Chapter 13, Location for the “Interview”
Standing on the small hill beside the road, looking at the deserted and desolate village, Hao Ren began thinking about whether his intelligence could still be rescued – how could he be so foolish to actually come to this place?
He was surprised to know that such a place existed around the city he has lived for 25 years. A place filled with dilapidated but primitive villages, and even though it was really far from the city, in Hao Ren’s impression, such a village should only appear in ravines.
Usually, only a place with huge mountains blocking off the development of the civilization, the rapids and cliffs blocking the traffic would have this kind of primitive style of human settlement.
However, this location was not remote to that extent, and there was even a highway leading to the city … So he was quite surprised to see the state of the village in front of him.
What he was more surprised about was that, the interview he was asked to attend by the strange woman was for an “Import and Export Company”…. This was totally unacceptable to him. You can insult a person’s personality, but how can someone insult a person’s intelligence so much? Although Hao Ren compared trading companies to street supermarkets, even he doubted whether this place even had a single grocery shop, much less an “Import and Export Company”…
Hao Ren stood beside the road under the scorching sun, looking at the direction the old bus had just disappeared, waiting for the next bus which would pass by here an hour later, he felt pathetic about his life at thought of that.
Waiting here, he even missed the vampire at home who was a little stubborn, who haven’t yet paid the rent and always looked for trouble — he missed the cold wind around Vivian, although it was always with a smell of blood, at least it was cool! Unlike this place which had no trees for at least a few hundred meters, and the largest shade within his sight was the pole a hundred meters away, and the shaded area could barely cover his arm and let alone cool him down …
He really couldn’t tide over the difficulties! As for the small village which was only ten minutes away… Hao Ren never even thought about going there, and he didn’t intend even if the message turns out to be true! What could be more obvious than this! Who the hell would come come work at a place like this!!…
Moreover, the whole thing seemed like a prank, he was totally fooled by the mysterious women over the phone.
Hao Ren was now only curious about one thing: How was he fooled over involuntarily when he answered the phone? Why didn’t he feel that this was abnormal when he heard the a name so magical such as “Wang Ba Tuo Zi”? How come he only realized he was an idiot only after seeing the state of the village? He didn’t notice these three issues before, thinking about these things now, he broke into a cold sweat.
Yes! Hao Ren still remembered that he did think for a long time after receiving the weird phone call, only after hesitating and considering carefully for a long time, did he decide to come and investigate this case. At that time he felt that he was in a really normal state of mind. The moment of hesitation and reflection was enough to prove that he made the decision after thinking thoroughly and on his own. But thinking about it now… His journey here made no sense at all!
Just the “Import and Export Trading Company” and “Wang Ba Tuo Zi” was enough to raise question about this whole thing! Hao Ren subconsciously touched his head, to make sure that his head was still present, safe and sound.
A moment later, Hao Ren started walking towards the direction he had come from. Under the scorching sun, it was not ideal to walk from here all the way back home, it was just that he felt that the least he could do was to stay away from this damned place!! Going away from this address provided by the mysterious woman may elevate his safety factor. He planned to walk along the road while waiting for the bus, since the bus had no fixed stations for taking passengers. If someone waves at the bus, it would stop and carry you.
The phone number was abnormal, the call duration was abnormal, furthermore, the mysterious woman sounded abnormal, and as she used a flawed justification to trick Hao Ren to come over here. He must have gone insane to have believed any of this, so he needed to leave this place as soon as possible. Go back home to the two abnormal creatures’ side. Perhaps Lily and Vivian would have some solutions – at least the vampire seemed to know things such as spells, as she had mentioned some magic stuff.
As soon as he started walking, and took a few steps away, the monotonous ringtone began ringing again. Hao Ren was startled by the familiar ringtone, as it seemed to be at least ten times louder than usual, and he felt as if his eardrums just bursted. What’s more, somehow a vague hint of anger was passed over through the ringtone.
