Last Bus of Route 13

I dropped the paper, my heart pounding like a drum. How could it be Wei Youzhi’s death certificate?

The tricycle driver was Wei Youzhi, a ghost picking me up at the station?

Standing there at the bar counter, lost in thought, the 200-jin landlady grumbled impatiently, “What are you doing? Are you staying or not? If you are, pay up.”

Snapping back to reality, I nodded quickly, paid for the room, and the landlady handed me the key, pointing down the hallway. “Room 1013 at the very end,” she said, yawning and turning back into her room.

With lingering fear, I glanced again at the death certificate on the floor. Besides the name and photo, there seemed to be some additional information.

Taking a deep breath, I bent down and picked it up again.

Below the name was the cause of death, simply noted as “natural causes.”

In the bottom right corner of the white paper was a piece of crucial information: Wei Youzhi’s home address-Xuefu Garden, Building 7, Unit 3, Room 403.

Not wanting to keep the paper, I took a photo of the address with my mobile phone and crumpled it into a ball, tossing it into the wastebasket under the bar counter.

After settling into the room, I lay in bed, staring blankly. Was Wei Youzhi delivering the death certificate with the address as a way of welcoming me?

Lost in thought, my phone rang. It was Bun Hairstyle calling. Even through the phone, I could sense the alcohol on him.

“Hey, have you arrived?”

I sighed and replied, “Did you drink yourself into a stupor? I got off the train at ten, and you’re just now calling.”

Bun Hairstyle chuckled foolishly, “Just had a few drinks with some buddies. As long as you arrived safely. If you need money or people over there, just let me know.”

As he spoke, sleepiness washed over me, and I mumbled a few words before trying to hang up.

Bun Hairstyle suddenly remembered something, “Oh right, the police came looking for you this afternoon.”

I paused, asking, “What do the police want with me? Is it about the Changbai Mountain case?”

“Yeah, they called you, but your phone was off. At first, they wouldn’t say why they were looking for you. I had to slip a little something to a junior officer to get him to talk.”

I wasn’t worried, knowing that Meng E, like Old Lady Qiu, was killed by a ghost. I had no motive or evidence against me, so I asked, “What did you find out?”

“Not much. The junior officer said they just wanted to ask who invited Meng E to the meeting. Their captain said the meeting was real, but no one was sent to notify Meng E.”

Bun Hairstyle’s words seemed simple at first, but the more I thought about it, the more terrifying it became!

I remembered clearly that night, Meng E and I were discussing the crucial question of who the ghost was. Just as Meng E was about to name someone, there was a knock on the door. It would have taken just seconds to name someone, but it was like squeezing toothpaste-painfully slow.

The person knocking never entered the room, and I never saw their face. I only heard them through the door, saying they were calling Meng E to a meeting.

So, the person knocking wasn’t Meng E’s colleague, wasn’t even human!!!

Bun Hairstyle kept saying “hello” on the other end, but I hung up, feeling a chill in my heart.

I had always regretted not finding out who the ghost was that night. It seemed the ghost had already followed me up the mountain. Even if Meng E hadn’t responded to the knock, something else would have interrupted us. There was no way I could have heard the ghost’s name from her!

I steeled my resolve. From now on, I wouldn’t expect to learn his identity from anyone. Since he encouraged me to investigate, there must be clues to his identity.

…

The next morning, after getting up and washing up, I ran into the landlady in the lobby. I nodded politely, but she barely acknowledged me with a glance.

“Sister, can I ask you something?”

The landlady walked over to the bar counter, grabbed a few sunflower seeds, and started cracking them absentmindedly.

“What is it?”

“I need to go to Xuefu Garden. Which community around here is it?”

She looked at me sideways and asked, “Xuefu Garden’s become an abandoned building. Hardly anyone lives there. What are you going there for?”

From her expression, it was clear she was the type who loved gossip. I just wanted a straight answer, but she had to pry.

