked open, revealing a crack. Ha! My buddies really know how to play tricks—never opening the door early, acting all mysterious to scare me; that must be Li Bin's idea. Fine, I'll play along. Thinking this, I quietly pushed the door open. Inside, the curtains were drawn, and the lights were off—it was pitch dark. I listened carefully, but there was no sound at all. Heh, interesting! I suddenly charged in, shouting, “I'm a ghost, here to get you, come out!” while waving the bouquet of flowers. Just then, the door behind me slammed shut with a bang. I lunged back toward the door but grabbed nothing—there was no one behind it, and my head hit the wall hard, scattering the flowers all over the floor. A bit angry, I reached to turn on the light. “Bastards, have you had enough! Come out...” But the light didn't turn on, and no one answered my scolding. I was really annoyed, so I quickly walked to the curtain and yanked open the black drape. But the sight before me shocked me—behind the curtain was not a window at all, but a wall. I hurriedly opened all the curtains—every single one of them was a wall. My God!It was a room without windows. I sensed something was wrong and quickly turned to run toward the door. Suddenly, an old, strange voice behind me said, "Living person, I can get in and out of here. Don't bother with your strength. Just stay quietly!" The suppressed voice seemed to have emerged from deep underground. With the voice, with a "whoosh," blue-green flames lit up at the four corners of the room, the flames dyeing the entire room a strange blue. By the firelight, I despairingly discovered that there was only a fake door painted on the wall where the original door had been. It's over! I thought in terror, my life was over today...... With no other choice, I steeled myself, clenched my fists, and turned around. I saw a large, pitch-black coffin, quietly placed in the center of the room glowing with blue firelight, surrounded by piles of white bones. I didn't notice the person speaking to me, so I could only stare at the coffin with extreme tension, not blinking for a moment. At that moment, the coffin lid was slowly moved open with a loud "whoosh" sound, and the pungent stench of corpses immediately wafted out. I quickly covered my mouth and nose, instinctively retreating. Although my whole body was icy cold, and my muscles trembled with fear and tension, I loudly reminded myself in my heart, "Don't be afraid! Don't be weak, you must persist!" ”。 Suddenly, a pair of pale hands mixed with dark blue livor mortes clung to the coffin wall. Inside, a "shis" sound came from inside, and a rotting corpse's head slowly poked out. The face of the corpse was covered with patches of bruise and purple, and thick yellow and white corpse fluid dripped from every crevice. His eyes rolled back half-open, their eyelids deeply sunken into their sockets. Fat maggots writhed busily on his face, moving in and out through his nostrils and mouth baring two rows of sharp teeth. This terrifying and disgusting corpse slowly stood up from the coffin; his clothes had long since rotted to pieces, scattered and clinging to his body. The skin and flesh on my chest were already rotten through, revealing some bones supporting my chest cavity. My abdomen was left with only a hole, and the bluish-purple intestines slipped out, dragging between my legs. Seeing this, I started vomiting uncontrollably from extreme fear and nausea, my stomach twitching violently from the vomiting.I bent over in pain, pressing my body tightly against the wall. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to endure and would collapse; if that happened, everything would be over. Just as I was struggling painfully, gasping for breath, the corpse began to speak. “Poor living one, you don't need to vomit anymore. After tonight, you will be like me. The feeling of no breath or heartbeat is wonderful, and the world without thought, love, or desire is peaceful and calm. Only in death can you experience the beauty of death. Come, let me take you to our world. Then, you will thank me.” “No!” I suddenly straightened up. “You can go die yourself! Don't think of dragging me along. I will never go with you, you damn bastard!” The corpse remained expressionless. It had climbed out of the coffin, extending its stiff, icy-cold rotting hands, dragging a pile of stinking flesh, and moved toward me. In moments of extreme crisis, the courage and strength that arise within humans are always the greatest gifts God gives us. I often thought this afterward. Anger in my heart and the determination to make a last desperate fight overcame my fear. I charged at the corpse like a madman, lifting my leg and kicking its face hard. With a muffled thud, the body in front of me only wobbled slightly and continued walking toward me indifferently. Its fragile appearance deceived me. At that moment, I realized how difficult it is to confront the dead, because it feels no pain, shows no fear, and offers neither sympathy nor mercy. When my first strike failed, I urgently turned to avoid the corpse that was almost on top of me, but its seemingly stiff hand grabbed my shoulder with astonishing speed. Its exposed finger bones were as sharp as knives, digging deep into my flesh. I screamed in pain and, desperate, leapt backward. “Ssshh,” a piece of flesh on my shoulder was torn off, and the piercing pain instantly drenched my body in sweat. Naturally, it stuffed the flesh into its mouth and chewed loudly. Watching my own flesh being devoured by another, I became furious, cursing loudly. An overwhelming, nameless force made me lift the heavy coffin lid, swinging it down hard onto the man-eating corpse. “Bang!” The corpse was thrown back by the impact, its body breaking in two at the waist due to the violent collision.I jumped over, grabbed its lower limbs off the ground, and slammed them down onto its struggling upper body. One strike, then another; the crisp sound of bones breaking reached my ears. I kept pounding frantically as if insane, nonstop, until there was nothing left on the ground but a bloody, mangled mess, only then did I collapse to the floor exhausted...
"Wake up! Wake up!" I heard the chief urging through the haze. I abruptly sat up and rubbed my eyes. The chief's angry gaze was fixed on me. "Young man, stop sleeping, it's unacceptable! Aiya…" I wiped the sweat off my forehead and awkwardly forced a smile, saying, "Ah, sorry, I worked late last night and didn't sleep well. Haha, it won't happen again." I tried to cover for myself. The chief shook his head and left the office. I hurriedly checked the time; it was past five, time to get off work.
While reliving the nightmare, I let out a long sigh, feeling a bit proud, thinking it would be great to tell my dream to Xiaozhou's family! After leaving the office, I bought a bouquet of flowers and easily found Xiaozhou's house. I raised my hand to press the doorbell, but after the chime, nothing but dead silence was on the other side. I suddenly realized that ever since leaving the office, everything I had done was exactly the same as what happened in the dream. My God! Could it be… (The End)
