Chapter 52: Lost Item
Xin Junmao looked at the youth in front of him who appeared even younger than himself, feeling somewhat annoyed inside. He didn’t know why he was so reserved in his attitude toward someone younger than him, and his apologetic demeanor was a bit overly dramatic.
Sure enough, the life of an unemployed drifter was making him feel inferior.
Lin Ling glanced at the rash young man in front of him, a hint of unusual interest slowly emerging in his eyes, but he didn’t speak. He merely smiled and nodded at him before leaving.
Xin Junmao scratched his face, brushing off the minor incident. While waiting at the bus stop for the bus to arrive, he crossed his arms and fell into reminiscence, then thought suspiciously: “Now that I think about it carefully, that qipao beauty didn’t seem all that breathtakingly beautiful after all?”
Lin Ling arrived at the subway platform, standing there quietly without moving. The people around him seemed not to notice him at all, not sparing a single glance at the handsome youth, as if he were just an ordinary statue on the platform. He observed everyone entering and exiting the subway with great interest, carefully noting each person’s expression and behavior in his mind. No one knew what he was really up to.
It wasn’t until the last subway train arrived at 10:56 p.m. that Lin Ling finally moved, stepping into the subway and casually sitting in one of the empty seats.
In the spacious carriage, there were only a few people: a sleepy office worker just off overtime, a female university student hugging a tablet computer and binge-watching a drama, a sweet couple being affectionate, a black-clad woman as still as a maiden, and a fugitive mental illness patient with a weak presence.
Six people crammed into one carriage, which was also the only carriage with anyone in it.
The black-clad woman sat upright, holding her spotless slightly large luggage bag in one corner of the carriage. When she heard the announcement that the next subway station was approaching, her eyes slowly opened.
They were a pair of cold, emotionless gray eyes. She calmly turned her eyeballs, scanning everyone present, counting softly: “One, two, three, four.” It was as if in her eyes, these people were all lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
“Five.” A soft voice followed at a consistent interval. The black-clad woman shuddered violently upon hearing it, her eyes widening as she turned her head, her face showing astonishment.
She never imagined that someone could sit beside her without her noticing, and at such a close distance, yet she had only just noticed the youth’s presence, smelling the faint scent of incense coming from him.
The woman gripped her luggage bag tightly, her gaze turning sinister and hostile.
Lin Ling acted as if he hadn’t noticed her wariness and ferocity, saying to himself: “Have you heard an urban legend about the subway?”
Lin Ling’s voice wasn’t loud, but for some reason it had a strange magic power that made everyone in the carriage turn their gaze toward him simultaneously—even the sweet couple, the female student watching her favorite idol’s drama, and the office worker who had been pulling all-nighters at the company for two days all suddenly lost their sleepiness, feeling puzzled and curious.
“What urban legend?” the female university student asked curiously. She was a bit scared, yet also excited.
“Legend has it that some people who die violently in the subway—if they leave behind a personal item in a corner of the subway that goes undiscovered and unclaimed for an entire night—those unclaimed lost items will turn into some kind of evil creature bringing misfortune. Whoever picks them up will inexplicably become eager to return the item to its owner, and they won’t be able to get rid of the item no matter what, until they meet the same fate as the original owner and personally return the lost item, at which point the strange curse ends.” Lin Ling said lightly.
The couple exchanged smiles upon hearing this, and the man in the couple laughed: “That’s not scary at all.”
“Is that so.” Lin Ling glanced at him in some surprise, then suddenly grinned widely. The exaggerated smile made everyone’s hearts skip a beat. He pointed at the floor under the man’s feet and laughed, “There’s a diamond-encrusted necklace right under your feet. It looks custom-made, quite valuable. Interested in picking it up?”
Hearing this, everyone turned their gazes to the man’s feet, and sure enough, they saw a silver diamond-encrusted necklace behind his heel. But its color was too similar to the metal seat, making it hard to notice without looking closely.
The couple merely glanced at the necklace, and with perfect understanding, they exchanged eye contact.
The man in the couple suddenly exclaimed “Oh no!” and then blamed: “Look at you, isn’t this the necklace I gave you? It’s a gift full of my feelings—how could you be so careless?” As he spoke, he casually picked it up, his eyes lighting up at the sparkling jewels.