I made up a reason, “Oh, I’m thinking of checking out the property. It’s cheap, right?”

She paused, spat out a seed shell far away, and said, “Are you out of your mind? Buying a house in Xuefu Garden? Got more money than sense?”

Her words left me speechless. She gave me a disdainful look and muttered, “Just head east out the door. When you see a bunch of abandoned buildings, that’s it. Go on, you fool.”

I was getting annoyed. I just asked a question, and this shrew was insulting me?

Seeing my frown, she sneered, “Xuefu Garden’s right next to the Business School. Even if they paid you to take a house there, no one would want it. You out-of-towners can’t even lie properly.”

So she was mocking me for lying. I forced a smile and said, “Sister, I heard the Business School is haunted, so I didn’t want to scare you by telling the truth. I’m actually looking for someone there.”

The landlady didn’t even flinch, continuing to munch on her seeds. “What do I have to be scared of? If I were scared, would I be running an inn here?”

After saying this, she lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and asked, “I’ve been running this inn for over twenty years. So, who are you looking for in Xuefu Garden?”

Seeing that she was a local and seemed familiar with the residents, I was delighted. “Sister, I’m looking for Wei Youzhi’s family. Do you know them?”

Her expression unchanged, she nodded, “Yeah, he died a couple of years ago. Now it’s just his wife and son left.”

I nodded, “Right, they haven’t moved out yet, have they? I’ll go find them now.”

Just as I was about to leave, she blew a smoke ring and grabbed my arm.

“Hold on.”

“You can go to Xuefu Garden if you want, but let me warn you, don’t set foot in that Business School. I don’t want you leaving here as a person and coming back as a ghost.”

“Alright, no worries,” I replied, not wanting to engage further with her. I nodded casually and stepped out the door.

Following the landlady’s directions, I walked for about half an hour and indeed came upon a cluster of abandoned buildings. This was an old community, and the once-enclosed walls had long since crumbled with age.

Across the street from the community stood a school. Even from a distance, I could see the playground overgrown with weeds, and the teaching buildings had lost their glass windows, presenting a scene of eerie desolation-perfect for filming a ghost story without needing any set design!

After taking in the view for a moment, I quickly refocused and turned towards Xuefu Garden. Just as the landlady had described, the place was deserted even in broad daylight. I walked alone, my footsteps echoing in the emptiness, reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic world.

I found Building 7, Unit 3, and made my way through the entrance to the fourth floor. Standing before apartment 403, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

After a round of knocking, there was no response, which made me anxious. I had intentionally come early to catch them before they went out. If they weren’t home in the morning, perhaps they had already moved away?

Just as I raised my hand to knock again, the door creaked open.

A weary-looking middle-aged woman stood inside. She was thin, with dark, sunken eyes, appearing weak and malnourished.

Perhaps it had been a long time since they’d had visitors, as she looked at me with confusion and timidly asked, “Who are you?”

I introduced myself and mentioned my workplace. The woman seemed taken aback, as if my words had stirred some old, sorrowful memories. She lowered her head and invited me inside to talk.

The community was quite old, and Wei Youzhi’s home was even more so-perhaps “simple” would be a better word. The living room contained only an old TV with its back cover removed, a yellowed Haier refrigerator from my childhood, and a sofa with exposed foam. Clearly, life was tough for the mother and son.

I sat on the sofa, surveying the surroundings. The bedroom door was open, and two dirty stuffed dolls lay scattered on the floor. A boy, around fourteen or fifteen, sat on the bed, staring intently at me.

Wei Youzhi’s wife brought me a cup of hot water and sat beside me, asking, “Are you a colleague of Wei Youzhi? He passed away two years ago.”

I nodded and said, “Sister-in-law, Brother Wei was my predecessor. I joined the company after him. I’m here to find something that belonged to Brother Wei.”