Hao Ren scrambled to pull out his phone, finding the telephone number on the color screen was the same abnormal number from whichever country it was from: 00000012345. After staring at the number for a while, Hao Ren removed the battery firmly! – Fortunately, it was not an iPhone, otherwise he would have no choice but to smash the phone.
He soon realized, the only choice left for him was to smash the phone, and just as like in every supernatural horror film, the phone was still ringing after the battery was removed. If we were to say that previously Hao Ren was just a little paranoid and not really sure about it, then this time he was one hundred percent sure that he was again entangled into something abnormal!
What’s even worse was that he didn’t have anything around which could protect him, He rushed here before he had the chance to inquire about “Aliens” from Vivian and Lily!
When the ringing repeated for the third time, Hao Ren was finally determined, to raise his Nokia phone high, and smash it towards the ground mercilessly!
“I don’t believe you can still ring after smashin……. FML! WTF is happening? ”
Nokia really deserved to be the best in the world, as Hao Ren watched his old phone hitting the ground with a ghost image, and then…… it embedding itself into the concrete! Would you dare believe it? And it was still ringing!!!
Hao Ren was sure that he never had such abnormal strength, so the only explanation to the current phenomenon was that, the caller was warning him in this way to show that resistance was futile. Some things were unscientific, unreasonable, and did not follow the common sense – he was afraid that even tying the phone to a missile and launching it into space wouldn’t work!
Hao Ren gingerly bent down to pick up the phone which was not even a bit damaged, and put it near his ear. Although his heart was abnormally fast, he was still very confident: “Hey! What the hell do you want from me!! ”
“Bullshit, to interview you! ” Sure enough, the melodic but scary female voice sounded again. Although he didn’t know why, he still felt a little relaxed the moment he heard the other’s voice. Perhaps it was because the other side was speaking human language, he believed that she things were still negotiable? Or perhaps the mysterious woman still mentioning about just the “interview” thing, made him feel a little gratuitous comfort.
He had come so far, and all the abnormal scenes was just there in front of him, and if the other had malicious intention, now was the time to strike a vicious blow, but since the woman did not use her extraordinary ability to strike him with thunder using remote control. Hao Ren felt that he was at least temporarily safe.
And as for why it was not anything else …… That was because Hao Ren’s imagination just stopped there, and he could not think of a more sublime and powerful means of striking him. To him even the fight between Vivian and Lily last night was like watching a Hollywood blockbuster action scene.
“Interview …… ” Hao Ren managed to calm down, pretending that he was not afraid at all, he did indeed sound really calm, “Let’s put the cards on the table, anyway I am at the place you asked me to come, could you please not fool around me with the “Import and Export trading company” sort of things? Can’t we just make things clear? ”
“Oh, We have orders from our superior, that we cannot not expose the confidentiality, if the candidates are ineligible or it was not the right time.” The woman from the other side didn’t sound eerie or frightening, and she did not give any sense of threatening. It sounded as if they were talking about something quite normal, which made Hao Ren very surprised.
“Now you walk as I say, and you will find the location of our unit… ”
“Wait a minute!” Hao Ren interrupted loudly, He could no longer tolerate simply following the other’s pace, “Let’s make this clear first – What the hell do you want? A straightforward person does not resort to insinuations. Can you stop hiding under the guise of the interview thing?”
The woman on the other side of the line sounded impatient: “Ah why are you guys so sluggish, I SAID it is an interview and it IS indeed an interview, if you want to know the rules of our unit you have to wait until you are here!! Now listen, have you seen the pole in front of you? Walk to the foot of it, place your hand on the traditional Chinese Medicine ad stuck on the pole, and face north… Do you know which direction is north? Up-north, Down-west, Left-west, Right-west, and look above! ”
Hao Ren: “…” He felt the woman on the other side of the line was probably a psychopath.
But when he really looked up, he was stunned.
There actually was an upside-down building hovering above his head!!!
Here the author described some common phenomena in remote China. Explained in previous chapter’s footnote A plot frequently encountered in Chinese xianxia novels. A jingle indicating direction when looking at maps in Chinese