The woman in the couple shrank her neck, pouting aggrievedly: “I didn’t do it on purpose, sorry, honey~” Her gaze was also drawn to the necklace.
Then the man waved his hand and said: “Eh, eh, no big deal. It’s just something we dropped by accident. Hey, young man, don’t go spreading rumors and scaring people.”
Everyone looked at the shameless couple with disdain. They could all see through it—the necklace’s owner was definitely not them, just as Lin Ling had said; it was a lost item.
The female student, feeling a sense of justice, kindly advised: “Don’t pretend anymore. That necklace looks expensive. If the owner finds it and sees you took it, watch out for getting sued. There are surveillance cameras everywhere now.”
As she spoke, she glanced at the camera holes in the corner of the carriage and on the door top, then froze. Why were there no red lights? The cameras seemed to be off?
The others seemed to notice too. The couple, who had been somewhat deterred by the mention of “surveillance,” suddenly gained confidence and mockingly shouted: “Little sister, you can eat whatever, but you can’t say whatever.”
“Little sister, judging by the school badge on your sachet, you’re a student at Xiang Cui University, right? Read so many books—don’t you know everything needs evidence?” The woman in the couple giggled. “Wait, let me guess: maybe you don’t have a boyfriend, or your boyfriend can’t afford something like this, so you’re jealous?”
“You!” The female university student flushed with shame and anger, but seeing the couple’s arrogant faces and the threatening, wolfish glint in the man’s eyes, while the others seemed unwilling to get involved and chose silence, she felt extremely wronged. She clenched her fists, not daring to speak further.
“Time to get off.” Lin Ling said with a grin. Before the next station arrived, he didn’t forget to wink at the black-clad woman who was still glaring at him intently, her meaningful gaze as if he knew exactly what she was about to do.
The black-clad woman gritted her teeth darkly, a fierce glint in her eyes, but she seemed restrained by something. She merely gripped the handle of her luggage bag tightly without any other action, watching resentfully and unwillingly as Lin Ling got off the train casually.
The female university student who had been wronged on the subway heard Lin Ling say “get off” and felt she couldn’t stay there anymore. In a fit of anger, she followed Lin Ling off the subway.
Soon, seeing the last subway train start up again and leave her sight, the female university student suddenly felt a bit regretful. Getting off early at this station meant it would cost extra to get back to the university, but thinking of the humiliation on the subway, she felt she had done the right thing.
“I hope that horror story you told is true, and that couple goes to hell!” the female university student said to Lin Ling.
The female university student was just complaining offhand; she didn’t expect Lin Ling to respond to the topic.
However, Lin Ling chuckled: “They probably won’t make it to hell, but they will see hell.”
At 11:11 p.m. on an autumn night, a youth with a stiff smile who kept spouting weird ghost stories stood before her. The female university student, already chilled by the cool evening breeze, felt a deeper chill in her heart. She sensed something off about the handsome young man in front of her.
The female university student stopped talking to Lin Ling, grabbed her tablet computer, hurried upstairs, and left the platform without lingering.
After leaving the subway station, increasingly frightened the more she thought about it, the female university student still couldn’t help looking back every few steps to see if Lin Ling was following. She muttered whispers like “don’t come find me.”
Suddenly, the advancing female university student jumped back in fright. She looked at Lin Ling, who had somehow appeared in front of her, in terror, her lips trembling: “You you you…”
“Zhang Xiaoxiao, is this your school badge?” Lin Ling glanced at the engraving on the back of the school badge and returned the Xiang Cui University school badge to her.
Hearing that he had picked up her school badge, Zhang Xiaoxiao looked down at her sachet and saw that sure enough, her school badge had fallen off at some point. She felt slightly relieved but still fearful, asking: “You, how did you get in front of me?”
“Oh, that’s simple. I took the other passage and ran a big loop at several times your speed.” Lin Ling said seriously, even showing the sweat stains on his back.
“…I see.” Zhang Xiaoxiao thought to herself that this little brother might be mentally ill—not chasing from behind but taking a long detour. What a waste of his handsome face.