Seeing that she was straightforward, I decided to be direct about my purpose. A widow raising a young son must face many challenges. I hadn’t brought anything with me, but I planned to leave them five hundred yuan when I left.

“Looking for Old Wei’s belongings? He quit your company ten years ago and only brought home a quilt and a box of diaries. There’s nothing else. What are you looking for?”

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what exactly I was looking for. Old Wu had mentioned that Wei Youzhi had some important documents, but he hadn’t specified what they were. I wondered if he was referring to the diaries.

“Sister-in-law, is Brother Wei’s diary still around? Was there nothing else in the diary box besides the diaries?”

Upon hearing this, she lowered her head as if trying to recall something. I sat quietly, waiting for her to remember. Suddenly, a piercing scream came from the bedroom, making my heart skip a beat!

I quickly looked towards the bedroom. The boy who had been sitting on the bed was now staring at me with wide eyes, clutching his head and screaming frantically.

I was utterly shocked, frozen on the sofa, unsure of what to do. Seeing this, the sister-in-law hurried into the bedroom and shut the door.

I had no idea what was happening inside. After about ten minutes, the boy stopped screaming, and the sister-in-law finally emerged from the bedroom. Through the gap in the door, I could see the boy still sitting on the bed, staring at me intently.

Feeling uneasy under his gaze, I asked with a smile, “Sister-in-law, what’s wrong with the kid? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. The child has been haunted by ghosts since he was little; he often has these episodes.”

Her words startled me, “Haunted by ghosts?”

Her sunken eyes and dark circles showed she was very tired. She slowly explained, “The year his father passed away, I was raising him alone. I took my eyes off him for a moment, and he wandered into the school across the street. He came out like this.”

“Is it the Business School across the street? I heard when I arrived that the school is haunted. Why hasn’t it been demolished after all these years?”

She scoffed, “Mudanjiang isn’t like your big cities. We have fewer people and more land, and development is lagging behind. Everyone in town knows about the haunted school, and no developer dares to come.”

“Why didn’t you and Brother Wei move somewhere else?”

She shook her head with a bitter smile, “Moving costs money. Back when Old Wei worked at your company as a driver, he earned a few thousand a month. But then he suddenly quit, and at home, he could only make a living driving a tricycle, which wasn’t enough to cover expenses.”

Her words sent a chill down my spine. Wei Youzhi was indeed a tricycle driver before he died. Was it really his ghost that picked me up at the train station last night?

As we talked, it was already noon. I wanted to take them out for lunch, but Sister-in-law thought it was a waste and refused. We had a simple meal of noodles at her place, and she began searching for the box with Wei Youzhi’s diaries.

Though her home wasn’t large, there were plenty of cabinets and boxes. She spent the entire afternoon searching but couldn’t find the diaries.

Seeing that it was getting dark, I suggested coming back tomorrow. She didn’t insist on me staying, saying she’d continue looking in the evening. As I opened the door to leave, Wei Youzhi’s teenage son suddenly dashed out of the bedroom, pushed me aside, and ran out.

The boy startled me. Sister-in-law, seeing her son run off, frantically called his name and chased him downstairs.

It was getting dark, and with her son not being well, I feared something might happen, so I hurried after them.

The boy ran fast, darting out of the community and across the street. I saw the direction he was heading and felt a pang of anxiety.

Oh no! He’s running into the Business School!

I stopped across the street, hesitating, my palms sweating.

This Business School, ever since I arrived, I’ve heard it’s haunted. The landlady warned me not to go near it. Now that Wei Youzhi’s son has run inside, isn’t it dangerous?

While I hesitated, Sister-in-law caught up from behind. Seeing her child run into the school, she covered her mouth and cried, ready to rush in. I stopped her, thinking:

Every time, others have helped me, sacrificed for me, taken risks for me. Why can’t I be brave for someone else just once?

I clenched my teeth and told her, “Sister-in-law, wait here. I’ll go in and bring the child out.”

With that, I steeled myself and ran into the haunted Business School!