“Thanks.” Zhang Xiaoxiao took the school badge, nodded at Lin Ling with a dry smile, then walked past him to the bus stop and called a ride-hailing car. In that short time, she could no longer see Lin Ling’s figure. Her heart was filled with mixed emotions; she wondered if it was because she shouldn’t have gone out tonight that she met such a weird person.
Zhang Xiaoxiao felt extremely unlucky tonight: getting off the subway early in a huff, taking a long detour back to school past midnight, running into a handsome guy who seemed like a mental illness patient, and now the ride-hailing driver taking forever.
After waiting a full seventeen minutes at the bus stop, the ride-hailing driver finally arrived.
After getting in the car, Zhang Xiaoxiao couldn’t help complaining: “Master, you’re way too slow.”
“Sorry about that, little sister. The subway station is under renovation and expansion lately, and the roads are being redone to match the platform scale, so there are construction zones everywhere. I had to wind around to finally get here.” The driver explained apologetically.
Zhang Xiaoxiao had never gotten off here before and was hearing about it for the first time, so she said apologetically: “Oh, sorry about that.”
The driver uncle smiled politely and said: “This subway station is inconvenient now, up and down with only one way in and out. Travel is tough for everyone; I’m just earning a hard day’s pay. We all understand each other.”
“You’re right.” Zhang Xiaoxiao smiled and nodded, about to pull out her tablet to binge-watch again when she suddenly stiffened, her eyes turning red as if she were about to cry in fear.
“Oh dear, girl, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” The driver panicked at the sight of the female university student bursting into tears. “Hey, hey, don’t cry—our platform records audio…”
“Wah…” Zhang Xiaoxiao sobbed uncontrollably.
“Oh no!! Even jumping into the Yellow River won’t clear my name!!!”
……
“I have to pass today’s interview.” The next day, Xin Junmao rallied himself and came to the subway station again. At the subway connection entrance, he watched the train pulling into the platform from afar, inwardly urging himself to charge forward like the train. With his accumulated interview experience, he was determined to land this job.
With a burst of momentum, he stepped onto the platform, and… his interview for the day ended in failure again.
It wasn’t that Xin Junmao was unprepared; rather, the horrific scene he witnessed upon reaching the platform was unforgettable for life. A massive shadow enveloped his spirit, and the bloody, terrifying image would haunt his nightmares for some time.
Full of enthusiasm, Xin Junmao rushed onto the platform. In an instant, he saw a black-clad woman with a silver chain around her neck, a ferocious smile on her face, suddenly jumping down from the platform. Even the safety door couldn’t stop her agile movements. She threw herself like a joyful moth toward the flame, ahead of a train that was slowing into the station but still moving fast.
Thud.
Xin Junmao couldn’t hold back his nausea and vomited painfully while clutching the floor. Terror filled his brain as he muttered: “What is this… what is this… jumped onto the tracks and committed suicide… why jump onto the tracks and commit suicide…”
Panic on the platform lasted a full half hour. Operations on Line 3 in Cuizhu City nearly halted. All passengers who had just entered were comforted and evacuated from the scene. Those with severe emotional issues and no companions were gathered in the station’s duty room to rest until guardians arrived to pick them up.
Xin Junmao had already been anxious these days, and this overly stimulating scene directly shattered his spirit. Now he was dazed and confused, as if he didn’t know who he was, with sluggish reactions.
“It’s real… this is real… the legend is real…” Xin Junmao vaguely heard someone muttering beside him. He blankly looked at the person next to him—a girl carrying a sachet with the badge of the local renowned university, Xiang Cui University.
Probably a university student, he thought indifferently.
Knock knock knock.
The door of the duty room was knocked on. An attendant carried a luggage bag halfway into the room and softly asked the few extremely dejected passengers inside: “Sorry to interrupt, does this bag belong to any of you?”
“Ah!!!” Suddenly, Xin Junmao was startled awake by the female university student’s scream. The terror swept away—or rather, his fear shifted to her, leaving him only bewildered and dazed.
Zhang Xiaoxiao retreated to the corner in terror, crying and shouting: “Don’t touch that thing, don’t touch those things…”
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